Tag I am it

What was I doing 10 years ago?

I had just had my first baby and was getting adjusted to the life as a mother.

What was I doing 1 year ago?

Same things I am doing now - playing with the kids wishing the house was clean.

What are my five favorite snacks?

Cold Cereal - preferably whole grain
M&M's - my favorite candy
Toast with Strawberry Freezer Jam - Yum
Fruit any kind
?

What 5 songs I know the lyrics to.

I am proud to be an American
T_R_O_U_B_L_E
that Karate Kid song "Glory of Love"
Lots of church songs
The River

5 Things I would do if I were a millionaire.

Get totally debt free!!
Go on Vacation some place tropical
Invest
Give to charity
give awesome Christmas gifts to family and friends

5 Bad Habits-

Don't tidy as I go
I don't RSVP or send Thank You's like I should
Procrastination - seen this on lots of lists
Eating cereal in bed
Laundry pile that never ends

5 Things I would never wear again-

Acid wash jeans
Jellies
Shortie Shorts and knee socks
Bangs more than two inches tall
leggins I am just getting to old

5 Toys I Love-

Kitchen Aide mixer
Lap top
Digital camera
Cooking Timer
???

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen things to do when it is raining:

!. Read - one of my favorites,

2. Rent movies - always look for coupons for this one

3. Go the the movies - we have a local theater that has .50 cent Tuesdays

4. Play board games - always a good choice

5. Make cookies - if your oven is working, mine is not

6. Play at the local Carl's Junior or McD's indoor playground

7. Crafts - if your crafty

8. Visit the Library

9. Zoo or Aquarium - if you got one

10. Have a friend come visit - so many I need to catch up with it is hard to choose

11. Nothing - just veg out in front of the TV with the kids, usually turns into a wrestling match

12. Secret Service - one of those make something yummy and secretly leave it at your friends and neighbors houses

13. Clean - this was the last resort but if you need to clean out that closet or organize the dresser go for it, you will be glad you did later!

Hope your days our sunny. We have had the rainiest June ever recorded for our neck of the woods. So we have not been able to swim much or anything else that requires dry ground.

BSA Camp Mission Complete

This year of scout camp was totally a success. The leaders were great! They boys did an awesome job! It was hot two days and rained the other three but over all a tons of fun! These are a few pictures of some of the activities they participated in.

E on the zip line, no fear here! E is the boy on the far left.

Check out the little guy on the far right. He is hanging on for dear life. He did eventually go for it after some encouraging words from his fearless leader/mom.

J and E getting a little fishing in. (They are wearing the blue shorts)

J-man is the one in the red hat. He had just picked up his feet and was going for it.

Above J and E are brushing up on their archery skills.

The boys loved this game. It was like hockey only with half of a swim noodle and a tiny little beach ball. This was an awesome way to use up some of that youthful energy.

This was a Webelo Scout project. It was J's turn to drive. There were about 6 of these carts which are scout powered. The carts were raffled off at the end of the day and the pack that helped our boys build this one won our cart. They are an other LDS pack and so they said they would share. SO nice!

Boy Scouts Camp

This week is Boy Scout day camp. It is so fun I have been busy with carpooling and working. We have a really great leader this year. This is her first year so she was a little nervous but has done a fabulous job! I love the chance to see my boys participating and enjoying the outdoors. My boys are on the left. This years theme Pirates. They have tried their hand at fishing, archery, BB guns, sling shot, crafts, and zip line. They are learning lots and having tons of fun! I had the chance to stay and work on Wed. which was a blast. I am working in Friday as well and I can't wait. My Mequell has been such a big help with watching the other kids. She is great!

Hope everything is good in Texas!

Out and about

We were out walking last night and enjoying the rain cooled air. It was so nice to just be outside and moving. My baby girl, who is now 2 years old, made the walk last night rather slow. She kept stopping to look at the plants and puddles. The creek beds were full and everyone had fun throwing rocks. This picture shows off my fabulous five and the swollen creek. We managed to do the first half of our 2.5 mile jaunt at a snails pace I was happy when we finally reached the park. Then we played until we started to get sprinkled on so we ran most of the way home. I am usually very observant of the weather but last night I did not even check the weather for rain. Luckily we got home with time to spare. It was a real work out because I was pushing two kids in the stroller the entire way home.

It has been raining a lot lately. Which is fine with me, I love it. But I hope that it gives us a break so we can go swim soon.

Have a great day!

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen things that scare me :

1. The Lake - I know that it is nice and beautiful but when my son was 2 yrs old we went to the lake. He walked out about 20 ft and fell into a sink hole. Well I got over to where I had seen him bob up but the water was so murky that I could not see him. I just prayed to Heavenly Father ' If you let him pop up one more time I'll get him' and sure enough he popped right up but now I am scarred.

2. Spiders -Just do

3. Crickets - I 've just had too many of them in my hair.

4. Scary Movies - surprise, surprise

5. CSI - Just the music to those shows gives me the creeps.

6. Personal Interviews - It doesn't matter job, church or volunteer. They just stress me out.

7. When I see my child falling and cant get there fast enough!

8. Cold dirty sink water - when I was growing up my mom always was soaking dishes in the sink and I remember one time I reached in to the water and touched a dead mouse, Yuck, just thinking about it gives me the heeby jeebies.

9. Meeting new people - this is just one of those quirks that makes me, me.

10. Buying gas - the price of gas is so high that I just cringe when the total comes up.

11. Losing one of my family members

12. Night mares - When I have a lot of stress I get terrible night mares.

13. War - The war in Iraq seems to be so difficult. For every good stride of success the Insurgents and Taliban seem to react so violently that the hopes of us ever being able to leave seems low. It is sad because there are families in Iraq that want peace and security. The news this morning expressed a concern of the war spreading. I just pray for peace and tolerance of those involved.

I am not really creative so you will have to bare with me and I will try to be more original in my thirteen, :-)

Happy Birthday!!

It was Caleb's Birthday this past weekend. We had a family birthday like we always do and it was fun. He has asked the last two months for a Giant Robot. I was so glad that his birthday was finally here so I could get it for him. It was one of those gifts that you know is going to be trash in about a week because it is cheaply made. But he was persistent, I was hoping that he would forget about it so I could get him something better. It was worth every penny when he finally got to open his presents. It was the first gift he opened because he could tell by the size of the box it was the robot. His little face lit up and he laughed with joy. It's funny how joy is contagious. If you see someone, anyone in a true state of joy, you just can't help but smile. It brings a little light in to my life. I love it! I know that the robot will soon be headed to the big trash heap in the sky but that moment of joy in my sons eyes will be forever tucked in to my heart!

OK so it is...

Not going so well. The last couple of weeks we have been doing alot of family exercising. Which was great because it was so much that I did not have to add anything but sit ups and push ups. But this week my husbands work schedule has been changed around and I am struggling to keep things on a good healthy level of organization. So I have not been exercising enough to keep up with my goals. It is just so frustrating!!! I absolutely LOVE to have my kids at home with me all the time but if I don't keep a good schedule then things go crazy. I have learned this from summers past. I really hate to do it but for the sake of the family I am going to post pone my exercise schedule for a couple of weeks. I will exercise as much as I can squeeze in but no long runs or rides till things settle down. I can live with that for now.

My youngest son has an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Any changes in routine cause him to go through melt downs. Since school has been out he has had frequent melt downs. He just becomes an emotional wreck. I feel badly for him but try to get him focused on calming himself. That is my new goal for him, Self Calming Techniques. He is starting preschool in the fall everyday and I won't be their to help calm him so he has to learn how to do it himself. Which is a real trick because some days I can't help to calm his little sad spirit either. I just keep praying that his progress continues. He has come so far and I am truly grateful but we still have a bumpy road ahead.

Tuesday Two

So often I think that we get to busy to offer kindness to others. I recently gave a talk in church about Brotherly Kindness. It was great because I really had a chance to think about the acts of kindness I have received and given. So I am going to share two that I have received. Hence the Tuesday Two.

1. I was at the grocery store with my two sons one 18 mos and the other just a tiny little guy a few weeks old. I was just finishing up and the baby had just woken up. I don't know how your babies were when you went to the grocery store but every time I went to check out they would wake up and cry, screaming cry. Most of the time it was because they had slept the entire time and were hungry. But I would do my best to console them while putting the groceries on the conveyor belt. This was usually futile and I would give all my attention to get the groceries out of the cart as fast as humanly possible. But one time a sweet angel of a lady came and offered to hold my little one while I attended to the groceries. This was such a blessing it calmed my child and I was able to finish without all of the hurry. I thanked her many times but I don't think it was enough. I decided when my little ones are no longer babies then I will do this for the young mothers that I see at the groceries store.

2. The whole family went to the local whole sale club. They had just recently gotten new baskets which were shallower than the older style. My baby girl was about 11 months old and was riding in the basket . Well a lady pulled out in front of us and I stopped short and my baby fell head first over the front of the basket. She hit her little head on the basket and the cement floor. It was terrible, one of those moments when you see it happening in slow motion. I ran and picked her up trying to sooth her but nothing was working. Then an angel came up our isle, he was a kind man who must have notice the screaming and the distraught look on my face. He quickly came over and began to talk to my little girl. She stopped crying for a moment when he spoke to her. But then he did the most amazing thing, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a balloon. One of those long balloons that you twist into shapes. He quickly made a little lady bug - as he was manipulating the balloon my little injured child calmed. He put it in her hair and made her a flower, too. He made swords for the boys and an other flower for my other daughter. He was an angel and a blessing. He took time out of his day and blessed our family, I will never forget him.

This was fun. I would like to hear a random act of kindness that has been done for you so if you post let me know.

Monday

This weekend we did not do very much. It was nice just to hang out and play with the kids. J had a birthday party Saturday, Scot helped haul some siding for my brother and Sunday we went to chuch but that was all the going we did. Oh and we did squeeze in a five mile bike ride. I know it is not much but it is a start. My two youngest children were pretty tired by the end of the ride but over all they did really well.

This week I am going to start:

1. Chore Charts for the kids - helps keep things organized and the kids responsible.

2. Training for Triathlon - May 2008 - I have sort of been training by building up my over all fitness level but now I am going to do timed runs and go for mileage. Wish me luck.

3. Cleaning out the Girls room - Go through toy boxes - work on finishing the Bunk bed so the baby girl can get out of the crib. Maybe a little wall paper?

4. Service projects - I think it is important that we as a family offer service when we can, I think that we might weed the flower beds and something else. It is hard to find service projects that even a two year old can do.

5. Summer reading program - The library has alot of excellent activities for the kids during the summer.

6. Swimming - Wednesday - I tell the kids it has to be 90 degrees before we can go swimming. The weather guy says that Wednesday is the day. Ya Hoo!

Hope you all have a good week!

Family Night..

We spent some time playing out side. The pools are open and all of the kids want to go. However, once they touch that cold water my two girls will be ready to go. SO they opted to jump on the trampoline and let mom spray them with the water hose. They still had lots of fun! They all look so cute in their swim suits. I hope I fair as well. The baby girl is saying cheese. J is makin' a crazy face. E is was being bashful. M is gorgeous and C, he is just cheezin'.