Check-Up

Why is it that every time you go to the doctor’s office you’re there for an insane amount of time? With two little boys, it’s even crazier. Reading books and drawing pictures can only entertain a child for so long.
And to add to the craziness, picture Talin, who is five years old, receiving just ONE shot. Not a big deal right? Wrong.
The child cowered in the corner and hid under a chair when the nurse came in with the shot. I had to threaten him to get him to sit on the bed so the shot could be administered. He screamed bloody murder. I was amazed at this reaction. Last year he got SIX shots and didn’t make a peep. What happened to my little man?
Then, after being in the office FOREVER, we head down to the pathology department to get blood drawn for Collin. Talin was thrilled when he learned that Collin was getting a shot as well.
Collin on the other hand was fine and dandy with it until me and another nurse had to secure his arms while they put the needle in and drew the blood. The child went ballistic before the needle was even in his arm.
Talin stood in awe, grateful to have just received a shot.
Two, well actually three, candy bars and two happy boys and one exhausted mother later we got to go home. Now I’m nursing a headache and waiting for bedtime to arrive SOON, PLEASE!
Oh, and I almost forgot to add in the little mishap once we arrived home. They go up the stairs to play in their room when I hear the beginning rumble of the two of them falling down the stairs in a heap of little boy arms and legs. It was the most horrifying thing to see.
Is this the major fall that puts one of them in the hospital or a cast??!!
All the panic comes, but thankfully both are fine. Once I realized that Collin is going to have a bruised back and Talin a bruised forehead, I breathe a sigh of relief and start screaming at them about playing on the stairs.

For heaven’s sake, does mothering get any easier!

Some days…..

Talin's First Day

I sent my baby off to full day kindergarten today. It was tough. I almost cried, but sucked it in, I don't know why I'm so nervous for him, I'm sure he's having a great day. He's been so excited. I kept asking him how he felt to be going to school, and he would smile and say how happy he was to finally be going to kindergarten. And then in the background was Collin's voice, "I not happy about it". Oh yes, when the attention is not on him, he's typically not. But his time will come, it's going to be hard for him to lose his best friend all day. I'll have to be gentle with him and the attitude that is sure to come.

Have you seen a happier boy? I have him in an apron because he's a notoriously messy eater and he was having waffles with syrup, so I didn't want him to be all crusty on his first day of school. Is he not adorable!

The Joys of being a Sunday school teacher

Five twelve year-olds and two toddlers later, this is what my kitchen table looked like this morning. And this picture does not do it justice, it was littered with sprinkles of every color.

It sounded like such a GREAT idea to have my little Sunday schoolers over for a weekday class get-together to make treats for our less active class members, but I should have read the signs that the day would not be great. And it wasn't even that bad, it's just that Collin ran a fever all the night before, and I woke up with a headache, which is never a good thing. And once the cookies were made we spent over an hour in the car delivering them. But I guess it was all worth it, because the kids had a really fabulous time together outside of the classroom. They are already begging for another get together to watch movies. Sounds like a personal hell. Don't get me wrong though, I have a fondness for this little Sunday school class of mine.

I'm just not thrilled about the sink full of frosting dishes that is still waiting on me to clean.

Countdown to School

I’m really excited for Talin to start kindergarten on Thursday, and so is he. Collin also starts preschool in September and we are exceptionally excited for that event as well. Here are a few reasons why I can’t wait for school to start this year.

1. Collin wandering around the house singing “somewhere over the rainbow” in a voice that sounds like a cross between Frank Sinatra and satan.

2. Talin and Collin insisting they fix my hair so that I can look more like a princess. I ended up wearing a crown, multiple pony tails in my hair, my hands covered in every ring I owned and a few necklaces to boot. Tom found it very amusing when he arrived home for lunch.

3. Hearing the boys narrate what me, the princess is doing throughout the day. We have thin walls, and the other day I overheard Collin, “the princess is upstairs, going potty!” followed by giggling. Is there no privacy?

4. Lego’s everywhere, they get cleaned up, yet they still litter the house. I don’t understand this. I finally confiscated them, yet I still find Talin with the occasional Lego that has not been put away. They are the tiny ones, and are making my life miserable. How can one little toy destroy your happiness like this?

5. The bucket on my back porch full of about ten dead caterpillars. How am I going to explain to them that their best friend’s who they are expecting to turn into butterflies, have died? And why did they die? They had plenty of foliage in there to eat, and branches to cocoon onto. I don’t understand, and neither will my boys.

Just a few reasons why school is going to be a welcome break from the little things in life that are starting to ware me out. Plus the fall is going to be gorgeous. Love the fall in Iowa.

The Fair

We went to the Iowa State Fair on Friday. I guess this fair is extremely famous, they have a massive amount of animals, activities and fried food. It's common to deep fry candy bars, Twinkies, and I guess anything you can eat. The smell is incredible when you walk in the fair and it's much too large to do in one day.
Well we happened to be there on the hottest day ever! I thought I was going to die. The four of us are blue eyed, blond hair and don't do well in the heat. It was exhausting. And it didn't help that the first thing I ate was a funnel cake, it sounded so good, but it made me so sick. I could only breath through my mouth the rest of the time because every time I got a whiff of something deep fried I thought I was going to vomit! It was awful, but I tried really hard to have a good time. It was just difficult because Collin had several breakdowns and even Talin got upset at some point. But here are the fun fair pictures, the animals were crazy!

This cow was freaking us out. First of all he was huge and second of all his hip bones stuck out like crazy, and they were shaped very unusually. Never seen a cow like this, but there was a whole row of them.
This boar was disgusting. That's all I have to say about that.
Here are my cute little piggies!!



This elk made me sad. I'm so used to seeing them in the forest that it broke my heart to see this one in a cage.

This was the largest sheep. I think he weighed around three hundred or four hundred pounds.

Here is the largest bull. He weighed over three thousand pounds. He was a beast.

Collin petting a normal sized sheep.

This horse was beautiful. I wish I had a picture of his body, but he was in his stall. The boys loved petting the horses.

They had the cutest little farm. The kids got to plant vegetables and then they harvested them. After that they got soy seeds. They took the seeds and turned them into fuel, and drove a tractor around that they fueled with their seeds. Then they got to sell their vegetables and they each got a dollar and they had a real store where they got to pick something out and buy it for their dollar. It was so cute. Of course my children passed over the healthy options and bought a rice krispy treat with their money.

Here is Talin planting and harvesting his veggies.

It turned out to be a fun day, despite the heat. I'm glad we went, because last year we never got around to going, so this was a fun experience to have. Maybe we'll try to go again, just for the food. It was a great disappointment to not try everything!

Guess Who!

Today at church it was a little more exciting than every other week, no I didn't have some kind of shocking enlightenment or spiritual experience. Instead we had a surprising visitor. Mitt Romney came to our ward. How odd and unexpected is that?

There we are singing a hymn and Tom whispers to me,

"That guy behind us looks exactly like Mitt Romney".

I start giggling but manage to discreetly take a peek.

"Yeah, he does look like him, but it's not him".

He was sitting by his wife, exceptionally well groomed (for my ward) and put together.

Then after awhile a group of very well groomed families come in and two little girls run up and give him hugs and then find seats in the congregation. Yup, it's him.

We don't have random people come to our ward very often, people were excited. They went up and shook his hand after sacrament meeting and there was a buzz throughout the next two hours of church about him. Tom told me that he went to Sunday school and then left with his family afterwards. This is about as exciting as our Sundays get.

Second Year

The first week of school is always the best for Tom. His school is really family oriented, so they spend a lot of time taking care of their first and second year students.

So this week we got to attend a getting to know the first years type of outdoor dinner with families invited. They had a band and terrible food, but it was fun. They served a black bean burger, how wrong is that?

Then last night they had a softball game, first years against second years. I spent all of my time over at the playground with my boys, but I guess the second years kicked butt, woo hoo! And then we had a barbecue, with real beef hamburgers this time, yeah!

The boys had a great time, they are exceptionally social, I have no idea where they get this from because Tom and I are not the most social couple around.

The other day we went to Tom’s school for lunch, something we haven’t done since last year. When Talin was in preschool the day was a little hectic, so we didn’t get over there every much, but the boys have missed it. So I’ve decided to try and get the boys to lunch a few times with their dad before school starts for them this year.
Anyway, last year Talin used to have an obsession with dressing up to go to Tom’s school. It was extreme. He would wear knee pads, elbow pads, a tie, a helmet and a cape. The students loved it when they would see him, but it was a little insane to have my toddler insist on dressing like a confused superhero each day. He would try to get Collin to wear some kind of outfit as well, but Collin would look at him with a disgusted and confused look and refuse.
So this year I was hoping to avoid the crazy outfit, and I was lucky, we got away with a Mohawk and a tie only. I know people probably think that I dress them and fix their hair like this on my own, but I really don’t, they insist on it. Wish I would have taken a pic!

Well, Tom started school on Monday, and surprisingly enough it was actually a relief. I think he needed to get back to school and I think I needed to get back to a normal routine in life. Plus now I don't have to feel guilty for spending the entire day reading Stephenie Meyer's new book Eclipse.
I was giddy with excitement when it arrived in my mailbox yesterday. Amazon said they wouldn't deliver it until Friday and I was so bummed, but that made getting it yesterday so much more joyous.

Last Night

Tom goes back to school on Monday, we are all devastated, okay, maybe just me, but the boys will be when they realize dad isn't around to play with anymore. But we've been trying to make the most of our time. So Tom gave the boys a wonderful night last night, for I'm sure there will be less and less of those to come in the future.
First of all I rented some movies for the boys and then I let them help me make cookies for the night. Afterwards Tom helped them to make a fort in the front room. (yes, that is writing on the underside of the table, my little artist Talin did that a few years back.)Tom initially called it the "He-man woman haters club", but that had to be quickly remedied, I'm outnumbered here and I can't be raising little woman haters!

The boys were thrilled. They brought down blankets and pillows to hang out in and decided that they were going to sleep there last night, with their dad of course.

After the fort building Tom took them to a baseball game and they had a great time. I stayed home and had a little down time, besides I think it was a boys thing last night and I was more than happy to let it be that way.

A little claustrophobic for me, don't ask me how Tom managed to sleep in here with them for part of the night, maybe that's why it was only for part of the night.

Not the safest thing either. Collin woke up in the middle of the night extremely confused and disoriented as to where he was and where the bathroom was. Thank goodness Tom woke up with him because I was in a coma from the late night and didn't even hear him.

The boys club. We let the boys stay up until eleven watching a movie after the game. We NEVER let them stay up that late, surprisingly enough they've been really happy today despite the late night.

Of course Collin was up by eight, but this was Talin first thing in the morning, angry that cartoons were turned on, he was angry about being woken up. He's our sleeper.

And I even managed with a little trickery to get the tent down today. Every time I mentioned it Talin almost burst into tears, but Tom sent them on the back porch with a Popsicle while I took the tent down and they never said a thing when they came back inside. Probably the late night.

This is unbelievable. The bridge going over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis collapsed yesterday. Absolutely shocking. I hope everyone remembers these people and their families in their prayers today.

Today the boys played outside.

Tom filled a bucket with water and they went to town.
Collin spent most of his time sucking muddy water out of a spray bottle.
Talin is more an inventor and made mud, waterfalls and...not sure what this was.
The observer and the inventor.
Things got a little crazy when Tom soaked them with the hose while doing some yard work.
I don't allow wet, muddy, crusty things in the house, so the clothes had to go!

Best friends.

My Garden

It's a little late in the year, but Tom and I decided to plant a garden in the front yard. I think it's absolutley lovely. Next year in the spring it will be vegetables in the backyard. Tomatos, strawberries, carrots, squash, herbs...it'll be great.

Tagged

Thanks Amy, I was having a difficult, and I mean, really difficult time coming up with something to blog about, but more than anything I was just starting to not really care. So hopefully this will get me on the bandwagon once again.

4 Jobs I’ve had:

1. Worker. I don’t know how to really put this other than worker, because I often worked odd jobs for my dad when needed. I dug a ditch for weeks and got paid for it, so I guess that could be considered my first job, working for dad.

2. Telemarketer. I hated this job, for fun I would put on an English accent and consequently get more sales. How funny is that? I have a great phone voice. And for all the time I worked as a telemarketer I still don’t have sympathy for them when I get calls.

3. Receptionist for a lube shop for one short, well it felt like a long, afternoon. This was a nightmare. My father insisted I needed to work, being a senior in high school and only going to school until noon each day I could understand his insistence, yet I did not want to work in a lube shop with disgusting, sweaty, greasy men. Yuck. I refused to go back.

4. Secretary. I loved this job and I worked it the longest, at least until I had Talin. I got paid great, I was able to work my way up and I loved having people and being over them. Being the youngest in a family of five, that gave me great joy.

4 Places I’ve lived:

1. The Valley-all over the valley, Mesa, Chandler, Gilbert, Scottsdale, and Phoenix.

2. Denver, Co. I loved Denver, lots to do, lots to see and all around fun, those were the golden years of growing up.

3. Flagstaff, AZ. I miss Flagstaff, once you got over the granolas and college students, it was a beautiful little town.

4. Des Moines, IA. My life is going to be in increments of four and three years with Tom’s school and where we live and will live. Right now we are in our three year increment in Iowa, and I find I’m quite enjoying it.

4 Favorite TV shows:

1. America’s Next Top Model – I’m no longer ashamed to admit to this anymore, I just don’t care.

2. CSI Las Vegas, NOT Miami, NEVER Miami

3. House –He’s a cynical jerk, I LOVE it.

4. We just got cable so I’m sure I’ll be able to fill this space with a cable show treasure in the future.

Favorite Foods:

1. Chocolate. Chocolate cake, chocolate brownies, chocolate candy, anything chocolate to an extent of course.

2. Salmon

3. Granola, my new found love.

4. Ice Cream

4 Websites I frequent:

1. My hotmail

2. www.about.com, it has answers to everything

3. allrecipes.com

4. lds.org

4 Places I’d rather be right now:

1. working out, I know that’s a lame answer, but I’ve really slacked off for the past two, no I mean three months, yikes!

2. Rocky Mountain National Park. We drove past it, not through it on our way to Denver from Cedar City, and I had such an overwhelming urge to visit and do the drive through it. Maybe next time.

3. Disneyland. It just sounds like fun right now, and my boys are the perfect ages to go.

4. Europe. No kids, just Tom and I with lot’s of money.

4 Movies I love:

1. Fifth Element

2. Willow

3. Pride and Prejudice

4. Lady Jane

I tag:
1. Susan
2. Cozzette

Mother's Day

All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his. ~Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest, 1895

I've been very blessed to see myself becoming like my mother over the years. It used to frighten me when I would hear my mother's voice in my words or see her face staring back at my expressions in the mirror. It no longer scares me, I'm proud, and I'm proud to be a mother similar to her. I embrace my reflection and my responses that are so similar to hers, I could only hope to be as beautiful and to have as much wisdom and great advice as she has given.

I'm also very blessed to have a wonderful mother-in-law. Mother-in-law's are supposed to be scary, not mine; she's just lovely and always has been. I love the way she never judges anyone and you will never catch her gossiping, she really has been an example to me, for I am one that loves to know what's going on with everyone and why so and so did this or that and what were they thinking. No, not with Karen, she accepts and loves unconditionally. I so respect that in her. And she did a phenomenal job on raising a caring, unselfish, and infinitely kind son, who I love to death. You can tell a good mother by her son, and you should always thank her for making him that way, because it's his wife that gets the reward of having him.

I hope that I can be a good mother to my boys. I want to raise them so that their wives will come and thank me someday for giving them such fabulous husbands.

And to my mother, you are an incredible mother, talented, beautiful and giving. I appreciate all the things I've learned from you. I remember lying in your arms quite regularly when I was little, always begging you to scratch my back or my arm or my leg. You taught me to be an unselfish mother, for I never knew what a sacrifice it must have been to sit there with me when there were a thousand things to be done, and scratch my little body. Now I have a little man who demands the same from me, and I appreciate you for I never felt that you were ever impatient with me.

And here are some fun pictures of the two mothers’ in my life. I love them both and appreciate the support they are to my little family.

Cyndee & Talin at Christmas time.

Karen & Talin.
A child can only be this happy and relaxed with his Grandma.

Cyndee and Karen at our wedding. If I remember correctly they are laughing at my expense. I believe this is where Karen finally gave me permission to be in Tom's room. Not as exciting though if it's allowed! :)

Karen with Collin. This was his first weekend home from the hospital and Tom's family drove up from the valley to see him.

Cyndee with me, I was a sleeper, still am, love that sleep!

Left to right: JoDee, Tyler, Amy (w/binoculars), Mandi, Me, and Cyndee.
Aren't we cute? We were a family on the go, we camped and always had a great time together.

I love this picture. Here we are in dad's tree stand. A family of hunters, and Cyndee was always there taking care of us.
Left to right: Amy, Tyler, Mandi, Me, JoDee, and Cyndee

Left to right: Tom (I know he's adorable!), Andy, Sharen, Kraig holding Kevin, Susan, Elias and Karen.

Karen with her clan, and this isn't all of them, she has eight kids total. And I did not cut off Kraig's head, that was how the picture was already.

A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie.
~Tenneva Jordan

Saturday Nap

Shhh!!

Should I wake them now or let them sleep through the night!
I guess a father and sons' campout takes a lot more energy out of you than I thought!