T-Bone's Ten

My big baby isn't a baby anymore. Today was the the big one o. Here's his "big" present from Mom and Dad. We had a small family party today and he also received a pocket knife, bow and arrow, ax body spray (gotta smell yum) and a new t-shirt from his sibs.

I came in to check on Emma one day and she was busy putting the puppy to sleep. And he actually slept there! Weird.
Which one is stuffed? (Actually there are moments I wish they were both stuffed. I'm potty training the stinking thing now. But he is actually pretty cute, quiet and cuddly.)
This boy is grooooowing. We took him to buy shoes the other day and we had to go to the mens section for his shoes and socks. THE MENS SECTION!!!
I thought he looked adorable-hunky in this picture with his cousin Carson. Handsome boys. :)

kids

Maso discovered "ugly nose". He's having a blast making people laugh.
His pediatrician recommended hearing tests every year due to his meningitis as a baby, so I had it checked. All is well. I had a whole development "check up" by an early childhood specialist in our home at the same time, and while he's a "smart" baby, there are some milestone's that are a little delayed. (pointing to pictures, trying to say animal sounds etc.) I know all babies develop at different rates, but we are going to have a therapist come a few times a month at the house and in the office, and just catch him up a little more. I will update as I learn more...
"I Spy" books are now the big rage here at our house due to Emma-Lemon. She LOVES them. The kids were in bed "reading" and I went and checked on them to find all little eyeballs on the Spy books. I totally counted it as actual reading time. :)
Monday evening was cold. Not Vernal-winter cold, but very cool. BUT, the kid insisted on a bbq/picnic. So we zipped on our jackets and froze a little.
I went into the house to grab something and came out to Nate and the kids throwing corn at each other. A lot of corn. Guess it was good we were outside. Even Mason was having a blast...

books and stuff

I have recommitted myself to reading to the kids WHENEVER they bring me a book. I will immediately sit down and read it to them. Mason brings me books 10 times a day, and Emma as well. Worn out mama! We are book freaks right now.

  Crappy the puppy, er, I mean Scrappy the puppy started howling at 6:45 am this morning under our bed! Oh how annoying. Usually we go back to bed, but Nathan and I woke up and talked for a good 30 minutes about nothing and everything. It was a delightful way to start out the week.

Off and running

Quick 8:00 am trip to Wal-Mart this morning. Tyler needed some hiking boots for a 5-mile hike Nate is taking his scouts on today. I am glad they are going, though it's a little draining to have The Husband gone again. I like my hubs around! Monday was ward party, Tuesday was scouts, Wednesday I had school, Thursday and Friday he has school. But we do have The Office to look forward to together. It's the small things right?

  While I was in Hailey's school class the other day a little girl asked, "Who dyed their hair, you or Hailey? You are opposites." Seriously mine and Hailey's hair are polar. But we do have the same long legs and chubby cheeks. :) 

    So I had been keeping a list of things that make me happy on the side of my blog. I was amazed I could think of that many! Then I found this book:

I ordered it and love it. But it humbled me. :)

Ewww gross

I was randomly going through strangers blogs and came across this mom talking about her carpet:

We walk on it.

We sit on it.

We spill food on it.

We watched our toddler bite it.

We sleep on it.

We cuddle on it.

We trip on it.

We throw stuff on it.

We watch the dog pee on it.

We wrap presents on it.

We open gifts on it.

We wrestle on it.

We cry on it.

We throw up on it.

We vacuum it.

We read on it.

We play games on it.

Basically she was describing our carpet. But I am NOT sentimental with my carpet like she tended to be. The lesson learned: I will never not replace the carpet in a used home I buy. Totally disgusting using someone else's carpet. Gag me with a spoon. And you know there are other fluids or experiences with the carpet that she didn't describe...(to do with all forms of people/animal bodily fluids).

Getting the days on paper.

Emma and Mason are asleep. ASLEEP! And the school kids are gone. GONE! Which means I have a moment of silence. Since those don't happen often I thought I would quickly journal the last few days. Monday evening we went to a neighborhood BBQ at the Perry's home (a few houses down). Just 3-4 streets were invited, LDS or not, and there were over 100 people there.(My guesstimate). I looked around and realized I have really fabulous neighbors. They are a variety of ages and are such great examples of average people just trying to live a good life and be a good neighbor. I really love the area we are in. All the kids played Red Rover while it was crazy lightning. It quickly started to pour and everyone ran home. Good ending to a good bbq. Except after we got home and put Mason to bed all the lights went out, which was fun for oh, about 3 minutes. We all climbed on our bed with flashlights and no one would go to sleep. Sounds cool, but reality came fast. VERY claustrophobic. :)

   Tuesday, Nate came home for lunch and I dressed in my "nice clothes" and went and did an hour observation in Hailey's class for my Elementary Education class. It was awesome. I am surprised at how "techie" the classrooms are. The teacher had a huge board she wrote on that was computerized and a touch screen and all her lessons are powerpoint. Plus the daily schedule was  timed  with a timer and beeper throughout the day so that she knows when to move on tho the next subject. I think it would be hard to keep the kids on task all day, but at least she knows if she is going to get through the lessons for the day.

  Well, Mason is bellowing in his room. "Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!". Off I go to clean a stinky bum and start another round of breakfast.

A really bad and really good sleep

Our house STILL smells. Last night Tyler tried to make chips by putting a cut up tortilla in the MICROWAVE until it was charcoal-y and black. Mine and Nate's eyes were literally stinging and dripping with tears it was so ferocious. Since I stayed home from church with a bad cold I got to gulp some Nyquil before bed. (The good part of sleep). So you can imagine how annoyed I was at 5:00 am when Scrappy the New Puppy got stuck under our bed and started howling. So annoying.

Today's News

I had the younger 2 dumplings get their vaccinations 2 days ago. Yup, lots of whinnies, clingy's, fevers, a missed field trip ON THE BUS EVEN! and an Emma barf. Gotta love the day after shots! But don't worry, we got a new puppy to help with the chaos. *roll eyes here* Tyler is turning ten this month and we said he is too old for huge birthday parties, so he talked us into a new puppy. It's a little black Pomeranian and I don't even need a picture. Just imagine a black kitten. I told Nate why didn't we just take a free kitten then? (He didn't like that comment as he is "anti-cat"...or at least until he goes to pick out a dog.)
We started watching The Sound of Music last weekend when Rachel and cousin Maddie came over, and now we watch it EVERY day. In fact, Emma is listening to My Favorite Things as we speak. Mason is throwing his new set of blocks every which way in the kitchen. (All 150 of them). Nathan is off to school for the weekend, and I am preparing to go observe my first class next Tuesday. For an assignment we have to spend 5 hours in a classroom and I chose Hailey's class. Her teacher was Tyler's last year and was super nice when I asked if I could come in. The hardest part will be to not talk to Hailey the whole time. :) (She's very excited, just like me!)