Packing peanut fun

I got a package in the mail the other say. It was HUGE! Once it was open it was mostly packing peanuts. The kids had a great time throwing them around and making a huge mess. We cleaned it up but we didn't throw them away. Today they wanted to play in them again. I wasn't in the mood to clean that up again so I had a great idea! We could make pictures out of the messy little things. I got out some paper and had all of the kids sit down. I quickly glued on a Christmas tree. Xander said that it didn't look like a Christmas tree, it looked like a crazy thing.

Ah, well, I have never been artistic. I got over it. The kids then set about putting my art to shame.

This all took a lot more work than I had anticipated. An art project with two two year olds and a four year old would have been hard enough. It was the two one year olds that made it more interesting with their interest in the project. That picture is at the top. I am not very good at technology and I can't make the picture go where I want it. Anyhow, the kids showed me up with their pictures. It took a long time and a lot of glue but I think they are all happy. Next we made a Christmas chain. It was pink and green because that was what we had. I thought everyone would be impressed. No. Xander could make a better one by himself. So he did.

His is better because it only has one pink link. I'm not sure how one even got on there.

It is also better because it only has 9 links so Christmas will come faster. I was impressed that he did it all by himself. He even used the scissors for the first time, at least the first time he was allowed to. It wasn't easy being left handed, but he managed. When everyone was finished they needed pictures. Xander loves to take pictures so he wanted to take one of me. I held my picture and got sparkle glue all over my pants. It's okay though because I have another pair that fits. Now that we have Christmas out of the way we can do a Thanksgiving craft. We celebrate holidays in whatever order makes us happy at our house.

Brotherly Love

When we left my Mom's house the other day Brevan wanted to prove that he is indeed a two year old. He screamed at the top of his lungs, "I want to go to Grandma's house!" He kept screaming that until we got on the freeway. After that he just screamed a high pitch, earsplitting scream. I kept telling him to stop but that only made him kick my chair. Isabelle started to cry and I thought my head might burst. For the first time ever I pulled the, "Do you want me to stop the car and make you walk home?" Well, it seems that is exactly what he wanted. Now the screaming was "Stop the car and I walk!"

Sometimes I am a calm person. I tried but failed. At the exit we stopped for the light and I turned to him and said, "Fine get out!" he said, "Okay." He tried to get out. Then I told him, "Don't you unbuckle that seat belt!" Well, suddenly a loud sobbing came from the back seat. Xander was very upset and cried, "Brevan is little and he doesn't know how to get home. There are lots of cars and I would miss him!" I told him I would never make Brevan walk and then I started to cry.

Lots of crying went on for the rest of the ride. Crying and still the screams of, "Let me walk!" When we got home home I gave Xander a hug and he cried more and said, "I love Brevan and I would miss him! Don't you ever say that to anyone again." I told him I wouldn't and then I kept randomly crying the rest of the day. Why was I crying? Three reasons.

1. I scared Xander and I felt bad.

2. I'm pregnant

3. MY KIDS LOVE EACH OTHER!

Ladybug birthday bash

This year we decided to have a cousin birthday party. Rylee, Ellie, and Isabelle were all born with in a couple of weeks of each other so we thought it would be fun...

Well, maybe the fun will come next year. Happy birthday babies!

The horrible thing in the kitchen

When we first moved into our house there were millions of things that needed to be changed or replaced. Millions is probably an exaggeration, but not by much. There were two things that stood out to me as the most horrible and I thought they should be first on the list of things to go. The first were the huge ugly trees growing out of the middle of the wall and over the roof, and the second was the hideously ugly oven. When I started to use the oven it became more apparent that the monstrosity had to go. If a cake said to bake for 35 minutes, in this oven it was burned on the bottom in 15. Even if it wasn't defective the thing is so ugly!

Fast forward to four years later and our house looks completely different. We redid most of the inside and outside, spending countless hours and money on home repairs. Oddly enough the only things managing to survive our renovation were the grotesque trees and the oven!

Our siding started bulging this year and so we had Sears fix it. It was crazy expensive but didn't come without benefits. They gave us a gift card and so we finally were able to get rid of the avocado nightmare and replace it with this.
Not only does it cook according to the instructions on recipes, it also has a clear window and a light!
Now we can have evenly cooked food and entertainment too! Who doesn't want to sit in front of their oven and watch their food cook? Now we can get rid of the television!
It also came in a way awesome box so now when our eyes get tired from sitting in front of the oven we have a fort to play in. This has just been a winning experience for the entire family.
Maybe someday the trees will go as well...

The mystery of the missing braid

I found Isabelle's doll and it was missing a braid. I asked Xander and Brevan if the knew what happened to it. Xander got upset and said "We need to solve a mystery! The doll is the first clue!" We spent the next hour trying to solve the "mystery".

Clue #1

Clue #2

Xander quickly found a squashed spider on the wall and ran to get his para scope. He seemed to think the dead spider was in some way related to the doll's braid. "This is clue #2!" In reality the spider was ran over by a small Lightning McQueen with a little help from me. The third clue was that the left button on the mouse wasn't working.

We finally found the braid in the toy box. Xander said that this was a super big problem. Xander came up with a theory.

A monster that doesn't like to bug people must have come in and chewed it off.

I myself think it was a case of jealousy.

4th of July morning

Ants are fascinating things.

Beautiful Anna

Erin, Xander, and Jim

Brevan

West Point parade

4th of July evening

I can't seem to put more than 5 pictures at a time on here so the 4th will have to be two posts. I know it can be done from looking at other people's blogs but I haven't figured it out yet.

Lincoln and Brevan

Isabelle

Rylee, Lincoln, Xander, Belle, Jordan, Aaron, Ellie, Katie, Taya, Brevan. I love typing in all of the grandchildren's names. Spell check really doesn't like them.

Rylee, Belle, Ellie

Isabelle

Chickens in the trees

Growing up I had a few requirements for the man I was going to marry. He had to be tall, have a fancy car, and a farm. Out of those three requirements Tom meets one. He is tall. This ended up being fine because people change as they grow up. The things I wanted as a ten year old were not the same things I wanted as a twenty year old. As the years went by I realized I didn't need a fancy car. I do have an awesome minivan so I can't complain. I also grew to hate animals the older I got. I also grew a deep passionate anger for the owners of animals who think everyone wants their nasty animal to jump on them. I told Tom when we got married that we were NEVER having any animals. A few months ago my brothers all started talking about how they were getting chickens. I'm not really sure what happened, but somehow we ended up getting nine chickens. My brothers did not.

This is Gretchen, Buttercup, and Sunshine when they were new.

Tom and Brevan holding Sunshine.
Xander and Amelia
Amelia, Buttercup, Emily, and Grace
Gretchen and Cicil

So we have chickens. Us. The amazing thing is, we totally love them! They have been so much fun! Xander and Brevan chase them around the backyard and Isabelle loves to watch them. They are so fun in fact, now I want a bunny, a goat, and a sheep. They probably won't fit in our yard and the neighbors might complain. I almost bought a bunny today but I controlled myself. I think I am going to buy a farm when I have my midlife crisis.

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day! I have always felt lucky because I have a totally awesome dad. When people would complain about their parents in high school I always felt so blessed to have such great people as parents. I feel like I was raised by two different dads. There was the dad that could do back flips and run really fast, and then there was the dad that could limp with style. Lucky for me they were both pretty funny. When I was little I wanted to write a book about our family and have my dad draw the pictures. He was very encouraging I thought he could draw better than anyone. The book might have been a success, but one chapter into it I realized I was pretty much copying Little House on the Prairie, and that really wasn't my family. I used to worry that I would never find anyone as cool as my dad when I got married...but I did!
Tom is a wonderful dad. He is calm when I feel crazy and the kids have a great time with him. I worry sometimes when they have "crazy time" but so far nothing has gotten broken. All three of our children's first words have been "dad," no matter how hard I try to lead them in other paths. When Tom cooks he always lets Xander and Brevan help him even though it takes a lot longer that way. Whatever project he is doing around the house he has little people trying to help out. It is only a matter of time before Isabelle joins in. He has also changed more diapers in four years than most men probably change in a life time. I don't know how I got so lucky! I think he gets it from his dad. Tom's dad is a wonderful dad who is very considerate of his wife and takes time out for his children. I am grateful to him for being a great example to Tom and for teaching him to be who he is today.
Happy Father's Day to all of the wonderful dads out there. We couldn't make it without you.

I have finally decide that we need a blog. I decided this for a couple of reasons. One is the fact that I have become terrible at keep a journal. I figure if I can't keep up a journal at least I can print off the blog and I will have something. That is the plan at least. It may just become another thing that I cannot keep up. The other reason would have to be that I think I deserve one. If everyone else has one why can't I? If everyone else jumped off a cliff would I? Interesting question. I'm really not sure. If everyone else was gone would I want to be the only person left?

The reason I started this today was because of our roofing project. I am stuck in the house with the kids and my sister Katie Anne and it is getting boring. Isabelle is asleep and the boys are playing with Katie Anne. When Tom told me he was taking Thursday and Friday off to do the roof I thought it would be great because there was no way it would take two days to take shingles off the roof. WRONG! Apparently the people who inhabited this house before us thought that removing old shingles was a waste of time and so there are SEVEN layers on our house. Tom and my brothers have been at it forever. It smells pretty bad. Hopefully the new roof will get rid of the old moldy smell we seem to get in the summer. Our new siding looks fabulous but probably should have been done after the roof. I am trying to ignore the marks that the falling shingles are leaving.

By the time we finish with all of these little projects it will almost be like we built a whole new house. There is very little we have not done to it. I give credit to Will Smith, no not that one, for giving us this opportunity to learn new skills and work on our patience. He put a lot of effort into making our house what it was when we got it. After all of his hard work I feel a little built guilty destroying it all. He must have put years into all of the projects that we paid the dumpster people to take away. It is nice to finally say that there are no more naked mermaids, scary decks, rotting walls, barred windows, evil paneling, crazy wiring, leaky windows filled with years of tissue, and many other creative fixes that cause contractors to laugh uncontrollably. I feel tired just thinking of all the hard work Tom does around here!