Random Days

We are loving this warm spring weather.  the snow is starting to melt but there is still enough on the ground so that when the sun shines and reflects on the snow it makes for an even brighter day!  YESTERDAY Gabe and Ollie decided that they needed their sunglasses on while they ventured out onto the back patio again and again trying to decide if it were really as warm as it looked! (I don't want to complain...it is warm but not THAT warm yet!)

It was so beautiful outside and we decided that we just had to get out of the house.  We picked up Glen for a quick lunch break and after we walked over to the nearby bakery to get a special "after school snack"  for Evan and Eli...

After school the weather started to cool down a little more but was still nice enough for these boys of mine who are suffering from spring fever!

Once Glen got home from work we had dinner and then decided last minute to go swimming... Spring fever for sure!  It was indoor of course but the smell of chlorine goes hand and hand with summer and the pool water was so warm... it was perfect!  The oldest boys and Glen also got in a little racquetball while the babies got showered and jammies on with me....then we headed home and thought that everyone would crash and that we would all get a good nights sleep after all that play... Well that was not the case- Gabe was over tired and whining on the way home- As Glen carried him up to bed he thought he felt warm- sure enough- A fever!  Now what?... we have had just about EVERY sickness in the past 2 months- seriously! We gave him some motrin and tucked him into bed hoping he'd be ok. Then later, just as Glen and I were heading off to bed- here came Eli in tears with an ear ache!  We figured he had water in his ear from swimming... but nothing we did seemed to relieve the pain. He is tough so when he cries we know it must really be bad!   He was in SO much pain all night- he went from our bed to a bed on the floor off and on and just could not get comfortable- he moaned and cried most of the night.  And then Gabe joined in half way through the night and between the two of them none of us got any sleep!  By morning Eli could not open his mouth and he was so dizzy- was walking around with his head tipped side ways!  I called the Dr. fist thing and we took them in and learned Gabe has a double ear infection and both ears are "as bad as they get."  And the doctor said it looked like Eli's eardrum would burst any minute and he just had so much pressure in his little ear.  Poor poor boys!  Having sick kids is so sad!  How random that they both had ear infections too!  They are on antibiotics today as well as ear drops and pain meds and I prescribed sprite, soup and a movie day... Evan came home from school and found us all asleep on the couch!

So that was our random yesterday (Thursday) and today (Friday) just in case you were wondering! :)  I am working on lots of other updates... they just seem to be so much more time consuming- this one was easy so fresh on my mind...and random I like that!  I don't like trying to remember and the pressure I put on myself to stay in order etc... - but I am working on it and maybe I will even post a few over the weekend!  Now I am off to catch up on some much needed sleep!

Elf phone

During the month of December as we prepared for Christmas... there was lots curiosity from Gabe concerning Santa.  He wanted to know how Santa's reindeer know how to fly, why Santa wears white gloves, How Santa makes all the toys, etc etc etc... I explained the magic of Christmas the best way I could. I would think he was satisfied and then the next day -more questions!... His imagination has no end  and we had a lot of fun talking about all of the special traditions that Christmas brings.

One morning Gabe ran over to me with giant eyes and a concerned look on his face.  He held his hand out to me in a little fist and said excitedly "MOM, I found an elf phone!"  At first I had no idea what he was talking about.  "what?" I asked him and he quickly uncurled his fingers and there in his palm was a tiny yellow cell phone.

I sat there trying to make it all connect ... and then it registered "elf phone?" but before I could even think how to answer or what to say about it- Gabe had it all figured out- he was chattering excitedly, full of animation. and this was his story..."An elf came to check and see if we were being naughty or nice.  He called Santa to tell him we were being good but then the elf dropped his cell phone on our stairs"... which is exactly where Gabe found it lying!  I listened to this story and I stuttered and was a bit flustered but Gabe kept talking.  He decided that he was going to turn it on and try to call Santa I nodded still baffled...then Gabe discovered that "the battery was dead!" and "there was no charger- shoot!"  Gabe was so worried for this elf who had lost his cell phone... I just watched and listened in shock and disbelief I guess- it was just so sincere and earnest and he was SO excited!  I didn't know what to say... look at that face!

I snapped a few pictures and then we decided to put the phone in a special place so that if the elf came the next night - he would find it... Gabe couldn't leave it alone though and while playing he accidentally dropped the phone down into our heat vent... which was a complete disaster because "now the elf was going to be so mad if he couldn't find his cell phone!"  We got out the flash light and laid on our bellies peering into the dark dusty vent... but nothing!   I even reached my arm into the scary place and could not feel anything... (except spiders and I'm assuming some sort of fur??...yikes!) !  Gabe was more worried.  Evan and Eli joined in on the search when they got home from school they had no luck either!  The phone was gone!  Evan being the fixer that he is-smoothed it over and finally told Gabe that Santa probably has a magic tracker on all of the elf's cell phone's and that with this tracker he would know exactly where the phone is located.  He told Gabe that they would be able to come and find it with this "magic cell phone tracker."  Gabe bought it and I was relieved... I wondered if Gabe would forget about the phone but he talked about it for days after and every once in awhile he still mentions "the elf phone."  

there is not much better than having a three year old around when it's Christmas time.  He sure helped to make ours more magical!  I am hoping to tell you all about it sometime soon!

by the way, can you believe I have written THREE posts this week?  You wanna know how it happened?...  Well here is my secret... I have had 3 very sick children and all they wanted to do all week is lay and watch movies- which meant no fixing lunches, no messes (except the occasional puke, of course!) just watching movie after movie- which left me with a little extra time on my hands- so nice!... Don't get me wrong, having sick kids is the pits - It's just been a bit slower pace around here is all! So now with 3 posts done I am feeling the blogging fever coming back and I am hoping to keep it up a little, if I can... no promises, but wish me luck...

Our Kitty For a Day

In the late fall we noticed a pack of little tiny kitties hanging around outside our house for a few weeks.  They didn't appear to have a mother and I was worried about them surviving the winter (go figure....I don't even like cats!) We tried to catch them but they were way too fast!  One afternoon Gabe and I heard some whining coming from the garage and upon further investigation we found that we had trapped one of the kitties in our garage by accident.  the kitty was terrified and remember I don't like cats... ok...fine, I am scared of them, I will admit it!  They are a little stealthy and jumpy which just sort of freaks me out.  Kitties are adorable but cats just sort of stare and creep around.  Just so you know, I am very brave to admit this because most of  the world likes cats and in particular several of my in-laws are cat LOVERS ... so admitting this just might put me at the bottom of the favorite in-law list. (assuming I wasn't there to begin with, but you never know?!:)) So anyway I was a bit nervous to do anything about the kitty all by myself and I knew Gabe would be no help- so when Eli (he is the brave one) got home from school I told him about the kitty and I asked him to go and catch it.  He of course was so excited about this special assignment.  I have since learned that wild kittens/cats are very dangerous to say the least (I will save the story of Glen's rabid cat bite for later) but at the time I had no idea and seriously this kitty was tiny- like 5 weeks old!  How bad could it be?-I figured Eli could handle it and I did sort of helped him- I stood back, up on top of a chair to be exact, and I told Eli what to do!  The kitty was out of control- wild!  He was scared and running all around the garage trying to hide and then climbing anything within reach to get away- it was pretty insane, like nothing I have ever seen!  but amazingly, Eli caught him- my wanna be ninja, and he only had about a dozen scratches (or more) to show for it!  I love that kid- he is fearless.  We hastily stuffed the kitty under a box... it was quite the process but we had him-he was captured until Glen got home with further skills... or something like that?

Once he got home from work... being the man that he is, Glen stepped right in and to the rescue.  He put on his leather gloves and donned his best horse whisper voice... er I mean, cat whisper voice. He was all official... calm and easy and it worked!  The kitty loved him, no wild behavior, no scratches... the cat was actually purring.  Must be true what they say about animals sensing your fear.  I'm sure being chased by a fast child in a confined area with a crazy lady yelling from a top a chair was not very soothing?!  But Glen sure had the touch.

the boys were in heaven loving the kitty, petting the kitty, Ollie even kissed the kitty (several times) They could not keep their hands off him... especially Oliver- He was obsessed!  I was so afraid he was going to squish the poor thing.  He just could not get enough and was shaking he was so excited!  I must admit the kitty was so adorable- all black with a pink nose... but I did keep my senses and was sure to keep reminding them all that "we DO NOT do pets"  So after lots of loving, bringing the kitty into our house, feeding the kitty warm milk (which we learned is a no-no... thanks a lot Tom and Jerry cartoon people for leading us astray!)  wrapping the kitty in a blanket etc... we decided to call our neighbor friends who happen to foster stray cats and help them to find good homes. They told us to bring him over. 

 So after lots of begging, protesting and some tears... the boys finally gave up and said their goodbye's... Writing that last sentence I am feeling pretty heartless.  But seriously, we DO NOT do pets!  I am the meanest mom, I know.  But I just can't do it.  the boys bounced back quickly and after some good meds and therapy they are handling things fairly well now... just kidding...about the therapy and meds- the doing good part is true though... they got over it quickly but still occasionally talk fondly about the black little kitty we had for one day!  He was pretty cute and  I decided that a one day pet was not too bad!

A few weeks later we found this black kitty's siblings (three of them)  hiding out in our garage to stay warm... they were bigger and faster and so we borrowed a cat trap and enticed them with food.  They were crazy wild and even with Glen's whisper skills and leather gloves he got bitten when he was transferring one of the kitties from the trap to a holding box.  He was suppose to start on antibiotics and get a tetanus shot and there was talk of- terminating the cat... It was a BIG deal!  We have no insurance and so Glen being the man that he is opted to take his chances and wait until he started dying to pay for the meds... He is not dead yet but I have noticed his eye teeth in particular are more pointy and his chest hair is black - maybe I should be worried (wink, wink)

So after all that we still agree that we DO NOT do pets
and NO more kitties around here, not even for a day!

a long time ago...

I pretty much want to cry when I look at this lonely blog of mine... I miss it. so. much!  I wish I had just one extra hour a day- ok maybe five... and then I just might be able to have a clean house AND update my blog!  I don't get how people do it... something has to give in order for me to sit and write and upload and right now, there is nothing that can give...and so, my blog is oh so sad!  I avoid clicking on the "my pictures" file because if I do, I see ALL of my adorable pictures and the memories flood my mind but there are lots of holes in those memories because they are from a long time ago... well at least a few months ago, but that is all it takes for me!...Glen says I should forget the past ( no pun intended!) and just start fresh- today!  I say I should run away for a weekend- OR TWO and just lounge in the sun (far away) cuddled up with my laptop... THAT would be grand!  But that will not be happening anytime soon... so for now I have just been avoiding it- avoiding everything and everyone at least in the blog world... but then I remember...and I get sucked back in!  I can never stay away too long-

so here I am -back for a minute because I did it.  I clicked on the "my pictures" file.

....and then I saw these pictures of my naked babies from last summer and I decided - I am writing a post! I love these pictures but mostly I love remembering how my heart would warm all summer... everyday as I would see these two little tow heads bobbing along as they rode side by side over bumps and hills round and around our house... over and over and over again. 

We pulled out this jeep, which used to belong to Evan and Eli when they were small and we cleaned it up, bought a new battery and gave it to Gabe for his birthday... oh by the way, Gabe turned THREE back in May, he had a really awesome cake and presents and he did and said the most adorable things... he still does really... but oh that's right, I NEVER wrote about his birthday or told how he and Oliver had a combined party...boo hoo!!...that's right I NEVER write about his adorable self or any of these boys of mine.... boo hoo!!  See?  it breaks my heart... but lets get back to the jeep for now... Gabe was always the driver with Oliver his trusty side kick, buckled in, right next to him.  They drove this jeep, I am not kidding- EVERY day!  Oliver was usually the instigator- pointing and grunting each time he would see the jeep ("jeep" might have been his first word?... too bad I can't remember for sure... just kidding...)  Gabe, wanting to prove his status as BIG brother, was happy to oblige and off they would ride... into the sun set or at least until sun set most days!  These babies of mine got so good at this jeep that there were a few days when I was not the most stellar mother and I would find them with the jeep pulled out of the garage and Oliver sitting up tall in the seat-  all buckled!  Gabe would heave him up into the seat and strap him in and then climb around to his side... best buddies -and cutest thing ever!  And you have never seen a better driver.  I am sure Gabe could pass drivers ed.  quick reflexes, defensive driving, he followed all the rules, no one was run over... he was good!  oh and p.s. -Gabe went through this "naked phase" where I would find him in the buff or with just his undies on randomly throughout the day?  Driving naked doesn't seem that great to me- but he sure wanted to do it all the time there for awhile...

I wish I had video because really, the head bobbing was the cutest!

...this pose from Gabe... might actually be the cutest...

Well  that's the end and it does feel nice to check one off the list even though it's from a long time ago.  To look back is always nice too... I miss those warm summer days and will continue to write randomly about them I am sure... For now we are loving the cold winter (with snow today!) I love the mysterious fog, the crystallized trees, snow, the need to cuddle under a blanket and wear slippers inside and furry, boots scarves and mittens outside!  skiing, sledding and snow ball fights are some of our favorite things and someday maybe I will tell about the things we are doing to enjoy that NOW...

 farewell until then...

Another Year

 I can't believe I am the mother of an ELEVEN year old... that's right, Evan turned eleven in September!  A big milestone that accompanied his birthday was his advancement in the scouting program!  Evan loves scouts and is very diligent and dedicated to his duties.  He earned his webelos patch, his religious knot and his arrow of light... It took a lot of work and memorizing and goal setting and we are so proud of him!

 When ever the boys earn a badge- the mom gets an accompanying pin (since she does all the nagging along the way, I suppose) I told Glen I am going to get a hat or a scarf of something and wear it to all these den meetings... adding pins for several years to come- I will have quite a collection with these four boys of mine!  A hat covered with scouting pins could actually be kind of cute, right?  ...Or is all the chanting, cheering, hanging upside down stuff  at pack meetings just starting to warp my judgment... you can tell me! There are some great things about scouting but seriously- It is a BOY thing for sure!  Just promise you'll have an intervention if I start sporting a yellow den mother shirt ok? 

On the morning of his Birthday Evan woke to the usual... streamers, balloons, signs and donuts for breakfast!

That night he chose to eat at Juniper Take out for dinner... He invited grandma and grandpa

Right after taking these pictures I dropped the camera on the tile floor at the restaurant and it broke into a million pieces... I am sure Evan got some really great presents and probably had a cake too... I honestly cannot remember, neither can Glen... I am not going to wake Evan up to ask him right now so let's just assume it was one awesome birthday celebration! 

I will end by telling you that I do not know how I would survive without this sweet boy of mine!  Evan is so reliable and responsible.  He is able to see what needs to be done and is quick to step in and help!  He even changes diapers and is the best babysitter around!  Evan has a special gift for noticing others and being sensitive to them  He often gives up what he would like to have or do to make me or his little brothers happy.  He is patient and plays for hours with Oliver and Gabe... building them train tracks and lego sets, playing pretend.  Evan does not complain...(unless I ask him to wash the dishes- the one job he despises)  Every Saturday and Sunday morning Gabe wakes up and heads downstairs and crawls in bed with Evan....Sometimes Evan will read him some stories, take him potty and then get him breakfast before the rest of us are even awake!  Evan is a good friend and leader.  He is oh so smart and curious, he has an incredible memory and can read a book (a big one) in a day!  Evan loves to play all sports and go to games or watch them on TV.  He is kind of shy about it... but Evan is a really great dancer- He has great moves and rhythm and often leads the family in late night dance off's!   I love his smile and blue eyes.  I love his heart- He wants and tries so hard to be good.  He is a deep thinker and bit of a worrier.  He is stubborn and confident and has lots of good ideas.  

Evan is such a great kid- I'm not just saying that because I'm his mom either! 

We are so lucky that he is ours! 

  We love him more than words can express...

Happy Birthday... can't you stay 11 forever?

"Marshmallow Cookies"

One afternoon a couple of months ago, Oliver was taking a nap... Gabe was working on some puzzles and I was talking on the phone...

As I was talking I walked outside to take out the garbage- I lingered out on the back patio- the sunshine felt so nice... not sure how long I was outside, couldn't have been more than 5 minutes, maybe 7...

It was long enough for Gabe to get an idea, make and plan and A MESS...  I walked in the house took one look at the scene and before I even had time to get mad... I glanced at my Gabe, there he sat grinning from ear to ear, proud as can be... as he excitedly told me that he was making marshmallow cookies for US to eat.  He said in a shrill little voice "I learned to make them mom -and I just did it!...
I know how to make like you!"

I couldn't crush his moment and honestly the minute I saw his bright eyes and puffed up chest as he showed off his creation the mad was no where to be found!  I just said "Wow.... how did you make them?" Turns out he found an open brownie mix in the pantry dumped it into a bowl added some water from his cup and sprinkled in some marshmallows, also found in the pantry.  He kept stirring it and tasting it... telling me it was delicious... I decided to take his word for it

and that is when the mischief REALLY started with Gabe... late summer!  Since then, there have been markers on the wall, game cards scattered throughout the house, things broken, scissors used, whole rolls of toilet paper unrolled etc... terrible two's?  no way!! THREE is when the terrible happens for my boys... and Gabe has this adorable way of being terrible!

Trick or Treat...

 Our camera broke on Evan's birthday in September... I dropped it!  Since then we have been trying to decide on what camera to purchase to replace it and really, if we could even make the purchase... things have been rough to say the least with this dwindling economy.  the travel industry was especially hit hard... Glen's pay checks have also dwindled... so you know ...great timing!!  You've heard of the saying when it rains it pours... Well it is ture!  The camera fell to the bottom of about 100 other needs :)  but how do you live without a camera... We tried that and it was really sad to know that we were not capturing precious moments so we are eating ramen noodles for every meal this month but have a new camera!  Just kidding it is not quite that bad... yet!  So we decided to try some camera's out... went through 3 that we disliked for various reasons and we finally settled on one that works and will be fine... Happy early Birhtday to Glen I guess!! Anyway so the camera we used for the Halloween pictures was one that we returned - it was not nice and the pictures are also not  nice but hey we have documentation that we did celebrate and party it up this year, just like the rest!  Here is our proof...

This was the first year the Evan and Eli didn't really care much about what they dressed up as... the fifth grade students at school did a Zombie dance to Micheal Jackson's song Thriller.  Instead of trading costumes for the assembly and dance Evan just decided to be a Zombie- it worked out great.  I didn't  have any old clothes that I wanted to shred so Glen picked up a doctor costume on clearance and we turned Evan into a 

Zombie Doctor... pretty spooky huh?

Eli was in love with the new Karate Kid movie that recently came out... after seeing Evan's face paint he debated about being a Karate Zombie but in the end decided to just go with being Karate Kid... He has the moves down and was chopping, punching and kicking like the real deal... He was one awesome karate kid!

 Gabe was the cutest little Buzz Lightyear EVER thanks to my cute friend Brooke.  She called me a few weeks before Halloween and said she had costumes that I could borrow for both of my littlest boys if I was interested.  Of course I said yes and they were adorable.  Gabe loved dressing up as Buzz and wore the costume to our ward Halloween carnival and to preschool but by the time trick or treating came around and he got a chance to sort through our "Halloween box" he decided that he wanted to be a tiger (Evan's old costume that was a size too small...)  It surprisingly fit for the most part and was warm - I didn't have anymore fight left in me - why is Halloween so stressful- too many places to be, things to do... people to dress etc... So I said yes and he was super cute in both costumes of course! 

 While Oliver had a nap Glen took these three spooks out for some trick or treating...

 Oliver woke up and I got him ready to join in on the fun... 

 He was Nemo

Such a cute costume...he wanted nothing to do with the accompanying hat so I decided to spray his hair to look like a fin... he couldn't rip that off!.  The pictures do not even do justice to how cute he was in that round suit... bad camera, poor lighting and a boy who never stops running are all a bad combination for photo's so I am sad about that because seriously he was edible.  Best part was the back - as he would waddle around  the little tail fin swished back and forth, back and forth...it was so so so cute!

We visited grandma Murray who had her trick or treat candy beautifully arranged on a crystal platter... the boys thought it was very fancy of her!  she always adds the grandma touch to everything, making things memorable and special- I love her so much and can't help but feel a tug on my heart everytime we visit.  there is a tremendous absense without grandpa there  I missed hearing him tell the boys how great they looked in their costumes and watching him give each one a hug!  I miss him every minute and I know 

grandma misses him even more! 

Then we went to see my mom and Dad and they gave out the usual capri sun drinks in a big black witches couldron .. the boys look forward to it every year! 

 It was raining and a bit soggy so I stayed at my parents house with Gabriel and Oliver for awhile.  Glen is the worlds greatest Dad and he offered to drive the boys and some of their friends around until they were ready to call it quits which ended up being around 10:30 PM!  

they got a LOT of candy to say the least and they had a great time too! 

Despite all the places to go and people to dress...Halloween IS one of my favorite holidays!  We celebrated all week long.  I have a few more festivities to write about (not to mention about 100 posts to catch up on!) but for now my time is up... Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Walk

We have been helping create a scene at the pumpkin walk since we moved back to Cache Valley 2 1/2 years ago so this was our third year to be part of it. (Click here and here to find out more about what the pumpkin walk is) We do the pumpkin walk with some of our neighbors.  It is so fun to be together as we brainstorm and plan and set up.  They are all very talented people and most of all FUN!! having a bunch of us pull it together makes it doable!  The theme for the Pumpkin Walk this year was "The Magic of Animation"  All of the scene's were really cute this year!  ...Our scene was Madagascar!  One of the best movies ever made!  I love the characters in that movie so it was a really fun to try to re- create them out of pumpkins and gourds, squash, produce etc...

The week just before the walk opens I get stressed... shhhhhh don't tell Sandy- but it is a lot of work!  She is the one who recruited us and she says no one can do it if they are stressed- it is not suppose to stress anyone out- it is just for FUN etc... well that's nice of her to say and all but I do, get a little stressed and I usually end up saying ... "next year I am only doing ONE thing and all I am going to do is make that ONE thing and deliver it... that's it!  I am not going to worry about how my ONE thing looks and the whole set up- I am just going to do the minimum blah blah blah"... Well every year although I feel stress, I just can't do it- I get started and I can't stop!  There is something so magical about the pumpkin walk.  It is challenging and there is this sense of accomplishment in turning stuff from the garden into animals and people and stories... I LOVE it!  It is such a great creative outlet!  the first year we started helping I remember Sandy holding up gourds and turning them in her hand saying this would make the perfect duck or turtle and she'd find leaves for ears and corn cobs for horns.... cat tails for hair...she could just look at produce and get a vision- I thought she was crazy... but now I am getting the crazy too!... I looked at a squash this year and thought that is the prefect head for Melman the giraffe... and it was!  It is just so addicting and FUN.  I am so glad that we get to be a part of it- Glen came every day after work and rigged stuff up and built crates and painted and painted and painted.... so did the boys - I picked them up after school and we headed over to work on the scene...they love it!  I am so glad that my mom was able to babysit  the littles so that we could help again this year. 

...  here is our Madagascar creation...

One half of the scene was the city... at the zoo and then the other half was in Madagascar.  In the zoo above is Alex the lion, Marty on his treadmill and the penguins (my favorite!)

 Over in Madagascar there was ... the statue of Gloria (that they built on the movie), King Julian and his sidekicks, Melman, the little old MEAN lady with her purse, and the monkeys

 I  signed up to make the monkeys , they were my ONE thing 

but I told you how that goes...

 Pretty cute if you ask me and it was about 100 times better in real life!  It was a lot of work this year, we were sort of short handed... but there is nothing better to do mid October....want to help next year? 
Let us know...We will be there!