The last of our pictures in California

Our favorite ride...we actually purchased a different picture but you have to come over to see it. Jeff is....well...being Jeff and I can't post it here. So come over and I'll give you a warm cup of hot chocolate and you'll see why.

Our second favorite ride...

(we love to fake Emily out every time we are on an elevator now which is going to result in some adulthood therapy I'm sure.)

You know, it was so crowded and I loathe people blocking the pathway to take pictures that you can pull from the internet and with a little photoshopping you can recreate your memories. Thats why I didn't take many. Too bad I don't have photoshop. Well, here they are in front of the rodent we all think is magical.

Back at the Marriott this was our lovely view.
sigh...it hurts to look at it because I need me some sun right now.

and thanks to Grandma we had a great Thanksgiving day craft.

So thats it folks.

In other news...My Christmas tree is dead and crumbling.

Garretts Birthday is coming up next week.

We are proving Christmas for a little 8 year old and all he asked for on his wish list is:

"a shirt, pants, and underwears"

so that means mama heartstrings have been pulled resulting in me wanting to foot the bill for everything including his Harvard education. Jeff is making me tone it down though.

ahhhh...the beach

Since I'm watching the snow fall and freezing my jibblets I decided to post about Sunny California. Our trip was fantastic. Jeff and the kids came home with tan lines (not so much for me, I had 3 books to read. Now do you see why I'm not the fun parent?)

So here we are at Newport Beach. Its on Emily and Gilly's top places to go. I happen to love it too because I get a huge kick out of them finding creatures and begging me to let them keep them. Some things include:

three dead lobsters

numerous hermit crabs

sea cucumbers

sea anemones

sea snails

tons of seashells

(its a state park so you can't take anything out which is why we sneak them in our pockets)

Abby here wouldn't touch anything at first. She didn't want to get her feet wet..

That apple didn't fall far from the tree

I finally convinced her that its okay to get her feet wet and explore

but she still wouldn't touch the dead lobster.

This was probably the coolest thing I've seen so far...Its a sea anemone eating a lobster tail.

Also notice the little hermit crabs. I love tide pools.

And here is Emily holding up some of her goods.

She actually found a midsize conch shell.

She named it chonchy and takes it everywhere she goes.

ahhhh well, I guess I'll go shovel some snow now.

sigh

My Man

I don't talk about Jeff as much as I should on here. I guess the reason why is I can't find the words to translate his humor. To me he is everything. To my kids he is everything. Without sounding sappy I hope I die first because I get a rash thinking about not having him.

Look at Gil checking him out, trying to mimic every move. I have never seen anger or rage in him and that reason alone is enough for me. There is always a laugh to be had, even in the smallest events. Even when he isn't home I'll be cracking up as I watch something on TV because I know what his response would be.

and the strangest thing to me...he wakes up happy. Every. Day.
Can't say the same for me!

Yeah, i guess you could say...He is the favorite.

Conversations with Emily

Me: Em, lets talk about Christmas...what kind of things would you like this year?

Em: oh (short pause)...An American Quarter Horse.

Me: Same as last year Em, we can't get a horse right now...what are some other things?

Em: Well, I've been thinking mom, all I want is an old halter from Blitzen. You know, just an old one that maybe he isn't using right now.

Me: Thats all? Isn't there something that maybe they sell at Target?

Em: No, that pretty much is it.

So part of me is loving the simplicity of this child and the other part of me is wondering where she come up with these things....

oh, and another part of me is wondering how Santa will fulfill this wish.

Random

From time to time I like to go through my pictures and post random pictures that I haven't introduced to the blog. Here are a few.... Emily's goat bones. Out on the Farm of Death we have had a few (ha ha...I wish it were only a few) deaths. Two of the more recent ones were Bert and Ernie..the baby goats. I have no idea or desire to find out why they died. Also on the FoD they have a very full farm cemetary...well...I wouldn't go so far as to call it a cemetery, thats quite a stretch. Lets rephrase. Also on the Fod they have an old irrigation ditch where they throw the dead carcasses where they are up for any wild animal or disease to claim. This is where we let the kids play.

(as you can tell, I don't go there much which is why the kids are playing with carcasses.)

This is where Emily found an intact spinal column to bring home and take for show and tell.

It stays outside.

Garrett and his friend Moyes.

Garrett playing soccer. His team is the Cobras. He also thinks he's a pro.
This is what happens when Garrett finds a sharpie.

Now do you see why I sometimes have a nervous tick?

And lastly, also leastly...my broken finger. Which has mostly healed.

I got this when I swatted a fly on the ground. I missed, hit the hard tile, broke a finger, and think I heard a little buzzy laugh all at the same time.

Emily Claire Jones + Swine Flu = Crazy Mother

So a few weeks ago Emily came down with the Swine Flu. It was one week of misery for her and myself. I hate when my kids get sick, I mean who doesn't? So we set up camp in my room and she pretty much watched Animal Planet and Discovery Kids for 7 days. Let me tell you that by day 7 I'd had enough of that damn Croc Hunter.This picture above is of her bed head that just happened to be positioned like horns. This kid gets the worst bed head. This picture needs a little history. I have to have my bed made each day. Its the only OCD trait that I have. Even on days when I'm sick I get out of bed, make it, then get back in. There is just something about an unmade bed that I can't take, its like a nervous tick takes over when its not done. Unfortunately I couldn't get Em out of bed long enough to make it so I just had to make it with her in. Maybe a little cruel because her temperature was hot enough to fry her brain but at least I wasn't walking around with a tick.
Finally, her temperature is stable enough that I'm comfortable with her sleeping in her own bed. I love that she drifted off in the middle of reading.


Sidenote: Even though she was sick she insisted on entering the art contest at school. Can you guess what she drew?
A Black Fresian horse....
the surprise is that she won a trophy and gets to compete at the next level. Way to go Em! I will admit....she practices her horse drawings quite a bit.

Halloween

Yeah, I know I'm a little late

I have a killer sinus infection and the world seems a little dizzy

but here are my kids decked out in their Halloweenie garb...

The moustaches didn't stay long but at least I got a picture....

on a side note....we leave for Disneyland in 9 days. This morning I told Garrett that and he went and packed his own bag...complete with Hawaiian outfit...perhaps you don't remember that....

Does this help?

Dinner

On the menu tonight was Chicken Pot Pie. Its a great recipe made with homemade pie crust, cream of potato soup, special spices, and chicken.

Not my childrens favorite meal.

Here are the responses...

Gilly: The only pie I like is pumpkin.

Abby: Well, its better than nothing.

Emily: Mom, thanks for making us dinner, this is fantastic! (she didn't take even one bite but remains close to my heart tonight)

Gilly: Mom, I still love you.

needless to say this will be stricken from our familys favorite meals cook book.

Raking for hire

I am proud of my kids. Today Emily's friend Sadie came for a surprise visit from Idaho. After a joy filled 30 minutes they decided that they were bored and came to me asking what to do. I responded by telling them to go rake leaves (I was somewhat joking). They leave the house.

They come back in and ask if they can charge a dollar to do it. I say yes and the next thing I know they are going door to door asking all the neighbors if they need help.

I am glad that they aren't just plunking down if front of the TV.

I am glad that they are learning how to market themselves.

I am glad that they are raising their own money.

And lastly, I am glad that I don't have to rake.

I hate raking.

Now, off to the dollar store because its burning a hole in their pocket....

No words...

I really don't have much to say on this besides what in the hell am I doing living in a neighborhood with rats? there is a good explanation....we have a huge field behind our backyard but still....

I am quite freaked out

and to add insult to injury this is not the first one we have caught

Maggie just wants a pig in a blanket treat

and Emily? She takes after her dad.

even though she looks just like me I'm not claiming her if she continues to find interest in this

**special note: This was not found inside my house. it was outside, Thankyouverymuch.

Compost and Hoarders

This evening I told Garrett that he couldn't play tomorrow until his room was picked up. Good kid that he is, he went directly to his room and cleaned it. This kid is great at cleaning rooms. After about 10 minutes he comes out with his blanket and says "time to throw pinky stinky away" and proceeds to throw it in the garbage. I am in shock. It took me a good 2 years to get Abby off her bottle, Em still has Sess (her baby blanket), and it was close to impossible to get her to part with her binkey with the boat on it.

Abby hears me praise him for making such a great choice and runs up the stairs to see what is in the garbage, then runs in her room to get Emily.

"Mom, how can he just throw that away?"

"Can we keep a piece of it?"

Uh, whatever...

These two have a hard time throwing away their Happy Meal boxes.

So the night continues...the girls reading in their bed and Garrett getting read to.

Time for prayers...

We go in the girls room and Emily has these huge tears running down her face.

"Dad, I feel bad for pinky stinky. I have a little part and Abby has a little part but I feel bad that nobody wants the big part. Isn't that wasteful, shouldn't we put it in the recycle bin? I think we should use it as compost"

Jeff: "Thats a...well...its a great idea Em, we'll use it for compost."

Abby: "Lets give it to the homeless shelter!"

Me: "Weeellll, we can't give it to the homeless shelter because it doesn't operate as a blanket anymore...you know...all those holes, I'll go pull it out of the garbage and put it in the compost pile."

sound of crickets chirping

Em: "Umm, Mom? We don't have a compost pile but we could start one."

So the blanket is going to the compost pile...the one they have at the Layton Dump.

I have a problem...

I'm posting this hoping that I'll get some feedback since I don't know if I need to call the psychiatrist or not. Before I start I do know that I have two other children that generally don't get posted about because they are a mothers dream come true. Abby is working hard keeping up with the sixth graders in her split 5th/6th class and I can actually see how strong and smart she is. She has also started cantering in her horse lessons, something she said she'd never do. In fact she wanted to quit lessons after the first time she cantered at the beginning of summer but the Horse Whisperer (Cathy her teacher) pushed and pushed and now she is super beautiful when the horse is cantering with her long legs and its fun to see her self confidence grow.

Emily is also dreamy...she is doing great in school and making new friends since her best friend moved to Lava Hot Springs. She is also thriving in her horse lessons (how could she not) and her love for nature astounds me. The other day I found a larva like maggotish looking bug crawling on the counter and it wigged me out. She calmly walked up to me and said it was just a grub she found as school and it must have gotten out of its cup. Its cup? yes, she puts all her creatures in the kiddie cups (don't drink out of my kiddie cups unless you've looked in it first). So as you can see my children are filling me with joy...wait...oh, the purpose of this post.....

Garrett.

What to do with this one?

His life is one lie after another.

Each day there is a new one...

"Today we flew to Texas during class and a kid kicked me in the eye on the airplane"

"I rode a bull, his horns were as long as my arm, while I was in Texas" (this to his primary teacher)

"I scored 16 goals at my soccer game"

"I can do a flip on my bike"

"I fell and broke my leg and had to spend the day in the office"

"There was a kid that pooped his pants and his mom had to come get him"

"There is a girl in my class and her mom made her walk to Texas"

"Every Friday my teacher is taking us to Texas"

"My teacher said we could eat school lunch today and we had pizza"

"My best friend doesn't like his mom so he bought a new one"

These are just a few I can remember off the top of my head. Yes, I have checked out all the ones that needed to be checked out and they are all untrue.

Is this just a boy thing or do I need to have a talk with him?

I don't want to curb his imagination but I also don't want a compulsive liar on my hands. I can only imagine what he's told his teacher (who he has a slight crush on, she is from Texas).

Jeff and I lay in bed at night and laugh but should we be more serious about this? I think about the best story teller I know (Jeff) and I am inclined to let him develop his story telling abilities and go with it.

I am a little bit worried though.

Its a beautiful day to....paint the deck?

Garretts latest....

This morning he hauled all my acrylic paints upstairs INTENT on painting his baby pumpkin. I asked him if we could wait until a later time in the day because I want my house somewhat picked up before I start any projects. He didn't like that.

Silly me because after I used my mean voice I thought it was over.

Wrong.

While I was in showering he climbed up the counter, took the blue, gray, and white paint, mixed it all up, and used a paper towel to paint the deck.

I know it might not look like much but its enough. Trust me.


So I called Jeff
Me: Oh you'll never believe what Gilly just did!
Jeff: sigh, I can only imagine.
Me: HE PAINTED THE DECK! You know, the deck that I stained last year? With paint? I mean, honey, this is not coming off.
Jeff: Did you ground him and put him in his room?
Me: uh, no. We are going to Fat Cats.


Where he proceeded to hit the jackpot and win like 3000 tickets. It was so adorable because he thought he broke the machine and he started giving out tickets to the crowd gathered around him.
So here I sit..mad but not mad.
I mean, he is pretty cute and he said the only reason he did it was because he thought I'd like it.
I guess he'll be sanding and staining tomorrow...(this from Jeff, the meanie)
I'm a sucker.

Gilly boy

This is what was roaming the neighborhood the other night. Can you imagine him at 16?

oy vey.

Lotoja

You know how I am organizationally challenged?

Well, I'll give you one guess as to who forgot to bring the camera to LOTOJA.

Thankfully my great friend Elise remembered hers and so pictures will follow soon....

So, Jeff did fantastic. Their team took 11th place. I had the best time ever, and I'm not just saying that. We had fun.

There is something about hanging out with people that compliment your personality.

Although I probably need to apologise to everyone in the car for telling dirty jokes.

I can't help it.