No training wheels, lil Tiger Woods, and Carnivals

My little girl is about to turn 6. She's so excited that she figured out how to ride her bike without training wheels. She's so funny...she's got ATTITUDE. She told me today that I dress like a laundry maid. So I told her that I AM a laundry maid...and a dish washer, chauffer, house maid, janitor, cook, ect. She just looked at me like I was crazy...well, maybe I am. Someone grab a straight jacket.
JT decided lately that he's a golfer. He learned this from his Daddy and older brother. He actually tries to hit the ball. It's so funny when he finally makes contact...he just looks up at me like his whole world just lit up. Sooo funny.
JS got this sword at JL's fund raiser carnival. He brought it home, and my brother in law was here. So JS puts the sword between his legs and says..."Uncle Ben! Look at this bad boy!" We were laughing til I thought I was gonna pee my pants.
I love the things that kids do and say...especially since JS is making up words. He told me today that his schmelk hurts. I asked him what that was, and he pointed to his ankle...I didn't know the medical term for an ankle, but now I do. It's so nice to know.
Also, today my Mother picked a TON of grapes and brought them in her house. Well, she also brought my favorite- spiders into the house. There was this big black one crawling on the ceiling. So JS grabbed his shoe and threw it up, and hit the big black jerk. He fell to the floor and JS stepped on him. Then he took a golf ball and kept hitting it, saying "Mom! I'm breaking his bones!!!" So I made him get a tissue and take the 'for sure dead' spider to the garbage, but not before JT walked by and picked it up. To which I actually DID pee my pants. Needless to say, we won't be going to Grandma's until she's done canning grapes.

1 year, already???

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR JT!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!
This is amazing to me! How fast time flies. You know it's going to happen, but when it does, it kind of floors me. He had such a good birthday. It was so much fun. I tried to tell him and the other kids that they weren't allowed to have birthdays this year because Momma can't handle them getting older. They begged me for birthdays, so I told them they could have them, as long as they went down in years instead of up. So JL is now turning 4 and JS 2 and JT still 0.
So anyway, JT had a great time playing with all the wrapping paper and boxes. Forget the 50.00 outfit and the fun toys, eh?
We bought JT a little snuggle horse. You know, something quiet and calm. Everyone else decided that anything as loud and obnoxious as possible would do. Now, i'm not complaining, because the reason that they do this is because i've complained in the past. I'm very grateful for the gifts!
I'm so camera happy now that I blog. I told everyone at the party that if they're in the picture, they might end up on my blog! I'm such a dork...oh well. I'm so blog happy that the other night when I was searching my blog for maybe some more comments, I found a comment no...3 comments from Dawn Meehan. I was doing computer cartwheels..I was so excited. Wow! A celebrity like Dawn actually reading my blog? I've hit the top, I thought. So I asked Steven if he would be happy with me about this...and he ROLLED his eyes!!! I couldn't believe it! Then I realized that he hasn't caught the blogging bug yet. So he doesn't understand. Oh well, I was still really excited.
Man, that was a side track! Back to the party...it was a good, good time. All the family that we love were there. It was really nice to be with people that care about our little family. We are so blessed. Life is good, i've got 3 beautiful children that are always asking me really important questions like, "Mom? Can I have a Marshee?" To which I reply, "JS, what's a Marshee?" Joshua- "oh, I dunno but I want one." What, I ask you, would I do without that? Oh! And I have a 'blog-ignorant' husband who doesn't beat me or emotionally abuse me. I love him. I love my little JT man. He's been such a blessing in my life, he adds so much sunshine in a world of clouds and rain, and I don't ever want to be without him.

I wanna talk about me...

I need to tell you first that I bought a case of bottled water last week, and it is now in my car for JS to drink when he's 'fwirsty'. Not that he'll want water now...whatever.
I read Heather's blog thismorning...and she had this cute all about me thing going on, so I thought I would try it, just for fun.
1. What I was doing 10 years ago...I was a junior in High School. My friend Sarah had just been killed in a car accident and I was trying to get away from a jerk that I had started dating. He's now in prison for lots of bad things..30 years to life. It was the hardest/scariest time in my life and I never want to go back to it.

2. What I was doing 5 years ago...JL was just about to have her first birthday. I was working as a teller at a credit union. It was my favorite job ever, and I still miss it. Not as much as I would miss my kids if I went back though.

3. What I was doing 1 year ago...HAHA! I was getting ready to give birth to JT. His birthday is tomorrow! I was so miserable...I couldn't stop vomiting that day. All I could think about was how I had to take JL to preschool the next day..Oh well, that didn't happen- Grandma had to take her. I went into labor 1 year ago today, that was fun...okay not really but it was the last time I would do it, so I savored everything about it.

4. What I did yesterday...Took JL to Kindergarten, went to Dillards to get my clinique bonus, picked JL up from school, had lunch with my Mom, came home to put the kids to bed, watched my cousin's little boy, finished up some work for our Daddy-Daughter date we had for activity days last night. Went to the activity...it was western themed and we had the Dad's sit in a wanted poster while the girls painted moustaches on them...One of the girl's Dad's didn't show, so I got a new face painting...good times. I came home and talked to Cecily on the phone and went to bed...long day.

5. 5 snacks I enjoy...Okay this is a hard one...i'm not a big snack fan, but i'll try. Anything chocolate, nachos, chips and salsa, teddy grahams, apples (covered in caramel)

6. 5 things I would do if I had 100 Million dollars...Pay off our parents debt, buy Steven a new BMW or truck maybe both, Pay for Steven to finish school, live somewhere with 3 bedrooms so JL could have her own, take the whole family to Disneyland/Disneyworld.

7. 5 places I would run away to...anywhere my Mom is, Aunt Debbie's house, Hawaii, Bear Lake, Palisades Reservoir in Idaho.

8. 5 bad habits I have...biting my nails, assuming, Laundry OCD (don't touch my laundry, man.) procrastinating, yelling.

9. 5 things I like doing...BLOGGING, being with my Daddy, watching my kids accomplish the things they love, laundry, dating Steven.

10. 5 TV shows I like... ER, my name is Earl, American Idol, scrubs, The Office

11. 5 things I hate doing...dishes, arguing, driving in the snow, living at the mortuary, thinking about Steven going to Med School.

12. 5 biggest joys...watching my Daddy sleep on the couch, reading books to the kids, listening to JL tell me stories, knowing that families can be together forever, being with Steven.

YAY! Thanks Heather and Wendi for the fun idea! This is a good way to get to know someone, so if you're reading this, you've been tagged and must post on your blog.
GOOD LUCK!

HOORAY for weekends!!!

What a fun weekend we had!
Friday night Steven decided that he couldn't take it anymore. We HAD to go see Harry Potter. I was pretty excited just to get away from the apartment and shhh (the kids too) for a minute. I needed a break. On the way to drop the kids off with my parents, the conversation went like this...
JS: Dad, I'm thirsty.

DAD: Okay, we're almost to Grandma's house, and i'll get you a drink.

JS: I said i'm fwirsty, Daddy.

MOM: JS, as soon as we get to Grandma's i'll get you a drink.

BABY: blah blah blah blah blah

JS: I don't WANT to go to Grandma's.

JL: Mom, can I be Belle for Halloween?

MOM: Yes, JL you can.

JS: I want a DRINK!!!

MOM: Does it look like we have a sink in here?

JS: I said i'm FWIRSTY!!

DAD: JS, don't yell in the car.

JL: Mom, the word toilet starts with the letter T.

MOM: Yes, honey, it does.

JS: Mom....

MOM: Let me guess, you're thirsty?

JL: 'I love you, you love me...we're a happy family...'

JS: GRRRRR!!! I don't want to go to Grandma's!!!

DAD: JS, don't yell in the car...

BABY: da da da da da da!

I was so glad to get to Grandma's house just to get out of the car. When we finally got there, I told my Mom good luck, handed her the diaper bag, and left as quickly as I could.
I spent a good chunk of the weekend with Steven. It was so nice. We also had a birthday party at the park today, which was fun. The kids played and left me alone for a good hour or so. It was nice to talk to someone about things other than big singing purple dinosaurs. I'm so glad for happy families.

Aches and Growing Pains

These babies were hard to bring to this earth. I have a condition called hyperemesis. Which basically means that I vomit until i'm dehydrated. I know, gross. That was my life for 9 months each time I was pregnant. I thought for sure that it would get easier each time I had a baby. I was wrong. When I was pregnant with JT I was admitted to the hospital where my doctor told me that if I would have gone another day in that condition, I probably would have lost the baby and my own life. I spent many days on the couch at home teathered to an IV pole. When he finally made it here to Earth, I was so happy. My doctor informed me that it probably wasn't a good idea to have any more babies. Six weeks later, I had a tubal ligation. That was the hardest decision of my life so far. I love my kids, and I always felt like there was going to be more than 3. Well, I guess I was wrong. My baby is going to be a year old in 8 days. He's walking all over the place. He seems more like a toddler now than a baby. It's been really tough for me to let him grow up. I love these three little monsters! They are my whole life. I get confirmations about once a month that I did the right thing. I really wanted another baby, but life isn't giving me that option anymore. I'm in the retired Mom's club. I am going to miss having binki's all over the house, along with onsies and little socks. I'm going to miss having to wash bottles at night, and nursing. I'm going to miss burp rags, and the baby swing. I'll miss the attention a Mom gets when a new baby is born. Call me crazy, but i'm going to miss diapers and the sweet smell of baby wipes, at least I get to have those for a couple more years. I guess i'll just rely on my siblings to share their babies with me until this ache in my heart goes away. I hope it does. Man, it hurts.

Happy Family...right

Don't let the picture fool you...this was for only about a minute today. The rest of the day was listening to kids argue, and whine. I worked so hard today! All I wanted was for the kids to get along and be nice to eachother.
I woke up early as always, and got JL to school. I came home, did laundry, dishes (twice), vacuumed, dusted, swept, cleaned the kids room, marinated some steaks for dinner, picked JL up from school, worked on a walk a thon activity for JL's school, and more laundry. I'm so tired! Also, I tweeked my back on Sunday,
so i've been hurting all day too. I wonder sometimes why I thought this Mom thing was such a good idea. It's so hard. I worked all morning long to get things cleaned up and looking nice so that I could have my sister and her hubby over for dinner. My sister was late for dinner, and Steven had to be at an instruction up at the school, so we ate without them...thank goodness. Dinner was awful. The steak tasted okay, but the potatoes were all runny and the gravy tasted like teriyaki. So I called my sister and uninvited her to dinner. Not only was the meal a flop, Steven was eating as fast as he could (probably so that his taste buds wouldn't be paralyzed) and JS was crying the whole time. I guess kids don't like to eat garbage after all...JL actually ate her potatoes, and JT ate some too, but it was still gross.
Why do we do this? I guess it's okay if it turns out well for you...but it didn't work out for me today. I'm so disappointed. I just thought that it would be a better night, with Steven here, and a nice meal with family and a clean house...and none of it turned out that way at all. I'm just bummed! Oh well, I guess there are other days that might turn out for me eh? Well, I guess I should stop complaining and go finish the laundry, because somewhere there's someone that has it way worse than I do.

I wish someone would've hit me in the head...

I know we've all done this before..
When I was younger, I always said I wouldn't do this or that.. for example; my mom used to smack our butts with a wooden spoon. I always said that I would never do that. HA! Sometimes a little smack on the bootie is the only way to straighten up my 3 year old. However, I don't use a wooden spoon. Also, I always said that people who bring cheerios in a tupperware to church were nuts. I thought that I would just have perfect children that would sit there and listen to the speakers, with folded arms and bowed heads. HA! Fruit snacks save me every Sunday. They are the only things that keep my kids happy. Oh! Another good one is that I said I would never let my kids eat in the car. That's a good one because as of this moment I have a ton of smashed up treats on the floor of our jeep. I'm sure that when I would say those things, moms all around me were snickering...I bet they were thinking 'you just wait honey..'
I wish they would have just said, "Hey stupid.. um yeah, i'm talking to you...hey um every child is different, and if you think that you can do it better than the other mom, good luck. It's all a trial run, and we're all just trying to do the best we can." Then I wish they would have smacked me upside the head.
I love being a Mom! It's the greatest job in the world! It's definately harder than I ever imagined. It pays nothing while the rewards are priceless! I love my 3 little terrors. They are my whole world. Those beautiful eyes and sweet cheeks are worth every messy diaper, every dirty dish, every mud pie, every bug that we should keep as a pet. I love this time in my life, and I hope to sit back, and slow down. I want to be able to look back and remember these times. Like I said, I wouldn't trade them for anything.