Thankful Thursday

1. Funny Ian - that kid cracks me up!
2. Clean bouncy seats - my poor babies had nowhere to sit while the covers were in the wash, they pretty much live in those things. Boing boing boing
3. The funniness of the Bachelorette - I am still laughing at the shot of the volcano erruption after the lights go out, and also, that girl that asked about those silly green shorts at the "after the final rose" show, hahaha Kaboom! I will miss that show.
4. Ian's kindergarten check-up is over - That was a big pain.
5. Memories - I have been looking through a box of middle/high school memories this last week and have had such a fun time laughing at myself and remembering those times.

My son, the funny man

"I gotta fix that thing on Mario Fight before my dad screams like a little girl!"

"Hey! I forgot to take a bath and brush my teeth! I need to be nice and squeaky clean today!"

"Stop it! I don't want to be church fancy with my church hair."


'Church fancy'-you make me laugh SO hard Ian!!

Thankful Thursday

I'm thankful for a wonderful and loving family, a roof over my head, food in the fridge and cupboards, a car to get around in, a TV to entertain me, and clean clothes.

Ian's New Friend

Five-year-olds are so weird! Today Ian's stomach developed a personality of its own. I have no idea where it came from, but here are some things Ian has said about his stomach today:

"My stomach wants to say the prayer, fold your arms!" He then proceeded to fold his arms and close his eyes and wait for his stomach, then he said "My stomach said amen! My stomach is fast at saying prayers."

"Aww, my stomach is so sweet."

"My stomach his telling me a joke."

"Say cheese stomach!"

"Do you know how I take care of my stomach? I play with it, feed it, let it drink something, ride bikes, shoot hoops, and then I need to walk. Ok? Taking care of stomachs is very important. If you don't take care of your stomach it can't be your friend anymore."

Fairy Land

We went to Fairyland yesterday in Oakland. The kids loved it and the twins did pretty well! We met a family there that was exactly like ours, a 5 year old boy, 2 1/2 year old girl, and 4 month old twin boys. How funny!! They said they had been to Disneyland recently with all of them, I don't think I would be that brave!

This slide was Ian's favorite thing of all.

Mmmm corndogs

Ian and Grandma took Brandon on the train. Grandma said he liked it a lot. I'm not so sure....

Nothing better than corn on the cob to finish the day!

It's Super Hailey!

Thankful Thursday

1. We're on vacation!
2. Jackson was so good in the car yesterday
3. My mom is entertaining the kids
4. Adam is a smart guy - he fixed our DVD player and it only cost about 2 bucks.
5. We're on vacation!

Jackson Kicking

Both Brandon and Jackson are little kickers. Jackson is really funny, he mostly kicks just his left leg. Lately I have just been in heaven with those two little guys. They sit in their bouncy seats and just grin from ear to ear when they see me. They have the sweetest little faces and voices, I just can't get enough! They are starting to get a little attached to me, which is sometimes difficult but mostly makes me feel so special. :)

Five Years Old!!

My little boy is 5!

Ian's birthday was yesterday, the 12th. He got to pick every meal for the day and we had Jill's family over for dinner and cake and presents. Ian picked roll-up pancakes for breakfast, a Kid Cuisine for lunch, and chicken pillows for dinner. We were all happy about the dinner choice (except it was a pain to make). He is so excited to be 5, and so am I!

Ian and his roll-up pancake

Ian and his "Star Wars" cake.
Ian got a Hot Wheels track, it was a big hit!

And of course, Ian's very favorite gift: a Wii game! Thanks Grandma K!

Pictures

Hailey reading up on being a good wife. She loves to sit and read all the grown up books, it is really funny. I guess she likes to flip the pages (more fun than board books). I love this book by the way.

Little Jack, so precious.
Smiley babies

My three boys

PS

The a/c guy already has come and gone and it should be fixed this time! Yay!

Thankful Thursday

I am having a pretty rough day today (and it's only 8:45am!) so I guess it's good that I have to count my blessings.

I'm thankful that someday the toddler years will be over and this will all be a memory (hopefully a fond one) and I will be able to laugh at the new young parents who have to deal with it. I'm thankful that hurt and heartache fades over time. I'm thankful that my a/c works most of the time, even if it's not all the time, and that it will hopefully get fixed for good today and that our home warranty covers it. I'm thankful that Brandon and Jackson are so stinking cute and that I can escape for a few minutes into their room and rock them and cuddle and kiss them every once in a while. I'm thankful that Adam was so insistent on getting the stain guard on our new couch, it was quite easy to clean the poo off of it at 5:45am this morning (the difficult part was finding every spot). I'm thankful at least Ian is potty trained. I'm thankful the twins can't take their diapers off. I'm thankful it cooled off outside a little last night so we could open the windows and let some fresh air in. I'm thankful Adam had the great idea to take a video of the a/c unit not working so we can prove we're not making it up (it always works fine when they come to look at it). I'm thankful my sister Jill is coming home tomorrow, even if I won't get to see her very much before I leave town.
And finally, I am thankful I have Hailey, even if sometimes I want to give her away to....well....anyone who will take her. She is a sweet little girl and she is very independent and she loves her family and she loves babies and she just wants to help and take care of everyone and explore the world. She's my only little girl in a house full of little boys and someday she will be a great little mommy with a bunch of little crazy children like herself. And I am really thankful that right now she is contained in her high chair eating her 3rd bowl of Golden Grahams.

Fourth of July

This was our first July 4th at home in a few years. We went to the Stake breakfast and had pancakes, then to the park, and relaxed the rest of the day. The kids had their first time doing sparklers, I thought they would be scared, but they LOVED it. They chased each other around the backyard with them and couldn't get enough! Next year I'll have to buy more. We finished the day off with root beer floats, also another first for Hailey. Yum!

Random Pics

I have realized that the biggest reason I put so many random pictures on here is for the grandparents and aunties to see, and hopefully some of the rest of you like them too. I know they are random, but so is my life.

I also realize that Hailey is hardly ever clothed in any pictures of her, mostly because she is hardly ever clothed in general. Oh, I try every day to dress her, but invariably by the end, middle, within a few minutes, of the day she has them back off for one reason or another. It seems like she does everything and has every characteristic that you hear about in the stereotypical 2-year-old. Really, everything you could imagine, I have experienced it with this one. Oh she is the excitement in my life! And here she is in all her toothpaste covered glory (she has a new obsession with rubbing everything on her legs):

Brandon sure looks depressed that his sister thinks he's a girl.
Another thumb sucker in the family!

Twin Time!

The twins have kind of discovered each other lately. When they lay next to each other they usually hold hands as shown in these pics. They have recently started to talk and laugh with each other. So CUTE!!

Jackson left, Brandon right

Thankful Thursday

Well, it has been quite a while since I have done Thankful Thursday. I guess I kind of let it go with everything else. Well not anymore!

1. Four kids who sleep through the night - I finally have all four sleeping from 7:30pm till 6am. It is such a relief to know I will get a break at the end of the day no matter what. Now if I could just have the discipline to go to bed early myself...
2. No more going between two homes - We turned in the keys to our old place on Tuesday, it was such a relief. Now I can just focus on getting organized here and not worry about cleaning or trying to figure out if something got left at the other place. I just have to figure out where everything got put here!
3. Babies are resilient - Hailey always finds new ways to injure the twins. Yesterday she flipped Brandon over in his bouncy seat. All you could see was his little hands sticking out from underneath. Luckily he didn't have a scratch or bruise to show for it, but he cried for a while.
4. My oscillating fan - It is so hot and we have our thermostat set to 80, yuck. Having a good fan makes a huge difference in how it feels.
5. My baby monitor - I can not hear the babies downstairs at all (even Jackson's desperate screaming) which is a good and bad thing. A baby monitor is a must and mine lights up when they are crying which means I don't always have to have the volume on. I like it.
6. Vacation is coming - not soon enough! I know traveling with, well, mostly Hailey, is going to be rough but it is going to be so worth it to get a break from every day life.
7. Fun songs - Hailey really likes to sing songs that have little hand motions like Popcorn and Itsy Bitsy Spider. That is the only time I can get her attention for very long and we have fun and laugh. I really need that time with her to help me weather the rest of the time when she is driving me up the wall.
8. New TV channels - For some weird reason when we moved here and set up our cable we get some new channels that we didn't get in our other place. Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network. No more watching only PBS all day!
9. Folex - It is carpet cleaner. I like it because it doesn't smell and it cleans pretty well and it's cheap. Lately I have had some pretty nasty things to clean up (guess who was the culprit) and I am thankful I have a good carpet cleaner.
10. My mom - In the last year my mom has done so much for me I can't even begin to express my gratitude. She stayed with us for 5 weeks after I had the twins and visited a few times while I was pregnant to help out. The most recent thing I am so grateful for was a couple boxes of fun little toys from the dollar store for Ian and Hailey. We call them "Grandma presents" and the kids get to open something whenever I feel they earned it or if I need something to entertain them when they are driving me crazy. Thanks mom!