Bribery

So whether you want to admit it or not, you've all done it. Yes, we are guilty too. And even though Super Nanny says it's wrong we just can't help it sometimes. If you eat your dinner you can have dessert. You can't go play unless you clean your room. No matter how hard we try, it seems we keep falling into this little pit. Only in this cloudy pit, when you talk, somehow even though you can't see her, your mothers voice comes out instead of your own. A classic case of, 'You're turning into your mother.' (Not that there's anything wrong with that)
We usually try not to bribe the kids because like all of you we want our dream kids to just do whatever they are asked. (I would love to go poop in the toilet mom. These green beans are so yummy, I hate ice cream!)
Our children go in cycles. Cute/Normal, Sweet/Perfect, Evil/Brat, semi-cute/semi-normal.
And thus it goes on. Our children are not always on the same cycle either. Last week we had our Evil Brats who luckily only gave us one trip to the Med Center. Pushing on the tile, pushing down the stairs, screaming on the airplane; classic showmanship of siblings. But the bruises are almost healed and now we have returned to semi-normal children. And since we are on vacation and there are so many fun things to do, I've noticed we've up'd the Bribes. Our ace in the hole right now is, "If you want to go in the spa?" and "if you want your cousins to play." So sad but it's worked. And like half of the rest of the world we'll just say, I'll work on it and do better tomorrow. Or maybe next week when the cousins and spa are gone. :)

Happy Birthday to Me!

So this weekend was my birthday. Shame on you if you forgot! We had a barbeque and just played in the lake all day. It was a lot of fun. Andy's family was all here also so we had a lot of good laughing and my kids had a blast playing with all their cousins.
I would love to show pictures but we went to the zoo yesterday and our camera got stolen. What the heck people! So till we get a new one you'll just have to use your imagination about how much fun we are having. And no, 28 doesn't feel any different than 27. Maybe next year though.
I would also like to give a shout out to all my fam/cousins who also have May birthdays. When we were little we used to have one big party at the Veyo pool and eat them yummy pronto pups. Ah the good ol days. So hope ya had a very Happy Birthday!
Stephanie, Nathan, Aunt Jodie, Angel, Mitch, Bret, Conrad, Caleb, Greg and Brian Lee
If I missed anyone then it's because we still haven't done our family calendar and someone needs to get on the ball. Love ya!

One down, one to go!

So we have almost completed our first year of school in this crazy New York. Andy had his finals this last month and I say the last month because the entire month was full of about 3 tests a week. His big med comp was on the 22nd. I felt bad for him because I was trying to help him get all his notes together to review and the stack consisted of about 18 inches of paper. No kidding. We were able to narrow it down to 17 packets, which cut his stack in half. He basically lived at the school. I helped him study what little I could but I can barely pronounce half the words. He was very stressed because its a pass and fail. You fail and you get kicked out of school. We get kicked out and we've basically wasted an entire year and a TON of money. He's had about 4 of these type of tests this semester. I believe they have lost about 14 students this first year. Thankfully he's done very well and I am so proud of him.
I've been very busy packing and cleaning our apartments. Yes, apartments. We had to pay for two places for a few weeks so we wouldn't be homeless on the streets with our kids. It's been raining a lot too so that would also stink.
Anyway, I've been cleaning a ton because we found out our new place has carpet beetles!! YUCK!! I had just gotten everything put away and then we find all these little black bugs everywhere. At first I thought it was just a one time thing from the place being empty for so long but nope. So I've been washing and vaccuming EVERYTHING we own!! We have too much crap I decided! The exterminator should take care of it while we are on vacation. I hope.
I've also been cleaning our previous place so they didn't have to pay someone else and we could get all our deposit back. Little Cinderella, that's me. So it's been a crazy and stressfull week for all of us. Luckily, after waiting all morning, we received Andy's call that he had passed with flying colors! Yahoo!
So we jumped on a plane and headed to good ol Texas to visit his family. Our flight was delayed a few hours, our kids screamed or course and we got in at 3 AM but who cares! We are on vacation for 3 whole weeks. Nothing but laying in the lake getting bit by mosquitos and zooming around in the boat. Such a terrible life.

Mission: Survival

Most people generally look forward to the weekends. A day free of work or school, a time to shop and get the latest styles or that big bag of chicken on sale at Costco ya just gotta have. At our house lately though, the weekend has turned into one big zit on the nose.
The sad thing is, Sunday is generally the biggest stress. Ah yes, Sunday. The day of peace and rest; to learn and be uplifted to do better. Since moving to this area we have basically gone into survival mode at church.
Survival of getting through sacrament without chucking Halle's cup and the kid infront because his gameboy is cheering and getting on my nerves. Explaining to my son that we don't sing Alicia Keys in church even though the lady two rows up has it playing on her cellphone, which happened to ring for the 8th time to be exact. I believe she's in fashion. Maybe she works for that show Fashion Emergency???
Ok, my kids are folding their arms for the prayer. Oh wait, the guy giving the prayer had to answer his phone too. God really does answer prayers I guess.
Sweet, 15 minutes left and I only have half a bag of cheerios. Better find a way to distract Halle. Ok, I remembered Gumby, that will work for a minute. Man this guy is giving a great talk. What is that noise? Oh some lady is just letting her kids play on the organ.
(Andy) "I only have one pea shooter and there are two kids. Don't think I could get em both."
(Kris) "Just get the mom then."
Oh, time for the song. Can't get a clear shot.
(Andy) "Those two are the least likely kids in the world to be kidnapped."
Time to go home. Hey 4 on 4 in the gym.
(Payton pointing his finger) "You kids are being Naughty!" "They are being Naughty mom."
"Yes dear, but don't point. Lets go." Where are these kids' moms? Oh, they are on the other team.
Trying to be spiritual here people!!! Did I hear Andy mention patience in or prayers the other night? Dang him. Gotta quit praying for that.
Back to school tomorrow. Thankgoodness, I needed a break.

Caught in the act

Have you ever watched those Bio shows where they talk about how their child was born to sing or whatever because they did it at such a young age. Well, this morning I woke up to the sound of Payton playing in his room. This is a regular occurance in our household nothing big but he generally is singing Doodlebops, playing with Buzz and Woody or getting after Dexter for stealing his keys (Night at the Museum).
But today I heard "Ahahahah, Ahahah ah aha aha aha. I am prince Edward! Go mean queen. True loves kiss". He takes a bite of an apple and falls to the floor, thud! He then puckers his lips in a kissing sound, smooooch. "I knew it was you". His arms reach up and then around himself for a hug and yet another kissing sound. (Still laying on the floor)
It took everything I had to be quiet and not burst out laughing. Luckily he then went on to yell, "let me go, your crazy queen!" He slayed the dragon and life went on to be happily ever after.

Just gotta play

So I realized why it's taking so long to get unpacked and all clean around here. Because my two sweet children keep pulling everything out to play. I put it away and turn around and it's out again. Luckily, I hadn't put all the books away before they climbed into the entertainment center. Payton keeps saying, "I can help." He then throws everything onto the couch and says, "look I cleaned the mess." Halle of course copies whatever Payton does.

Goodbye Luxury

Well, we have successfully made our move to our new apt. I hate moving. I have never even heard of anyone enjoying it either. While I am really going to enjoy our new place I realize we were very spoiled in our last apt.
Things I will miss:
1. my gym
2. our theater room
3. 3 huge closets
4. my laundry room
5. covered parking
6. my pretty, clean kitchen
7. two bathrooms with drawers!
8. my dishwasher
9. the elevator
10. the pool
11. a phone call asking if you want to see your guests or not
Things is will NOT miss:
1. lugging my groceries across the parking lot
2. all the little rat dogs around
3. the fire alarm going off all the time for no reason and in the middle of the night!
4. the maintenence guys
5. $100,000 cars all around us
6. walking 2 miles to go to the park
Things I like about our new place:
1. 3 bedrooms, yahoo!
2. a LOT less money
3. Beige walls instead of white
4. a basement
5. a fabulous park across the street
6. friends a few blocks away
7. neighbors who actually talk to us
8. I can park my car 10 feet from the front door
9. my kids love the hallway
10. the ocean view
Things I don't love here:
1. You can here Everything! The walls are paper
2. Every other house around us has smokers, I hate smoke smell!!!
3. No dishwasher
4. No security guard
5. no covered parking and its day 4 of rain
So such is life and I think we will have a great time here. We had some amazing helpers from our ward as well as the missionaries. Our friend Mike came to visit for the weekend and just his luck we were moving. We couldn't have done it without him and our good friend Cindy. We definitely owe them big time! My mom too. She's basically taken care of the kids, even with her bumb foot. She tore a ligament last week and flew out just to help.
I finally found our silverware today. The very last box I opened. Don't know how it got there but just in time cause I am sick of Pizza and quick food. The kids seemed to be happy here and so far we have had no meltdowns or tears.
We almost forgot it was Mother's Day because we've been so busy. Andy stopped and got me some garbage cans. We laughed about it but I was actually so happy he got them because we needed them and then I didn't have to go get it. Who said I was high maintenance?!!

The Zoo, yet again!

We got a zoo pass to all the zoo's in the area so I'll try not to put up too many more zoo pics. My kids LOVE the zoo. They are getting pretty good at all their animals and sounds. Payton is talking so much now that it's fun to see him get so excited at knowing the animals. These are our friends Reagan and Jack. These pictures are all in front of the sea lions. Actually I think almost every picture we have is here because it's our kids favorite spot at this particular zoo.
Our friends Lourdes, and Reagan. I love how our kids are screaming to get down but we look cool anyway.
Payton loves having his picture taken. Isn't this just a kodak moment. Looks like one of those senior picture poses.
Halle kept trying to catch the birds. She'd throw them bread and then try to get em. The Queens Zoo is a quick trip from our house so we can go and get back in time for naps. I love that.

More Fancy Nancy Pics

Melanie is so fabulous. Pinkys up!

Payton is fancy cause he's wearing his tie. He loves his tie!

Halle-need I say more

We had a fun lunch with fancy friends from our ward.

Fancy Nancy

Our friend Mel threw a Fancy Nancy party this week. Apparently it's a childrens book about a little girl who likes to be fancy and something to do with pinkys up! We missed the story reading because we had to leave early. It was a lot of fun though and we enjoyed getting dolled up.

We didn't really have anything "fancy" to wear and most of our stuff was packed anyway since we are moving in 2 days. We found a few odd things around the house though. I basically just pulled my hair up crazy so it kindof looked like the girl on the book. We got some great looks walking from our building to the car. I wanted to shout out, "we are going to a party!" Oh well, there are much more strange things than us in New York.

This was also a little going away party for our friend Amber. They are moving to D.C. We are sad they are leaving but they will have a geat adventure. She looked so fancy. Her baby had pulled off most of her stuff by time we took pictures but she was fabulous.

Halle loved wearing this skirt and had a great time running around and shaking her beads.

Just gotta vent

So I just have to say that I hate Walmart! You are basically forced to shop there because there is no where else to get what you need at a somewhat reasonable price. I've been trying to be good and stay within my budget but EVERY time I go there I buy the sale items which are clearly marked and then when I go to pay it comes up a different price.
So I tell them the price is not right and they of course say, well that's what is says. No, I bought this item because it was this price otherwise I would have got the brand I love for the same price! Walmart is notorious for this and most people don't even notice they are being overcharged. And the only reason I am able to keep track of it is because I have the worst luck and always get the slowest lady possible. The one who stops to look at every item you buy and even say, Hmm. I'm not going to stop and take pictures and write down every little item and price and who wants to go back and check it all again when your kids are crying because you've been waiting to pay for 30 minutes. I've gone back a few times and shown them where it clearly states the price and then I have to stand in line again for another 20 minutes for them to correct it. It's a huge pain so ya just end up paying whatever they decide at the register. Why do they even put up prices in the first place? In many states, if the item is marked wrong they have to give it to you for the price it says, even if it's their mistake. Some stores even give you the item free. But Walmart of course says, so, we'll just pay the fine. One lady actually said to me, "It's only a few dollars." Well, those few dollars on every item just added up to be $100 so if it's only a few dollars then Walmart can do without instead of me.

Dad and Me

Today at church, it took everything we could think of to keep Halle quiet. We've been working on give me a kiss for a while and today she decided she wants to start giving kisses. It kept her quiet a whole 5-10 minutes. She closes her eyes, puckers her lips and says, mmmm... She was a little better after a nap and would even give dad a kiss.







Andy is at the end of the semester and therefore has a ton of tests coming up. Tomorrow he has his big focused physical dx exam so Payton and I have been his patients for practice. Payton loves helping and doing homework with dad when he's around. He's also a pro when I take him to the doctor now! Can't say the same for Halle. She screams of course.

Lessons from Dad

Ok, so this may show exactly how crazy our family is but it's time ya'll know the truth I guess. It's actually a rare occasion that the kids get to spend "quality time" with dad because of his hectic schedule. They generally only see him on weekends. So as you can see its very important that the time they get together be loving and meaningful. I walked in to see this during our weekend cereal before bed routine. I had to get out the camera because when Andy did this the first time, it actually scared Payton and he fell off his chair! It was hilarious. Hey, ya gotta prepare your kids for life.

thought: "I want to live in a world where a chickens intentions are not questioned."

So Pretty

Since we are moving next week I decided I should maybe start packing a little bit. Since we have been out and about the last two days, today is just a lazy day of movies and toys for the kids. So I go into to get ready. I had pulled my hair in a crazy bun/ponytail and headband to wash my face. When I got done I looked at Payton and he said. "Mom, your hair is so pretty, it looks like a princess."
I looked at the mirror and then at Payton. You've got to be kidding me. Is my child one of those crazy dillusionals? Then I felt myself getting all excited with a surge of confinence that maybe this could be a new look for me. (JK. ) I asked Andy if I looked like a princess. He said, "Matter of factly No, but you have a sweet spirit." HA, I love my husband!