Reincarnation

"Mom???"

"What Eli?"

"When I die and come back to life again, will you name me DARTH....VADER...."

"Why???"

"Because I just LOVE him!"

(a small conversation with the Star Wars obsessed)

Gabe's Guide To Getting Tough

This past weekend we were playing soccer as a family. I discovered the FACT that I am truly scared of Gabe plowing me over!

You see, he has been playing GREMLIN FOOTBALL since July.

He is TOUGH!

He is BIG!

He has MUSCLES!

He loves to TACKLE HARD!

If it were not for his RED HAIR, cute FRECKLES, and HANDSOME SMILE, I might give him away to the DENVER BRONCOS!!

How We Get The Job Done

I love home Depot....really. I love looking around and thinking up new projects for my house...and for Mike to do!

I took a trip there the other day with Eli.

He loves Home Depot as much as me...I think??

While I was preoccupied on what size of wood piece I needed, he looked up at me and asked "Mom, how come Home Depot has everything you need to get the job done?"

I laughed so hard...apparently he DOES listen to the TV while building those Lego towers!

I did not even know how to answer that!

Making Choices, 4 yr. Old Style

I was vacuuming my bedroom today and I thought I would be real amazing and vacuum behind the door. So, I come across this badge stuck in my wall by its' pin. I'm thinking "WHAT IS THIS???" because I have never seen this item, EVER....then I read the badge and started to laugh! Eli must of received this at school. Of course his ideal "CHOICE" would be to poke it into the wall, leaving a nice hole I might add...I'm thinking though, he was a little UNCLEAR on the CONSEQUENCES part!

I can't believe it has been 4 months since I have posted....I am a slacker, I know! Summer was fabulously crazy busy and I will try to catch up on all the great things we did. I have to wait until the weather gets so terrible though, I love being outside when it is sunny!



I am disappointed in myself for not writing down the funnyisms of Eli, there were so many during the summer, I truly thought I would remember them and of course I did not!!! Ugh!



Anyhow, we spent the weekend watching General Conference. I did my best to have the kids watch in between Gremlin football games and dance classes. I was excited to have all of us together to watch during the Sunday morning session. We sat at a great breakfast, made by Mike I might add, listening and watching our prophet give his address. I thought this would be a great teaching moment with Eli. I asked, "who is that on the TV Eli?' He replied, "the United States?" "No, who is the man speaking on the TV?" I asked again. He replied, "the United States!" The rest of the kids started laughing. He got angry and replied, "the LIAR, you know the liar!"

I thought we were all going to choke to death in laughter! His little 4 year old brain knew that the person on the TV was very important. He knew he had seen him numerous times before and he was the President of something....he just happened to get President Monson and President Obama mixed up! Hey, understandably, stuff like this happens! I'm just glad that President Monson is not a liar!

A Sunbeam, A Sunbeam...

Mikail, Eli and I decided to have lunch at the Blue Lemon in Highland. To get there, we like to go over the mountain via Suncrest. It has been raining all week...maybe 2 weeks, it seems like FOREVER! We miss the summer sun badly. We reached the top of Suncrest and the sun was actually shinning! I said to the kids, WOW, the sun is shinning up here. Eli confidently replied, "it's because Jesus is up here!" I guess being up closer to the clouds means we are closer to Christ... (I wish).

Oh Teenagers!

So, my daughter Mikail came home from her last day of 7th grade looking like THIS.

What is a mother to say?

What is this school teaching these young minds?

I tried hard to act like I didn't NOTICE the obvious.

Then, she got right in my face and announced that she was the VIKING OF THE QUARTER!

OH.

This is a MAJOR award.

I had misjudged the poor girl.

We are so proud of how well she did in school this year.

She worked hard and was very dedicated.

It's so hard to have teenagers like this....JUST KIDDING Mikail.

WE LOVE YOU!

My Ellie

This is Ellie...she is 10, almost 11...she is wonderful at everything...school work, dance, art, family & friends, soccer, babysitting, swimming...we think she is pretty special and we all LOVE her A LOT...we are very LUCKY to have her in our family!

Eli's "Final Four"

It's official...Eli turned 4 on June 1st. He has waited, patiently, every day asking "when am I going to be 4?" I mean EVERY DAY for a year! This all happened because his best friend and next door neighbor, Jaden, turned 4 a year ago...can't a kid be the same age as his best friend? The only problem is...Jaden turned 5 this past February. You've guessed it! Eli is now asking when will he turn 5? We might have to possibly move!

Eli had his first "real" birthday party. He invited Jaden and Thomas. We went to see the movie "UP" and then ate McDonald's for lunch at home. It was a RAGER I tell ya!

Later that night we had grandparents over for dinner, cake, and presents. I think he had a good day with lots of spoiling! I hope he has a good year finally turning 4...and I can't wait for the question of when will he turn 5!

Memorial Day 101

We had a great weekend with the kids! We visited "Grammy's" grave and talked about the memories we have about her. I can't believe it has been 3 years since her passing. Eli was only 5 months old and it makes me sad that he will not know her on this earth. He asked a ton of questions about her "body and bones". It made the moment quite lighthearted! I realize how smart these little ones are when they ask questions about death and what happens to their body? How does their spirit live with Heavenly Father and not their body? We spent many moments explaining to him...I'm not sure our answers were the ones he wanted! On the way out of the cemetery Eli was singing his made up version of the "Grave Song", I thought my other kids would die laughing.

We also went to the Cottage for a night with Papa and Fran. The kids love being there. We decided to go to the Provo Cemetery. Mike's grandparents and "Great" everyone are buried there, including Benjamin Bullock who donated the land for the cemetery. I love the old section of the cemetery where the Pioneer's have been buried. They have ancient looking head stones with amazing poetry about their loved ones carved into them.

So many children and babies are laid to rest there. Mike and I always get emotional reading them. One of my favorites is on a stone were a newborn baby had died, it says; "Budded On Earth To Bloom In Heaven". How sweetly said. It makes me think of my friend Michele who lost her baby (Gracie Gledhill) 2 months ago to a heart defect.

My kids were saddened by how many children died at that time. I think it in some small way, taught them to be thankful for the life and time we are living in, and to be thankful for each other.

Of course, we could not end the moment without one of Eli's funnyisms! We had told him several times not to directly step on the graves. It was way too tempting to jump from grave to grave. At one moment I saw him sitting on top of a small head stone! His eyes caught mine and before I could speak at him he said, "Don't worry mom, there is nobody in this one!"

**Just a side note on the first picture, we were all fascinated by the bottle of beer in lieu of flowers...I don't know whose grave this was, but we thought it was funny!

Dreamland

Maybe...if I was able to sleep in this position all my..........dreams would come TRUE!

Springtime Schedule

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

8:00 a.m. Run to KMART to pick up a 6 pack of flowers for Eli's preschool project
8:20 Drop off Gabe and Ellie at school
8:30 Drop Eli off at preschool
8:45 Head to Target to buy Teacher Appreciation gifts that I forgot about
9:45 Classic Skating chaperon for Ellie's Student Council and Safety patrol party
12:15p.m. Leave Classic Skating, grab a salad at Cafe Rio to eat in my car in the parking lot of Alta View hospital
12:45 Register for Kidney Ultrasound
1:00 Kidney ultrasound, reminds me of pregnancy ultrasound...makes me a little sad
1:25 Pick up Eli from Mom's house
1:50 Pick up Gabe from an early day due to Testing?
2:00 Check emails
3:00 Have a lengthy conversation with Mikail about her "CRAZY" day at school
3:45 Pick Ellie up from school
4:10 Take kids to swim team practice
WATCH...WAIT...WATCH...RESCUE Eli from falling fully clothed into swimming pool
6:00 Leave practice, drive to Wendy's for kids dinner (excited children to have JUNK)
6:25 Get ready for Mike's boss' daughter's wedding reception
6:40 Leave for Wedding
7:00 Mix and Mingle with people from Mike's work
9:15 Leave reception, get a call from Ellie saying her teacher's favorite flowers are tulips...can I pick some up?
9:30 Pick up flowers from Harmons...pathetic selection this late at night...no tulips
9:45 Arrive home, assess house damage from unattended children, pick up, clean
10:00 SIT DOWN...BREATHE...PASS OUT!

Mother's Guilt Day

I'm not a huge fan of celebrating Mother's Day...but who really is? Generations of mothers in my family have shunned the SPECIAL day. It's not a day to celebrate you as a mother, rather a day to feel guilty for the terrible mother you are. Oh the GUILT. Who wants to be reminded of that?

This year the husband reminded me to just enjoy the day, celebrate it for the kids sake. I decided to take this to heart, I know I can do this. I got together with some cousins of mine and we planned a breakfast and pedicure date with our mothers to honor them (and ourselves of course..oh there's the guilt in doing that). We went to the Grand America for brunch and then we all soaked our footies for awhile and had them painted so cute!

Mother's day was also awesome, thanks to the kiddies! They had a "Mother's Day Spa" all set up for me! I got a foot soak, nails painted, and a leg rub from Ellie and Mikail. Gabe and Eli rubbed my back and arms. They had candles and perfume sprayed into the air. I even received chocolate, nuts, fruit, and lime water! After that ROYAL treatment, I was instructed to lie on the bed while all 4 KIDDOS gave me a massage..it was wonderful, but a touch hard to breathe! How could I possibly feel guilty for raising them wrong after treatment like this? They, and Mike, topped the morning off by making me a "wheat/gluten free" breakfast of pancakes, sausage, and strawberries! I think I am breaking the "shunning" chain! Bring on MOTHERHOOD again!

Oh, SERIOUSLY!

I'm serious on this one! Child Protective Services should be knocking sometime this afternoon, around dinner time I should have all my children taken away due to NEGLECT! So we had the Gabe accident last month...then Eli hit his head on some rocks in our backyard last week. He came in crying, I set him on the couch with his blanket. Five minutes later he violently throws-up. Ten minutes later he is DEAD ASLEEP, at the point where I could not wake him up! He slept for an hour and a half, threw-up more. A half an hour later he was hungry, thirsty, and wanted to play outside! Ah...that would be a CONCUSSION! And then there was the incident TODAY! I had a doctor's appointment with the Urologist,(another story for another post) we were in the parking lot, walking in. Eli was walking on the curb like all kids do. I had just told him (perhaps jinxing him) not to walk on the curb because he would fall and get hurt. My children don't listen to me so, two seconds later, I see him hit the ground CHIN first! I rush back to pick him up and he has a gaping hole in his chin. Blood was everywhere! I looked like a horror film victim! I rushed him inside, (heels and a very heavy 3 year old do not make for graceful running) to find a bathroom. There was a lady far down a hall that I asked for help from. She took me into a dental office backroom where we put paper towels under his chin. Have I mentioned that I don't do well with stuff like this...due to great anxiety and not having a medical degree? I was pretty sure he would bleed to death! I got a hold of Mike, my "go-to-man" when I am in a state of panic, and I met him at our pediatrician's office. Dr. Lindgren was kind enough to quickly fit us in, I'm pretty sure they usually don't do stitches often. They would rather you go to the emergency room. So, 2 hours later and 5 stitches we are home! It is not even officially SUMMER and I know I can not handle the stress of more ACCIDENTS! Oh...wait...I won't have to...my children should be under the state's protection by 6:00 p.m.!
P.S. Did I happen to mention that Eli fell on the neighbor's stairs last fall...he hit his CHIN in the same place! That time it was only "glue stitches"...we are progressing!

The Tulip Festival That Made Us Famous

Every Spring we enjoy a vist to Thanksgiving Gardens to see the fabulous display of Tulip flowers. It is acrage after acrage of color that is to die for! My kids usually complain about going at first and end up loving it once we are there. Most of the time we go with my mom, my brother, Spencer, and his family. This year we happened to be there when KUTV 2 news was broadcasting a live noon show from there. Kids are quite intrigued when there are TV cameras in their midst. The broadcast guy, "Kasey", asked the kids if they wanted to be on TV...DUH, but of COURSE! So, they all had their 1 minute of STARDOM...I'm so proud to be their mother!

The Sneaky Leprechaun

I am a little delayed on this post! I forgot about our St. Patrick's Day adventure until I downloaded some new photos. In our home, the Leprechaun comes at night when we are all in bed and leaves GREEN FOOTPRINTS all over our house! He also turns over furniture, messes up rooms and turns the OJ and milk green! He truly is a STINKER! Ellie, Gabe and Eli tried really hard to catch him, (Mikail has become too COOL for this) making ingenious TRAPS with FAKE gold to entice the little man. But to no avail did they catch the Leprechaun! He just left them a mean letter. I think he felt guilty for his rudeness because he left the kids shamrock sugar cookies on the front porch that night! We did enjoy our usual St. Patty's dinner of corned beef, cabbage, carrots, and potatoes. Oh, and of course the Irish beer bread...thanks Budweiser, I now know where you are located! (Do I need to confess to the bishop about buying a can of beer?) As for me, I am left cleaning off the green footprints all the next day....better luck next year kids, work on those traps!

Eli Is Sooo Full of It!

I have a word that I use to describe funny, cute, and crazy things my kids say..."FUNNYISMS". (Yes, it's a made up word, check the dictionary) I wanted to post some recent funnyisms from Eli, so I will always remember just how CRAZY he is!

One evening, Mike was getting Eli ready for bed...the usual PJ scenerio. I don't know if being half naked or what reminded him, but he turned to mike, pointing at his chest area, "Daddy, Carlos' Mom has a BUM right here." Mike said he about DIED laughing...I could not believe he was observing clevage at such a young age...or could I? The next time I took him to preschool I scoped out Carlos' MOM. Sure enough when she got out of the car, she had a low-cut shirt on (she was also quite heavy) with a BUM...I mean, clevage hanging out all over!

For those who know me, you know I am a HUGE health fanatic. We eat Organic. I prepare all our meals homemade. Lots of veggies, whole grains, foods in their whole. Anyhow, I usually make 5-6 loaves of whole wheat and grain bread a week. It is hearty stuff. For Easter, I made a breakfast casserole that requires store-bought white bread as an ingredient. The casserole won't turn out right if you don't. There was some left-over bread that the kids were making toast out of one morning. Eli saw this and he said, "I want some of that FAKE bread for toast!" We all laughed hard at this outburst! That's my boy!

My final (but not last, I'm sure) funnyism happened today on the way to preschool. He had to wear his "church socks" because the other socks were dirty. He hates them and we are lucky to get them on for Sundays. He sat in the car grunting and complaining at the way his shoes felt. Suddenly he screamed out, "these socks are ruinning my life!" I think I know how he feels....

He's Still Got It At 78!

April 9th was a new chapter in our family life. Mike's dad married his new sweetheart, Francis Monson. Dick has been alone for 3 years since Jane passed away. He was so sad and lonely, we all could hardly bare it. He met Fran a couple years ago. I'm pretty sure she was made from the female mold of him! They have so much in common and have been having a great time together traveling. We love her and are so thankful she has brought LIGHT and LIFE to Dick. They had a great wedding at The Tuscany restaurant. The ceremony and vows were performed by Fran's bishop. She has 5 children and Dick has 4. All were able to attend including many grandchildren. It was a pleasure to meet them all and we enjoyed getting to know each other. I left Eli home with my Aunti Ardy (thanks Ardy!) because I wanted to enjoy the night without chasing after him. I was able to take pictures but Dick wanted them done with a 35mm camera. He does not own a computer...he wants the tangible negatives! I did snap a few, mostly of the kids. I hope to get the other ones on a CD to transfer. Although it is ALWAYS hard to see a parent re-marry, we are grateful for the happiness Fran has brought to Dick's life. We are a little saddened that we don't get to feed him every Sunday. The kids miss him when he does not come! We are also grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and his plan for Eternal Families. We know that Dick will be reunited with Jane in the Eternities to live "ever after" as well as Fran and her sweet husband, Bob. I am so grateful for the constant love and support my darling husband gives me! He has been a true "ROCK" and "TROOPER" for his dad...I admire him greatly!

What Boys Do during Spring Break

Every year the children get 4 days off for "Spring Break". It usually precedes Easter. The weather almost NEVER cooperates, I think the break should be in May. Friday was somewhat okay weather wise so the kids played outside. It had been a crazy day. I had taken the kids and some friends to a movie. Ellie was at a birthday party and needed to be picked up about the time the movie let out. I felt like I was a running around fool on a time schedule!
After getting everyone safely home and securing a house full of kids, I decided to sit and watch a little OPRAH. I quickly got a phone call from Gabe: "Mom, I'm over at Nickolaus' house". I asked him the usual, what are you doing, what time are you coming home, be careful, etc. etc. Not 15 minutes later I get a phone call from Nickolaus's sister telling me that Gabe has been hurt and has a bloody nose. Truthfully, I did not panic like I usually would. I got in my car and drove to the scene where I came upon Nickolaus' mom holding Gabe's nose with a rag. THERE WAS BLOOD ALL OVER THE PAVEMENT! Now I was panicking! Gabe was also labouring to BREATHE. Apparently the boys were trying to CATCH AIR on their bikes by going quickly downhill and over a skateboard ramp. Why...WHY...WHY do they inherently have the DAREDEVIL gene???? Needless to say, Gabe flew over his bike, doing a flip, landing into his handle bars and on to his HEAD. This was not a pretty scene. I assessed his ability to stand, walked him to the car, and took him home. He was not breathing normal in the car. I asked him 100 questions about how he crashed, much of which he could not answer because he could not BREATHE and could not remember....he just knew he got about "6 feet of air". (Later the numbers changed to 10 feet) I called Mike because his BREATHING was not normal, he told me to wait for him to get home. I called him again, Gabe was really labouring to BREATHE. He was scarring me to death. I could not wait for the "Dad assessment", so I took him to the ER. This is where we spent the rest of the night! They did a CAT scan to see if there was any INTERNAL damage. They gave him and IV and did blood work. He had a regular X-ray. We waited and waited. Gabe was still in pain and labouring to BREATHE.
I really hate things like this that test my faith and how strong I am as a person. I decided I am a -10...a WIMP...a CONTROL FREAK...a MOTHER. Thankfully, I have a son that requested that we have a prayer. This truly helped the pain (along with some morphine). The ER doctor decided that the CAT showed some bruising on his lung. They would have to send us up to Primary's overnight for some observations. I guess things can progress with time. So, we took a ride in the AMBULANCE up to Primary Children's hospital. Once there, they handled him like he was a trauma patient (way over done). We had to wait out in the hall behind this sliding glass door while they worked on him AGAIN...more x-rays, blood work, etc. etc. It was finally decided that he was going to be OKAY, but very sore for the next few days. We could go home. I can't wait for the bill.
We arrived home that night around 12:30 p.m. It was a very stressful night, I think I am still recovery emotionally. Mike was a trooper with great faith that everything was fine, and it is. Gabe will need a new helmet and I am so grateful that he had it on!

Why I love 3 year olds!

For those who are close to me, you know from my endless complaining how HARD it is to take Eli to any type of store. He has man-roots in him, especially his dad's. He HATES to go shopping and his actions at stores are a form of punishment towards me. He and Mikail have had terrible coughs this week so I decided to keep him home from preschool today. Tuesdays are my ERRAND day while he is a school, so having him home put a slight damper on my schedule. I decided to attempt Target anyway. Ellie has apparently needed some sort of SPECIAL marker for school...she left me a very threatening note in BIG letters on the kitchen counter today. Besides, isn't Target large enough for him to cough every 5 seconds and possibly NOT infect everyone there? While we were browsing the aisles, we encountered a giant mechanical ladder (of some sort) right in front of us. The male employee was apparently riding around the store checking all the lights in the ceiling. Eli was fascinated by this! He asked with a confused face, "mommy, what is that guy doing up there?" I replied, "he is going around the store screwing the light bulbs in because they have burned out". He would not let me move forward with my shopping until he watched the man for about 15 minutes. It did not help that there was this loud BEEPING sound every time the man moved forward or backward...we had to follow! After the man was almost out of sight (and my refusal to follow him anymore), Eli turned to me with a very "thought-provoking face" and said, "mommy, when I grow big like daddy, I want to be a SCREWER!" Oh My! I laughed until I almost passed out!

Snow Depression

I have to be honest here...I HATE winter. There was a great BLIZZARD last night. I hesitantly opened my shutters this morning to find a blanket of SNOW. It's the end of March...how I hate the tricks of spring. I feel sad for those Daffodils peeking out of the snow, bright yellow and green with their heads bowed down as if to say, "I am so sorry I came". Michael LOVES snow. He tries to be sympathetic with comments like, "in a couple of weeks it will be nice", or "April has some really warm days". The truth be known here is, he loves snowstorms because it means he gets to SKI a couple more weekends. I think he is avoiding household duties. Maybe that is why I hate winter...because being stuck inside means I have to TACKLE those household duties! Oh well, at least Eli will embrace the snow...his first comment to me today was, "I'm ready for my snow clothes!"

Walking

Due to the nature of Eli's personality, I often find myself taking his hand. He is one of those free-spirits...darting out of the car to see what adventure awaits him. He is never concerned by cars, strangers, or the Boogie Man lurking. I find myself jealous of this innocense...because I worry about everything...all the time. My husband reminds me of that often. I love to hold his hand and be that protector, the mother hen. Someday, he won't want to hold my hand, he will cringe at the actual thought of it. So...for now, I will relish in the tiny moments. Besides, holding his hand is like being attatched to a GIANT, SUPER BOUNCY BALL! Just trying to keep a hold of him, I might look like a display of public intoxication!