Keeping my sanity

Sickie and the Big Feet

2011-04-21T19:53:00.002-05:00

It's not fair!

I take it back!

I'll knock on wood!

Really? I mean, I didn't even say it out loud!!!!

So, I jinxed myself and I'm not happy about it. The thing is, can you really jinx yourself if all you do is think it? Apparently so....

Just yesterday it hit me how healthy Katie has been (you know what's coming, don't you?) She hit 8 months without even a mild fever! When you compare this to Tyler - 8 days in the hospital when he was 6 weeks old and months on oxygen at home. And Jason - numerous ear infections with tubes being put in at 13 months. And Jackson - well, I think Jackson was pretty healthy, but I was a postpartum haze and it's all a bit foggy! So anyway, there I sat thinking about how wonderfully healthy she has been. At that very moment I am sure the nasty bug germs inside her were having a grand old time, laughing at me and mocking me and infecting my perfectly healthy little angel. Now she is coughing, clingy, has a nose that runs like a faucet and is running a temp. I hate sick babies. Wait, that sounded wrong. I don't hate the babies....I hate the sick part.....you know what I mean. On top of this comes a big dose of mom guilt. The kind every mom I know has mastered to a science. This week I have been diligent in my gym attendance. I am running again and I'm loving it - didn't even realized I missed it, but I did. I've tried yoga and some other classes but for me, there is nothing like just me a treadmill. Classes tend to get in my head and mess with me - but that is a topic for another time! I was feeling really good about taking time for "me" and yet how can I not link the new sickness with a week of going to the gym childcare. What can I say.... I mean, I'm building her immunities, right? Or is that just something some mom made up to make herself feel better. Oh well, it was bound to happen eventually. Might as well be now.

Back to the running....can I just tell you how much I love a new pair of running shoes? I mean the good ones, the ones some supposed foot expert (with really cute toe nail polish - kicking myself for not taking a picture of it....but that might have been weird) picks out just for your feet that feel amazing the second they go on. I had been using a pair I bought on sale awhile ago that I thought were cute (what was I thinking ) and my shin pain made me want to cry. One shoe shopping trip later and todays run was way faster with NO pain! :) However, what I didn't like about the shoe experience is that since having baby number 4 my shoe size has once again gone up a half size!!! NO!!! It's sad, really sad. I simply can not have anymore kids if for no other reason than I REFUSE to have bigger feet than my husband! I was wondering why my cute summer sandals were so uncomfortable at church last week. It's kinda heartbreaking and shallow at the same time..... and I'll probably keep trying to squeeze into them for awhile.... but I have a feeling some lucky friend of mine (who wears a size 9) is about to score on some shoes! All of you willing to admit your shoe size on my blog, leave me a comment. Free cute shoes should be motivation enough - after all, I put all this out there and I get nothing but big feet! Boo.

Who would have thought I could start a post about my sick daughter and end up talking about my feet. Maybe it's due to my overload of diet coke today, or maybe it's just been one of those days!

However, I must say....these cuties sure do make big feet worth it!

Easter Memories and Traditions

2011-04-19T14:45:00.000-05:00

I love Easter. It is hands down my favorite holiday. For one thing - it's in the spring - my favorite season! But also, some of my best memories as a kid are of Easter. Now that I have my own kids, I spend a lot of time thinking about why that was. I want to be able to create those kind of memories for my family and I love holiday traditions. My mom always did such a great job with my egg hunts and baskets. I still remember where she hid my baskets most years. Some of my favorites were... in the dryer, balancing on the towel bar in the bathroom (I kept looking and looking but must have been short and never looked up) and the year it was hiding in a field in the forest with a balloon attached. There were always eggs everywhere, and every year she would count how many she hid and yet we would never find them all. So, every July or August, one of the dogs would show up with a cracked plastic egg in their mouth. Then there was the year that each egg had a clue leading to the next egg. It was by far my favorite egg hunt! I started this tradition last year with my kids and it was a huge hit - they were writing clues and making there own egg hunts for days after. They are already making sure that I will be doing the same again this year. (Luckily I still have my clues on the computer so with a few changes I can use them again!)

The other thing that always made Easter so special was my Grandpa. Being an only child, there were no siblings compete with to find the most eggs. So, the egg hunts were between Grandpa and me. He would chase me around trying to steal my eggs and talking a big talk about finding them all before me. When I was little I was worried he really was stealing my eggs - but as I got older (and realized he gave me all the eggs he found) I just loved the tradition and fun of something we shared together. Last June he passed away and with Easter approaching I am missing him more than ever. How grateful it has made me to have the gospel in my life - knowing that I will see him again is such a blessing! On a side note - as a family we are taking this week to ponder and learn about the saviors death and resurrection. This morning we were reading about Mary not recognizing the savior when he first appeared to her - we asked the kids why she didn't recognize him and Jackson's answer was, "Because he was brand new- with some holes!" They really do make scripture study pretty entertaining (when they aren't asleep!)

Anyway, Easter is almost here and for the first time I can remember, we won't have any family here with us. Luckily, we are having some dear friends over and I get to be in charge of the egg hunt! It's helping me to focus on the fun parts of this Easter and pass along all the fun I had as a child - I love it. I am also in charge of the Ham (wish me luck...) and some other food. I am sure it will work out - and if it doesn't - my friend is a great cook so at least something will be edible. And Grandpa, I love you, I miss you and I promise to steal eggs and candy from all my kids in honor of you!

Why I do what I do!

2011-04-13T09:07:00.001-05:00

On days when my life feels uneventful an unimportant, having my 8 year old bring this home from school makes it all worth it!!

You may need to click on the picture to read it - sorry it's so small, but I'm trying out blogging from my phone which is new to me!

2011-04-12T08:00:00.000-05:00

Yesterday wasn't my favorite day. There were 8 loads of laundry (only 6 were completed) errands to run, kids to take to swim team, a huge school project to help Jason with and an endless list of things I would have rather been doing. On top of that I have had a nagging headache that comes and goes for the past few days and I haven't been sleeping well at all. So, I was a little (ok, maybe a lot if you ask my kids and husband) cranky. Cranky, but trying my best. So when the rain started to fall, I felt instantly comforted. I love the rain. I always have. I think I love it more when it seems to match my mood on the inside. So I scooped up my adorable baby from the highchair, grabbed her dinner of plums with applesauce and headed to the front porch to watch it pour. Of course the whole family followed and can I just say that there is nothing better than watching your kids run around in the rain. There are no electronics involved and yet pure joy seems to radiate from them as they splash around and are beyond thrilled to get soaked to the bone! Now, if only inside showers could excite them the same way..... Anyway, after all that excitement, who would have thought it could get better? But, of course, it did, in a big way! It was one of the best rainbows I have seen in years. If only I had a a lens that could have captured it in it's entirety.

The kids were convinced that the rainbow was ending at our friends house who lives a few blocks away. I thought about making a joke about the pot of gold being their three daughters but decided to let them enjoy the fun instead of turning it into a "Mo-ooom" (insert annoyance when reading aloud) moment for them all! So, Jessica -if they come knocking and asking about the pot of gold - they really do mean gold, not girls.

And on a completely random note that is covered in spinach....

I can't seem to get enough of these baby blues! I mean, can you blame me?

2011-04-11T09:57:00.000-05:00

I have regrets.

Big ones...

And here is the regret for today: I tend to compare myself to others WAY to much! (I'm not the only one right?) I used to love blogging, I loved writing about my little family and reading the comments from my friends that followed. However, the habit of comparing reared its ugly head... My blog wasn't as cute, the writing not as witty, the layout not as appealing, the pictures not as well taken. So, I gave up something that I loved doing. It wasn't a decision I woke up one day and made, it was a decision that my inaction made for me. The problem is that I have spent so much time regretting all the things that have happened in our family that I wish I had written about! So, I'm not making promises, I may not blog again for another year or so. However, I will try. Try not to care if my blog isn't what I want it to be and will try to just let it be! Try to once again enjoy writing about the funny and touching moments of my life with these four little ones I love so much. If for no other reason that I seem to have the worst memory lately and hopefully this will help me remember these years that are passing by way to quickly.

Random things I'd like to remember:

TYLER'S BACKSTROKE

The kids are swimming. It has become a huge part of our life but they are loving it. The older two are on year round swim team but we have been trying to get Tyler ready for summer swim team so we put him in private lessons a few months ago. He has made huge progress and can now swim 25 meters in backstroke and freestyle. When he first learned backstroke, his teacher looked down and wondered why he was only using one arm. Turns out the other arm was holding on to the strings of his swim suit. According to Tyler he was "holding up his belly button!"

KATIE

I love having a daughter. I always knew I would but I really wasn't prepared for how much. I thought I would love the cute clothes and hair bows (and I do) but it is so much more than that! Not really sure how to put it into words without sounding overly corny but I can't imagine our family without her.

FRIENDS

I am grateful for friends lately. I used to make friends really easily. Four years ago, I was more open, more outgoing and probably more fun. But life happens. I may not like it but some of that "life" changed me and I'm more reserved now about who open up to, more afraid I'll get hurt and less willing to let friends in. I'm working on it. Everyday. So, when Katie was born I was so touched by the people that came to help. It reminded me of all the people that I have here that care, friends that I could turn to if I needed anything. It happened again a few weeks ago when I hurt my arm. (Jason fell on it while we were playing on the trampoline-ow!) There they were again, coming over to help, bringing food, changing my sheets and just calling to check on me. Life with four kids can get busy, and sometimes I try to convince myself that it is enough to be a wife and a mother. But it's not. Being a friend and having friends, makes me a better me in all areas of my life. It brings balance to the busyness.

FUNNY DINNER CONVERSATION

The other night at dinner Jackson sighed and asked, "Mom, why did Satan turn against heavenly father?" Tyler didn't miss a beat, turned to him and said, "It's because he's Brittish!"

Not sure where he comes up with this stuff, but we sure enjoy it!

New Beginnings

2009-09-11T18:32:00.000-05:00

A new school year is now in full swing. Once again, it was a year of change for our family. We moved here one year ago and started a new school not knowing what we were getting in to. It didn't take long before we loved it. I loved my kids teacher, I loved the sense of family that the school had and I loved all the friends I made through my kids. However, last spring they deceded to rezone the school district and our neighborhood was affected. So once again we started a new school year at a new school. At least this time they got to take a few of their friends along with them but it is still an adjustment. Plus, every time we drive by the old school my kids look out the window longingly and express their how badly they want to return to the old school. Mean while I am trying to stay positvie, telling them how great their new school is, yet on the inside screaming that I too want to go back! Yesterday we went back to visit friends and last years teachers and it was bitter sweet for us all. Upon leaving Jackson asked, "Mom, can we do this everyday?" He really loved his kindergarten teacher - she was the perfect teacher for him and as much as he likes his new teacher he kept telling me how much he wished he were still with Mrs. Ratcliffe. On a positive note, I am happy with the kids teachers and they seem to be liking it well enough. The adjustment for me is really the small things of coming from a school with an extremely active and way organized PTA and now not really understanding the organization or plan of the new PTA. Oh well, we have our first PTA meeting this Monday and their is a group of us ready to go in united and shake things up a bit. (In the nicest way possible, of course!) Should be interesting! :)

As always, I took some pictures on the first day of school. I didn't really look at them again until yesterday when I decided to do some editing. When I did I realized that I liked many of the pictures much more than I had remembered. Amazing what editing can do! Here's the video I put together yesterday. The music still needs a little fine tuning but all in all I am happy with it. Let me know what you think!

Memories of Madison

2009-09-10T07:32:00.000-05:00

Lately I have been feeling unproductive. It is almost ironic because my house is more organized than ever - I've been running everyday (even beat Sean's time last night for the 2 mile loop in our neighborhood - woo hoo!) and getting a ton accomplished on projects around the house. What I am starting to realize is that sure, all of that helps, yet I really need to have more of a creative outlet in my life. Nothing else brings me the same kind of peace, stability or sense of accomplishment in my life. I also need to have a place to share it, so after a year of being a pathetic blogger - I am determined to come back in full force! I need to force myself to start scheduling time where my camera comes out of the bag - I need to quit watching videos, reading blogs and magazines on how to take great pictures and actually start taking them again!

This summer I went back to Wisconsin for the family reunion and to see my Grandfather. My mom and I spent a day driving around the east side of Madison, going to the parks, beaches and houses I grew up in. Next year we will hit Stoughton, the other main area of my childhood, but this was all we had time for this trip. It made me realize what an incredible and beautiful place I lived. At least I can say that when my visit took place during the summer months. In the winter....not so much. I made this video clip of all the pictures and video clips I took from the trip. Hope you like it!

Oh - on a side note, you can call me indecisive but I'm not changing my blog - I'll use my other blog for posting other stuff.

A Change of Address

2009-06-15T16:49:00.000-05:00

No, we are not moving! However, I have been considering a change of blog address for a while now and I am finally giving the Mac site a try. I may be back, I am not completely sold yet so let me know what you think. You will have to tell me what you think on this site thought because I still can't figure out how to allow comments on the mac site (hopefully I figure that out soon or I'll be back REAL soon!) Basically has anyone used it or have opinions about it? Let me know!

In the mean time here are the links to the new site. The first link takes you to my websites home page which has tabs to the Blog. But then I get confused on how to navigate so the second two links are to the two posted blog entries! Enjoy!

Welcome to my world

I don’t know how or when it happened

Reflections on the Day

Idol upset bigger than we thought???

2009-05-27T07:46:00.000-05:00

Before I begin this you should all know that I DO like Kris Allen. I will probably buy his music and love it. However, as much as i LIKE Kris, I LOVE Adam. The talent is undeniable. Plus, whenever Kris sings and extended note he shifts his chin to the right and it bugs me to no end. It just.....looks seriously weird and some what demented. I would cringe every time he did it, obviously he was way too modest because if he had ever tried singing in front of a mirror he would have fixed this. I wasn't going to blog at all about the upset, I was able to vent to a friend who agreed whole heartedly and thought I was done with it. After all, it isn't like Adam wont have an incredible career without the title of American Idol! But, this morning as I was skimming through the news headlines on the internet I came across this story. Who knows how much of a difference all this made, but I thought it was noteworthy none the less. Plus it helped explain things in my own mind.

Take it for what you will....
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/05/27/earlyshow/leisure/celebspot/main5042391.shtml

My Excuses, for what their worth...

2009-05-14T07:39:00.000-05:00

*****OK, so I just went back and re-read my post. All I can say is WOW, I really need to proof read these thing before I press the publish button! My apologies too all who already read it. I think I have the mistakes out now! I think I must have been so excited to actually be publishing a post that I got carried away!

So I am sure there are a few of you (granted a small few - but a few none the least) that are wondering why I haven't been blogging these past few months. Well, I have reasons, they may not be the best reasons, but their mine. The first has to do with my latest obsession, coupons. I know it sounds lame, I know to a lot of you it probably doesn't sound nearly as fun as blogging, but you have no idea - so let me educate you! :) Like most of you, I would always see the news clips with ladies saving an unbelievable amount of money using coupons. I was skeptical, yet curious. I tried it a few times and decided it wasn't worth my time. It was always hard to customize it for the stores in my area and I figured that I would end up buying things I wouldn't use anyway, so I would eventually give up. Then last fall I gave it one more try. Except that this time I had a partner in crime. My friend Charity had started up the quest once again and was making more progress than I ever had. She had a cousin that told her about some great web sites and with that information, we took off and haven't looked back since. It took a while for us to perfect the process, the organizing and the all the local stores coupon polilcies, but doing it with a friend made it really fun. So... just how good are we talking? Well, last time I went to Publix I had a cart full of groceries, I spent $28.00 and saved $114.00. Not every trip is as good as this but I do save a least minimun of 60% most every time I go, usually more. I have always given them a higher value in coupons than I do in actual cash. I am sure you are now thinking that I must be buying things I wouldn't normally buy. Nope! I am buying things I would normally buy and also things I would have liked to buy but maybe wouldn't because of the price. My pantry and freezer are so full I have had to get creative on where to keep stuff! Last Monday I bought 5 boxes of Post Select Cranberry and Almond (It's Sean's favorite so I stock up when it's on sale) for $1.00, not $1.00 a box, $1.00 for 5 boxes or 0.20 per box! For those of you that know how much I love a good deal, you can understand how much fun I have been having! For anyone interested who lives in the south, my favorite website for help is www.southernsavers.com . For anyone else you can look up help for your area at the grocery gathering at www.becentsable.net . They have a compiled list of helpful blogs for different areas.
There is a cute story to all of the coupon madness. Obviously my kids are learning the value of searching for good deals and coupons. They love it when I buy something for nothing or when the manufacture actually pays me to take the product from the store. Apparently Jackson started collecting coupons when we would go to the store (he would take them out of the little red boxes, or blinkies, located in the iles or from tear pads...anywhere he could find them. Then, on Mother's Day he brought me a big old pile of wadded up coupons, and with a proud smile on his face gave me a hug and said, "Happy Mother's Day, Mom." It was priceless. Knowing that he had thought about what would make me happy, planned it out and had done it all by himself made it so special to me. Gotta love that kid! In honor of mothers day... here are some pix of me and my boys.

I know....I know....please don't remind me

2009-04-22T07:39:00.000-05:00

Ok...so I KNOW it has been FOREVER since I last blogged. I got behind at Christmas and then it seemed like the more I had to blog, the more overwhelming it was to get it done. And now it's April and I can't believe how fast 2009 is going! I now there's lots I need to write about but first I figured I just need to rip off the band aid and blog something, anything, just get it done!
Highlights from this year so far....

January-I can hardly remember...it seems so long ago!
I think Jason had his first Pine Wood Derby for scouts.-

We headed home to Wisconsin (well, my home) for my uncle Bill's funeral. He was way too young and it was hard but I am grateful we were able to be there with my family. One of the benefits of living within driving distance.

February-Sean turned 36 and we had some friends over to celebrate

Jackson was chosen as the Star Citizen of the quarter in his school. I always thought he would be my trouble maker when he got to school but he is proving me wrong! This gives me enormous hope for Tyler...he is at that age that can be...trying on some days! :)

March-

My dryer started acting funny (more to follow)

New school boundaries for our city were announced and my life became consumed with canvasing the neighborhood with petitions, attending school board meeting and meeting with the superintendent. Surprisingly, I loved it. All of it, from the meetings to working with other moms to just feeling like I was making a difference. I had forgotten how much I enjoy stuff along those lines. It was a good wake up call for me to stay involved however I can.

April -

Dryer still acting funny. Bought new washer and dryer (which I LOVE!!! Seriously, I could write an entire post on it! Load of towels...30 minutes to wash, 30 minutes to dry!!) On removal of the old dryer we found a bird inside it! It looked like it had been stuffed, it had been cooked by the dryer. Then we found a complete birds nest inside the dryer vents in the roof. FUN! But, at least I got a new washer and dryer out of it.

Jackson turned 6!! I can't say much because this one has to have it's own post with pictures but it was a fun day and he is a great kid!

We started a major re-landscaping project on our house and I am loving it. As soon as I finish this I am heading outside to plant more and I can't wait! :)

My parents came for Easter. It was lots of fun and the boys all cried when they left. Tyler still asks me daily why Grandpa can't come over!

Swine flu... The kids school closed for a while but thankfully opened back up again last Wednesday. Originally they were going to keep it closed until May 14th!!

And now...it's May. I can't believe it. This year is going by so fast. I can't believe the kids are almost out of school!! I will try to be better in the coming weeks about keeping up with the blogging! Sean got me a mother's day present that should help greatly with that effort!! (more to come about this one if future posts!) Hope you're all doing well. Enjoy these few pictures that I will post to prove to everyone that, yes, we are still alive!

A Lesson Learned....

2008-11-12T09:00:00.000-06:00

Last Saturday it was military appreciation night for the University of Alabama Hockey Team. So, we were able to get free tickets to the game. I was excited to go, I knew the kids would love it and you can't really beat free. My biggest dilemma as we were getting ready to leave was which camera to take. I didn't really see a need to bring the big powerful canon. My thoughts were that I wasn't going to be framing any pictures of Hockey players... I could take some pix of the kids before we left the house and then I wouldn't have to carry around the big camera. My other reasoning was that my 8 year old has taken a serious liking to photography and is constantly trying to convince me to let him take pictures - I am MUCH more comfortable with him using my older camera. So... I had decided, and I felt good about the decision, that my old, somewhat reliable Canon power shot would suffice. I packed up the 40D, hoping not to hurt it's feelings, grabbed the power shot and was out the door.

The game was so fun, so exciting and both Jason and Jackson were having so much fun taking pictures of the players - each getting really excited if they managed to capture the puck in the picture. Then, during the break between the first and second period they introduce the parents of all the players. (It was homecoming - I don't think they do this every game) Guess who we then find out is sitting just below us.....Kurt Russel and Goldie Hawn. I could have died, I sat there with all my earlier thoughts running through my head..."I won't need a powerful lens or zoom, what will there really be to take pictures of?" And then, there they are with their perfect hair (seriously, Kurt Russel had AMAZING hair) and I am sitting there with my useless camera. A camera, I had just begun to hate. Why such a strong word, you may wonder? Well, it is because my old camera goes through batteries in what seems like a matter of seconds. (it didn't help that we bought some terrible batteries online because the price seemed so great) So, by the time I realized who was there, I had no camera abilities at all. I did however, have a ton a hokey shots, some even have the puck in it - if your lucky you just might find it.

Here he is....the son....the number one. It was probably a boring night for his whole family. This Mr. Russel is the back up goalie and didn't play all night! :(

So....lesson learned - never again will I leave my nice camera at home. Jason can take all the pictures he can get out of 4 double A batteries on the old one, but I, will always take the newer one. You can never know what picture you may be missing.

On a side note - the part of the evening my husband found hilarious was when in the midst of my frustration I turned to him and said, "I am SO blogging this!"

All for One and One for All!

2008-11-11T08:15:00.000-06:00

All last month, at least 3 or 4 times a week, I would consistently hear the words, "Mom, how much longer until Halloween?" Well, after much anticipation, it finally arrived. The boys were thrilled to dress up in their Musketeer costumes and head out to gather as much candy as they could carry!

The evening began with a Truck or Treat at the church building. (Trunk or Treat= cars lined up in the church parking lot with trunks open as the owners of those cars pass out candy and visit with friends) It was supposed to start at 5 pm and due to the kids excitement, we were actually on time. The problem was that not many people were. My kids made the parking lot circle in about 6 minutes and then what? Well, cars were still pulling in...so they just kept circling!! All in all it ended up with plastic pumpkins filled to the breaking point and then they were ready to leave. Except for Tyler, who went around the circle maybe twice and then found a place in the grass to sit and eat his treasures!

This is my friends daughter as little red riding hood. I couldn't resist posting it! She is so cute!

After the Trunk or Treat, we headed home to conquer the neighborhood. Jason, Jackson and the friends we had over couldn't wait to start. But, once again, Tyler felt a little differently. Here is what he looked like as soon as we got home:
So, while Tyler slept, we went from door to door having lots of fun. That lasted for about an hour until we realized that Jason was no longer with the group. This is NOT the first time I have lost Jason on Halloween. I think too much candy does things to his brain. I wasn't too panicked this time, he's 8, he knows his address, and last time he was only 5. So, I ran back home and he was getting there at the same time I was. All was good but we decided that was enough fun for one Halloween night. We went inside where the adults had fun visiting and the candy trading between the kids began. All in all, it was a great Halloween. We still have TONS of candy if anyone needs some! :)

Cotton Belt of America

2008-11-10T08:49:00.000-06:00

So apparently we live in the Cotton Belt. This is a phrase that even a few months ago would have meant very little to me. But not anymore. I have fallen in love with cotton! (Is this sounding too much like a fruit of the looms advertisement?) I mean, I had seen the plants, they were green, they were every where, toward the end they had little white dots on them and then suddenly, they were gorgeous. Breathtaking. I had no idea cotton looked like this. I am sad I didn't get my entire family into the field for a picture but we aren't going anywhere so there is always next year. Here it is, my newest love. Let me know what you think!

Pumpkin Patch

2008-11-09T22:00:00.000-06:00

So, these next two posts will be a little out of order. I completely forgot about them but they are still in the Fall theme of things.

A few weeks ago Jackson had his first field trip. Tyler and I went along for the fun and brought some friends along with us. The field trip was to the local Pumpkin Patch, Tate Farms. I have been to a lot of pumpkin patches (I even remember my first field trip to one in Kindergarten!) but this one was the best by far. They had corn beds, hay mazes, tricycle pits, bunnies, and hay lofts where you could jump into piles of Hay. The kids had a blast and it was fun seeing Jack interact with all of his classroom buddies. Tyler, of course, felt like such the big kid to be included in Jackson's fun!

My only complaint for the day was that I got much better pictures of my friends children than my own. Oh well. Here were the results.

Here is Tyler with his two buddies Kayla and Luke. Kayla, Anna, Luke, Jackson, Tyler and Stephen.

These last two are of my friend's daughter Kayla but I just loved them!

Jackson with his best bud Johnathan from school.

Halloween Party Time

2008-11-08T17:23:00.001-06:00

This year we were invited to a Neighborhood Halloween Party this year and it was a lot of fun. The first of a new annual tradition. Sean and I dressed up as a "Cardiac Arrest." He was the police man "arresting" and I was the "Heart" (a jail uniform with felt hearts pined to it. I thought it was pretty creative but I can't really take credit - you sure can find great stuff at the last minute on the Internet! We will have to start planning next years costumes soon... although knowing my tendencies for procrastination, I am sure I will leave it to the night before, once again!

The boys were dressed up as the Three Musketeers. My mom got them adorable costumes with these huge hats and swords. They were thrilled - anything involving swords, pretty much always gets a seal of approval from my boys! They were so cute they won the costume contest for "Best Boy Costume" It was a really fun night for everyone!

Pumpkin Carving

2008-11-07T15:41:00.000-06:00

About a week ago we carved our pumpkins for Halloween. It was a lot of fun and every year it gets a little easier for mom because the kids are more and more capable of carving their own pumpkins. This year I only had to carve one!! Jason was so proud of his final creation. Jack and I worked on his together and Tyler decided to color his! It was a fun Halloween!

This last picture does a great job of showing you the wall paper I will be taking down shortly. Any advise on getting wallpaper off the wall??

Welcome to the South

2008-11-06T10:00:00.000-06:00

A couple of weeks ago we decided to take a drive to see more of this gorgeous state we live in. With the trees starting to turn, I thought it might be a great time to get a picture for our Christmas card. I brought all the equipment but I was also realistic - if it didn't happen - OK, no big deal. It was a good thing I had that attitude. Here's the story...

We drove to this little town about 45 minutes away called Guntersville. It's adorable, you feel like you have stepped back in time. If only I hadn't had a car full of crazy, hungry boys I could have spent the day, just me and my camera and had a great time. But, that wasn't the case. (when is that EVER the case!?) Supposedly there is this great state park in Guntersville, there are signs for it everywhere but we drove and drove and drove and saw NO state park. We were frustrated, the kids were hungry....such is my life. So we went through the McDonald's drive through and pulled over at this lame boat landing. The lighting was all wrong, Jackson kept making funny faces in all my pictures, but the kids had fun feeding their cheeseburgers to the fish and throwing rocks in the water. Here were the results....(stay tuned after the photos....the best part of the story is yet to come!)

Boats were starting to come in so it was time to leave the boat dock. It was at this point that the lighting was becoming ideal and I did go to the trouble of packing up the tripod, dressing the boys in matching shirts, making Sean coordinate his shirt with mine and bringing a spray bottle with water, hair gel and combs to do the boys hair. How could I give up now? So, Sean pulled over at this Yacht club with great looking trees and a covered pavilion over looking the lake. At first look it seemed like the perfect place, there were even these great tree stumps that I could have posed the family around. We get out of the car, I open up ALL the doors to get out the kids and all the camera equipment. Then, I begin to do Jackson's hair. I think it was a this moment that I noticed the swarming bugs. No big deal, I thought, they must just be in the pavilion. Then I realized the swarming bugs, were mosquitos...yeah...mosquitos. We left the pavilion only to see a haze of bugs, no let me rephrase, a haze of mosquito's covering the entire landscape. Everywhere. We of course freaked out and frantically began swooping up everything we had just unloaded and throwing it back in the van. After we had all reached what we thought was the safety of our vehicle, we noticed the 50 or so mosquitos that had made it inside. We spent the next 10 minutes chasing down these pests with a vengeance. By the end, we were out of breath and traumatized.
I knew we were living in the South, I knew there were supposed to be massive amounts of bugs here, I just really haven't seen them in the last 4 months. I mean, the bug guy comes to spray every month and aside for the crazy ant piles in my yard, I haven't given bugs much thought. Then I come to find out that the city I live in has these trucks that drive around every month fuming the city for mosquitos. It is part of the taxes we pay - a tax I will GLADLY pay by the way! So, I guess aside from the great schools, great people and great community, I have one more reason to be grateful for where we live. It may be a while before I venture out of my safe little city again.
After all, I can still hear them now, all those mosquitos coming to feast on my family, thinking nothing more than, "Eames family, welcome to the South!"

(I stole this picture off the web, but it is a pretty accurate portrayal and helps you get the idea of how horrifying the experience was!)

Military Fun!

2008-11-06T07:40:00.000-06:00

So most everyone who reads this knows that my husband spent just under 5 years as an officer in the Air Force. It was a great time in our lives and he is still in the AF Reserves. I love him being a reservist and I know it isn't easy for him. Essentially, he has a second job that isn't the most convenient when it comes to scheduling. We appreciate all the work he does and luckily there are benefits for us. One of those is being able to vacation on bases.Every time we do this there are things my boys just couldn't see anywhere else. When we used to frequent Camp Pendalton, it was the marines doing PT on the beach and all the hover crafts doing training exercises within view of our cabin. On this last vacation we stayed at a Navy Base. The base had this incredible Aircraft museum and ALL the boys in my family were in heaven. They had all these cockpits of jets and helicopters that you could sit in, pretending you were in the heat of the battle, I'm sure! I'm not sure who enjoyed it more, Sean or the boys! Here are some fun pictures from the day.

Pensacola Paradise

2008-11-05T08:30:00.000-06:00

Well...the next 4 years should be interesting. I am trying to be openminded - mainly for my own sanity. We'll have to wait and see...
On to happier news - I need some!
Last month during the kids fall break we headed down to Pensacola,Florida for a little R&R. I am not sure how much we, but it was a fun trip. Next time I start talking about a fun camping trip will someone please remind me how much work camping can be. At least the ocean could been seen from the camp site and plenty of Diet Coke was purchased to keep me going. All survived. Here are a few of the pictures I took, I didn't take very many of the beach - I was terrified of getting even one piece of sand in my 40D, the results I was imagining would have been deadly. And yes, I am very protective of my camera! :) After the trip was over I did wish I had brought the old canon to get those beach shots that I always love so much. Here is what I did get!

There was this great tree in our campsite that the kids had a blast climbing!
Jackson was SO excited when he finally made it into the tree!
The kids with some friends from Holland we met at a neighboring campsite. Military campsites are always so much fun! At least I got this shot....

Political Ramblings

2008-11-04T18:12:00.000-06:00

I have always had a love of politics. For as long as I can remember, it had intrigued and fascinated me. Yet, no where on my blog do I ever dare do discuss it. I have been contemplating why all week.

You see, I voted for McCain. I consider myself a conservative, but it wasn't always this way. I was born into a wonderful family full of wonderful hardworking, honest, have their heart in the right place, Democrats. And yes, for many years, I too, was a Democrat. I remember being proud of being one of two Democrats in my high school government class. Even prouder that I was a Democrat that WAS aware of the issues and could debate with the best of them. Becoming conservative was a journey for me, one that I don't often talk about. This is what has perplexed me. I used to LOVE, LOVE, LOVE talking about politics with anyone who would listen. The more they disagreed, the more I loved it. But now, when my parents, or people I care about, question why I don't support Obama, I have a hard time responding. Yesterday I spent the whole day analyzing this, analyzing myself. I have never believed in the "undecided voter." I thought it was just people not willing to admit who they were voting for. People afraid of the conflict or judgement that would follow an answer. Yesterday, I came the closest to being an "undecided voter" I have ever been.

I stopped and asked myself, "why WAS I a democrat, why AM I a conservative?" There are so many democratic ideals that I agree with. I want to help the less fortunate, I do believe those who have prospered by living in this great country have a civic duty to GIVE to others. Obama is very clever in how he words things, he can make it sound like it will all be ok, but something never sits right with me. Why? I didn't want to just spout all the conservative, talk radio, talking points in my answer. (We all know I could, is talk radio ever NOT on in my house!) I wanted the answer to be my own, to be more than something I heard that sounded good. Lets be honest, both sides can sound good and both sides can royally mess things up! Here were my answers, take them for what they are worth to you.

Question #1

Why do I no longer discuss politics?

I am 30 years old and it is still hard for me to disappoint my parents. I want to be everything they ever wanted in a daughter and I know this includes a "democrat" daughter. So, I shy away from the heavy stuff. I remember how I used to feel towards republicans and it kills me to think that this must be how they see me now. Maybe this is why I feel the need to write all this... maybe not.

Question #2

Why did I become conservative, when I felt so strongly the other way?

I believe all Americans should give, should help feed and clothe the hungry, should help educate those around us, should leave our communities better than we found them. However, I don't feel that we should be forced to do this. I don't believe anyone should take away our agency. I always thought republicans were rich and greedy, that they didn't want to pay taxes because they wanted to keep all their money and everyone else could simply fend for themselves. I now feel very, very differently. My husband and I give 10 percent of our income to our church. A church that is well known for helping people in need all over this world. In the past 10 years, Joe Biden, a man who will very likely be our next Vice President, in the last 10 years has given a yearly average of $369 to charity. http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-09-12-biden-financial_N.htm He makes way more than my family and this is all he could give to all the people he is claiming to be able to help? Why would I put my faith in and give my money to the federal government, if I want it to do the most good? What does the federal government NOT mess up? Obama doesn't believe in Americans, doesn't believe that Americans would give, that Americans would help. Americans are the MOST giving nation there is. But Obama wants to force us to give. He wants to take more taxes from the rich (and his definition of rich keeps changing - I wonder what it will be by next year) forcing them to help the less fortunate. How much of that money will those people actually see after it makes its way through Washington? I guess what I am trying to say is that I believe conservatives are some of the MOST giving people. They care about helping people, not helping the government.

This may seems simplistic to some. I am sure there are many who would argue with me. There are many other reasons for me to be conservative, but this is the core. This is what makes me proud to be who I am, proud to have voted, and hopeful for the future of this country.

On a side note....OK, maybe I would have more money in my pocket if Obama is elected, and yes, 10% of more is more. BUT, Obama has also stated that he wants to reduce missile defense spending by 25%. That our bread and butter. I am not willing to risk it for what, $500 extra a year?!?

That all I have, I'll be up late tonight watching the returns and all I can say is that I am cautiously optimistic!

Tyler Turns Three!!

2008-11-03T07:26:00.000-06:00

I am not sure exactly when it happened but somewhere just before his third birthday, Diego was pretty much thrown out the window and Thomas the Train became Tyler's latest obsession. Luckily, Jackson was seriously into Thomas at that age so I was able to open up the old toys and it was as if Tyler had gone to Thomas heaven! We kept his birthday pretty simple - mainly due to the fact that we haven't lived here long enough, and don't really know enough people yet to throw him a party. I mean, we know people....but not to the point where I am going to say, "Hey..come on over, eat Thomas cake and bring my child one more toy that he really doesn't need!" Anyway...It was just the family and a few presents, but that is the beauty of a 3 year old- to him it was perfect.

I can't believe my youngest is three. I try to cherish every cuddly moment I can with him but he likes to tell me often that he "is NOT a baby". It's true, I keep waiting for the day he will surpass Jackson in height and weight. He's huge, and he's tough. I mean, not just 3 year old tough but you will get hurt kind of tough. When Sean wrestles with all the boys....Tyler is the one that always causes the most damage! It is crazy to me that my baby, the one who weighed only 6 and a half pounds at birth and was in and out of the hospital the first year of his life is now this tough, robust little kid. I am grateful, but it amazes me none the less.

So what does he like now that he is three?- Thomas the Train (I probably didn't need to mention that one!)
- Playing with Friends
- Swinging
- Watching out the window for his brothers to get off the bus
- Bella, our dog (these two are the best of buddies)
- Reading books with mom
- Eating - I swear all I hear during the day is "Mom - I hun-gy"

Things he hates?
- Anything with Tomato sauce on it
- Getting out of the bath or shower (I swear the kid could stay in all day)
- Not getting what he wants....

We feel so blessed to have Tyler in our family. He is sweet, he is loveable and he is hilarious! I don't know what we would do with out him!

Happy Birthday!!

oh...can I also mention that it is crazy yet wonderful that I don't have any children in diapers? I mean, I have spent the last 8 and a half years changing diapers and now....nothing. I LOVE IT!! ;)

Never Again!!

2008-10-19T13:11:00.000-05:00

Have you ever had one of those moments that is so embarrassing it reduces you to tears and hysterics? Me neither. At least...I hadn't...until last week. And I think it has taken me a full week for the hysterics to become hysterical instead of hysteria. Let me explain...

The beginning of last week was busy as usual. I was trying to find a time when I could make it to the commissary. (military word for a grocery store on base) Normally, I try to go in the morning when I only have Tyler to deal with and it isn't very crowded. I couldn't fit it in. I realized that the only time I could go was after the kids got out of school and although I hate shopping with 3 kids in tow, I figured I would just endure through it. Right before going we took Sean back to work and the last words out of my mouth were to remind him to make sure he remembered to transfer money into my account. I think I had something like
$12 in my account. Obviously not enough. Anyways, on to the commissary we proceeded. It was a mad house, and that is a gross understatement. They are closed on Mondays, so Tuesday afternoon is not the best time to go. To give you a visual of what it is like taking 3 boys shopping, I think Sean's friend Dan say it best, you feel like you are trying to heard cats! So, an hour and a half later, I am close to my breaking point but I can see the finish line ahead, we have made it to the long line where you wait for them to call out the next available register. While waiting in line, I am surrounded by 15 other calm and relaxed patrons. They are commenting to me on not only how well behaved my boys are but how brave I am to come shopping with them. You're right I think to myself, I AM a good mom. I don't need Sean here to help me! Why, I could even add another kid to the mix and be just fine! Who ever thought young boys were a handful obviously just wasn't using my expert parenting techniques!
Suddenly, I am at the front of the line and am being told to head down to register four. This is it, the finish line is within my grasp. We get to the register and the person currently there is just leaving which means the conveyor belt is entirely empty. Of course the two oldest boys start throwing all the food on the belt in a completely chaotic manner. I start imagining broken eggs and smashed hot dog buns so I frantically start trying to help them be helpful all while working as efficiently as possible. (Commissaries seem to operate in a slightly militaristic manner and you are expected to be as efficient as possible during peak hours!) Being the awesome mother that I am, my 3 year old son...well, he wasn't even a blip on my maternal radar. That's right, I hadn't given him one thought since I had my premonition of smashed eggs and hot dog buns. Then it happened. And oh, how it happened.....here is how it went....

BOOM (Like a gun shot)

AHHHHHH! (Screams - from multiple people - filling the air)

HISSSSSSSS! (A loud and strange hissing sound)

Then the smoke and white dust started to fill the air.

How strange, I thought, what is going on? It was at that moment that I looked to my right and that 3 year old I spoke of earlier, well let's just say he came screaming back into the center of my maternal radar. There he was, standing next to the fire extinguisher (Did you get that?!?!?) being surrounded by smoke and looking around with a completely terrified look in his eyes. I think it was at that moment that the horror sunk in for both of us. I was struck with the thought of "no, this can't be happening" and he was struck with the thought, "run, just get away and hide!" So he did, he ran to get away from the strange dust and to get away from all the people pointing and staring at him. I, on the other hand, was forced to chase him, pushing my way through a sea of staring pointing and whispering strangers. It was right then that I realized I had suddenly become "that mother." You know, the mother you always shake your head at and think, "I would do it SO much better" (and I am not the only one who has thought this!) I was the one with too many kids, the one who couldn't control them, the one who wasn't paying any attention to her youngest! I could go on and on.

Finally, I got to Tyler, (thanks to a blockade of people who, I think, just wanted to see what the commotion was all about) gave him a big hug, told him no one was mad and made sure he was OK. We then made our way back to the register just in time to see them jamming open the doors and taping off the entire area with black and yellow crime scene tape, as if the moment wasn't bad enough already! I put Tyler in the cart and continued on. Jason and Jackson are now badgering me with a thousand questions over what happened and I turn to them and plead if we could please just pretend it didn't happen for a few more minutes because mommy is pretty mortified at the moment and really doesn't want to discuss it. My cashier then turns to me to let me know that although he knows I am not finding it amusing, he finds the situation hilarious and proceeds to tell me that he had been having a "crappy day" but my 3 year old just "made his day". I smiled and told him to give me an hour or so and I might agree but....not quite yet. Then he presented me with my total and I quickly swiped my debit card, wanting nothing more than to get away from the staring, the sympathetic looks and yes, the glares from the people fanning themselves and talking about how bad the dust smelled. But no, why would the torment end there? What did happen next? My card was DECLINED!! "This machine has been having problems all day" says the nice cashier. I smile, swipe my card again and tell him that while that may be true, I knew in my gut that my wonderful, hardworking, yet sometimes forgetful husband had forgotten to transfer money and that my $12.00 probably wasn't going to cover it. I was right, declined again, ran it as a credit....yep, declined. Luckily, the commissary accepts visa. The only problem I had to face now is that commissary baggers work for tips only. I pay with debit at the commissary for that very reason - I can always pull out some cash to pay them for loading my car with groceries, a service I really am more than happy to pay for! We begin the walk to the car and I think this is where Heavenly Father took pity on my situation. I knew there was NO cash in my wallet, (is there ever? If I have cash, I spend it...just ask my husband) So as we walked I frantically started searching every nook and crannie of my purse. Miraculously, I come up with $1.50. A pathetic tip, but a tip none the less. If only my bagger hadn't been one of the glaring people, previously before mentioned, she might have been more understanding. She took my money, listened to my feeble apology, and walked away. It was then that I lost it. I sat in my car, called Sean and the hysterics began. At first, he just kept saying, "I am so sorry, I am so sorry!" Of course, he was thinking that it was simply a matter of not having money in my account. I proceed to tell him everything and he seems to understand most of it through the sobbing. He tells me to come get him so he can help make my night as stress free as possible. By the time I pick him up, all he could talk about was how smart Tyler was to figure out how to remove the pin and shoot the extinguisher! When I asked Tyler, he said "mama, I just want to shoot the squirt gun!" We have spent the week talking about what types of squirt guns we never shoot and tomorrow I am going to brave it all again. Yep, you heard me. I am going to show my face once more and face my fears. I am returning to the scene of the crime (we do have to eat after all) although this time I am going in the morning with only Tyler. Never, never, never again will I shop with the three of them during the busiest time of the day!!

So, there it all is, my most embarrassing moment to date....but with three boys, who knows what's coming next!

Oh...and don't worry, I CAN laugh about it all now!

Cow's say what?!?

2008-10-06T10:46:00.000-05:00

Last night we went on a family walk on a trail only a mile or so from our house. The trail takes you past pastures of horses and cows. The kids were having a great time running through the woods and seeing the animals. Sean and I saw this as a great opportunity to see how smart our now 3 year old son is.(birthday pictures will follow soon)

We turned to him and asked, "Ty, what sound does a cow make?"

He quickly and happily responded in a singing voice... "moo moo here, moo moo there!"

It was pretty cute.

So, maybe we need to work on what sounds animals actually do make instead of leaving it up to Old McDonald! But then again...Old McDonald had a farm, and on his farm he had a cow...so maybe he knows best!

Green Bean Dilema

2008-10-02T12:08:00.001-05:00

So last night we are sitting at the dinner table and, as usual, the boys are lamenting over eating even the smallest amount of vegetables. The following conversation is what followed...

Jason says to Jackson in a VERY dramatic manor - "What if we had no money and all their was to eat was green beans. What would you do? Eat the green beans.... or DIE?"

Jackson took a beat and with perfect comedic timing turned to his brother and said simply, "I'd go live with Grandma."

As his mom all I can say is I think his survival instincts are right on target!

Halloween Decorations

2008-09-22T12:26:00.000-05:00

I was thinking about getting out my Fall/Halloween Decorations soon, but I don't think there is much need. I woke up the other morning, walked on to the front porch and realized that Decorations had already been put up. Here is what I found!

He was about 4 - 5 inches long and I say "was" because thanks to my favorite shoes and a brave husband, this little guy is no longer with us. I guess this means that I still need to get out the decorations! Happy Fall!

School pix

2008-09-22T09:24:00.000-05:00

These are way late - the kids have been in school for over a month now but I am finally getting around to posting thier first day of school pictures. They are both loving the new school and I have been impressed with it as well. All is good!

Feeling loved...

2008-09-21T18:26:00.000-05:00

Catch up pictures!

2008-09-21T17:27:00.000-05:00

So, about 3 weeks ago (only 2 weeks after moving into the new house) we had a total of 10 house guests come to visit for the exciting occasion of Jason's baptism. Sean's oldest brother along with his wife and 5 kids, Sean's youngest brother and Sean's parents made the journey. My parents were also here but they stayed in a hotel! It was a fun weekend and I have been meaning to post the pictures for a while now. Here they are, enjoy!

And just incase you were wondering, here is what I did the day everyone left!!

It was time.....

2008-09-17T08:12:00.000-05:00

I woke up this morning to this.......

and promptly decided it was time to face the fact that my baby is no longer my baby.... he will be 3 in two weeks and it was time to finally cut his hair. I don't think I ever let my other boys get quite this long, but I just loved the mop on his head!

Here is a picture of the half way point. I was temped to leave it here, he could have had a great Mohawk......

And here is the final result. He suddenly looks like a little boy which is appropriate considering that is exactly what he is.

Affected

2008-09-17T07:55:00.001-05:00

So, seeing as how music was such a huge part of my life and now the only people that ever hear me sing anymore are my children, (and occasionaly people at church)I sing to them everynight. I usually let each kid pick one song and each of them have their favorites. Jason usually sings along with me, Jackson just listens with a big old smile on his face and Tyler shouts the song along with me. (I will have to get a video of Tyler doing this - it is pretty hilarious!) It is one of those times when all the whinning and back talk of the day is forgotten and I really love being a mom to 3 crazy boys. But, my story today is about Jason. A few nights ago while I was singing, Jason stopped me and said, "Mom, when you sing I get really affected." I was a little taken aback. I mean, seriously, I wasn't sure if he even knew what affected meant! So, I inquired further, "what do you mean?". He went on to tell me that after I would sing him a song, he would have it in his head the following day and that it would affect the way he acted and the decisions he made. When I sang a song about following Jesus and being kind to everyone, he would have a hard time ignoring or not liking someone at school. I was really touched and grateful to have a son that has realized the powerful influence music can have in our lives. Here are the lyrics to his two favorite songs at the moment...

1. I’m trying to be like Jesus;
I’m following in his ways.
I’m trying to love as he did, in all that I do and say.
At times I am tempted to make a wrong choice,
But I try to listen as the still small voice whispers,

Chorus
“Love one another as Jesus loves you.
Try to show kindness in all that you do.
Be gentle and loving in deed and in thought,
For these are the things Jesus taught.”

2. I’m trying to love my neighbor;
I’m learning to serve my friends.
I watch for the day of gladness when Jesus will come again.
I try to remember the lessons he taught.
Then the Holy Spirit enters into my thoughts, saying:

Chorus
“Love one another as Jesus loves you.
Try to show kindness in all that you do.
Be gentle and loving in deed and in thought,
For these are the things Jesus taught.”

And....

Heavenly Father, are you really there?
And do you hear and answer every child’s prayer?
Some say that heaven is far away,
but I feel it close around me as I pray.

Heavenly Father, I remember now,
something that Jesus told disciples long ago:
“Suffer the children to come to me.”
Father, in prayer I’m coming now to thee.

Pray he is there.
Speak, he is listening.
You are his child; His love now surrounds you.
He hears your prayer; He loves the children.
Of such is the kingdom, the kingdom of heaven.

If you were going to be "affected" by the words of a song - I don't think I could have picked two better songs for my 8 year old who is trying to figure things out in the confusion of the world today.

I don't know how I ended up with such great kids but I am thankful for them everyday!

My Jason

2008-09-11T09:09:00.000-05:00

So last week in frantic preparation for Jason's baptism I threw his suit on him and went outside for 10 minutes to desperately try to get a good picture of him. I wanted something to display and of course, like everything else in my life I had procrastinated it until the very last minute. After taking them I had to rush around trying to find someone to print them in an hour! It was stressful but I think I must work well under pressure - it all worked out and I loved the results. Here were my favorite 2 that we framed. I can't belive my baby has gotten so big. I feel like I blinked and suddenly this miniture Sean is standing before me!

The new house

2008-09-11T09:05:00.001-05:00

So, everytime I talk to anyone it seems they ask why I haven't posted pictures of the new house. So...

I love it! I will take pictures of the inside soon - we are almost unpacked completely. Once I buy a few bookshelves and a new desk most of the boxes will be able to be unpacked. It is so nice to feel settled in a home again after all the chaos!

Hallmark failed me.....

2008-09-11T07:03:00.000-05:00

So, I know that I haven't posted in a while, and I do promise that there will be multiple posts coming soon (maybe even later today if I can get my act together) but in the meantime....I am feeling really cynical. This probably wont be the most positive post and truthfully there is a lot that I would love to vent that I will leave out of this. The one thing I can tell you is that for the first time in my life - Hallmark has completely and utterly failed me. You see, I have this friend (who will remain nameless) who's life is basically falling apart right now. I feel helpless to do anything to ease her pain and in my helplessness I decided the least I could do was send a card of encouragement and love. Off I headed to Hallmark and to my surprise, I couldn't find the section on "So sorry your husband is a lying idiot" (There are a lot of other words that I could probably come up with but I am trying to keep this post as PG as possible) Anyways, my point is that in today's times I thought Hallmark would have this covered - I think they are missing a huge market share. Maybe I should contact them - I have had a list of possible card saying running through my head all night. But....like I said, I am keeping it PG so I will keep all my brilliant sayings to my self. But for all of you reading this - the myth has been busted - Hallmark does NOT have a card for every occasion.

Happy Birthday to me!

2008-07-31T12:55:00.000-05:00

So... the big day is here and soon it will be gone. I turned 30. I don't know why we make this out to be such a big deal in life, or maybe I should say that I don't know why I made it such a big deal. Like I accomplished something by living 10 more years?? On the other hand, knowing that the big 30 was coming up it caused me to do a lot of reflection on my life, and beyond just reflecting, I would like to think that I started to make progress. Let me explain...

Exactly 6 months ago today I had a sort of break through in my life. As I realized my 20's were almost over I began to reflect on who I was and who I wanted to be. What was holding me back? What would propel me forward? These weren't the easiest questions to ask or answer, after all when is honest self reflection ever easy. Don't get me wrong - I do belive I was doing pretty well by most people's standards, (I am not going for pitty by saying all of this) I also believe that life is about always leaning and growing and becoming more than we already are. There were things in my life that I had never truly dealt with. (Some hard divorces and some serious abandenment issues to start) I tend to be the type to shove everything under the rug and not deal with emotions that are hard - I would much rather just have fun!! So, I decided it was time for some spring cleaning of my past. I was determined to enter into my 30's a stronger person, more self assured, and more confident in who I was. It has been a journey to say the least. Painful, heart renching, enlightening, comforting....I could go on and on. With out boring you will all the details of my therapy, (ok...so they aren't boring at all - I am just not willing to put it all out here!!) my point in all of this is that I do feel like I have accomplished something more than simply "living" through my 20's. While I still have work to do, I have healed, I have found closure in so many areas in my life. This has allowed me to be a better mom and a better wife to the 4 people who mean more to me than life itself. It is so cliche to say that we would "walk through fire" or "Face fire breathing Dragons" for our family or those we love. It was in my 20's that I realized that my fire and my Dragons were within myself, as I believe most everyone's are. I am happy with the progress I have made, happy with the person I have become and that is all I can ask for, all I really wanted on my 30th birthday. So, on this birthday I can truly say "Happy" Birthday to me.

To my "BFF" Happy Birthday!! :)

2008-07-30T14:16:00.001-05:00

I have been working on this for a few days....so of course it is late just like everything else in my life. But, I still wanted to post it, better late than never right???

If you are lucky, at sometime in your life you run across one or two of those people that you know almost instantly you will love forever. It was like that when I met my husband. I was young, everyone thought I was crazy, but somehow I just knew. The second time was when I met my best friend Melanie.

We were born just 3 days apart and while I am counting down the hours until I turn 30, she has to face it 3 days before me!! If we had met when we were younger I am sure it would have been the cool thing to be older but now that 30 is approaching, I am thankful to be younger and I love letting her know it!! So for her birthday, a simple tribute, so that she can know just how much she means to me and to so many others that love her!!

Melanie and I met when I moved to Cheyenne, Wyoming. She lived down the street, we went to church together and our oldest children were in the same kindergarten class. It took us 6 months (so much wasted time!!) to finally have a real conversation but from the moment her family came to dinner and we realized our mutual love for Diet Coke, :) we never looked back! Our lives followed such similar paths. First - our birthdays, but after that we married "older men" just 7 months apart. Both of our husbands became Air Force officers while we were busy having our first children, Callie and Jason, 2 months apart. We both followed that up with 2 more children and while I was living in Germany, she was living in England. After we met, both our husbands left the air force within months of each other. It is crazy to find someone that you have this much in common with and then to get the added bonus of loving the time you spend together!?!

The truth is that I have always thought that our friendship was a gift, a blessing from above, sent to me just before I was about to need it most. She helped me through some tough stuff and I learned what friendship really means. I will always feel indebted to her for the friendship she gave me when I needed it most.

So... here are all the things I love about Melanie.... (I seem to be into lists lately if you look at my blog entries! Oh Well)

1. Her sense of Humor. Melanie can always cheer me up. Whether it is with her sarcasm, whip cream fights at dinner parties (oh how they must have hated us!), or just laughing until we cry!

2. She is insightful and smart. She can read a person or a situation so accurately. She seems to know what I am thinking or feeling before I even say it.

3. She loves me for me. I know this sounds corny but she is like this with everyone. It doesn't matter who you are or what you have done, she is truly interested in who you are.

4. She would never intentionally hurt anyone (unless they are hurting those she loves!) and she hates seeing people in pain.

5. She is the fastest runner I know!

6. I know I can call her day or night, any time and she would be there for me.

7. She is a great mom and I love her kids. Plus she loves my kids - they loved being at her house not only to play with her kids but because she treated them like her own.

8. She loves the Lord. She recognizes that we all make mistakes but she never gives up and never stops trying. I don't even think she realizes her own level of commitment. It inspires me...

9. She puts up with all my "only child" traits. Let's not go into that one!! :)

10. She understands my husband. This may sound weird but we like to joke about how alike the two of them are. (aside from the obvious boy/girl thing) It really helps when I am frustrated with him - I go to her and she can usually tell me his side of the situation in a way I can so much better understand!

11. (Yep, I am going beyond 10!) She has the BEST stories! :)

12. Watching scary movies together..... I'll just be in the kitchen....

13. Her strawberry pie, her peanut butter cookies, her guacamole.....

14. I love how much she loves people - everyone in her life. No matter how long it has been since she has seen them - she still thinks about them, worries about them, wonders about them and will take the time to make the effort to keep in touch. This too inspires me! :)

15. She is my favorite and you can tell the others - don't worry - I will still keep your secret safe!!

Melanie - I love you! I love our friendship and the all the memories. Even though we no longer live down the street from each other, I know we have years of memories to make. After all, you guys are my family's favorite family!! I hope your 30's are all you want them to be!

My Top Ten

2008-07-13T21:00:00.000-05:00

We have been in Alabama for 2 full weeks and there is so much about it here that I am loving. Mainly, I love having so much time together as a family. Sean only has to work a 40 hour work week - something we had forgotten existed!

So, here is my top ten list of all the things I love about being here.

1. The people - everyone is so friendly and helpful. Also, no one seems to be from Alabama - they have all moved here from somewhere else so that puts all of us in similar situations.

2. The humidity - I know, I know... who in their right mind would love the humidity! I never thought I would but it has cured Sean's sinus problems! That just makes for a happier husband which equates into a happier me!!

3. The rain - I have missed the rain. It was one of my favorite things growing up. I love everything about it: the smell, the puddles, the frogs, the sounds. Watching my kids play in the rain brings me more happiness than I can say.

4. The lakes - yesterday we walked to the lake nearby and took the kids fishing. I can't remember the last time we had that much fun as a family. I will post pictures soon. It is so fun living in a place where my kids can get covered in dirt while they do everything from try to catch minnows to fish with live crickets to fall in the water and get covered with dirt from head to toe. The kids loved it and I love seeing them so happy. Doing the laundry afterward didn't make me quite as happy... I am quickly learning that we are going to need a few pairs of getting dirty clothing!!

5. The House we found!! Yes, we have found a house to buy and it is almost a done deal. We have a few thing to sort out tomorrow but all the big stuff has been agreed upon. I am really happy with it and we should be moving in mid August!

6. The pace of life. Maybe it is just me but things seem slower here. You don't have the traffic and you don't have to drive very far to get places. Plus, there are so many trees everywhere that you can be in the middle of the town and suddenly feel like you are in the country.

7. Shopping at the commissary. I can't even tell you how I have missed this!! The first time we walked in I told Sean we had to stop - I was having a moment. There was just something about having BBQ sauce cost $0.67 again that made me feel like I was coming home! Living in Arizona for the last year we lived too far from the base to make it worth the drive to do our shopping there, I am so so happy to be close again. The Air Force spoiled me in that respect and I hate shopping at normal priced stores anymore.

8. The frogs. We have lots of them. A whole family I think. They sing to me every night and every now and then the bull frog chimes in. :)

9. My parents are within driving distance!! Close enough that in a few weeks they will be taking all three of my boys to their house for a week. I have no idea what I am going to do with my time but the kids are so excited!

10. Ten is yet to be discovered but I will let you know when I find it!

Butterfly

2008-07-11T16:57:00.000-05:00

So, I have fallen in love with this picture I took while we were at the botanical gardens on Monday. I have many more pictures of the boys that I will share in a later post but I just wanted to put this one up by itself. All I can say is that I LOVE LOVE LOVE my new camera!!!

A Firework Frenzy...

2008-07-05T21:32:00.001-05:00

Happy 4th of July to all of you from the Eames family.

Our 4th was filled with fun and fireworks...but mainly fireworks. It is on days such as these that I realize how much of a kid at heart Sean can be. Let me explain...

As most of you know, having your own fireworks in Arizona is a huge taboo. Something I completely understand given the fires that seem to spring up every year around this time. So, when we got to Alabama and there were firework stands everywhere, Sean started his master plan. On the afternoon of the 4th he and the boys left for the firework store and came home with this.....

I couldn't imagine for the life of me why we would ever need so many fireworks but Sean assured me that it was needed and the boys were beyond excited to start blowing things up! Here is how happy a van full of explosives can make my ALL of my boys.....

An Alabama sunset I couldn't resist capturing!
Sean brought home some pretty big fireworks - even I was impressed! The boys thought he was the best Dad ever - they usually think that but on this day they couldn't stop telling him how great he was!

The boys favorites were the ones that made the most noise and had the most expolsives - I loved the smoke bombs because I loved the effect in the pictures I was able to capture!

So "Happy 4th of July" from our family to all of yours. Hope yours was just as great and full of fun if not fireworks!! We love and miss you all!

Sweet Home Alabama

2008-06-29T08:12:00.000-05:00

So, I know this will come as a shock to a lot of you. It happened so fast that my main priority was packing and arranging the move - I didn't have much time to fill everyone in so here is the big news.... we have moved to Huntsville, Alabama!!! Sean got a great job working for SAIC that he is soooo excited about and after the kids and I researched the area we were just as excited about the move as he was! The schools are great, the climate is mild and the housing prices are incredible. So we arrived last night and after a week of being on the road I am beyond thrilled to be here. So far we have only see the hotel, Red Robin and a really nice outdoor mall down the street from the hotel so I don 't have much to base this on - but I like it so far! Today we are going to church and then to Sean's cousins house for dinner (Yes - he even has a cousin here in Alabama. We find that family everywhere we go and it continues to amaze me!) I am sure I will have many more impressions of our new home in the coming days but for now I will simply put up a few of the pictures so you can all see that we are still alive and doing well!

So.....I guess I really do like my dog...

2008-05-14T16:41:00.000-05:00

Alright, so I will admit that as cute as she is and as good a dog as she is becoming, there are days that I am not thrilled about having a dog. The kids love her, Sean loves her as long as she isn't chewing on something (which she finally grew out of about a month ago!) but I am the one that seems to do most of the work that goes along with having a dog. Some days it is all I can do to take care of 3 boys and a husband! But today I found out just how much I like her. We were getting ready to leave the house when Sean noticed a window that we had opened the previous evening. This window is right at Bella's eye level and she loves to sit and look out it. Well, she must have been looking with a little too much enthusiasm because she pushed the screen right out!! We had no idea how long she had been missing and she wasn't answering our calls. We drove all over but couldn't find her. It was sinking in that she might really be gone...and it was also sinking in how much I would miss her!! I just kept thinking - I will NOT get another dog - Bella is the only one that I want - plus I put all the hard work in already and now she is gone!!!???!!! So, I told Sean to leave without us and we got busy making Lost Dog signs. The kids and I spent a good hour walking around the neighborhood calling her name and putting up signs. I was really sad by the time we got home. But, there was a message on the answering machine!!! Yea!! A really nice lady around the corner from us had her. We ran over to get her back, thanked the nice woman over and over and took our Bella home. So, today when all she wanted to do was sleep on my lap, I let her instead of pushing her off the couch like I do most other days. We'll see how long it lasts but as for today - I think she is the best dog ever!

The Trip...

2008-04-23T15:51:00.000-05:00

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Soon I will write about the trip but until I have time to do that I wanted to at least get these pictures up. It was such a fun trip!!

A much needed trip...

2008-04-17T10:48:00.000-05:00

So, I don't have much to report that is terribly exciting....but I want to get out of the habit of not posting for weeks and then frantically posting 10 posts at once! Life has been good here lately. The weather is perfect, Sean is almost done at Home Depot, and we are taking a much needed break this weekend to San Diego. Sean has been working so much lately, I will be nice to have a whole weekend together. I can't wait! It will be a very short visit but I will take whatever I can get. We get there late Friday night, spend a day at Sea World and a day relaxing by the beach and then we come home on Monday. One of the benefits of Sean still being an active duty reservist is that we can stay in a cottage 50 feet from the beach for an unbelievable price. They are normally pretty booked up but we got lucky- there was a cancellation and I called at the right time! Some time next week I should have some fun pictures to share.
The kids are beyond excited - Tyler just keeps talking about "the do-fins, the do-fins!" (that's dolphins for anyone who doesn't understand two year old!)

Five is Fabulous!!

2008-04-05T13:33:00.000-05:00

Jackson's birthday was last week. We asked him where he wanted to go....I was prepared for something along the lines of Chucky Cheese. Nope! He wanted to go to one of our favorite BBQ resturants that has an area the kids can run around and a tree that my kids love to climb and hang from! Plus, he knew that you get to eat free on your birthday. He is a child after my own heart - always looking for a good deal! So, we met up with the family and had a great time! Good Food + Good Friends = GREAT TIMES!!

My favorite thing about this video is that Jack thinks I am just taking a picture and obediently keeps smiling away at the camera!!

Birthdays!

2008-04-05T13:24:00.001-05:00

When my mom comes in the spring we usually celebrate her Birthday along with Jackson's. They are only a few days apart which makes it fun. During this trip we spent some time talking about how much fun it was 5 years ago when he was born. It was such a crazy and exciting time in out lives. We have just moved to Germany (literally - we didn't even have our furniture yet!!) and had moved into an old farm house in a small German town. It was beautiful - think Hansel and Gretel but better! One of the things I loved most about Germany was what a big deal they made of Easter. It seemed so much more Christ centered than how we do it here in America. We had fun hanging plastic eggs from the trees, our neighbor Anna was always bring these beautiful painted eggs over for the kids to eat, all the flowers we coming out and everything was sooo green. We also had no TV, one radio station and everything seemed so peaceful. We played soccer with Jason in the backyard, took walks to the park, talked to neighbor and enjoyed every minute of our precious newborn. I love being back in America but there will always be a lot that I miss about our time in Germany. It was a great time for our family.

Here are a few pictures from celebrating this birthday with Jack and Grandma.

Playing at the Park

2008-04-05T13:20:00.001-05:00

These last few weeks my sister-in-law and her kids have been here visiting from Utah. One of the days we took the kids (Jason was in school) to the park to feed the ducks, have a picnic, blow bubbles and just have fun together! My kids sure do love all there cousins!

More Grandpa and Tyler....

2008-04-05T13:19:00.001-05:00

Here is also a cute video of Tyler playing with his Grandpa.

Water fun with Grandpa

2008-04-05T13:03:00.000-05:00

While my parents were here - Tyler had lots and lots of fun with Grandpa!! Here they are in the midst of a water fight!

Hmmmm......Tyler gets an idea....... He drinks the water.......
Then spits it on Grandpa!!
OH NO!!

He was so proud of himself for suceeding with the plan!!

Like Mother, Like Son....

2008-04-05T13:01:00.000-05:00

Need I say more???

Easter Day

2008-04-05T12:38:00.001-05:00

I am so behind in blogging and pictures that this may seem like an overload of blogs and pictures!! But, I know my family has been waiting to see these! Here are the pictures from Easter day at our house. It was lots of fun with 3 crazy boys and tons of candy! What could be more fun! (I could probably think of a few things - but it was a great day!)

Easter egg hunt

2008-04-05T12:33:00.001-05:00

This year we had a great breakfast and easter egg hunt with all our friends from church. It was a beautiful morning for it - I LOVE spring in Arizona! (it is reminding me why I wanted to live here!!) Here are a few pictures of the day. I dressed the boys in matching shirts but couldn't seem to get a picture of all three of the together! They were having too much fun to stop to pose for mom!

Easter Pageant

2008-04-04T18:07:00.000-05:00

This year we went to the Easter Pageant at the Mesa Temple with Sean's family. We had a picnic dinner and hung out on blankets to watch the show. The kids had a great time with their cousins.

Can you tell from this picture how much Tyler loves Cheetos?

Sean was play a game with all the boys....who can stay completely still the longest! Here they are doing there best!

Tyler and Eliza

2008-04-03T18:26:00.001-05:00

I took this video clip at Jackson's 5th birthday party. We got together with some of the family for dinner and it was a great time. I will post more pictures of it but this one is all about Tyler and Eliza. They were blowing out candles together and at one point Eliza didn't want to share with Tyler. You will see what enfolds...
So....enjoy this adorable video of Tyler and his favorite cousin, Eliza! They are the best of buds!

My stupidity!

2008-03-17T11:42:00.000-05:00

Ok, so last night I was going to grill up some steaks and chicken for dinner. Normally this doesn't prove to be of any difficulty for me, so I am not really sure what happened last night. I went out to light the grill and when I pushed the button, nothing happened. So, like an idiot, I leaned over the grill (I was looking for something, still not sure what!) waited a second or two and pushed the button again. Up flew the flames! Before you get too concerned... I am fine...my hair and eyebrow are not!! As soon as it happened I could smell the burnt hair so of course I started screaming like a mad woman, running into the house to find a mirror to look in. Sean at this point is having a really hard time keeping his amusement to himself. I have a small patch at the front of my head where the hair is about 1 inch long. Honestly, unless you are looking for it, you probalby couldn't find it. But, it was still truamatic!! Note to self for next time: There is nothing worth seeing at the bottom of my grill, except maybe the ashes from my singed hair!
:(

Too Funny!!

2008-03-13T20:37:00.000-05:00

A few days ago we were out to lunch as a family. Jason was looking at his beloved Pokemon cards and he came across this one...

He looked at it, turned to his father and said.....

"Hey Dad, this one is just like you, always headbutting and telling people what to do!"

We all got a good laugh out of that one!

After all the laughter, I think Jason felt bad and kept trying to clarify that he meant when dad was at work but it didn't matter - we all know him and love him. Maybe Cranidos will be his new nickname!

Numbers

2008-03-13T19:17:00.000-05:00

Be warned, this entire blog will be about how amazing one of my kids is. So, if blogs like this make your stomach turn....stop reading now. For the rest of you, here is what happened.

On Tuesday Jackson was speaking to his grandpa on the phone. He was insistent that he needed to talk to Grandma. (His birthday is coming and he wants to make sure she knows EVERYTHING that is on his ever growing list!) She wasn't home so Grandpa gave him the number which Jackson wrote down all by himself. Truthfully, this was enough to impress me considering we haven't worked on numbers together. I was much more on top of that sort of stuff with Jason, oh well. For the next 2 days Jackson called Grandma whenever he had a chance. I think he felt a sence of independence being able to call all on his own! Then today he comes up to me, having typed a number into the phone and asked me if he had gotten grandma's number right. I was dumbfounded, I knew that the paper with the written numbers had been with me so I didn't see how he had known the number. I asked him and he told me, "I remember it mom" I still was unsure so I cleared the number and made him show me, then I made him recite it. He really did memorize it, all 10 digits! Pretty good for a 4 year old with no help if you ask his mom!

Picture time!

2008-03-11T19:51:00.000-05:00

So for a long time now I have been wanting to get my photography going again but I have found every excuse in the book not to. However, for my friend Farrah's birthday I did a photo shoot of her kids. It was so good for me - I was able to remember how much I love taking pictures of kids! So, it motivated me to get going with things. I set up a blog where you can see my favorite pictures from the shoot and I will continue to post pictures from future shoots as well. It is at the bottom of my link list - personality portraits is the name! :) Here are just a couple, let me know what you think!

Jackson's Preschool Program

2008-03-03T11:25:00.000-06:00

Last week Jackson finished his second session of Apples to Zebra's preschool program. Here they are singing the theme song! I am still tying to load his ABC Rock song but it is too large. It was adorable! He is in the front row and his friend Brylee is the blond with the pink shirt on the right. I tried to get them both in most of the video.

Building Adventures at Home Depot

2008-03-03T10:18:00.000-06:00

Last Saturday I took the boys to thier Dad's store to do the monthly kids project. It was race cars - what could be cooler to 3 boys! They were so proud of their building abilities (Jason did his all by himself, Jack needed help holding the nails in place and Tyler...well....I built his!) and had a ton of fun. I got a bunch of great pictures of it all taking place. Enjoy!

Here is Dad helping Jason with the toolbox

Jason helping his brother out was pretty cute!
He studied the directions so intently!
My only advise to Home Depot is that a few chairs for the parents would go a long way!! I would have been thrilled with just a 5 gallon bucket to sit on! Good thing the guy in charge likes me! :)

Hiking South Mountain

2008-02-17T09:09:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we went on a hike with all the boys and our brother Vaughn. It was a beautiful day and everything was so green because of all the rain we have gotten lately. The kids had a blast but it was really fun to watch how each one reacted to the challenge of getting to the top.

Jason - It was all an adventure to him. The hike was all about finding the perfect stick to be his gun or sword and he would run ahead only to give himself time to dig up a great rock before we caught up to him. He was also the independent one for the first half of the hike, wanting to always be a ways ahead of us with just Jackson so that they could feel like true explorers. He was pretty sick of the hiking part at about the halfway point but really kicked it into high gear when his younger brother passed him up - he couldn't let that happen. So he reached the top and the bottom ahead of all of us.

Jackson - It was all about the goal. He thought of nothing but reaching the top. About halfway up we stoped to rest. It was then that we considedered going back down because the hardest climb was coming and we didn't know if the kids were up to it, it was also approaching sunset and we didn't want to get caught in the dark. Jackson just kept saying NO! We have to get to the top! His older brother was all for going back down but as we were making the decision, Jackson made it for us by taking off up the trail! Vaughn had to go catch up to him because at this point, nothing was going to stop him and he was getting way ahead of us! When we did reach the top he was devestated to learn that there was a new trail that went up even higher - in his mind we needed to continue but we convinced him to save that hike for another day!

Tyler - At the top of the mountain there were 6 paragliders enjoying a ride in the sky. Tyler became obsessed with them. He just couldn't get past it and all we heard from him on the way up were the words....parachute.....go high......parachute....fall down.....parachute....up mountain! We kept reasuring him that no, they were not going to fall down. At one point we even started counting how many times he said the word parachute, but gave up when it reached around 25, he was relentless!
While it was parachutes on the way up, it was jumping on the way down. He loved holding our hands and jumping off of every rock step or boulder. Over and over we heard....I jump high.....I jump far....that's FUN!!! He was cute as always and may have enjoyed the hike more than anyone...especially the part where he got to ride on Dad and Uncle Vaughn's shoulders!

Now, get ready for a huge amount of pictures! There were too many cute ones to choose from so I am posting a bunch of them!

Here he is pointing at the paragliders!

Look Mom! We climbed a Mountain!

We reached the top as the sun was beginning to go down...perfect timing!

These last few pictures are a family tradition for us. It all began when we lived in Germany....
No matter what little town, large city or Castle at the top of a hill we were visiting, it never failed that by the end of the day the kids were exhaused and didn't want to walk anymore. Strollers nevers worked all that well on the coble stone streets of Europe, so Sean would dutifully carry both of the boys laying across his shoulders. The Europeans would laugh and smile at us and the Asian tourists would point and take pictures! So, the boys still expect it and Sean does his best to accomadate even though the load has gotten substantially bigger!

Speaking of Motorcycles......

2008-02-16T22:06:00.000-06:00

So I have been meaning for a while now to write that Sean is now that proud owner of a motorcycle. If you are planning on letting me know how dangerous they are....save it. I have heard it all. I used to be against him getting one but the truth is that I don't know a driver out there more aware of what is going on around him than Sean. Plus, it is a great stress reliever for him, he loves it...and I love having a stress free husband!

The kids think it is just about the coolest thing ever and love going for rides around the block when dad gets home from work. Here are a few pictures of just that!

Here Jackson is trying to race Dad...he was trying so hard!

Just look at the concern on his face! Of course, Dad let him win!

On a side note...I also will admit that I love the motorcycle. I think I have always had a thing for them and I can't tell you how much fun it is to take it out for date night! Don't worry everyone...we promise to be safe!!

A Visit from Adri

2008-02-16T21:48:00.000-06:00

So last night Adri and her "possible" future husband (some may just call him a "dear friend" but not me!) came over. They are in town from BYU so that Adri can meet the parents and all that fun stuff. It was great seeing Adri and having lunch with her today. I always enjoy myself around her and think she is great! I also really liked Russ, (the dear friend!) they seem like a great match and the fact that they may move to Mesa in a year or so just makes me like him all the more!

Adri was my kids absolute favorite babysitter when we lived in Germany. Jason still talks about her and how she would make forts and play swords with them! So of course we had to take some pictures of them all!

Another thing that we managed to accomplish on her visit was getting her on the motorcycle...something she wasn't thrilled about! But she survived so I am assuming that she has forgiven us!

My Sweeetheart....

2008-02-15T18:08:00.001-06:00

So I know that Valentine's Day was yesterday but I didn't get to this yesterday and I thought it was still worth doing. Someday my kids will enjoy reading it!

Valentine Tag! Tag your it! Please fill out the questions
How long did you date? One year
Who said I love you first? He did....then, I said "thanks" I have never really lived this one down. I guess that wasn't the right thing to say, although I did tell him I loved him about a week later. I just didn't want to say it as a response, it meant less to me that way. I guess I just wanted him to know that I really meant it.
Who is smarter? We both think that we are....the debate is still out on that one!
Who does the laundry? I do. I get mad if he goes anywhere near the washer and dryer. I'm a little particular about how the laundry is done. I will say that if I would let him do it, it would get done much more efficeintly!
Who does the dishes? Most of the time I do, but when he is home we like doing them together.
Who sleeps on the right? He does. I have have have to have the left! I will fight him for it if he tries to sneak it from me, something he likes to do just to tease me I think.
Who pays the bills? He does, I am not the best with money....
Who mows the lawn? I usually do. I think it is Karma....as a kid I did all I could to get out of it so I do it now!
Who cooks dinner? That would be me...
Who drives when you are together? Sean, I hate driving and I tend to make him either tense or car sick!
Who kissed who first? He kissed me on the 4th of July! There were fireworks! :)
Who asked out who first? Not really sure, we were such good friends first that we were always together so it just kind of evolved into more.
Who's more stubborn? Me, me and me again!
How did he propose? He took me to Sedona in a convertable mustang that he told me he had just bought. I figured he had spent the money I wanted him to buy me a ring with on the car so I was bummed all day! Then at dinner he got down on one knee and popped the question! After that he surprised me by going back to his parents house where his whole family was waiting to congratulate us. It's a great memory! :)

The Joy's of Motherhood.....

2008-02-10T17:32:00.000-06:00

On Friday I was working like crazy trying to get the house clean for Sean's Birthday. I also was dealing with Jason...sick...which is never fun. Anyway, it has been my experience that it is on days such as this that my kids get into the most trouble. On this particular day it was Tyler....

He had found the diaper rash ointment and proceeded to spread it all over his face and hair. I think it took me about 12 times of washing his hair and it still feels a little greasy today! Oh well, at least when it happened I was on the phone with my sister-in-law. I told her what had happened and that I had to go, she pleaded that before I do anything else, I go get the camera. She was right and I am glad I did...

It has to be the age. When Jackson was almost exactly this age, I was trying to get him to take a nap. I was feeling great because I hadn't heard from him in at least 20 minutes so I was sure he was asleep. When I went to check on him I found him sitting on his bed with an empty container of vasaline. The container had been brand new and full just 20 minutes earlier! Luckily we were staying in Military TLF at the time because he had covered no only himself but the bedding, the curtains, and his stuffed pony thoroughly. I cleaned up the mess, but the pony just hasn't been the same since!

MONO???

2008-02-08T08:11:00.000-06:00

Jason has been home sick the last couple days and yesterday I noticed white stuff on the back of his throat. I assumed that he had strep so I took him in to the doctor. We left with the diagnosis that he has Mono!! Crap!! So basically he feels like crap and there isn't much that they can do about it, plus he is contageous (did I spell that right?) even if it is only through saliva. Basically he can't share a cup with anyone. The doctor said that once he felt better he could go back to school so we will just wait it out. The good news is that the younger you have it, the less time it takes to get over it, so maybe 1 week versus 3-4. Wish us well!

PS. Happy Birthday to my Hubby, Sean! We love you!

My Ty Ty.

2008-01-29T10:18:00.000-06:00

So, last week as I was waiting for Jackson to get out of preschool I took a few pictures of Ty. I thought that you might all enjoy seeing some of them so here they are.

He has always been a great kid but lately his personality seems to have exploded! He has so much of it and is so much fun. He is talking more and more and loves to tell his brothers off, they just laugh and I have to admit it is hard not to! We sure love him!

Somebody's getting Married!!

2008-01-28T17:12:00.000-06:00

Currently playing in the theater that is my mini van has been Jim Henson's, "Muppets take Manhaton." So, for the past few days I have been going around humming the finale of Kermit's "Manhaton Melodies" which is of course, Somebody's getting married. Then last night I got some exciting news!!! Let me back track a bit....

As many of you know, through all the moves the airforce brought upon us, we have attended church in many different wards. In the majority of these I have ended up working with the Young Women. It is a calling that I love. I love working with the girls, sharing in their enthusiam for life and helping them through the trying times that happen in every teenage girls life. I have kept in touch with many of the girls and love hearing where there lives are going. One that I have kept in close contact with is Adri. I was her Young Women's president when we were living in Germany and since then she is now attending BYU. She and another of the girls visited me in Wyoming and we have been trying to get her down to Arizona to visit soon as well. We had a standing joke that she wasn't allowed to date anyone at BYU unless they were from Arizona, that way there was at least a chance she would move here. It worked!! She is "unofficially engaged" and he is from Mesa. I couldn't be happier for them....and for me! I can't wait to see her and to meet this guy when they come next month so that she can meet his parents.
So, even though the engagement is "unofficial" , this is my "official" announcement! Congratulations Adri!!

I'm back...

2008-01-27T22:17:00.001-06:00

Since I have been getting such a hard time for not blogging, I am finally back. I am not sure why I haven't been blogging in the last couple weeks, I guess 2008 has been crazy so far!
Everyone is back in school and life is slowly returning to normal, although I don't seem to be able to get the house caught up. You would think with all the time I have spent NOT blogging that the house would look great, oh well.
Last weekend we traveled up to Utah for a funeral. Sean's uncle, Ron Eames, passed away last week at 59. He was my father-in-law's younger brother which is a little scary. It was a wake up call to be greatful for the time we have here! I was impressed at the funeral by the closness of their family. You could tell there was a real closeness within thier family and it was neat to witness.
After returning home from the funeral we found out last night that the president of our church, Gordon B. Hinkley had passed away at the age of 97. He was such an incredible man and I will miss him. He was the president of the church when I joined the LDS faith 10 years ago and I know that he will always hold a special place in my heart. I saw him speak in the Tabernacle shortly after I was baptised and I will never forget the feelings I felt as I listened to him speak. Although I was saddened by his passing I couldn't help but imagine the rejoicing that was occuring on the other side! How happy he must be to have been reunited with his sweet wife. His love for her was always so touching and sincere, I am happy they are together again. I am including a short bio of his life that I found last night as I was searching for news of his passing. I hope that someday my children will know of his love for all people, his humility and charity, his witty sense of humor and his great work here on this earth. He was an example to us all.

Officials with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced Sunday evening that Church President Gordon B. Hinckley has passed away.

He passed away at his home about 7:00 Sunday evening with his family at his side. President Hinckley was 97 years old. He was the 15th president of the Church.

Church officials say President Hinckley worked hard up until a few days before his death. LDS Church Managing Director of Public Affairs Bruce Olsen said, "He'd wear most people out. He worked, and was in his office in the last few days before he passed away."

Olsen said President Hinckley had an endearing wit, and an incredible intellect. "He was one of the brightest men that I think has ever lived. He just new something about so many things."

Born in Salt Lake City on June 23, 1910; he graduated from the University of Utah and served a mission to Great Britain. After he returned, he embarked on a lifetime of service for the Church.

He was employed as the executive secretary of the Church Radio, Publicity, and Literature Committee before he was called to be an Apostle in 1961.

He was later called to serve as a counselor to President Spencer W. Kimball, President Ezra Taft Benson and President Howard W. Hunter.

Since becoming Church President on Mar. 12, 1995, he has directed the most intense temple building program in the history of the Church in an effort to extend temple blessings to more members.

He has exhibited vitality and energy as he has traveled about the world meeting and speaking to members of the Church.

Through television interviews and national press publications, he has increased media attention and improved the public image of the Church. He has counseled Church members to fellowship new converts, befriend members of other faiths, live exemplary lives, and avoid the evils of the world.

He began his role as president of the Church in 1995 by holding a rare news conference, citing growth and spreading the LDS message as the Church's main challenge heading into the 21st century. "We are dedicated ... to teaching the gospel of peace, to the promotion of civility and mutual respect among people everywhere, to bearing witness to the living reality of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the practice of his teachings in our daily lives," he said at the time.

President Hinckley was preceded in death by his wife, Marjorie Pay Hinckley, whom he married in 1937. She died April 6, 2004.

Family members will meet with Church officials to arrange the funeral.

The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is now leading the Church. That body will choose the next leader of the faith. By tradition, it is the senior member of the Quorum, and that is President Thomas S. Monson, who has been President Hinckley's First Counselor.

Flags at Temple Square are now flying at half staff in President Hinckley's honor.

Big year ahead...

2008-01-05T18:21:00.000-06:00

So, vacation is almost over. We spent the day cleaning everything, doing laundry and making sure that the house was back to normal so that we can start our normal routine on Monday without too much stress. It is all done (almost, I still have a load of laundry to fold and put away) and now I have a minute so I figured, why no blog. Usually I am blogging trying to avoid all that I need to get done so this is a nice change - guilt free blogging!
I can't believe that it is 2008 already. There is so much that will happen for our family this year; Jason is getting baptized in May, I am turning the big 30 and Sean and I celebrate our 10 year anniversary! (Yes, I know I am admitting how young I was when I married him - but we are still here to talk about it!) Also, Sean should be getting his own Home Depot this spring and Jackson will start Kindergarten in the fall. Tyler will turn 3 and if I want I could put him in preschool a few days a week. I can't even fathom having no kids in my house on a regular basis. It will either be incredibly thrilling or completely depressing - guess I will have to wait and see on that one.
On a different note, we found a house that we are going to put an offer on this week. We are low balling it so we will see what happens - I am trying not to get too excited incase it doesn't work out. But...if it does work, I would love it. It seems like such a great house for our family and one of the best parts is that it is less than a half mile from the school I take Jason, and next year Jackson, to everyday! If it works out I will be posting lots about it!
Maybe soon I will blog about some new years resolutions but first I have to figure out what they are going to be!
Hope everyone is having a great 2008 so far!

Rest of the pictures....

2008-01-03T11:41:00.000-06:00

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Now that Christmas is over and I am not ruining the surprise for anyone, here are the rest of the pictures from my photo shoot with the kids! Be prepared, there are probably 40 pictures of just the 3 boys so basically grandparents and close relatives will enjoy it the most!

Audrey's Baby Blessing

2007-12-30T16:18:00.000-06:00

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

This morning was the blessing of newest niece, Audrey. Here is a quick slide show of the pictures I took. She is adorable - plus the fact that she has 3 older brothers and is the first girl in her family gives me hope!!
Enjoy

Boys, Boys and more Boys!!

2007-12-29T22:27:00.000-06:00

Tonight our cousins from Utah are here visiting....they have 3 boys and we have 3 boys.

3boys + 3 boys = (I know you are thinking 6 boys but you are wrong!) It equals....NOISE!!!!!

But they are fun and while I may be a little frazzled, they are having the time of their life. Plus, I really am grateful that my kids have such great cousins for friends! Here they all are....

Christmas Day Dancing....

2007-12-29T22:07:00.000-06:00

So, Christmas has come and gone once again and I feel a sense of accomplishment that I am documenting the day for once. I never got the Christmas cards out, I still haven't mailed Melanies presents, and there were people I wanted to talk to or see that I never did. But at least I am writing this so that someday my family can look back on what turned out to be a fun and special Christmas day.

As every Christmas day does...it all began with Santa. I don't know how many more Christmas mornings will come when all of my boys still believe so I am trying to treasure what I have left. He brought Pokemon and Transformers for the older 2 and Tyler got his beloved Rocking horse that he refused to get off of all morning! For Sean (and the rest of us, but mainly Sean) was an xbox 360 so that he can once again have fun playing with his brothers online. Especially important now that they are all once again living all over the country! They seem to have duped all the wives into believing that the only way they can possibly keep in touch with each other is through the xbox. But, it works and they hang out more than ever before so how can we complain! Santa also brought me a much needed laptop that I am currently LOVING! Trust me, Santa knew how badly we needed one, our computer was on it's dying breath!

After Santa, my parents came over and we opened the rest of the presents. It was fun as usual!! Tyler was especially cute making sure that every piece of paper was off before he moved on to the next tear! Maybe he is getting OCD from Melanie! We cooked Christmas dinner and just relaxed, playing with all the new toys.

THat night Jason and Jackson went to spend the night with my parents and Sean was busy reading a book I gave him. So, Tyler and I spent about 30 minutes dancing in the kitchen. Sean gave me an ihome that goes underneath my kitchen cabinets ( I LOVE IT!) so Ty and I put it to good use! It may seem like a small thing, but it made my Christmas. He was so cute and so into the music. We just danced and danced. I am sure the neighbors thought I was a crazy lady dancing by myself since Tyler was hid by the cabinets but oh well. It was one of those moments that make all the hard parts of being a parent seem insignifigant. They may be crazy, dirty, loud and stubborn boys but they sure are worth it. I really do love being their mom.

Family + Friends = FUN!

2007-12-29T21:30:00.000-06:00

Just before Christmas we had an extended Eames/Parry family Christmas party. Everyone came for the good food and to see family that we wish we could see more often! Of course the night wouldn't have been complete with out the "talent" show, although I think we would all agree that some of the families came with more talent than others. Richard told stories of the "good ol' days", Alan recited his legandary "Night before Christmas" (which I will never tire of hearing!), Wanda had a fun quiz on neat facts about all the parry kids, Eden sang Silver bells, the Darell Parry girls did an awesome job on the Cindy Loo poem, Dene's son played guitar and the Eames all danced around to Alvin and the Chipmunks! I just sat back and laughed but the boys seemed to have fun! Oh - I am sure that Rex did something great but was dealing with kids at that point and was out of the room.

Jackson brought Christmas presents for his Uncle Vaughn. He knew exactly what he wanted to get him and he found it within minutes of getting to the toy section...a toy helicopter. After all, what else could your cool uncle who flys helicopters want?

All in all it was a great night and I feel greatful to be a part of this great family that is so full of love and laughter!

Enjoy the pictures and we can't wait until the next extended gathering!

Here is my newest nephew Samuel...isn't he cute!?

Concert Video

2007-12-19T15:21:00.000-06:00

Here is the video clip that I was finally able to download. It isn't the whole song but you will get the idea of it all! Jason is right in the middle behind the kid who keeps boppin his head to the music! Make sure you pause the music player at the bottom of the page or you will have both sounds streaming in!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Christmas Concert

2007-12-19T13:39:00.000-06:00

Last night was Jason's Christmas Concert. I am working on getting a short video that I took uploaded but in the meantime, here are some of the pictures I took....

In case you are wondering what is wrong with Jackson's shirt - he had a little too much fun with the water fountain right before we left!

Photo Shoot Fun!

2007-12-18T12:02:00.000-06:00

So today I did a photo shoot with Jackson and Tyler and while I got some great shots, I also captured one of their typical, everyday fights! Here is how it goes...

I tell Jackson to lean over and kiss Tyler on the cheek,

As you can see, Ty wanted nothing to do with his brother, much less have his lips anywhere near him!
Jack tried to make things better...

...but was shot down again...

At this point Ty realized that he was in trouble and that Jackson was upset. )Although I tend to think that the pout on his face had more to do with knowing that he was in trouble!)

Finally they made up...

Once Jackson was out of the picture and Tyler felt as if he was getting his way, I was able to get this great shot!

Hope you enjoyed this glimpse into our daily life in a house full of crazy boys! It is always entertaining if nothing else. Yesterday, I was working on the computer when Jackson came in and calmly stated, "Mom, I think the toilet is broken." (Not a great thing to hear from your 4 year old!) "What do you mean broken?" I asked "Maybe you should come see" replied Jackson. I hurried to the bathroom to be met in the hallway by water flowing out of the bathroom and Tyler standing there smiling at me like he had made his own personal swimming pool. When I looked into the bathroom, the plunger was laying in a very full, overflowing toilet! Apparently, while Jackson was cutting up a bar of hand soap using playdough tools, Tyler thought it would be fun to unroll the entire roll of toilet paper into the toilet. The toilet on the other hand wasn't thrilled about this idea. Of course instead of coming to get me right away, they decided they could fix it themselves. I am sure they were thinking something along the lines of...'we are the sons of a Home Depot man, why would we need to consult mom to fix something as manly as a clogged toilet!' So, while it was a lot to clean up, at least it was just water and toilet paper! I know it could have been worse! Later in the day, when enough time had passed that I could laugh about the whole thing, I wished I had taken a picture of the overflowing water and the plunger in the toilet. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words, especially when it deals with a toilet!

Deck the Halls!

2007-12-12T12:00:00.001-06:00

So, since I haven't blogged in a while I have a bunch of pictures that have been piling up. Here they are!
The first few are from a few Saturdays ago when we decided to put up all of our Christmas decorations. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed putting up lights when it is 70 degrees outside! The kids had a blast with it, although I think that their favorite part was getting to climb on the ladder!
The next few are from our family tradition that came a little early this year. Normally we do homemade gingerbread houses on Christmas eve, but I thought I could get off easy this year and buy the pre-made ones! No one else agreed with my plan so we made that one early and I will be baking lots of gingerbread in the coming weeks! Oh well, making this one did help to put us all in the Christmas spirit!
The last few pictures were taken last night. Jason's school had a Story book night. All the kids came to school in the PJ's, with thier blankets, pillows and stuffed animals. Then some of the students and teachers read them Christmas stories. They sang Christmas songs and ate cookies. It was a fun night, wait....I take that back. It was fun for Jason and Jackson....I spent the evening chasing a very stubborn Tyler around (he wouldn't take a nap yesterday - FUN!).
Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the pictures and that you are all having a great Christmas Season!

Need a good laugh?

2007-12-11T15:41:00.000-06:00

So I have been really sick with a bad head cold and I haven't felt like posting. But, I figured we could all use a good laugh so I am bringing back business time. It always gives me a good laugh no matter how many times I watch it. Hope you like it just as much. Make sure you press pause on the music player at the bottom of the page before you press play or you will miss all the HILARIOUS lines in the song!!

Horse Riding Fun!

2007-11-29T11:15:00.000-06:00

Last night we were able to go horse riding with the YW. We all had so much fun and the boys loved it! They woke up this morning asking when we were going again and Jackson now wants a pony of his own! I should have expected it!Here are all the pictures! Enjoy!

Thanksgiving

2007-11-29T08:39:00.001-06:00

Here are a few pictures from Thanksgiving - I didn't take very many! We went down to Casa Grande with Sean's family and had lots of fun! Sean and I brought our ice cream maker so most of the pictures are of the cousins making ice cream! It was Yummy!

Jackson's Preschool Program

2007-11-20T11:53:00.000-06:00

Here are the pictures I finally got downloaded from Jackson's preschool program. He was so cute and sang all the songs with all the hand motions. Not bad considering most of the kids just sat there and stared out into the audience! Not that there is anything wrong with that, after all I have been watching Jason stare into the audience for 4 years now!!

Oceanside/Disneyland

2007-11-20T11:44:00.000-06:00

Last October we took a family vacation to Oceanside, California. Sean's brother Denney and his family joined us and we had so much fun! I had too many pictures to choose from so here is a slide show of the trip! Enjoy!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Kids, Dogs and Neighbors!

2007-11-14T09:03:00.000-06:00

It is now my belief that when you dare in life to hope for a nap, all goes terribly wrong! Yesterday morning we all woke up to a fairly normal morning. Jason liked his poster, although he made me add that one of the things he didn't like were Barbies. I don't know how I forgot that one! Anyway, Tyler started the day with a minor cough. We took Jason to school, went to the gym, and came home to get ready for Jackson's preschool. Tyler's cough was a little worse but I wasn't all that worried yet. By 2 when we picked Jackson up Tyler was wheezing, had a minor fever and was telling me that his ear hurt. So, we picked up Jason and I scrambled to find a doctor to get him into. It wouldn't have been so hard if it wasn't a new doctor and new insurance but we got in around 4. I left the doctor with, no kidding, 6 prescriptions. When he is healthy, people have a hard time believing me that he has health problems because he looks so healthy. (I also found out yesterday that he is 95% for weight and 99% for height) But trust me, when he gets sick, he gets really sick! So, I went to Target to fill the prescriptions, thinking that they would be faster than Walgreen's. Nope! An hour later I finally left with most of the medicine, I still have to go back for one more today. Then it was off to work on getting everything ready for Young Women in Excellence, which is tonight! For those of you that don't know, I work with the Young Women at Church and this is the night that they get to display and talk about the projects they have worked on through out the year. It is a big deal. Anyway, I did photo shoots a while back of all the girls individually and together so I have been trying to get them edited and framed so we can display them tonight. I think I finally got home around 10 at which time Jason starts feeling sick and the dog is seriously hyper. I think it was 11 when we all fell asleep. That would probably be enough to qualify as a crappy day, don't you think? But no, it doesn't end there! At 12pm Tyler woke up crying and while I got him some Tylenol I heard the dog whimpering. I went to see if she needed to go outside only to find that she had thrown up multiple times all over her kennel! It was beyond disgusting. I threw the dog outside so that I could wipe the tray down and she started barking, it had been seriously 2 or 3 minutes and all of a sudden my doorbell rings. There was no way I was going to answer, I knew it was my neighbors who I have now decided are mean. They came over once before when she was barking in the middle of the day and I was so nice about it. I felt bad and have tried to make sure she doesn't bark from then on. This was the first time since and they couldn't make it for 3 minutes! Plus, it was the middle of the night and I was home alone! I was too scared to answer the door! I let her inside, cleaned everything up and gave her a bath which put me back to bed around 1:30. At 6:30, Tyler was awake and therefore so was I! Good news is that I can tell he feels much better!
Well, I hope you all enjoyed my story. I am sure I have now convinced some of you to run from the idea of have kids, dogs or even neighbors! Luckily, all days aren't like that one or I would be running too!

Homework

2007-11-13T11:37:00.000-06:00

Last night around 11pm I was finally finished with all the laundry and getting ready to go to be when I suddenly remembered that Jason is the "Star of the Week" at school this week. No big deal, right? Wrong! He was supposed to complete an "all about me" poster over the weekend with pictures of his family, himself, his favorite things, things he hates and what he wants to be when he grows up. AHHH!! I had completely spaced it. So, I couldn't send him to school with nothing, I mean he is only Star of the Week once in 2nd grade...so needless to say I was up until 12:30 in the morning completing the project. I don't know what I would do without the internet! It sure helped to have instant access to pictures of soccer balls and pokemon! He left with the poster this morning and although I know he has no appreciation for what I did to make it for him, my hope is that years and years from now, the pay off will come! On the other hand, if I had just managed my time, remembered the project and been more on top of things, it would have been done before last night arrived. So basically, it's my own dang fault! Oh well, maybe I can take a nap today...not likely but it's worth a shot!

Siblings

2007-11-12T10:49:00.000-06:00

I have a strange phenomenon occurring in my home. Here is the situation...my 7 year old, who for his entire life has seen me as the beacon of all truth and knowledge, has recently decided that I know nothing. I am wrong about everything and have to be the most clueless person on the earth. Now, I am not saying that there aren't days when that is completely possible, but is he supposed to realize that? I miss being the smartest person he knows! The one he comes to will all his questions, easy and hard! I just wasn't prepared for this stage of parenting yet. I thought I had a few more years! On the flip side, my four year old has reached the worship stage. He has started listening to everything I say and treating it as absolute truth! Even to the point that he now makes his bed in the morning without me asking. Maybe he can sense my sadness and is trying to pick up the slack! Who knows. I would be thrilled with a happy medium but I have a feeling I will be dealing with this for a while. Any suggestions from all the seasoned parents out there? Or at least stories that are even worse, that might make me feel better or at least give me a good laugh!

Sean left today for a week long conference in Dallas. So, we are hanging around in the house in our PJ's, slowly cleaning the house. Jason doesn't have school so I think I will do something fun with them later, maybe a movie.

Anyways, I should probably end my session of procrastination and get back to work. Have a great day everyone!

Veteran's Day

2007-11-10T13:54:00.000-06:00

So in honor of Veteran's Day I decided to Blog about Sean. I could just make fun of him in a nice teasing sort of way (wait...is that where Jason gets that from?!) But the truth is that he is a great husband and an incredible father and I am lucky to have found him. So, you ask, what is he up to lately? Well, he is working a ton right now for a section of Home Depot called Capital Projects. Basically they have 80 stores in AZ, CA, NV, CO and UT that are under some sort of remodel. He is the project manager for around 20 of them. (I think that's right, he can comment if I have messed up any of this) So, he flies all over from Sunday night to either Thursday or Friday and then recovers on the weekends. This will happen for the next 6 months and then Home Depot will send him to the next phase of training. Other than that....today he is my hero because he fixed the TIVO. And everyday he is my hero for what he does for our family and his willingness to serve our country, we sure are proud of him. Happy Veteran's Day Babe, I love you!

!!COMMENT ALERT!!

So I have gotten a ton of complaints from all of you that couldn't leave a comment without having a Google account. So, I fixed it!! Comment away people!

Old Friends

2007-11-08T11:03:00.000-06:00

So it just struck me as I was sending out a mass email to let everyone know about this blog that some of the people I was informing, I hadn't spoken to in FOREVER! Considering that they might be confused about what our family was up to I decided to take this chance to fill them all in. As I am sure they would tell you with much enthusiam, I am terrible at keeping in touch with people! So here is my feeble attempt to fix that!

The Eames time line

Fall 2002 - Sean joined the Air force

Most of you knew at least this but since this is where the journey began it seemed weird not to include it!

March 2003 - We moved to Germany

At first it seemed like one of the worst times in my life but it became one of the best. Some of my best memories and best friends were in Germany. I miss it, I miss the culture, the sights, the travel, the people, but most of all I miss the closeness you felt with friends when you are all on the other side of the world and just trying to make the best of it!

April 2005 - Moved to California

California was short, only 7 months. However, during this time my oldest son started kindergarten and my youngest and 3rd son was born. As short as it was, it was great. While usually it takes me at least 6 months to make a place seem like home...we met Jesse and Trisha our first week there and the next 7 months we like an extended party. Living on base was a blast and everyone should at least get a short amount of time to live near the ocean!

November 2005 - Moved to Cheyenne, Wyoming

It was cold and windy and the baby ended up in the Hospital for 8 days with RSV but other than that we bought a home that I loved and even more than the home, I loved that my soon to be best friend, Melanie, lived about 7 houses away! We met great people in Cheyenne and it was a lot of fun. However, Sean was coming up on his 4 year mark in the Air Force and started considering getting out. We thought and prayed a ton and it felt like the right thing to do so right after he pinned on Captain, we made the break! He started applying for jobs and I started freaking out!! Despite all my freak outs ( which Sean could tell you about in great detail) he ended up getting hired by the Home Depot to manage one of their stores. That should happen next summer/fall - he is still in their training program call the Store Leadership Program. He is still doing the reserves so at least I can still go to the commissary!

April 2007 - Moved to Arizona

Home Depot brought us back to Arizona which is what we consider to be home, it was a hot summer but I am finally starting to remember why we moved here now that it has cooled off! If anyone wants to visit, now is the time! :)

So, there it is in a nutshell. Sean and I have 3 sons and a dog and we are doing great in Arizona. It has been a wild ride at times but I wouldn't trade it for the world!

Any questions? you will just have to leave a comment! HA!

Random Thoughts

2007-11-08T10:38:00.000-06:00

So ever since Jason has had to read 2, 60 page books every month for school I have been searching for a book that would actually interest him. You know, a book that he would want to read so that it wouldn't seem like such a chore. I found it!!! I couldn't be happier. It is called Dragonling by Jackie French Koller. The best part is that it is the first in a series and I can't get him to stop reading! Maybe it was because I was an only child but I have such great memories of reading as a child. I want to give my kids that gift. So, now that Jason is set that probably means it is time to start teaching Jackson to read, maybe after Christmas....

On a much more disgusting note, this morning I found bella trying to eat one of Tyler's poopy diapers. I gagged and then tried to wash out her mouth in the sink, which she wasn't too crazy about. Needless to say she is banned to her crate for a while until I can deal with her again! It is a good thing I know that as cute as puppies are, the good parts about owning a dog don't come until you put in a good two years. It is all about perspective, right?

So I am singing in Church on Sunday. It will be my first time singing in the new ward. I can't say I am nervous because I am doing one of my favorite songs that I have performed a bunch before but the first time for new people always rattles me a little. But I think it is a good rattle, I always seem to have a shaky note at the beginning of the song that ticks me off. Then my competitive nature kicks in and the rest of the song goes great so that no one will remember the shaky note!! oh well.....

I know this blog has been really random but I havent' written in a while. Since the blog was random I decided to add a random picture as well! This was last Febuary on our trip to Puerto Vallarta. It sealed the deal for my kids that they are going to learn spanish and grow up to be dolphin trainers. It think it was the moment they saw one of the trainers "surf" the dolphin that did it for them!

off to clean the house!!! See ya next time :)

Halloween Pictures

2007-11-05T11:02:00.000-06:00

So I finally got my camera to work - I still don't know what wasn't working but suddenly it worked. Anyways... here are the halloween pictures! I have more to add soon but these should at least get me started! As you can see, we were all fighter pilots. It was a fun night but I have reached the point where I am ready to throw all the candy away!!

Happy Halloween!

2007-10-31T15:30:00.001-05:00

So, it is Halloween and i don't feel stressed at all! That seems to be a big accomplishment these days! We carved our pumpkins last night which was lots of fun. Tonight I will take some pictures of the kids in thier costumes with thier pumpkins. We have a Halloween party tonight and I am going to go in a party mood, honest! it should be fun and I am looking forward to seeing these friends of ours, it has been a few months. The only downfall of today is that Tyler has been sick. It is just the normal cold/flu but with him everything turns into something bigger. So I have been busy keeping his temp down and keeping up with the breathing treatments. Yesterday he got so bad Jackson asked me why Tyler was "speaking duck" Even I had to admit that his breathing had a quacking sound to it! Years ago this would probably freak me out but years of dealing with it has given me a sense of humor. You do what you have to I guess.
We are going to Tucson this weekend to stay with Sean's cousin Jimmy. I am looking forward to it. We have wanted to go stay with them since we moved back but haven't had a full weekend where Sean wasn't working until recently. They have 2 boys that fit in with my boys wonderfully so I can't wait. Plus they teach a ballroom dance class for adults every friday that we are going to take. Sean said he would do the class only if I promise to let him lead. I do have an issue there but I am going to try to give up control!! :) I will let write how it went next week! When Jason was a baby we took a bunch of classes and they all seemed to end (maybe not all, but a good portion) in an argument. I just need to admit that Sean is a better dancer than I am, that is the first step to recovery! Anyway, it should be fun!
Happy Halloween everyone! Hope it is a great one with lots of butterfingers, snickers and very few tootsie rolls and dum dums! Let's boycot the cheap houses!! :)

It was a long week.....

2007-10-29T10:30:00.000-05:00

So last week while Sean was gone I managed to break both the TV and the computer. It just seemed like everything was going wrong and all I was doing to cope with it was getting mad at the kids. So, Saturday I had a mini break down and then we went to the ward Halloween party. Fun! Actually it wasn't that bad, I just don't feel like I fit in this ward yet. So I spend my time with my family and just say hi to a bunch of people that I really don't know very well. This was my whole fear about moving back to Arizona. Everyone here seems to be surrounded by friends that they have had forever and a ton of family. I miss being in military wards where you were all in similar situations and were looking for new friendships. I know I am just complaining because I have hit the 6 month point and that seems to always be my breaking point when we move somewhere new but so much has happened lately to add to it all. Sean has been gone a ton which is never fun, the only person I do spend time with from family is moving away, and I got together with a friend of mine from years ago before I joined the church. I loved seeing her again but it also made me sad that I have missed out on so much time with so many friends I had made over the years that I no longer talk to. One of the downfalls to moving so much in my life is that I feel like I am always starting over and I am terrible about keeping in touch with people. I am trying to change this, Melanie is helping :), but sometimes it just feels lonely. I think Sean being gone is adding to the feeling big time. But on the bright side, I haven't given up... I keep trying and I know it will get better, it always does somehow! In the mean time, I am determined to handle things better this week than last. I refuse to yell at the kids as much and I am going to be more organized about my time. Of course I say that while I waste time on the computer but I needed to get this all out. So Melanie, if you were wondering why I didn't call this weekend, now you will have an idea! :) Anyway, I am off to do loads and loads of laundry. It is going to be a better week even if I have to force it!

Oh, I added the picture of the kids just for fun..

Baby Einstein...It's Crap?

2007-10-23T11:07:00.000-05:00

Ok, so my mom calls me yesterday after spending all weekend at some conference on learning and education. (she is a teacher) Anyway, she calls to tell me that one of the topics discussed were the baby einstein videos. Basically, not only will they not help my childrens brains develop, they are completly harmful! Apparently they have done a bunch of studies and for every 1 hour watched it can reduce a childs vocabulary by 6-7 words!! Once again, I feel like mom of the year. It didn't help that my one child who never watched the videos has the best vocabulary and spoke the fastest. So, in my despair over possibly having to get rid of one of the best inventions I had found to make my babies happy, I decided that maybe it wasn't true. Everything is at least worth a google search right. Well... here is what I found...

The claim always seemed too good to be true: park your infant in front of a video and, in no time, he or she will be talking and getting smarter than the neighbor's kid. In the latest study on the effects of popular videos such as the "Baby Einstein" and "Brainy Baby" series, researchers find that these products may be doing more harm than good. And they may actually delay language development in toddlers.

Led by Frederick Zimmerman and Dr. Dimitri Christakis, both at the University of Washington, the research team found that with every hour per day spent watching baby DVDs and videos, infants learned six to eight fewer new vocabulary words than babies who never watched the videos. These products had the strongest detrimental effect on babies 8 to 16 months old, the age at which language skills are starting to form. "The more videos they watched, the fewer words they knew," says Christakis. "These babies scored about 10% lower on language skills than infants who had not watched these videos."

Oh well, I guess it's ruined for me. One more thing on a long list of things to feel guilty for in the life of being a mom.

So, the real question is do I feel guilty for the damage I have already done or do I feel guilty because in all honesty, I wish I had never discoved this and could have gone on watching and loving the videos in blissfull ignorance, thinking I was such a great mom by helping my babies brains to develop. Yeah, sometimes ignorance is a great thing..... If I just ruined it for you as well, sorry. At least now we can complain together!

Bella Mozzarella

2007-10-22T16:10:00.000-05:00

So, here is the lastest addition to the Eames Family. Our new puppy Bella, which the kids have adapted to "Bella Mozzarella". She is incredably sweet and the boys love her! The main down fall so far is that, like most girls, she seems to have a shoe fetish. I am constantly chasing her down to rescue whatever shoe she has managed to swipe. On the upside, maybe this will finally cure my family of taking their shoes off where ever they please and just leaving them there!!

The beginning....

2007-10-21T15:23:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I am starting one of these things even though I am not completely sure why and I don't fully understand it yet. At least Melanie will read it and I know my mom will check it out. Oh well, I can never seem to find time to write in a journal anymore so maybe this can be close enough.
Last night we went out to spend the day with Sean's parents. They bought a new house about 40 minutes south of us and the only word to describe it is palacial! I don't know what they are going to do with all the space. My mother in law is already missing her old house and I think I can see why. As nice as the new one is, what do 3 people do with 8 bedrooms. We just joked that when we come next time we will stay the weekend and stay in the West Wing of the house.

So, today was church and I really enjoyed it. Both Speakers were really good and thought provoking yet down to earth. Now I am home, Sean had to go back to the church for a meeting, I am supposed to have a meeting for the Stake YW tonight but Sean is most likely flying out to LA tonight so I don't know how I am going to make that one work. His new job is going to take some getting used to. He is gone all the time! Basically Sunday night he flys out and then he flys back on Friday night. If I am lucky they will be walking a store in Phoenix during the week so he will be home for an evening but this may not be the case this week. Anyway, last week wasn't all that bad but give me unil week 4 or 5 when it hits me that I have 5 more months of this and I will probably have a minor breakdown.

I am not sure what else to write, maybe I will get the hang of this soon, maybe not. Stay tuned to see!!