New Store Additions

I have had the supplies to make an A-frame sign for the store for months.  I finally took a day that the whole family was here working and went in the back room to make the sign.  I think it turned out colorful and fun.  I used bright duct tape and some letter cutouts then covered it all with packing tape to make it weather proof.  It is sure to bring in new customers.

I also bought a candy dispenser for the front to hopefully supplement the store.  I LOVE it and think it looks great.  Let's hope it does as well as I hope it does.

Alex with the Savior

I saw this picture and had to take a second look.  That little boy looks exactly like Alex!  It makes my heart sing and reminds me that even though he throws massive temper tantrums and destroys almost everything, he is also very sweet and loves to be loved.  I love seeing him in the Savior's arms.

Playtime

Megan and Alex were playing so quietly that I got nervous.  I remember how white my kitchen became last time they got all quiet.  When I found them they were having a blast quietly playing with their toys in the front room.  It was so sweet...and a relief.

Date Night

I love Hilary Weeks!!!  I saw her at the first Women's Conference my mother took me to many years ago.  She writes and sings beautiful songs that have to do with the love of the Savior.  She is funny, talented, and a so loving.  I always love seeing her annually at each Women's Conference.

This year for Valentine's Day there was a Date Night being put on by a great Psychiatric that I love to listen to on the radio, Matt Townsend.  He specializes in family relationships.  He came to speak at our Stake for a fireside one night and CJ was there and we both loved his talk.  His special guest for this Date Night was Hilary Weeks!  I couldn't resist it so I asked CJ if he would be my date that night (it was more expensive than we usually spend for each other on Valentine's Day) and we went together.  They were both so funny and spoke so well to our hearts.  After ward Hilary stayed to take pictures and talk with everyone.  She is so sweet and was so nice to us when it was our turn.  

I couldn't wait to get home tonight and show this picture to my girls because they love Hilary as much as I do.  They were so excited for me.

Hilary Weeks

Experiments in Silence

Not experimenting with silence but doing experiments silently, that is what I mean.  

It's been long enough that I can laugh about it now so I thought I would share. Last Saturday Megan and Alexander thought they would conduct an experiment. I should have known something was up when they got silent.  Apparently they wondered how much floor they could cover with an entire 5 lb bag of flour. Together they set out to answer their question.  When I walked in to the kitchen I wanted to cry.  I am proud of myself that I didn't yell because they pretty much covered ALL of our new tile floor with it...you know, the floor with all the dark brown grout! (Sorry, no pics. I didn't think about it at the time.) They had so much flour on the floor that they decided to start throwing it on things other than the floor, like the table, the counter tops, and of course themselves. Oh, and here's the kicker, they accomplished their little experiment in less than 5 minutes.  

Panorama

Playing with the panorama feature on my new iphone I took this picture of the new shelving unit that I put in our front room.  If you look closely you will see our DREAM theme.  

All the places we have the word dream:

*Spelled out with the blocks on the top of the bookshelf.

*Spelled out with the blocks hanging from the corner shelf.

*In gold on the picture hanging on the last hook of the corner shelf.

*A small word plaque that sits in front of the picture of the kids on the corner shelf.

Baby Room

There was a room in our store that was used as an "extras" room holding things like electronics, sports, and any other items I didn't have a place for.  It was never a room that I liked it was just there.  After a while I found a new purpose for that room and I am so glad at how it turned out.  I put up a block to the room with a sign that let customers know it was under construction so they were all curious on what it was changed to.  It was a big project so it took me longer to get it done then I liked (every day it was closed was a day of lost sales) but it was finally opened.

I had so many baby items that they were taking over the other rooms.  I decided to turn the "extras" room in to a "nursery".  It was so cute in there and everyone loved it.  I had fun seeing all the tiny and cute baby clothes.  We need more shelving but for now it is open.

Get some disinfectant!

What a pair CJ and I are tonight.  We both have the flu and I have bronchitis on top of that.  We sound so pathetic.

I love my girls so much for taking such good care of us as well as the two little ones.  

We are soooo blessed!

Just a trim...right?

So today as I was cutting Alexander's hair he kept telling me he wanted it to look just like "Sportacus's" hair (that is his favorite character in his favorite television show.)  I told him I would do my best but he would have to try to sit still if that was going to happen.  When I got to the area around his ears he grabs my hands and holds them, looks me in the eyes with fear and pleading on his face.  He then looks for some reassurance as he asks...

"You're not going to cut my brain are you?"

DREAM 5

Ever since we told my family that the first letter in all the kids names can be arranged to spell the word DREAM, they have suggested that I put that word on our licence plate.  Knowing that the word DREAM would already be taken I never looked in to it but wished that I could get it because it would mean a great deal to me and my family.  

A few weeks ago the dealer that sold our new van to us kept calling but I have been so busy that I didn't have a chance to call her back.  Her message was so urgent that she traveled all the way to my home and showed up on my door step.  It turns out that the van she let me drive home in was not actually the van she sold me on paperwork.

This car dealer is pretty new and they have so few employees that they are not able to process all their new inventory as quickly as they would like.  I saw a minivan on their website that I wanted to look at so I went and asked them about it.  She showed me the van I have now and I thought that the van looked even better in person than it did in the picture.  I drove it and it was even better than described so I knew that it was the one I wanted because it was a good price for a nice van.  We filled out the proper paperwork and I went on my way.  It wasn't until months later when a second, very similar, van was sold and they were filling out the paperwork did they catch the mistake that was made.

The van that was advertised on their website the day I went to look at it was taken in the back to be cleaned.  The owner and only salesperson that showed me the van didn't know that so she showed me one that she thought was correct since it came in at the same time and still needed to be cleaned (like the other van.)  She was in such a hurry because there were other customers and she is the only person showing the cars that she never checked the VIN number on my van with the number on the paperwork for the van I saw on the internet.  I left and the van that matched my paperwork was cleaned and put on the lot for sale with the paperwork that I should have received.  When that van sold and she saw that the VIN numbers didn't match she panicked.  She rushed the correct paperwork to me for signatures.  If I had gotten in an accident in my van that didn't match the paperwork my insurance company would not have covered it and the company that sold me the car would have been liable.  

She told me that the van I got was in much better condition that the one that I was supposed to get so I got a really good deal.   She said that she would also pay for the new licence plate and asked if there was anything special I wanted on it.  So we now have my DREAM licence plate with the added number of 5 for the five kids that are my dream team.

Unicorn Poop

 Have you ever wondered what unicorn poop looks like?  Well wonder no more!  My kids have uncovered the mystery that has plagued unicorn lovers for centuries.  They have found samples of ACTUAL unicorn poop.  Don't believe me?  Look for yourselves.

You believe me now don't you.  This is the real deal.  Isn't it as beautiful and magical as the unicorn that dropped it?  And to top it all off, not only is unicorn poop colorful but it tastes great too.  I don't normally put the poop of any creature in my mouth but unicorns are so magical and beautiful and their poop smelled so sweet that I couldn't resist just a nibble.  Of course that nibble was so delicious that I ended up eating the whole thing.  Thank goodness they had more samples that they found and I didn't eat the only evidence they had.

Here is the poop from a particularly loving unicorn.

While on their quest for unicorn poop they discovered another patch of poop that lifted my spirit.  My spirit of competition that is.  They found Bronco poop!  You see the Bronco fans are the only fans loyal enough to poop the notorious orange and blue colors of the best professional football team there is.  Don't believe me?  Look again and see for yourselves.

This time I let CJ sample the poop since I don't think there is a more loyal Bronco fan in our family than he.  He enjoyed his sample and was also proud of the kids for their most colorful finds.

I Got Elected!

HOAs, love them or hate them most of us have to deal with them.  Three years ago when we first moved in to our home (and thus into our first HOA neighborhood) I got a letter stating that the HOA was electing new members to the board.  I really wanted to be elected because I wanted to be involved in the HOA and in getting to know my neighbors.  Problem was NOBODY knew who I was because we had only been here a short time.  Well, last week it was time to elect three new people to the HOA board so I thought I would take a chance.  After my last election attempt (I ran for Precinct Chair for the delegates in our area...you'd have thought I was running for President) I had no problem getting up in front of the people in our neighborhood and introducing myself as a candidate for the HOA board even though the majority of them still don't know who I am.  After the votes were counted I was one of the three that won the election.  YEA!!!  Of course it didn't hurt that there were three positions open and only three of the five candidates were at the meeting.  Even still...I am excited and can't wait to start handing out violations...I mean planning neighborhood activities.  : )

My Father's Favorite "Tip"

I'm sure I am not the only one who's father would always ask if you wanted a "tip" and then answered with the famous line, "Don't eat yellow snow."  I heard it so many times growing up not only from my dad but from my brothers as well that I find myself giving my children the same "tip".

Nothing could have prepared me though for the "tip" that Megan gave Alexander last week.  He LOVES snow.  He loves everything about the snow, but of course his most favorite activity is to eat the snow. I was letting the dog out the back door to do his doggie business when Alexander picks up a large handful of snow from the porch and puts it in his mouth.  I remind him to only eat the clean white snow.  That's when Megan pipes in with her snow advice.

"Yah Alex, don't eat yellow snow...it's pee.  I know, because I tried some...just a little...but it was pee, so DON'T eat yellow snow." - Megan

I still crack up to this day when I think about how innocently she passed on her advice to her little brother.  You had to see her little face and how serious she was when she told him.  I guess she had to test the yellow snow theory for herself.  LOL

Hooray for me! I'm 3!!

How fast time flies.  Can it really have been 3 years since this sweet little man came in to our lives?!  What a joy he has been.  We all love him so much.  He is smart and inquisitive.  I wish I had the time because this little man is so smart he is ready to read.  He LOVES to learn an he communicates so well.  His vocabulary is a little smaller than it was a few months back.  About November last year he started to stutter.  I was concerned but was told that sometimes kids will stutter after a traumatic event.  The only thing I can think of was when my van was in an accident he was in the car and he had a hard time understanding what happened and why they took the van away.  It was a few weeks latter that he stuttered.  That lasted about 3 weeks and now he doesn't stutter but he doesn't use as many words as he did before and he is starting to sound more like a 3 year old. He's still fun to talk to though.
He isn't potty trained yet and doesn't seem to be interested in it like he was last year so we'll see how that goes.  He has been throwing more temper tantrums now so I guess he decided to be different and have the terrible 3's instead of the terrible 2's.  He's so funny though especially when you get him talking about one of his two favorite things...Bowling and Golf.  How his love of these two sports came about baffles me.  We NEVER talk about either sport...not one word.  I find golf to be one of the most boring sports ever and bowling isn't too far behind (probably because I am no good at either one.)  Bowling is in my blood though.  My mom and dad bowled when they were younger and all of my older siblings were on bowling leagues when we were growing up.  My oldest brother David was in the news because of the amount of 300 games he used to bowl.  He was on his college's bowling team.  I however suck at bowling so I have never mentioned it but my son thinks that bowling is the greatest game ever played next to golf.  I decided that since I don't know how to bowl or golf the only way for him to learn these sports is by watching Youtube videos.  He has learned so much this way that I am think if he actually played either one of these sports he would be an expert.  He is so content just watching how-to videos for hours.  He constantly talks about them and gets extremely excited when he sees a picture of them or when one of the sports is mentioned on TV.  I wish so much we had the means to get him lessons in both sports.  Unfortunately my family is so far away for him to go play with them.

Anyway, here is my little birthday man.  Happy Birthday Alexander the Great!!!!

Lizzie made his cake and decorated for the party using her new Winnie the Pooh items...that is her favorite character.

Licking his chops for the yummy cake.

I'm 3!!!!

Patiently waiting for his presents.

After such a busy party Alex and Megan just snuggled up for the night.  (One of the rare times these two weren't fighting.)

***Welcome 2013***

Happy New Year!!! What a great and BUSY year 2012 was.  Such a fun, adventurous year, my only complaint was that it went by WAAAAY too quickly.  CJ kept asking me what I was doing with the year that was making it go by so fast. I told him that it wasn't me.  I was doing everything I could to slow it down but all it did was go even faster.  I still can't believe that the year is over.  Oh yeah, surprise, surprise, the world didn't end in December. lol  It was sure fun to joke about the "end of the world" though and think about how crazy some people were going to be the closer December came.

Anyway, I have a lot of catching up to do because this is the time of year that I print my blog as a record for my family and most of it (more than I want to think about *tear*) is still in my head...and on my camera.  I will start with the fun we had on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day...well night really.  New Year's Eve was different this year because Lizzie and Rebecca were old enough to attend the multi-stake youth dance so they were gone when we rang in the new year.  They invited their group of friends that they were going to the dance with to our house for a pre-dance party.  I was a little nervous at the thought of a house full of teenagers getting all pumped up for the dance at our house but I was also excited for the chance to really enjoy the festivities of the night through the eyes of youth again (not that I was going to be in the way or try to be "one of the gang" or anything.)  After the whole family spent many hours together at our store getting things organized and ready to go we came home and the girls got busy getting the house ready for the party.  They had gotten a mini disco ball and some fun light up decorations for Christmas so they set those up in the front room with the Christmas tree so that the room was full of dancing color and totally ready to party.  Sadly only one of Rebecca's friends is old enough to go to the dance so she came over but all of Lizzie's friends...FORGOT!  I was so sad for the girls because they were looking so forward to the party.  It didn't even faze them though.  Rebecca had fun with her friend who is new in the neighborhood so they got to know each other better and Lizzie just spent extra time getting ready for the dance.  They are such sweet girls!!  Lizzie did meet up with her friends at the dance (who were very sorry they had forgotten about the party) and she had a really good time.  Rebecca and her friend played a lot of games and had fun.  Rebecca even won a movie ticket with her Twister game playing skilz.  As for the rest of us, Alexander fell asleep way earlier than expected, and so we just sat and watched a movie while Dakota baked us her first pumpkin pie.  She was really nervous but it came out beautifully.  She did a great job!  Just before midnight Megan accidentally woke up Alexander so he joined us for the traditional pan banging and loud well wishing to the neighbors at midnight.  After that 2 minutes of fun we gathered in a circle with a glass of hot apple cider for the New Year toast lead by Dakota.  Not our usual way to celebrate but it was still very enjoyable.

New Year's Day didn't go quite the way I had planned but it was still a good day.  The one thing I really wanted to do though was take the kids sledding.  Megan hadn't been for a few years and Alexander had never gone so I was disappointed when the sun had gone down and we had yet to even go outside. I was bound and determined however to make sure that the kids got to go sledding on New Year's Day so even though the sun had gone down...along with the temps...we still bundled up the kids and went night sledding.  Yea, it was stinkin' cold (a whopping 12 degrees and dropping) but we had the whole hill all to ourselves and it was a blast!  We have an awesome sledding hill a few blocks from our house so we didn't have to travel far.  It was great because it has little "bunny hills" for Alex and Megan to practice on, then gradually higher hills for them to sled down until we reached the top of the big hill for the real fun.  Because of the frigid temps the hill was nice and slick.  The speeds were so good that the kids went down the hill, all the way across the landing area, and then back up the bunny hills on the other side nearly going off the area all together.  I even ventured down the big hill on a sled not once but twice and loved it both times.  Alexander was so funny.  He loved going down the hills so much that most times he didn't even wait for his turn on the sled.  He would roll down the hill, slide on his tummy, or even just break out in a really fast run down the hill squealing with delight the whole way down and back up again.  He cracked me up!!!  Lizzie was there the whole time, Dakota joined us when she got back from a friend's house and Rebecca stayed home since she had already gone sledding with a friend and she was still cold.  I can't wait to go night sledding again...I will wait until the temps are a little nicer though.

Not so easy to take a picture in the dark...not so easy to have your picture taken either with the blinding flash.

Very cold but still having a good time.