Boys will be boys

{except when they want to try on bras at TJ Maxx and refer to their baby brother as being "stylish"}

A snapshot of time

It's 6:58 pm on a Wednesday. Just contemplating how I need a blazer in every color of the rainbow while sweeping up vanilla wafers and veggie straws that I used to keep Ryder entertained while I made this for dinner.  It was good, but eveyone was guilty of picking out the veggies and eating only the pasta. I wish my love for asparagus overpowered my love of all things carb. Jayden, as always, cried with every bite that he ate and told me I was so mean for making him eat.  I told him CPS would take him away and he would be an orphan if I didn't feed him.  Not one of my better parenting moments, but he did eat it. I also threw away a bag of jelly beans, only to pull it out later when I was going through sugar withdrawl like some crack addict. Not one of my prouder human moments. I told the kids they could either stay outside and play or help me clean up. Kylie, bless her heart, was the only one who offered to stay inside and help.  She said I looked tired, because I was. The babies are always up at the crack of dawn and I can't seem to get to bed at a decent hour.  I don't want to waste my quiet evenings by sleeping but I regret it every morning. She cleaned up the toys then tells me the veggies I just blended up for Ryder look like throw up so I send her out to play.  I prefer to have them outside while I clean up anyways, I like watching them out the window and I like having a quiet house.  I just put Ryder down, he has been so grumpy lately.  Dang teeth. Every day by 5:00 I'm exhausted and start the countdown until bedtime. The kids are all bathed and clean and I look out the window to see Kylie turning the sprinklers on under the tramp.  She said a wet tramp makes her bounce higher when she does her back layout and back tuck.  She amazes me on the trampoline, but now her and Maddox are soaking wet.  Jayden's idea of playing outside is playing Kylie's itouch on the patio.  Atleast he's dry.  And atleast he's not playing Roblox.  I can't stand that game, I think it's slowing my computer down so I banned him from it.  Without the computer to play he went swimming with us after school then he and Kylie wore their swimsuits in the bath and stayed up there for 45 minutes.  They emptied the entire bottle of handsoap in the tub and there was water all over the floor, but I was glad they spent time together.  The older they get the less they have in common and it makes me sad that they don't play like they used to.  I'm looking forward to Jason coming home.  He sent me some sweet texts today that made my day.  I made Maddox take off his wet pajamas before coming inside and now he's outside naked cutting the grass with scissors.  Earlier he told me he had a dream that he had a big chest like a mommy and then I overheard him singing "Nationwide is on your side" while playing.  What goes on in his little head will always remain a mystery to me.  Jason got home a little after 7 and I warmed dinner up for him, I wish we could eat dinner together as a family.  We worked together to get the rest of the kids in bed.  Maddox fell asleep fast, which is a welcome change.  He tells me he has to come out of his room and ask me 3 questions every night.  Which he does.  It's 7:42 and Kylie forgets she has to make an outline for her Arizona Wax Museum project.  I'm not too happy.  The door knocks, it's the YW doing a service scavanger hunt.  They unload the dishwasher which makes Jayden and Kylie happy because that means they don't have to do it in the morning.  Now I am sitting here enjoying the quiet house, watching Nightline with Jason while we're both on our computers and coexisting on our seperate couches.  We save the talking for bed.  It's 9:47 and I have a feeling I'm going to stay up way too late and start the cycle all over again tomorrow. Such is life.

McCutie

I had the pleasure of dining on chicken nuggets with this adorable freckle faced little boy.  We covered such important topics as who he sat by on the bus to the fieldtrip, how he plays soccer every recess, how he wants the Nerf Longshot for his birthday and how he got a Spongebob bobblehead from the treasure box.  I checked Kylie out for lunch a couple of weeks ago and today was Jayden's lucky day.  He thought he was in trouble when he got called to the office but when he found out I was taking him out for a lunch date he wrapped his arms around me and told me "You're the best mom I never had".  Hmmmm, thanks for the compliment. I think.  If anything, thanks for the best half hour of my day.

The best part of waking up, is NOT Folgers in my cup

It's waking up to this cute smiley little mug.  With his seven year old hand me down jammies that make it possible to nibble on those little piggies. Mmmmm.

So this is what my life has come to

I have no issues with hanging up on telemarketers or shortly telling a salesman we're not interested if the kids get to the door before I can stop them.  But those living scripture telemarketers get me every time. I have to sit and discuss the weather with them, because that's always their opening line, and then try to tell them gently that we're not interested without sounding like a complete heathen.  Then today I had to listen to the whole schpeal from the door to door food storage salesman because I'm pretty sure it's part of the BYU alumni honor code or something like that.  It was at that moment--standing there in my knee length mom shorts with a baby on my hip, a dried patch of snot on my shoulder, a three year old running into my heels with his red plasma car and interupting me with constant updates on just how many nerf darts Jayden had shot at his head and checking the clock so I wouldn't be late for carpool all while discussing the pros of freeze dried food vs dehydrated foods and sharing my joy of home canning--that I thought to myself, so this is what my life has come to. It was kind of a defeating moment. I wake up every morning wondering if today is the day I should flush the fish since I'm the only one who cares about it anymore, I can't sleep at night because I am haunted by the stark realization that I haven't washed my pillows in years and I get excited for the second Saturday of the month because it's customer appreciation day at Papa Johns.  The Walmart cashier even knows me by name, for crying out loud. What happened the glamorous life I had once dreamed of?? Then later as I watched the kids laughing together in the fort that they built I started thinking more about it and realized that my life has come to everything I ever dreamed it would be and more.  A daughter who tells me her secrets, compliments my clothes, still calls me "mama", watches HGTV with me, organizes the fridge, gives amazing backrubs, eats tomatoes like apples, curls her eyelashes before going out, has a notebook filled with songs she has written, makes me the best hot chocolate and fights to sit next to me at church every week so that I can tickle her neck.  A son who asks me if dimples attract the females, dreams of being on America's Funniest Home Videos, writes me love letters, tells me you can't trust babies or men with beards, opens doors for the elderly, tells me he's basically a man and doesn't need kisses but let's me kiss him anyways, is glad that heaven has a rockstar now that Micheal Jackson has died, loves long hot baths, thinks that Red Baron is the best pizza in the world and lets me hold his hand in public even though I know secretly he is dying of emberassment.  A three year old boy who can't go to sleep until I sing him twinkle twinkle little star and you are my sunshine, snorts when he laughs, eats turkey sandwiches for breakfast, makes a shopping list of band-aids, milk and brocoli every time I go shopping, loves the Strawberry Shortcake movie on Netflix, helps me cook dinner every night, listens to John Jacob Jingle Heimer Schmidt on repeat in the car, saves everything on the bottom shelf of the fridge, shows me how much faster he can run everytime he eats a good meal, wants to tickle the earth, tells me multiple times throughout the day that I'm his best friend and tells me that "honey means mom".  A baby who will smile at me no matter how long I left him crying in the crib, crawls after me everywhere I go, giggles when I squeeze his chubby thighs, stares at me in the dark while I rock him to sleep, squeals loud enough to get me out of sunday school each week, nuzzles his head into my shoulder when he's tired and growls when he's happy.  And a husband who opens doors for me on dates, returns the Redbox movies when I forget, kisses me in public, worries about me when I'm out alone after dark, apologizes when he's wrong, brings home BYU bookstore chocolate covered cinnamon bears, lets me nap every sunday, cuddles and talks with me every night, makes me feel beautiful, listens to my dream of moving to Switzerland, always has my back, texts me funny rhymes that he makes up about me, always reminds the kids how lucky they are to have a mom like me, and still loves me even when I fart under the blankets.  So yes indeed, what my life has come to is even more than I could have ever imagined, snotty noses and all.

Heaven help me

Oh I could die a thousand deaths the way this picture kills me each time I see it. I just so happened upon these bowties in the dollar section of Target, on Easter clearance mind you, and I had to have a serious talk with myself as to why I have never put bowties on my boys before.  Although Jason did kind of kill it for me when Maddox put his on right after he got out of the bath and he taught him to say "Chip n' Dale".

Snippets of Easter weekend

Lake trip with friends, this has got to be one of the best tubing pictures ever, makes me laugh everytime

These two have been friends since they were toddling around together in diapers at nursery.  His mom would make the best mother-in-law.  I'm just sayin....

We barely got finished backing the boat into the garage when it was time to host our neighborhood Easter egg hunt and potluck (Kylie was at dance and is AWOL in the picture).  One of the kids thought Maddox's name was "Nugget" because he calls himself "Naggox".  We laughed and laughed about Chicken Naggox all weekend.

The string maze was a hit last year and officially became a tradition.  Kylie was so excited to help out with it the night before, and I was too tired to say no.  I figured we owed her that much since she baby-sat for us while we snuck out to dinner after putting the babies to bed.  She's almost 10, that's legal, right??

I'm not sure why he was so surprised to get the nerf laser gun. He has only pointed it out to me in every store we're at and in every ad and has gently reminded me about every hour on the hour since I revealed the Easter bunny secret to him.  He was so cute and grateful though, it almost justified the hours he has spent on youtube researching the best guns to add to his arsenal.  Yes, he really refers to it as his arsenal.  Oh this boy...

Easter brunch, or more like linner because everyone was ravenous after church and devoured leftover pizza before I had time to cook. These mini German pancakes were a big hit and the weather could not have been more perfect.

Egg dying. After I saw the way they manhandled them, I still can't decide if it's safe to use them for egg salad sandwiches, but atleast they had fun decorating them.

Then they spent the afternoon enjoying the Easter basket spoils

He is finally officially a crawler and manuevers his way all over eating anything in his path from food crumbs to rocks, but boy is it nice the way he can entertain himself

Easter turkey dinner. Jayden thought he was going to be sick from eating so much after the whole 2 bites he took.  Why oh why do I cook so much food? Atleast Jason and I enjoyed it. And Ryder too.

Kylie's activity day class made the perfect Easter FHE lesson.  It had pinterest written all over it, so I stalked her teacher's pinterest boards to find the link to share.  It was right on their level, engaging and spiritual.  I'm so glad we made it to the Easter pageant this year too, it really opened up some great conversation and spiritual discussions.   I knew I was in trouble when we were driving to the pageant and Jayden was surprised to learn that Jesus was resurrected on Easter and that's why we celebrate it.  Seriously, dude, are we really that big of failures as parents??

We ended the night with a glow in the dark egg hunt.  And more carrot cake.  And more carrot cake.  Let's just be honest here, I could eat the entire pan by myself. I couldn't have asked for a better Easter.  The kids were so happy and gracious, the weather was gorgeous, the food was delicious, Jason was hot, the spirit was present and I felt nothing but love for my family and Savior.

So you think you can dance

Yes she does and yes she can and it makes me proud as a peacock to watch her do her thing. Lucky for me, this performance team has given me oodles of chances to see her in action.  This past weekend Jason and I had to tag team, I took the boys to Jayden's baseball game and he went on a little daddy date with Kylie to the Diamond backs game where she was performing.  I thought she would be nervous to perform at such a huge venue, but it was second nature to her.  I told Jason to take lots of pictures, which usually means he comes back with 10 copies of the same shot, but this time he did his job and It made me happy since I couldn't be there in person.

Diamondbacks game

Ostrich Festival Parade

I get the impression that Jayden doesn't get quite as excited as I do to see all the performances.  That, and he's pouting since he didn't catch one of the plastic footballs they were throwing out.

Ostrich Festival

I was really looking forward to this, we went years ago and had a lot of fun.  I was disappointed at how crowded it was.  The ostrich races were my favorite last time but Jason could barely squeeze the kids between the legs of perfect strangers to catch a peek and I stayed back on the grass and changed a dirty diaper in the middle of running kids and churro wrappers.  It was just as memorable, but a different kind of memorable.  Atleast the dancing made up for the lack of ostriching.

Such good sports, these boys of mine

Highschool half-time show 

I was flying solo with all four kids 2 hours after bedtime, so taking pictures was at the bottom of my list of concerns.  Or maybe it was because being in the high school scene again made me feel ancient and I'd rather not remember that part.  Either way, thanks Nicole for letting me steal this off your blog!