Crazy....or, CRAZY?!

take your pick.

My computer is limping on its last leg.  It is so temperamental, and just shuts down whenever it wants.  Ryan thinks it's the graphics card, and I just think it should pull up it's boot-straps and keep working.  I don't get a day off, why should my computer?!

Because lets face it, I'm relying on my computer (we have no TV, and we like it that way!) to entertain my children for a small (VERY SMALL) portion of each day.  I'm going to be real, and just say it:  I let my kids watch a movie so I can take a nap.  There.  If it wasn't obvious before, now it is.  I'm a fish without water if my computer isn't working.

So...today has been a little on the longish side.  Ryan left before I was coherently awake (about 7 am) and just got home at 9pm. He just finished setting up the tent so he and the big  boys could sleep outside.

I apologize for the scatter-brained-ness....Like I said, crazy is on the brain.

First thing this morning we (meaning me and my four children) accompanied Keetley for her 8 week appointment and 2 month shots, ran to the bank, and sweltered outside, then sweltered in the house, then sweltered outside, then sweltered in the house.  And then lunch time was upon us.  I know what you're thinking....we should have made it PAST lunch, but we didn't.

...stay with me....

I promised the kids I'd take them swimming if they ate their lunch, and while I was taking a 2 second potty break, they either ate their lunch really fast, or threw it all away.  I'm going to pretend I didn't see perfectly un-touched pb&honey sandwiches in the bottom of the garbage.  And I will also pretend you aren't assuming I dug them out of the clean garbage bag and ate them.  Because really, I didn't.  I had a plate full of pasta and spinach doused in Cesar salad dressing and avocados (and sunflower seeds).  If my plate hadn't of already been made up with food, I likely would have dug out the sandwiches.  I know.  It's embarrassing.

ANYWAYS, yeah....I think I'm going a tad bit crazy.

So for about 4 hours (and while scrubbing my kitchen floor), I was hell-bent on not taking the kids swimming because of the lunch incident.

But after I got done with the kitchen floor, I felt like I'd been sitting in a sauna.  With all my clothes on.  It was 93 degrees outside, and a balmy 78 degrees in the house.  Not bad, but I was dripping wet with sweat.

As I was changing out of my sopping wet clothes, I thought I'd try on my swim suit...and when I couldn't get it back off, I decided "what the heck"....and told the kids to get theirs on.

We hit up the pool, and after 45 minutes they were cold, so we came home.  I fixed them dinner, and they proceeded to ask for HOT CHOCOLATE.  Seriously, boys.  It's now 90 degrees outside and 89 in the house.  I'm NOT making you anything but dinner, and I've half a mind to let you have ice cream if I had any in the freezer.

So....call me crazy, but I was either going to lose my mind at home, or at the pool....and the pool was sounding much cooler so I just went for it.   We had a good time, and I realized I need to purchase some sun screen and a wee little swim suit for the princess...the sun-suit was fun, but I think next time she'll want to splash a bit.  :)

Last Day of School

Summer is upon us!  It's official!

I slept in, and Ryan took the liberties of getting donuts for breakfast.

No better way to celebrate!

Tanner has done pretty well this year in school.  I was slightly nervous for him, but he had WONDERFUL teachers.

We have a goal to keep him at the second grade reading level over the summer, so he can start out second grade on the right foot.

Hello, Library Summer Reading Program!  We tend to fall off the band wagon around week two, but I'm determined to READ, READ, READ with my kids this summer!!!

We've been reading the Chronicles of Narnia at bedtime for the past 2 months, and we're ALMOST ready to start in on Book Four, Prince Caspian.  :)

Anyhoo....I have good intentions for the summer....so wish me luck, and keep encouraging me!!!

Little Princess

How does the time go by so fast?!

Keetley is 8 weeks old!  Already!!!

Forget about the perfectly posed pictures each month.  Forget about having time to get the camera out at all...I'm lucky I snapped this one of her, with how busy these darling kids keep me!

She absolutely LOVES her bath time!  She has never cried or even screamed during a bath, and is so happy and content to play in the water.

I used my 'spending' money (when I do alterations, I keep that moolah for frivolous things I want) to buy a play mat with the toys that hang above for the baby to play with.  We never had one for the boys, so this was a definite splurge.  Keetley LOVES it!!!  She bats at the toys and smiles, and gets silly little looks on her face when she concentrates really hard on the hanging toys.  And technically speaking, the boys play with it, too...so...nobody is left out, really.

She weighs just under 10 lbs.  Crazy to think that Kortlen was born at 9 1/2 lbs, and she's just now reaching that milemarker at 2 months old!  She's about twentieth percentile for weight, and sixtieth percentile for height.  Tall skinny thing!  But she's a GREAT eater, and is growing those fat-rolls on her legs like nobody's business.

Keetley loves to hold her head up.  She has always had a strong neck and is very observant.

She sleeps quite well, often from 9pm through the night till 8 am. She'll wake up for one feeding in the night, which is to be expected. Her naps are also going great!  While I haven't really stuck to a tight schedule for her (let's be honest, I often don't know if I'm comin' or goin' or even what day of the week it is!), but when she naps each morning and each afternoon, it's for 2-5 hours.  And I'm okay with that!!!

Needless to say, we're so happy our little princess has come to join us in our home!  She puts a smile on everyone's face, and we simply cannot get enough of her!

Precious Faces

Some days are just hard, but I honestly love being a mother.  Some times I wish it were easier, but I am learning to live in the moment.

I'm so blessed to be the mother to these precious faces!  I can hardly stand how adorable and priceless they are!

How ever did I get so luck to get the most wonderful and amazing children in the world?  They're growing up much too fast.  Can't they stay little?!

Tribute to Mother

Early on in the month, Reed came up with a perfect gift for our mom.  A recital, by us!

It was fun to prepare for, each of us picking our favorite song to play for our mother during the recital.  She has put in countless hours into helping us become talented in two instruments, some of us three, including our voices.  We thought this tribute to our dearest mom on her 50th birthday would be a treat, and it did not disappoint!

Siblings (and spouses) singing "Mother Dear I Love You So"

There was even a special appearance by our brother Keith, who couldn't be there that day.  We skyped him in, and that was a great surprise to our mom!

Tanner and Taylor also participated, representing the legacy we're passing onto our children.

Thank you, mom, for sitting by our side day after day, year after year, lesson after lesson, and encouraging us to do and be our best.  We wanted to show you that despite all the grumbling and tears, we are forever grateful for your love and perseverance!

We love you!  Happy Birthday!

Spring Roundup {2013}

Joined my family for spring roundup in Chesterfield at the beginning of Memorial Day weekend.  It was a beautiful day, and only got windy towards the end.  

 Keith, Clay, Stephanie, Reed, and our dad, 

ready to bring the cattle from pasture to the corral.

Kortlen ready for a ride!  

 Here comes trouble!  These two are obsessed with collecting shells and rocks...

...I threw away more than one bag of the above this weekend!  

This little cutie joined in on the fun!  Her we are, waiting for the work to start.  

The Flat-Bed Crew.  Brielle (Em's friend) and Emily taking pictures, and 

Tanner, Kortlen, Deseret and Taylor manning the tags and holding down the fort. 

So happy the Ryan got to help this year, and was able to get away from work for a weekend! 

Putting Tags in... 

It was soooooooooo dusty!  We were all black from the fine dirt in the corral. 

Ryan was initially 'assigned' to running the nord-forks, but quickly got promoted to doing castrating.  

Keetley slept all 4 hours in her car seat, in the ventilated (all windows down!) cab of the flatbed pickup.

Simple Joys

A few random things:

Sliding down the stairs at Grandma Poulsen's house, in the sleeping bag!  It's all fun and games till someone gets hurt....the next run down the stairs resulted in all three boys crying, and the sleeping bag being put away.  Good times!

6 weeks old, and baby girl is starting to talk with me!  She smiles in the middle of feedings, and is genuinely happy and content.  I love this phase, when they're starting to be more alert, and learning to have little conversations.

Making Crayons

I decided to make little star crayons for my preschoolers as a graduation gift....what started as a 1 hour project, quickly turned into taking all.day.long.  I kid you not.  A gallon of naked crayons will go MUCH farther that one might expect.

 Not sure how many I ended up with, but we had fun!  Tanner, Taylor, and Kortlen even helped!  I used a silicone cupcake mold for the stars, and found a silicone-bottom ice cube tray in an apple shape in the dollar bin at Target.  After 4 uses in the oven, it finally gave up the ghost, but gave me enough apples to give my class and one other.

I want to say there were 50-ish stars just from one gallon of naked crayons.

I baked them in the oven on 250* F for about 20 minutes, then would stick them in the freezer, and pop them out of their trays.  Worked really swell!  I wish I had TWO molds going at a time...it wold have taken less than the seven hours we labored.

The star shape is great, because you could potentially do 5 colors, then take ONE CRAYON to church, or put in the diaper bag, etc.  Although I didn't like the look of the 5 colored crayon, I tried to vary the colors in each point so a child would be able to have more than a single color.

Such a fun and simple (not to mention inexpensive!) gift...though it was super time consuming!