Checkmate

I am so tired of Hunter bulldozing through his pairs of shoes. He barely ever ties the laces so they all get shredded at the ends. He always wears them without putting his foot all the way through so the heel goes flat. Basically he is very hard on his shoes. They constantly need replacement in a majorly bad way. When I saw that he had worn a hole in the bottom of one with a month of school left to go, I told him he would have to make due with them. With only a few weeks of school left, I didn't want to buy him a new pair for him to destroy. I like to buy them new shoes when school starts in the fall. Secretly I have been dying to trash them and get him new ones, but planned to wait. Today he came home from school and I noticed him pulling a yellow paper out of his shoe. It was falling apart and all wilted from his sweaty foot. I asked him why he had put a piece of paper inside his shoe. He said because of the hole in the bottom of his shoe, his foot was getting burned on the sidewalk. He went to the nurse and was given a piece of paper to protect his foot from the burning hot pavement as well as some duck tape to add another protective layer to the bottom. 

He called my bluff and now has some new to us shoes (I begged some off my sister that her boy had just grown out of) to wear to school for the last few weeks and to get us through all our camping adventures this summer. Hunter is the only one of my boys that wears shoes to pieces constantly. I'm not sure why he is so rough on them. I used to be able to save shoes and hand them down to the next boy. None of Hunter's shoes have survived to make it to Adam (with the exception of church shoes). I think it's safe to say we got every last penny out of these shoes.

Mother's Day

My family always does a fantastic job of spoiling me on Mother's Day. Trevor made me a yummy breakfast of waffles, sausage & hashbrowns..all very delicious and he even made the waffles from scratch. I was super impressed. He and the boys also cleaned it all up without me having to lift a finger. It was a real treat. Church was enjoyable. We had some excellent speakers in sacrament and it was a great meeting, despite me being told I was giving the closing prayer as I sat down on my bench after church had already started. I had anxiety for the rest of the meeting. I do NOT like being up there. At least I only had to have anxiety for an hour and not for days had I been given proper notice. During third hour, the men took over the women's classes and all the women were able to attend a special relief society meeting that followed with refreshments and visiting afterward. I think it should be a Sunday tradition and not just on Mother's Day! We went to my parent's house for dinner and had a nice evening visiting with family. I am so grateful for the mothers in our lives. They are both the most special women I know and I am so proud to be able to call them both mom! I'm feeling very blessed after such a special day of honoring our mothers and all the ways my family tried to make this day special for me. Life is good. 

Cutest Batgirl Ever!

It is the most precious thing to hear this little girl call herself Batman & Batgirl. She changes her mind all the time which character she is being. Usually it is the opposite of what you are calling her. 

Me: Hi Batman!

Ashlyn: No I Batgirl!

Me: You're Batgirl? Hi Batgirl!

Ashlyn: No I Batman!

I think she just likes to argue with me. 

Fresh Face

I have come to learn that all of my creative dreaming for my home can no longer depend on when my busy husband is available to make it happen. I have found that I need to step out of my comfort zone and learn how to do things myself so that I can help take some tasks off his very full plate and actually make things happen around here (plus Trevor would probably rather I just leave everything the way it is)! I have wanted to paint the front door a different color for years. Every time I see a home with a colorful door I get major door envy and dream about what I would do with my door if that day ever came. I finally decided it needs to get done and that I was going to be the one that

made it happen. I had the looming summer temperatures hanging over my head warning me that my window of opportunity for this project was disappearing with each day passing. I knew if it didn't get done before the heat, I most likely wouldn't have time to do it again until next spring. So I actually made it happen. 

Before

After

It took me a few days for the color to grow on me. I wasn't used to the brightness. But after painting the trim black a few days later, I am really happy with how it turned out.

Casualties

We've had a rough week over here. Interestingly enough they have both been on Sunday morning while we are trying to get ready for church. 

Last Sunday, Hunter closed the fridge while the bottom drawer was open, leaving us with a nice crack in the drawer. 

Today, Adam was tipping back in his chair, which I've warned him not to do about about a thousand times. Of course he fell straight back and this was the result. He was pretty upset when I told him that he's not getting a new chair. He's got a nice stool with no back. At least he won't be able to lean his chair back anymore! Hunter was sweet and tried to let Adam have his chair. I told Hunter no because then we would have 2 broken chairs. Is it just boys that are so destructive? This is why Trevor says we can't buy new things!

Sleeping Beauty

I've been trying not to give Ashlyn naps if I can help it. Ever since she kept me up until 1 am a few weeks ago, naps have been short and sparse. Usually in the car during the afternoon run around. Sometimes she still sneaks one in at home though. 

I found her on the floor like this. I have fought this girl over sleep more than any of my boys. Apparernly, it just has to be on her own terms. 

Best Valentine's Day Cards Ever!

Jacob picked out these valentines to give to his class. They were a big hit at home as well as in the classroom!

Bucket of Blankets

While we were reading scriptures, Adam woke up and went into the bathroom. When he was finished, we expected him to join us like he always does, but he disappeared back into his room. After we were done, Trevor went to check on him and called me to his room to see what he was doing. I thought he had gone back to sleep. But instead, we found him like this:

He has been playing with an old toy bucket. He piled blankets, stuffed animals and light sabers inside, then put himself in and we found him just sitting. He said he was cold.  

Sympathy

Ashlyn is a really sympathetic sister when she sees her brothers in time out. She puts herself there with them to show her support. 

Kids

When you ask your 4 year old to put away your bag & shoes and he has to wear them to your closet as well as take several detours around the house in costume before he actually gets them put away. 

11 Year Old in the House

My Guinea pig has turned 11. He will now teach me what to do with an 11 year old so I can know how to do it right for the other kids. 

We celebrated his Sunday no-funday birthday by going out to eat on Saturday night at Red Robin. 

Big holidays are one of the rare moments that Jacob lets me take pictures of him. Otherwise he will cover his face or turn and run away. 

Jacob picked out the mile high ice cream cake for dessert. They devoured it like wild animals who had been scavenging for food for days. I was afraid to get my spoon in there for fear that I would get nipped at. 

On Sunday we had presents and church in the morning. Jacob was happy with his loot despite the absence of his most wanted present..a mini iPad. We had some visits from grandparents and the primary president. And we ended the day with the best thing possible. Cake & ice cream. Some of us paid the price the next morning with a stomach ache from eating too much cake. 

School Carnival

We went to the annual school carnival and all Ashlyn wanted to do was stare at the animals in the petting zoo. She didn't want to go inside and let any of them. She just wanted to watch them. All night.

Every time this lhama got too close she would panick. 

Trevor was gone on a business trip, Jacob was off with his friends most of the night and Hunter & Adam went with their aunt to another school carnival so it was just me & this little lady. And the lhama. 

Halloween 2015

A hobo/lumberjack, a vampire, Anikan Skywalker and a mermaid. 

We spent our Halloween day going to baseball games. When we got home, we hurried to change into costumes. Then went trick or treating at my parents. Then we spent the rest of the night parading around the neighborhood, collecting more candy than we can possibly consume. What a fun holiday!!!

Hunter's Prayers to the Rescue..Again!

For some reason it has become an annual tradition for us to have problems gaining entry into our condo in Oceanside. Last year, we left our condo and locked it. When we retuned, no matter how hard we tried, our key would not work. We eventually had to call a maintenance man who also had problems unlocking the door. After a while, Hunter asked permission to go off and say a prayer that we could get into our condo. Almost immediately, we were able to get into our condo. We were reminded of this story last night when we were locked out of our condo and couldn't find our key. We had just returned from the grocery store and got to our door before realizing we didn't have our key. We had just used our key to gain entry to the garage so we were baffled as to how we could lose it from the garage to our door. Trevor took the boys back down to the car to find it while Ashlyn & I camped outside our door with our groceries. I got a little worried when he called me about 10 minutes later to tell me he still couldn't find it. How was this even possible? I lined up all of our groceries by the door so I could go assist in the car search efforts. About a minute later, he called to tell me that he had found the key. It was inside the hat that was currently sitting on his head. Apparently, Hunter announced that he had said a prayer that we would find it. About a minute later, Trevor took off his hat to rub his hair back and the key fell right out. We were so baffled as to how he could have put his hat on and not felt the key falling into his head. He even repeated the act just to see if he would notice the key and it was very noticeable. So apparently we just needed another lesson in prayer from our 8 year old. We are hoping his prayers can help us find our other key which has been missing since we went to the beach yesterday. 

Blood Moon

First of all..I did not take this picture. My attempts were far, far below this quality. Jacob told me about the blood moon tonight. He proceeded to tell me that he thought the second coming was going to be the day after tomorrow because the scriptures talk about a blood moon. He said that if the sun was dark tomorrow we would know it was coming. I let him know that there are some other things that have been prophesied to happen first so it would not be the day after tomorrow. I was really impressed with his knowledge. He retains information so easily. When we read scriptures and talk about what we just read, he can summarize it to a T without any difficulty. He seemed really excited for the second coming. It would definitely be an exciting thing, but do I feel ready for that sacred meeting? Do any of us feel ready to meet the Savior? The thought seems a little intimidating to me. I think I need to take a faith lesson from my 10 year old son. 

Doll Hoarder

Ashlyn can't have enough dolls in her arms when she plays at nursery. She has only been legal to attend for 2 weeks but we slipped in a few times before the big 1-8 months cause we (I) was bored of wandering the halls with her. Ever since that first visit she has been fixated on the enormous doll basket that sits atop the cabinet. It is piled high with at least 15 dolls and she does her best to get her arms around each and every one..all at the same time. She is obsessed. 

Little Man

Eggs, juice & paper. Even though he can't read he is a mini-man in training. 

Drama Queen

Whenever someone says hi to Ashlyn and she's not feeling social (almost always), she will face-plant herself right on the floor and start bawling. Luckily this was at church on the semi-soft carpet. A few days ago, it was on the garage floor where she had a run-in with Uncle Bryce. I'm surprised she hasn't had more bruising on her forehead from it. She doesn't discriminate where she will plop herself down in protest like she does who she will socialize with. I think she inherited the shy gene from me. 

Melt My Heart

It just does not get any more adorable than this.


Well...maybe it does

Happy Father's Day

One of my favorite things about Father's Day is the cute things the kids bring home from primary. I love it when they get to fill in the blank like this. Their answers always make me smile. So even though I'm not a father, I get to enjoy this special treat. 

This is the pile of stuff Adam pulled out of his pockets before he went up to the stage to sing his Father's Day songs during sacrament. I can't believe I didn't notice bulging pockets as we walked into church. Not pictured is a juice box. I confiscated that as soon as he pulled it out. 

Happy Father's Day to my sweet husband who does an amazing job taking care of our family. Happy Father's Day to both our fathers! We love you so much and are so grateful to be able to have such special men to call DAD.