some little girls get gum stuck in their hair, but Brooklyne . . .

 . . . gets a train stuck in her hair!

Don't ask, because frankly, I don't know!

(by the way, I will be blogging about Trent's baptism, 

I just haven't gotten around to it yet.  call me lazy!)

. . . well I guess it's time

 . . . to do the laundry.

Tanner got his shirt wet doing who knows what, and felt he needed to do some laundry.  Brook of course, since she is the trusty side kick, was glad to assist in the washing and drying chore.  So when I caught my little helpers and was just laughing uncontrollably, Tanner had such a concerned and heart broken look on his face.  "WHATTTT?  it was all wet!"  So he filled the washer full of water with nothing in it.  Then when I was trying to get him to exit the laundry room, he ran back to get his WET pj shirt from the drier!  

What a good boy he is - just taking matters in his own hands!

Our family makes resolutions

On New Years Day we went around the table and had everyone give 3 goals they want to complete in the year 2009.

Daddy:  1.  get out of all credit card debt.  2. get a new job and move us.    3.  finish the kids fort/club house

Mommy:  1. be more wise when spending money - focus on saving not spending.  2.  increase my faith and lean more on faith not logic.  3.  lose 5-10 lbs. and keep it off all year by eating smart and exercising often.

Trent:  1.  make a system to keep track of all my money.   2.  collect at least 50 Nerf guns for waring.  3.  to be in the newspaper again - this time for soccer or baseball.

Kolby:  1.  to be as good of a reader as Trent and to write good too.  2.  to use his money to buy presents for people.  3.  to be in the newspaper like Trent.

Tanner:  1. blah blah blah Thomas train, blah blah ya.  2.  blah blah mom eat food blah blah blah.  3.  my school blah sister blah blah blah ok.  

(my goals for Tanner for the year would be: 1.  to be able to speak where mom can at least understand 85% of what is said.  2. to keep the hands out of the mouth a lot more.  3.  to not throw so many fits.)

Brooklyne : uh oh mama.  --- ya that was about it.

(my goals for Brooklyne this year would be:  1.  to learn how to use words - at least 100 words.  2.  to be potty trained.  3.  to play fairy princesses with mommy.)

YUCK!!!

YUCK, YUCK, YUCK, - WE JUST PULLED A TICK OFF THE BACK OF BROOKLYNE'S NECK!  THAT THING DID NOT WANT TO BUDGE AT ALL!  

IT SERIOUSLY GAVE ME THE WILLIES!

Survival of Christmas day!

On Christmas eve, Tanner got sick.  High fever and the pukes, so not the kind of holiday fun I was looking forward to.  Nonetheless we have a good time.  That night the kids got to open their new pj's from grandma Sharrid.  (a huge hit of course)

Christmas morning we woke up to Tanner with a high fever again, and pukes again, lovely.  So we waited to head downstairs until his medicine kicked in so that he could enjoy it a little bit.  The kids loved their Christmas stocking stuffed from Santa.  They got guns, guns, and more guns.  Brooklyne got some princess dinner wear.

Santa wants the kids to have "rock'n" clean teeth.

That mean daddy took away some of the candy!  can you see the heart break 

in that sweet face of hers?

The kids found the Snoopy that Santa hid in the bathroom shower.  They love 

that Santa sends them on crazy scavenger hunts.

the season of guns!

Brooklyne loved playing with her new pretend lip stick.

Kolby gave Donald his graduation outfit as a Christmas gift. 

He is such a giving boy!

The kids love the new play kitchen they got from Grandma Sharon.

Holiday fun

Of course we have been busy doing many different things to help celebrate this special time of year.  We have been baking, singing carols, visiting lights, watching cool movies, sleeping  by the Christmas tree, and many other fun little things.  

We attended a family Christmas party last weekend where the boys decorated paper sacks as the wrapping for the dirty Santa ornament game.  They loved it.

Brooklyne was lucky enough to have 2 Christmas dresses again.  Unfortunately, this was the best pictures I was able to get, and of course, it is only one of her dresses (the more "festive" one).

We worked hard putting together goody bags for our friends.  Then we went around and caroled to our Friends on Sunday.

For F.H.E. this week, we decided to have a family over for pizza and s

o good old fashion Luke 2 child skit.  I would not say it was the easiest of F.H.E.'s, give the fact that we were dealing with 10 children under 8 years of age.  Trent ended up directing the skit as well as staring as Joseph.  Tanner was the Inn keeper who turned them away, Kolby was a wise man, and Brook was the uninterested angel.  When it was all said and done, it was worth it - but boy oh boy it was  work!

We had a great Christmas Eve dinner.  Our main course was totally dillish, roasted pork loin with a raspberry sauces.  Our sides included rolls, scalloped potatoes, sweet potato casserole, pineapple nut bars, lemony bacon green beans and a green salad.  We never even touched the pecan pie because we were just too full.  It was a great dinner and I can't wait to have the left overs on Christmas day.

He's been hit on!

Yesterday at church we ended up sitting next to one of Trent's friends.  She is a total southern girl and has always been a bit smitten by Trent (well, come on, who wouldn't).  During the last song, she reached over and put her hand on Trent's hand and left it there.  Trent just FROZE.

Later, while we were out caroling and delivering goody bags, I asked Trent about it (I am just going to call her "T"):

Mom:  Trent, was T holding your hand in church today?

Trent: NOOOOO!

Mom:  Well, what was she doing then?

Trent:  I DON'T KNOWWWWW!

Mom:  Did she put her hand on  your hand and leave it there?

Trent: YESSS!

Mom:  why do you think she did that?

Trent:  I DON'T KNOW WHY SHE DID THAT, MAYBE SHE LIKES ME!

Mom:  Did you like her holding your hand?

Trent: I DON'T KNOW!

Mom:  Does she want to be your girlfriend?

Trent:  I DON'T KNOW.  MOOOOMMMMM, CAN WE TALK ABOUT SOMETHING ELSE?

Donald and I were just busting  up.  we found it just too too funny.

those beautiful eyes of his

Tonight as we were getting ready to eat, Tanner was asked to bless the food.  I was looking over at him so I could help him with what to say.  As I sat there patiently, I was thinking "golly, Tanner has such beautiful eyes and the longest lashes."  After prayer her wiped his nose with the side of his hand, a black smear appeared on his cheek.  I went to go wipe it off, and then I saw his lashes even closer.  Tanner was wearing mascara!  And even more strange he did a nearly flawless job at applying the mascara.  The only evidence he had left behind was a couple black dots of the make up on his hand, which he then transferred to his cheek.

Tis the season

It took some time to get into the feeling and spirit of the season this year.  Usually I am bursting with excitement to listen to Christmas music non stop and to put up the decorations as soon as Thanksgiving is past.  This year, I have felt 10 steps behind and am finally done decorating.  It is hard to believe that Christmas is less than 2 weeks away, I guess I need to work on my holiday baking now.

Our family Christmas tree.  The other tree in the living room is MY tree, lol.

The boys favorite ornament on the tree.

My favorite ornament on the tree.

The mantle with the stockings I made and the nativity 

glass etching my mom made.

I love my berry tree and candle holder (even if there are no candles in it

 - thanks boys for using those as swords)

Here's my snowman family - minus half a family. lol

Now for my holiday confession:  Mom, dad, Tiffany, Jolene and Katrina, I will  NOT be continuing the pigs in the blanket tradition this year.  Go ahead and disown me now.

Do you know how to burn jello?

Well, tonight I discovered that YES, YES you can burn jello.  As a matter of fact, it can even explode into an enormous mess, smell really strange, and cause billows and billows of smoke.

(this picture was taken after about half of the mess was taken care of.  

Sadly, it does not even do this event justice!)

Tonight I was preparing dinner for the missionaries.  We had a set that was visiting from our Stake (one who served in our ward last Christmas) and our current set.  I was trying to make black beans (the best ever might I add), prepare a salad, and bring the jello mixture to a rolling boil for the Blushing Pears.  Well, I guess I miscalculated how quickly the jello would boil, because before I could even blink I heard a huge amount of noise coming from the stove.  I quickly turned around to see my jello boiling over at a rapid pace.  I quickly grab my large heavy pot as I watched the red jello quickly move to my laptop computer.  So I grabbed it as fast as I could while screaming for Donald.  Moments later Don comes into the kitchen to find the sizzling jello on the burner and jello spilling over onto the floor and the rest rushing across my counter top.  We found a place for me to put the pot of jello and then I quickly inspected my computer.  There was some jello on it and on my camera card, but I was able to save it!  GO ME!  Meanwhile, the jello on the stove top was now forming into some kind of clumpy mass.  The only thing I think I could compare it to would be if you have ever made candy from scratch, and if that experience exploded, I would think it would a similar situation as to what I had today.  I tried to scrape the gooey mess off of the burner because it was smelling up the kitchen so bad.  The room was filled with smoke and we had all the doors open and the fans blowing.   After the burner was completely cooled off, Donald was able to chip away the jello mess  like you would chip away at an ice block. 

After much elbow grease and about 30 minutes of both of us working, we were able to restore things to ALMOST normal.  

Nonetheless, word to the wise would be - DON'T BURN YOUR JELLO! 

You would think, wouldn't you.

One might think that we are twins or sisters, but sadly, I am not related to my friend Kim at all.  

When I moved to Mississippi 4.5 years ago, and went to girls camp for a day, person after person came up to me to ask me if I was related to Kim.  Everyone swore up and down that she had to be my sister.  So for the first year of living here, I heard all these stories how I had a twin sister in Harrisburg Ms.  

Well, I am pleased to report that Kim is a great and wonderful person to be compared to.  If I could ever be half as amazing as she is, I would consider myself blessed beyond blessed.  Here is a picture of the two of us from our Enrichment activity this past week.  I asked Kim if she would come and speak to us on "Serving as the Savior Did".  She drove 90 miles on a Thursday night to come to our Enrichment - that just shows you what kind of person she truly is.

I never really thought we looked "SOOOO" similar until I was able to see a picture of us standing next to each other.  If you cover our eyes, it is very clear that we have the same jaw line, chin, nose, and smile.

Thanksgiving

Doesn't it always seem that there are times when you are a minute late and a dollar short?  Well that is how I feel, but that is not the point of this post.  I want to pull out a few tid bits of things I am thankful  for.  Some are more on the deeper side and some are light hearted.

I am thankful for the home I live in.  We have plenty of room and a great yard.  I love my kitchen and all the counter space.  I love knowing that I have a place to call home.

I am thankful for my husband who works hard to provide for his family.  Donald is constantly juggling many things in the air at once just to keep it all moving smoothly. I am truly grateful for his ability, talent, hard work, ingenuity, passion, drive, patience, and kind and giving heart.

I am thankful for Little Cesar's Pizza that is just down the street.  I have a confession to make: I honestly think we eat Little Cesar's once a week.  Some nights when I am too pooped to cook, or we are running around with sports and don't have time to eat at home, or nights like tonight, where Donald was doing yard work and I was taking advantage of the good weather with the kids - we can hop in the car and be at Little Cesar's in just minutes!  Sadly, one pizza and bread sticks does not do the trick anymore, it is now TWO pizzas with bread sticks.

I am thankful for the Internet.  Twelve years ago I would never have imagined that the Internet would penetrate our lives and existence so much.  From communicating with friends and family, to shopping at stores we don't have here, to checking the weather, or learning about the First Thanksgiving - the Internet is used each and every day in our home.  It allows me to accomplish so much more from the comforts of my home (especially with nap times).

I am thankful for my friends chocolate chip cookies.  For the first 30 years of my life I have not liked my own chocolate chip cookies.  They have always been flat and just kinda crumbly.  My friend gave me the simplest recipe that makes the best melt in your mouth chocolate chip cookies and I can't seem to stop making them.  I seriously crave them every week.

I am thankful for my children.  Sometimes I take for granted how easy it has been for me to be a mom.  I did not have to suffer long months of infertility, or go thru extremely difficult pregnancies.  I have been blessed with having 4 great kids.  Each and every one of them is amazing, and special, and such a gift.  I know I need to focus more on that, and less on my own short comings as well as theirs.

I am thankful for my space heater.  We have a space heater that is just fantastic and we use it in our family room down stairs.  When I am really cold and my toes feel like ice, I grab a blanket and snuggle right up to it.  It does not take long to feel toasty cozzy and that is just so relaxing.

I am thankful for our blower.  Who ever invented the leaf blower was brilliant!  We have so many trees on our property and with it comes millions of leaves.  We use the blower for everything, blowing out the gutters, blowing out the garage or work shop, and of course blowing off our yard.  

I am thankful for the gospel, Jesus Christ, and my Heavenly Father.  My words can not even express my gratitude for the blessing the gospel brings to my life.  I don't even fully understand the Lord's mercy, yet I am overwhelmed with such a deep gratitude for it.  I am so privileged that I was raised in a home where the gospel was taught and lived by.  My parents were valiant examples of fallowing our Heavenly Father.

I think I will stop now.  All sorts of things keep flooding into my mind and if I don't stop now, this will be the longest post in the history of blogger.    Bottom life, there is so much to be thankful for that there is always a reason to be smiling.