We are a happy family

Brody's "Book"

Here are the most recent pieces from Brody's writing book they work on at school. Its always a treat when he brings home his creative writing. The fish story was from his Non-fiction unit, and then the others are from his poetry unit.

The Fish

By Brody Mecham

Fishing is the best sport I have ever played. It is better than soccer or hockey, or sledding, or basketball, or even toilet tag. And I really like toilet tag.

I love fishing because it is a sport of patience and fun. It is also important because it can give you food. Fishing is a survival skill. If you don’t have food you will die.

When I went camping, there was a pond by our campsite. There were fish in the pond and a tunnel that went into a stream. I went to the stream with my friend. We had nets. If there were fish close to the surface, we were going to catch them! We saw a fin sticking out of the water. I tried to scoop it but it vanished into the murky water. We waited about twenty seconds and we saw the fish fin again! This time me and my friend had a plan. We surrounded the fish and I scooped it head first into my net. I caught it!!!

We took it back to camp. I was so excited and happy to have trout meat. My friend was excited too. I didn't gut the fish because I was too young and I didn't know how, and because watching a fish get its head cut off made my stomach hurt. That was just back then.  My friends Dad gut the fish. He chopped off the head, and took out the insides and the bones so that we could eat the meat. We cooked it in a pot outside. I felt pretty good that I caught diner! Supper was pretty good, the trout meat was the best I had ever had.

We caught more fish later when we were fishing in a boat.

That’s why fishing is the best sport I have ever played.

The End

Cat Catching

Written By Brody Mecham

Sets of Nets

Catching stray pets

We have cages for the pets!

I LOVE CATCHING PETS!!!

Brother Bowling

By Brody Mecham

    

  I get a ball
I hide in the closet

My Brother is coming!!!

I get ready

Steady the ball

I trip him!! Like a bowling pin.

I think I win!

I Catch Cats

By Brody Mecham

I catch cats

I catch fat cats

I catch flat cats

I catch black cats

And brown

Some frown

So I put them down

Big

I won't whine and complain about how much I still hate having kids in school. Because you all know. I just MISS them!!! And I'm really not a fan of aging- even in children. We had lunch with Brody and he was lined up with the other kids- and he's just HUGE!

Preslie LOVES shoes, in fact, other then Mama and Dada, shoe is her first real word. She couldn't even look at me because she was too busy checking out her shoes :) 

Just sleeping. They have their own beds, but always share. And some nights even share a pillow :) 

This Just In!!!!!!!

The iPod HAS been found!!!!
Yes- I sliced open the bottom of the couch and it was there!!!! And i screamed and danced around and would have gone to the school to get Brody so someone could share my excitement but he was on the bus heading home already. NowI'm going to slice open the other furniture to see what treasures I find.

Confession

I have been cleaning out every nook and cranny, drawer and closet. It has been refreshing and productive and messy. I haven't gotten very far. I have a heck of a time staying on task- for instance- cleaning out the closet and I find a roll of film- real film from the olden days, so I stop what I'm doing- leaving the contents of an entire closet spewed all over the floor and leave immediately to Walmart to have the film developed. While at Walmart waiting for the film I decide to buy some drawer organizers. The film is done so I head home- I look at the pictures from old rexburg days and it reminds me of old roommates so I search for a few on Facebook, in one of the pictures I am wearing some AWESOME boots, and I become obsessed with finding them so start digging thru totes of old skinny clothes that I hope to one day fit, in search of the boots. Of course during this all I still have my kids who need me, fortunately they are happy to help dig thru boxes. We take a break for lunch and i get frustrated trying to find the apple slicer and then remember my cool drawer organizer that will solve my frustrations im sure, so I organize the drawer, then decide that all the drawers need a total 180 to make my entire kitchen run better. I start emptying the contents. Preslie is making a huge mess out of the closet stuff that is all over the living room So i head back over to work on the original project- a while into it I come across a big box of shoe polish, weather protectant spray, leather cleaner and other shoe care- and I can't help myself, I must polish, protect, and clean the entire families shoes, and then I become obsessed with the missing boots.
You see where I'm heading- I wonder if they still make "focus factor"

So a bit ago I started on the boys room- that project is actually pretty much done, in the process I moved all the furniture around but had a problem- frog. Frog needs 3 outlets, one for the pump, the heater and the light. Well that was putting a huge kink in where I wanted furniture.. So I did something.... I started toying with the idea of not being a frog owner.. The boys only like frog when they want to scare someone- usually a girl visitor, or when they want to torment frog by making him ride on remote control cars or swim in the sink- they really don't pay attention to him. Frog also eats live crickets which is really an awful thing for me to have to participate in multiple times a month. Frog is also very social (so I have read) and likes to be around other frogs. We use to have 3 but the other 2 escaped and we found them all dried up and scary. So all of these reasons led me to post an ad in the Evanston classifieds asking if anyone was an existing fire belly toad owner and interested in having another one. And wouldn't you know it I got a response!!! So a few days ago I put frog in a plastic container, punched some holes in the lid, gathered up his favorite frog belongings like his hiding log, some trees and rocks and I took frog across town to a nice girl who appeared to be operating a small zoo inside her home. She was thrilled. She told me how she has 4 fire bellies and some tree frogs and a huge terrarium and even breeds her own crickets- that sent me running. But frog will be happy... Right?
However- I didn't tell Brody and Zane anything about this. Not sure where that falls with the parenting experts but I had my reasons to keep it on the down low. Right before Christmas I gave away a broken bike game thing that plugs into the tv, I found a family that could fix it who would have a lot of fun with it and who was low on cash. Well the lady came to get it and Zane earned himself a Grammy for most heartbreaking performance over a BROKEN toy. It was unreal. Sobbing, tears, true sadness. All over a toy that had been in the furnace room for 6 months collecting dust. The lady picking up kept looking at me and then Zane and then saying its really ok, I can leave it. And me screaming over Zane's wailing- TAKE THE TOY!!!!!!'n so she did. And probably felt really crappy about it. Oops. So I wasn't about to tell the boys I was giving away ribbits. After I left with frog I told Dev to run the tank to the trash. He did. He was in full support of the plan. So it has been about 5 days and guess what- no one has said a dang thing about the missing frog!!!!!!! Still thinking up a reasonable honest explanation for when the question comes up. I'll keep you posted.

Merry Christmas!!!

To all friends and fam, we didn't send out cards. I know!! I have major regrets, but something had to give and that ended up being it. Christmas snuck right up on me and I was in a panic. Im REALLY struggling with finding a balance currently. Time managment 101 and obsess less needs to happen.
There. Now on to the good stuff.

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!

I really do. I love it all.

Logan staying warm

Christmas Eve

Nativity

Christmas Pjs

Cousins

New shoes for Preslie

Floor Hockey

Christmas Dress

Water Park

Preslie got a new chair- she loves it!

We had Christmas in Canada, it was truly wonderful. I will be totally honest, it is NUTS at my parents house when we are all home and it often makes me grouchy, I really like my space :)

But It didnt bug me too bad this year. It was wonderful to all be together, the cousins had such a fun time.  It was great to be with family, to have good laughs, to work together in the kitchen, to create more memories. 

Fabulous Four

Zane turns FOUR!!!

(a while ago)

We like to chat about events weeks before they actually occur... ok, mostly thats just me. :) But Zanes big day was no exception. He refused my offer to throw him a cool party with all sorts of his little buddies. I was expecting that refusal when my kids are 13 but not FOUR. sheesh. Hes a bit of an old soul. He told me, and others, that for his birthday it was going to be him, Brody, Daddy, Mommy. I asked about Preslie, he said she was NOT invited.. then I explained what it means to be a party crasher and that Preslie was going to be crashing his, like it or not.

He had the day all planned out, A trip to UT, watch Milo and Otis (the talking animals with the british narrator, a treat for us all) go to Jungle Jims, go to the candy store, eat at the place with the hot pineapple, and the sticks on the tables and the guys. The diner took some further digging to figure out what the heck he was talking about- Rodizzio Grill at Trolley Square. So off we went!
We hit the candy store for special treats, then met up with Gary and Mauri to see the lights at temple square, I will have to borrow their pictures and get them on here :)
It wasn't too cold, so beautiful and super busy. It was a great day!

The next morning he woke up to this!!!!! 

Yahooo!!!!!!

It has been a fantastic addition to our indoor playground :)

Definitely getting used. 

He also got ...

New Emus!

No socks needed. Hes in heaven.

Other gifts were playdoh, legos, flashlight, clothes, stomp rocket, hot wheels and tracks, and money that he is saving for our trip to Disney!! 

Zane wanted to decorate his cake 100% by himself.. I actually said ok and he got a good start and then let me help :) But he directed the whole thing. He was thrilled with the end result and I was happy he got what he wanted. (Thats a nice way of saying that im relaxing a bit)

He is a GREAT kid!!! He loves anything in the kitchen, loves to do lego but only if you follow the directions exactly, will read stories for hours, is smart and funny, he has turned into quite the artist, is extremely strong willed and great at independent play. HATES the doctor and medicine and anything related to it. Loves to ride his bike and scooter and play sports. When he grows up he wants to be a builder or fly planes. He is my buddy and I love being his Mama. He melts my heart and pushes me to be a better parent. 

Happy Birthday Shnook! 

Obsessed

I use the term lightly- until now. I am living true obsession- sadly, it is an obsession to find a missing iPod. It's not even MY iPod- its Brody's. He shares my obsession sometimes. It has been a month in searching, pulling things apart, praying (usually that works at an impressive speed!) I am 99% that it is in this house- unless it was stolen. Talk about a needle in a haystack. So my goal for 2013 is to find the iPod- and in the quest, clean out every nook and cranny of this house and take truckloads to the DI. Or to become better at "letting go" I'll be honest- I miss the iPod because that is how I listen to the radio during the day.

Ps- Zane had a birthday and it was great.
Christmas was wonderful.
I have plenty to blog about but not until my obsession of the iPod is dealt with.

Until then..