Trend Setter

Messy is the new cool. Ok , maybe not in everyone's world. But I love this saying! I love seeing toys out at my house. I appreciate books all over. I find dried up playdoh and it makes me smile. I also love going to friends house and seeing similar things. One day my house will be free of Legos and "I can read" books- I won't have 11 shoes shoved against the door (yes 11, one is always missing) and rocks will only be seen outside. What a sad day that will be. So as JT would say if he was a mom- I'm bringing messy back! Maybe one day chubby will be cool too.

Out of practice

Winters are long here. We embraced snow clothes November first and I'm still not sure it's safe to put them away. However- spring is in the air! It has been beautiful the last week and we have been loving it.

When summer holidays hit the schools encourage parents to do things so that everything that was learned during the year is retained. Im thinking I may need to devise a similar retention plan for warm weather behavior.

Brody came in from school like this: 

He was in the dog house and knew it. As soon as he opened the door he exclaimed " I FORGOT NO MUD FIGHTS IN GOOD CLOTHES! "

The story was quick to unfold that there was not some magical random mud puddle on the way home from school but there was a hose on, and dirt. And 4 boys who knew exactly what you do with dirt and water and no parental supervision. 

Meanwhile, while Brody was stripping down to his birthday suite in the entryway, Zane was eating Popsicles. 4 open Popsicle's dripping a rainbow sticky mess all over the house. 

SUMMER RULE REFRESHER:

Mud fights are permitted when 'good' clothes are not on and when it is warm enough to be hosed off outside after the mud fight has come to an end (The end is usually determined by screaming that is code for 'That wasnt mud, it was  dog poop and ive had enough!"

Popsicle rules- Popsicle need to be consumed outside. You are permitted to have as many popsicles as you think you need but they must be kept outside. Also, preferably when it is warm enough to be hosed off. 

Other summer rules that have been reviewed in advance to avoid any confusion;

No snakes, bugs,or dead things are to be brought inside or brought close to my being. 

Sunscreen re-dos need to occur every 2 hours or so.

Neighbor kids- your maximum doorbell rings in a day is 5 and no doorbell ringing pre 9am. 

ok, thats all for now. 

Grab your uniforms (swim trunks and rain boots or crocs)

AND GO OUTSIDE! 

Life Is...

Listening to Dev tell the boys hilarious stories. They are "bedtime" stories but it should be called comedy hour and admission should be charged. I married the funniest guy ever.

Zane climbing into bed with his shoes and church pants on. He changed out of his clothes and back into church pants and shoes. Make peace- not war. So I didn't even start to argue.

Brody loving on Preslie and making her giggle endlessly. And listening to him and Zane conspire about filling up water balloons in a sneaky manner .

BBQ with friends and open windows all night. Summer!!!!

Family walk on a Sunday evening and walking around our neighborhood and chatting with dozens of friends and feeling like maybe I could stay where we are and grow old.

Having Logan and Lindsey and Austin come to visit and just love having a house full and being with family.

The oldest and smelliest dog ever who follows me around all over. Cheeba is as loyal as they come. He tromps into the bathroom with me at 2am and looks annoyed like I invited him- but I didn't. No dog will ever compare.

Preslie yelling at us like shes trying to tell a story and the entire family talking back to her. That baby has cast a spell on us all.

Sitting in church, feeling Gods love and being aware of our endless blessings.

Life is Good.

Increase In Learning

It has been suggested to keep increasing our knowledge-additional education, gospel knowledge, reading good books, taking classes or just trying to improve ourselves. Well this morning I acquired new knowledge and im happy to share.

How to remove multiple band aids from very sensitive 3 year old boy parts.

Remember how Zane is obsessed with band aids? Well this morning that little quirk bit him in the.... Well... It bit him where the sun don't shine!

He came trucking through the house pants and underwear around his ankles. Asking for scissors. Oh boy.

Upon careful examination I came to understand his situation. I saw small glimpse of scooby doo and friends wrapped, twisted, pasted, stuck, wedged and stretched all over his nether regions. It was not a pretty sight.

I called Dev. Goo gone was mentioned. That didn't seem right.

I filled the tub and Zane soaked for a bit. Band aid extraction was attempted and failed.

Tub filled again- this time with warmer water and a whole lot of baby oil. A very long soak. More baby oil.

And woola!!

4 scooby and friends slipped off like a charm and 3 fluorescent water resistant band aids came off after a bit of negotiation.

All boy parts were saved without harm.

Increase in knowledge my friends- whatever the situation- I know something new!

Also thinking that cheap band aids might be the way to go and the "real" band aids will be hidden for true injuries.

Darling..

I love the days when wonderful friends with amazing talents call and say- hey! Let's take some pictures. You should be slightly envious that I have these type of people in my life :)

Canada

We had a great time in Canada! I really think this was the longest stretch I have gone not going to my parents in 10 years. I hope it doesn't happen again. Waaaayy too long!! We did standard Canadian things- Tim hortons, poutine ( French fries in gravy with cheese curds) craw fishing, raft playing, movies, dinner, visiting, birthday celebrations, Glenwood, self serve penny candy in little brown bags( im almost certain van dans in Glenwood is the last place on earth that has real 1cent candy) we loved on baby goats and kittens, had an Easter egg hunt, played with cousins and caught up with old friends. It was a wonderful time and not long enough.

Road Trip

I should be asleep. In fact the entire living contents of this vehicle should be asleep minus Dev because he's the driver.

The plan was that Dev would go to bed early, the kids and I would stick to a normal schedule- then we would leave at 2am with intents that everyone would get cozy in the car and go back to sleep.

Fail.

We got in the car at 2:30am. The kids were all chatty and had the munchies- even Preslie. I cured the need for a middle of the night feast and at about 3:40 everyone was nestled into an awkward positioned car sleep.

Then it started to snow. A lot. So I couldn't sleep because I started mentally freaking out. It's spring break! I have a car jam packed of SPRING clothes. Open toed shoes, short sleeves, outside Easter activites. Snow is not on my agenda. A hundred miles or so of a blizzard and we were out of it. I could rest easy. Literally.
But not for long because 3 kids and 2 adults in a car isn't enough- we also have 2 dogs who decided, not too long after I found sleep- to unleash the worst smells EVER. Enough of a stench to wake up everyone and make everyone grumpy and shout from the rooftops- or car tops anyways- that "it stinks in here!!"

It's now 6:15 am. Everyone is wide awake.

I am in awe of technology and can't decide if I appreciate it or am disgusted. Brody is on his iPod. Zane is on a leap pad, Dev is listening to Xm radio- the 90s, the GPS is smugly telling us that we have to infinity and beyond before we make it to Grandma Honeys, there's some kind of buddy Easter movie with talking animals that is showing on the car DVD player that no one is really watching so why is it even on?? And here I am blogging from my phone somewhere between Idaho and Canada. What is this world coming too??

When I was a kid we made the trek from Canada to Rupert ID a lot. We crammed 3 kids and 1 stinky dog into the back of a normal sized car. We used old fashioned things like books and crayons to keep us occupied. The most techie we got was yellow and black Walkmans complete with awesome cassette tapes featuring boys to men, new kids on the block-and I even remember a soundtrack to teenage mutan ninja turtles on one trip.
Even with such cool music choices the decision for me was sometimes hard- put my earphones on and sing along to totally inappropriate songs for an 11 year old like " I'll make love to you" OR stay unplugged and rock out with the rest of the car to my Dads homemade tape collections named "various 1" all the way to "various 407" featuring all the Abba, Wilson Phillips, Meat Loaf, Neil Diamond, Stevie Wonder, Heart, Lionel Richie, Beegees and Chicago a girl could ever ask for. I could kick some Singing B trash if any of these were the featured artists.

Well carry on we must. And it's now time to charge all things "i" - swap out DVDs , negotiate a better satellite radio station out of the 300+ we can chose from, warm up a bottle for Preslie with the car plugged in warmer thing and read a book with my paperless kindle.

Some things haven't changed in the world of road trip- side of the road pee breaks, endless asking of "are we there yet" sibling fighting and proclamations of "he's on my side!!!" - and alot of junk food. A flying j corn dog tastes best pre 7am according to Devin. Happy Trails.

Ever more I love you

Five months. I have really been focusing on trying to enjoy or at least experience these years better- time is going by way too fast!!