Johansen Family

One Year Without Alex

2012-01-15T23:04:00.000-08:00

It has been one year since we lost Alex. By far the worst day of my life. I have been dreading this day and anticipating it all the same. It is as if we could make it to this day then we could make it through the next 10 or 50 years without him. Believe me, I know there have been those days when that was a bit of a question. In the beginning, we all felt his loss so physically. The pain transcended emotional and made me physically hurt. My heart still hurts, but the physical anguish is gone most of the time. But wow do I miss him. Almost in silly ways and at silly times. Every few days, I get my David Yurman junk emails and I think of him. I actually open the emails and look at the latest jewelry they are marketing and wonder what Alex would of thought. I hear his voice whenever a football game is on. Voice is an understatement, exuberant hollering is more accurate. Every time my kids fight, I think of Alex and I our entire childhood and try to remind myself that they will get along one day and will be the best of friends. I see Danielle and thank God that Alex had a great love in his life. I see Lexi and Austin, and I see Alex. What a wonderful gift he left behind in the form of two amazing kids, who I am lucky enough to be their only aunt.

One year has past and has been filled with lots of firsts without Alex physically here, but his life left such a mark that it sometimes seemed like he was there. Danielle made sure I felt him on my birthday and his enthusiasm was felt at every holiday. Nobody did Christmas like Alex and our Christmas would not have disappointed him. My kids still love to talk about him and Anders lights up when a picture of him pops up. Alex will forever be apart of daily conversations. Just yesterday, Brian talked about how warm my brother was and how always being greeted with a hug took some getting used to. Alex was a hugger and I am thankful for each and every one.

2011-12-07T20:36:00.001-08:00

Meeting Santa 2011

Myann is 5!

2011-12-03T22:03:00.000-08:00

My first baby girl is 5 today. She has been looking forward to 5 since she turned 4. And today all she has talked about is when she will be 6. She is in a race to catch up to Shane. Shane is in no hurry to age and Myann just wants so badly to be the same as Shane in everything.

For her party theme, she wanted Pacman Party. Sadly, I could find no such theme for plates, napkins etc., and despite her request that I create it all myself, we went through the catalog and she settled on pirates. So I bought all things pirate. Then when I asked her what she wanted on her pirate cake, she said she did not want a pirate cake. She wanted Spiderman. After futile attempts to change her mind, I ordered a Spiderman and Batman cake. So it was a pirate/superhero party. So typical of Myann. Her Popi and Grammy got her a penguin shirt with one penguin separate than the group of penguins. That's my girl, she goes her own way and does her own thing, except when it comes to Shane - again she wants everything exactly as Shane has it.

We have really been working with Myann to get her to make decisions based on what she likes and not what she thinks Shane will like. It gives her some pause, but she still often defers to Shane's interests. Now fashion is all her own. She went through her mismatched sock stage. Now she is into crazy winter hats. She likes to layer her clothing, and I mean 3 to 4 layers. As if I do not have enough laundry to do. She refuses to wear dresses except for very special occasions and we usually have to bribe her.

Myann as she turns 5 has changed so much in this past year. She looks different, she has grown a lot, and her disposition has changed for the better. She is not as quick to tantrum like she once was and she is learning a little more self control. She still likes to antagonize her brothers, but she is learning consequences. She was about to say something negative about her daddy as he was doing something for her, but not to her satisfaction. She started by saying to me, "Why is daddy so [long pause].... helpful?" She smiled midpause as if she got that saying something negative was only going to make her situation worse. Brian and I had a good laugh as we both knew what she originally meant to say.

Myann has loved soccer this year and is eager to try basketball, as soon as I am ready to tackle more activities. She favors her left side in sports, but is writing right handed. She is proving to be quite athletic and coordinated in sports, even though she is the only person I know to get a black eye by hopping off the toilet so fast that she hit the bathroom counter corner. If there is a way to injure yourself in a padded room, Myann will figure it out. That said, she has a mean throw and can dribble a basketball impressively. She is doing great with her writing and still loves her art. She is the best big sister and loves Laila. As much as Myann does not like baby dolls, she loves holding Laila and helping me with her whenever she can. Myann is still very lovable and does not pass up a time to snuggle. She still "picks her people". No matter where we go, at every occasion or event, Myann finds the person that she will cling to for the evening. It used to be only men, but now she chooses women on occasion too. On our Thanksgiving trip, it was Uncle Shane and his girl friend Paige. Poor Paige did not know what she was in store for that week.

Myann still says things beyond her years. She says she does not want babies because "She does not want to push one out of her tenders or be cut open." She said she will keep her baby making parts though, because they do other things. This came from our conversation when she said she did not want baby making parts and wanted them taken out like all her grandmothers. I explained to her that they had them taken out for different reasons and she still needed her baby making parts for a long time. She agreed, but insists no babies. I really hope she changes her mind.

My sweet girl, it has been a bumpy road at times, but you are still our amazing little girl who keeps us on our toes. You are so lovable, smart, and witty. You knew how to make the world revolve around you before you were born, when you demanded 4 weeks of my undivided attention in the hospital. You still insist on your own time with Daddy and I. We love you and look forward to this next year.

Recent Shane funnies said to his dad

2011-10-20T13:19:00.000-07:00

After arguing and complaining he did not want to go to his last cross-country meet. We explained to him the importance of finishing a commitment and eventually he agreed to go. When walking in the door his Dad told him he was very proud of him for finishing his commitment. Shane's immediate response, "It wasn't my commitment it was mom's, I didn't want to do cross-country in the first place and mom made me. I would have quit if you would have let me." Fair enough, valid point.

Driving to practice the week following a practice in which Shane refused to participate because he forgot his ball. Shane was talking up how good their team is and how they will never lose. Dad explains to Shane that winning is great, but the most important thing is always trying your best. Shane, "I thought the most important thing is your relationship with God." Yet again, technically correct.

2011-10-16T12:19:00.000-07:00

Laila's Baptism

Laila was baptized today at our church, Redeemer Lutheran. Pastor Matt did the baptism in the small chapel of our church. She was quite interested in what was going on and awake for the whole thing. Aunt Danielle will be her Godmother, and as Shane puts it, "Laila has a real Godfather, now that Uncle Alex is in heaven." Uncle Alex will be her Godfather from heaven.

Pastor Matt gave Brian a candle to light every year on the anniversary of her baptism. We have not had this with the others, but I think we may do this with all the kids now. What a great yearly reminder of their relationship with Christ.

Shane blowing out the candle.

Our friends and family at the baptism. Thankfully Uncle Shane and Aunt Sunny could be here, as well as our Spokane family, the Prizemans and Kipps.

Still here

2011-10-10T00:11:00.000-07:00

We are still here, I promise. Since I know family wants to see recent pictures, I promise they are coming. Frankly, I have a to do list that grows daily and I am triaging the things that HAVE to be done and postponing the things I would like to get done, like blogging. Now, I should be sleeping, but since I am not super tired, a good minute to catch up.

The kids did this with our sitter Sierra and I love it. I think I will make stickers out of it.

Birth announcements are coming. I should actually be addressing those instead of blogging. Today was one of those days were I thought I would get so much done and in the end accomplished nothing, well nothing in addition to the normal Sunday of church, cooking dinner, laundry, and normal clean up. I have got to figure out how to do things in 5 minute spurts, because the days of having an entire hour to accomplish an entire task have disappeared.

However, hoping to catch up on blogging because so much has happened lately.

School Day and New Beds Day 2

2011-09-07T23:22:00.000-07:00

On our way home from school today, Shane was telling me about his day and what he did and ate. He was excited that he has music class this year. Then he says, "Did you know I get to go to science class?" Me: "Yes, pretty cool." Shane: "This is a great time in my life. I get to learn science." I filled with pride. Shane does have some of my DNA!

As for beds, Anders discovered tonight that he does not have to stay in bed. So I have been chasing him back to bed for an hour. I knew it would happen, the honeymoon is over. My sweet, wonderful, well-rested Anders is likely going to be replaced with a cranky sleep-deprived kid. Why can't kids stay in cribs until high school when all they want to do is sleep? Myann was my sweet girl until she moved out of the crib and did not get as much sleep.

Big Big Day in our household

2011-09-06T22:28:00.001-07:00

Shane's 1st day of school - Shane is in the 1st/2nd combo class, so I am curious to see how he does with the older kids. Drop off was insane, so Brian had to drop Shane and I off and stay in the car with the other 3 kids. So no pictures at school. I took this picture when we got home.

Laila slept through the night!!! 7 1/2 hours and it was awesome. I know it was a fluke, but I will take it. Laila is not plumping up like I expected because she eats all the time, but she seems to be getting really long.

Then, at 9 am, the furniture place called to say they were delivering Myann's bed at 1 pm. So much for notice, but we were not complaining because we wanted the bed sooner than later. So Brian and I frantically went into gear trying to get 3 bedrooms switched up. Emptying out the baby room to make room for Myann's enormous bed. Moving baby furniture into the playroom and moving Myann's stuff into her room. Then changing out the bedding on the respective beds. It was exhausting. We were prepared for the worst, being kids miserable in their new sleeping arrangements and Anders getting out of bed. By a miracle, they were all super excited, but then quickly fell asleep. Hallelujah!!! The irony of it all was that Shane loved Myann's bed and was pretty jealous because it is like a fort. Anders insisted he was still sleeping in the crib in the playroom. (Have I ever mentioned that Anders has NEVER tried to climb out of the crib.) He did not care that we moved his bed and insisted on sleeping in it until Shane convinced him to sleep with him. Shane even found his old sports bedding to put on the bed for Anders and helped him to move all his "babies", stuffed animals, into his bed. Finally Anders was convinced and readily climbed into the bottom bunk. It even inspired him because he got up on his own and ran to the bathroom to pee. Woohoo!!

Where's Waldo - Myann style


Eventually a bed will go here


Cubby for her animals


Brothers in their bunkbed

Annual Labor Day Trip to Silverwood

2011-09-04T23:54:00.000-07:00

Every year we have been going to Silverwood on Labor Day weekend. Last year it was chilly and we all wore fleece coats. This year it was one of the hottest days, where the water rides were actually appealing. Since Grandpa Jo, Grandma Anne, and Jennifer and Logan were in town, we had a really large group. Lots of fun as always.


Anders on the planes


Connor, James, and Shane on the log ride - they loved it.


Todd rocks and took Anders on this and other rides since I was strapped to a baby most of the day.

Gpa Jo, Myann, Jennifer, and Logan

Bumper Boat war

Jennifer lost the war

Sandra got some baby time and I got a break so I could do a ride.

Logan and Myann

The kid gang

4 of the boys

Anders was messy and his future wife felt the need to clean him - she did this on her own.


Anders does not even seem to notice Bree cleaning him

He paused from eating to let her clean his mouth. We were all laughing pretty hard at this cleaning episode.

Baby Addiction

2011-08-24T22:14:00.000-07:00

My name is Kari and I am addicted to babies and pregnancy for that matter. It has been a little over 3 weeks, I already miss pregnancy, and already find myself sad that Laila has passed that true newborn stage and has already progressed into an alert infant. I hold Laila A LOT, to the point that I am not getting much else done. I feel that if I hold her enough, maybe I can freeze time, at least in my mind. I was holding her the other night when Brian saw me staring at her with that longing gaze and said, "Thank goodness you had your tubes tied, because I can already tell you want more babies." And he was right. I do, I did. But, it is done and we are moving on from the baby having stage to the kid raising stage. I have accepted that and know it is right for our family. So in the meantime, I will hold Laila as much as I can, gaze at her and try to remember everything about her babyness, and love every second of this stage. So if you come to my house and it is a disaster, you have been warned, I am holding a baby instead of doing household chores.

Laila's Newborn Photos

2011-08-21T18:08:00.000-07:00

Check out Laila's newborn photos. I am late in posting, so you may only have a couple days to view before the slideshow gets pulled.
http://www.jaideanbakerphotography.com/Slideshows/Laila

What Laila's siblings think of her?

2011-08-09T22:17:00.000-07:00

We keep getting asked about how the other three are adjusting to Laila. The short version is that they LOVE her. No jealousy at all so far. All three are absolutely in love with her and have not said one negative word or acted out in any way. Anders is insistent on his mommy time and is great about asking for it, but he was like that before, so no real change there. Sadly I can not give him all the time he asks for, but I give him as much as I can and sometimes Laila is in tow. He does not mind if she is along for the ride, as long as I go, this includes the bathroom. And if you are not convinced, watch this video.

Aug 5th and 6th

2011-08-06T22:18:00.000-07:00


Getting ready for the movie


Laila's first sponge bath - she was not so happy, but found a thumb to soothe her


Great babysitter in the making


Austin, the proud cousin


2nd breakfast out - Chaps with the family


Anders picked this shirt out and had to wear it, even in professional photos. The Aggies could really use a player like him.

Beautiful girl, sleeping so nicely.

Photos from the past few days: We ate breakfast at Chaps before my Aunt Kathi and Uncle Mark had to fly home. Then we went furniture shopping, Myann needs a new bed. Dinner out with Laila, but no other kids. Grandma volunteered to stay home so the rest of us could go out. The kids did popcorn and movie night. Laila had her first sponge bath to get ready for her photo shoot the next day. Saturday morning we did photos with Jaidean. The kids were less than cooperative, but that is how it goes at this age. Laila cooperated for most of it, so I am hopeful that we will have some good shots to choose from. Saturday afternoon, Papa, Aunt Dani, and Lexi and Austin had to go home. It was hard to see them go, but we will see them again in a couple of months.

Hospital time and going home

2011-08-01T22:41:00.000-07:00

Everyone always says to stay in the hospital and enjoy the down time, but I have never followed that advice. I want out as soon as they let me. As great as my nurses always are, their job is to constantly check on the baby and I, which translates into no sleep and constant interruptions. So Monday morning, my most wonderful doctor said I could go home. So home I went. I left in a new record for me, 40 hours from my c-section. I was extra motivated to get home to all my family visiting. An added bonus is that I seem to be a fast healer, and I was feeling great and ready to go home with no more medication than ibuprofen.

The BEST OB/Gyn on the planet - I love Dr. Smetana!


Getting ready to go home


Mommy and Laila getting ready to go


Daddy and Laila going home

Meeting Laila

2011-07-31T23:02:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning everyone came to meet Laila. The room was crazy, but the kids were so excited to meet her.

Laila Irene Johansen's Birthday

2011-07-30T21:24:00.000-07:00

The past week has been filled with lots of unexpecteds, including some self pity, and then Saturday came and I was feeling really frustrated with how things were going. Then I told Brian, I have prayed about today and know that this is how God meant today to go and this was the day he decided our baby will be born, so I will accept that his plan is better than mine. By the end of the day I was rewarded in that everything was perfect, better than I could have hoped for. God is good!

So this is a summary of the week and why I was not a happy camper Saturday morning. I had grand plans to get a lot done in preparation for baby that week. I even arranged for Myann and Anders to go to school a couple of extra days so I could have all day to get things done. Monday night was car shopping, not fun, but had to be done. We noticed the refrigerator not working right so we called appliance repair and they planned to come Tuesday. Then Tuesday I met with repair guy who could not fix it, but planned to return Wednesday afternoon. I did fit in 2 hours of shopping while Shane was at a sea animal dissection camp at the mall. Awesome 2 hours. Wednesday was my first day to get things done, but most of the time was spent at a doctor's appointment and grocery shopping and then meet appliance guy. He said he fixed it. Yeah! Then Wednesday night we noticed it not cooling, so first thing Thursday morning I called and they said appliance guy would be here at noon. I felt optimistic, so I dropped Shane off at Camp Reed, dropped kids at school and did my Costco shopping, of course filling up fridge. Repair guy arrives and said fridge was DOA, could not be fixed. Time to get a new one. So I frantically ran out the door to try to find a fridge before I had to get kids from school. I did get an idea, but realized we had way more choices than I knew so I needed to talk with Brian. Friday is my last day, I had so many plans, but I had to go to several appliance places and get a fridge that could be delivered within a day. By 1pm, I had picked a fridge that would be delivered the following night. For the next 2 kidless hours, I washed sheets and cleaned up to prepare for family's arrival the next night.

July 30th, I slept great, 7 consecutive hours, the most I could remember sleeping in a while. I got out of bed when I noticed a trinkling down my leg. I think I knew what it was, but I refused to accept it, so I slapped on a maxipad and told Brian I was fine, but there was a chance my water was broken or in the process. My dilemma was that we had to pick Shane up from Camp Reed. I really wanted to be there, but Brian was concerned about me being in labor and an hour from town. I called my doctor and she expressed the same concern and insisted that I go to the hospital that afternoon at the latest. I called my friend Sheryl, who was going to pick up her daughter as well, and warned her of my situation in case we did not make it there, would she pick up Shane. We hopped in the car at 8:45 am and drove an hour to Camp Reed. So happy to see Shane, who was upset because he lost his tooth that morning and actually lost the tooth. We assured him that we would leave the tooth fairy a note and he would still get paid for his tooth. Brian is pretty anxious the whole time there wanting to grab Shane and go, but I wanted to do the full experience. So we stayed for the parent program and then had to cash out his store credit. Finally we left at 10:35pm, and hurried home to meet the refrigerator delivery guys. We got home and the delivery guys arrived 5 minutes later. I had planned to go to the hospital and get checked, but I wanted to make sure the fridge was as I hoped. Plus, I was becoming more convinced that once I went to the hospital, I was not leaving. Refrigerator delivered - check, Shane picked up - check, now I needed to stall long enough for my mom and Danielle to arrive by plane. They were already in the air, so I only needed to get us to 8pm. We arranged for our sitter Sierra to come stay with the kids while Brian and I went to the hospital. Then our friends the Kipps would come that evening, to pick up my family from the airport and be with the kids until my family arrived. At about 4pm I started to feel contractions, so I knew we needed to get to the hospital. I was so disappointed that I would not have my doctor deliver the baby and that my family may not make it in time, but decided that I had prayed about it and it was in God's hands.

We arrived at the hospital and they began accessing me. I explained about who my doctor was and that I wished she could be there, but understood she was not on call. I also explained that my family was in the air and I really wanted them there. Within 30 minutes my most amazing OB/GYN in the world poked her head around the corner. She said she happened to be working a 12 hour shift at the hospital. She also quickly accessed that my water had broken and I was going to have this baby tonight. We explained the flight situation, to which she went and checked the flight schedule. She said my family should be arriving early, she coordinated with another surgeon to do my c-section at 8:30, which gave my mom time to arrive, see me first, and prep for surgery. I can not tell you the elation I felt and the smile that crossed my face knowing that God must have been having a good chuckle over my fretting all day about my doctor and my mom arriving in time. He knew all along that it was under control. So my kids were be well cared for by friends who love them, and I was having my baby delivered by my most amazing doctor and my family would be there in time. 8:00pm, Brian arrived from the airport with my mom and Danielle. I visited for a few minutes and then it was surgery prep time. Prep went great, all the staff was wonderful.

8:54pm, Dr. Smetana announced the birth of our baby girl. I took one look and was so excited to see a gorgeous head of dark hair and the prettiest little girl. She was healthy and prefect! An hour later I was holding and nursing my new baby girl. 36 hours later, Brian and I settled on her name and I was being released to go home.

Birth stats:
7lbs. 2 oz.
20 inches long
Laila was picked by Lexi and Danielle, and we settled on the spelling since it was Scandinavian and means dark haired beauty.
Irene is the name of Brian's maternal grandmother, with whom he was very close

A Letter to Quatro

2011-07-27T22:37:00.000-07:00

Dear Baby,

You remain unnamed, and that may be the case until weeks after your birth at this rate. Daddy refuses to discuss names until you are born. He has been kind enough to say no way when it is a name he does not like. However, he does not like any names I have thrown out so far. There are a few he has agreed to think on, so maybe there is hope. At this rate, you better be a girl because there is not one single boy name that has been accepted.

I am so excited to finally meet you, though I really am enjoying the last trimester of this pregnancy. I love feeling the bony protrusions from my belly and guessing which body part it might be. I love all the belly kisses from your siblings, who already love you more than you know. I love that your daddy really steps up his game when I am pregnant and helps out so much more without me even asking. I love that strangers see the belly and smile at me. I love that you and I have this special time, where we are one, it is like having a secret just between us.

I am going to tell you the truth on why we wanted you. Daddy and I walked into a restaurant with your three siblings and the waitress said wow you have your hands full, then she looked at my belly and said, oh my goodness and you are having another one. It really was not meant to be rude and I did not take it that way. Honestly, this is a common reaction to me and the kids, so no harm done. Well, my response is always the same, yep, we are crazy. That is my short and sweet answer, and honestly, probably a little true. But here is the long truthful answer. I have always wanted 4 kids, that is what I always told people growing up. Then I grew up and realized you do not always get what you want and sometimes you do not actually want what you thought you did. I experienced friend after friend with fertility problems and began to appreciate that I would take whatever God gave me however he gave me a baby. Thankfully, conception was not a struggle I had to endure and I was quickly blessed with babies the moment I decided I wanted one and in some cases, a bit earlier than I planned. So once I realized I could physically conceive without problems, Daddy and I had to decide what we could reasonably handle. After your Uncle Alex got sick, I felt very lonely, since he was my only sibling. I knew at that point I would always have more than 2 kids. Deciding to have Anders was an easy decision, he was on the agenda, he was my third that I had to have. After Anders, Daddy and I had to think about whether we could really give of ourselves to another child. I wanted to make sure that I could be the same parent to 4 as I could to 3. Honestly, I do not know that I can be, but I have quickly learned that sibling love is pretty remarkable and where I may not have as much time, siblings fill the gap. But we still were not sure, rather Daddy was not sure, especially since he would see my patience tried by your siblings. So what make our ultimate decision, I knew we were missing you. It is hard to explain, but I always felt like our family was not complete and that someone was missing. Truthfully, I love being pregnant and I love babies, so that helps for sure, but I really believed that there was another member of our family that we had not met yet. So that is why I am so excited to meet you, the person we have been missing. I am excited for you to meet your family, and you will soon learn, you have two parents who already love you, 3 siblings who will likely overwhelm you with affection, and an extended family that will knock your socks off. We won't even go into our network of friends who will no doubt love you like family.

To put it simply, you are going to be born into a whole lot of love, and you are already a blessing to us. You are going to be the high note in what has been a very painful year for our family.

Anders - My charmer

2011-07-19T23:30:00.000-07:00

Maybe Anders knew he needed to step up his game since a new baby was coming. This week he melted my heart when out of the blue at bedtime, he said, "You are the best mommy ever." Not sure where he heard this, Shane and Myann have never used this exact phrase, but he sure knows how to win over mommy. I have now heard it at least daily and usually several times a day.

I may have blogged this before, but it is so cute, it bears repeating. Whenever Anders eats something he likes, he says, "It's good to my tummy." Also, Anders has learned from his siblings to say he does not like a food when he has not even tried it. Since that does not fly in our house, he always has to try it. More times than not Anders has a green eggs and ham moment and says, "Oh, I do like it."

My poor boys having to go to the ob/gyn with me... Shane was traumatized by witnessing my iud being removed and now Anders went with me to nearly every appointment where I had to pee in a cup. The first time, he got a cup and was going to pee in it himself. Now, every time we walk into the bathroom, he grabs a cup and hands it to me and says, "This is for your pee." Lovely.

Our exciting date night

2011-07-06T23:20:00.000-07:00

I have to write this down for fear that I will forget exactly what all happened. It was a crazy night. We were waiting for our sitter to arrive and then she showed up upset because she almost ran over a dog and had the dog with her because she was afraid someone else would hit it. So we immediately went into high gear trying to post adds online, ran up to vet to check for microchip (no luck), and calling all shelters. Over 2 hours later, when all adds were placed, Brian and I went car shopping. For the record, I LOVE LOVE LOVE my minivan and do not want to give it up, but we need a AWD or 4WD vehicle to get us through these winters. We were not impressed with the Toyota Siena, so I have agreed to consider and SUV. We show up at Chevy to check out the Suburban and Tahoe. Tahoe is way too small. Suburban has less leg room and way more crowded, meanwhile way bigger than my minivan - not sure how that is. The dealer salesman says that obviously they do not have a vehicle that will make us happy so would we consider customizing a passenger van. He gets super excited and explains all he could do. Meanwhile, I am laughing on the inside thinking no way - we will only have 4 kids, why on Earth would I need a passenger van. Brian seems to be going with it, but I honestly thought he was just messing with me. We leave and I laugh saying whatever, I am not driving an airport shuttle around town. Brian is frustrated and said he genuinely thinks this is the way to go and he will get me the nicest customizable van possible. Seriously - I am in the twilight zone.

Then we drive down to look at Nissan Armadas. The dealership is closed by an older lady is there with her granddaughter. Brian and her strike up a conversation about what a great and honest dealership they are and Brian will be sure to mention her name if we come back. She then gives her personal business card - a 70 plus year old woman carries business cards with her name and email. I was so impressed with how savy she was, but seriously a personal business card.

Next we are going to finally eat and we get a text from our sitter that the dog's owner has called and they are on the way. It was a beagle mix male and the owners tell her to check to see if it is there dog by saying his name and seeing if he perks up. Chuck Norris!!!!! The dog is named Chuck Norris - Brian and I were laughing so hard and kind of wanted to hurry home to meet the owners who would name their dog Chuck Norris. We then went on to do about 30 minutes of Chuck Norris jokes between us and texts to family members and friends who could appreciate our humor. We enjoyed that our dogs had no idea they kept messing with Chuck Norris. All in all, so happy that we helped reunite a lost dog with their owner.

So we head back to our side of town and eat a fave neighborhood restaurant. 20 minutes there and 2 cop cars goes racing by. No biggie. 15 minutes pass and we seeing 5 to 7 cop cars with lights and sirens flying into our restaurant's parking lot behind a white Navigator. Cops hop out with guns pulled yelling out people in Navigator to come out with hands up. I thought we were watching an episode of Cops. Brian orders me inside the restaurant, as we had been eating on the patio adjacent to the parking lot, so he was afraid of a shoot out. We go in and watch the whole thing unfold. When we felt safe, we got in car and left. I have been wanting a Jack in the Box Blackberry milkshake ever since I saw that they brought them back this summer. So we pull in the Jack in the Box that is about 2 blocks from our restaurant. We notice 4 cop cars and a camera crew and the parking lot and several employees outside. I still pull into the drive-thru not really processing what I'm seeing. As I roll my window down to place my order, we hear a security alarm going off and the employee walks up and says they can not serve us tonight. Ding Ding Ding - I began laughing hysterically that I am pretty sure our two cop episodes are related and likely the Jack in the Box was just robbed by the two guys taken into custody at our restaurant. What are the chances???? Very exciting night - quite possibly our most interesting date night ever, and that says a lot since Brian and I encountered some equally bizarre events early in our dating life.

The mind of Shane, Anders' funnies, and Myann at camp

2011-06-28T22:52:00.000-07:00

I know we talk about Shane a lot and the way his mind works, but really, maybe it is a first child thing, but he really blows us away.

Shane is not a diehard baseball player by any stretch, and we are waiting to see if he even wants to play after this year. Well, prior to his declining interest, I had already signed him up for the Gonzaga Baseball camp, and it is nonrefundable. So when he told me that he did not want to go, the unfortunate response was, "Too bad. It is paid for and you are going." He seems to be enjoying camp now that he is in it. Though he said it is exhausting, and hot. It has been 80 degrees, which is hot for here, but nothing compared to the Texas heat Brian and I grew up with. Anyway, we were discussing his baseball playing and Shane said to Brian and I, "Why do you keep spending all this money on baseball and camps for me, it is not like I am going to play in college?" Seriously, what 6 year thinks about his baseball playing now having anything to do with college ball.

Along the same lines, we were discussing him riding in a car seat. He has really been pushing to sit in a booster, rather than his 5 point harness car seat. I told him that he was very special to me, and I wanted to keep him as safe as possible in the car and that meant a car seat. He then goes on to point out everyone he knows who uses a booster and then asks if their parents do not love them as much. Okay, not fair, but I explained that all parents have different fears and comforts and it did not mean they loved them any less if they let them ride in a booster, that just was not a fear they had. Shane then responded, "Mom, you can't protect me by keeping me in a car seat forever. One day I will be a teenager and I will not fit in a car seat anymore." Hee, hee, little does he know that I will have to give up this battle long before he is a teenager. But what a wise statement, I can't protect him forever, but I am going to do the best I can for as long as I can.

Anders is not to be outdone, as he is proving to have quite the sense of humor and witty statements. My little sweetie ran up to me before going to the store the other day and said, "I need a kiss and hug". Of course the kiss includes grabbing my face and planting me with a big ol' kiss. Then he said, "And I will have fun with Dad while you are gone." I guess that comes from the times I tell him to have fun while I am gone or with the babysitter etc. Brian said Anders promptly went to the toy box and pulled out a bunch of toys and proceeded to dump them in his lap. Anders meant what he said about having fun with Dad.

Another Anders funny that is a tiny bit embarrassing for me is that when we were in Portland, Anders and I were doing the I love you more than game. He said, "I love you from here to your bootie." My thought was, "ok, kind of odd." Then he clarified, "And you have a big giant bootie." Okay, ouch that hurt, though I guess it means he loves me a lot. Flash back to Shane telling me the same thing when I was pregnant with Anders. Way to give a pregnant lady a complex.

Myann is in art camp this week and she is loving having something that is hers alone. Shane is at baseball camp and Anders has school camp 2 days, and she loves that she has 5 full days of art camp. I thought it was going to be too much, but she is loving it. She comes home and has to describe every project to me and enthusiastically at that. She also made a friend, and of course has attached herself to the teacher. Not sure why I was worried about her, she is loving it. Grandparents, be on the look out for art projects in the mail. I told Myann that she was generating far too many for me to keep, so we would need to mail some out for other family members to enjoy.

One year ago today

2011-06-20T22:09:00.000-07:00

Here we find ourselves at the end of another beach vacation, granted opposite coasts, but this was one year ago today. We have really enjoyed ourselves, but for obvious reasons, it has been exceptionally hard for me. I have found myself crying at night a little more than usual, just missing him and remembering what a great trip we had last year.

Always the hands-on Uncle Alex, taken 6/20/2010

For those who do not know, we had been planning that trip to Myrtle Beach for about 2 years. Honestly, I wanted to back out, because Brian could not take off work to go, and the thought of flying alone with 3 kids to the opposite end of the country did not sound like something I could do. It was to celebrate my Dad's 60th birthday. It was April and the trip was planned for June. I had flown to Dallas to spend a week in the hospital with Alex while he did chemo and to help take care of Lexi and Austin, and to give my mom and Danielle a little break from their hectic schedule. My kids were in Houston with my in-laws. Sadly, I was whining about how miserable it would be to fly with 3 kids, while he sat in a hospital bed doing chemo. Alex would not hear of me backing out and said we had to do this trip. He told me to get to Dallas and then our two families would drive the rest of the way there, with he and Danielle helping me. After some convincing, I agreed and we went on to have any amazing trip. The crazy long drive and the awesome week at the beach. I am beyond thankful he talked me into it. That trip will forever be one of the best. Even my kids remember, because we have talked about it several times this week. Shane said that it is so weird we are at the ocean, but it looks completely different. I had to explain the Pacific NW is quite a bit different of a coastline from the East Coast, and 2 different oceans of course. Lots of other memories came up, and I loved that they still remembered so much of that trip and so much of Alex. I still miss him so much, probably more with each day, but wow we had an awesome last year with so many family trips.

Oregon Vacation - Seaside

2011-06-19T23:17:00.000-07:00

The day after Shane got out of school, correction - we skipped the last day where they go for one hour because it was a snow make-up that I was not aware of when we planned our trip. So we elected Shane's last day to be Wednesday and we loaded the car and left town early Thursday morning. The projected drive time is 7 hours, so I packed all of our food, hoping to make as few stops as possible. By a miracle, our children were prefect angels the entire drive to Seaside and we made the entire trip with stops for gas and restroom breaks in just under 7 hours. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!!!! About 3 hours in I wanted to comment to Brian how smooth the trip was going, but I was so afraid to jinx us that I kept my mouth closed. We enjoyed a peaceful ride with Shane having a Nintendo DS marathon in the far back and Myann and Anders eating from their lunchboxes and coloring. It was not until we were 4 hours in and had stopped at a restroom that Anders asked for a movie. I was shocked that they had not asked for movies up until that point. We put in movies and they were content for the last 3 hours.

We arrived in Seaside and met the Prizeman family at the beach by their hotel. The kids immediately ran towards the ocean and played in the sand. When our house was ready, we headed a few block away and settled in. Kids enjoyed exploring the house and then we packed up for dinner. Despite being beyond tired, they all did reasonably well at dinner. I was happy to get some seafood and then we tried out the local ice cream shop.

Day 2 we headed to Cannon Beach. The drive up to the beach was gorgeous and took you on a road through lush trees and plants. Then the beach was amazing with the large rocks covered with starfish and sea urchins. Shane's observation, "There is allergies growing everywhere." Obviously he meant algae, but there were lots of allergies growing everywhere too.

33 weeks

2011-06-17T23:01:00.000-07:00


33 weeks - on our deck in Seaside, OR

Keeping track is so hard this time. Not positive that I am 33 weeks, but I think so. Still feeling good, really good actually. Indigestion is worse this pregnancy, but it is a blessing in disguise because it makes me eat less and make better choices. Junk food in the evenings tends to set it off, so I know what I need to do to lessen the severity. Quatro is on the move, a lot. I see the whole belly move in waves at times. I am trying to really appreciate and cherish these times, knowing it is the last time I will experience this craziness/miracle. I am also enjoying all the extra attention the kids give the belly. Myann gives the belly kisses multiple times during the day, Shane is fond of hugging the belly, and Anders likes to pat my belly.

And for those who keep asking, still no baby names. Not a clue. I have liked a few, but Brian either refuses to discuss or shoots them down flat. So we welcome any ideas. Still trying to incorporate a family name, just like we did with the other 3. My focus has been mostly on girl names and I have not even spent more than 1 minute thinking of boy names, so we might be in big trouble if this is a boy. This baby may end up being nameless for a while, seeing how I am normally indecisive and now I will have 2 days in the hospital to decide or not decide.

Myann "graduates"

2011-06-13T22:44:00.000-07:00

Posing before ceremony


My ham who loves the camera now


Not wanting to be outdone by sister


Not happy, she missed rehearsals, and was a bit out of sorts


Saw me, so feeling more comfortable now


Reviewing her book of achievement made by her teacher

Myann with Mrs. Mary


Myann with Ms. Naomi - who was also Shane's teacher and we love her.

Myann has graduated from Pre-K1 and will be moving up to Pre-K3. The graduation is more for all the kids graduating from preschool and going on to kindergarten, but unfortunately her December birthday means she will have to wait another year. Instead, she will move up to the Pre-K class for older kids. As much as she would love to start kindergarten, I think this extra year will be good for her. She has improved so much in just the past few months, but one year will give her such a good headstart. She went from randomly writing the letters in her name (often as Manny) to finally writing Myann in the correct order. Honestly, her penmanship is better than Shane's, but she still needs help with recognizing her letters and numbers.

Dad and Shane conversation

2011-06-13T07:28:00.000-07:00

I wanted to capture a discussion I had with Shane which I do not want to forget. This is an example of something Shane will throw at me weekly and I have already forgotten most of them already. I know they have happened but cannot recall all the details. Earlier this week after reading him books for bed he asked, “Dad, so infinity means something goes on and on and on forever right?” Dad, “Yes Shane.” Shane, “So then infinity cannot be a number.” (Stated as fact rather than a question). Dad, “Correct.” Shane, “So infinity will not be a number until the end of the World when God quits creating numbers right Dad?” (Again stated as fact). Dad stunned, “You nailed it Shane, now quit stalling and get your little butt in bed.”

As I mentioned this is an example of discussions we have weekly where it’s easy to forget he is only six. After time goes by I usually forget how his brain processed information at such and such age and my memory adds months or a year to his true age. If friends didn’t remind me of how he freaked them out with full sentences and thought concepts at pre-18 months, I would dismiss it as poor memory in my own mind. In this case he didn’t just memorize a definition, but he grasped the concept and thought it through to a conclusion. I tell people all the time, and I swear I am right, that the kid will soon pass me up and realize he’s smarter than I am. I am two years away from hearing, “Hey Dad, uhhh, nevermind. Hey, mom?”

Shane in case you read this as a teenager someday and try to hold it over me. Smarter and wiser are two completely different things. I have experiences, which include doing a lot of dumb things growing up and mistakes I continue to make, that have made me wiser, not necessarily smarter. I don’t care how smart you are, you won’t understand this concept until you have kids. That said, when referring to teenagers smart@#$% and wise@#$% are interchangeable.

Lady bug time

2011-06-09T22:33:00.000-07:00

Partly because I wanted to see Anders' reaction and partly because it is just fun having 1500 lady bugs flying around, but I stopped at the store to pick up lady bugs for the kids. Not wanting to waste 1500, we called the neighbors to come over and join in the fun. Anders freaked a bit, but then relaxed and could even handle having one crawl on him for a second without screaming.

Baby Moon

2011-06-05T20:47:00.000-07:00

Brian and I escaped for 48 hours to Cave B Inn at the Gorge in central Washington. It was perfect and just what we needed. Quiet, perfect weather, good adult food, and gorgeous scenery. We did not do much, outside of the hiking. We read our books and took long dinners and breakfasts overlooking the awesome view. The hike was a bit adventurous, we were dodging poison oak and looking out for the snakes we had been warned there were a lot of. In the end, we did not see a snake and seemed to have avoided the poison oak. Regardless is was enjoyable and made me feel like super pregnant lady, since it was 2 full hours of hiking. It should have been 3 hours, but we opted out of the steep descent to the river. Brian was not confident in his ability to get me back up to the top if I could not manage on my own, I think that was a crack on my 40 lb weight gain, but I let it go.

Our nice breakfast view each morning.

The Columbia River behind Brian

That is where we have to hike back up to. Last photo before we entered the poison oak and snake pit.

Taking a break on the way back up the hill.

Last dinner. Brian was more interested in the conversion going on next to us.

Evening hike, lead by the Inn's host. Seriously, we did not know where to turn and the dog would yelp and lead the way.

The Inn's host, Cuvee'. Brian was trying lure her into our room for the night with beef jerky.

Anders' Face Day 2

2011-05-30T21:11:00.000-07:00

My poor baby and his pathetic face. Day 2. It looked worse today than the day before.

Memorial Day Weekend Part 2

2011-05-29T21:28:00.000-07:00

So we had another fun day, but on to the highlight - when Anders got up, I asked him if he needed to pee, and he said yes, and when I put him on the potty - he peed AGAIN! No success out and about today, but we really did not try very hard. Then tonight while getting him ready for bed, I said let's go pee. He went with me and he peed again. 3 times in 24 hours, we might be on to something. Last week he refused to put on a pull-up for me, and now we are here. So hopeful, since I was determined to have Anders potty-trained before Quatro arrived.

As for today, we ventured to the Seattle Aquarium first. The kids enjoyed it, but they had their heart set on seeing sharks. Sadly, the only sharks were some pretty small innocuous looking ones. That only seemed to bother me, the kids were just happy there were sharks, they did not care about the size. Anders spent the time running from one exhibit to the next.


Apparently you can only see one eye of the octopus, so the kids insisted on doing the same.

After the aquarium, we headed toward the tourist trap nightmare, where most of the museums are and the Space Needle. I think the entire west side of the state had the same idea, because it was a madhouse. We parked and walked towards the Pacific Science Center. The walkway had a 2 foot high ledge, which of course the kids had to walk up on. Fine, except of course Anders had to copy them. Then we told them to get down and Shane and Myann jump down and run off. I am walking back with Anders and he sees them jump down and says he would jump down too. I turned around and before I knew it, Anders was face down on the concrete walkway. Since I did not see what happened, I quickly ran to him and started scanning his face. He had dirt in his mouth, but there is no dirt on the ground. No blood in his mouth, no red marks on his head, but the left side of his face and nose looked like someone had dragged him across an asphalt road. His nose then started bleeding, but not gushing. I still do not know what really happened. His left cheek and nose seemed to have taken the direct impact, but I do not know how he was not hurt worse and how he got dirt in his mouth. Unless he fell towards the dirt along the ledge and then rolled to the ground. Being my tough boy, he cried for under a minute and then said, "Let's go and give me my banana." Banana being what he dropped in the midst of his fall. So off to the science center, and not another mention of his face by him. I was slightly self conscious, as he looked terrible and it continued to get worse looking throughout the day. We had a few odd looks from people and one mom ask what had happened. But that was it.


Back at the scene of the fall.

Once at the science center the kids played at all the exhibits. We were most excited to go back to the butterfly exhibit, since the kids were a hoot last time when the butterflies landed on them. This time was no exception. Anders had been proclaiming that he did not want to see the butterflies and that he hated them. The moment we walked though the door, a butterfly flew by Anders and he went into hysterics. Yelling and crying and Brian had to pick him up and console him. The kid handled his faceplant better than a butterfly flying within 2 feet of him. Brian held him for most of the time and he finally got used to the butterflies flying around him, but when one landed on him, he freaked again and said, "Daddy, please brush it off". When one landed on me, he was upset saying it was biting me. I assured him that I was just fine. In all, we were each landed on a few times.

Fat mirror. Kids loved, I did not.


Skinny mirror. My personal favorite.

One foot in the door and Anders begged to be picked up.

Funny when a butterfly lands on Daddy.

Myann happy to have a butterfly. Not so much 3 years ago.

His face says it all.

Dinosaur foot steps

My beautiful wonderful girl. She is so big.

In recent similar experiences, a few nights ago Anders was hysterical on the stairs at home and said a bug bit him. His urgency was so bad that I assumed he had been stung by a wasp. I ran down and did not see anything. He kept crying and showing me where he had been "bitten". I did not see any sign of a bite or sting mark and asked him where the bug was. He pointed to the window, where I saw a fly. The kid freaked because a fly landed on him. Sound familar. Then Wednesday we are heading to school and the kids went to the van before me. I come out to hearing crying and Shane in the front seat. I open my door and Shane tells me that Anders' hand was stuck in the sliding door and he was trying to open it. I run around the car, at which time Anders' hand had been freed of the door so I looked it over. He did not want me touching it, but I could see enough that he had good indentions in his fingers and they were red and puffy. I ran and got him some ice. Again, he cried maybe 30 seconds. He took the ice pack and did continue to say that it hurt and I could not touch it. Within an hour he seemed good as new. He is the toughest wimp I have ever known. I guess I should be fair and say he is only wimpy towards insects (flying insects) and people dressed in animal costumes (i.e., Mascots, Disney characters).

Worn out at the end of the long day.

Memorial Day Weekend Part 1

2011-05-28T20:20:00.000-07:00

Friday after school we loaded up the car and headed for Seattle/Tacoma for the weekend. Ironically, the last family trip out there was when I was pregnant with Anders at this same time of year. Our trip in was not too bad and Brian and I even turned and looked at each other at one point and were thinking that quite surprised. No meltdowns, no fighting, little whining. We arrived at our hotel, better than we expected since we chose blindly, and unloaded. The kids of course were typical kids and immediately took to jumping on the beds. I do not normally condone jumping on beds, but for some reason it seems ok in a hotel room. I remember being giddy with excitement when I was a kid and we stayed at a hotel. Anders then melted our hearts when he crawled into bed beside Shane. Brian and I just looked at each other heartbroken knowing that he looked so stinkin' cute curled up under the covers, but we fully intended for him to sleep in the portable crib. We gave him a while in the bed and then moved him. Still too worried that he will roll out of the bed without rails.

Saturday morning we got up and headed for Tacoma to visit my cousin TJ, his wife Samara, and their new baby Cayden. I should mention their dog Neela of course, since she is who our kids spent the most time with at their house. They live in a beautiful area near the water, and we visited there for a while before heading to the wild animal park, Northwest Trek. Seeing TJ is wonderful and difficult at the same time. TJ is one of my cousins closest in age and we spent a good portion of our childhood breaks together. I was also immediately flooded with memories of Alex upon being around him, but it was nice, comforting to be with someone who has so many of the same childhood memories that I do. Seeing TJ happy and with his new family was wonderful as well. He deserves it as he has served 3 deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan and is ready for some normal family life time.

After seeing TJ, Myann said, "You remind me of an old friend. His name was Alex." Such a mature sounding statement from such a little girl. I later explained to her that TJ was both mine and Alex's cousin and they do look a lot a like.

TJ was explaining that their house was 120 years old and Shane responded, "Yeah, I can see that." Seriously, where do these statements come from? In TJ and Samara's defense, you can not tell it is 120 years old, as it has been beautifully redone. In my ignorance, I can not believe this neighborhood was around 120 years ago. I thought the west side was still the "Wild West" and void of any neighborhoods.

We then all headed to Trek, which was not busy. The weather held out for us, and we did not get the rain they were predicting. We saw caribou, bison, deer, bears, cougars, wolves, and coyotes. At the very end was a park employee holding small turtles, which had Myann and Shane captivated. Later that evening, Brian asked Shane what his favorite animal was and Shane said, "The turtles, they were just so cute." Not the response you would expect given the impressive animals we saw. Brian thought, well shoot we could saved the $50 and taken you to a pet store in that case.

My crazy kids

Can't recall why, but Anders tackled Shane. I guess the wild animals got to them. TJ was quite impressed with Anders' wrestling skills.

TJ and Samara with Cayden

Yummy ice cream

After the park, we headed back to Tacoma for dinner at a brewery. Awesome food and the kids did reasonably well after their 50 minute power naps in the car on the way their. TJ became Myann's object of attention and was glued to him most of the day. Watch out if you are Myann's mark because she will love on you until it hurts, literally. The kids were all too happy to pour affection on Cayden when she was awake. I can see what we are in store for with our new baby. Anders gave her lots of kisses and did well holding her. Myann wanted to hold her too. She was a sweet baby and slept for a better part of the day.

Beautiful girl

My kids were a bit smitten.

Even Anders wanted to hold her.

Monumental news for us, that evening as the kids were in bed for the night, I snuck out to Trader Joe's, because I lucked out in our hotel being 3 minutes away from one. While I was gone, of course, while I was gone, Anders told Daddy he had to pee. Brian was skeptical but thought what the heck. Anders has never volunteered to go before and when he has agreed to go, he never has (except one time at preschool). So Brian put him on the potty and ouila! Anders peed. Brian texted me at the store and I was pretty thrilled. But thought seriously, the kid won't pee for me. Brian's theory is that putting him in the bed with Shane made him feel like a big boy and he wanted to prove it by peeing in the potty.

Pregnancy this go around

2011-05-25T22:02:00.000-07:00

So I am finally getting what I had heard so many times before and that is I am done being pregnant. Don't get me wrong, it is still pretty easy for me. I really have easy pregnancies, if you do not count placenta previa with Myann. This one is not much different, I feel good, I get around pretty good, but the novelty has worn off. The baby is on the move and that remains my favorite part of pregnancy. I could sit still for hours feeling the baby movements, but a part of me is content in knowing that this is the last one and I am okay with that. I always thought I would want one more but feel forced to stop because we are realizing we are reaching are parenting capability max. My friend Heather said she felt done on the last one and had been told that when you are done you know it. I was not so sure it would happen for me and it has. Now let's see if that happens when the baby is born. I am over pregnancy, but I still love my newborn babies. I do not know how it will feel to accept not having a newborn again. I am praying I feel that same sense of peace, where I can enjoy it and embrace that this is the last time.

Speaking of feeling good. The running joke is that I will be giving birth to a wild animal because all my "nesting" has been outdoors. The inside of my house is a train wreck, but I have been averaging 2 hours a day outside in the yard and last Monday I spent 6 hours pulling weeds, fertilizing everything, and transplanting grass and planting flowers. Being out in the yard so much has made me feel more like a Laynor. I thought the green thumb bypassed me, and it still might have, but I am trying and getting better. My Dad and grandparents spend half of their awake hours in their yards and I have never had that inclination, nor natural talent with plants. I killed a cactus in college and Brian frequently asks what my intended layout was when I planted flowers since they had no cohesiveness. So I am getting better, or at least trying. We'll ignore the fact that I could not walk after dinner. My sciatic nerve did not appreciate all that I did. Fortunately I was fine when I woke up the next morning. Now if only I could spend 6 hours in the basement, it might actually be presentable.

Last day of Sunday School

2011-05-22T22:25:00.000-07:00

Shane and Myann with their teachers at Sunday School

Sunday school ended today. Insert mom and dad sad faces here. This means we have to entertain/keep the kids quiet during service for the whole summer. No more one hour of Sunday morning peace for us, but that is ok. It is good for the kids to sit in regular service too, at least I will keep telling myself this when I have shushed them for the 10th time. By the way, yep they gave them cotton candy on the last day. No wonder my kids love Sunday mornings!

All dressed up

2011-05-21T22:33:00.000-07:00

Because we never get dressed up, especially when pregnant, here is us all dressed up for a coworker's wedding. It was a beautiful wedding and we enjoyed the evening out.

St. Al's Fund Run

2011-05-20T22:37:00.000-07:00

Myann and Anders ran this year and Shane had to cheer them on from the sidelines. Myann had to hold her teacher's hand, of course.

Myann and a class buddy.

Shane wanted to be with Spike

What we do for fun

2011-05-18T22:55:00.000-07:00

The kids are loving outdoor chalk. Thank goodness we have a huge driveway. Okay, so I despise the driveway in the winter when I have to blow or shovel all the snow off of it, but during the summer, it is so worth it. And our sitter, Sierra, happens to be a chalk artist, so she really makes the kids artwork that much more impressive.

This is just Myann in one of her random ensembles.

Anders the comedian

2011-05-17T08:21:00.000-07:00

Since the moment Anders became mobile he has always been the entertainer. Fake falling, pretending he bonked himself on the head, etc. Anything to try and get attention and a laugh. Recently as his vocabulary has increased his quick wit is becoming apparent. Two recent Anders funnies.

Driving home with dad after school pickup. Dad teases Myann and Anders by calling them Katie and Maddox. Anders laughs, but Myann was not too impressed and sternly responded, "Dad I am NOT a DOG!!" Anders immediately responded, "So you’re a cat Myann?" Then he went into his deep belly laugh, Myann was not at that point impressed with him either.

This weekend Dad accidently called him Shane by mistake. Anders immediately responded with, "Don't call me Shane, Mom!" Again going into hysterical laughter while heading off to play.

He's not ready for the stage yet, but not bad for a 2 yr old.

Great Day

2011-05-16T23:03:00.000-07:00

Our day started rough. We realized, thanks to the input of my girlfriends, that Shane and Myann had fifth disease. On Saturday they both developed red face rashes. I thought it was just from playing too hard, but when it did not go away I complained to friends and they said fifth disease was making its rounds. I called my ob, who was concerned for me, and wanted me tested. It can cause concerns in pregnant women. I am not concerned but got tested anyway. Then my computer had a virus that I could not resolve, finally did. Lastly, my car needs some minor repairs and I was having to schedule and deal with that. Basically, just a busy day.

However, by mid day, computer virus was gone, Myann's face cleared up, my neighbor kept Shane for a while so I could exercise a bit, and Brian came home so I could do my blood test without kids in tow. Then after dinner, my amazing children spent hours drawing me pictures, making me books, and writing me love songs. Talk about making your heart swell. I got out the video camera to capture some of it. Myann makes up songs all day long, but she got a bit camera shy tonight. She finally came out of it and went on to write me like 3 or 4 songs. Shane wrote me a wonderful book, which I hope to share in pictures. It was all about how much he loved me and why he loved me. I am a lucky mama. Anders, not to be outdone, even though he can not write yet, decided to read books for us - Little Quack, his recent favorite. Then he showed off his excellent baseball skills. All in all a wonderful, perfect family night. Brian and I enjoyed every minute and I captured about 40 minutes of it on film. The kids went to bed way after bedtime, but it was worth it, no regrets.

Shane's soccer season has ended

2011-05-14T23:03:00.000-07:00

End of season photo. Of course they got trophies, because Shane is all about the trophy. Shane loved soccer this year. His team sadly did terrible, but Shane managed to find some aggressiveness that he did not have last Fall. He is fast and good at defense. He needs to learn to go after the ball more, but he is just not comfortable with the ball. As soon as he gets it, even if right in front of the goal, he passes to a teammate. I love that he is a good teammate, but he needs to go for it every once in a while. He did score 2 goals this season, so he took a few shots, but he could have had at least 10.

Shane's School Trek

2011-05-13T23:08:00.000-07:00

Treks seem to be the schools' fundraisers of choice. Shane's fell on one of our first really warm days. I thought Shane would do a few laps and be done, but not so. I had to drag him off after 2 hours to eat and leave for baseball practice. He did 15 laps, which was almost 4 miles. He was one lap short of winning his grade level.

At the start

About half way in

Mother's Day

2011-05-07T23:13:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day just gets better as the kids get older. I receive gifts they made themselves and their enthusiasm is so flattering and heartwarming. This year, I got dressed for church first and then hopped back in bed for my breakfast and gifts in bed. I also got to read the paper for a bit and enjoy my coffee and scone.

Getting my coffee

Reading my card from the kids

Shane made me a book at school - priceless

Myann left her gift to me at school (a plant and card), so she gave me lots of love and lots of new books later.


My shirt made by Shane at school. I love it, but honestly have not worn it yet. I have not found the right occasion. :) He was so proud and did a great job.

Myann wanted to dress nice. She said, "I look like a boss. I look like Miss Beth." Miss Beth is Brian's boss. Honestly, she does look a bit like Beth here.

She is all about the pose.

This is the "word up" pose I think.

No words for this pose.

Shane's soccer game

2011-05-06T23:38:00.000-07:00

Our new fave yogurt place

2011-05-03T23:42:00.000-07:00

I took the kiddos and our neighbor Gabi for yogurt. We all love it. I pretty much let them get whatever toppings they want, including whip cream, chocolate, gummy bears, and whatever else.

Impromptu photo with Maddox

2011-05-02T23:47:00.000-07:00

Bloomsday 2011

2011-05-01T23:50:00.000-07:00

Sandra and I did Bloomsday together. I ran it 2 years ago, but this year had to walk for obvious reasons. Sandra was coming off of a broken toe, but still stuck it out with me. Outside of the insane crowds and 30 minute line to go to the bathroom, we enjoyed our 7 1/2 mile walk. The weather was great and it felt good to be out walking.

Start of the race

At the finish line

Painting and random Myann

2011-04-29T23:55:00.000-07:00

When the weather is bad, we paint. Then Myann must have taken the camera and took pictures of herself. Then I had to capture my girl in her choice of clothes. She has a unique style.

Big haircuts

2011-04-27T23:59:00.000-07:00

Myann still refuses to let me do her hair, and even brushing it is a daily struggle, so I finally convinced her to go a bit shorter. Her only condition was that she did not want to look like a boy. With Anders, we finally went a bit shorter, but I am not ready to go as short as Shane yet.

Night out with friends

2011-04-25T00:02:00.000-07:00

For our friend Chris' 40th birthday, his wife Jen arranged a tour at a local brewery and then dinner. The brewery tour was great and reminiscent of my working days, the mixers, not the beer part.

Easter Weekend

2011-04-23T21:59:00.000-07:00

Easter weekend highlights. Easter egg hunt at our church on Saturday. Not a highlight, but it was insanely crowded and Shane was disappointed in the number of eggs he collected. Ignore the fact that he stopped 10 seconds in and must have been overwhelmed by all the people. Myann could have cared less and just wanted to hold my hand. Anders did not care to move more than 10 feet from the starting line until he saw there was candy in the eggs, but by then it was too late. So as Shane is sulking, Myann was offering him some of her eggs. Then people around us started getting that he was upset and began offering us theirs. Have I mentioned that I love our church. Anyway, this was actually embarrassing me more as Shane was gladly taking the eggs and he did not need them or deserve them and was missing the whole point of Easter even as other people were giving to him. The eggs did at least perk him up to the point that I could have a civil conversation with him and explain that these kids were sacrificing their eggs for him, just as Jesus had sacrificed His life for us. I was relieved that Shane seemed to get it at that point, but still not happy to have had what seemed like the only kid at our church's Easter egg hunting complaining that he did not get enough eggs. We might have to work a little on appreciation and gratefulness in our household.

Sunday morning we had planned to get up and go to the earlier service, but since I chose instead to cook breakfast, we were running late. No biggie, we opted to push back to the later service and not rush. The Easter Bunny had hidden the kids baskets around the house, so they all worked together to find the baskets. Shane used his deductive reasoning and found all 3 quickly. The Easter Bunny did not want the deer and coyotes to eat our eggs overnight, he planned to come while we were at church.

Brian talked Myann into wearing a dress for mommy. I was super thrilled but ill-prepared. Since she had not worn a dress in over a year, I had not bought her a dress in a year. The only one we had that she would wear was a bit small. She squeezed into it with only a few complaints. Then we pulled out my never before used tripod and attempted some family photos. Not great, but we got the whole family in, so I consider it a win.

After church, we changed and the kids went for their egg hunt in our backyard and into the woods. They knew they were looking for the golden egg as well. Shane quickly got that the eggs were hidden in an arrow shape pointed in the direction of the basalt rocks at the back of our property. (He is obviously smarter than me, because I did not get the pattern, but the Easter Bunny assured me that Shane was correct.) Myann saw the golden egg hidden in a crevice of the rock, but did not want to stick her hand in so she played off that she did not know where it was and kept looking. Shane was not having much luck finding it so we told Myann they all would share the egg regardless of who found it. She then told Shane where it was so he would stick his hand in the crevice.

My sweet hubby

2011-04-21T00:22:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been very thankful for my hubby. Almost every morning the kids and I wake up to a preprepped smoothie in the fridge. Seems rather simple, but it gives me so much relief every morning to not have to think about breakfast for the kids, at least initially. I can pop it into the blender and give the kids a healthy start to breakfast within minutes. They usually need something else within an hour, but since they had a healthy protein fruit smoothie to start with, I do not feel so bad about giving them Life cereal in a baggie an hour later.

My other reason for gratitude is that even though staying home can be exhausting and there are days that I miss work. Ok not the work part, but the getting out of the house and being with other adults all day part. I am so thankful that staying home has allowed me the luxury of going to all the kids' school parties and volunteering in Shane's class several times per month. I have gotten to know Shane's teacher quite well and even all of the kids in his class. It is so nice to have that special relationship with the people that Shane spends time with. Also, Shane loves having me there, and I know that will not be the case forever, so I am thankful that I can do it at an age when it seems to mean so much to him. If he could have his way, I would be in his class everyday, but the excitement he shows when I am there is truly flattering. Brian and I joke that once all of the kids are in school, I will be a full-time unpaid employee of the school if I work in each class. I may have to set limits, but I do look forward to being with them during school as much as possible.

I am far from a perfect stay at home mom/wife. I am a terrible housekeeper, no shocker to those that know me, but I am becoming a much better cook and I was not all that bad to begin with. I am far from organized and consistent with the kids, but they all seem to be happy and secure children, so we are doing something right. Brian puts up with my imperfections and encourages me to take sanity breaks as well, and for that I am thankful.

T-ball kick off

2011-04-16T00:22:00.000-07:00

Brian and another friend of ours Dad are coaching the kids this year for t-ball. Together they make a great coaching duo. Here is the team introduction. Shane is #6.

Myann 4 going on 24

2011-04-14T23:52:00.000-07:00

Conversations in the car with my kids are so interesting. Last week's went like this:
Myann: Mason asked me to be his girlfriend.
Me: What did you say to him?
Myann: I did not have a choice, so I said yes.
Me: Myann, you do have a choice and you are too young for boyfriends.
Myann: Mom, we are just kids. I know that.

Now flash forward to today.
Me: Myann, is Mason still your boyfriend?
Myann: No we broke up.
Me: How do you know what breaking up is? What does it mean?
Myann: It means you do not want to be with that person ever again and you will not get married.
Me: Wow, how do you understand this at 4?
Myann: They told me, Jameson and Alex told me. Besides we are just kids and it is all pretend.
Me: Ok, good. (But I was thinking, seriously. I did not think I would have this conversation for another 10 years.)

In the same week of these conversations, Myann can still be such a little girl. We have since quit dance class for the time being, but Myann was often attached to her poor dance teacher. She had to stand with her the whole class and often wanted to hold her hand. Most of the time when we pick her up from Sunday school, she is being carried my a teacher or holding her hand. When Myann had stitches, she was wheeled around the school and the playground in an office chair. Are you detecting a trend? My girl loves her attention, loves affection, and is a master of wrapping everyone around her little finger.

Shane is 6 going on 26

2011-04-07T22:28:00.000-07:00

My baby, my first born, my truly special little boy (okay, not so little) is 6. So hard to believe. Only when he was at his birthday lunch with Daddy, Mommy and Aunt Tiff did he look like a little boy. When he is with his siblings, he is such the big kid.

He is full of ideas and I am positive his brain never stops creating and inventing. He is counting down the days until he can do his first lemonade stand and has now decided to do an evening caffeine stand. In his own words, "I will sell caffeine to parents on their way home from work so they can deal with their kids when they get home." No comment, since I am pretty sure where this idea came from. He has a new invention every 5 minutes, some have already been invented, but he does not know that, so it is still creation in my mind. His latest are the hyperator (makes parents more hyper and kids less hyper). Aunt Tiff said this has already been invented and it is called drugs. Cloudinator - makes it so you can float on the clouds.

At his birthday, when his friend Jameson said thanks for inviting me to your party. Shane responded, "Well it wouldn't be a party without your best friends." On his birthday after he found out his party was on his actual birthday, "This is the best birthday ever." He is so easy to please and appreciative. For breakfast when I asked what he wanted, he replied, "Chicken with broccoli." I explained that I thought breakfast food would be more appropriate, so he said waffles, eggs, and strawberries. Now that I could do. I served it to him in his room and he was in pure spoiled heaven.

Of course Myann then wanted her breakfast in her room too. I obliged, I was feeling generous, since we all know what a mess Myann makes when eating. Thankfully, she surprised me and only spilled her orange juice a little and the syrup only got in her hair, but not the carpet.

As for other Shane greatness, since it is his birthday, I can brag on him. At his last parent/teacher conference, he rocked it. He has surpassed all the kindergarten markers and is very close to meeting his end of first grade markers. He is a great reader, but math is his true strong point. His handwriting needs improvement, but he has improved dramatically in the past few months. His problem is that he goes too fast. He rushes his work and wants to be done first. Sounds familiar, I remember getting upset if I did not turn in my work first too as a kid. His teacher was impressed/irritated that Shane has mastered following her instructions by doing the least amount of coloring possible. Example, they are creating equations like 5+1=6. They had to color squares to represent the numbers. ALL of the other kids actually colored their squares, all the squares. In an effort to not color, Shane decided to use white. So he would color one square or 2 squares and do the equation 1+6=7 or 2+5=7. The most squares were of course white. Then to decrease his coloring even more, he created 3 part equations (which his teacher said he was the first in the class to do. 1 red, 1 blue and 5 white squares so 1+1+5=7.) Again, he did everything he could to never have to color more than 2 squares. This was how his entire assignment went. His teacher was amused, but miffed that he does this every time. To be fair, he is not perfect and did receive constructive criticism. He tends to lack patience and needs to work on respectfully addressing adults. Shane is a "know it all" (shocking given his genetics), and tends to say things out loud when he should keep his mouth closed. He rolls his eyes (again shocking since no one in this family ever does that) and to a recent class guest speaker, Shane said, "You already said that, could you please move on." Ouch, I was not happy to hear that. And he called addressed his teacher's much older dad as dude. Thankfully he was paying him a compliment, he said, "Dude, I like your white hair." But we had to have a long talk about respectfully addressing adults and being patient even when you already know or understand something.

Lunch with Aunt Tiff, Mom and Dad

Birthday dessert - root beer float

Our Last Ski Day

2011-03-26T20:19:00.000-07:00

I had to give up skiing last month, as my belly grew. But I wanted the kids to get in one more ski day, and it actually was Myann's only ski day this season.

No photos of Myann, because we could not find them on the slopes, but the instructor said she did great. He said she is not ready for the lift, but she is learning to turn and stop on her own. Shane is doing great and continues to rock the slopes. I can not wait to ski with him next year.

Anders' Houston trip

2011-03-25T07:47:00.000-07:00

Brilliant Grandma Jo suggested last year that when Brian went to Houston for work trips, he should bring a kid with him. Since Shane is in school, that leaves Myann and Anders. Myann went last fall, so now it was Anders' turn. I had a bit of a hard time parting with him since he is still such my baby, but I knew he would love and deserved some one on one time. Anders does not know a world without two older siblings always around, so I am curious to hear how he handled it. So far I know they have kept him busy with some fun activities. We skyped for a while last night and he seemed to be enjoying himself. In fairness to me, Brian said he does miss his mommy. The first night there he kept asking to talk to me.
For some add reason he keeps telling everyone, "Mommy told me no candy. She won't give me candy." Later he said, "I need to call mommy." Brian asked why and Anders said, "Because I need to tell her something!"

I took these off Aunt Sunny's facebook page:
We took Anders (2 1/2 yrs. old) to the Oil Ranch in Houston. While there, I pointed out a Peacock. Later, I asked Anders: What did we see yesterday? Anders response: We saw cows and baby goats and a "cock pee". ME: We saw WHAT? Anders: We saw a cock pee! ....What have I taught my nephew?!!!! I am slightly concerned that if he repeats this at school, CPS may show up at my door. :)

My nephew asks me, "Aunt Sunny, you love me?" I answer, "Of course, Anders, I love you more than I could love anything." Anders: "Why, Aunt Sunny?" Me: "I love you, Braxton, Shane, and Myann because you are my nephews and niece and you make me so incredibly happy!" Anders: "Ohhhh? Because we are so cute?" :)....If I loved them any more, my heart could possibly explode.

My sweet Anders

2011-03-22T07:45:00.000-07:00

I promise pictures are coming, but lately I have been too busy, too tired, or too sick to go downstairs and upload photos. So for now you are just stuck with my writing.

Anders' phrase of the week, "Mommy, please play with me." I think he knows he is about to leave me for a week and my heart can not handle it, so every time he asks, I have to oblige.

Also, I went to bed last night thinking how lucky we are to have Anders. He is my sweetie and my compassionate one. He frequently walks up to me and says, "Mom, you need a hug?" and then opens his arms and comes in for a hug. It is about the greatest feeling in the world to get an Anders hug. His hugs are filled with a world of love. He also needs hugs a lot when he gets in trouble, that is so me. If I scold Anders, his immediate response is, "Mom, can I have a hug?" with the most pathetic face you have ever seen. I did that as a child, as my mom and dad will confirm. He has a smile on his face 95% of the, and the other 5% is usually his pretend frown of which is immediately followed with a smile.

Roller skating

2011-03-21T20:23:00.000-07:00

We had our first rollerskating birthday party for the kids' friend Claire. I was pretty excited since I have not roller skated in maybe 20 years. The kids were excited until we actually put on the roller skates. Shane and Myann have never roller skated. Shane gave it a weak attempt, but the video games were too much of a distraction. Myann was more optimistic, but after one go around the rink, she was done and off to the bounce house.

Last day of stitches

2011-03-19T20:30:00.000-07:00

Myann's stitches could not come out soon enough. So on day 10, we were knocking on the door of urgent care. Here is Myann before the bandage removal.

The actual process of removing the stitches proved to be almost as traumatic as having them put in. She screamed and had to be restrained. The doctor and nurse were not impressed. But they were out and after a day of limping, Myann seems to be back to normal.

6 month dental check up

2011-03-15T20:06:00.000-07:00

Last time Anders was not cooperative, but this time he did really well. Such a relief. But since nothing can go perfect, Myann chose not to cooperate. The poor hygienist had to try four different flavors of fluoride and Myann was still not happy. So then we did the paint-on kind and I ended up wearing most of it as Myann wiped it off her teeth and still on to my clothes. The dentist decided to be my cheerleader and repeatedly tell me how great a mom I was because none of my kids had cavities and their teeth looked great. Don't get me wrong, I love hearing my kids' teeth are healthy, but I hardly think that wins me mother of the year.

And of course my kids love this bear, so here is our regular dentist photo op.

Tuesday funnies

2011-03-15T09:50:00.000-07:00

My kids never cease to crack me up.

This morning as we were driving down the street Myann said, "Wow, look at all the tree limbs and dead trees. Oh I know why, kids around here are using too many paper towels." It took me a second to understand, but the I realized what she meant. The night before there was a wind storm and rain so a bunch of limbs had been knocked out of trees to the ground. My kids are notorious for washing their hands and drying them with paper towels. I always say, don't use paper towels you are killing trees. Use the kitchen towel to dry clean hands. Myann took my statement literally. This poor child envisioned that every time she used a paper towel, some tree was dying in our neighborhood, rather than a tree had to die in order to make her paper towels. A good morning laugh.

At dinner, I was washing dishes as Shane finished eating. I heard him choking and he said, "Mom, aren't you proud of me? I did not throw up. I was gagging, but then I took three deep breaths and stopped gagging." My response, "Well why were you gagging?" Shane, "Mom, sometimes your cooking makes me gag." Brian and I exchanged glances and we both started cracking up. I should be offended, but sometimes I try new things and they do not turn out so well. I refuse to waste food, so the whole family has to eat it anyway. Last night was one of his favorites, so not sure why he was gagging.

Anders the Superhero

2011-03-13T21:28:00.000-07:00

Anders tonight as he put on his pj's. "Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Anders" As sung to the Batman theme song but instead of saying Batman, he replaced it with Anders and put his hands in the air. We totally should have named him Thor, he was born to be a superhero. And I will choose to ignore the fact that he was actually putting on Superman pj's. That boy makes us smile at least a thousand times a day.

Silver Mountain Water park

2011-03-12T21:34:00.000-08:00

Today we went to Kellogg, Idaho for a a couple of friends' birthday party at the water park at Silver Mountain. Myann's foot put a bit of a damper on the full weekend, since her stitches meant she could not go in the water. Brian volunteered to stay with her in the hotel room so I could still take the boys. We had prepared Myann since Wednesday that she could not go in the water and if we took her she could not throw a fit once there. Myann proved faithful to her promise to me and did not have a fit. She did tear up a little at the sight of all the kids having fun, but I promised her we would go again once her foot was better and she perked up. She and Daddy hung out in the room watching movies and eating popcorn. The boys and I made our rounds in the park, with the help of my friends, who swapped out watching a child periodically. Shane is a my daredevil who wanted to do all the slides, which of course needed an adult. So I broke the no waterslides when pregnant rule and joined him as many times as I could hike the stairs to the top. Anders did the slides with us he could, but he was quite happy to do the slides in the kiddie area too. He must have gone about 50 times. Anders and I did a few body slides together, but then I sent him down one time alone since I was done and it served its purpose, he was done too.

Myann being a good sport, even though she could not go in.

Boys playing

Anders grabbing a bite between playing.

Anders was done with the water, but found a poll to climb.

Shane then decided to try the body surfing ride. I expected a full on immediate wipe out, but that kid lasted about 8 seconds the first time and 20 to 30 seconds on his subsequent rides. He was such a midget in line with all the big kids, but then when he was done, I was surprised how grown up he seemed. Video to come when I am not too tired to get out the camera and download.

Shane waiting in line. He was the smallest.

Shane's first try

Shane's 2nd try

Ultrasound for Baby Quatro

2011-03-11T07:06:00.000-08:00

At 19 weeks, we had our ultrasound. I thought it was a great idea to take all 3 kids because they have been so excited about seeing the baby. Ok, so 6 people, tech included, in a tiny room is probably not one of my better ideas. Considering the situation, they did well, but Anders was pretty hyper and kept messing with Shane. None of the kids really paid much attention to the ultrasound or seeing the baby. Anders' only comment was when we listened to the heart beat he said, "That's scary." Shane perked up a few times when he saw a body part he recognized, but that was about it. Poor Brian was so busy keeping them contained that he did not really get to watch or enjoy the ultrasound. Fortunately we have pictures and a video to watch. Baby was moving like crazy keeping the tech on her toes, which offered me some relief because I was convinced this baby never moved. Turns out, I have an anterior placenta, which cushions any of the baby's movement, so that explains why I have felt almost no baby movement. Here I just thought I was finally going to have a calmer child, no such luck. Otherwise, everything looked good.

The moment you have been waiting for, is it a boy or a girl? We have no idea because we have decided to not find out this time. We have no preference and obviously have everything we could need for a boy or a girl, so we decided to just wait and see on the big day. We want to see if there really is a difference between finding out at 19 weeks or 40 weeks. I do not think there is a difference, but my friends insist there is, so I am going to test it out for myself. For the official record, Brian and I and the kids all think it is a girl. Looking forward to finding out if we are right. Shane decided it is a girl, because we follow a pattern, boy girl boy and now girl. Myann insists it is a girl because there are too many boys in the house and we need another girl. Anders just repeats what they say. Brian and I both have thought this was a girl based on my normal pregnancy symptoms. With the boys I could not eat enough red meat, I wanted burgers, hot dogs, and steaks all the time. With Myann, I craved sandwiches, salads, and just food in general but not red meat. That is how this pregnancy is going, I eat salads daily. So looking forward to seeing if my pregnancy cravings are just coincidences or more likely linked to gender.

Due date is Aug. 5th, but I will have the c-section some time late July or early Aug.

Myann - she is one of a kind!

2011-03-10T17:53:00.000-08:00

The contents of Myann's Backpack
cement stone
deer antlers
sunglasses
silly bands
at least 10 socks, unmatched pairs
her favorite tie dye shirt
books
keychain from last summer
paper
markers
More, but I am too lazy to go get it and do a full inventory
It is a full size back pack that is literally busting at the seams. We have begun affectionately calling her the bag lady. It started at Christmas when she would carry around her full backpack and use her new grabber to pick up things off the floor. She really looked like a bag lady from back in the day.

Myann is our accident prone child. Just last week I was thinking I should blog about the day in the life of Myann and how many minor injuries she incurs in one day. She falls constantly, walks into walls, trips over things, bumps her head, falls off stairs, catches her fingers in her car seat buckles, falls off her dining room chair, bites her tongue while eating, on and on. Then of course, last night, Myann was jumping from the chair to the couch. Given her history, we should probably not let her do such a thing, but we have learned to pick our battles and that is not one we have chosen to engage in. So she was jumping, fairly harmless, since all the kids do this nightly. Well, this one time, after about 10 times of jumping without injury, she jumped and her foot went down the back of the cushion. She immediately let out a piercing scream and became hysterical. Thankfully our wonderful babysitter had just gotten here and grabbed her and took her to the sink. I could see the pad of her foot wide open about half an inch and blood was gurgling out. I tried band aids and butterfly strips, but it just kept bleeding and I could not get it closed enough to make me comfortable, so I loaded her up for urgent care. I decided to check the couch for what caused the laceration. All I could find was a back scratcher that had gotten wedged in the couch and it was prong up. We are assuming that is the culprit and has since been thrown in the trash.

Poor Myann was hysterical most of the drive, but calmed down once we got to the urgent care. We only had to wait about 20 minutes before being seen. She was okay until they started cleaning the wound. Once they flushed the blood they found that she had also sliced open the back of her pinky toe. They used 3 stitches to reattach the flap to the back of her toe and two stitches to close the open gash in her foot pad. The process was excruciating for her and I. The poor girl was crying out for them to quit killing her. I felt bad, but the nurse and I were sadly laughing when she would moan out to please stop killing her. All in all she did well, but her and I were both exhausted when the ordeal was over. The doctor told us that she could not put any pressure on it for 10 to 14 days, meaning no walking, no getting it wet and cleaning it out and rewrapping it every night. My response was seriously, you want me to carry her while I am 5 months pregnant and have a 2 year old and 5 year old to also keep track of. Thankfully, we have adapted. Myann scoots around on her butt at home and has even learned how to get up and down stairs. I give her piggy back rides when we leave the house and she can do a little bit of walking on her heel. She is milking all the attention, but being pretty tough. The boys are handling it in their own way. Shane is being a great big brother and helping when he can. This morning he brought her toothbrush to the couch for her to brush and then brought her a bag to spit in. He has offered to sleep with her to help her during the night, but this is more of a selfish request. Anders, on the other hand, is not pleased with her extra attention. This morning he limped up to me and said that his toe was hurting and he needed to sit in my lap and get love. Too sweet, but funny that he even added a limp for dramatic affect.

Still thinking of Alex

2011-03-09T06:42:00.000-08:00

Last night, I had the first dream of Alex, that I woke up remembering, where he was still alive. We were shopping in the mall, of course, where else would we be! Since he passed, my dreams have all been about life since he passed, but last night I could see him, touch him, and hear him. When I woke up I tried so hard to go back to sleep and capture those moments again, but they were gone. I look forward to more dreams of him. I have reached the point where I smile much more than I cry when I think of him.

The other day we were going through a box of clothes Danielle had sent that Austin had outgrown. By the way, I love hand-me-me-downs for my kids because it reminds me of how excited I used to get as a kid when I received my box of clothes in the mail from my Aunt Jeanie that my cousin Tiffany had outgrown. I vividly remember that excitement of going through the box and looking forward to when I could wear them. Anyway, back to Austin's box. Shane was pretty excited too, especially when everything was fitting perfectly. Hallelujah! I do not have to buy Shane any new pants for a while. The Alex moment came when I pulled out a pair of fancy designer jeans. Ok, they were Guess, not Versace, but still the nicest I ever buy are Gap. They had these cool pockets and just looked like something Alex would wear. Only Alex would buy fancy jeans for his son. I need to call Danielle, because there is a tiny chance she bought them, but am going to bet money that Alex bought them. By the way, they are pretty awesome and look very good on Shane. Brian and I got a good laugh out of it and it felt good to laugh about something that was so Alex. Which, not sure if I ever posted it on the blog before but I may be the only person in town who owns a 9 month Versace overalls and white tuxedo shirt. Yep, Alex bought that when Shane was born. They are super cute, but I used to put Shane in a one piece under it because I was so afraid to get poop on it. At that time, that outfit cost more than anything I owned. And it was dry clean only, which should be illegal for baby clothes. In Alex's defense, he worked at Versace, so he probably got it for pretty cheap by Versace prices.

Shane and Myann were sharing Alex stories the other day. Shane said he still remembers when Alex was watching them all one night in Dallas, while all us moms went out for dinner. There were crazy thunderstorms and tornado watches in the area. Alex was so afraid of the tornadoes and being in charge of all the kids that he took them into my mom's bathroom and piled them all in the bathtub and that was where they stayed until the tornado watch ended. I really wish there was a picture to capture that moment of Alex in the tub with 4 kids. They both have asked to keep the remembrance cards from Alex's funeral by their bedsides. Their love for him and desire to hold on to his memory just warms my heart.

Lent

2011-03-09T06:28:00.000-08:00

Lent has been much discussed in this house this week. Our kids have had less than stellar behavior and I thought it was a good time to introduce the 40 sacrifice so that we experience just a little bit of the suffering that Jesus did for us. We still have some more discussing though, because Shane told me at dinner that he would hug my belly for 40 days for Lent. I explained that he loved hugging my belly and that was not a sacrifice. Then he asked if he could give up something that he was already grounded from. I see his point there, since he has been grounded from almost all electronic media on and off for 2 months.

As for me, I have decided to blog daily, something I have been terrible at, because it reminds me of my blessings. Also, I am going to reinstate what I did last year for Lent, and that is to give away something everyday. Mostly stuff to Goodwill, but some will be trash. This is huge for me, because I am a hoarder, not so packed inside your house that you can't move around, but I keep things because you just never know when you might need it. I am notoriously famous for hoarding boxes, just plain old shipping boxes, or boxes that figurines come in, or gift boxes, etc. My Aunt Cheryl helped purge my box of bags once because I had hundreds. In San Diego, I had an entire garage storage cabinet full of boxes. My thought process was I refused to buy a box for shipping, so I kept every shape size so I always had them on hand. I have since matured past that a little, since I order so much through the mail that we have new boxes coming every week. Plus the post office will give you flat rate shipping boxes for free. I still have my figurine boxes and the gift boxes that are too pretty to throw away. But I am down to a few shelves of boxes and not a whole cabinet. I have also since purged all my clothes from junior high and high school, this happened during Lent last year. Ok, so I still have one dress from high school, but that will go this week I am sure. Get the picture, I am bad and this is a perfect Lent sacrifice and when I clean out some of the clutter, it does allow more time and room for God in my life and that is the point of Lent.

While I was in Texas

2011-03-01T14:14:00.000-08:00

Funny things the kids have said that we don't want to forget.

2/25
Shane: Where does celery come from:
Brian: discussed God and from the dirt
Shane: But what does it look like when it grows?
Brian: A stalk
Shane: So what is that?
Brian: I think like corn stalk.
Shane:So you don't know dad? I'll figure it out myself.

Shane: Dad, we have a problem.
Brian: What Shane?
Shane: We just finished the milk and mom is gone and you don't shop much.

For Brian's birthday:
4 pages taped together which said Happy Birthday Dad Love Shane and Myann - perfect spellings. Then with bags of strawberries and cereal.

Jan 16, 2011
Anders: Where is Mom?
Daddy: Texas
Anders: I miss my mom.

Oct 29, 2010

Anders: I sleep with my money. This happened after he got a piggy bank for his birthday. Our kids have an unnatural attention to their piggy banks.
Sept 2010
Other Anders conversations:

Daddy:
Anders, you want a tickle?
Anders: No, No way Daddy!

Quickie snow fun

2011-02-23T20:34:00.000-08:00

We had a ton of snow come out of nowhere. So, what do we do while waiting for Shane to get out of school and we have 15 minutes to kill outside of the school. Play in the snow! It was awesome. Myann only lasted a minute because the wind was pretty strong. Anders was thrilled and chasing me with snowballs, so I kept kicking snow on him.

Hawaiian Goodbye

2011-02-21T20:37:00.000-08:00

Some of our good friends up and decided to move to Hawaii. I mean seriously, why would you choose to leave our snowy cold weather for 80 degrees and beautiful paradise?

Last photo of the kids together.

My last ski day

2011-02-18T20:40:00.000-08:00

Jen and I fit in a quick few hours of skiing while Shane had lessons.
Then Shane and I did a few runs together. He wanted to ski the trees, but I thought better given the fact that I am almost 5 months pregnant.

Myann the future vet

2011-02-16T20:43:00.000-08:00

Myann repeatedly tells us that she is going to be a veterinarian, well that and a superhero. Since the vet part seems slightly more realistic, I thought I would take her with me for Maddox's vet appointment. Maddox had a sore that he would not let heal, so off to the vet. Myann was beyond excited and when we told the vet tech and vet about her aspirations, they gave her the full visit. They brought in x-rays for her to look at and then the vet brought out lots of tapeworm and roundworm specimens. Myann was fascinated. She also took it upon herself to be Maddox's personal caregiver.

Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T20:48:00.000-08:00

Brian and I are not fans of Valentine's Day, but with kids you have no choice. To them it is a celebration of love and they have no idea that it is a manufactured holiday. So this year I decorated the house and did more than I normally would, not to mention the over 100 cards that we had to do for school parties and playdates. Also, I was thrilled to be able to go to Myann's school party and Shane's. No pictures from Shane's since I was busy leading math bingo. Myann's was more low key since I mostly stuffed valentines into bags. Here is Myann hamming up since she was quite happy to have me there.

As for my dear hubby, we do not do Valentine's Day, but Happy 12 Year Anniversary of meeting. I love you!

Hair cuts

2011-02-11T20:57:00.000-08:00

Today's hair cuts went great, like really great. All 3 kids cooperated and we even attempted to go a little different on cuts. Anders - I finally went a bit shorter and Shane wanted to go a bit longer. This is the first time that Shane has ever had a strong opinion about his hair and he was adamant that he keep it a bit long. Myann was in a super sweet mood too.

Where we are now

2011-02-08T21:44:00.000-08:00

I owed Alex a better post than leaving my initial reaction to his passing up for so long. The night he passed was rough, the roughest of my life. I did not sleep, I could not and had to be up at 3:30am to catch my flight, so it seemed pointless. The flight there was horrible, I cried the whole way and made the flight attendants quite nervous. However, the man sitting next to me was oblivious and kept talking about football. A wonderful friend picked me up from the airport and I went straight to my mom's where she held me while I cried. The irony, since I thought I was going to console her. But that is my mom, a woman created to be a mom, every fiber of her being goes into being a mom.

Everyone from our very large extended family arrived throughout the week for the services to be held the following weekend. Seeing friends and family really did help. Being with other people who truly knew and loved Alex provided comfort in ways I never knew. My girlfriends Heather and Michelle knew better than I did since they both arrived the same night as me, and just said we are here when you need us. I had said not to come yet, but they did anyway, and I was so glad they did.

I am still working through my thank yous, as are my mom and Danielle, because there are so many to do. The number of people who helped our family during the week and for the services was unbelievable. So many people donated their talents, resources, time, money, food, groceries, and the list goes on. And not only did family fly in, but friends from all over the country. It was amazing. Before this, I was not much for going to funerals unless I personally knew the person. I always felt funerals were private for close family and friends. But for the first time I can appreciate the people who came who did not even know Alex but were touched by his story, or came to support the family, or came to tell us that Alex had done something kind for them this one time. It was appreciated and meant a lot.

My sister-in-law, Danielle, has always been amazing and an inspiration, but she has reached a whole new level of remarkable. She showed strength unlike anything I have seen before. Not only did she have to grieve, help her children grieve, and plan the services, but then my poor niece ended up with strep throat and then the flu. On nights when Danielle should have been trying to sleep, she was cleaning up after a sick child. I tried to help, but Danielle was so concerned about my pregnancy, that she did not want me doing too much to expose myself. In the midst of everything, Danielle still managed to pull together a weekend of beautiful services. She set out to celebrate Alex's life and she succeeded. Never in my life would I have expected to laugh so much at the services and feel as if Alex was right there with us. The summary of the memorial service was that Alex was found attractive by both men and woman of all ages and sexual preferences. Alex would have been proud, since vanity was one of his vices. However, people also talked about his unique ability to make people feel special. He truly had a gift, probably why he was such a good salesman. Then Alex left a 26 minute eulogy that he had recorded in October 2010. It was a gift. I do not know how else to explain it, but he spoke with such wisdom and from the heart. It just made me so proud of the man he became, but so sad that the world lost such an amazing man.

So where are we now? I miss Alex a lot. The crying has become less frequent than it was in those early days, but I miss him even more. When Alex passed, I told my friend that I could not wait until it got easier and her response was, "Good luck." I did not get it, I thought that not everyone goes around crying when they lose someone, so it must get easier. Now I get it. The crying has decreased, I am not consumed all day with pain, but I miss him. I miss him whenever I see his car drive by. I miss him when I hear trance or house music. I miss him when my kids do something that I would have called to tell him. I miss him when it is quiet in the car or quiet as I fall asleep. I miss him when I see a David Yurman advertisement. I miss him when I think of any part of my childhood. And I have it easy compared to my parents, and Danielle, and Lexi and Austin who have to miss him all of the above times and all the other times since he was such a part of their daily lives. As for Danielle and the kids, they seem to be doing well. We are hoping to see them soon.

Thank you for the monetary donations to Lexi and Austin's college funds, the donations to the Alex Laynor foundation, and for the cards, emails, and flowers.

Sweet Myann

2011-02-06T21:02:00.000-08:00

Just a perfect photo of Myann and Katie, Myann being super sweet that is.

Aunt Sunny's visit

2011-02-04T08:01:00.000-08:00

I am cheating a bit here, because I wanted to blog part of Sunny's trip here. I took some of these things off Sunny's facebook page. Sunny flew in to take care of the kids so I could immediately fly to Dallas when Alex passed away. Brian got her settled in and then joined me in Dallas. Sunny then stayed a week after I got back. I knew she would have liked to go to the funeral, but was so thankful that she came here to take care of my kids.

Need an esteem pick-me-up, come visit my nephews and niece. SHANE: 'Tina is the best baby-sitter in the world' ME:'Yes, Shane. Tina is an amazing baby-sitter, but I thought that I was the BEST baby-sitter?' SHANE: 'No, silly. You're not the best baby-sitter, you're the BEST AUNT in the world!'

I was going to add the disclosure that he probably said that because I had just gotten him a present, took him out to eat wherever he wanted and fed them airline cookies for breakfast. I basically "paid" for that compliment.

The lesson that I learned from my 5 yr old nephew and 4 yr old niece tonight is: 'I have big woman boobies and Myann wants to have BIG woman boobies like Aunt Sunny. Little girls have little girl nipples'. Shane then added: 'Little boys just have nipples and boys should never have boobies'....

I wish that video monitors had a built in video recorder. My nephew says and does the funniest stuff in his crib before falling asleep. Right now he is singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" in a rap/metal version of the song, while headbanging along to his rendition. So dang cute!

Conversation over breakfast with my dear nephew...

Shane: Aunt Sunny you love kids and you take care of us really well, so when are you going to have your OWN kids.

Me: I don’t know, Shane. It just hasn’t been the right time yet.
......
Shane: But aren’t you over 30 or over 32?'

Me: Yes, Shane.

Shane: Well, you should definitely hurry up and have some kids then, cause otherwise you will be TOO OLD!

Ander's goodbye: 'I want a kiss' and he kissed my lips, and then both of my cheeks...precious. Shane's goodbye: 'But I'll miss you. I didn't get to do enough with you. How many days until you come back?'. Myann's goodbye: 'I wish you didn't have to leave. You could just stay here. I love you, Aunt Sunny'. I also got the longest hugs from Myann and Shane. I love them so much and already miss them!!!

And worst for Sunny but amusing to me, was that Sunny had a bad fall off a stool while she was here. Over a month later, Anders still gets up looks at the stool and says, "Aunt Sunny fell off the stool and went Boom." Thankfully she did not break anything, but had a few sore places and bruises.

Sledding

2011-01-30T21:05:00.000-08:00

One of Aunt Sunny's last days here and we decided to venture up to Mt. Spokane for sledding. The trip there was less than enjoyable, and definitely one of those days where the end fun makes it all worthwhile, but as 3 kids were whining and complaining, it made us rethink our plans.

Shane is my daredevil trying to go as fast as possible. For the beginning, Anders was happy to be with us, but by then end, he wanted to go all by himself and told me just that. So we did and he survived.

Anders going up the tow rope all by himself.

Grief

2011-01-16T01:48:00.000-08:00

I do not know how I am going to get through this day or this week or this year. Right now I am suffocating and have that feeling of not knowing when I will breathe normal air again. I do not know how I will face Danielle, or Lexi, or Austin or my mom. I need to be strong for them, but I know that one look in their faces and I will lose all composure. Brian is so busy being strong for me that he can not even properly grieve. I thought I had prepared myself for this day. I did not want to fully admit this day would come, because that seemed like I was losing hope, but I knew there was a chance and so I played out how I would feel in my head. My head had no idea. I am in immense physical pain, I feel Alex's loss at my core, and then I feel guilty because it is selfish. He is healed now; he is not in pain; who am I to complain of my agony when I should be rejoicing that he is in Heaven.

So I will grieve a bit longer and then I will honor my promise to him to take care of Danielle, and Lexi and Austin.

Manzanillo

2011-01-03T21:12:00.000-08:00

Thank you to Richard and Merrilee for taking us on a trip to Manzanillo, Mexico. We left the kids in Texas with Grandpa Jo and Grandma Anne, thank you so much, and we went with Brian's siblings and Merrile and Richard. We could only go for 4 days, but we had a wonderful time. Lots of Mexican food, probably too much, but no illness. I was having some pregnancy nausea, but ginger pills were working wonders, and Brian's family was kind enough to give me preferential seating for the car rides.

Here are some photos of our fun, I was a less than stellar pregnant person, but I had fun and this baby will love adventure. Not to mention, the car rides were rougher than the 4 wheeling or horseback riding.

Thanksgiving

2010-12-17T23:57:00.000-08:00

27 people in our house for Thanksgiving was an adventure.

Happy 4th Birthday Myann!!!

2010-12-02T22:17:00.000-08:00

Dear Myann,

The other day I looked at you and paused. I do not know how you grew so fast. You are always telling me that you are not little and that you are growing, but I think I failed to realize just how much you have grown until that pause the other day. You stood there in track pants that barely touched your ankles, of course you refused to take them off because no one can tell you to do anything, but it was proof of how much you have grown in just the past 3 months. Physical growth is only one small part of your growth. You want to run the neighborhood with the boys and do everything that they do. I have no doubt you would be fine, but I think I will hold you close a little bit longer. You are still challenging, you are still stubborn, you are still complicated, but I am slowly learning to understand you and we are finding our way together. I love that you are so lovable, and even on the days when I do not have time for endless hugs and snuggles, I try to just enjoy them because you will not always be small enough to climb into my lap for snuggles. You are our budding artist, thank God, because none of the rest of us have a lick of artistic talent. You are smart, though you are determined to not let me find out; you are compassionate, but only when you are feeling love; you are shy, but only when you are putting on an act; you are all boy, except for when it comes to purple. We have no idea what to get you for your birthday because you only want what Shane has. You are not into babies or barbies or dress-up. You like sword fights and wrestling and throwing balls. You do love your movies and taking care of your stuffed animals. You have said you want to be an animal doctor and I think you have found your calling. We love you big girl and look forward to the adventure that life with you will bring.

Thank you for understanding people

2010-11-29T22:41:00.000-08:00

Today was a normal day, take all 3 kids to the gym and get home in time for lunch and then back to school for Shane. Sounds easy enough, right? I thought so until I got a call from the gym asking if by chance we came home with the wrong shoes. I thought, no we're good and then they asked that I check. Sure enough, Anders had one of his boots and another boot that was double the size. Somehow I managed to put Anders in a shoe twice his foot size and not even notice. I was quite embarrassed and said I would be there in 20 minutes to swap out the boot. Once I thought back I wondered why Anders was walking funny, that boy has skills that he walked a fair distance in a gigantic boot through the snow. Thankfully the mother of the child was quite kind when I returned the boot. She smiled and said, no worries, I have been there too, why would a mother of 3 notice something as insignificant as a boot. Thank you God for gracious people who do not make us feel like morons.

Prelude to Thanksgiving

2010-11-24T23:47:00.000-08:00

15 family members and friends flew to Spokane this week to celebrate Thanksgiving in Spokane with us. Uncle Shane had already been in town and stayed for the crowd.
Second, was my Dad and Pam, who were here for a full week before Thanksgiving.
Then arrive Pam's sisters, Aunt Sandy and Cheryl, and Pam's mother Donna.
Next came Brian and Weida, my sister-in-laws, Danielle's parents.
Then, Winn, my brother's close friend.
Then, my Mom and John.
Last, Alex and Danielle with Lexi and Austin.

In the midst of all their flight arrivals was the snowiest November in history. It was nuts, gorgeous to look at, but terrible to drive in.

For pre-Thanksgiving festivities and to celebrate mine and Brian's 8th year anniversary - we went to the shooting range. Nothing spells romance like shooting a Magnum together.

November Ongoings

2010-11-12T23:17:00.000-08:00

Myann went with Daddy to Texas on an "alone trip". Since Shane had his "alone trip", we felt it only fair that she get one and the timing worked out perfect. Brian had a work trip to Houston, so he took Myann to have a week alone with her grandparents and aunts and uncles. To say she was spoiled was an understatement.
Here is a picture before they left for the airport.

And what do the boys do with their sister gone...play with her hair stuff.

Anders then busted his face in the gym parking lot. He ended up busting his lip and getting a black eye. However, he barely cried. I did not realize the damage he had done until the next day.

Just before Myann got home, Uncle Shane came to town to see Shane's graduation from Jedi Training Camp. Shane loved the camp and is already asking when he can go again.

Progress Made

2010-11-08T12:59:00.000-08:00

Every single day and usually multiple times per day I read or rather Anders discusses his Bible stories book. He likes to point out the animals, call the wise men santas and say "Ho, Ho HO." Every brown bearded man is Jesus. He can identify every single animal and we are talking, foxes, camels, zebras, and every other animal. Ok, so he thinks donkeys are horses, but I give him credit though I do correct him that it is a donkey. However, he ALWAYS, as in 100 or more times has called the ostrich a monster. No clue why, but from day one of going through the animals he has called the ostrich a monster. I have corrected him 100 times and he would still say monster. Well today at nap, he actually pointed to it and said ostrich. I was blown away and super excited. You would have thought he pooped in the potty the way I cheered and hugged and told him how smart he was. He just giggled and must have thought, this woman is crazy. We will see what he calls it tonight.

Also, side note. Anders is a daredevil thanks to the influence of his older siblings. He will jump from anything even when he should not however. However, I think to make me still feel loved and needed whenever he goes to step out of the car he always says, "Mommy, hand." It warms my heart.

Other funnies, today Anders discovered our talking Elmo. It is Shane's and still says "Hi Shane" and "Shane's loves applesauce", among several other phrases of which Shane corrected him that he did not like applesauce that much anymore. Point is, the toy is old and has been in our lives for years, though Brian has tried to throw it in the trash numerous times. Anyway, Anders has fallen in love with it. Today Elmo had to change his diaper, not mom. Not an easy task to use Elmo's limbs to change Anders' diaper. Elmo had to get his shoes on and Elmo had to go to the gym with us. Curious to see if this lasts more than a day, let's hope not.

Myann's Halloween Dance Recital

2010-10-20T22:07:00.000-07:00

Myann's dance class has been working on a dance that they performed for us today in costume. Myann was a bit shy with all the parents watching, but she did most of the dance. It was a tap routine, which is her favorite, except she tends to slip in her tap shoes. Surprising note, Myann was the only Darth Vader. I bet you were expecting more Star Wars characters in her class. That's my girl, she moves to her own beat. She would like to clarify that she is a nice Darth Vader.

Oh no he didn't

2010-10-20T20:06:00.000-07:00

Tonight my eldest and now least favorite child said in reference to the car trash bag. "Mom, how can you call this a trash can when you never empty it?"

This coming on the heels of, "How come Sheryl can keep her car so clean and yours is always a mess?" Sheryl is my neighbor and car pool buddy. My immediate response was, "Well Sheryl does not have 3 little kids messing it up." But who am I kidding, my car from when I was single had any number of miscellaneous things. They add to my clutter, but I can clutter a car all on my own. At least I can blame the kids.

He is confirming our suspicion that he will be the family neat freak. Praise God!!!! This family needs a neat freak, because Brian and I are soooo not.

Anders 2 year stats (Technically 25 months)

2010-10-19T21:45:00.000-07:00

Our shot schedule is a little off, so Anders had his 2 year well check up today.

He was super shy for the doctor, which meant extra snuggles for me, so no complaints. But he did what he had to do and was thrilled to get his stickers for consolation.

Stats:
Weight: 34.4lbs (95%)
Height: 35 3/4 in (75%)
Head: 20 in (90%)

Anders ongoings: He now sleeps with 4 animals, they have doubled in the past month (let's hope it is not a trend). He loves his Jesus book and points out every animal including the camels and zebras. Of course, the fox he calls it a box and he calls the ostrich a monster. No clue why. He also loves his foam puzzle books. He loves them so much that now he sleeps with them too. His bed is quickly becoming crowded. He loves fruit and bread and the occasional meat, but not so keen on veggies. He is our first kid to not like broccoli. He counts, but frequently skips the number 2, kind of ironic. He sings twinkle twinkle little star and the abc's. He loves Curious George and Nemo. He loves to announce who is naked, even if it is himself. By naked, he sometimes means you have skin showing. He has no interest in potty training. Well he likes to sit on the potty, but has yet to do anything on the potty. He is in Soccertots and has no interest in following directions or sitting on his spot. He just wants to run and kick the ball, jump when he feels like it, and catch the hula hoop. He is an amazing ball handler and has a good kick.

He also has inherited or learned his brother's propensity to get to the candy. I frequently find him stacking stools or moving chairs to get him tall enough to reach the candy. He loves all candy, chocolate or just sugary. He loves his vitamins and comes running because he thinks they are candy.

New way of eating

2010-10-18T22:12:00.000-07:00

In an effort to support my brother on his new eating regimen, I started looking into healthier eating. I have begun reading lots of books and slowly making changes around here. Some have been well received and others not so much. Brian let me know that quinoa 3 different ways in 3 different nights was still too much quinoa. So we are spacing it out a bit. The kids are willingly trying new things, but not always fully happy and taking to eating lots of apples between meals. Thankfully, I have children who LOVE healthy snacks. I wish I could snack like them. They beg for celery and cucumbers. But I want to make sure they are getting the protein they need as well as a variety of fruits and veggies. So I researched and settled on this version of a bento box.

It presents all the food at once and forces me to serve a variety of foods. The kids think it is a neat presentation and like the variety. I give them smaller quantities of several different foods. Myann and Anders seem to be eating the same amount as before, but Shane is eating much more and without complaint. Every day at lunch used to be a battle of choices and what he did or did not feel like. It has only been 2 weeks, but so far, he has eaten every healthy morsel of every meal I have served in the box for 2 weeks. I am sold. I do not give him a choice for lunch. I make the food and serve it. And he has been eating it. On my creative days and when I have an extra minute, I cut some of the food in cool shapes or serve the sides in cool shaped silicone cups. I use the silicone cups for the leftover foods because they are less enthusiastic about leftovers, but I serve it in a heart shaped cup and tell them it was made with love. They totally bought it. Score for mommy.

So what exactly are we doing different. Eating as little processed food as possible. We have never been fast food people or even restaurant eaters for that matter. I cook 99% of our meals. However, on my worn out days I would make mac and cheese, like I did tonight. But I have not been buying anything new from a box. We have been eating all fresh or frozen fruit, all fresh veggies, and grass fed beef on the few nights we eat beef. Most nights it is chicken, and we are working on the free range chicken part. I am even going to home make the granola bars and try to get us off boxed granola bars, our car ride standby. As I said, the kids mostly snack on carrots, celery, cucumbers, and fruit, so they are pretty easy. I am trying to eat more nuts as snacks and less protein bars. Next we are going to try to get off canned foods as much as possible. Our ultimate goal is to eat less sugar and less foods that might have added chemicals, pesticides, and sweeteners. It is tough and it will be a slow transition.

Shane's Inventions

2010-10-17T22:11:00.000-07:00

Lately Shane is all about his inventions. For a month, he has been talking about how his transporter would work. For the record, Shane has never seen Star Trek, so he did not know that the concept was not original. He may have seen it elsewhere, but every time we are running late, he says, "See Mom, when I build my transporter, we will not run late again."

This morning at church they talked about a group raising money for malaria nets. We talked more about why nets are so important. Shane then said he was going to invent a machine that created a laser field around you while you were sleeping and it would zap any mosquitoes that tried to get to you. Original idea, maybe not cost effective for rural Africa, but an interesting idea.

I am torn between posting his inventions, what if I post them and then someone steals his idea and invents it before he his old enough to do it on his own. I know, crazy, but he will never forgive me if someone gets to his invention first.

Warning: Serious Mom Bragging Post, VERY Biased

2010-10-17T20:12:00.000-07:00

Maybe he should have been named Thor - it suits him.

I have previously thought that I gave birth to the cutest kid in the world, but now I KNOW it is true. No luck getting him to smile for the camera, he was focused on the task at hand...getting candy.

Here he is smiling. See what I'm saying. Crazy cute!

And we all love his thighs so much we even let him climb on the table in a diaper. So actually pretty gross, but I was so worn out at this point in the day, I didn't care.

Ok, so the other kids are cute too. But I am biased towards Viking superheros.

By the way, I would feel amiss if I did not mention where these pictures were taken. My good friend Jen has an exceptional party planning daughter, Jordan, friend of Myann and betrothed to Shane. She planned every detail of the party and did all the decorations herself. It was the best Halloween Party we have ever been to. The kids had a blast and I was relaxed the whole night.

Pumpkin Decorating

2010-10-16T22:03:00.000-07:00

Daddy has been gone a lot lately, so our pumpkins were not going to be carved any time soon. I am not brave enough to bring out several sharp objects when it is just me and 3 very eager kids. Shane found these push in pumpkin decorators that I had bought on clearance after Halloween last year. Perfect! All 3 kids could decorate their own pumpkin with just a little extra momma muscle. They were pretty proud and I rather liked the clean up - NONE!

Pumpkin Picking

2010-10-11T23:17:00.000-07:00

It was a perfect Tuesday morning, so we decided to go back to Green Bluff to pick pumpkins. We chose our favorite pumpkin patch, Knapps. We were the only ones when we got there and had the entire patch to ourselves for a while. It was peaceful and gorgeous. We convinced the Kipps they had to join us. They arrived in time to pick some tasty blackberries. At that point the kids were done, as were we, so we paid for our load and ventured to Walter's for apple picking. Walters was a bit less peaceful since there were several school trips and we were on a tight schedule to get Shane to school. Jen was kind enough to offer to pick apples for us.

Anders was thrilled to see a tractor, he would have made a great farmer.

Anders saying, "Too heavy"

Running through the patch

My poor attempt to get all 3 in a decent picture. Shane was not cooperating at all.

Blackberry picking is hard work.

I love these pictures of Jordan with Anders. She is so sweet with him.

Scenic train ride

2010-10-10T20:31:00.000-07:00

We took the scenic train ride again from Ione, WA. The weather was pretty terrible, but the kids loved being inside in the caboose. They even had an elevated seat to better enjoy the view. Ok, so they mostly loved screaming in the dark tunnels and eating snacks, but as a great man called Papaw (my SIL's grandpa) would say, "Making Memories." We definitely made some memories. We were with our dear friends the Kipps and Prizemans and even Brian's boss Beth, who we love and happened to be in town. And props to Beth, she rode in the middle seat between Myann and Anders for the 90 minutes there and back. Poor Beth did not know what she was getting into, but she seemed to enjoy it.

Anders sticking his head out the window. I love the rain drops on his face.

The caboose

Myann wanted a picture all by herself

Harvest Time

2010-10-09T20:40:00.000-07:00

Though we have been to Green Bluff already, I prefer the quieter weekdays. However, the weekdays do not have the blow up houses and crazy mazes and festival stuff. So we went there Saturday after Shane's soccer game. Nightmare! It was packed, as I knew it would be, but we did it for the kids. Which meant we did not get apples or pumpkins. Instead, we let them play and then ate pumpkin donuts, ice cream and went home. We shared the misery with the Prizemans of course, so they made it better.
Shane and Myann with the Pumpkin Queen or Fairy?

Shane and James hamming it up

Happy Birthday Alex

2010-10-04T22:14:00.000-07:00

9 more birthdays than we ever thought we would celebrate! Today you spent your birthday driving to San Antonio to meet with more doctors who can hopefully help you celebrate at least another 9 birthdays. What a walking miracle you are. My brother and my hero, I love you and am thrilled that I could celebrate with you early last weekend. Cancer really does suck, but it definitely makes you stop and enjoy the time with loved ones. Last weekend was wonderful and I really could just be in the moment and enjoy all our time together. Given what you are going through, I know it is hard to stop and appreciate the gifts in your life, but last weekend was just one example of the gifts we have. I know you thought it as often as I did, we have the most amazing family. How lucky are we to be related to some of the coolest people on this planet. Of course, I think that about you. How lucky I am to have you for a brother. Danielle was so right when she said that you touch everyone you meet, there is just something about you that connects with people. How lucky am I that I have never know a minute on this earth without you. Ok, so as we reminisced, there definitely were a few minutes in my life when I wish you were not there, like when you tormented me repeatedly. :) But that is just sibling life.

Happy Birthday! We love you!
Your sister, your brother in law, and your niece and nephews

Attachment to socks

2010-10-04T22:05:00.000-07:00

Yep, some kids have lovies, some have blankets, Anders has socks. It started a few months ago when he would take off his socks at naptime, but then would want to take them downstairs after nap. I would have to search his crib and floor to find those socks. Now he insists on taking socks to bed at nap and nighttime. Let me clarify, he does not have to wear the socks - he just wants to hold them. He snuggles up with them the same as he does his babies (red teletubby and white lamb - Shane's hand me downs). Then any socks around go with him to playtime. Half the time I find him with the socks on his hands and he talks to them. Maybe I should give him the puppets to play with. Then there is Myann who refuses to wear socks. Winter is going to come as a rude awakening to her cold toes.

Aunt Sunny in town

2010-09-30T22:39:00.000-07:00

Aunt Sunny was in town to help with the kids while I left town. Can I just tell you that I could totally get used to having family in town who love being with the kids. Sunny is just a natural with the kids and they love her. I love that she likes to get the kids out as much as I do. She was around while I was here and it was such a treat to run errands while the kids napped or to go to the gym without 3 kids in tow or to have adult conversations in the middle of the day. Well we were so sad for Sunny to leave that Brian tried to prolong her trip and I had the even better idea that she just come back again. Airfare is cheap right now, so she is coming back in 3 weeks. Yippee!!!!! It made saying goodbye easier for the kids and Aunt Sunny. Sunny will be here for Halloween and for my girls weekend away. Brian is sooo spoiled! Ok, so I am spoiled too.

Greenbluff
Picking apples - the Empires were low to the ground, so that is what we picked.

Anders and Myann fighting about carrying the box

Anders helping Aunt Sunny

The Sunflower

2010-09-28T20:44:00.000-07:00

It is an epic tale really, of the sunflowers that took FOREVER to grow. In the beginning there were two and then one was maliciously chopped down by the evil brother. However, the normally evil sister did not care one bit. The awestruck mother did care tremendously because she nourished that sunflower for almost 4 months. She punished the evil brother by making him give the ownership of his remaining sunflower to his sister. The evil brother was devastated by this decision and conned his sister into sharing the ownership. However, all were happy and the evil brother was grounded from the wii for 2 weeks.

Note the stub on the ground from Myann's sunflower. Kind of looks like a green snake.

A Perfect Northeastern Weekend

2010-09-26T22:25:00.000-07:00

I took these pictures, they are not postcards. This was our scenery every morning as we ran. AMAZING!

As a mom, I suppose my perfect weekend should include my children and I have many wonderful weekends with my kiddos, but last weekend was childless bliss. Actually it was childless, husbandless bliss. I had no one to worry about but myself, and since I am an incredibly passive and easy going person, I was not even a worry. I was flying by myself, a vacation in itself, across the country to Pittsfield, MA to spend the weekend with my mom's side of the family. Complete with aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandmother. And of course, my mom and brother and sister-in-law. Yep, no children under 16 and the 16 year old was actually the largest person around. We ran in the picturesque countryside, ate delicious food, and just hung out. We watched my cousin's high school football team, looked through old family photos, and heard stories about my grandmother's family that I never knew. It was an easy and enjoyable weekend. I am blessed that I get to have these kind of weekends and spend time with some of the most amazing people on the planet. I have said this before, but seriously, how did I get so lucky to be related to the most wonderful people.

Oh yeah, and I read an entire book from start to finish and I picked up the manual to my new camera for the first time. Luxuries I do not have at home.
Pictures with Grandma Frances

Kylie and Justin (getting married next year and God help her, she asked Myann to be a flower girl)

Alex was surprised with a birthday cake and then gave an impromptu speech (he should have been a politician)

Playing with the settings on my camera - I love the picture. Hard to believe he is so sick, he looks perfect.

This is how the Boos clan rolls, we run and then we eat. We had an awesome breakfast at a little restaurant across the street from the jogging path.

This is not meant to be funny, but since I am from Texas where football is everything and high school ball is played on college size stadiums, this small town game where my brother and Uncle happen to be there and are asked to do the polls or whatever they are called it pretty amusing.

My cousin Guy is in the middle being an awesome Team captain and pumping up his team. Sadly he broke his wrist 2 weeks before our trip, so we did not get to watch him play and it is his senior year.

So gorgeous!

My Aunt Melinda and her grandfather (Part of the reason for the trip was to celebrate her 50th birthday. She looks amazing.)

My youngest cousins, who used to be the babies are all grown up.

Myann's First and 2nd to last soccer game

2010-09-18T20:52:00.000-07:00

Myann insisted all summer she wanted to play soccer. Of course she also wanted to do dance and gymnastics and swimming. We did swimming for a few months and decided to try dance. Aunt Sunny insisted we put her in something "with a ball". I for the record totally agreed and was optimistic because as uncoordinated as Myann can be, she is pretty athletic. The first practice, did not go well. She would only participate if I was holding her hand. I told her I could not hold her hand during the game, but she insisted.
Game Day - she looks pretty cute and ready to go. But the moment coach asked her to play, she said no and hid behind me. This went on the whole game. One mom even tried to coax her on the field and Myann gave her the stink eye and said, "Don't talk to me." That was our cue to leave.

Update: Aunt Sunny took her the following weekend to practice, of which she would only play with Sunny, and then during the game, she did step foot on the field, but then would not play. Week 3 and she begged me not to go to the game. We asked her again on week 4 and she still said she would not play. So, Myann is done with soccer for this year.