Hi Boo

This is our dog Boo. She is such a good dog. She loves being around people. We've really missed her while out in NY. She is soooo happy to have us home. Well, most of the time. She is really good around kids but is getting tired of Halle climbing all over her. When we first got here last week, Halle was scared of her but after a few days, we are now telling her to leave Boo alone.
Payton and Boo are best buds. Paytons thing right now is, 'All by myself'. He goes every morning and lets Boo out. He makes sure she goes in the field for 'potty' and is really good at saying, "Shut up Boo" when she barks.
Halle is in the process of learning not to hit. Boo is now to the point where she sees her coming and gets ready to leave. She gives her a chance but Halle tries to stomp her paws after a few minutes. Boo then comes over to me with that look on her face of, save me. It's pretty funny. Halle wakes us everymorning saying, "Boo? Boo?" She runs to the window to see her. "Hi Boo, Hi Boo."

Dang Deer

Yesterday Payton was playing with his school bus truck. Driving it around in all the usual fashion; over the couch and window seal. He then stopped and said, "Oh, I'm so sorry!"
I asked him what happened. He then said, "A dang deer hit my bus!"
I of course gave my condolenses and he said, "I better take it to the shop, I gotta have my bus."

Sweet child of mine

Well, I'm still alive after day 2 of running. We've been doing so much yard work that I missed day 3. Oh well... The kids are having fun and being such good helpers. I told my hubby I'd put up some pictures so he can keep in touch. Halle is in a kissing phase, she just doesn't always have the best aim. If they could just always be this sweet.

I couldn't find my hat so I put a rag on my head. She thought it was cool wanted one also. I didn't think she'd keep it on but she loves it!

Still workin on the poop thing with brother but Halle thinks the potty is sooooo cool. She's so multi-talented. She can brush at the same time. She says, "Pee,Peep" and sit's on the potty.

My cousin came to mow the lawn today. Payton hung out with him and thought it was fun. He kept asking to go "pretend to mow the lawn." Sure! He was pushing it all over the lawn. He got tired and I felt bad but he wouldn't quit. Luckily he took a break and said he'd do the rest tomorrow.

Running Day 1

Last night I went up the the good ol small town track. I must say, it's much nicer than what we had when I was in school. Always happens that way doesn't it?
So I haven't been able to run since probably the end of November. I've had some kidney problems and had to quit for some time. (Incidently I passed a kidney stone two days ago. No wonder child birth was such a breeze.) Anyway, my cousin really wants me to run with her for the 24th and since I'm such a good friend, I decided ok. Probably should run a little bit beforehand though. I have exactly 29 days until the 'race.' Can people get in shape that fast?
I get to the track and decided my goal was to run an easy 2 miles. No pressure, no timing, just a first time in a long time run. Mile 1 felt good. Had to re-assure myself the track is still 400 meters, not 700. Couldn't help but glance at my watch. Hey, it didn't take me 30 minutes like I thought, good job! I stretch and go for number 2. My legs feel good and on the second to last lap my lungs start to hurt a little bit but who cares, I keep running. I finish in 11 minutes which is crap, but ok since I'm not keeping time, right? It's late so I decided to walk a mile and go home. Why am I so tired? Holy Hannah I'm as tired as a cotton picker! I just realized we are at almost 6000 ft! I live at like, who knows, 4 ft? I don't know, but I didn't die and that's always good.
I used to never understand why people didn't like running. 'Used to,' as in I had a baby and had to stop and then start over again. Ya finally start feeling better and have yet another baby and then start over again.... Yeah, running stinks!! Until you get in shape and then I love it! Seems to take longer these days but the smell of the summer track reminds me of the good ol days and keeps me going. Hard to believe I used to run in college. Luckily I saw a picture to prove it to myself.
So I'm excited for day 2. If I don't write back; I'm too tired and come pick me up at the track.

Banana Bites

I've been trying to find a way to get my son to eat banana's. He used to love them and now will not touch them at all. I've hidden them in smoothies and waffles but I wanted to find another yummy way to get him the eat them so I thought, why not turn it into a treat.
Basically I cut up a banana and then froze it. I didn't get to the rest until the next day so I'm not exactly sure how quickly you could freeze it. My guess is that it wouldn't take long at all.




So, I took out the frozen pieces and had to break them apart with a knife. Then I got one dish and melted peanut butter in it. No, it's not all natural PB. I tried that and it doesn't melt and hold well. So use the good ol yummy fatter stuff. It hardens quickly so have everything cut and ready before you dip. I say dip because that's what I originally did to hide the fact that they were banana's but it would actually be better to just drizzle it with melted PB. Unless your kid is like mine and then it's best to hide the fact.
Place them back in the freezer for a few minutes and melt some chocolate. The banana's thaw out quickly. Drizzle melted chocolate on top and jab with some toothpicks. Halle and I loved them. Payton didn't say anything exciting but he ate a few. yahoo! So yeah, it's not as healthy as an apple but my kid ate a banana and it's something new. Maybe some of you have a better way.

10 Good Reasons

So being such the fabulous mom I am, (ha ha) I was reading Parenting magazine and came across a cute article. Thought I'd share. This is so New York.

10 Reasons to be glad you're not a celebrity mom:
1. Minimal pressure to squeeze postpartum body into spangled leotard to appear on Dancing with the stars.
2. Can salvage errant chicken-nugget scraps off kids' plates without being reprimanded by nanny, husband, agent, or publicist.
3. Time saved in pondering the significance of naming your offspring after an animal, vegetable, mineral, automobile, or superhero.
4. Never having to explain why mommy is kissing that man on TV, but really loves only daddy.
5. Little need to come up with a creative excuse for declining moms' weekend at the hottest colonic irrigation spa.
6. Blowout and full makeup before PTA meetings or errands are strictly optional.
7. Diaper bag not filled with pesky pre-playdate confidentiality agreements, leaving room for thermos of vital caffeinated liquids.
8. Money saved not needing to outfit child daily in a brand-new Burberry jumper (or to secure matching, mom size ensemble).
9. No desperate hunt for birthday party favors that can wow even Suri and Shiloh.
10. Can forsake Jimmy Choos and Manolos for the comfort of clogs, Crocs, and flip-flops.

On a side note: We were watching some dumb reality show a while ago with married couples. This one girl asked her husband if her pants made her butt look fat. He said, "No, your butt makes your butt look fat." Hilarious!! Since then our motto has been, if ya don't want to know, don't ask.
So, yeah, it takes a lot of strength to wear high heels and mini's to chase your kids through the park and the mall. You go, you moms who can do it. I can barely get through church. I'm all for wanting to look nice but dang I'm glad I have a good man who always tells me I'm hot even on days of no make-up, ponytails, and when my butt looks big.

Never a dull moment

Why do I have this picture link on my page?(You must click on the box to view) Well, with all the bug fiasco going on we decided to head to Utah early for our visit with Nana H. The kids were being not so sweet so I figured I'd let my mom watch them for a few days. She claims to miss them so much. :)

So we flew out to Utah and arrived here at exactly 4:30 A.M. My mom came with us so our flight was really nice. She took one kid and I the other and it was the best flight we've had so far. Only a few tears were shed over who got to sit with Grandma.

We always meet fun and interesting people on flights. On this particular flight the guy next to Payton and I happened to be a TV host and actor. I've seen him on the E News! Course I had to admit to him I haven't watched in a while. He was very nice and even helped me with my kids. He held Halle so she could look out the window and see all the lights of Vegas. She wanted to pull his hair really bad but luckily fought the urge.

We chit chatted about life and when I told him my husband spoke spanish he immediatly asked if he had gone on a mission. I told him yes and surprisingly he said he had several friends who had gone on missions to South America. He was asleep when they brought the food and drinks around so when he woke up Payton offered some of his. He was hungry and very greatful. I had told him how earlier in the day, two different strangers had helped us out. The first time we got and italian ice and they only took cash. I always forget to carry cash and Payton had already started eating so the lady behind us offered to buy us all an ice treat. Then later we only had dollars and needed coins for parking and a lady on the street gave us some coins. He said, "sweet, maybe I'll just give some stranger $100 tonight." I wonder if he did? Pay if forward my friends. .

So like I said, the flight went very well. I was so happy until we got our luggage and found that they had lost a part to my carseat. It took almost 3 hours to get it figured out and file a claim and what not. It wasn't an expensive piece so I settled and they gave me a voucher to fly. Can't complain about that. We finally left the airport around 1 AM. We were all tired and I got pulled over 15 minutes from my house. 5 miles over the limit! Luckily it was late and he felt bad for us and let us go. 5 minutes later a deer hit our car. And yes, the dang thing hit me!

Did I mention how much I love to travel? I have to say, the last few months, I have definately not been bored. Life is awesome!!

So we awoke to the hot DRY air and the kids are so happy. The more I think about it, I can't wait to see what will happen this week! Never a dull moment. Til then, happy blogging.

BUGS!!

So....Supposedly our apartment was sprayed last Monday for bugs. Our landlord claimed I scared the first exterminator by asking him questions. Such as: what do you do to get rid of them? what do I need to do?
I believe that's all I asked. But, he claimed I asked what chemicals he used because I have children. I didn't even think to ask that but even if I had. Uh, hello I have a right to know. I scared him by asking questions? ok.....I thought exterminators weren't afraid of anything. So some other guy supposedly came.
I say supposedly because I have 'seen' exactly 16 bugs since then. 8 of which were alive and running around chasing us. Well, not really but it feels like it. I have also seen several small different colored bugs,(dead), but of the smaller stage which I had not seen before. Well they are brown. The same color as our carpet! So there could be a million I don't see. YUCK!!
We will be having a check up next week. We will most certainly be going through the wash everything routine, again. So I have just bought bins and put all our stuff inside them. I know we're in NY and supposed to be SO fashionable, but our same clothes every other day will just have to do. He also said to vaccume a lot. Now, I like having a clean house but this is exhausting. Moving furniture and stuff everyday! I dare anyone on my block to say they have a cleaner house than me right now. Well, except for all the bugs of course. :)

'Accidents Happen, And That's Ok'

This is the title of a song that is currently stuck in my head. My son has been half potty trained for some time but continues to not do all his business in the potty. He recently decided that a video my mom got a long time ago is really cool. If you haven't seen it, you should cause it's pretty funny. 'Elmo can us the potty'
My husband happened to see it the other day and couldn't stop laughing. Here are a few of our fav. lyrics.
"Doctors and lawyers do it, even in their own special way. They do it every day. Even Kings and Queens do it."
Giant rolls of toilet paper, thorough instructions on how to wash hands, and did you know there are at least 12 different ways to say you need to use the potty. Who knew! It is all very exciting I must say.
This morning Payton wanted to watch it, again. Mostly because he had an accident. I woke up to the sound of a rapidly filling sink of water. The sweet boy was washing his hands like a good kid. He turned around and was covered in poop down to his feet. Don't know exactly how it happened. Looked like we had a malfunction on the right cheek side. Maybe I should sue those Huggies people! Just kidding.
"I went poop mom"
"Yes dear"
"I washed my hands so I get a treat"
"Very good"
At least our bug filled apartment has brown carpet anyway so who the heck cares!

Sweet Ride

This weekend we decided to be brave and set out on yet another small road trip. This actually proved to be a big success. We couldn't have had a better time. We drove out to Montauk which is the very end of Long Island. We can see the sound from our apt. but the lighthouse at Montauk is the first lighthouse on the island and they have a small museum. For those of you movie buffs , it's also were the boat docked the slaves from the story of "AMISTAD". Mileage wise it's not far at all but because half the drive there is a two lane road, it took about 2 hrs. Perfect length for the kids to get a nap.

This weekend we decided to be brave and set out on yet another small road trip. This actually proved to be a big success. We couldn't have had a better time. We drove out to Montauk which is the very end of Long Island. We can see the sound from our apt. but the lighthouse at Montauk is the first lighthouse on the island and they have a small museum. For those of you movie buffs , it's also were the boat docked the slaves from the story of "AMISTAD". Mileage wise it's not far at all but because half the drive there is a two lane road, it took about 2 hrs. Perfect length for the kids to get a nap.
The scenery is beautiful, and since we drive right through the Hamptons, it's also a nice look for those of you who love cars. I can't remember how many Bentley's, Mazzerati's and Lamborgini's I saw. We were next to an older Lamborgini, in our fabulous Chevy Cavelier, and Andy thought he'd be funny and rev his engine. Well, the guy stayed next to us and then peeled out going 60 mph. We all smiled and he took off.
The kids really enjoyed this mini trip, mainly because they got to just run around outside. Payton even climbed the lighthouse steps all by himself. 129 to be exact..well, I think. I lost track after a while. I believe that's what they told us anyway.
Andy of course was intrigued because this happens to be one of the best places in the world to catch stripper. They actually had a shark tournament going on so the sea was full of boats. And of course there was an airplane pulling a sign around saying, 'stop killing the sharks'.
There is so much to see around us that I'm starting to get in panic mode. Not literally, but there is a lot to see and little time left to see it. I can't believe we've been here a year already. We only have 1 year left. And then we're off to some other adventure. But for now, at least we can find enough to blog about.

Are we done yet?

Payton at the water circle in Boston. For the life of me I can't remember the name of the place. sorry.

USS Constitution

Trinity Church

This was Halle's mad face after a day of treking around.

Don't let the smiles fool you.

So I mentioned before that after our wonderful time in Texas, we decided to go see a few of the local sites. We couldn't stay in our bug infested apartment anyway so we decided to pack the car and head out. Well, little did we know just what we had in store for us.
You've seen those movies where everything that could possible go wrong does. And you think, this is so dumb. That could never happen. Well, I am here to tell you that as outrageous as it may seem, those things do happen and our week was the prime example.
Were do I begin. Oh yes, so after packing up all our stuff and dreading the housework we decided to head to Boston to see some the historic sites. We got out of church at noon so we fed the kids a quick lunch and figured they could nap in the car. As we started packing we noticed that someone had hit the back side of our car. Of course they didn't leave a note. It didn't seem to big a deal though until we had put our stuff in the trunk and found that it wouldn't latch and close. No matter how many times we re-arranged things, it would not shut. It had been moved just enough to knock it off alignment. The sun was finally shining today and the kids were starting to sweat in the car. So Andy grabbed a shoe lace and being the great boy scout he is, fixed a beauty of a knot and we decided to go. The whole incident took longer than we thought so we decided to stay with our good friend half way in Connecticut.
That was really nice and the kids were excited to see 'uncle Mike'. He and Andy spent most of the night trying to fix the car but it just wouldn't budge. Incidently we ended up putting another small dent in the car.
The kids were much to excited to go to bed and finally around 11pm they quit jumping on each other and went to sleep.
We arose to a beautiful day. We stopped at Walmart to get a few things including some bungy cords. Well, they didn't work to well. Maybe I should have bought more shoe laces? It still worked so we tied it back up and took off.
It didn't take too long to reach Boston. We weren't exactly sure on where to go and our GPS kept doing all these crazy things that it was completely pointless. Luckily, Mike had been there before and gave us some good directions.
We opted for the Freedom Trail ride on the trolleys. Figured the kids would find that fun.
The kids immediately poop upon arrival but it's ok. It's out of the way, right?
One of our first stops in the USS Constitution. Unfortunately, It's closed on Mondays because the men do their laundry that day. We were able to get a picture though. The kids ended up running through the museum and of course needing to poop again so we changed and got back on the trolley.
Halle quickly got tired of the trolley, even though she was free and didn't have to have a car seat. The driver would swerve and break while singing lullabies to her. It was cute but she eventually got back to screaming. We just kept taking turns holding her down. The tour was almost over when a speeding car came and hit our trolley. We heard the screeching for several seconds before it hit so at least we had some sort of warning. Thankfully, no one was hurt but the car was totaled. We waited while another trolley came to pick us up and then we finished the tour while Halle cried, of course.
Few, we made it! I think I managed to see a few things. We found a fun water fountain in the courtyard and let the kids play. They loved being able to just run and get soaked.
We changed clothes and by the time we reached the end of the parking lot the kids were asleep so we took off and decided to eat when they woke up.
We stopped in a little town called Lebenon, NH. It took a while to find a place to eat. While getting the kids out of the car we noticed that we had forgot to put a diaper on Payton (I knew he would fall asleep) and he had had an accident all over the carseat and was soaking wet. We change clothes yet again. Our food took forever and so we decided to just get stay there for the night. Well there were signs for hotels everywhere but we couldn't find them. There was one off the road but they were full and all the others listed couldn't NOT be found. No, we really aren't that dumb. So we drove a few miles to the next town and found several nice places. We were all so happy when we walked in to the room. After all our apt. mess we wanted to just live here in this hotel but I'm sure the commute just wouldn't work. We had a good nights rest and were able to do laundry since we'd gone through several outfits the day before.
We took off again. We headed to Burlington to catch the ferry to NY. We had 15 minutes so Andy stayed in the car while I went into the ferry dock to get some drinks and food. I hear a horn a few minutes later and I look outside and the ferry was taking off! WHAT! They were early and I was just a few feet away inside and had no indication or warning they were leaving. I ran out and said, "hey, my kids are on there without me!" I could see Andy talking to them and they came back and got me. We are dang lucky for that.
It was an hour crossing and the scenery started out beautiful. We had just got done looking at the gift shop when they announced that there was a tornado watch. It started raining and getting really windy. The annoying hippy guy next to us kept giving vivid descriptions of what would happen to us if a tornado actually did come. Luckily 20 minutes later the sun came out and all was clear again.
We reached land and it was a short ride to the Adirondacks to where we were looking forward to some excellent fishing. The kids played at the park while Andy got his license and everything settled. We grabbed some dinner where Halle again continued to scream. What is up with this girl? Payton was very excited to go fishing with dad and we took a quick look at the river which was only 50 yards away. We took a few pictures and went back to get the poles. We literally walked in the door and within 2 minutes in started pouring rain. The news said there was another tornado watch. Luckily there was no tornado and we had our DVD player so the kids watched Enchanted in the dark.
The kids and I woke up sick the next morning so we had to pack up and head home. Pour Andy didn't even get to fish at all. I felt so bad. The kids weren't exactly sure where we were going since we have been at a different place every night. We of course returned home to a house of dead bugs and an oozing, warm fridge.
Luckily, we are all sick together now and can just relax in front of the tv. Who needs a vacation anyway.

Bug off!

Ok, for you bug lovers out there, you may want to stop reading right now. I don't want to get some letter saying bugs have feelings too. And yes, living in NY, there are crazy people who would do that. I don't care how many Disney movies they make, I will never like bugs! Especially when they are living in my house!
We moved into a new apt. trying to save a little money in this crazy expensive place and of course what do we get as a welcome, bugs. No yummy chocolate chip cookies, bugs! And not just any little bug like we first thought, oh no. These are disgusting bugs that eat your clothes and feed off of dead skin and leave larva all over your house.
We noticed a few little black bugs in the window seals but figured they were just there since the apartment had sat empty for so long. But when we finally got all our boxes unpacked we started seeing more all over the carpet. I cleaned the entire place and the next day there were a few more. Now it's not like some scene from and Indiana Jones movie but one too many to live with me.
So we called the landlord and he said he'd look into it. He first suggested that we had brought them since they weren't here before but we know for dang sure we had never seen them before and we'd had a thorough check out from our other place.
We found out they were carpet beetles. Yuck!
Long story short, we've had several "not so nice phone calls" to get this taken care of. We came home from a 2 week vacation to find that it had still not been taken care of. So our friends were kind enough to let us stay while we continued to try and gets things done.
Our landlord said someone would finally come on Monday and so we came to bag up all our clothes, linens, etc. There were bugs everywhere, it was so depressing and disgusting! We bagged a total of 27 bags. Everything in the entire house had to be washed and/or dry cleaned.
So we packed our stuff and took off for another mini-vacation.
When we returned from our "lovely vacation" (I'll write about it after this), we came home to see that 'someone' had unplugged our fridge and there was a pile of blood and I'm not sure exactly what else all over the floor and covering the fridge. Everything was bad and had to be thrown out. We were so mad. Not only are we spending a fortune to pay for all of our belongings to be cleaned but now we also have to replace several hundred dollars worth of food and meat. Our luck is not so great lately but hopefully it will get better.
I started the chore of thoroughly cleaning and vacuuming everything all over again. Not sure exactly how long it will take. We had no indication that anything was even done but they said they came and did "something" to get rid of them. But if I see one more bug I am going to go crazy! Yep, no Disney bugs around here either! At least for a while.

Gone Fishin

It ain't a vacation if ya can't go fishin!
My man will have to give more info later. These were dang good eaten though.

They have a diner by the name of the "Smoking Gun". When the steaks are hot the gun starts smoking literally. This is why our city friends think we're crazy red necks! Well we don't give a dag gum freak!

Texas Pics

Ain't she just so dang cute!!!
Payton and one of his new bff's A.H. Just chatting in the lake.
A photo after a loving brother pushed her down the stairs. Luckily it healed quickly. She's one tough cookie.
Payton's other bff E. H. They were glued to the hips. This game of apples to apples actually grew to a big crowd. It was so much fun. Mainly because E. H. kept picking me to win, not matter what card I put in. I love that girl!
So much fun. He even got brave enough to jump off the pier. Mostly because Andy pushed him the first time.

Texas Fun Pics

Such a diva! Yet still so cute

Where mama goes, Halle follows

Poor kids just can't get a break.
This picture is probably the only time we're in sync.

Yep, that's my man. Hey, my kids clapped!

Texas Fun

Well, I finally have time to put up a few pics from our fun trip to Texas and the Lake Livingston Lodge (aka. mom and dads). I do have a few pictures of my own but all the good ones are from my brother-in-law GH who was kind enough to give me a bunch of great photos. Thanks!
Lake Livingston Lodge

Halle got her first ice-cream pop. Yummy!

Payton lived in the lake. He had a blast with all the cousins.
Andy was in charge of pulling the kids behind the boat. He made sure they got tipped too!
They had so much fun that they kept playing on the banana even afterwards.

In Loving Memory

I am sad to say that my aunt Cheryl, 64, passed peacefully on June 3, 2008 at Calvary Hospital in New York City surrounded by her family after a long fight with breast cancer.

Cheryl enjoyed her family and friends. She loved reading and had a great love of the arts, especially the opera, theater and music. Most of all, she loved spending as much time as possible with her grandchildren and had a special place in her heart for babies. She had that special look, now passed on from her children to her grandchildren, to let them know what's what.

As a faithful member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, she served in many callings including long service as Relief Society President and Primary teacher.

I have a lot of wonderful memories of my aunt. I mean no disrespect blogging about her, I only want to share how special I think she was.

For most of my childhood she and her family lived outside of the country. She would bring the kids (oh what a long flight it must have been!) and come visit for a few weeks every summer. Everyone was excited when they came to visit. It meant pure fun for the next 3 weeks! Staying up late, cousins galore, pronto pups,PB Cap'n Crunch cereal, ice-cream slushes and lots of ruby red squirt. I have to admit that one time I asked my mom if we could move so people would do fun stuff and get excited when we came. Never happened though. :)

Some of my favorite memories are:

The infamous "Singing in the Rain' dance. You were sure to look like an idiot by the time you finished but it was fun. And we cannot forget Bubble Gum Art. She thought no camping trip or hike was fit unless you had several packages of Bubble Gum. She taught me to always take a book camping. She'd get after me because I wouldn't have one and wanted to borrow hers all the time. Well, I don't forget now. :)

The tradition of a trip to Veyo Pool. Back in the day, it was cool. We'd get all the gang together and pile up in vans and of course, aunt Jodie's suburban. She would teach us how to dive and play all sorts of games. She'd like to catch us with her legs while we swam around doing underwater obstacle courses.

I remember this one time we went to Baskin Robbins for ice-cream. Her daughters could speak French so they told us what they wanted and then went up to the person and tried to order in French. Well they had no idea what they were saying and so I went up and pretended to interpret. The sales girl was awe struck and greatful. We thought we were so cool. It was pretty funny.

Aunt Cheryl loved to play games, especially Domino's. She took it pretty seriously too. At the ranch we'd get so many playing she'd say, "come on, gotta go faster!" We also had a great adventure together when our 4-wheeler wouldn't get into gear and we went off the cliff. I remember her saying, "oh good, maybe that tree will stop me from going all the way down." I always felt bad about that. We had some good bruises to show afterwards.

She was kind enough to always let me tag along on whatever excursion they were heading. She and her family made even moving sprinklers and feeding cows fun. She was a great example about how we should deal with life. She was very positive and I never heard her complain about being sick. When she lost her hair she even joked about buying a blonde wig to see if it would make her more fun.

I hope that whatever I face in life, I can have her same attitude and face it head on. I can't say enough how great of a person she was. I'm so glad we got to visit her while here in NY, I only wish it could have been more. We will greatly miss her. I am so thankful for family and the wonderful blessing of memories.

Thought

My friend has this thought on her fridge. I thought it was funny. It's a picture of a waterfall over a stony brook. It says, "Cellulite is not a pretty word, but it's worth 11 points in scrabble."
Ain't that the truth.

Tagged

Ok, so I've been tagged. I always thought of tagged as a running away game. This doesn't seem too scary to me. So since I've been tagged I need to share the following: 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 random surprising facts about myself and then tag 5 more fabulous people. Ok, in no particular order and in answers other than obvious things such as my family is wonderful, church, etc.

3 Joys (just 3 ???)
1. a clean house
2. a fun day with no kid tears, and my kids going right to bed
3. my Grandpa

3 Fears
1. my kids getting kidnapped
2. the smoke alarm not working
3. cancer

3 current obsessions/collections
1. blogging
2. taking pictures
3. recipies

3 random/surprising facts about me
1. I can fly fish pretty dang good, just not compared to my hubby
2. I'm a closet wannabe violinist
3. Allergic to hay, horses and dogs, yet I've own/owned two of each animal

So I tag (if you want), Karen, Ashley, Melanie, Heidi, and Wendy

Home, kindof

Well, our fun vacation in Texas as come to an end, somewhat. Andy needed to get to the dentist and they couldn't see him until Thursday so he and Payton changed their tickets to stay a few more days and play. Halle and I came home on our original scheduled flight. I must say it's much easier to fly with one child. She only cried a little and that's because I forced her to take a much needed nap.
So we arrived home to our bug filled house and are still waiting for the exterminator to come and nuke all them nasty bugs. Luckily our good friends are letting me camp at their place since they are out of town. We owe then BIG TIME!! Thanks Mel and Dave!!
Halle and I are just chillin having 'girl time' and it's so fun. Every kid needs one on one time and it's been hard for us to do that a lot, for her anyway.
Payton and Andy are have a blast playing with cousins and fishing. We were sad to go but it's good for them to spend time together like that. Andy relayed a funny incident to me this morning. Payton is potty trained except for poop. Who knows why??? He has to have a diaper or he can't go and just holds it so we just do it. The story goes like this:
"Dad I have poopies"
"Did you have an accident? Bud, you don't have a diaper on"
"yeah I do dad"
" You do? Well who put on your diaper?"
" I did dad"
Sure enough. He had put a diaper on himself so he could poop! There's something wrong yet humorous about this. Oh well, eventually he'll get there. Till then, there's never a dull moment.

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!