Benjamin is Three

First of all, we were thrilled to host Tony, Heidi, and their kids this weekend. It was so nice to visit with friends, stay up late and talk like grownups, see the kids interact so well, and eat yummy peanut butter cup s'mores!! Benjamin thought they came into town just for his birthday, and he was thrilled to have them around for some of the celebration.

Benjamin is three!! I can't believe it! Here are the birthday pictures and stories...in backwards order. First of all, the birthday money. $4!!! This is not the first time Mr. Krabs has fallen asleep clutching his loot!

A train set from Kitty Grandma! This is a fabulous toy...trains, trucks, rockets, and it glows in the dark. Wow! I have had as much fun playing with this as Benjamin!

Benjamin helped frost and decorate his cake after church on Sunday. He wanted a "diamond-saur" cake...and it turned out lovely!

Benjamin's birthday breakfast of choice, pancakes. Notice the goggles--they are an essential part of his outfit.

The Friday before Benjamin's birthday was also my mom's 50th birthday! Happy Birthday, Mom! Her cake is cracking me up.

We celebrated my mom and Benjamin's birthdays together on Friday. Gus was less than thrilled with the frosting-less angel food cake!

A Batman big-wheel from Uncle Zack! (Did you know that Zack?!) This toy has been just in time for a few sunny, warmish days! Hooray!

But, of course, the favorite gift was the stickers. My mom got them for free in the mail and stuck them in his gift bag. He was so excited we had to take a gift-break and use them all up. I love it that kids are so easy to please.

Okay, last but not least, the next birthday girl. She got this car from my parents a few days ago and LOVES it. She tries to kick the older kids off all the time, and loves to sit on her car and honk the horn. It's great for meal time--since she has learned how to climb out of the high chair--as it keeps her in one place for a few bites.

Big Walker

Samantha just let go of the couch and took her first unassisted steps!

(I've got to pull out Joshua's baby book and see who wins the early walker award.)

Samantha is 11 Months Old!

I can't believe that Sam is 11 months. We're about to hit birthday season here at our house...which is always a fun, busy, crazy time that includes way too much Chuck E Cheese. Anyway, here are some 11 month photos of Sam. In the first, she is playing with her brothers. She loves playing with her siblings and is getting pretty good at imitating the things they do. She loves to "color", drive cars, use the play tools, do acrobatics (basically, sticking her bum in the air and yelling "peek-a-boo" in samlanguage), brush her hair and teeth, and "cook." It's adorable.


Sam is supposed to be smiling at me, but instead she's playing peek-a-boo! Sam is cracking us up right now with her talking. I swear, she has her own language....maybe she should have been a twin?! Last week, I took her to an indoor park and she learned the joys of climbing (and knocking other kids down (which is quite funny considering she UNDERweighed every kid there by about 15 pounds)). Anyway, every time she got to the top of a structure she would triumphantly say, "ee day ah!" To which I would respond, "Yes, you did it!" But then I'd get the Look. Sam's patented, precocious look that says, "Seriously? You haven't got a clue. Stop talking now." I waited to see if "ee day ah" was a fluke, but no, she says it every time she climbs onto anything...followed by the Look. Another favorite is "ew dice mo." I thought maybe, "screwdriver"? (Insert the Look, here.) Most kids, you struggle to understand, but I don't think she wants to be understood. At least she says some normal, English baby words, too--mama, dad, no, hello, etc.

One final picture...I had to get EmJ in here, too. Sam learned how to get on the leopard seat and is completely proud of herself! I love her expression in this photo, though, still kind of grinning, but starting to get irritated that EmJ is hovering. With her constant mothering, Sam wears this face for EmJ quite a bit!

Walk before you Run

I decided to post these videos, despite my less-than intelligent commentary, because they are fitting with how I feel today...

Samantha can push something and walk, but not run...and yet, she continues to try to run. The part I can comiserate with on this particular morning is the tantrum throwing. (Go ahead, read the following two posts, you'll see!)

Just a note: I did not take these videos to showcase Sam crashing, though it's funny. She turned 11 months old on Friday, and I was trying to record some of her tricks and babbling. She was a less than willing performer. Hence, just the crashes.

Bad Attitude

This morning, I laid in bed and planned for the best day of my life. My plans grew complex, and my laugh grew more maniacal with each passing thought. The best day of my life will be the day I get to repay my kids for all they do...

This will occur the night before a drivers' test, a big game, the senior prom, or some other important event.

I will...

*start crying for no apparent reason (every hour on the hour, all night long)
*fall out of bed (every half-hour, on the half-hour)
*tip-toe into their rooms and stand over them, with my face inches from theirs, until they wake up with a start. I will then whisper, "I have to go to the bathroom." (at 12:45)
*ask for milk (at 1:15)
*ask for water (at 1:45)
*ask for candy (at 2:15)
*ask for a new pair of shoes (at 2:45)
*ask for multiple other things in a voice so whiny and choked with emotion that they couldn't possibly understand me (at 3:15)
*tip-toe into their rooms and stand over them, with my face inches from theirs, until they wake up with a start. I will then whisper, "My foot is asleep." (at 3:45)
*tip-toe into their rooms and stand over them, with my face inches from theirs, until they wake up with a start. I will then do my best imitation of an unreasonable sleepwalker. (at 4:15)
*after I fall out of bed at 4:30 am, things will be mysteriously quiet. Silent. For thirty minutes. At 5 am, their alarm will go off, and I will run into their rooms, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, to ask if I can watch a cartoon and demand my breakfast!

The second best day of my life will occur on the first time I go to visit my children in their own homes. They will have slaved to make me a beautiful, tasty dinner. They will be proud to show off their skills.

I will...

*Take one bite of food, make a face, examine the food, spit out my bite, then push the plate away and say, "This. Is Gross."
*Five minutes into the meal I will get up from my seat and start wandering around the house. I will jump on the couch, give the la-z-boy a couple of good roundhouses, turn a cartwheel for good measure, and practice my sliding on the kitchen floor.
*I will move without rhyme or reason from one subject to the next, never allowing them to respond to my first question or request, which they couldn't understand in any case because I was speaking with food in my mouth.
*After sliding on the kitchen floor, I will ask what's for dessert. If it's something good, I will return to the table for exactly 22 seconds, take two bites of food, then leave the table and resume turning cartwheels.
*During a lull in the conversation, I will suddenly break into tears because, "I really wanted you to make chicken nuggets, but you didn't make them for me. And also, I fell at school today and scraped my knee."
*I will excuse myself to use the bathroom. On the way, I will comment on the garbage "that stinks", the refrigerator "that stinks", and the bathroom. "This bathroom stinks. Who was supposed to clean it this morning. You must have forgot. This bathroom stinks." The bathroom commentary will occur WHILE I'm using the bathroom....and will suddenly cause everyone to be done with their meals.
*I will find something to complain about, even if they serve Twinkies for dessert.
*On our way out, I will knock their mailbox off the post and do doughnuts on their front lawn. Just for kicks.

More Bad Attitude

I love it when we're sick. Love it.

I love being sneezed on. I love telling kids not to wipe their noses on their sleeves, only to have them do it three seconds later. I love waking up mulitple times at night because I hear coughing, coughing, more coughing. I love it when babies refuse to sleep. I love it when Luke sleeps through everything, and I just let him because he has to get up at 4 am and do whatever it is he does all day, which may or may not be productive or bring bacon, but will surely be fun. For him. I love the week after we're sick when Luke gets sick. I love it when he stomps around the house complaining about people who don't take care of themselves, don't wash their hands, and pass him their germs.

In my world, there will be no boogers.

The End.

Nothing much...

I don't have much to blog about tonight, but I'm up late babysitting and it's been a while since I've posted.

If I was a good blogger I would do the following:

1. Post a picture of Emmeline and brag about how cute she looked today. She's gorgeous. And though I know she'll come to hate her chicken legs, I'm completely jealous of her long and lean look. Add some grace (today she tripped over her own feet while not even moving and also hit herself in the face with the refrigerator door) and she'd be darn near perfect.

2. Post a video of Emmeline singing and playing the piano. You cannot even tell that she's singing the same song that she's playing. Tone deaf=Hilarious

3. Post a picture of Joshua with the book, "The Boxcar Children." He's into "chapter books" right now. Every time we go to the library, he checks out the thickest book he can find. He has no desire to sit still long enough to learn how to read, yet he's obsessed with the idea of reading. Luke started reading the Boxcar Children to him a few days ago, and he's in heaven.

4. Post a video of Benjamin saying, "meenie meenie miney mo catch a giger by da toe let it go you are..............................................................IT!" This is how we choose who gets to say the mealtime prayers. Or rather, he chooses.

5. Post a picture of the eternal bruise on poor Samantha's forehead. Combination crazy crawl, trying to go to fast, climbing on everything, and smothering brothers have led to many a crash these last couple days. She seems to land on the same side of her head every, single, time. I would also post a video of her going up the stairs...we actually seriously tried to get a video of this, but a certain 4 year old got in the way...She sneaks off to the stairs, then starts giggling like a mad woman when she hears Luke or I coming to get her. It's her new favorite game.

6. And finally, I'd post a video of Samantha eating. As soon as I put dinner on the table yesterday, Sam started bouncing up and down in her high chair, whining for it. She proceeded to bat my hand away at every offering, until I finally spooned some mac and cheese (homemade, tasty) onto her tray. A few seconds later, the begging began again. I couldn't believe how fast she finished. On about her fifth helping I turned to hand her a sippy cup and she was eating with her face almost IN the food, noodles in both hands, grabbing a new handful with the left hand as she stuffed her face with the right hand, and so forth. She looked like something from a hot dog eating contest, and she ended up eating a full adult sized portion. It was insane.

And that's what I'd do if I was a good blogger. But instead, I'm going to head off to bed...

Little Mo with the Gimpy Leg

I wish I had Samantha's hair. And, as requested, some video footage of Sam crawling...or hopping...or monkeying around...or something. She has been doing this for quite some time, and I keep waiting for her to crawl for "real", but I'm thinking she will go straight to walking. She's showing all the signs--walking on the furniture, walking holding one hand, climbing on everything, the squat and reach, and the controlled sit--so we'll see! This kid is reminding me more and more of Joshua...oh my!

Our December

As the Christmas festivities end, I thought I'd do a quick recap of our month.

December 1st--Luke climbed in the attic to pull out the Christmas decorations today! He's cold and dusty, but our house will soon be a beautiful winter wonderland!

December 2nd--Joshua is excited to go pick out a Christmas tree. In his own words, "We're going to go in Grandpa's truck to the forest and cut down a tree with a moving saw with an oval and a button."

December 3rd--The house is decorated (inside), the tree is up, and my Yankee Stadium ornament stands near the top of the tree--second only to the star in prominence!

December 7th--Luke says, "I'm too sick and it's too cold to hang Christmas lights." We're about the only house in the neighborhood without lights (and they never got put up this year), but we've got a homemade wreath on the door! It's not very purty, but it's festive.

December 8th--The Christmas cards have begun trickling in! This is one of my favorite parts of Christmas, though I wish more people still used snail mail (says the girl who posted her family letter on her blog...)

December 9th--Luke puts a vast majority of the human race to shame as he complains, "I didn't get anything done today. I slept in until 4:15 (a.m.)."

December 10th--Joshua comes home from preschool and announces that his class is going to go "killering."

December 11th--Since my Christmas shopping has been done for quite some time, I start wrapping gifts. The kids join me in the fun and waste only three rolls of scotch tape.

December 12th--Luke goes on an impromptu road trip with his brother and comes home quoting Napoleon Dynamite. This is all fine and dandy until Joshua starts commanding me to "Bow to your sensai. BOW to your sensai." He has also picked up the phrase, "Forget about it!"

December 13th--Ah, the ward Christmas party.

December 13th--No, seriously, Santa came to the ward Christmas party. When Joshua heard the jingle bells and reindeer hooves he ran wide-eyed up to the stage to be the first to see Santa. It was pure magic. Santa appeared, Joshua got in line, waited impatiently for his turn (I believe he was third...), and climbed right up on Santa's lap to tell him what he wanted. At this point, I became involved with the other kids and lost track of Joshua. However, a few minutes later my brother-in-law offered a report. He apparently saw a slumpy, slouchy Joshua walking slowly down the hall. When he said hello, Joshua dejectedly replied, "That wasn't Santa, it was just Bishop Doty."

December 13th--The magic of Christmas came and went for Joshua, courtesy of the ward Christmas party.

December 14th--Thanks to a weekend full of Christmas parties, our fridge, freezer, and counters are full of regifted leftovers. We resolve to eat it all and resume grocery shopping in 2009.

December 15th-24th--Giant snowstorm hits the northwest, and I am glad my Christmas shopping is done. Luke, however, braves the ice and snow to go to his favorite stores--Staples and Deseret Book--to finish his Christmas shopping. (Santa brought each of the kids a package of dry erase markers??) While we are homebound we also build a couple of snowmen (one in the church parking lot), make snow angels, eat snow cones, argue about whether or not school is cancelled (oh, the horror, Joshua didn't get to go "killering"), finish making Samantha's stocking, get sick, and enjoy time together relaxing.

December 23rd--Time for the family to go "killering" and deliver Christmas goodies. We got stuck in the snow despite our 4WD, and ended up devouring most of our goodies, which is probably just as well, since it was the sick, contagious children that prepared them. One bit of good news: In wrapping the plates of goodies, I used the last of the saran wrap from the ill-fated "decorate the honeymoon car" fiasco at Lindsey's 2005 wedding. Finally.

December 24th--Christmas Eve and it's attendant festivities were wonderful. The kids visited Great-grandma, and my sister's family came in to town. After dinner, we acted out the Nativity. Emmeline made a wonderful Mary, Joshua, a shepherd, Benjamin...well, I think he and Henry were Batman or Captain Underpants or something like that.

December 25th--Christmas was so much fun this year! The kids enjoyed opening gifts, and also watching Luke and I open gifts from them...which was adorable. Benjamin was the first awake, Joshua the last (see December 13). When we finished our morning, we headed to my parents' house just in time to talk to Zack (calling home from Brazil). I only got to speak with him for about 2 minutes, but it was wonderful to hear his voice. He's amazing. We enjoyed spending the rest of the day with family.

December 26-27th--I enjoyed a girls' weekend with my mom and sisters! How wonderfully relaxing, although I realized that I will never be fully relaxed in a spa environment...laser tag, yes, cucumber water, no...I don't think I'm normal...Anyway, it was so nice to talk with my mom and sisters, eat well (with no prep or clean up), and sleep well. Luke was so awesome to bring Samantha back and forth to the hotel so she could eat. We also went to see "7 Brides for 7 Brothers"! It was fantastic.

And, that catches us up! Happy New Year! I look forward to the joy, fun, and surprises that 200 will bring!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!!!

Dear family and friends,

Breaking from the ageless Christmas tradition called "sending-a-family-letter-telling-everyone-how-wonderful-your-kids-are", this year I thought I'd ask my children a number of questions and thus let them write the family Christmas letter.

Emmeline Joel

How old are you now? six and a half

What is your favorite food? um, grapefruit

Favorite song? I am a Child of God

Favorite thing to do? art

What is one thing you learned in Primary this year? I can't think of something. I love singing time and we learned the sign language of I am a Child of God.

What is one thing you learned in school this year? I'm learning how to read and write pretty and count.

Goal for 2009: Learn how to spell things without asking anybody.

Dime Joshua

How old are you? four and a half

What is your favorite food? chocolate and pizza

Favorite song? When Jesus Christ was Baptized

Favorite thing to do? ride my bike and play on the swingset and ride my bike

What is one thing you learned in Primary this year? When Jesus Christ was Baptized

What is one thing you learned at school this year? learning how to make turkeys and playing with Avery

Goal for 2009: learn how to write big A's

Benjamin Vosco

How old are you? four (He is actually 2 1/2.)

What is your favorite food? pizza, doughnuts, uh, I like Sammy's toys!

Favorite song? my wonderful year song (It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year), Spongebob

Favorite thing to do? playing cars, music, and playing in dad's car

What is one thing you learned in Primary this year? water and crackers, and I play with cars, and I play with Clark

Are you excited to go to school? yeah...I want to go to Emmeline's school and Joshua's school

Benjamin is looking forward to becoming acquainted with the potty in 2009!

Samantha Raye

Sam is nine months old, and I can't believe it. Her favorite food is anything that she can pick up and eat by herself--including paper, fuzz, bits of play-doh, and table scraps. I'm pretty sure she doesn't yet have a favorite song, though she loves to dance and jump and clap. She goes along pretty willingly with whatever the other kids want to do...or do to her. She has now entered the performance phase of babyhood, and we are constantly asking her show off her skills and tricks--waving, pointing, saying no, crawling like a monkey, and babbling in a conspiratorial whisper. If I were to ask her the questions that I just asked the others, she would simply look at me and smile. She is always, always smiling.

Luke

Although I'm pretty sure I married a Peter Pan (sans tights), Luke grudgingly acknowledged his 32nd birthday this year. Luke is Luke, and you all know what that means--he wants to know everything about you, but won't share anything about himself. I'm not sure what he does with his days, I'm not sure if he even knows what he does, and I've learned not to ask questions. I do know that he enjoys teaching seminary, going to Tae Kwon Do, engaging in political debates with the neighbors, taking swing dance lessons with me, aimlessly texting his brothers, and riding the metro bus to...wherever it is that he goes every day. His goals for 2009 include finally deciding what he wants to be when he grows up.

Kirstin

Finally me--my life in two words, evidenced by cold dinners, breakfasts in the car, baseball caps to hide my unwashed hair, longing gazes at my scrapbooking supplies, a perfected potty-dance, and the exactly three paragraphs I get to read each night before exhaustion wins. As much as I complain, I really wouldn't trade this time in my life for anything (except maybe a Caribbean Cruise...). I am never lacking for entertainment, giggles, and thrills, and I haven't had a minute of boredom in at least five years! Aside from being a wife and mother, I am enjoying teaching the music in Primary, and, like Luke, have loved taking dancing lessons. I have lots of goals for 2009, including eliminating the phrase "I'm so tired!" from my vocabulary. But what I look forward to most next year is Samantha becoming a toddler, Benjamin being Benjamin, Joshua's entrance into the world of Little League, Emmeline continuing to have her eyes opened to the world of books, and Luke getting a real job.

And that's us! We are happy, healthy, and loving life. To all our friends and family, we love you so much and appreciate the dimension that you each bring to our lives. We also express our love and gratitude to our Savior, Jesus Christ, whose birth and life we celebrate not only during this Christmas season, but always. May you all have a very, merry Christmas!

Joshua's Preschool Thanksgiving

Once, there were 10 people who were super hungry and there were no grocery stores at all. Not even anywhere. So they didn't walk, they sailed for 100 days all the way across the huge lake. And then they ate pumpkin pie, lettuce, and corn.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Decisions, decisions

My mother-in-law recently told me how much she loves it when her good character traits manifest themselves in her children. It makes her so proud. She also confessed, though, that she cringes when she sees the bad ones--magnified.

Me, too. Although, this one is all on Luke.

Emmeline's school had a book fair today. Remember those?! My favorite time of the school year! So, being the good mother that I am, I matched the money that EmJ was willing to spend and told her she could pick out whatever she wanted.

WRONG!!!

(Note to self: Next time, pre-order.)

She got in the car after school today, and I asked her to show me what she got. She shrugged and said, "Mrs. ***** is going to help me find something tomorrow." I took one long look at her bloodshot eyes for the translation. "I had a melt down because there were, like, thirty-hundred-thousand books and I wanted them all, but I didn't want to part with all the money, so I tried to choose just one, but there were so many good ones that I just walked around with a pile of books and I tried to do the math in my head to see what I could get, but I don't know if $3.99 is three dollars or four dollars because you totally confused me yesterday, and I didn't want to settle for just one book if I actually had enough money for two, but even if I could get two I couldn't decide between the Fancy Nancy book, the Encyclopedia of Cats, or this really stupid calendar with pictures of Seattle on it, and then Mrs. ***** said, 'Five more minutes,' so I had to put all the books back and go to lunch and I was so distraught that I couldn't eat, and so my teacher said we could go back tomorrow and she will help be choose a book, which made me cry again because now I will be thinking about it all night long." (Breathe, EmJ, breathe.)

"Decisions are the worst."

Nothing much...

I'm bored. Sick in bed bored.

Except I'm not actually sick. Here's the story...I jumped out of bed early Tuesday morning because Samantha was crying, and in the process I managed to give myself the charlie-horse of all charlie-horses in my NECK. We're talking paralyzing, incapacitating pain in my neck, back, arm, brain. Uck.

So now, I'm in bed with a heating pad on my stiff and sore neck, counting my blessing that Tuesday was a holiday and Luke doesn't have class today. He's a pretty good stay-at-home mom, not counting the pile of dishes in the sink.

At least I get to read a lot. And catch up on blogs. Speaking of, some of my blogger friends are giving away blog candy! So any scrappers, stampers...or those who have to buy Christmas gifts for your scrapper, stamper family members (ahem!)...check out these blogs:

http://scrampinmama.blogspot.com/

http://merrymusings.typepad.com/random_thoughts_of_a_conf/

Let's see, funny stories...

Man, I don't even have any funny stories. But I'm excited for Thanksgiving! Only 14 days...my mouth is watering...

Alright, time for my nap...again!

Armaggedon?

Nope. Unbelievably, we're still here.

Gotta get to work on that bomb shelter.

No, seriously, here's a seriously funny, true, and disturbing story.

Luke is taking an Economics class right now, and the class just got their midterm exams back. The professor (who is an admitted socialist (How an ECONOMICS professor can delude herself into believing that trickle-UP economics actually works is beyond me. Maybe she wants a spot in BO's cabinet?)) gave the recap on grades for the entire class--a few A's, more F's, mostly C's.

Luke just about got himself kicked out of college when he raised his hand and suggested that they redistribute the grades so that everyone was on equal footing and the kids that failed could gain "an edge."

I didn't know you could get sent to the principal's office in college.

He'll be enjoying his detention today.

Holy Bumblebee-Ballerina-Frog Batman!

Tagged...again

8 TV Shows I like to Watch

1. Baseball Tonight
2. Sportscenter
3. Law and Order
4. CSI
5. 24
6. Okay, I only have 5 for this category, two of which I watch with regularity...

8 Things I'm Looking Forward To

1. my next meal
2. baseball season
3. peace and quiet (aka, Joshua starting Kindergarten)
4. mashed potatoes and the Turkey Bowl (aka, Thanksgiving)
5. shopping, stamping, wrapping, caroling, lights, cider, and stars (aka, Christmas)
6. weaning Sam (3 months, 2 weeks, 5 days)
7. the day that Luke has a "real" job again (no mon, no fun, eh?)
8. our next dance lesson

8 Things I'm Passionate About

1. The Gospel
2. Luke
3. Emmeline
4. Joshua
5. Benjamin
6. Samantha
7. The New York Yankees
8. food, especially Twinkies

8 Things I did Yesterday

1. went to Wal-mart (yuck!)
2. worked on a Christmas gift...and that's as much info as you'll get
3. took EmJ to a friend's house
4. had a stressful parenting moment (x10)
5. let the kids wash the windows
6. went outside to escape Windex fumes
7. made cheese quesadillas for lunch...and dinner
8. crawled under Benjamin's bed (see #4)

8 Places I like to Eat

1. Macaroni Grill
2. Olive Garden
3. Claim Jumper
4. Cheesecake Factory
5. Taco Bell
6. Sarducci's
7. Mrs. Field's cookies
8. IKEA

8 People I Tag

1. Whomever
2. Wants
3. To
4. D0
5. This
6. Fun
7. Little
8. Activity

A New Swingset

Hooray! We got a new pile of rust. You can kind of tell it's a swingset. Actually, in a small picture, taken from a ways away, it actually looks okay! No, seriously, we are all excited about the new, old swingset. We are even having a few days of sun this week to enjoy it before it cankers for the winter. You can see in the picture that the kids didn't even bother to go inside and take off their backpacks yesterday.

After they had been playing for a while, I heard some screams and the kids came running in the house. "There's nobody on the swing, but it's moving and creaking!" "I think it's a ghost!" I had a good laugh, until midnight, when I was startled awake by two bloodcurdling screams. Seriously, I thought there must be an axe murderer in the boys' room. Or a rat. Or at least a big spider. Oh, no. Benjamin saw a monster and screamed and woke up Joshua who screamed. After I recovered from my myocardial infraction, I went to check on Samantha (who usually wakes at the drop of a pin) but she managed to sleep right throughthe shrieking banshees. This morning I asked Benjamin if he saw a monster last night. "Yes." "But it was just your imagination, right?" "No, it was skeery."

This next group of pictures is from a quasi-5K that Joshua and I ran last weekend. I was so proud of him! I love the picture of Joshua running with my dad (I was able to drop Joshua off and pick up the pace a little for the last mile) except I'll have to photoshop out the random guy (sorry random guy!).

And last, but definately not least, Samantha. She's upset in this picture because everyone is outside playing without her. LET ME OUT!! I love how much personality is in that teeny-tiny body.

How many men does it take to change a light bulb?

Apparently, three. Plus, an unwilling preteen boy to actually do the light bulb changing. You see, we've got this random light in the ceiling of our stairwell. It's ridiculously high up, and thus, has been burnt out for the better part of our seven years in this house.

Yesterday, I heard some clanking, and low and behold, it's Luke with the ladder--trying to find a way to angle it on the stairs so that it's sturdy enough to climb. After about seventeen different tried and failed ideas, he headed to the neighbors' houses. Our neighbors (who, incidentally, are twin brothers) headed over, and the three grown men do what men do best. Spend an hour trying to find an elaborate solution to a relatively simple problem. Seriously, here are some snippets, "Do you have any duct tape?" "What weight is this sheet rock?" "Do you think one of the neighbors has a 25 foot extension ladder?" "scaffolding" "rig it up"...you get the picture. Finally, they ended up using brute strength. Duh. Oh, but even that wasn't simple. They had a full ten minute discussion about who weighed less and was more expendable--me, or the neighbor's boy--first of all, you could have just asked us how much we weighed; second, the boy is completely expendable so he wins automatically, even if I may weigh an ounce less. So, one man held the ladder at the base, two held it at the top, angled, while Travis climbed the ladder and changed the bulb. Whew! Saturday afternoon pretty much wasted...

Also, it finally happened. Joshua knocked over Samantha's high chair while she was sitting in it. This one defied description.

He redeemed himself last night, though. We were at a wedding reception at the church and he began the dreaded potty dance. We started running for the bathroom, when all of a sudden he stopped and said, "This is Heavenly Father's house!", folded his arms, and walk-potty danced all the way to the bathroom. No compromise, no exceptions! That's my boy.

Proposition 8

A friendly reminder, exhortation, pleading, bullying, encouragement...to any California residents who read my blog.

Vote yes on Proposition 8 on November 4th. Please.

And encourage, remind, exhort, plead, or bully your friends and family into voting "Yes" as well.

We are blessed to live in such an amazing country, but the only way to preserve the freedoms that we enjoy is to continue to preserve the family. The foundation of any society.

Thanks!

Barefoot, pregnant, and in the kitchen

Well, I'm most definately NOT pregnant, and it's too cold to be barefoot, but I have been IN THE KITCHEN nonstop these last couple weeks. Harvesting the garden and fruit trees has brought a flurry of domesticity to my kitchen. The kids and Luke need to enjoy it while it lasts. In the last couple weeks I've picked apples and pears, canned the pears (19 bottles from my two trees!), will can the apples tomorrow, frozed about 10 quarts of zucchini from my garden, and bottled three quarts of salsa from my meager tomato harvest. I've also discovered that baking bread is not that difficut with the help of the bread machine's dough cycle and a rolling pin (Yes, I've been married for seven years and I just got my first rolling pin). We've enjoyed homemade bread, hot dog buns, and cinnamon rolls near constantly, along with our new favorite breakfast, lunch, and dinner--homemade granola. I've even made banana bread a couple of times, and crepes...mmmmmm....crepes...(but my blender broke yesterday, no more crepes I guess).

Whew!

I fully realize that most of you reading this probably cook a lot, or at least regularly, but I don't, so I feel pretty accomplished right now! We haven't eaten frozen chicken nuggets in at least two weeks, it's some kind of record.

And that's it. Sorry there are no pictures today. But Luke's family will get a kick out of this one...

There was a visitor in Joshua's primary class today. In the car on the way home I asked what the visitor's name was. "John." For some reason (I can't even imagine why, "A"), this was hysterical to Gus, who started saying, over and over, "Jo-ohn." "Jo-ohn." "Jo-ohn."

weinerwheels.com

Well, he survived! I can't believe that Joshua is almost 4 1/2 and is in preschool. I remember when he was a baby, thinking I'd never sleep again. I remember when he was a toddler, thinking he'd communicate through screaming for the rest of his life. Well, last night he didn't sleep well, and he screamed almost all the way to preschool...we actually had to stop for a nervous-potty break halfway to school...serious anxiety! When I picked him up, though, he was smiling, and he talked my ear off about his day. All of a sudden he's so big!

And, I'm off to rescue Sam...the boys are mauling her...so that's it!

(Ewww, did you notice how badly my porch needs to be painted? Gross.)

Tagged

Alright, Lyndsey, here goes....
(these all have to be one word answers)

1:Where is your cell phone? ~ diaperbag
2:Where is your significant other? ~ school
3:Your hair color? ~ brown
4:Your mother? ~ protective
5:Your father? ~ quiet
6:Your favorite thing? ~ baseball
7: Your dream last night? ~ random
8:Your dream/goal? ~ lots
9:The room you're in? ~ office?
10:Your hobby? ~ many
11:Your fear? ~ spiders
12:Where do you want to be in 6 years? ~ here
13:Where were you last night? ~ home
14:What you're not? ~ messy
15:One of your wish list items? ~ pancakepuff
16:Where you grew up? ~ nutley
17:The last thing you did? ~ poopydiaper
18:What are you wearing? ~ jeans
19:Your TV? ~ off
20:Your pet? NEVER
21:Your computer? ~ junk
22:Your mood? ~ serene
23:Missing someone? ~ always
24:Your car? ~ needstobevacuumed
25:Something you're not wearing? ~ jewlery
26:Favorite store? ~ target
27:Your summer? ~ whirlwind
28:Love someone? ~ of course
29:Your favorite color? ~ purple
30:When is the last time you laughed? ~ fewminutesagowhilereadingmysister'sblog
31:When is the last time you cried? ~ thismorningcausewehaveanewneice!!!

I don't like one worders. That's very difficult! I tag whomever would like to do it!

Remembering...

The House that Ruth Built.

Last night I set out the kids' church clothes, and this morning Luke (our daddy is home! Yay! (He's been gone for 28 days...) got the kids dressed while I got ready. Over the hum of my blow dryer, I heard a low rumble, increasing, until Luke the hurricane blew in saying, "THESE ARE NOT CHURCH CLOTHES!!!!" It was Samantha's Yankee outfit, which she proudly wore to church today.

Fast forward to after church, kids are napping, Luke finds me in our room in my jammies, wrapped up in my Yankee blanket, watching ESPN. He dons his Mariner's jacket in protest, and flees...I think I caught the word "infidel" in his mumblings.

(And, probably in direct result of my bad Sabbath-day habits, my worst nightmare was realized today...I got called as the Primary Chorister.)

So, I'm sad to see Yankee Stadium go. For Christmas, I want the giant scale model Yankee Stadium that they have at Mickey Mantle's restaurant in Manhattan, okay?!

My great-uncle, talking to Luke yesterday, made mention that my grandpa would probably be there in spirit today. Grandpa, I'm jealous, have fun!

New Trick

So excited!!!

I did it! Look at me!!

I did it! Look at me!

Comments

Just an FYI.

I love your comments. I get excited every time I see one! I have comments set up so that I have to approve them, and if I don't publish them, it's not because I don't like you, it's just because I want to keep our last name and other personal info off of my blog.

Thanks!

Observations about COSTCO

I love Costco. My kids love Costco. Here are some funny things about Costco and it's shoppers.

*Husbands and wives come together. They hit the sample stands separately and strategically, saying, "I'm just going to grab one for my husband." Double the samples. Admit it, you've done it.

*Old guys go there for tube socks. Every single old man I see at Costco has a huge cart with nothing but tube socks...and whatever was up for sampling that day.

*Your grocery total has an uncanny (and unappreciated) correlation to the time of day. $210 at 2:10...I'm not kidding.

*They already have their Christmas stuff out. The worst part? I zombied over to the Christmas displays today, thinking, "I DO need more wrapping paper," before I snapped out of it and decided to make Halloween plans instead.

Speaking of Christmas, Joshua asked me today how to spell, "Injured turtle." Apparently, it's time to write to Santa, and Joshua wants an "injured turtle." (Heroes in a half-shell, turtle power.)

Worst night ever...

Falls asleep at 11 p.m. (three hours after the other kids, not cool)
Up at 12:30
Up at 2:30, watches Fresh Prince until 4:30
Up at 5:30
Up at 7 a.m.

I suppose every baby is entitled to a few bad nights. But she picked the wrong night to go on sleeping/nursing strike. I think I'm getting sick which made it even worse. My fingers are even achy...I can't type correctly, much less put together a coherent sentence. Poor Joshua is so bored sitting here at home while EmJ is at school, but I don't think I can go anywhere today. He's going to have to learn to entertain himself because as soon as naptime rolls around, I'm going to sleep, too. If I don't drop right here at the computer first.

I need a vacation...and a massage.

In other news, I attended EmJ's back to school night last night. For the last week and a half, she has been begging to buy lunch. I told her that she could pick a few days to buy when we get a calendar/menu. Every day, I reminded her to ask her teacher for one. Then, last night, as I was going through EmJ's desk in her classroom (like any good mom would!), what did I find? The lunch menu. It's been there all year, she just never brought it home. I found an inch high stack of important papers, which, had I known about, would have saved me a little bit of grief. Did you know picture day is next week? Neither did I. Good thing they had curriculum night when they did.

And the saga continues..Sam is clearly tired (suprise!), but will not eat, sleep, or be comforted. Sigh...fussy babies are new territory for me.

Doctor Fun

Samantha's six month stats: 16 lbs. 4 oz., and a sinus infection, no longer fond of sleeping...

But that's not the fun part of going to the doctor. The fun part is that cool doctor stool. You know, the one that rolls?! Yup. It's super fun to get a running start, jump on it, and sail across the doctor's office. Of course, the office is only six feet wide...so a certain four year old went right through the wall. Think tazmanian devil.

Okay, it wasn't that bad, but there is a forehead-shaped dent now in a certain exam room. I swear, every time I take my children to the doctor the nurses and doctors smile at us with a certain wariness as we walk down the hall...

And it doesn't end there. After the doctor, we went had a few minutes before I had to pick up EmJ from school, so I went to get my ring cleaned. Guess what they have at the jewlers? Yup. Little rolling stools! Oh yay! Apparently the four year old did NOT learn his lesson. He didn't break any glass, but I have a gash and bruise on my ankle. As we left, the sales lady said, though clenched teeth, "You have such cute kids!"

He makes me tired. Just looking at Joshua makes me tired.

Speaking of tired, since when do babies who have slept through the night their whole lives decide to start waking up every half-hour?! Seriously?! I know I'm whining, but I'm going to continue to whine until she starts sleeping again.

Kangaroo Power

Joshua got into preschool!!! He was on the waiting list, but I just got a call today that a spot opened up!!!! Yay!!!!! He starts next week and is, uh, really nervous...but I'm sure he'll do great. It's funny, again, to see the contrast between he and EmJ. For Emmeline, I would have to talk to her every day about school, what she's going to do, when I will pick her up, etc. With Joshua, I dare not say anything because thinking about it scares him. I'll just have to drop him off on the first day and nonchalantly call, "Goodbye!"

A few other notes:

Sick babies are no fun. The bulb syringe is the devil.

Sliding down the stairs headfirst is the new, approved method of transportation around here.

That's it!

Disneyland

This past weekend we were able to take a family (as in the WHOLE family) vacation to southern California. We spent two days in Disneyland (and I pulled out the camera only once), then spent Saturday at Luke's Aunt Karen's wedding. During the course of the trip I thought of many witty treatises on family dynamics to write about on this blog...but basically I'm still too tired, trying to recover from the whirlwind. I will say, however, that 12 adults, 16 kids, luggage, and carseats all traveling together are quite a sight. Use your imagination, then realize that because it's OUR family, your imagination is woefully inadequate!



Let's get, hmmm, Nate and Laura and their kids, but not Liv. Put Avery in there instead. Oh, and Benjamin. Perfect. Now smile!



Benjamin was sick during the trip. On this particular morning, he slept in (hooray), so I made the kids play in the bathroom until he woke up. Three square feet, that's all you really need, right?



I said, "Benjamin, where are we going today?" This was the face he made when he said, "Dineywand."




The kids were sooooooo good on the plane. No joke, no sarcasm. It was a small miracle. They were amazing.

Karen's Wedding

Aunt Karen's wedding was wonderful. Isn't she a beautiful bride!? I love to attend weddings and the accompanying celebrations! Thanks, Karen, for the awesome day and for giving us a reason to take a "vacation"! (Vacation is in quotation marks because traveling with the kids dang near gave me an aneurism.)

Happy Mail!

Check out the goodness that got delivered to my doorstep today! Thank you, secret admirer!

First Grade

Welcome to first grade, EmJ! She looked adorable last week in her monkey dress (the product of the dressing room trauma that I mentioned in a previous post) and her monkey hair tie ("These shoes are a part of my outfit!"). EmJ came home and told me that her teacher was the "best teacher ever!" I'm so glad that she enjoys school.

Happy Birthday to You!

Luke turned 32 this past weekend! Happy Birthday to you! (Dear reader, this video is a small taste of the famous (or infamous) ***** family birthday song. You're going to want to get some earplugs!)

Thanks to his siblings for the celebration. It was wonderful!

The Carrot...

So, when I upload pictures to blogger, I don't see the picture in my post. So, I have no idea where to put the captions. I apologize. You'll just have to be smart and figure out which picture I am talking about.

We harvested the lone carrot from our garden yesterday. Everybody thoroughly enjoyed their bite. I can't believe how proud I am of one carrot, 5 strawberries, 7 tomatoes, and 57,000,000,000 zucchini.

Samantha turned six months old last week! We got her picture taken, and I'll post a link on here so you can view them...eventually. While we were at the mall, heading to the picture place, Benjamin had an emergency. I headed into a dressing room to change his diaper, and he gave all the ladies in the dressing room a chuckle, yelling, "Mom, did you bring my Butt Paste? I NEED SOME BUTT PASTE FOR MY BUM! WHERE IS THE BUTT PASTE?"

We went to the Mariner's game last Saturday...backpack night, hooray! Now I have four matching cheap M's backpacks. Every night the kids are responsible for picking up all their toys...and every night those stupid backpacks are filled to bursting with random toys, books, art supplies, dirty socks, etc.

And last, but not least, I had to include the picture of Benjamin. I woke up early one morning to find him down on the couch with cheez-its (Luke was proud) watching Sportscenter (I was so proud)!

Lessons Learned

1. Don't let Gus play in the garage by himself. You'll hear something like this. "I so mad at you. You say 'Okay' ones more time, I gonna spank you and pull yours hair!" I opened the door to ask who he was talking to and he smiled and said, "Just me!"

2. Never leave babies unattended in the bath. While my attention was focused on scrubbing the toilet, Samantha decided that her pruny toes were calling. Um, sucking on toes underwater causes problems. One sputtering, coughing, sneezing bubbles baby later...

3. There is such a thing as a "chewed up." I'm not sure what it is, but my guess is that it's sort of like a "suck-on candy." Joshua came running to me with a picture yesterday. "Like it? It's a chewed up!" Yes, son, it looks like a "chewed up." You're disgusting.

4. Line drives hurt, even if they are hit using a wiffle ball. Joshua made the same kid cry twice during his baseball camp last week. He also slide tackled a second kid...and instead of apologizing, said, "See, I'm faster then you."

5. Never go back-to-school shopping with the spawn of Luke. I had to leave EmJ in the dressing room, in tears, doing eenie-meenie-meinie-mo to decide which clothes to get. Decisions are the worst.

Miracles

Yesterday, a mom's dream came true. Joshua said, "Mom, can we please play quietly in our bedroom so we don't wake up Sam?"

Then later, Joshua brought me his clean plate and said, "Mom, can I please have some more dessert?"

Thanks man, but what have you done with Willie?!

Tomatoes

This is what Sam thought of her frilly Sunday dress!



We have a red tomato! I exercised all restraint yesterday and didn't eat it...first harvest goes to my dad!



Sam recovered to smile for one picture!

Brown chicken, brown cow!

So, at the ripe old age of four, Willie learned how to ride his bike! I took this video after about 5 minutes of practice. By the end of the hour, he was cruising like a pro...braking, turning, going up and down the curbs (and lawns). I think it's pretty amazing that he learned so quickly, and I'm sad that we didn't teach him sooner so he could enjoy the summer. We had multiple neighbor say, "We've got a helmet if he needs one," which is their polite way of threatening to call CPS on us! (Yes, mom, he has a helmet...and he wears it most of the time...)

Tidbits

It's been hot. Luke talks to the fan like Tommy Boy, "L-l-l-l-uuuuuuke, I am your faaaaathhherrrr." Benjamin copies him, "I'm Moook Faddah!" It's hilarious.

Last week we took family pictures. Brian and Luke (the favorite and 3rd favorite son-in-laws)got some good ones. I'm sure I caught the poor photographer grimacing.

For more pictures and info on the weekend, visit Lindsey's blog www.thefromm.blogspot.com
or my mom's
www.puppygrandma.blogspot.com

We said good-bye to Zack this past Tuesday. He's officially a missionary, residing in Brazil! Although the family was together all weekend because we were saying good-bye, it was an amazing, funfilled time. I particularly enjoyed spending time with my siblings. I love you!

We also had a rare girls' night last week. It was so much fun, I love my sister (in-laws)! I have visions of going on cruises and vacations together, but for now we'll settle for dinner and laughing! Between the 8 of us at dinner that night, we have 27 kids. Wowza!

And that's it. Willie and Emmeline are wandering around blindfolded, and I should probably supervise before somebody smacks their face on the corner of the counter. It's painful, you'd think they would learn. Bye!