Oh Christmas Tree

After 7 years of rotating between two fake Christmas trees at our house, Riggles finally put on his big boy pants and led our family to a tree farm to cut down our very 1st in Washington, real, fresh, sappy, tree! Riggles has been wanting a real tree for the past few Christmas's now, but until now it was just words. I'm glad he moved into action this year. It just might be a new tradition.....depending on the year.
Picking out our tree


Everyone taking a turn to saw it down


Catching it as it falls

Carrying it down to the car


(Oops, No pics of decoration it)
And the cat has a new favorite place to nap.

Braggin about Samantha

November is Sweet. No, not that one movie. But its all about my Sweet Samantha Sha. On the 13th of this month she was born 8 years ago. The most BEAUTIFUL baby girl ever. With 'Just Grandmas' dimple, and heart shape nostrils.

Its amazing how time flies and they grow up so fast. Grow up as in all ready 8 years old. Crazy!To celebrate her 8th birthday we had hamburgers, cake and showered her with presents. Ok not really a shower, but a 3DS is quite spendy. She deserves it though.

Samantha is full of talent, skill, rhythm, knowledge etc. etc. etc. I hate to label my kids, (sometimes,) but I will at the moment and I will definitely label her my Gifted child. She exceeds at everything she does. It is hard to not put her into every sport, dance class and music lesson because I know she would dominate all of them. But as for the one she is participating in this year, Samantha has all ready shown off her talents of the piano. She came in 1st place in her division at Piano Olympics this year. Outstanding!!

I love this Girl!

To make November even Sweeter, Samantha chose to be baptized as soon as she could after she turned 8. And what a blessing it was to have her 'Just Grandma' here over Thanksgiving so she could do it then. I love seeing my Sammy Sha so happy. Her grin was great and the way she hugged me made me melt.

I know that Samantha is going to be an amazing woman someday. She is a great friend, sister and daughter. She is going to be a great mom someday too. Her teacher at school loves how helpful she is with her classmates and how hard she works at doing her best in all she does. This girl is AMAZING! (I will try not to ruin this post by mentioning how moody and dramatic she can be sometimes.)

I hope November was a Very Sweet month for you too Samantha. I love you!

Pirates Poop In the Potty

That is what i told my 2 1/2 year old. And to even prove it I propped Pirate Jack Sparrow, (LEGO form) onto his LEGO toilet and helped him grunt out a turd. That's right a LEGO pirate pooped in a LEGO toilet. (Ssshhh it was a tiny piece of Hershey Bar, but Ben didn't know that.) He was super excited to see Pirate Jack poop! So much that he pooped in the potty himself. Not the LEGO one the real one. Yay! After a couple of weeks of that, and a lot of hit and misses, I hope I'm not jinxing myself when I tell you all:

BEN HAS POOPED IN THE POTTY ALL WEEK!!!!!

He has mostly peed too, only 2 accidents.

(We're not counting nighttime btw)

Whooo hoo!

I went to Target yesterday and I didn't have to buy any diapers.

This picture doesn't give the whole ordeal justice. I have looked for LEGO jack everywhere and can't find him. Amazing how something so little can get lost so easily right?!?

So here is his stunt double.

P is for Pumpkin

Pumpkins picked out.

Pumpkins getting carved.

Pumpkins carved.

Pumpkin seeds roasting.

Munchkins in bed just before 10 pm.

It was a good day :D

Boo!

There is this Iphone app that is called, "The moron test." It gives you series of numbers to memorize and then asks you to repeat them. After the first two rounds the next series of numbers is longer and requires more concentration. While studying the numbers; a flashing, terrorizing image appears on the screen of the Iphone with a blood curdling scream. Those who are in the middle of the 'moron test' then jump three feet into the air and give a little yelp out of fright. Or in Garretts case, toss the Ipod up in the air and scream like a girl. Super Funny! I wish I would of caught it on film. Nothing is funnier than watching your own child freak out at something scary/funny. So we tried again, on Sam this time. Fully prepared to put it on video.
Here it is:

As you can see, not very amusing. For us or Samantha. But this is the kid that will sit and watch a scary movie with eyes wide open. While Garrett will leave the room or cover his eyes with just a hint of eerie music playing in case there is a jumpy/scary part. Even if its not a scary show.

I'm quite amazed at the differences in ALL of my children. When one thing works for one it most likely will not work for another. It sure does keep me on my toes and makes my brain churn a lot more when I'm trying to figure them all out.

Random Updates

Not a lot has been going on in this household. Basically the same thing everyday. Which is not a bad thing. I like keepin' it easy. Kids are loving school. I'm enjoying babysitting every couple of weeks. Riggles has been working some OT. (Which you would think is going to be some nice extra money, but low and behold something always needs fixing or mending when OT happens.) I've decorated for Halloween. Coerced my children into picking costumes I want them to dress in.

Part of the OT Riggles did was SWAT Dignitary Assignment for the homecoming of Amanda Knox. As many news cameras that were around there was not one glimpse of him on any of them. Though he only stood 6 ft away from her. This is the best I could come up with.

But for those of you who ever watched World Wildest Police Videos; you may have seen him in his Rookie years arguing with an old lady over a speeding ticket! He had a good head a hair back then.

We are taking a break from a bunch of stuff this year. No gym for Riggles, No BBall for Garrett, No nothing for Aquinna, Going on my 2nd year of No bowling for me. Sam is doing Piano and that is about it. She is taking a break from dance. Which is hard to let happen because she is so talented. But....what do you do?!? I will admit that I love not having to go this way and that throughout the week.

Bumming Around

Saturday was the most lazy, unproductive day EVER! No one got out of their pajamas. Meal times replaced with random trips to the kitchen eating 'whatever'. Streaming kids movies upstairs. Endless episodes of garbage on my iPhone. Channel surfing down stairs. (No video games, Gar is grounded.) Everyone feeling not sick, but like crap from doing NOTHING all day. It was AWESOME!

Red-headed Bums!

P.S. Everyone doesn't include the Mister..poor dude slept through all the bumming cause he had to work. Neener Neener :D

A Post For My Mother

A post a week is what I promised to blog.
But I sit on my ass like a lump on a log.
My laundry is folded, but left in a pile.
It has been sitting there for quite a while.
My children are fed, clothed and happy.
But the number of photos I take are crappy.
I spend my time on the computer a lot.
But obviously not posting on blogspot.
I'm enjoying GBTV and the Blaze.
But Facebook and Blogger are in a haze.
I hope to make up to you the lame posts.
And a comment from you is what i want most!

Here is a picture of my first loaf of bread.

A couple of dorks with stuff on their head.

Ben showing off his photograph skill

A cute little girl taking a chill.

One of my best games of Halo's Rumble Pit.

And for this lame post and poem this is it!

Love and miss you Mom!!

Fantasy

When you think of a Fantasy, what comes to mind?

A beautiful castle with knights in armor, slaying dragons, rescuing the Princess.

An enchanted land with fairies, gnomes, orcs, griffins. Elves, Dwarfs, Giants, Barbarians.

This is sounding like the awesome MMORPG I love to play, but no its not that kind of fantasy today. This is all about my husbands fantasy. (Thank you Glamazon for the inspiration for this blog.)

This is my husbands Fantasy.....it's OK...this one isn't rated R.

He and his buddies come together into a 'league'. Pick their favorite players. And watch sports games ALL YEAR LONG! The keep track of names, stats, and information on players that only the sports announcers use. They make trades with their players. And if a trade doesn't go or someone in the league doesn't like the trade you hear all about the hissy fits. Grown men pouting over trades or who vetoed a trade. Are You Kidding Me???

Once upon a time the ol' man would only watch Seattle Mariner baseball games. But now....almost every game matters because he has one of their team players on HIS FANTASY team.

I really need to record all the things he says over and over and over and over about his team players. Because he really says them over and over and over. I can always guess right what he is about to say about his team when looking at the computer at his stats. Just by the sound of his sighs, and grunts. "My guys are terrible!!" "I knew I should have played him." "You guys suck!" Doesn't he sound like a very positive guy? (You should hear him when we are playing Halo and we are losing....YIKES!)

He is the ruler of the remote control when he is home. The ruler of the radio in the car. King of all electronics devices in our Household. If you are in the middle of typing an amazing blog, or watching a show and he walks up next to you....you better just save and walk away because he has to "check on his team". Usually it only takes a few minutes. But the whole "when i say jump you say how high" theme gets kinda annoying.

*Side Note* I'm glad his this Fantasy is what it is. If it was something else I might be worried. **2nd Side Note** He is a great dad and husband....during Feb and March.

***side note** Just kidding...all year long!

Big Foot Alert!

Living in the Pacific Northwest I have learned that this is the place where Big Foot, aka Sasquatch resides. I have lived here for 7 years without a glimpse of the wild man. The people that live down the road have a very nice, tall, wood carving of him. That has been the closest I have to seeing anything like a Big Foot.
Now some say that Big Foot is a myth. A Tall Tale. A Hoax. Whatever. I think that is all true. I am 97.0876% sure that any sightings and evidence are made up by 10-14 year old boys who are too little for their own feet. My Proof:

My 10 year old sons foot. It is GINORMOUS!!! I am surprised he isn't tripping on them a thousand times a day. How in the heck is he able to move those things with his skinny, get-a-way sticks? Ok, I am a little grateful when he leaves his flip flops by the door so I can slip them on to go get the mail. But come on; I'm a ladies size 9!!! I am totally aware now why all the Deacons in church on Sunday wear tennis shoes with their nice white shirts and ties. What parent would want to spend dollar after dollar on replacing nice church shoes when the boys can not wear them more than 2 Sundays before they out grow them!?!
Anyone got any ideas when his feet will stop growing? I'm sure he has another 3 -4 sizes to go. But I really can't imagine a ten year old with a size 12 shoe. My son will look like this!

By the way, If you haven't seen this flick yet, you should.


It is great!!

Suck on This

One of the things I've learned since becoming a mother is that babies and young children stimulate themselves by sucking. It soothes and comforts them. It makes them excited and happy. After thinking about this today, I nodded to myself as I thought of the amazing body part the mouth is. Eating, drinking, talking, breathing, kissing.....the basic needs of life. And they all end in 'ing'. No wonder sucking and mouth stimulation is so important to the babies.
Something I have always done for my babies is letting them have a binky. AKA Pacifier, Nuke, Plug, MuteButton, Sucky, Beebee, etc. etc. etc.
To me it always seemed easier than letting them suck on their fingers. (Which just grosses me out completely.) Plus when the time came, I knew I could always take away a Binky, I couldn't take away their thumbs. I also hate it when babies suck on everything. Mouthers we call them. Toys dripping with slobber. And much worse. GROSS!!! Most kids will mouthe toys and stuff. That is how they learn about things. But I am against learning. Hehe not really, just mouthing. So the binky would always be given to the kid when they were trying to slobber on stuff.
My first two children gave their binkies up on their own around 8 months. The third also did. But....after a few months she found one and was stuck with it until her third birthday. Which then she gave up all by herself in order to get her birthday presents. Kid number four....well, I think I might have a problem. Only 7 more months until he is 3.



All of his binkies here with him but one. (Sad that I know how many he has huh?!?) He does pretty good during the day to not need them.. He is too the point where it is nap time and bed time only. Some days are not so good but that is usually cause Daddy isn't home to take them away. He loves them and I love him and anyhing I can do to keep him a baby longer is acceptable....Right?!?
Even if he ends up sucking on these things until he is 20. I'm more ok with that then him sucking on anything else.
Oh wait, there are 2 missing in the picture. I better go check in the car and under his bed ;)

I said SMILE

Well, we are finally done family tripping. I cannot call it vacation because I'm not on a vacation when I am still doing laundry, changing diapers, being referee to fights and so on. Someday I will take another vacation...Someday soon would be nice but that isn't likely. I won't mention the VACATION my husband is going on to VEGAS because every time I do I get annoyed and irritated. Oh wait.....oops.
I won't sum up the entirety of the family trips all in one post. Instead here is a little blurp from the trip we took down to the Oregon coast. On our way home we stopped by Tillamook and checked out the Cheese Factory. Lots of people, long lines and lotsa cheese.
We had to bribe the kids with Ice Cream to get them to take these pictures with the cow. Then we decided it was too long of a line to get some ice cream. But by then the kids forgot all about the bribe and didn't even care. Instead we bought some "Squeaky" Cheese, Garlic White Cheddar cheese, and a bunch of Cow Tails.



The next picture I wanted to take was a pain because there was always some other family inside the Cheese Van. So I told Riggles to wait his turn and take the picture while I went to the gift shop.

He informed me what a bad idea it was because they all fought over who got to sit in the drivers seat. They were not happy.


But he is a great husband and father and knew how much I wanted a picture so he threatened them and told them to put on their best damn smiles.

Isn't he the greatest!

---*****------

Today I feel the urge to sit down at the computer and type an amazing post for this blog/journal. But I have NO idea what to blog about. I think my quota for crying about whining kids has been filled for the year. But when you are a SAHM those highlights of the day all seem like the whining, crying and carrying on by the children you are staying home with.
So as I sit here staring at the ceiling thinking about those things that I should blog about. The only really good highlight was early this morning while I was still in bed. NO!!! It wasn't that.....My husband would be way to happy if that happened. But it was a really weird, vivid, realistic dream that didn't make any sense at all. But I enjoyed it. Probably because I don't get out much. Any form of entertainment, including my own dreams is enjoyable.
Let's see how much I can re-tell for it to make any sense. Because we all know how dreams switch characters, places and moods from one scene to the next without any sense at all.
It all started in a 4 runner type vehicle. I was with my Hubby and somebody else. We had gotten pulled over by some weird truck with a tiny emergency light on the top of it. The cop that pulled us over wasn't a cop at all. It was some hillbilly psycho path with a partner and a super long shot gun ready to blast my husband. I knew this really couldn't happen because of my Hero LEO husband and his amazing skills and senses so I stopped the action in my head and rewound to the beginning. I warned my husband what was really going to happen. I jumped out of the 4runner and headed into a little tiny white car. Like an Escort of something...but much worse. It went soooo slow. But I was all ready doing what I had planned to do, distract the psycho path hill billys away from my husband. *side note not in dream*for those of you who have been there, the next part of my dream takes place on the Mt. Crest road that goes from Hyrum to Nibley, Utah. *end side note* I started driving up the hill towards Hyrum but the car is soooo slow going up hill the bad guys are catching up. I swerve into traffic at the top of the hill and pull a U-E. I start coasting down the hill. I am broadcasting over the radio station for those in the area to come help me. I finally get word that there is a farm just over the next hill where I can pull in and hide. I do so. I find a better car and hide in it. But people start coming out of the houses and start walking by me and noticing me. I was scared they were going to give me away to the Psycho Hill Billy, but they actually wanted to help me. Or so I thought.
**This is where the dream gets really weird**And I'm not in a chase any more
I'm at this farm house. And the head 'farmer' is Elliot from Deadliest Catch. This is his ranch and accepts me warmly in. I come to find out this is a polygamist ranch. And Elliot as a bunch of wives and children. There are also a ton of other guys here. I assume they are the other husbands of other wives. They offer me a place as a wife. I consider this as the time goes by but the more I hang around and talk to them the more I don't like it or want to be a part of it. And I'm confused at why these women still want to be here. It seems like they are almost trapped in being taking care of to leave. So one of the things I find out it is that we can still choose what church we want to go to. I comment to the other lady, "Oh good because I love the LDS church." And she said, "No, we can't choose any church. We can chooose out 3 churches he (the polygamist) says we can. Some other weird stuff went on that I found out about and I was not for it so I was ready to leave. One of my sisters...(Lori..hehe)...told me I was stupid for leaving and that I was not going to get anything better anywhere else. I started yelling at her that that wasn't true and she knew what I knew about the Savior and needed to just put her big girl panties on and do the right thing. All this was being said while I was hitting her with a little kids folding chair with Lightning McQueen on it.
I started gathering up my clothes. I shoved them in the 4 bags I brought with me. **which doesn't make any sense from the beginning of the dream** I couldn't find my huge "leather saddle bag"**don't know just a big leather duffel bag but that's what i called it in my dream**
I asked everyone for it. Because that is was I need to fit my baby Ben's clothes in to get the heck out of there. I asked Elliot, the Polygamist, who was sitting on a stairway with some of his wives around him for a garbage sack to use instead. He said yes but only cause I told him it was for Ben's clothes. He was stubborn and rude because I was leaving his ranch and wouldn't do anything to help me. He insisted that Ben get something to eat before I left so I agreed and he started to feed Ben some baked beans. While stuffing Ben's clothes in the garbage bag I get a call on my phone from my Hubby. He says that he was on his way to rescue me. But he couldn't find his mom. It was her car they were rescuing me with. He said she had gotten into a fight with some lady about the road construction. And then............
The End....I woke up.
I know....how could something like that end that way. I'm dying to know what happened. And I'm pretty sure I won't be dreaming the ending to that one.

A Pest Post

Remember when I said I was grateful for my garden that was doing so well? Well, I still mostly am. But lately we've had a lot of rain. And normally I'm ok with that. That is one of the great things I love about living in the Pacific Northwest. But too much rain is leading to these:

Too many slugs

Which eat to many veggies.

So I picked up some slug bait and hopefully that will control the bastards pests for the most part.

I know this is a miniature garden. I know it doesn't take too much work. That is kind of the purpose of the miniature garden. (Someday I will have the skills and area for a bigger garden.) I need to adjust my way of thinking and be grateful that part of the blessings of having a garden is learning to love the 'work' part of it.

Today is...

Today is mine and the Misters wedding anniversary. 11 years ago were married. He proposed the year before that on the night I graduated High School.

I've all ready told the How It Happened Story here.
So, on this day, I will share a few things that come to mind on what I have learned about my marriage these past 11 years.

• He won't EVER understand me . I won't EVER understand him. (But I kinda do because I'm posting this. His mind is a box. My mind is a bunch of circuits that go pretty much crazy all the time. He is male. I am female. We balance each other out. That's just the way it is.



• No matter how many times I tell him to try something new, or about how cool something is, he is not willing to try it until one of his 'buddies' says something good about the same thing. (But he denies that he does that)



• He is my best friend. If I had to choose anybody to travel, shop, fight, laugh, binge, veg or do anything with. He will always be my first pick



• My sex drive is never going to catch up to his.



• When I ask him what I should cook for dinner, he says he doesn't care, but will wrinkle his nose up when I decide on something he doesn't care for. But eats every bite plus some.



• The more a man looses his hair on the head, the more it grows everywhere else.



• Marriage life is pretty easy when both of us seem to have the same goals in the end. But when goals change for one or the other person, FAITH and HOPE and a belief in our Savior Jesus Christ is something that has to be present until the other person sets their sights on the same goal.



• I love Riggles more than anyone is this world. There is no other person here that means more to me than he does. These past 11 years of marriage have been a great blessing. Knowing him for the past 14 years has been so wonderful.

Happy Anniversary My Love!

A Not So Friday Confessional

I've been in quite the rut lately. I would like to put my finger on exactly what it is that is making me feel this way...but there is no one thing in particular. It's a bunch of trickle down things that all effect everything. It been bugging the Mister pretty bad too. He hates it when I get this way. And I don't want to be, but i kind of do. How bad is that?

Isn't that just great? I mope around, sulk, space out, occasionally freak out on the kids or cry. I know what I need to do to fix it. But the really depressing part is....I don't want to....YET! I know I can't stay like this for too much longer. And I really, really am miserable about it...which is basically making me miserable on top of being miserable. But, I will get over it! I will get back on track! I will be OK! I will ENDURE!

But even though this bit of depression has got me in the slumps, there have been many rays of sunshine to remind me that I am a happy person.

Such As:

The way our new kitten "Gibby" falls asleep

The way Ben and Quinna play together

The way Garrett is so helpful and becoming such a cool, kind, guy.


The way my garden is growing


The way the girls have been making up dances.


And when a 'depression' commercial comes on, my husband gives me a raised eyebrow look/smirk. He always makes me smile. (He makes me cry too...but not on purpose, I don't even think he knows he does.)


I'm thankful for the sunshine in my life.