Pre-School Graduation 2009

On Thursday, we had Brenna's pre-school graduation/program. She was soooo excited as we got ready. We went and bought her a new outfit to wear, she picked it out all by herself. So when we woke up on thursday morning, she wanted to put it on first thing. After getting ready I took her outside to get a couple pictures of her before we left.












We were the first ones to show up, so I helped Miss Beckie set up, and then the program got started... although the kids were really quiet and some didnt do it at all... it was still really cute. And Miss Beckie then called each of their names and gave them there very own pre-school diploma. The kids liked that part, and were very proud of themselves. I know this may sound a little cliche, but I a so proud of Brenna! She has overcome some pretty big things this year with the help of Miss Beckie. She was VERY attatched to me when the year started, and she was a little weary of being away from mommy at first. But she quickly found her place in the class, and became rather fond of school and learning. At one point during the year she was having a little trouble with another little girl being really mean and picking on her. It got to the point that she didn't want to go to school anymore because of it, after talking to her teacher and Brenna, we were able to fix the problem, and Brenna never gave up on trying to be this little girls friend... and now at the end of the year, she and Alyssa (the mean girl) are inseperable at school. We found out later in the year that Alyssa was placed in foster care and eventually was adopted by her parents now, and that her behavior issues were a result of her previous parenting... Alyssa too, made great progress this year, and I am so proud of Brenna for being the "bigger person" and never retaliating, instead she was an example to Alyssa. Brenna has also made a lot of progress in her learning. She can identify some (not all) of her letters. She can trace them perfectly and write some of them on her own. She knows her ABC's like the back of her hand, and she can count to 20. Her vocabulary has increased tramendously (not that she needed any help in that area). She has went from scribbling to taking her time and coloring nicely. Brenna will be returning to Miss Beckie's pre-school in the fall, and I am really excited to see what next year will bring. She is already so advanced... We will miss Miss Beckie this summer, but we will be sure to visit her at Iggy's (her summer job) often. Thank you Beckie for all you do, your a wonderful teacher, and we look forward to another 2 years with you.
PS. I am uploading videos, and I appologize for the bad quality and bounciness of them... I wasn't paying that close of attention to what I was doing. I was trying to watch the program.

Such a boy...

Just wanted to share this really quickly. A couple days ago I was sitting in my living room in my reclining chair watching the kids play outside through the front window. I had just turned my head quick enough to catch Sam's pants dropping to the ground. So I had to grab the camera and run outside to get a pic. Apparently he needed to go potty, but didn't want to take the time to come inside... fortunately I got out there before the diaper came off... but I just thought to myself... such a typical boy, and to think, peeing outside just comes naturally to them, they don't have to even be taught.

Last field trip of the year...

Brenna's Class Picture!








How bitter sweet this day was. Brenna is not ready for school to be over. She loves Miss Beckie, and to be honest, so do I. She has really been a great fit for Brenna. Brenna is such a shy and reserved kid, but for some reason she just took to Miss Beckie and the other kids. This last field trip we went to Wheeler farm. The kids had so much fun, feeding ducks, running around and just spending some last quality time as a class. Some of the kids, Brenna included, will be returning next year... however some are off to bigger and better things... Kindergarten. Brenna has one more day of school left... Tues., and then Thursday is her pre-school gradutation. We will be going to "Bouncing off the walls." So I will have picture up of that at the end of next week.

Family Fishing Day

Yesterday, Bill and I made a last minute decision to take the kids fishing. We hadn't had much family time lately being that Bill has been on the night shift, which makes things really difficult on our family. So we felt it was time for some MUCH needed family time together. We loaded the kids up and headed down to Highland. They have this really cute little reservoir down there behing the Lone Peak High School. Although it took us awhile to find it again, because the only way we knew to get there the road had been closed so we had to find another way. Once we got there the kids were ANXIOUS! Sam was really into the ducks, but Brenna just wanted to catch a fish "RIGHT NOW". She has such attitude. Once we got the poles ready... the kids were bored after the first couple casts out into the water. The fish just weren't biting and they were done. Kind of a bummer. Overall though we enjoyed eachothers company and had a few good laughs watching the kids. At one point Sam was sitting there on the shore line holding his pole with his feet, shoes included, in the water.... The stinker! Brenna's favorite thing was realing in the line. I would cast it and she would start pulling it back in right away. At one point she started trying to cast it by herself... although she would only get it about a couple feet... she has to start somewhere!

He can be sweet... I swear!

Although Sam has hit a very testing age for me, he has also given me some of the best moments with him ever lately. Anyone who knows us, knows that Sam has NEVER been a snuggler. He has been very independant since the day he was born. He didn't even like sleeping in the bassanet next to the bed when we brought him home. He has ALWAYS slept in his own room, in his own bed. But as of recently, he has decided that he likes to snuggle up to mommy and daddy to sleep. I know, I shouldn't be happy about this, but I have enjoyed it. It wasn't until last week that Sam for the first time EVER fell asleep in my arms. I must say, I shed a few tears... and just sat there admiring his handsome face. Something that for the past two years I have been so badly wanting. I just feel that time with your kids is such a bonding time... and between raising another toddler and Sam's personality I always felt kind of cheated of those experiances with Sam. Every morning now, he comes out of his room and into ours at about 6am and snuggles up to me and daddy and falls back asleep. I very much enjoy this new routine with Sam. Melts my heart!

The terrable 2's....

I never really was quite aware of the "real" terrible twos. Brenna seams to have missed this phase. However Sam, is giving me the FULL experience... enough for 10 kids combined. I feel I am running a full time house of terror! Of the multiple things I have posted on his current needs of exploration... this weekend I think we have had the worse yet. I was just having a BAD day to begin with... you know the kind. Everything was just seeming to go wrong. I think the kids can always tell when I am having one of those off days... because they seem to have there extra bad days when I am having mine. Makes for quite the tiring day. Okay, back to my story... So below are pictures of Sam, after getting into the Medical cut/burn ointment. He had emptied the ENTIRE tube out all over his clothes and covered his face in it. So... of course I get him undressed, and put him in the tub. After snapping a couple shots of his mess, I took his clothes downstairs and started a load of laundry... Brenna was supposed to be keeping an eye on things while I ran downstairs.... I know my first mistake of this hellacious day. After sorting and loading I came back upstairs to none other than a flooded bathroom. Brenna was quietly sitting in the living room watching T.V. while Sam emptied his tub water with a cup and onto the floor.... YAY! Although I was slightly frustrated, I wasn't too upset, being I need to mop the floor that day anyway... Sam just speeded up the process. The remainder of that day Sam was just into EVERYTHING! That evening the neighbor and I had planned to get together for the kids to play in hopes they would exhaust themselves in the process... After about an hour of the fighting, Sam... terrorizing the other kids (I swear he just loves to make the other kids cry) we popped in a movie for them and got them some popcorn while my neighbor and I sat down stair going through craft stuff, trying to escape from the madness. When after about ohhhhhh 20 minutes, Sam comes to me and points up his nose and says.... OUT!!! So I look, yet AGAIN he has a popcorn kernal SHOVED up his nose!!! This kid has officially been banned from popcorn. After spending about an hour trying to get it out I decided this time there was NO getting it out. So I called the on call doctor at his petiatrician's office and asked what they had suggest for me to do. Meanwhile my friend was on the phone with her sister to see if she had any ideas... her sister said she read to put a drop of olive oil in there nose in hopes of it dislodging and sliding out. So we did that. The doctor told me that as long as he is still breathing he wasn't in any imediate danger and that he felt if it goes anywhere, that would be down the back of his throat but if by morning it wasn't out, I would have to take him to the ER... (because this was Sat. night and nothing is open on Sun.) to have it removed from his nose. Yippy! So after I hung up with the doc and we had put the olive oil in his nose, now all we could do was wait. I was feeding Sam Mac n' Cheese when about 10 mins after the oil, out came the kernal... Just slid out his nose, right down his lip. WHAT A RELIEF!!! (or so I thought) By this time I was exhausted, and so were the kids. It was almost midnight... so I took the kids home, and got them ready for bed. All the while Sam kept saying "Owie, Want out!" and pointing at his nose. So after I got Brenna in bed, I got a flashlight and looked up his nose one last time.... Just to be safe. Low and behold, ANOTHER KERNAL!!!! You could BARELY see this one it was soooo far up there. So, at this point I was beyond spent, and ready to cry. I grabbed the olive oil and put another drop in his nose and put him in bed with me. This could wait till morning! So the next day, I loaded the kids up, ran a few errands and hit the doctors office. I had kinda thought that the kernal had worked it's way out cause he was breathing clearly but because he had a little bit of a bloody nose that morning I just wanted to be safe so I took him into the after hours medical place. Sure enough the kernal was no where to be seen... must have slipped down his throat in the night... Thank GOD! His poor nose was a little swollen and irritated inside, imagine that! Here's to hoping he learned a lesson!

Happy Mothers Day all the amazing mom's...

As today is coming to an end... I am sitting here thinking about how amazing my kids are. Although today is a day to celebrate our mom's and for us mom's to be shown appreciation... I think today, for me, was more so a day for me to look at my precious children and remember how lucky I am to be their mom. They truely are some amazing, smart, loving, and precious little beings. There personalities are so different from eachother, but the one thing they have in common is the amount of love they have to give. Even at there young ages they are so unselfish in all the ways that matter most. As I look back at my life, and regardless of all the wrongs and rights I have faced or had to overcome... I wouldn't change them for the world. I feel blessed to have had those lessons in life, and I can only hope that through them, I can be the best mom to my children as I can be and also that I will be able to spare them of any of the same heartaches I have had to face.

Okay, so about my wonderful day... Bill came home this morning after working the grave yard shift, and brought me some flowers and a sweet card. On the front of the card there was a little dirty blonde haired girl with pig tails wearing her mommy's high heels and jewelry. He said as I opened it, "I had to get this one, cause the second I saw it... it reminded me of our kids." I just LOVED that he too can take the small things our children do, and appreciate them as much as I do... He really is an amazing father, and husband. The card was filled with some of the sweetest words he has ever said to me... I really, really appreciated that more than he will ever know! Well, of course he was tired so he headed down to the dungeon for some much needed rest. Then the kids and I ate some breakfast, made some cards for their grammy and sunney. We delivered them, then went and got some lunch. After that, we just came home and enjoyed some R&R. I then went to a movie with my neighbor friend. It was nice to get just the right amount of alone time in during the day too. While I was gone, Bill took the kids gift searching... when I came home Bill told me they didn't get anything cause he couldn't find anything he thought I would like. Which was totally fine with me, cause the love I get from all of them is simply enough. Then Brenna told me... "mom we didn't get you anything cause we couldn't find anything we thought was good enough." I know she meant that in a totally sweet and innocent way, and I thought it was so tender!

To my mom:
Regardless of our past, present, or future differences I just want you to know I love you regardless. I believe that the biggest blessing of becoming a mom is the unconditional love you recieve from your children. The love I have for you has never, and will never change. I still love you unconditionally at 26, as I did the moment I first saw your face.

To my step-mom:
I cannot express just how thankful I am for you and all you have brought to my life. You except me the way I am, and you will never know how much that means to me. I have fought long and hard for exceptance from others, and you helped me realize that the real me is absolutely good enough. You have helped me be happy in my own skin... you are amazing, and I love you!

To both mom-in-laws:
I thank you both for excepting me into your families with open arms. You are both amazing women, each in very different ways... but I am grateful for the relationships I have been able to build with the both of you. Thank you for being you! Love you!

Just a beautiful spring day...

The kids and I were just outside soaking in the warm sun... I was enjoying just watching the kids play, and admiring the beauty outside. I grabbed the camera and got a little camera happy, I won't post them all, but here are a few shots I snapped of the kids...

Sprinkler fun...

The kids had been itching to put on there new swim suits and play in the sprinklers.... however being the "Overprotective" mom that I am it took them 3 days to convinse me to let them do it. I just didn't feel it was warm enough outside to be getting wet, but then I decided if they get too cold they will stop...

Well, Brenna barely even got wet, and she was the instigator of all this... she stood just close enough to get a few drops on her here and there... Sam on the other hand, he was all for it! He was SOAKED! And even when he got cold he didn't want to stop! He spent about an hour playing in the water when I finally turned it off... it was ovbious he wasn't going to stop even though he was FREEZING! Boy was he mad at me, but at least I know when it gets a bit warmer I have something that will keep him occupied!

A new toy for the summer!

Over the weekend, Bill bought me a fire pit. I have been wanting one soooo bad, and it is an early mothers day gift! So we lit it up the next night and roasted hot dogs for dinner, and then we invited the neighbors over to roast marshmellows! It was great fun over a few drinks.... Ahhhhh I am lovin' this!

Picnic Season...

I can't even tell you just how happy I am that the cold weather is finally starting to subside. I have been awaiting this spring weather, as I am sure EVERYONE has! Yesterday I got a call from my neighbor saying she was feeling a little, well a lot, under the weather and wondered if her son could come play for an hour. Well when I got there to get her son, I decided I would take her 2 year old as well. All the kids just love to play, and had actually been playing together all weekend. So I decided what a better day to have a picnic with some friends... the kids played for 3 hours and didn't eat hardly any of their lunches... but there mom was able to get some much needed sleep. Hunter is 1 year older than Brenna, and he just ADORES her. He told his mommy that when he gets big he is going to Marry Brenna and at there wedding people are going to throw candy, toys, and puppies at them.... then, they are going to make lots of babies! Oh boy... do we have our hands full. Mya is only 3 weeks older than Sam, and they just love to be together as well. It is so nice to have kids the same age as mine just a few doors down... There mom is super fun too! We get along great. I think we are in for a very fun filled summer with the neighbors!

Needs no explanation...

Oh the WONDERFUL things I catch my Little Sam trying to do...











Like Standing in the toilet....

Oh, what do I do????