Maney Family Fun

Right now.....

2012-01-06T19:49:00.000-05:00

......Darin is watching TV in the playroom, the kids are playing in the basement, and I am all alone in the nice quiet living room.

I neglected my blog for some time now, so I sat down to put a bunch of pics on and do a few entries.

Well, my laptop is having issues. I think I have a virus and I'm not sure what to do. There are a zillion windows that pop up saying various things about my hard drive. It's quite frustrating. I can access the internet, and but I cannot even get pictures off my memory card in my laptop. I may try to get some off picassa web albums, but they aren't the ones I wanted to put up....

Ah well. So I will do a quick run down, on life. I wanted to do some catch up, but I am going to just start where we are and then fill in as I go.

We have been in our house since Nov. 3rd. The move was awesome-the movers were soooo great. I highly recommend hiring movers if you ever have to move!!!

I pinch myself on a daily basis.

Seriously....

I LOVE OUR HOUSE

Sometimes I just sit and look around and an in awe that we even live here. Really, I can go on, but I'll just TRY to give my top ten.

10. All the floors are awesome....tile, wood, marble, Love them.

9. Custom blinds in every window-most of 'em are the kid you can put down from the top. Love that.

8, Love the sunshine early in the morning in our living room windows.

7. A pink room for Jordan and a blue room with a Spider man decal for the boys. Really, I would have chosen every color of paint in this house.

6. Cabinets...cannot tell you how much I love that they pull out. And the trash is built into the cabinets.

5. My counters are fabulous. They are granite, which was not a must for me, but I LOVE them.

4. Space. Lots of room, lots of space. Like right now-we are all spread all over the house.

3. My office. It is a wreck right now, but I have visions of what it an become.

2. And amazing yard. Seriously awesome.

1. Two car garage. Pulling in the garage with groceries in the rain...enough said.

So we are super happy in the house. We did have one issue with some plumbing leakage during the first few weeks, but thank goodness for a home warranty to cover the cost of the repair.

We are still learning all the light switches, but after talking to the previous owner, who we have a great relationship with and have seen at neighborhood holiday parties, there are some switches that they never really did figure out.

We are in a new ward, which has proven quite a challenge. Having to drive 20 minutes was a big adjustment. It was pretty sad to move from across the street from the stake center to 10 miles away from our chapel. I used to drop Jordan off at activity days and I could either ask one of the many ward members there to bring her home, or I could go home get the boys ready for bed then go back for her; or I could run some errands, or hang out with good friends while she was busy....

not anymore.

There is nothing near our chapel. It is in a beautiful area-very picturesque, nice for good weather, but no running errands or visiting friends because I haven't really made many yet.

Which brings up the next part that has been hard-meeting people and making new friends. Although there are super nice people and good members in the ward, it does not give off very welcoming vibes. The only people who talked to us the first few weeks were people who knew we were moving there, or ones we know from the other ward before it was changed in the last stake realignment.

It has gotten better, but it has been hard for me to go from knowing everyone in the ward, knowing the names of every kid in primary, to not knowing many people and being totally out of the loop. I went to a birthday dinner for a friend in the ward I have known for a few years and had a nice time, but felt like I wasn't really part of the group...hard to explain. I have been meeting more sisters, though and now have a visiting teaching list and was told I have visiting teachers, so that's good. I keep getting told it will take time, so I guess I really need to be patient.

We had a nice Christmas. I felt like I didn't really do as much holiday stuff as I wanted, but we fit in our favorite things-a trip to the Temple, National tree, National Harbor, yummy food, parties, and a great concert-Natalie McMasters. I did get our decorations out, which was fun to figure out where to put everything this year. We now have a mantle for the stockings, so it was fun to get them up. We found some nice stocking holders we liked and I think it turned out pretty nice. I do have a pic of that I'll have to put up.

There were lots of little things I wanted to get to, but we have many more years in this house so I let myself off the hook for this year. I didn't even do teacher gifts for Jordan and Spencer's teachers. I did Landon's just because I had a little time one morning, plus they put up with him!!

So here we are at the New Year. We are trying two new things. One of which was what I wanted to put pics for. I decided that since Darin doesn't leave for work until nearly 7:30, I wanted to have family prayer before he leaves each day. So I go in and start getting the kids up around 7:10 ish and get them into the living room. We have done ok this week...I end up carrying the boys in and they fall back asleep on the couch. Landon has got up on his own the last two days, though. I really enjoy it. I like that Darin gives us all a hug and kiss before he goes to school. We have a chat about the day and we can pray for what ever blessing we are in need of that day.

We have been working on scriptures again as well. The primary gave us a schedule to finish in the year-specific verses to read each night so we will finish by Dec 31st. I'm excited because I feel like it is doable. It isn't a huge amount each night. Now if we can get the kids to sit still and pay attention, we would be doing well. It is a bit of a struggle each nigh, but we have done it.

So remember how it was quiet and peaceful when I started this, well, the kids found and Landon is now making a fort with the pillows on my nice "new" couches.....Until Darin just yelled that Wipout is on:)

So, I've been hiding out for a while so I better get back to the organizing I started, but I had to mention one last thing...Last but not least.....

We're going to Europe this fall!!

Woo Hoo!!! Darin booked us a cruise for our 10th Anniversary. We will leave out of Venice, have a stop in Italy, a couple stops in Greece, and one stop in Croatia!!

Can you say excited? Another thing causing me to pinch myself. Am I really living this life?

Yes, I am, and it's pretty dang great!!

Sadness

2011-11-16T23:41:00.001-05:00

I know my first post on my blog after moving into our house should be all happy and full of joy, but my heart is quite sad at the moment.

Mostly for my little girl.

Tonight was Jordan's first Activity Days night with our new ward. When I told her she was going, her first question was if it was with "her" activity days. I told her it was with the new ward to which she replied "I don't want to go."

Of course we went, and when we walked in, it was quiet and all the girls just looked at her. I said "Hi, this is Jordan" and the leader just looked at me a bit confused. Well, I didn't find out until the end that she was the Mt. Vernon ward's leader.

I talked to a couple moms before they were done and met more sisters in the ward, so that was nice. When I got Jordan, she seemed to be talking to other girls, but then in the car, she told me she never wanted to go back and that she wanted to go to her old one.

I felt so sad.

Reality set in.

We aren't in Franconia Ward anymore. Even after going to church on Sunday, tonight in the car it just seemed to hit me like a ton of bricks, and I totally started crying. Jordan was crying, too. I'm crying right now. Pathetic, I know.

I felt so sad for her. I felt so sad for myself. I miss my friends, too.

It was the first time I wondered if I was selfish by (in my usual dramatic way) ripping my kids from the only thing they have ever known. The only ward they have ever gone to. The good thing is that the boys have TONS of boys in both of their classes, so they should be great. Jordan has 1 little girl in her class, and she isn't 8 yet, so she wasn't at activity days tonight. We need to have her over so Jordan can get to know her.

I know I'm probably being over dramatic, since it's been only 2 weeks, but I really love Franconia ward and miss it soo much already. I know we're in the same stake, but I feel so far away from so many people I love so much. It was pretty comforting knowing there was always someone I could call on within 5-10 minutes away if I needed something. We were there for 9 years and were pretty attached. It is really hard starting over again in a new ward. Gives me more respect for the military people I am friends with who have to do this every few years!!

So, I'm sad at the moment. I can't fall asleep, so I figured I would do a post about it to may be feel better. When I'm over it, and can move on, I'll do a post about the many, many, many awesome things I love about out new house!!!

The newest memeber!

2011-10-11T12:25:00.000-04:00

Jordan is the newest member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in our family!

Jordan's baptism was this past Saturday. We were so excited for her. She has been preparing for a while and was super excited. She was able to get baptised the same day as her best friend Lizzie and her friend Ryan who is in her primary class. The other night we went to the church to get her baptism outfit. Friday night she and daddy practiced how she would be baptised. Daddy was nervous he wouldn't remember the prayer since he hasn't baptised anyone since his mission, and he could remember the prayer in Spanish clear as a bell.

We were excited to have the baptism at our chapel and not have to drive to Mt. Vernon. We were also super excited that Auntie Marion and Auntie Karin came for the special day. They arrived on Saturday and were with me when I picked the kids up. They had Ella the dog as well, so the kids were excited.

So Saturday came and we were running a bit late, but everyone got changed in time for the program to start. We took a few pictures before hand as well. I was a bit worried that there might be drama when Jordan saw Lizzie in her dress, because she cried when I told her Lizzie was wearing a dress, but she did very well. I think the excitement helped her. Plus the fact that the church provides little white "leotard" thing to wear under the jumpsuit. She loved that and asked for one for herself.

Jordan and daddy, as well as the other 4 kids and daddies were so brave-the hot water heater to the font was not functioning, so the water was freezing cold. I felt so bad for them all. But, I was super impressed with Jordan-she just walked right down into the water!!!! Darin said the prayer and baptised her perfectly. She did make a big gasp when she came out of the water-like when the pool is too cold. Then the sweet thing stood there freezing in her towel so she could watch her friends be baptised as well. Lizzie's feet came out of the water, so she had to be done twice, and Jonaton missed a word in the prayer and had to do Ryan twice as well. The witnesses were Bishop Stowers and Ken Cazier.

A few shots from the day

Jordan and daddy

Ahh, that face. How I love that face.

	Jordan and one proud mama!

Lizzie, Ryan and Jordan

Jordan and Lizzie with their best friend Karly Vallejo. She has been friends with the girls since kindergarten, and we were so excited that she came to see the girls get baptised. She is a great friend and we love her family!!

Our family after the baptism. The boys did start the day with ties...

And our family with Aunties. And of course, Ella. She spent the time in the car, so was happy to be out.

We did more pictures when we got home.

Kisses for the big girl!!

Jordan and mommy with Aunties.

And one more of my sweet little girl.

Preschool Picassas-weeks 1 and 2

2011-10-05T21:05:00.000-04:00

I have been teaching classes at the local Rec center and this session I was

able to add a new class to my list: Preschool Picassos.

It is an art class, this time for 2-3 year olds. I have taken this class with Jordan and Spencer, so was excited to be able to teach it.

I decided to try to find a book to read each week to base my project on.

Here is my first choice.

We did lots of painting and talking about colors. I have a good group of parents and kids, 8 total, and they all seemed to really enjoy it.

Week 2 The Rainbow Fish

I love this book and thought it would be awesome to teach about sharing and to do a cute project.

The book I got an idea from.

directions

supplies all ready. I got sparkly foam and cut out fins shapes. It was nice since they had sticky backs the kids could just peel off and stick on.

Landon helping me make my example to show the class.

And my finished product. A bit childlike, but then again, I am teaching toddlers:) The class went well and the kiddos loved working on it.

tires and fairies

2011-10-02T21:27:00.003-04:00

Arggg.....I love this new way to get pictures on my blog-it's so fast, but I hate the way you do the text. So forgive the big spaces and annoying layout.

Today's family outing was a total and complete rip off from a friend's blog. Well, I asked if we could copy, and she didn't mind. So thanks Sarah, for the awesome idea!

The pics are in opposite order of the day, but I'm not in the mood to fix them. So here we are at the second stop for the day. Ann Marie Sculpture Garden. (and I'm too lazy to put in the link as well-just google it and you'll find it:) I had wanted to go a couple weeks earlier, but things got in the way, so we finally made it. Problem was, there was a HUGE art festival going on, so it was packed. Plus it was rainy. Darin wasn't too thrilled, and even after I said we could leave, he said no. We hadn't driven over an hour to go home.

So it had a display of fairy houses I wanted Jordan to see. The kids all really loved it. I wanted to take longer and really look, but we had scheduled a time with Steve to go look at houses and had to go back by a certain time, which I thought was an hour later than it really was. So we had to hurry.

Anyhow, the kids really had fun seeing the houses. Some of them were pretty cool-extremely ornate.

Kids looking at some houses

One of Jordan's favorites

This was my favorite. The Safari fairy house

more house and a funky sculpture I liked

Here we are at the actual first stop of the day. Calvert Cliffs State Park, in Maryland. It was about an hour and 20 minutes from our house. I thought it was a bit closer, but it wasn't too bad. I was worried it was going to rain the whole time, but it only sprinkled, then was fine. When the kids saw the park, they got out and went running.

The all the play stuff was made from recycled tires. It was great. There was lots of climbing, running, and swinging. Even Darin and I got in on the action.

We really loved this place. I was thinking that I wished I had packed a lunch. We for sure want to go back on a day that we can spend more time. There's also a really nice hike to the beach and there's a place where you can do some fossil hunting as well.

The tire swing was pretty fun, although Darin got a bit excited pushing us and I got a bit dizzy. So fun, though.

House update

2011-10-02T10:38:00.000-04:00

Things are going along very well. We had the inspection of the house last Monday. It went well, generally speaking. There are a lot of little things that need to be done-like outlet covers, wires covered up, etc. The house is in great shape overall. Nothing structural to deal with. About the only major problem is the windows in the basement are not large enough to meet code for proper "egress" which means that a fireman needs to be able to get in the windows in full gear if there were a fire. Guess the kids won't be using those rooms as a bedroom for a while.

When we were there with the inspector, we inadvertently flipped a switch that had something do with the air conditioner, so it didn't work properly. The owner called and invited us to go over and she would teach us how to use the system. So after work Friday, Darin and Steve went over. The owner was super nice and explained the whole system to Darin. She said they interviewed a bunch of HVAC companies before putting the system in and that it is probably over done, but it works well.

She also filled Darin in on all the neighbors. There is one with a 1 year old, a high schooler who is a great babysitter, a family with a kindergartner and first grader, the sellers agent who lives next door has an 8 year old girl, and the one last house has kids as well. I'm super excited that there will be so many kids close. It may make me rethink my idea to keep the kids at Rose Hill to the end of the year-I may want to do it half way through. I just have to figure out how it would work with preschool and Brownies.

He said that the owners were moving sooner than they they thought-they are moving next door to the grandma. Darin told her to not get upset over the inspection report, but she said there were a lot of things they were still meaning to do to the house but were moving sooner than they expected. So hopefully they will fix everything without a problem. The appraisal was done yesterday, so I am curious to see how that goes. We also are supposed to look up the washer and dryer we want and let them know, and they will look up one they want, and they would probably meet in the middle. I don't care if we get the exact same ones I have at home now. I just want them shortly after moving in.

Do, things are looking good!! I love looking at the pictures to try to figure out where we are going to put things. We will certainly need new furniture, but we can take our time and get our things put away and thing figure out what we need.

Darin hired movers for Nov. 3rd. I collected boxes from 2 people on craigslist yesterday. I can't believe it is actually getting closer. We have a month left, and two of those weeks Darin will be in Europe. I plan to pack and get lots of stuff upstairs from the basement to save time that the movers have to be here. The less time it takes them, the less we have to pay. They are coming a day the kids are in school, so we should be in the house by the time they get home from school, then it is just putting things away, but at least they will be able to play outside while I unpack!!!

A great day!

2011-09-28T20:50:00.034-04:00

I just had to document a great day!!! I had a list of things to do and have accomplished most of them. It helped that Landon didn't have school, so I didn't have to leave the house. While I was getting the kids motivated to get up, I was folding clothes and put some of them away.

Landon and I took our time to get ready, eat, and get out the door. We went to the bank first. I've had a check from Ms. Laura for like a month, so figured I better get it deposited. Landon is always thrilled to go since he gets a lollipop. Next we went to Michaels. I wanted to find something for the project I'm doing with the kids tomorrow. I am going to read the book The Rainbow fish, then we are making fishies out of paper plates. I got glitter foam sheets and cut out fish fins.

Next we went to the school to have lunch with Jordan and Spencer. We stopped to get him a slushie, so he was thrilled. Everyone kept telling me that Landon looks just like Spencer. He resembles him for sure, but I can see differences. Spence was thrilled to have us there, but Landon was antsy. He kept putting his hands over his ears. I don't htink he likes a lot of noise and stimuli. He kept saying "I want to go home." HOpefully that isn't a problem for when he is in kindergarten

We then had lunch with Jordan. She is always happy to see us. I got her a chocolate milk, so she was happy. We left before her lunch was over since Landon had enough.

When we got home, I sat down to do my project for tomorrow. Landon was right at the table with me and made a few of his own fishies. I need to do stuff like that more often. I used to do way more with Jordan and Spence hwen they were littler.

Next up was to put a roast in the oven. I'm trying to go through all the food in the freezer and cook it all before our move. I don't want to have a ton of fridge and freezer stuff to move. I cooked a roast and it was pretty old, but I turned out excellent, if I do say so myself!!! I haven't made a meal that tasty in a long time, and Darin loved it. I always love it when he really loves the meals I make.

I got ahead of myself-before we actually had dinner, I took the kids to the library. The actually did really well. Landon is a bit too loud, but he didn't yell at the top of his lungs for me like he did last time-that's a whole other story. We got new books and tapes to listen to in the car. The worst part about the library trip is when I am checking the books out. It takes a while and the boys get so antsy. They go outside and want to climb on the walls. I told them not to today, so they didn't.

When Darin got home, I had to sign a billion pieces of paper for the mortgage. My hand hurt by the end, and he said it was only half the packet!!! But I was pretty excited because we got an awesome interest rate-3.625% I think. We also went over the inspection report. There are mostly little piddly things that need to be done. We aren't going to ask for all of it, we don't want to make it seem like we are asking for too much and make them not want to fix anything, so we are asking for the most important things. We are having the appraisal of the house on Saturday, so I'm very curious to see how it comes out. Our buyers did their appraisal on the townhouse the other day, so I'm interested in that one as well.

I've been working on my blog book as well, but it is a horrible program. I'm doing it on blurb and I do not like it at all. I've been told of a couple other places that I am going to try next. I have to get it done and ordered by Oct. 5th so I don't lose out on my coupon! I'm over half done, so I want to get a bunch done tonight.

We have a "Panda" in the house!

2011-09-27T21:26:00.000-04:00

Landon started preschool a couple weeks ago. He goes to Lee District Rec Center Preschool. It is his second year at this preschool. We really love it and are excited for one more year.

Landon is a "Panda" with Ms. Kelly and Ms. Lori. It was hard to convince him that he wasn't

a dolphin anymore and that he didn't have Ms. Watson again. We LOVED his teacher last year, but

so far we love Ms. Kelly as well.

Smiley boy on the first day.

and the backpack shot.

A house story.

2011-09-26T07:17:00.000-04:00

Once upon a time, there was a family who started the process to sell their house in about January of 2011. They loaded a POD, had the house painted, put in new carpet and tile, as well as new lighting fixtures. They got it all spiffed up and finally put a "for sale" sign up in the front yard.

Then they prayed and waited and cleaned and prayed and waited and cleaned and prayed and waited and cleaned and prayed and cleaned and waited and prayed some more. And there was plenty of moaning, groaning and complaining in there too.

Well, after 5 months of this passed, they had waited enough and are now...drum roll please........
Under contract!!!!

It is pretty awesome, really. Here is how it all has happened. The buyer saw the house on a Tuesday afternoon. Tuesday the 13th to be exact. I went to my friend Sharon's Tastefully Simple party, and received a call from a realtor who wanted to show the house. I left and flew home with Landon to clean up more-the house was in ok shape, but I wanted it to look even better. Well, only after I stopped to get the much cheaper gas:) So I cleaned up a lot and they can toward the latter end of the time slot they had given. I was very relieved for that. We saw them as we were leaving, so that is why I know which ones they were. Two men. Not sure the relationship, though.

So a couple days later our realtor's assistant calls and tells us that we had a realtor who said an offer would be coming. I was, of course super excited. I waited and it came a couple days later. It came in on a Friday. We sent back a counter offer on Saturday, then we heard back on Sunday and ratified the contract that night.

Needless to say, I was totally thrilled.

In the mean time, that Saturday we went out house hunting with Steve again. We had a list of about 5 houses we wanted to see, just to make sure we really liked the one in Lorton-more on that later. So Janna watched the kids for us and off we went. Complete waste of time. The houses were all awful. I knew in my heart that I wanted the house in Lorton. So when we knew we had a contract on our house, we decided to go see it, plus one other one very close to it, on Monday night. The minute we pulled into the driveway and the kids got out and ran around the yard, I know it. I wanted this house. So we showed the kids the play area, and went inside to look more with Steve.

But I already knew it-this was our home. I loved it and it felt so right to me.

When we left, we set up a time to go to Steve's office on Tuesday to make an offer. It was nice, though because Steve had been in contact with the agent for a couple weeks and let them know there was a very high chance we would be making an offer. He got a bit of info on the people who live in the house, etc. We made an offer on Tuesday and finally heard back I think by Thursday. We hadn't signed the papers, and Steve called and told us they were going to make more revisions to it, so he and the other agent had more talks. I guess they originally marked the washer and dryer, but then the wife said that the father in law had given it to them, so they wanted to take it.

Oh yeah, in between all the stuff with getting the new house, we had the inspection on our town house. I cleaned for about 6 hours straight and prayed about every half hour that they wouldn't ask for crazy expensive things. Well it went extremely well, and they are only asking for very minute little things to be done to the house. Darin told me in the car on the way to a store, and I think I shed a few tears. We also passed the HOA inspection on the outside of the house.

Whew, Whew, and Whew again!!!!!

Back to the new house.....We went back and forth for a couple days, one of which our realtor could not get a hold of theirs. Finally he called the buyer directly, which he says he rarely does. He again got more information. They did not want to convey the patio furniture we wanted because, again, the father in law gave it to them for a gift so she did not want to offend them. I guess I can totally understand that. But Steve reassured us they are still interested and that we would very soon have a contract.

Finally on Saturday, amist our million activities we had going on, I was driving Jordan to a birthday party and decided to check my cell phone. I had it on vibrate so it wouldn't ring during one of our many activities. There was a message from Steve, who had the paper work to sign..

Once again.....I think I may have shed some tears in the car.

Looking back, getting such good news in the car may not be the safest thing ever.....

So we have a contract on an amazing house that we really love. We will close on out townhouse on October 27th and the new house on Nov 1st. We will plan on moving in to the new house the weekend after we close. So just a little over a month away.

I am just in awe at how the last couple of weeks have been. What I also must say is this:

Prayers are answered.

The week our buyer looked at the house, Darin was in Denver and he would call me at night and tease me "did you sell the house yet?" We had been having a lot of showings, so I began to pray that we "would have a contract by the weekend." We were official by Sunday night. I prayed that our inspection would go well and that they wouldn't ask for a new roof or a new furnace. Check.

When we pray, we are heard. Things happen when the time is right.

So I am sitting here overwhelmed with gratitude and am so excited. In the end, Heavenly Father has prepared the way for us to have a wonderful new home for our family to grow in. If we had sold before this particular time, we wouldn't have found this amazing house that I love sooooo much. All the months of work and stress will have been worth it once we move into our new home.

Utah trip catch up: A day in Salt Lake City

2011-09-18T22:04:00.000-04:00

When we were in Utah, the second Sunday we went to church, then into Salt Lake City. We knew the kids would enjoy the temple and the Visitor Center. And yes, they did for sure.

Darin and the kids by the reflecting pool.

I absolutely love being on Temple Square. It is so beautiful and serene. The kids really loved

to explore as well. Here are some of my favorite shots.

Me and my sweet boy.

And the sweet princess.

Spencer and Landon loved the lions on the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.

Visiting the Tabernacle

The kids always love to see the Christus statue. It was nice, until Landon was running around when people were trying to listen and be quiet. I loved the shot on the right.

After we finished at the temple, we had a wonderful time at my friends house. I was soooo excited to see the Brewers. They are the senior couple from my mission that I had lived with in Ogden before I moved out and got my own place. I had lost touch with them for a few yeas so it was super fun to get back together with them. We had a nice dinner with them and a few others from the mission.

I love Joe and Carol soooo much. I was so thrilled to see them and for them to meet the boys. We haven't seen them since we visited when Jordan was 1 year old, so it was wonderful to visit. And they hadn't changed a bit.

Me, Muriel Dampt Frank-one of my companions, Brent Frank-one of my district leaders, the Brewers and Francois Giraud-Carrier-on of my AP's. It was so fun to catch up!

Playdate with my buddy.

2011-09-18T06:55:00.002-04:00

I decided that Landon and I needed something fun to do today! Especially since we

had a realtor coming in the morning. So, since we have never been there, we head out to

Oxen Hill Farm. Turned out to be an excellent choice!!

Here's Landon climbing on a fence at the entrance of the farm. He loved seeing the cows.

More fun with the calves.

Now we move on to the horses.

These were some seriously huge horses!! The must have been the kind to work in the fields. I forget the names. Anyhow, their heads were huge. Landon and I both had fun petting them. the just stayed still and let us pet them .

Landon gradually got there attention by putting holding his hand through. Here is when he first walked over.

Look at the size of that head

Then one got jealous! He was a bit further back and wasn't getting any attention. Landon was standing on the fence, then this horse walked over, pushed the other one away, and was nuzzling Lanny with his head. I was taking pics, then I had to grab Lan because the horse was pushing him up against the fence with his head. It was really amazing to watch-the horse then just stood there as if saying "my turn." He let us pet him for another 10 minutes or so, until we needed to go. I just couldn't believe it. That horse knew what he wanted!!

This is the pic I took right before I had to grab Landon off the fence:)

more petting pictures.

After we left the farm, we went to National Harbor. I wanted to try Elevation Burger, and we had lots of time to kill before we had to pick the kids up from school. I also wanted to go to the Peeps store and let Landon play on the "awakening" sculpture. Another great choice! We had lots of fun. Oh, and it was fun because we ran into a friend who used to be in our ward at both places so it was fun to catch up and let the boys play together a bit.

Lunch time. Our first stop was Elevation Burger. I had heard so much about it, that I wanted to try it. Landon was happy to have a shake, that's for sure. I ordered a burger for me, and a grilled cheese for him. He wasn't too thrilled with his, so unfortunately he had a shake some fries for his lunch.....My burger was good, but not anything to rave about. I wasn't too keen on the fries. They are fried in olive oil, and are really soggy. Although we did manage to eat most of them....

And then a quick trip to the peeps store. Yum. I had my eyes on chocolate covered ones! I got the kids some Halloween themed ones. (a little side story here is that when I picked the kids from school, I was out of the car asking where Jordan was and Spencer got into the bag and started eating mine!! Stinker. I managed to get a bit of one and salvaged the second one I got.

Landon first finding the statue.

Nore fun playing on the "giant", as we like to call him. We used to go to play on this when it was at Hains Point in DC. It was a much better location than here. There were dead fish that had washed on shore, and I couldn't keep Landon off the rocks and was certain he was going to fall into the Potomac River!! The other location had a playground, and was much more amenable to the needs of little kids. Ah well-it probably sees many more visitors than at the old place.

I have always loved this view of the hand. Very cool.

At the moment......

2011-09-09T22:38:00.000-04:00

......the kiddos are in the basement trying to have a sleep over, but Landon is driving everyone crazy. We have a friend over whose parents went out of town.

At the moment, my ears are still plugged. I finished my antibiotic for my ear infection, but my head is still muffled. Very annoying to hear everything inside your head; with the worst being brushing your teeth and washing your hair!

At the moment, our house is still on the market. We are having an open house on Sunday, so hopefully that will generate some interest. Darin says we give it a few more weeks, as long as the houses we like are still on the market, we will keep trying. (more on this below.)

At the moment, Landon is asking me to read to him. (which I do and finally have the4 kiddos in the basement calmed down. The boys are sleeping, and Jordan and her friend are quietly talking. )

At the moment, I'm feeling blessed and grateful that our basement did not get flooded; while at the same time my heart is breaking for those in our ward who were completely flooded and had to evacuate. I just feel so very sad for them and others who had any amount of water in their homes. We've been there-it's horrible!

At the moment the mouse on my laptop is driving me crazy-the key you click on sticks so it won't do what I want unless I click at precisely the right spot.... very frustrating while editing pictures.

At the moment I'm getting excited about my night out with friends tomorrow night. We are going to Wolf Trap to see the Sound of Music Sing along. Yay!!

At the moment, I'm thinking of my sisters and wondering how a certain family issue is working out. I miss them a lot and many times feel so bad that I'm not there to help them and take the burden off. Missing my mom, too.

At the moment Darin is upstairs, the kids downstairs and I am sitting in the dark in the living room alone. It is quiet. What do I do? Go to bed....sit her a bit longer....keep typing.......

Keep typing wins out. I just heard giggling, so I'll wait a little longer to make sure the girls go to sleep. I just wanted to get a few things down to remember this time in my life. It has really been a rough couple of months. Summer flew by-and I mean flew by. It seems like it was just the last day of school, and here we are starting again. Seems like our summer vacation is so much shorter than other places.

Darin and I were able to go to the temple last weekend, thanks to a great friend taking our kiddos at the last minute. We did a session and Darin happened to have one card for each of us in his bag-we were going to do sealings, but got half way there and realized we hadn't grabbed the cards. Good thing he had the ones in his bag. Anyhow, the name were from Darin's family and I had the name Lanora. I really fell in love with it-it would be so cute if we ever had a baby girl. We could call her Nora. I love it. Darin had the first name Presley. He was not as excited to use that one:)

But I digress...I wanted to write about leaving all my cares and concerns at the temple. I really tried to focus and feel the spirit and know what we should do about the house, kids, etc. Then Sunday was fast Sunday. I realized that I am forgetting the important things in life.

I am letting go. I have to. I am now putting the selling of the house completely in the Lord's hands. I have done my best to get it ready, keep it clean and ready to be shown. Emotionally, I must stop torturing myself. Each time we have a showing, I wait and wait to see if our realtor calls. I can't do it anymore. I now feel that if it is meant to happen for us...at this time...the Lord will make it possible. If not, we aren't meant to move right now. We will try again in the spring.

It's really trying to strike a fine balance-I'm not saying I'm giving up hope-just changing it from us making it happen, to more divine intervention.. I want desperately to have a larger home for our family-that has not changed. Believe me. But I now know that comparing our situation to others (so and so got a new house, so and so's house sold so fast), taking the rejection of potential buyers personal, and stressing out and yelling at the kids about keeping it perfectly clean are getting me nowhere. We are where we were 5 months ago, so obviously it is less effective.

So, here we are-facing Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentines and potentially Easter with no decorations, photos, momentos, etc. I have thought a lot about this-almost ending in tears-well, ok, I have cried about it. It makes me so sad to not have our things for these special family times, but then when I look on the bright side-it will be fun to make new traditions. Maybe we can have Christmas tree with all homemade decorations! Things shouldn't make our home, anyhow. We do. I have my family with me, and that is what is important.

Well, I think that's enough deep thoughts from Wendi for now. The kids are pretty quiet and I'm tired, so goodnight!

Wow, as I type this, it feels more real to me. It's true-there's a plan for our family, and if we aren't meant to sell our house right now, I accept it. I'm moving on.

Fort Washington

2011-09-09T21:08:00.000-04:00

On Labor Day we decided to head to Fort Washington in Maryland. I have been wanting to take the boys there since my friend took her boys there and they enjoyed it. It wasn't a long drive, either. Just over the bridge. We used to see it all the time across the river from the GW parkway when we would drive to church in Mt. Vernon. Also figured a little history would be good on Labor Day.

When we got there we went to the marina area first. It was a big hit. I didn't realize there was a little lighthouse down there. It was a nice little area. I also didn't notice that it was right at the river. The kids really loved that part as well. I was a bit nervous about the guys fishing and my loud kiddos....ah well!

We had lots of fun throwing things in the water.....until we realized that it probably wasn't

conducive to the men fishing actually catching something....

There's something about throwing sticks and rocks into the water.......

We were going to go back to the car and drive up to the actual fort, but Landon had a different idea. He wanted to walk up the hill to the Fort. So I gave in-either that or chase him and carry him to the car. It really wasn't that bad....but boy am I out of shape. And is was so humid that day.

Here's a view of the fort from the bottom. Looks like remains from an older fort or something.

A view from further up the top.

Some of the views inside the fort. I loved the wheel for the huge doors, and I loved that they were green.

The boys had a blast on the canons.

Awwww....brotherly love!

Noah...where are you?

2011-09-09T11:27:00.001-04:00

I started this post last night, but as I type, it is still raining. When will it stop?

We need Noah to come build us an ark. I am watching it rain, still. It has been raining for days on end. Well, I think it is officially day 3, but it seems like forever. We didn't even have this much rain when hurricane Irene came through last weekend. It is really too much-especially when there are places like TX in huge droughts who need it desperately. We had a realtor come the other night and just before the side walk was flooded. I prayed that it would lighten up so that the water would go away. It did, thank goodness, but then rained more later.

But today it is a torrential downpour-I mean it!! It is raining so hard right now.

Are we close to the second coming?

I think so.

Here are the views out our front door:

A more wide view:

Yes, the yards are a marsh. Let's hope it goes down before any realtors call to see the house.

Huntley Meadows fun

2011-09-08T17:38:00.000-04:00

We had a fun week last week watching a fun little boy named Sean. His mom was Spencer's preschool teacher Ms. Laura. The kids all loved him. And he was pretty easy to watch. One of the days we went to Huntley Meadows. We had lots of fun. Although we didn't realize the boardwalk was closed and the walk was much longer than I remembered. The kids were pretty tired and it took quite some time to get back.

Here are Sean and Spencer on a fun tree stump. Sean says "dat was coowl" when I got him down.

Landon walking on a log. We stopped at many logs to take a walk.

The boys have some serious log walking skills!

Sean really loved his sticks!!

Our one spotting of wildlife for the day-a little frog in the water.

Did you know that stuffed elephants and pet shop purses are a must for a leisurly walk in the woods?

Sean says "I diggin' for worms." He is sooo cute!

Spencer can't walk any further so he just sits down. Poor fella. Mommy made you walk pretty far!

I wanna go back....back.....

2011-09-08T12:40:00.000-04:00

......back to school again!!

Let the 2011-2012 school year begin!!

Jordan Elizabeth. 8 years old, 3rd Grade

The new fancy backpack.

Spencer James, 6 years old, 1st Grade

And the new backpack.

Brother and sister all ready to go!

Jordan was thrilled to get an outfit with a matching one for her American Girl doll!

Great Country Farms

2011-09-06T21:45:00.001-04:00

We spent a super fun afternoon at a fun farm last week. It was a certifikid a while back and since our friends were getting it, I dedided to as well. It was well spent money. The farm is located in Bluemont VA, about an hour and 20 min away. It was nice drive, especially since we were able to ride with friends with an 8 seater and a dvd player:) It is such a beautiful area of Virginia.

Spencer having fun on a John Deere.

My grandpa would be so proud!

Not sure what Spencer is doing here....

It took a while, but then Jordan decided to try out a tractor, too:)

We found this little chicken coop. It was filled with little chicks. All the kids spent quite a bit of time there. Before we know it, Spence had caught one. I went to see what they were doing, and realized that they were crawling under the coop....um, gross.

This farm had sooo much for kids to do. One cool thing was a the corn bin where they could play in corn. It was pretty dirty, but they all had fun.

Here are Jordan's feet after playing a while. Nice.

Fun in the corn bin!

A fun spider's web to play in.

This is the jumping pillow. The kids loved it!! I wanted to go on,

but it was only for kids up to 12. Bummer for me.

Landon loved the animals. We got some free food with out entrance fee, and he loved it.

There were a ton of playground/structures all over the place.

If we lived anywhere near this place, we would for sure have a family membership!

(the picture below this one is of a weird rabbit. At first I wasn't sure it was even a rabbit, but it was in the big bunny enclosure with all the other rabbits.)

Here we are on the wagon ride. Usually they would go up to the orchard for a while so people could pick the fruit. The nice driver took just us up to do a loop around the orchard. Not that there were many people there anyhow.

I'm hoping this comes up again for a certifikid next year so we can go back again! I would even consider it to pay full price! It really was such a great time.

Birthday time again!

2011-09-04T20:54:00.000-04:00

August was bit birthday month in the Maney house! We had 4 different birthday celebrations-2 for each kiddo. Jordan's birthday was while we were in Utah, so we met cousins at a spray park, then went to see their new house. It was a fun day. Spencer's celebration on his actual birthday had to be moved to a friend's house when we had a couple realtors come right during the time we would be doing cake. Then we had their parties last weekend.

First was

Jordan's Party
She wanted a sleepover, so I said ok. She had some girls stay for the party part, and go home, then two girls got to stay over. It was fun because the Murphy girls got to come over since they had to evacuate Virginia Beach due to the impeding hurricane Irene.

Here are the girls who came to Jordan's party: This was supposed to be the nice picture, but that obviously did not happen!And a goofy picture; which of course are always so much more fun!!

Due to in part laziness of the mother of the birthday girl, and in part the idea of giving the girls something fun to do, I colored the frosting and let the girls decorate their own cupcakes. Turns out it was a wildly successful plan:)

After cupcakes, I put in Wild Kratts for the boys to watch so I cleaned up, but as you can see, and the girls ended up watching it as well.

And finally, present time. I love how they all love to be right there for the opening of the presents.
The happy birthday girl!!

Like I had mentioned, Jordan wanted to have a sleepover for her birthday. Most of the girls stayed until about 9:00 or so, and then 2 were left to sleep for the night. The had a lot of fun, but were still asleep at 1:30 am!! After multiple warnings, I finally gave up and went to bed; so I don't know exactly what time they went to sleep. Then Darin said the were up at 6:30 am. Jordan fell asleep on the couch at 5:00!

Spencer's Party
Since Jordan's party when she was 6 years old was to take some friends to Silver Diner, we did the same thing for Spencer. He had some friends from church and school and was completely thrilled.

I did orange frosting for Spencer's cupcakes. Everything in the world is better for him if it is orange!!

And the boy crew!! These are some pretty cute boys. Spencer had a few from his class that he hadn't seen all summer, so he was thrilled about that. The one next to him on his left is Esteban-his best friend from his class. He was so happy to see him.
And the goofy picture with the boys.

Fun at Silver Diner

2011-08-30T21:36:00.009-04:00

We love Silver Diner-especially on Family Night!! So today we had house showings at 4:00 and 5:00, so by the time we got home, we decided to head to Silver Diner. I always love it when it works out that way. The kitchen is so nice and clean, so it was nice to not have to mess it up. Plus I think I have an ear infection-my ear really hurts. I wasn't to thrilled to cook, so it was good news to me.

Family night is great. We got our table, ordered our food, then the kids went to get in line for face paint. They were in line the whole time we waited for our food, even past the time it arrived. Darin and I ate in peace, then the kids finally came to eat. They were hungry so they ate quickly and quietly! The only glitch was Spencer losing a toy he had just got, but then finding it. We sat next to a really cute lady with her 2 yr. old. Overall, a nice evening.

It was disco night-so they were playing music and dancing. The kids of course got their face painted. Here are tonight's results:

Batgirl
Ahoy Matey!

and finally...grrrrr......

The pirate and his posse!

Andrew Family Photo Shoot

2011-08-26T23:34:00.007-04:00

Each year at Darin's Family reunion we have a photo shoot-which most of the men involved barely tolerate:)

Here are the best results:

Our family. A complete bomb. Landon would not cooperate in the least. Well, if I knew photo shop, I could move around a couple heads and have a decent picture.

Then we tried nana and papa with the grandkids. Once again, Landon was in rare form. The bottom pic is Darin with some of his cousins and his so very cute Grandma Andrew.

Here's great grandma Andrew with all her great grandkids who were there. I spend the first few frames fighting to get Landon to cooperate, then finally gave up and put him on the swing set. At least he's in the picture.

And the whole family.
It may be hard for us to get everyone together, but it is worth it to have the pic in the long run!

Bear Lake

2011-08-24T22:35:00.009-04:00

We had a wonderful time in Bear Lake with Darin's family earlier this month. We stayed in a big huge house. We actually had 2 houses-a "kid" house and a "grown up" house for all the grandmas and grandpas who needed their beauty sleep:)

Our trip was a bit rocky getting there. We left Darcie's but didn't give Spencer the dramamine in enough time. So....here we go again.We were in Sardine Canyon when Spencer started to make the horrible noises, and I knew it was coming. He threw up, and then we heard Jordan's scream....."my backpack." Yes, it hit the back of her backpack. We pulled over to clean up, then a state trooper pulled up to ask if we needed help. When I explained, he said he figured that since he has a son who gets car sick. He was so nice. Don't think a state trooper in Virginia would have been that nice....

So we arrived to this house:And here's the view from the deck of the house:

It was so fun to see everyone again. The kids immediately started playing and we found our rooms. The girls found a room with 2 sets of double bunk beds, so they claimed it for the 9 little girls who were there! The were so excited.

After everyone arrived we had dinner, then played some "minute to win it" type games. It was mostly for the kids and the loved it. It was pretty fun to watch. I especially loved the oreo on the forehead one.

It took us forever to get the girls to calm down and go to bed, which was lovely since we were given the room next to the girls. There were a couple hold outs until after midnight, but their dad finally came down and took the light bulbs out. (Which the next day the girls in turn stole the light bulbs from Spencer and Landon's room!! Smart girls:)

On Monday, we went to North Beach State Park, which is actually in Idaho. We had a fabulous day; well, with the one exception of Uncle Rick's truck breaking down!

We played in the sand, water, rode the sea doos, ate, and played some more. We stayed way longer than we Aunt Coleen had planned, but we were all having so much fun!!

There were so many pics of the day, I had a hard time narrowing them down.

Darin took Landon on a sea doo. He loved it, but didn't want to go very fast. Spencer liked going faster, and Jordan-who took all day to convince to try it-wanted to go slow, too.

I could have gone over and over-so fun!!

Spencer would lay in t0 warm up.

Landon and Alyssa. Landon loved that paddle-I had taken him to the bathroom, and he found it in the water walking back to our area on the beach. All the kids loved it. I loved this series of pics-but Landon, shouldn't you have been pulling Alyssa?

The kids had a blast and played for hours! I think at one point, Jordan was rolling around in the sand....

Jordan loved that she had so many girl cousins to play with! Here she is with Rosie.

The boys had a blast digging. Casey was digging holes for them to go into. At one point he came up to talk to us watching and said Spencer made him laugh. Spencer was digging, then told Casey he couldn't dig very well. Casey asked him why, to which he replied "I'm not an American Badger." We all laughed, especially since I had told them all about his obsession with the PBS show Wild Kratts.

We finally decided to head back and have a late dinner. All the food we had the whole week was so good!! Needless to say, getting the kids to bed was so much easier than the night before. Then some of us stayed up and chatted for a while-it was so fun to catch up!

Cousin Fun!!

2011-08-22T23:26:00.007-04:00

When we got to Utah, we were able to stay the first night with Darin's sister Darcie and her cute family. We haven't seen them since the last family reunion in Oregon, so the kids were really excited. Darcie had told me that Aiden was worried that the kids wouldn't play with him.....

But he and Jordan hit it off right away!!! They were inseparable. !! So cute. They played really well.

(The pics are out of order, but Blogger is not letting me cut and paste them-maybe because I did some collages in Picnik?)

Anyhow, here are Jordan and Aiden doing some art work.
Spencer and Aiden playing outside. The have the best back yard-my kids were in heaven.
Uncle Duane has an ipad and our family was so lucky to be introduced. Here are all the kids playing. At one point, Spencer was on the ipad, and Caleb was on the ipod playing the same game. He showed Spence a game called "office jerk." Not sure how I feel about that title....

Jordan and Aiden did lots of artwork and did an "artshow" where they showed all the work they did. It was really funny. The took turns introducing each other and talking about what they did. It was so cute.

Here are Darcie and Aiden after the "show."
Aunt Darcie has one of those huge jetted tubs, so I threw all 3 of my kiddos in there and they were in heaven!! I would love to have one of these in our next house:)

Here are Jordan and Aiden during the art show.
And again playing in the back yard. These two just got along so well. It was so fun to watch. I sure wish we could see them more often.

Poor neglected blog.

2011-08-04T21:28:00.002-04:00

So I have been neglecting my blog. Well, I have done some posts that I have not published since they are me venting about the house situation.

I figured in order to start somewhere, I'll recap this week. It is pretty much dedicated to my dear friend Ryann. She and her cute kiddos got back from England last week, and since we got to Utah on Saturday and won't see her before she heads down to Virginia Beach, we have been able to see her and the kids every day. We've loved it.

On Monday we met up at Chuck E. Cheese with the old playgroup families-minus Lea and Chanda's families. It was us, Jill, Ryann, Rachael and Sharon. It was fun to see the kiddos get acquainted again and renew their friendships. The kids all had a great time and it was fun to catch up with Ryann and hang out with all the moms again. When we left I went and paid Landon's tuition for September!! Wow-only a month until school starts again. I had to about throw up at how much we are paying for his preschool, though. I guess since we didn't pay for preschool for 4 years, it isn't that bad!! The kids and I played at the playground then headed for home.

On Tuesday, Spencer got to go swim with his best friend, so he was thrilled-he had a great time. He and Gabey play so well together so Janna and I let them get together as much as we can. Ryann called to come visit so she and her kids stayed for a while. Jordan got along great with the girls and Spencer played so well with Tim. Landon is actually closest in age, but I think he overwhelms kids since he gets a bit crazy. He's funny that way-in a big group, he's crazy, but one on one, he'll play so well with his friends. After Ryann left, Spencer and Jordan got to play at Gabey's house while Landon and I went to the grocery store.

We had a fun day yesterday, as well. We met Jill and Ryann at the movies for the dollar show. It's funny when the kids seem like they haven't seen each other in ages-giving hugs, etc. So cute. Anyhow, we divided up and I lucked out and only had 2 kiddos with me in the movie Nannie McPhee 2-Landon and Emilie. Cute movie. Just like old times, we at at Noodles and Company. I ended up sitting at the window with the boys so they could watch the "mighty machines" working in the parking lot across the street. Then I took them out to play in the courtyard. We did a kid switch so Jordan got to go with Ryann to Jill's house and I took all the boys home with me. We had fun, then poor Timmy said his ear hurt. I felt bad for the little guy and turns out he has an ear infection.

Last night I met up at Jill's house with Ryann and we just sat around and at yummy cookies and talked forever-just like old times. It was great. I really do have some wonderful friends! We missed Rachael and Sharon, though.

Today we had another group outing!! But first I spent the day trying to get my kids to do creative things. I banned the Wii for the day. Spencer kept asking, but I never gave in. And they only watched about an hour and a half of TV!! When forced, they can do creative things and use their imaginations. We played legos for a long time, did puzzles, workbooks, and Jordan, of course, directed the kids in some imaginary play as well.

We made it until time to go to Pirate's Cove. We were meeting the gang again. Combining all our certifikids and library coupons, we only had one person who had to pay out our whole group. We had 5 moms and 11 kiddos. And it was family night, so we got a hot dog dinner. We had a blast. The kids were in a bunch of different directions, but every played and had lots of fun. I think we may have to go to family night more often next year!!

On the way home, the kids and I had a great conversation. Lots of stuff about life, dying, resurrection, etc. They all said some cute and amazing things, but the best was when Landon said "I want to be little forever." Mommy wants you all to stay little forever, Lanny! I love it when we have great conversations in the car that we are all involved in. Their little brains really are amazing!!

So I did take some pics today, but I'm too pooped to get the camera and cord. My waterproof camera has a funky sized memory card that doesn't fit in my laptop, so it necessitates plugging it in. I'm ready to go to bed, but since I was recently reminded how "bad" I have gotten at my blog, I just wanted to post something tonight.

So to Ryann-I'm so glad we have been able to hang out this week!! It's been awesome seeing you and the kids again. I'll miss seeing you for your birthday. Good luck getting settled in your new home!

Naussa, Bahamas

2011-07-21T21:03:00.000-04:00

Time to finish up the cruise posts!!!

On Sunday we stopped in Nassau, Bahamas. It is on the biggest island in the Bahamas called New Providence. We were excited to go ashore and check it out. And it was nice because we figured we could come and go as we wanted since we were docked and wouldn't have to take a boat ashore.

We wanted to take a walking tour that we had read about on the ship info. We walked all around the government center area where it was supposed to start, but we couldn't find anything. So we walked back to the main building you walked through when you get off the boat and asked the info desk. Found out they don't do it in Sunday. When we walked back out to go see things ourselves, we found our new friend Renaldo. He was a taxi driver and sold us on his tour. It turned out to be one of the best things we could have done with our time. I got a sunburn the day before, so we didn't want to do the beach scene again.

One of the government buildings we saw on our walk looking for the tour.

Couple policemen. Loved the uniforms.

Renaldo was a really excellent tour guide. He did an excellent job of telling about the Bahamas. We drove all around the island-we went through the more rich areas and the slums as well; which was very interesting.

One of the beaches where we got to stop and get out and walk on the beach.

A church we drove buy. I love seeing all the children in the white dresses-it was communion day.

We saw this image a few places around the island.

This is at a famous landmark called the Queen's Staircase. It was built by slaves who worked all day for years to complete it for a visit from Queen Elizabeth-I think. Basically stairs cut out of a stone hill.

It was so stinking humid. We were seriously dripping sweat. The temperature wasn't horrible, but man was it humid!! So I was always glistening!!

This view was from the Atlantis resort.

The golden chair at the Atlantis resort.

It old Darin I wanted him to buy this for me. Hee Hee:):)
Here are some interesting facts about the Bahamas:

1. The girls there have "girl guides" which are the equivalent of Girl Scouts here. It is very popular. We drove by the building, but it was Sunday so it was closed.
2. The Bahamas charges a $25 tax for every single person who enters it's port-it's tacked on the price of your cruise ticket.
3. The tax to import a vehicle is astronomical=65=85 percent of the purchase price depending on the price of the vehicle!!!
4. The have a college of tourism so every single person who works in tourism industry-down to the people in the straw market and hair braiders-have to go to a 6 week course and get a certificate before they can work.
5. There is no plumbing in the slum areas of town-still have outhouses. That areas was pretty sad. There were water pumps scattered around and it was the little kids jobs to pull a wagon with lots of empty jugs to talk home for the family to use.

We were learned lots of stuff-I've can't think of it all right now.

We drove by the hospital where Anna Nicole Smith and her son died. Apparently tons of celebrities have homes there. It is also where John Travolta's son died as well. We didn't go to that area of the island-I imagine you can't really get there.

I saw these lying on the dock and thought they were cool. I noticed that they were being sold in the various shops, but they had drilled holes about the size of a dime in them. I was so tempted to take one.....

This outfit-yes, it was a costume someone would wear, was in the building you went through to get back to the boat.

A view of Atlantis from our ship.

Mud!!

2011-07-15T20:10:00.007-04:00

Landon decided that it was time to play in mud. I saw him out there, and at first I was about to yell at him and bring him in, but then I was flooded with memories of my sisters and I digging in mud and making mud pies. So I took my camera out to catch him in action.

The reason I was going to make him stop was because when you park and walk toward out house, you have to go over the patch of dirt and I was worried about people coming to see the house. But at this point, I just don't care. If they like the house, they will buy it.

So I let him do what he wanted. He was getting water from the hose and making mud, then putting it in his dump truck.

I love his face in this one.
I asked why he was filling the dump truck and he said

"it's a dirty swimming pool for ants." I guess dirty water won't hurt them..... He was also putting leaves in that were '"boats" for the ants to ride on. Creative little fella!!

I can't really blame him-I like to play in dirt, too!!

wanna shake that hand?

nice farmer's tan, Lanny!

A new challenge

2011-07-13T20:27:00.003-04:00

I am sitting here wanting to eat some chocolate so badly, but I am not. Let me explain why.

I was looking on FB the other day and my friend had a post about a challenge she was doing. You can find it here. I decided to sign up for it. The price was $17.00 for the challenge and I figured I spend that much on junk food in a couple weeks, so it would be a good investment.

Basically the idea is that you keep track with points of what you do and at the end of the challenge you can get money back for your accomplishments. There are 10 components:

1. No Sugar
2. No junk food.
3. 8 glasses of water a day.
4. Exercise 45 minutes a day.
5. 7 hours of sleep a night.
6. 2 servings of each fruits and vegetables a day.
7. Read an uplifting book or your scriptures for 15 minutes every day.
8. Write in your journal every day.
9. Do a good deed our of your ordinary schedule each day.
1o. No eating after 8:00 pm.

Whew. Now that I have written it all myself, it is A LOT.

What have I gotten myself into? Darin looked at the link and was less than enthused about it. He said that they are all good things, but together it is too much. At first I was really annoyed at him for not being supportive. I was brooding about it and he just said that it was too much to do at once.

So today is day 4, and I am beginning to believe him. Most of it I can manage pretty well, but the whole "off limits" idea is very hard to wrap my head around. The whole time I went to weight watchers, there wasn't anything I couldn't eat. It is very hard to say "don't eat that."

Enter Darin saying "I told you so."

Oh, yeah, I forgot-there is one day a week that you can cheat and it doesn't count. That is also different for me to adjust to. Although I usually was a bit less strict on the days that I weighed in.

So here I sit-it's 8:45, and for the third night in a row, I'll go to bed with a rumbly tummy. I guess I can drink some water to fill my tum tum.

The word challenge is right-this is sure going to be challenging.

When big sister is incharge of the game,

2011-07-11T16:52:00.005-04:00

This is what happens. Too bad the brothers were less than cooperative.
Spencer is thinking "why on earth did I let her put this on me?"
I think he was trying to curtsey here.
"a little help here, please?"
Awww, so cute!

a major misunderstanding.

2011-07-10T20:33:00.004-04:00

Who ever reads this blog is probably so sick of me putting up about selling the house. Well, it is my life right now, and I should probably be learning something from it; which I will post about if I ever find out.

Today was another chapter in the saga. I was up late last night talking to my sister on the phone, so I didn't get as much sleep. Not to mention the fact that my body was a bit stiff and sore from the fall I took yesterday. So I wasn't terribly motivated to get the house cleaned up tons. I was playing with the kids and my phone rang. It was a realtor asking to come at 2:oo. I figured I needed to should get cleaning.

Then the phone rang again. Yipee-another realtor. He wanted to come at noon. I asked if he could come at 12:30 since we would be going to church around that time. He said ok, they would come at 12:30. I had mentioned that we left for church at that time. I could tell that English was not his first languate, but I figured he know what 12:30 was.

So I'm frantically cleaning up when the door bell rings at 11:30!!!

What the heck? When I opened the door, he says "I give you more time to go to church." Before I answered the door I had to hurry and put real clothes on. Darin was in the bathroom in his towel. I asked for 10 minutes. The kids were still in pajamas, and we just got in the cars.

Oh, on a side note here, there is something about Asian people when they come to see the house-they are always in huge groups. There was the realtor and about 4-5 other people. It has happened that way a few times.

Anyhow, Darin left for his meeting and I sat in the car, only after yelling at Landon for spilling watermelon juice all over the floor. I read the kids a book, then they were finished.

Can you say annoyed? They were in the house all of about 5 minutes!! Well, it was not even 10 for sure. I was very frustrated.

We did have another realtor come and look while we were at church. So I guess we can't give up hope yet.....

Saturday-trip to Coco Cay

2011-06-30T13:12:00.015-04:00

Saturday started off with a great breakfast at the lovely Windjammer buffet. They had lots to choose from. I loved all the fresh pineapple.

After we ate, we got ready to go to Coco Cay-the private Island. I was so excited to be on the beach. We went down to the level where you got to board the "tender," or what I would call the ferry to the Island. The line was a mile long, but we made it through and got to sit on the top. I was happy about that, until it was taking a long time to load the boat which was moving a lot. I was getting queasy. It was much better once it started moving.

Here's a view of leaving the boat and getting to the island.

A view from the tender. I really wanted to do para-sailing, but they only had it in tandem, and unfortunately Darin and I were above the combined 375lb weight limit. Such a bummer-I would have done it. Although I did notice that they didn't go as high as I did when I did it in St. Thomas when I was a nanny years ago.

Shots of Darin and I standing int he water-before we actually went in.

Swimming in the ocean!! I LOVE it!! Not so fond of salt water, but you get used to it and you can just float. I don't remember the science behind it, but for some reason you just float. Very relaxing. We also laughed at all these ladies who got these floaties and had a heck of a time getting on them. One lady actually brought a book out there with her. We had considered getting them until we saw that it was actually more work.

While we were swimming, we noticed there were cool fish all around us. We stood and watched them forever, then Darin got the waterproof camera. Here are the best of the shots I tried to get.

And like the boat, we had great food. There was a food area and it was yummy-burgers, dogs, ribs, corn on the cob, cold salads, fruit, cookies, and even lemonade and juice. It was great. After we ate, we went and shopped a bit in the straw market. I almost got my hair braided, but then decided not to.

A view of our ship from Coco Cay.

Some shots of of the food and eating ares.

After we looked around a bit, we laid on our chairs and settled in to have a rest. We were sitting next to these really funny ladies. All of a sudden we heard some laughing and a man walked by in a THONG!! Really- a "man thong." butt cheeks were just a hanging out. It was horrible to see from the front and back. One of the ladies said she was going to take a picture for Facebook. I didn't want to look at it after that.

I noticed that people didn't really care what they looked like in their bathing suits-there were plenty of women in bikinis who must not have consulted any friend or family about who how they looked. When you look at a woman from the front and you can't see the bottom portion of her bikini because her fat roll covers it up, that is just plain wrong. I was happy to see that I was by far not even the largest woman on the cruise. Lots of large people all around. The cruise was very international, and I don't think that people in other country have the body issues that we have here the good 'ole USA. They wear what they want and are comfortable in it. Maybe we should adopt that idea....then again, maybe not!

After we had naps, we walked around a bit before heading back to the boat. Here we are on a dock we found.

After a wonderful time at the beach, we were really hot so we decided we needed to get back to the ship and take a dip in the pool before dinner. We found some chairs and got in the pool. It was so funny because there were 2 pools and they were both salt water. And you just float. Literally. We didn't have to even do any work and we would float around. We took in a "belly flop" competition while we were in the pool. It was pretty funny.

Dinner on Saturday was the "formal" night. People were dressed in a whole range of clothes. Some like us in "Sunday" type clothes, some in dress pants, and some women decked out in actual formal clothes. The couple that ate with us was pretty casual. The were pretty picky about some things at the door, though. Women had to have shirts over bathing suits, men had to have pants, etc. That was nice.

We had a nice dinner. Darin ordered escargots in a nice butter garlic sauce. He loved it. I tasted it-had the texture similar to a mushroom. I always think of Pretty in Pink when I think of escargots, but they were in this little dish that had a hole where each one would sit and was covered in sauce.

Me outside our dining room.

Darin and I after dinner was over. There was a ship photographer that would come around and you could go pick your pics out and buy them. I never did find ours, but wouldn't have purchased them anyhow-they were an arm and a leg. The one from my camera is good enough.

Here's Darin and his tasty snails, and also our fun waiter Marco.

After dinner we went to one of the lounges to watch a "Family Feud" game. I love that game, so wanted to see it. It was fun. We had some late night snacks at the pizza place, then walked around the ship some more places. I wanted to see the lounge that was on the 14th floor-it was the round one with windows all around. It was a bit nerve wracking to be that high up-I have developed more of a fear of heights as I get old.

Then we went to the main theatre and saw another game show called Love and Marriage which was just like the Newlywed game. The newlywed couple was an LDS couple-there were a couple big things that gave them away-first they just looked like it. And her dress was one that had material added where it was low cut, then when she was walking up the steps, she flashed some garments.

Oh yeah, before the game show started, the showed the names of all the newlywed couples, and those celebrating their anniversary. We are a few months early, but our names were up on the screen. That was fun. We enjoyed the show, then went back to our cabin.

Kind of blurry, but we were up there!

This is what greeted us when we went in our cabin:

Thanks, Cassanova!!

Cruise trip Thursday and Friday

2011-06-29T22:04:00.006-04:00

I woke up Thursday morning with a list a mile long! Clean the house, do laundry, finish packing kids and myself, get a few groceries to take my friends house for kids, send out a few emails, arrange to have lawn mowed, and on and on.

I got a good start on it, then got a horrible phone call at about 10:00 am. A recorded message from American Airlines telling me that my flight for that evening had been cancelled and I was rescheduled on flight on Friday...that would get me in after the cruise left port.

I freaked out. I panicked. Darin was gone and I didn't know what number to call. The waterworks were going strong. My sweet Jordan came and gave me a hug and told me it would be ok. Luckily the number from the airlines was on my phone. I waited and waited and finally got someone on the line. I was able to get on a flight at 3:30. I immediately called Carla and asked to bring the kids over about 5 hours earlier. She said of course, so I got on with my work.

I felt bad since I was not spending any time with the kids, but I was trying to get the house ready so the house could be shown over the weekend.

I finally got everything done, got the kids to Carla's and got to the airport. It was so nice to casually go through the airport by myself!! No chasing kids!!

I made it to Miami with no problems and hung out in the hotel until Darin got back from his reception.

Friday
We woke up and had breakfast in the hotel-which was quite pleasant with out having to wrangle children- then drove around Miami for a while. It was interesting to see the city. We drove through "little Havana" which was interesting. I noticed that the buildings were all very light in color-mostly in the orange range of color. Spencer would have loved it. I also noticed that they like to have gates and hedges between all the houses.

We made our way to the cruise ship and waited in line to get on. I was so excited. Could hardly believe that we were actually there!! It took a while, then we finally made it on board. It was so weird to think that it was actually a ship-seemed like a huge building. There were 14 floors on the ship! And it was the smallest ship in the whole of Royal Carribean's fleet. And we were told it was twice the size of the Titanic, which was weird-the Titanic seemed so huge on the movie.

Here I am walking down the big hallway leading to the entrance to the ship.

I know our room, cabin, or stateroom-whatever you would like to call it, would be small, and I was right:) And the bed was up against the wall, and guess who had to crawl in and out-yup, me. After we found our room, we hurried up to the buffet, called the "Windjammer" to get in lunch before they closed. Holy food. What people say about cruises is true. They have lunch, then they have "snack" about an hour later, but it is more like another whole meal!!

We were in room 5011 on the 5th floor. We were on the main hall, which was way better than the tiny little hallways to the inside. We didn't have a window, but the ones on our floor just looked at the lifeboats anyhow.

A view of our room, or should I say cabin. Our cabin steward was named Cassanova. He was excellent.

We walked around after that, then went to a "first time cruisers" meeting. It was interesting. That is actually where we learned the facts about the ship. We were on one of the decks and the clouds looked pretty ominous. Soon it was pouring down rain, so the welcome dance party had to be moved inside. We watched a bit, then went back to our room to get ready for dinner.

Are we going to cruise right into a storm?

Yes, we would go right through a storm. Can you see the rain. It was pouring down.

I liked the flag blowing in the wind.

We were assigned to a dining room called Moonlight, and sat at table 305. The first night there was a funny couple from Silver Spring MD and we got along great. But they were somehow separated from their family, so we had a different couple the second night. They were from Philadelphia and it was the first time they had been anywhere outside of Philly-first plane ride as well. They were funny-you could tell they hadn't gotten out much. But they were nice and we had 2 nice dinner with them. Our waiter was Marco from Mexico, and his assistant was Nikolina from Croatia. They were excellent.

After dinner, we went to the "Welcome Aboard" show. It had the "Royal Carribean Singers and Dancers," and then a really funny comedian. We really enjoyed ourselves. The theater was pretty cool. We walked around a bit on the upper decks, then called it a night.

getting very discouraged.

2011-06-29T20:58:00.003-04:00

We've been dealing with getting our house ready to sell and getting it on the market since January.

We have now been on the market for 8 weeks.

No offers.

Nothing.

I've watched friends sell their houses and buy new ones.

I sit and wait.

and clean,

and wait.

and clean some more.

Getting very discouraged.

But on a good note, the cleaning lady comes tomorrow and I go to New York on Friday!

People laugh when I tell people....

2011-06-29T15:27:00.002-04:00

that Landon is like the kid in the movie Home Alone. It is true, I promise.

Let me explain.

The kids have been going to bed late since we have been out of town so I was determined to get them to bed earlier. I had a great plan. I made dinner earlier so they could watch their favorite cartoon. I had the boys in the bath by 6:15 and in pajamas by 6:40 or so. We brushed teeth and sat down to read books while Jordan had her bath.

After about 20 minutes of reading Frannie K. Stein, Landon rolled over in his bed and went to sleep!!! Yay!!

Then I had Spencer asleep by about 8:30 and Jordan by 9:00.

I did it!! Total success......or so I thought.

4:00am arrives. Landon crawls into our bed all awake and happy. Darin had enough of him not going to sleep and took him back to his bed. Then all of a sudden the hall light was on, then our light was on. We sent him back to his room. (The details are blurry...I forget, but this is the 'jist of it.)

Darin checked on him and came back to bed. I asked what he was doing and Darin said he was on his bed eating. Nice.

Then our light flips on again and I send him back to bed. I hear something in the kitchen so I go check. He was on the floor by the kitchen with a sippy cup, Hershey's chocolate syrup and 2 jugs of milk.

I ask him what he was doing and he said "making chocolate milk. " I thought about getting my camera, but just didn't have the energy. I then look in the sink and there is a favorite water bottle filled with suds, then I notice my hand mixer with the beaters in it!!! It was not there when I went to bed. The dish soap was on it's side.

I ask him what he was doing and he said "I tried to clean the cup."

What? He was going to use my hand mixer to clean a water bottle!!!

Prior to this he had gotten a big Costco size bag of veggie straws and had gotten the scissors and cut the top off-only after climbing up the shelves to reach it!!!

See-this is why I call him the "home alone kid." He can totally take care of himself. The only thing that does worry me is the microwave-I've caught him trying to put things in and turn it on. I think I could leave for an hour and he would be fine.

But, independence is good, right? At least I know he'll be able to take care of himself!

A trip to Burke Lake Park

2011-06-14T16:04:00.015-04:00

A while back we spent a great evening at Burke Lake Park. We parked by the marina and had a picnic dinner followed by some hiking and exploring.

Burke is so nice and peaceful. It is so nice to have such "nature" spots so close when you live in the city. The marina was a cool area. We watched couple boats come in and out of the water, fed the geese, watched the different kinds of birds flying around, walked on the dock and hiked the trail a bit. We had a great time.

Spencer and Landon running after a goose was coming after them for some bread.

Feeding the geese and playing in the water.
A goose with a wh1te head. And not shy, either. He came right up to the table to get some grub.

He finally got what he wanted!

And here he is getting more from his new BFF, Darin.

Spencer and daddy on the dock.

The kids and I by the water. It was so calm and serene to look out at the lake.

Landon having fun in the water.

Spencer had a turn wearing the boots so he could go in the water as well. I tried to get Jordan ans Spencer to wear their rain boots, but they didn't want to. Only to end up taking turns wearing Landons's. Well, they are actually Spencer's but Lanny's are too tight.
And last but not least, Jordan had to have a turn, too!!

After we hung out by the water and walked along the dock, we went for a hike in the woods. The kids loved it. There was so much to explore and the weather was great.

Spencer would walk down the trail pointing this stick and would call it his "GPS" and would tell us which way to go.
This is a tree laying on the ground-I thought it was cool.

Another funky tree I liked.

This fallen tree was huge!

Landon loved walking in the mud-as you can see by the look on his face:)

A sleep over in the basement.

2011-06-14T08:46:00.007-04:00

On Friday night, Darin wasn't feeling so well and went up to lay down early. I was playing with the kids in the basement-in between cleaning up for the weekend-and realized I hadn't heard from him. I went up the the bedroom and found out he wasn't doing well. I decided to let the kids have a sleep over in the basement. The were thrilled!!! We got all their stuff ready and set the beds up:)

Spencer and Landon taking turns going down under the couch-they were calling it their "lair." Thank you Word Girl.
Spencer checking out the awesome bed mommy made for him!!

Landon getting all ready.
And my beautiful little girl. She actually posed for this picture-"let's do a photo shoot, mommy!"
All the kiddos ready to watch a movie.

Jordan cracks me up. Every time we have a sleep over, she moves into the basement. In addition to the sleep over requirements of sleeping bag, pillow, "blankkie" "dollie" and pillow pet, we also need the snuggie, American girl doll, bag of ponys and pet shops, additional stuffed animals and a huge princess pillow. Now we're ready to go to bed, phew.

the additional "needed" items:
She did remember her Book of Mormon, though:)

After the kids watched the movie a while, I had to make sure they were sleeping. Landon fell asleep during the movie, Jordan right after, but Spencer needed to be settled down. I went back down to check them before I went up to bed.

There's nothing more peaceful and beautiful than sleeping children. I really love looking at my kiddos when they're asleep. For a couple reason: they are so darn cute, and they are QUIET!!

Jordan has been sleeping with this doll, lovingly referred to as "dollie" since she was 1 year old-almost 7 years. Poor thing has seen better days, but she can't sleep without her!
Spencer is just like me-I always have my hands just like this at my face when I sleep. So sweet.
Ahhhh, this is the one I most enjoy to see sleeping-I think you all understand why:) He just looks so sweet and peaceful. Boy does he need the rest after all the craziness he does all day.

This kid cracks me up!

2011-06-10T22:04:00.007-04:00

Landon is such a funny boy! He usually does something every day that cracks me up. This week he has been home with me more since he does not have school anymore. Here are a couple of the things hat have made me laugh.

Boxes are the best toys ever. Why buy toys when a good box can entertain for ages. Here's Lanodn watching a show in the box that once held the prizes for the brownie cookie sales.

Just hanging out:)

Yes, I'm cute. I already know that.

Pick me, pick me!!

Can I just eat my pretzels and watch my show in peace, please?

Notice the Christmas pajamas-Lanny loves these pajamas. He gets cold in the air conditioning and loves to wear them. He actually wore them today when we went to Weight Watchers and the mall. Got a few looks, but who cares.

Speaking of pajamas-this whole week Landon has had a thing for wearing his pajamas all day.

Really, I would like to do the same thing.

It may be from his new accomplishment in life: He now is PULL UP FREE at bedtime!! It is a new milestone in our family. We no longer are purchasing any disposable potty items!! Nearly 8 consecutive years of diapers or pullups.....whew.

Anyhooooo, he may be more comfortable keeping them on now that he is already in his underwear when he wakes up. So I have been letting him. Most of them are ok-the ones today were probably a bit iffy...holes in the back of the shirt and the bottom area.....ah well.

So here he is one day this week when we were about to leave the house. I turn around and this is what he was wearing.

The goggles and boots really make the outfit.
He makes me laugh.
When we finally made it out the door, he decided to leave the boots home, but the goggles went-"to keep the sun out of my eyes."

Ah Landon, lucky for you I forget all the grief you give me when you provide such opportunities to laugh. Sure love you my little buddy!!

A request granted

2011-06-10T08:34:00.004-04:00

Landon wanted "letter" pancakes for breakfast on Sunday. Well, here you go little fella!!

Not so bad for "free hand" pancake batter pouring!!

Yummy!
Spencer got some, too; although the "j" gave mommy a bit of a problem...

Our Special Harbour-a new spray park

2011-05-31T21:45:00.005-04:00

We have a new spray park in the neighborhood! It is at the Lee Rec Center-so very convenient for us-I work there and Landon goes to school there. We are always there!

And the best part.....drum roll please....it is FREE!!!!!!

Anyhow it was built by a foundation that gives money for things to be built for the handicapped. So it is zero depth and kids in wheel chairs can go all around it-there were some kids there in wheelchairs on Monday when we went.

And boy, this spray park is serious!!! It is not like some of the little neighborhood ones where you can sit and watch the kids play. You have to wear a bathing suit and be right there with them-it's a bit slippery in spots. It has big spray features and dumps a bunch of water on you-I was surprised a couple times.

We grabbed Sarah and Kaalie on the way and met a friend from our ward-my friend Tran and her little girl Isabelle. Jordan and Sarah were thrilled to have matching bathing suits.

Landon playing. He had already been there with his preschool class.
This part was a favorite of everyone.
Spencer spraying water-all the kids loved this. And it was even better if they hit an adult. The kids were ruthless!

Jordan and Sarah in the boat.
Jordan when we got there-so excited.

Spencer loved these sprayers. Poor kid fell and hit his head, but after sitting with daddy a while, he was able to play. He was just laughing and having a blast.

Landon has a playdate!

2011-05-24T21:59:00.008-04:00

I had a ray of sunshine amid the stress and yucky feelings I have been feeling this week.

It came in the form of two cute little kiddos-Landon and his little friend Erin from preschool. She came over to play today and they ended up outside-all wet.

I was in the kitchen getting some stuff ready for dinner and Erin came running up to ask to put the leotard on that was in her backpack. I said ok, then realized that they wanted to play outside with the water table. I dropped what I was doing and got Landon in his bathing suit.

They had a blast! When it started off, Erin didn't want to get wet, but in the end both kids were soaked and smiling:)

Just hanging out.

I LOVE this smile:):) How can this face not cheer you up? This afternoon got me excited for summer!!

Brownie Camp

2011-05-17T14:18:00.008-04:00

Last weekend I took my brownie troop to camp for the day. We have been planning it for a while and the girls were so excited. It was a girl scout camp site in Stafford. I have been there for a training I had been to back in April, so I was familiar.

After tons of prep, including practicing making fire with food, we met at the church in the morning and were welcomed with pouring rain. Yay. It rained the whole way down to the camp and for about an hour when we got there, but then it was great weather for the duration of the day.

When we found the campsite, the girls were so excited. They ran into the cabins and started claiming the cots. Then during the day they kept seeing writing in the cabins and thought they were haunted. At one point the put a stick in the door to see if it would be there when we got back to the camp site. It was funny.

Here we are when we started our day.

The first thing we did was the flag raising, then games. The girls had fun, but it is tricky to get 12 to keep quiet for long!

They played a game called "ride that pony" where you run around and dance with people singing a song about riding a pony. It was funny. The girls got a kick out of it when I did it.

After the games, we went on a hike down to the river. One of the dads who came taught the girls about what food they can throw in the woods, and also about how trees grow-the rings and all. There was a huge tree that had fallen across the path so we looked at the rings.

Jordan and her friend Addis when we were on our hike.

All the girls by the water. They are so loving to each other. I love how girls can hug on command! And half the time, they just hug each other because they love being around each other!
I don't want to forget the two dad who came and helped out. They made a fire and were so helpful!

In the afternoon, the girls went to 3 rotations. They learned about knots and knife safety, trail marking and letterboxing. They really enjoyed all the classes and had a ton of fun!

Jordan making a comment during the knots part.

Here is Jordan making her stamp for her letterbox. They went to find the hidden letter boxes and really loved it.
The dads did a fire for hte girls.
The most hysterical part of the day was the preparation for the skit. We went through about 4 different themes before they actually settled on one Story. It was a dance, then a story about fire safety. They were ecstatic to perform.

They all got out their bandanas and made costumes with them.

Jordan in her "costume" for our skit. We have quite few performers in our troop. They LOVED practicing and performing the skit. First they did a dance, then a skit. So incredibly adorable.

Here's Jordan with her best friend Karly. She is such a cutie!!

Well, the day ended the same way it started-rain. Pouring down rain. It started during the campfire. By the time we got up to the car, it was a massive downpour. The girls were all whining that they wanted to go home. We had to wait for another mom to come so we decided to drive to the end of the road to camp and wait at the main entrance.

Holy long, dark, windey, scarry road!! I could barely see where I was going times, and I had Lizzie crying in the back that she wanted her daddy. Megan finally got there so we headed for home. It was a white knuckle drive home. I did lots of praying! We made it safe and when we got back tot he church, the girls were hyper. I finally got home after the parents came, and I was wound up, too. I cleaned up the cooler, dirty dishes, etc and was finally ready for bed.

Darin let me sleep until almost 9:00 Sunday morning so that was so nice!!

Getting There

2011-04-29T08:40:00.002-04:00

Finally. We are almost there. After weeks of work, we just have a few finishing touches to do. The paint is almost done-just some touch ups on the floorboards where the new carpet was put in, couple bathroom touch ups and the outside windows and front door.

I have had help from sisters in the ward. They are wonderful. I have the BEST visiting teacher EVER. Sherri Glad. She's been over to help 3 times in the last 2 days. She is really one of the most giving people I know. Then her boys came and did my yard. It will now be so much easier to make it look nice.

I just have to get the clutter put away and do a deep clean of the house. But now thanks to the help of the awesome sisters, and one coming today, it is so much easier. It is looking much better. Something that made a huge difference is the new carpet. It really made a HUGE difference. Just looks so nice. It makes me hope that we get a house with new carpet:) Although vacuuming is quite a thing-I have to empty the cup every 5 minutes.

So the Realtor came over last night. He only pointed out a couple thing, which we planned to do, just haven't yet; and a couple things we hadn't noticed. So that was good. He was impressed with the work we have done, and was very supportive. He asked if I was "surviving." Seem to know what it was like to have small children around when you're trying to sell. I asked about the toys being ok and he said that we had to have a balance since we still over, and that we couldn't take everything away. It was funny because he said "your kids can't just stand in a corner and do nothing." That made me feel better.

We signed the contract with him to sell the house for us. He is just waiting for us to say come and take pictures and the next day it will be listed. OH MY GOODNESS!!! It is really happening. We gave my cell phone number for the realtors to call to come see it. I guess I better figure out how to use my voice mail and get rid of the messages that are flooding it. And I'll have to keep my phone charged now, too!!

Right before Kelly left-our Realtor-he said that maybe we would like to put up a "coming soon" sign, and warned us about the first time we would see a "for sale " sign up. I'm tearing up just thinking about it. I really do love this townhouse and have wonderful memories here. Darin and I started our lives together here and brought our 3 beautiful babies home to this house. I will miss it. Especially when we look back at all the pictures I've taken here.

I'm not going to make it.

2011-04-13T18:57:00.002-04:00

I want to just give up. I can't take it anymore. I know I was going to try to stay positive this week, but I'm done.

They are still painting. This is the THIRD week. I hate it. We got the whole house torn apart last week , but they didn't get to most of the rooms until this week. It has been very frustrating. And I'm a wimp. I really wish I would have told them to go a room at a time so we could have a semblance of normalcy in the house instead of it all torn up at one time. And my friend also has another part time job to do in the morning, which I thought he wasn't going to do when he was painting our house, so he rarely gets here before 11:00 and works until 4:00 when I bring his kids home from school.

Lesson learned: NEVER hire a friend out of a desire to help them-even if they call and text you over and over about it. So if they are bragging about their abilities and that they really need the money, don't fall for it. We hired our friend-the father of the kids I watch- who did lower his original bid, but in the long run we are going to end up paying the same as if we had hired a big company who would have painted every inch and not complained. After I pay him for materials and labor, it's the same as the bid I got that included everything-ceilings, closets, etc. The things my friend is avoiding doing. He likes to point out to me when things are going to be a "huge pain." If I had hired the one company I got a bid from, they would have come in, done the work and left. The bid said 7-10 days, and we're already on day 13 now. And he says there are 2 days left.

I'm not gonna make it.

The house is in chaos. He says I can put things away, but then I notice touch ups. Like the wall where the big couch goes. He said that wall was done, but I noticed today a huge part in the middle of the window that was not done. Do I do all the mopping and dusting and put the couch back only for him to have to pull it out to finish painting and get my floors dirty again. The front door has been open while they paint so the floors are horrible. There's still dust all over from the sanding.

My kid have watched so much TV while I've been moving things around and getting them ready for the painters and then putting things back. Dinners have been few and far between and certainly not nutritiously balanced in any way. I've become a horrible mother. I'm constantly snapping at them to not touch the walls with their hands or any other thing-which by the way, do you realize how much your kids touch the walls? My goodness!!!

They are currently upstairs watching a cartoon. Jordan and Spencer were on the couch playing on my laptop and got into an argument and knocked it onto the floor. I snapped and grabbed it away fast. They burst into tears "It was an accident...you don't love us anymore." I tried to console Spencer, but he didn't want anything to do with me. It's like a dagger to the heart to hear that line every day.

Am I going to be able to undo the damage that's done during this horrible time in our families lives? I sure hope so. I tell myself that it will all get better once we get in a new house.

And my friend Josh keeps telling me things wrong with the house every day. Black mold in a couple windows, mold on the concrete out back, a crack in the foundation, says we need new electrical outlets, etc. I know he means well-he works in mortgages so he knows how inspections work, but it is FREAKING ME OUT!!! He tells me "no offense, but you really haven't kept up the house." I just wanted to burst into tears. It makes me feel like it's just our house that has problems. Your house is your life and when you have someone tell you it's crappy, it doesn't feel good. I want to tell him to paint and that's it, but I'm a wimp.

And it doesn't make me feel very positive about someone wanting to buy our house. Which then dashes my dreams about a new house. But we did hire a great realtor, so I have high hopes about what he can do for us.

Am I being over-dramatic? Darin thinks so. I emailed him about freaking out and he says "the house is 24 years old, it's not going to look new. We'll deal with it when we have an inspection." I wish I could be like that. He doesn't want to put more money into it.

Which is my next beef-why do we have to do soooo much to sell a house anyhow? It is so frustrating.

One good thing is that we did get a good bid for carpet and it will be done next week. After that is done, I just have to do the back yard, clean all the windows, clean all the cupboards and banisters really well. Not a lot, right?

And Darin is out of town this week-in Moscow. So it's not like he's on one of his trips where I can call him every night. I feel all this pressure because if I pay Josh and Dainr comes home and doesn't like the house, he won't be happy.

I need assertiveness training so badly.

OK.......I seriously need to stop. I just had to get it out. Whew. Since it's 7:25 and the kids have only really had snacks, I better feed them and get on with bedtime. They're excited because they get to sleep on the sleeper sofa in the basement tonight since their rooms were painted today. Would I be a horrible mother if I just put a movie on and laid with them until they fall asleep? Problem is that I will probably fall asleep before they do!!!

Where in the world is Wendi?

2011-03-31T20:27:00.004-04:00

neglecting her blog, that's where.

Oh boy, where do I start? I have tons to say, and tons of pictures on my camera I want to get on here....that's what I get for doing too much-now I have to play catch up.

We are deep in the throws of our townhouse getting a major face lift-in preparation to go on the market. Here's the list so far

*new tile in 3 bathrooms
*3 new ceiling fans
*4 new bathroom fixtures
*4 new lighting fixtures throughout the house
*new paint on front and back railings
*back fence door handle fixed so now it actually stays shut
*couple cosmetic wood working things fixed

The painter, who is my friend Josh, has been ripping down wallpaper for 3 days now.

I HATE WALLPAPER

just so there is no confusion here:

WALLPAPER SUCKS

I could clarify that the removal of wallpaper is the problem, but if there if it hadn't been put up in the first place, we wouldn't be having to pay out the wazoo to have it removed.

It's very nerve wracking to see it being done because you can't really see how it will look, but I'm hopeful it will all work out.

I finished my session of teaching at the REC Center and was so thankful. I just bit off more than I could chew. I was teaching 7 classes a week and then subbed sometimes. It was just TOO much. And then Landon was a huge problem. He was ok the first couple classes, then was a royal pain in the side.

Then came a call from an annoyed parent. Nice. Felt really good about that one. So I spent the last 5 weeks or so calling in way too many favors from friends to watch him. Thank goodness I have so many wonderful friends. Thanks to each of you. I loved teaching the classes and had great kids, but it just took too much time from my other commitments. I am now only teaching 2 classes a week when Landon is in school.

I'm still doing Brownies and am the cookie mom. It is about over and I'll be so glad. I'm actually avoiding doing some data entry fro the cookies to type this....yeah-I'm great when it comes to avoidance.

So the kiddos, we still have them.

Jordan: doing well in school-moved up a reading group so her spelling words got harder, she was so excited to tell me. She's doing so great in school. She's still so creative and loves artwork, writing, etc. She started soccer and is on a team with her 2 little best friends. I left her at practice tonight and she was loving it. Recently was quite impressed with herself when she figured out how to open her own "child-proof" bottle of antibiotics. Nice. She also helped me tons when we watched my friend's baby Sunday, which made me want a baby girls so badly-Jordan is always asking for one.

Spencer: enjoys school as well. Starting to read some on his own. He is timid, and is a super quiet reader, but he is getting better and better. He is now addicted to a new show on PBS called Wild Kratts, about 2 brothers who are animal experts. He can now get online and to the PBS website to play Wild Kratts completely on his own. He showed me how he does it today. I call him my "screen" kid-he loves TV, my ipod, my laptop and playing the Wii. He also started soccer and is on a team with his best little friend from church. He loves it as well.

Landon: My stubborn little stinker. He gives me a run for my money, I tell ya!! Aside from the occasional time he has to be taken out of circle time for not listening, he is doing excellent in school. I had his conference a few weeks ago, and the the teacher said he knows all his colors, numbers, shapes, the alphabet so he's set. He knows the sounds of letters and is starting to ask what words say. I think he'll pick up on reading really quick. He missed the cut off for "mini kickers' in soccer by a month. Such a bummer since he is the same size as some of the kids on Spencer's team.

I love these kiddos so much, but feel like I'm failing them, lately. I've been yelling more than usual at little things-things that usually don't bother me. I haven't been the most patient mother, either. We are so disorganized as well-with all the work that is being done on the house. I'll be so happy when it's all done. I feel in limbo, so it's very frustrating. Then I fall in the trap of "oh, we'll change this when we get in the new house." I mean stuff like bedtime and morning routines, kids watching wayyyy too much TV, etc. And the kids know it too-they have been getting away with stuff because I simply have energy to deal with it. (mostly because I am doing too much.-which I am learning the hard way.)

Ugh.

And then We were doing well with the scriptures, then have something come up one night and get out of the habit. Darin and I are so tired at bedtime that it's a rush most nights. Then I feel bad after that I didn't spend more time with each of the kids.

It's almost like we're in survival mode. "If I can must make it until we get in a new house" kind of thinking. But I don't want to form bad habits until we get there.

I just have to figure out how to balance living in a house that is in transition and keep our routines and traditions in tact at the same time.

Any advice would be we most welcome.

Phew-this is clearly some major rambling. I better get going on my cookie stuff I have to do instead of avoiding it any longer.....

sore feet

2011-02-27T10:16:00.002-05:00

It is beginning!!

We are really on our way to getting our house on the market.

The POD was delivered on Friday and did the bulk of the loading yesterday. Whew. Sore feet.

But there is a story to the POD-which stands for Portable On Demand Storage. Darin did the reservation online. In the directions, he stated that we wanted it to be placed with the door facing the house. Apparently there was some box he had to check for how the POD was placed on the delivery truck. Well, he marked the wrong thing, which was apparently not so clear, so instead of the door facing the house-I drove up and it was facing the STREET!!!

WHAT? How IDIOTIC can you be? It was very explicit in our directions and I would think that any experienced driver would understand that we would be taking things our of our house to load in and that we would want to walk straight into the POD. Not rocket science, people.

Needless to say I was LIVID!! I got on the phone right away. Well, you only get the corporate call center and they can't really do much. The lady did call the local office and they said that since a certain thing was marked, it was partly our fault. It would be a $104 charge to change it around and they wouldn't be able to do it until Saturday. Oh, but they were being so nice and said that they would take half the price off.

again, WHAT? Why on earth didn't the driver-whom you would assume has delivered may PODS to houses just assume that since the directions say "put door of POD to door of townhouse" to disregard the other mistakenly marked box. I was just so ticked because I had called the day before to get the time and I wondered why it said "facing C" in our directions box. I guess that means the door is facing the cab of the truck so that is how they place it in the spot. I'm just kicking myself that I didn't ask about that.

So we spent the day yesterday loading it by walking all the way around it to put the stuff in. I actually spent the morning getting things packed and off the big furniture pieces so they could be loaded. Jonathon and Darin did most of the heavy lifting, which was great for me, but I kept working the whole time.

So now we are left with piles and chaos in every room in the house. I have lots to still box up and load in, but all that is left is little stuff.

Now you know what I'll be doing all week!!

My birthday present

2011-02-16T21:31:00.008-05:00

I had an AWESOME date on my birthday!! Darin told me we were going out, but I didn't know where we were going until we were about to leave the house!! So were did we go?

A cruise on the Potomac River!! It was really amazing! The boat was an old fashioned Yacht-really cool old woodworking and cool decor. We sat at a table in the "salon" and had yummy fondue. The ride was about an hour and a half. Part way through we went out on the dock to see the view.

It was just so nice to spend time with Darin and relax for a while. He is so good at finding things that make me feel so special and loved. I LOVED our date!!

Here is our Yacht-"Finished Business"
I tried to do a night shot of the boat. I just took the little point and shoot, and when we got there, I was so bummed that I didn't take my nice camera. But I did get some pics for us to remember!

A close up of the yacht.
Darin and I were the first ones to board the boat, so we found our seats then we explored the Yacht-there was seating actually right up by the control room. Darin had a seat in the captain's chair. We thought the old fashioned wheel was really cool.
Inside the cabin. There was a main room, then a "salon" through the doors. We sat in the back-near the big window in the corner.
Darin and I on the yacht. I was so excited that this picture actually worked. Every time I try holding the camera out to take one, it never works. This time it worked-Yay!!!
After we enjoyed our fondue, we took a stroll out on the deck. It was crisp, but was totally beautiful night.
This picture is funny because Darin said when he focused in on me, he couldn't see me until the pic was taken. Explains why I'm a bit cut off.

But it was such a pretty view!
There were two friends who kept trying to take a pic of the 2 of us. This was the best one they got-so we'll take it:)
Such a wonderful evening!! Thank you for making me feel so special, Darin. Love, love, love you!!

it continues

2011-02-15T13:17:00.002-05:00

I now have 3 bottles of antibiotics in my fridge. Yes, they each have their own. Now Landon and Jordan have strep. And Jordan just had it 2 weeks ago. We just can't kick it. I feel like I want to sterilize my house and not let my kids out until May.

Yeah, I'd never really do that, but I wish I could figure out a way to stop them from being sick anymore. It is just so frustrating to have been this sick-as a family and in such a short period of time. I just pray were done for the season.

And I'm done with being cold. Most years winter doesn't bother me. I like the snow, the cold, etc. But this year-maybe because I'm so busy with so many things-Can I say how I really feel:
I HATE you old man winter. GO AWAY!!!

Spring-PLEASE come early. I'll treat you so well-plant flowers, take my kiddos outside to play, open my windows for air to come in....you'll really like us. PLEASE GET HERE SOON!!!

lately.....

2011-02-13T20:57:00.004-05:00

we have all been sick. It has been a rough couple weeks:

Jordan's has fever and throat hurts. We take her in-it's strep. She misses 2 days of school.
Landon has sore throat and temp so misses a day of school.

Mommy starts to feel yucky. Wakes up with body aches, continues on with horrible headaches, nasty cough, chills, temp, sore throat. Spends 3 days basically able to do nothing.

3 days during the un-necessary snow days the kids had. Yeah-brutal. Thank goodness for great friends and Darin who came to my rescue. Dr. said just a virus. Whatever.

The next week Darin comes home from work with a headache, sore throat and feeling yucky. Stays home from work for a day.

And last but not least Spencer comes down with sore throat and bad temp. Then develops a rash. Scarlet Fever. Sounds so scary, but Dr. says it is strep throat with a rash. He got it good. I was a bit scarred because he was not eating anything. He got a blessing last night and woke up a different person this morning!!

I love the priesthood!

And in the midst of all of this, I am teaching at the RECenter, volunteering at the school, packing the house to get ready to sell, leading brownies and cookies came in.

My picture is in the dictionary next to to the word "frazzled."

BUT.....for my birthday Darin gave me a certificate for a 60 minute deep tissue massage!!! THANK YOU DARIN!!

a sad goodbye

2011-02-05T21:21:00.002-05:00

We had a bit of a sad evening tonight.

We said goodbye to our beloved pet fish.

And boy did I underestimate how the children would take it. Darin put them on Craigslist and had a lot of responses. On guy wanted to come tonight, so Darin said ok. I wish it would have been later because the kids were still up. I tried to keep them upstairs, but that did not work at all. The guy was a really nice guy-said he has an even bigger tank than we do so it was a good choice.

Anyhow I was in the middle of dressing the boys from their bath. They were crying their eyes out because they knew what was going on. We kept telling them that the fishies were going to a great new home and would have more space and lots of new friends. When the guy left, all 3 kids were in tears-seriously in tears. They kept saying 'But they are our fish." "What if they get scarred?" " What if they don't like the new place?" " What if the new guy isn't nice?"

Then at bedtime, Spencer said to me "mommy, what if the fish don't like the food at the new house?"

Oh man, my heart just melted.

I didn't really think it would be a big deal. But then I do have to remember that they are always asking Darin to feed the fish. They were pretty proud of them since people always comment about the fish tank when they come in the house for the first time. The kids were really attached to them-and we've had the fish tank for probably about 4 years give or take, so it's been here for Landon's whole life and most of Spencer's.

And now as I sit here and type this, it is weird to look over at a dark fish tank with no fishies swimming around. A lot of times I just sit here at night and watch them-it's pretty calming. I have really enjoyed having the fish tank in our home.

It makes me realize that this is going forward-we are selling our house. For real. Oh man, the emotions are really going to come if I dwell on this....Darin and I have lived here since we got married and have brought all three of our kids home here....

uh oh,

this is going to be very hard....

I want a bigger house, but man, I think leaving here is going to be way harder than I think.....

better think of something else now...

ok, my primary lesson!

my sweet daughter.

2011-01-26T20:21:00.002-05:00

What started as an awful bedtime routine ended so beautiful and sweet!

I am not feeling well at all-I have chills, body aches, headache and a cough. Darin let me rest for a while, then I went down to make dinner, which wasn't served until almost 7:00. There were messes everywhere, as well and the kids were not listening AT ALL!!! The were hyper and didn't want to do anything I asked them to do.

Finally we got teeth brushed, jammies on and struggled through about 10 verses of the Book of Mormon. When I say struggled, I mean it. We are trying so hard to read every night, but haven't figured out what will work yet.

Anyhow I was not happy at all. I told the kids they wouldn't go sledding, they wouldn't have TV all day tomorrow, etc. I said some things that probably weren't nice-like the fact that I know other kids who listen to their mommies, so why don't they? The minute it came out of my mouth, I felt bad. Then Darin talked about a lack of discipline and I just burst into tears. I feel so overwhelmed with life right now, I just lost it. We had a fairly successful family prayer, then gave hugs and tucked kids in. Miraculously, the boys have not wandered out.

So I went and tucked Jordan in. I hugged her and told her I loved very much and was very happy she was my daughter.

I then went into my room and laid down and cried and cried. A few minutes later, Jordan wandered in my room. I invited her up on the bed, and she had a book with her. She told me she was laying in her bed thinking of what she could do to help me. She said "I can read to you." So I turned the TV off and she favored me with a chapter of "Franny K. Stein." It was absolutely precious. Worth ever minute.

I seriously love this little girl and I'm so thankful she's mine.

A new addiction

2011-01-12T21:01:00.003-05:00

We have a new addiction in this house.

My Ipod touch.

The kids LOVE it. The really do. And they picked it up so quickly. They just run their little fingers over it and make it do what they want. It amazes me at how easily they can do it. I uploaded a couple games that they love. One is the most popular game App for iphoes and ipods. It is called Angry Birds and you have to fling birds at pigs who stole the eggs. Spencer calls it "mad" birds. We even watched my friend's 2 year old little boy and he could hold it and do it.

I do love my ipod. I still have to learn about putting music on it, etc, but so far it's pretty fun. The kids get a bit excited about it, so we have to be careful or they are fighting over it. Spencer is the worst. He wants to hold it and it gets all sticky and yucky. I have also used it for a consequence since he loves playing it. It has helped motivate him to make good choices a couple times. And I confess that the couple games I have on it can be addicting. But it's great fun and I LOVE it!

Moving on into January

2011-01-12T20:31:00.002-05:00

I guess I need to get blogging about January, now that it's the 12th and lot has happened.

I don't know if I can really catch up, so here is a rundown of the new year:

~back to school!! Yeah. Vacation was great, but I was ready for the kiddies to get back so I can get going on the house.

~Landon was VIP at school and was so excited to show his pillow pet and zoobles.

~I am still in Primary-this time I'm teaching Jordan's class. She was so excited when she found out. I taught this class the first year I started in Primary, but there are 2 new kids that I didn't have before-Lizzie and a little boy named William. He was in our ward back when I first got married, but then it switched boundaries and he wasn't, now he is back again. We had a meet your teacher breakfast and had a great time.

~We went to a baby shower for one of Jordan's teachers. It was really nice. The house was gigantic-the main level was probably as big our town home.

~Darin made me a list to get started on for our impending move. We have driven by a couple houses and are anxious-me especially-to find a good house for our family.

~We did look at a house on New Year's day. I have been eyeing it for some time. It had been for sale, then rent, now for sale again. I was pretty excited and hopeful-it was in an area we like. But, unfortunately, there were things we did not like. The bedroom was not any bigger than ours is now. And the closet was tiny. Not adequate for the suits that Darin has acquired for his now job. I was really bummed. Everything else was great, or could have been fixed to our liking easily. Ah well, keep looking.

~I started teaching my classes at the REC Center again. I was so tired the first day. I teach 3 classes then go right to get the kids from school and do Brownies. Mondays for the next 10 weeeks are going to be very exhausting. I tried to get out of teaching the Monday ones, but they really needed someone. So I teach 3 tumbling on Mon, 2 soft play room on Tues, and 2 tumbling on Friday. It will be nice to earn some money to do stuff for the house to get ready to sell, but I'll be worn out. The classes are for 10 weeks, then I'll have a week break before the next session starts. I'm not sure what I'll be teaching then, but it won't be on Mondays, that's for sure!!!

~We are in the full swing of girl scout cookie sales. It is really a pain. It is so cold that I don't really want to walk Jordan around the neighborhood, so I have been driving her around to ward memebers and people we know. I'm not sure if she'll get the same initial sales as last year, but we're hopeful. I'll see how many she has sold, the buy the amount she needs to get to the prize level she wants.

I haven't rally sad down to do some serious goal setting yet-I feel a bit overwhelmed with all I am doing at the moment, I feel like I just have to keep my head above water!! We are trying to figure out if we should do a pod to store our stuff, or get a storage unit. We are going to have to move a lot of stuff out to get the house ready to sell. We have a lot of work ahead of us, but I really want a bigger house, so I'm going to do it.

over the bridge and through a blizzard to Ocean City we go!

2011-01-10T20:27:00.013-05:00

Yeah, you read that right we drove through a blizzard to get to Ocean City for our traditional after Christmas Trip. We have been going the day after Christmas to Ocean City for the last few years. We really look forward to it and have a great time each year.

We got home from church and changed out clothes and age before we loaded the car to get on the road. Well, by the time we got to the Wilson Bridge, it was snowing. Before we left I asked Darin if we should really go, and we decided to go forward to our plans. We don't always trust the weather man, so we thought we would be ok.

Nope. It snowed, and a lot. There were some pretty scary times on our drive. They don't really plow very well in Delaware and Maryland. Plus the GPS was wanting us to turn on small roads which were not plowed. We finally found a "main" road that was being plowed so we got a map out and figured out that we could stay on that road and keep SAFE!

And about 45 minutes before we were to arrive at our hotel, Spencer barfed. He ended up having to sit in his puke for the ride since it was snowing so hard we couldn't stop to clean it up for fear we would get stuck. He ended up falling asleep until we got there.

When we arrived, the hotel parking lot had not been plowed. It was crazy. Darin went in first to check in and then we had to carry each kid in individually and then all our stuff.

And yes, I left all our boots at home. Not such a wise decision on my part.

We had to bring in all the throw up stuff so I spent the better part of the evening washing everything that had throw up in it, since the hotel did not have a washer and dryer for the guests to use. I had to use the bars of soap in the bathroom. Not too fun. I survived and we finally got 3 hyper children to bed.

On Monday we drove up to the outlets,but they were closed. All but 1 shoe store. We did find some cute pink "ugg" type boots for Jordan. She was thrilled. We did some swimming in the hotel as well which the kids loved.

So we tried the outlets again on Tuesday and they were open so we did some shopping. That night we also went to a lights display which we love to go to each year we go. It was pretty cold, but since it was so snowy, there weren't may people there. We walked right in and almost immediately got on the little tram that drove around the lights. It was great-very cold, but still fun. We took our snuggies out of the car to cover with on the ride.

Here are the kids favorite thing about the hotel. We took it up the first night and for some reason Darin didn't think we should take it back down. So of course it was a jumble gym.

When I realized how much snow there was, I know we had to find boots for Spencer as soon as we could. He needed some anyhow since the ones at home were small. At least we don't have to get Landon any-he gets Spencer's old ones. We found a pair at Wal-Mart, so he wore them the rest of the trip. And here are the boots Jordan got.

The day we left was a beautiful day and the roads were cleared. We hit the road for Assateague Island to find some ponies and visit the beach.

We went to the beach we like and played for a while. The kids were funny-they played with the snow and sand and said they were making cinnamon.

Making "cinnamon" balls.

some views of the snow on the island.

And here are some fo the famous residents on the island.

More fun playing in the sand and snow.

I was just so happy we had our beach time! Our family loves the beach so we ended our lackluster trip on a very high note!! And there was no barf on the way home!!

Merry Christmas!!

2011-01-09T21:03:00.008-05:00

We enjoyed our Christmas day as a family! It did start earlier this year than last year. The boys were up shortly before 7:00, abut we were able to hold them off about a half an hour, then they woke big sis up and ran down. Before they actually got her up, Spencer had been down scouting out the scene.

Here is what the kids would find when they went down. Santa came!!
A close up of all the loot!!
Here they are checking out some things Santa brought them!

New Pillow Pets....Yayyyyy!!! Jordan-bumblebee, Spencer a Pteradactyl, and Landon a T-Rex!

And he also came through on the directions he left the kids. Inside Jordan's shirt was a necklace with CTR on it. Spencer recieved a nice set of markers, and Landon a cute stuffed dog.

Here are a bunch of pictures of the fun we had.
Jordan was super excited to get 2 sets of Littlest Pet shop Triplets-kitties and bunnies.
Landon and Spencer open a present from sissy-a set of Dinosaur Train toys-a train and some dinosaurs. The loved it so much!

Landon opening a present from nana and papa-an awesome race track.

Daddy and his kindle

When we had opened everything, I realized I had left a bag downstairs. Oops....But it was a good thing nothing was from Santa so I was a bit relieved. I had made Jordan a photo book of her fun times of 2010; which she loves.

Spencer playing with his How to Train Your Dragon toys.
Landon playing with his awesome new race track. It is shake and go, so we had tons of fun with it.

Darin surprised me with an Ipod touch. I was sooo excited. I really wanted one, but really did not expect one. (we not have children addicted to it, but that's a whole other post.) We do have one pic of me with it, but it's on my other camera but I don't have the cord near me at the moment.

The children were pretty excited about all their new things. We spent the day playing with new toys, watching new movies-they got Dispicable me, Beauty and the Beast, How to Train your Dragon, and Toy Story 3.

We had planned on dinner a friend's house, but they had sick family members so Darin ran the store and got a small ham and we had the rest of stuff for a small ham dinner. It turned out really nice. We missed seeing our friends, but have since gone over for a New Years dinner, which was great.

Once again, we had a really enjoyable day together and I'm thankful for a day to be able to celebrate and rejoice in the birth of our Savior.

a little tweak in our usual Christmas Eve Tradition

2011-01-09T20:11:00.008-05:00

We have done new Christmas pajamas on Christmas Eve the last few years....

But this year, I had to tweak our tradition just a bit. The kiddos still got to open something on Christmas Eve, but it was not Christmas Pajamas....for a few reasons. I was a bit too late in my shopping. By the time I tried to find some cute ones, it was pretty slim pickins! I was really bummed. I found a potential set at Carters, but couldn't really justify spending that much money. In addition, the kids have all ended up with tons of pajamas. Landon gets all Spencer's old ones, and Jordan inherited some from friends as well. I couldn't really justify adding another un-needed pair.

Next year I plan to not buy as many pairs at the consignment sale so it will be more practical to buy a new pair for Christmas.

So instead, all the kiddos got new

Snuggies!!!

Jordan and Spencer surprised to see a snuggie instead of pajamas.

Jordan got a nice pretty girly one.
Spencer and Landon got "Mario" ones. These were nice $3.00 Black Friday deals at Wal-Mart that I got after Black Friday77!!!

So they all took them to bed with them on Christmas eve to snuggle and fall asleep so the big guy could come.

National Harbor fun

2011-01-05T13:10:00.010-05:00

A couple days before Christmas we took our kids and the Price girls to the National Harbor. It was a fun place, and they really do it up well for Christmas. We went to the Gaylord Hotel. It is so beautiful and lots is going on for the holidays.

Last year they had a train set up, but this year it got a bit larger. They had a train you could ride on. Of course the minute the kids saw I know what we would be doing. So I smooshed myself inside the caboose since that is where Landon wanted. Really, he was probably tall enough to go alone. It was a bit anti-climactic since it just went in a circle about 7 or 8 times. But the kids still loved it. My knees didn't.

We loved watching the fountain show and ended up staying long enough to see it twice-from 2 different vantage points.

The colors were really pretty.

Jordan and Sarah

The whole group. Trying to get 5 kids to smile in the pic....yeah. Getting ready to watch the light show.

The fountain got pretty high in the air. We did feel a bit of a mist being so close to the water.

Spencer loves water in any form. He was thrilled to be so close. He was dancing around and having a blast....all the while getting soaked.

A very wet Spencer. We had to take his sweatshirt off before we left so he wouldn't be freezing cold inside his coat. It was a pretty cold night.
Kaalie and Sarah also had a lot of fun getting wet during the show.

A visit to Santa

2010-12-27T18:01:00.010-05:00

Since Santa did not come to our Ward Christmas Party this year, we needed to go see him! We heard that Santa went to Merrifield Garden Center, so we went to see him there.

However, were not given ample instructions about visiting the North Pole. Seriously, this Santa is big time!! When we walked in, we saw a relatively short line, not realizing that it snaked around and was much longer. We stood there for a while, then realized what we were in for. We heard the ladies behind us talking about this Santa. Apparently he has been coming to this Portable North Pole for over 30 years. One of the moms who was bringing her children went there as a child.

So thus began the wait. And wait, and wait, and wait, and wait. Oh, let's see, let's just wait some more. Do you get it, we waited a long time!!!

The good thing is that the place was really cool. There were little booths that the kids sat in. There was a huge advent calendar on the wall that was amazing. It was the letters of the alphabet and it was religious in nature!! Apparently Santa is quite religious, which I'll get to later.

Here are the children sitting in one of the little booths. There was a family in front of us with a cute little girl who followed the kids around. At one point they gave up and left, which was good news to us since it made our wait a bit less. As I mentioned, Santa is quite religious. He makes a really cool advent calendar, and I heard it changes each year. This year it was an alphabet theme with something spiritual mentioned for each day. You may not be able to see it clearly, but it was really cool. I was excited when they gave us a copy of it when we went home.

Here are a few of the ones I really liked.
This was on the wall when you first entered in. I really liked it..

On the ceiling were little clouds with "Merry Christmas" spelled out in lots of different languages. It was really neat. There were lots of displays and a big nativity.

The boys loved the nativity, but they kept moving it around. Landon would cover the baby Jesus up with straw. Guess he felt he wasn't warm enough.

When we were about to be in the room with Santa, he needed a break and came out into the waiting area to sing some Christmas Carols.

Have you ever seen Santa kneel down at a nativity and worship Baby Jesus?

Santa adores baby Jesus
Here's the sleigh Santa sits in.

After Santa's singing break, he had to give us a lesson in how to become an elf. Cute, but we get the show on the road!!

So here's the scoop on Santa. Every child must fill out a paper with their list. They have to present it to Santa when they walk up. (and don't make the mistake of letting they youngest go first because she will cry and Santa will chastise you for not letting the oldest go first because "that is the way it goes.") Oops.

So each child stands facing Santa. He says their name, age and grade. He makes a little small talk then has them sit on his lap. They go through the list and he glances at mom or dad for each item. According to a signal he gets, he would say "yes, I can bring you that" or "ah, no, I have something better for you." He then does more small talk, we take pictures and he give each child a set of specific instructions and puts a ribbon around their head and says "place this ribbon high on the tree for my eyes to see."

Here are each of the kids instructions:

Jordan: put a plate of chocolate chip cookies inside the shirt she is wearing under the tree for Mr. Clause and in the morning there will be something beautiful for her to wear.

Spencer: put a potatoe inside the shirt he is wearing for the reindeer. In the morning, there will be something special inside the shirt.

Landon: put 3 cookies on a plate, with 2 carrots and a small glass of milk. In the morning there will be something special for him.

If I had sat in his sleigh, I would have had instructions, as well. It was funny to listen to him talk to the teenagers and moms who went before us.

Here are each of the kids with Santa

And a nice shot, of course:)

And the 3 kiddos with their ribbons.
Thanks Santa for the great visit. I do believe!!

a cute sheep, a sweet angel, and a little stinker.

2010-12-21T13:41:00.007-05:00

We had our ward nativity a couple weekends ago. It was really great. I wasn't so sure how it would turn out given the chaos at the practice, but everyone did really well during the performance, and the people watching loved it. And thanks for taking pics, Darin, I was back stage during the whole performance.

Spencer was not thrilled at all to be a sheep again. "I don't like being a sheep. It's boring. They don't do anything." He will be much happier to be a barnyard animal next year.

Here he shows his feelings for being a sheep.

Spencer and his friend James. Not so sure what's going on here.

Jordan, on the other hand, was thrilled to be an angel.
Here's our angel singing her heart out. She now LOVES the song "Angels We Have Heard on High" and belts it out whenever it she sings it.

And last but not least, Landon. Here's how he spent some of the program-hiding under the stage right by the music leader. That is when he was not in the middle of the floor pushing a chair around. Yeah, Darin wanted to crawl under his chair. In tithing settlement, Bishop Stowers told us he enjoyed watching Landon's antics. Nice. Next year he will be a sheep...we'll see how that goes.

a lucky duck!

2010-12-19T21:25:00.002-05:00

I found this note on the table the other day.

I have such a sweet little girl and I love her sooo much. She never ceases to amaze me. What a great heart!!!

Finally......SUCCESS!!

2010-12-19T17:05:00.006-05:00

So I have a history of total and complete failures when it comes to making gingerbread houses. And I'm talking the easy kit ones. I wouldn't even dare to make my own gingerbread to make a house.

The first year I tried it would not stay together so I gave up and threw it away. I skipped a year and tried again, with the same results. We did one last year that stayed together for a little bit, but then fell apart. I tried a Halloween house once again with quite lackluster results.

So I was bound and determined to make it work this year. The kids got out of school 2 hours early the other day, so figured we had the time.

Drum roll please......

I DID IT!! I actually did it!!!

I cannot express my excitement with my accomplishment!! I couldn't believe it actually worked. The kids helped me hold up the sides and it stayed together-and it's strong too:) Woo Hoo!!!!

Yeah-it stayed together!! Let's get ready to decorate now:)

Here we are all working together. I would put the frosting, then the kids would put the candy. And man that stuff is like cement. After the first bit in the bag ran out, it was really tricky to put more in the bag. I would be piping it on, and it was leaking out the top. The boys loved eating it, but it is gross to me-like eating pure sugar. They ate lots of the candy, too, but we had lots of fun!

Yeah!! Our finished product!!!

Another view...just because I'm so dang excited it worked!!

Some of the details. If you know my children well, you know who did this....ok, I'll tell you. Spencer obsessed with orange, so this this is his handy work. So colorful and bright-just makes me happy. We never did them as kids, so it's so fun for me:)

Here's Spencer's final contribution: When I wasn't looking he thought he would label the house. It is pretty cute because he is starting to write more around the house like Jordan did at that age.

I am already excited to do one next year. I CAN do it!! We may have to do a Halloween house, too. Woo Hoo!!!!

a fun activity

2010-12-19T00:35:00.004-05:00

Trader Joe's has the coolest stuff. I found this fun Gingerbread man and thought it would be easy for the kids. We did it one night for family night and the kids had a blast.

Here we are starting. Oh yeah-I'm sorry that a couple of my pics are upside down-I was on the wrong side of the table.

So we had a bit of a debate when we started as to the gender of our little friend. I think Landon and Spencer won out-this is a little "fella".

Jordan did a lot of the work on the icing, meanwhile the boys felt that they needed to be eating the candy.

Oh, does anyone else have children who insist that they have to be ON the table for any sort of project you do?

Poor guy doesn't last too long...everyone has to have a taste:)

yummm.....
well....I think I'll be nice and just say that he is more for looks, folks. But it was a fun family activity:)

Temple lights

2010-12-18T19:15:00.008-05:00

One Christmas tradition we look forward to every year is going to the temple for the Festival of Lights. It is so beautiful and we never get bored with it. It seems like they have new lights each year, so it is fun to see.

I loved these trees. I can't imagine the job of putting all the lights on....yikes. But I am grateful for the volunteers who do it so my family can enjoy it!
I get such a happy feeling inside each time I drive into the temple parking lot. So many memories and happy times. First baptism trip, endowments, wedding....ahhhh, such a special place to me.
The kiddos were so busy! They could not keep still for any amount of time-just wanted to run and run, so getting this slightly ok picture was quite a feat.
Daddy and his little girl:)I meant it when I said the kids were running around like crazy. Here's proof.

Darin and the kids....who did not want to pose for any pictures. Little stinkers. But I can't complain too much-they did excellent during the concert. Here's Landon wandering down a path he should probably not be on...oops.

And lest we forget, the beloved camel. We have to sit on this guy every year, or our visit would not be the same.
Another shot of the temple just because it is so beautiful!
Whew...now I feel like I'm getting my Christmas posts finally started....now to do the gingerbread house, our first snow, nativity, making a gingerbread man, and a visit to Santa! Stay tuned:)

Our Christmas Tree, 2010 Edition

2010-12-18T16:36:00.008-05:00

A couple Mondays ago we made our yearly trek to Home Depot to get our Christmas tree. It was just our luck that a wonderful Alberta Clipper descended upon us that weekend so it was bitter, bitter cold. The goal was get in, get it and get out fast. Well, we accomplished our goal in record time. I decided that I was not going to be overly picky this year-I wanted to get back home and get in my warm pjs and under covers.

The selection wasn't huge, so that helped a lot. We found one that met our standards and went to put it on the car. Our fingers were ice, and we couldn't find any string long enough, so much to Jordan's chagrin, we put it IN our van.

Yes, you read that right-we folded down one of the captain's chairs and shoved it in. Well, I should say Darin shoved it in because I was looking for string and by the time I got back to the car, he had it in. It was an interesting ride home. The boys thought it was great, Jordan wasn't too happy.

It took a few tries to get it on the stand the way we wanted and it required some additional trimming. It's a funky tree, but we love it:)

Landon checking out an ornament.
Jordan and Spencer were so excited to decorate the tree. But I made one bad decision. We had been watching a Christmas movie, so we kept the TV on, and they ended up being more interested in that than helping decorate the tree. Well, Spencer liked to play with the ornaments instead of putting them on the tree.

On a side note, they have been introduced to some Christmas classics this year. Elf, (a HUGE hit) Home Alone (took a while to get going, but once the action started there was lots of laughing. Beware of a couple swear words in this one that I forgot about! Luckily Jordan asked what a "jerk" was instead of picking up the alternate word for a donkey:) Frost, etc. They like to see what is on ABC Family each night because they have a family Christmas movie every night.
We got out some candy canes and they were a huge hit. We let the kids put them where ever they wanted. I looked a bit later and found this grouping. So cute.
For the last few years, I have told Darin that I would love a White House Ornament. Well, he listened and sure delivered!! He brought me home the 2009 one, then he got one for every year since we were married and had the kids give them to me each night leading up to Christmas. IT was so awesome-I felt so loved. They are really beautiful ornaments and are on the top third of the tree!
Another White House favorite.

Here's another favorite. It is a Waterford Crystal ornament from our honeymoon in Ireland.
I love this one from Auntie Marion and Auntie Karin. I always say I want to stop at one of the kiosks in the mall for a family one, but I never do. I was so excited to get this last year:)

All done!
And the Christmas Village is up! It's Santa's village. I was so excited when Darin and I were newlyweds and he told me he had a Christmas village that he hadn't ever put up. I look forward to it every year.
I love having the tree up. It is so festive and reminds me every day why we celebrate Christmas. It looks different every day-Spencer and Landon I think are worse than a toddler as far as playing with the ornaments. They won't leave them alone! There's a pile under the tree with hooks missing,etc. I gave up putting them back on. Ah well, it's still beautiful!!

they're still around!!

2010-12-17T13:18:00.007-05:00

Some things really last forever. Case in point:

Fortune tellers, "cootie catchers" or whatever you call them-they are still around. I remember making these in school, now my child is making them!!! Crazy! Well, I'm not sure that the second graders are making them because Jordan learned to make them from Regan, a 6th grader that I watch, but I'm sure they know now!

She grabbed tons of paper and started folding away. She would get a bit frustrated because sometimes her folding wasn't just right. She even had Darin sit down with her and make one.
Here is one of the first ones Jordan made after Regan taught here how to make them.

And the numbers. They have advanced-we put very small numbers when I was in school.

Jordan started to make her own "fortunes in hers" They are sooo funny!

And then she made one that you had to ask "yes" "no" questions. I love the bottom one...phonetic spelling is awesome.

Here are more of my favorite ones.
I remember we used to see how small we could make them, and if we could open and close them with one hand. Ah the good 'ole days!!

Now I'll sit back and wait for her to learn the m.a.s.h. game. Oh it will come, eventually:)

how very appropriate

2010-12-16T20:58:00.004-05:00

So you know all those ridiculous catalogs you get in the mail? I love to look at them and laugh at all the funny stuff they offer. I was looking at one in the kiss-n-ride line a while back and found something pretty funny. I seriously laughed out loud in my car.

If I had seen this when Landon was a baby, I would have been VERY tempted!

here's a close up. And as the title states, so very appropriate!!

The real meaning of Christmas

2010-12-09T20:59:00.002-05:00

I was at Spencer's school today and another mom was there. We asked the teacher if we could have a Christmas party for the kids. She said she had a Jehovah's Witness in her class so there would be no party, but maybe a winter celebration after the Holidays.

WHAT?

We were seriously so upset. I cannot believe that because of one or two students, the rest of the class cannot celebrate. CRAZY!! I don't get it. What is Christmas? it is a Christian holiday. I got a bunch of responses about it on Facebook, some of which stated that it is about family and love, etc. Yes it is, but if you don't believe or want to celebrate the birth of Christ, then don't say Christmas. Call it something else.

But really, how did Christmas evolve over time? What are the roots....easy and simple...the birth of Christ. No matter what you believe, this is historic-this holiday we celebrate in December is to acknowledge, celebrate, revere, and worship the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ.

Then my next soap box is why it is so taboo to even mention God in school? How the heck was our country started? Seriously....what were the early settlers fighting for? How have we gotten to the point we are? This country is entirely too PC!

Yes, we are now a melting pot, with lots of different cultures and religions, faiths, etc; but in general we are a Christian country. Why do people get so offended? Can't you just sit something out if you don't believe in it? I know that if we were living in a Muslim country, or Buhdist country they would go ahead with their celebrations even with us Christians there.

I love learning about different religions. I lived with a Jewish family as a nanny. I took part in celebrations of all their holidays and attended the Bar Mitzvah of the youngest boy I took care of. I loved it. They learned about me- and even has a small Christmas tree in their house for Christmas. Of course I didn't convert, and it didn't take away from my beliefs, only strengthened my love for this family.

Ahhh.... I could just go on and on, but I'll stop for now.

Let me just finish by saying that I look forward to celebrating with awe the birth of my Savior Jesus Christ.

chairs and blankets

2010-12-01T14:35:00.006-05:00

When I mop the dining room floor, I will often bring the chairs into the living room. When I finished mopping, Landon and I decided that we didn't want to put the chairs back....instead we had a little fun!!

We made a tent!!!

If you look close in the next picture, you can see that Landon has 2 little wire whisks in his hand. Did you know that they make grat swords?

I often wonder why I buy toys when my kids can make any household item into a toy. I just need to go to the dollar store and by a bunch of cheap utensils and they would be thrilled!!
You need a door on your tent!Are ya stuck, Landon?
the back of the tent
One more just for fun!

a post because I can't sleep

2010-11-23T03:37:00.003-05:00

It's 3:30 am and I can't sleep. Maybe because there's a pile of phlegm in my throat and when I lay down, I can't breathe and keep having caughing attacks, or because my brain won't turn off.

Either way, here I am awake. Looked at FB, looked at other blogs, so might as well do a post now.

So what's on my mind? My children of course. It's the age old story. I worry about them constantly. I feel like I struggle so much and am I getting through to them. Lately we have had problems with obedience.

AHHHHHH....I am having majory problems with my computer. My curser just keeps skipping to where ever it wants to go in the middle of my typing...very annoying.

Landon has become quite proficient with the work "no" while the other 2 are a bit more subtle and just ignore. Well, maybe it isn't subtle, it is quite obvious they are ignoring me. So then I sound ridiculous when I yell "Am I talking to the walls?" like I said I would NEVER do because it was annoying when my mom did it.

So I try to be more calm and say "do you hear my voice?" Well, duh, yeah they do, but hearing and listening are 2 very different things!!!

I know we will figure this out, but in the mean time, I'm a bit stressed about it. For instance, I subbed in the soft play room for Zoom Around the Room classes today...well, Monday since it is almost Tuesday at this point. I had Landon with me, and it was....well....not fun. The first class went well-he was ok. A couple warnings for not nice stuff, but ok.

But the second class he let loose. At one point this very proper, immaculately dressed lady informed me that he was throwing balls at the kids in the ball pit. I apologized and thanked her for telling me, thus banning him from the ballpit. He continued to run around in a wreckless manner until I made a fort for him. The the other kids wanted to play too, and he got a bit crazy.

Then came circle time.

I was already down for the count since I didn't have shakers for the kids....

then Landon... He would not sit for me, but ran around the room. At one point he crawled in the blocks piled up and came close to pushing them over on a mom twice.....you should have see the looks I was getting from the previously mentioned mom at this pint...and she had a death grip on her child-as if to protect him from the beast roaming the room. This was during the time I was trying to read/sing to a book I had brought. I was so torn-do I take time out of the class they payed for to discipline him, or just ignore him. I opted to ignore him and hope for the best. The second time almost nailed a mom with a block, he ran he ball pit and stuck out his tongue and did a raspberry at me while all the parents looked on. How do you spell humiliation?

I have it memorized.

Most of the parents seemed fine and not bothered, but that one mother just had me so worked up inside. It was so very apparent that she disapproved of me by the looks on her face obvious lack of enthusiasm of my choice of songs/activities during singing time. Talk about embarassing!!! I was never so happy for a class to get over. Please get your kids sticker and go home. I thought I held it together pretty well, then I heard a mom say "they're used to little stickers." Ahhhhh-I wanted to say "then dont' take one" but in my stressed out state, I once again apologized for being the sub and not knowing how the other teacher did things and was nice as pie.

Come on, Moms, can't you cut a fellow mom some slack? Some things just don't matter so keep them to yourself.

But on a positive not, a few of the parents seem to really like how I had set the soft play room up and loved some of the songs I did that they had never heard before saying they would have to sing them at home. One of the classes had a mom of a little girl in Spencer's class that he sits by. So that was fun.

Oh, that reminds me of an experience I had last week. I had subbed for the same teacher on a Friday a couple weeks ago. When I was taking Landon to school the following Tuesday, one of the moms saw me in the parking lot and said "Hi Ms. Wendi. When will you be teaching the class next time. I want to put my daughter in your class."

That made me feel great. Guess I'll think of that mom instead of uptight "I don't like you" mom.

Ok, I really better try to go to bed now. I need to go to Costco to get a pumpkin pie tomorrow and I'll need lots of energy and strength for that!! Not to mention I'll be helping in Landon's preschool for a couple hours.

Ok sheep, help me out now...1...2...3...4...5..6...7...8....9....10...11..12....13.......

We made it before the rain came!

2010-11-16T10:16:00.014-05:00

I am so happy we went to Huntley Meadows yesterday since the rain set in today. We had free time after school since I did not have a brownie meeting. I wanted to go somewhere with just my kiddos-have some time for just us. We always have someone else with us due to carpools, watching other kids, etc; so it was nice to have time to just some time for us.

So off we went to my favorite place around-Huntley Meadows. I was hoping there would be some color left on the trees, but most of the leaves had fallen off the trees. I did find some cool leaves laying around so I took a ton of pictures. I haven't really gone out to take pictures much lately since I am so busy with brownies, teaching classes, etc; so it was nice dust off the camera.

Here are a couple cool leaves I found.

I also liked this tree.

The kids have been to Huntlye Meadows so many times that they knew exactly where to go. While I would stop to take some pics, they would run way ahead. The were so excited to get the boardwalk. We saw tons of birds flying out of the cattails. the kids loved to see hoard of birds flying around.

I love to see the boys exploring and playing. I love Landon down below when his is trying to decide which way to go.
So cute-looking for critters.

We saw some fun birds-I loved the ducks. At one point I saw 2 pair swimming along-male-female, male-female in a line. I hurried to change my lens, but by that time they were in a big group. I took a ton of shots of the blue heron, but these are my favs.
We stopped at one point that had a ton of leaves and stayed for a while to play in the leaves. It was simply a BLAST!!!
More fun throwing leaves!

Ahh, time to rest. I liked this tree trunk-it looks like a triceratops to me. Very cool.
While I was pushing Spencer, yeah, why was I pushing him you ask? Well, to be honest so I can avoid his crying. When he is tired, he is sooo cranky, and he was tired and mad that we didn't go to Green Spring instead. So he rode in the stroller a while.

Anyhow he would drag his feet in this one part of the trail that was very heavily leaf covered. He was laughing so hard that I wondered what was up, then realized what was happening. He thought it was the best thing ever.
Here's the trail we left behind us as we walked with Spence dragging his feet.

During our fun time, I tried to get at least one good shot of each kid. Here are my favorites!!

Such a fun day!! Thanks for playing with me Jordan, Spencer and Landon. I LOVE YOU!!!

A bit late, but more Halloween

2010-11-10T22:09:00.007-05:00

We had a fun Halloween! Here are a few pics.

Spencer and Landon are addicted to Mario Super Galaxy on the WII. So there was NO getting around these costumes for the boys.

So here we present:
Mario and Yoshi.

Here is Mario "riding" on Yoshi. (He rides on Yoshi, who by the way is a dinosaur, in the video game)
Can you believe that this mustache is trimmed down from the one that came with the costume? We cut it in half so he could use it twice. It didn't last too long, but it was cute at the beginning!
And here's our Super Girl! I was wanting Jordan to be Princess Peach from Mario, but Jordan didn't like the look of the dress. She saw this at Toys R Us, and there was not turning back. She HAD to have it!!

Here are the kids at our neighbors Dave and Karin. The gave our kids whole candy bars, while the other kids got little ones. Spoiled? Yup:)We just happened to meet up with the little neighbor girl and went around with her. The kids had fun. I love seeing them happy!
More Super Girl...so strong!!

Brothers

2010-11-09T14:47:00.006-05:00

When I was pregnant with Landon and found out he was a boy, I was a bit relieved for Spencer's sake. Of course sad that Jordan wasn't getting a sister, but since they were so close in age, I thought it would be good that they were both boys so they could be close. I love seeing them grow up together and form a great relationship. I love watching them play and grow close. They really do love each other and get along so well.

Last night I left to go to JC Penny's since to do some clothes shopping. When I got home, I asked Darin how the kiddos did, which I usually do. When I had left, Darin was settling them down after bathroom breaks. He said they had insisted on sleeping together on the top bunk-Spencer's bed- so he let them. He said they fell asleep pretty quick.

Here is what we found when we checked on them when we went to bed.

Oh man, how cute is this? I just LOVE it!! Even sharing a pillow:) But notice how much space Spencer is taking up-I'm so surprised Landon tolerated sleeping with him because he moves all over the place all night. Landon rolled over while I was standing there gushing over them. But really, it is so sweet I just love these boys!!!
And here we are by morning-there was a bit of a shift towards the end of the bed. That's Landon by the rail, and Spencer is in there-his head is by the teddy bear against the wall. I was so proud that Landon actually stayed there ALL night; I thought for sure he would wake up and be scared.

And since we had a couple posts with crazy stuff Landon did, here's something so very cute! He made an Indian vest today at preschool. I made the mistake of calling it a costume to which he quickly replied "no mommy, it's a vest."

When I picked him up, he wore it all the way to the care with such pride! It was so cute. He really is doing well at preschool. I'm pretty proud!

So cute I just can't stand it!!

Trunk or Treat

2010-11-05T08:37:00.004-04:00

Even though it was the coldest year yet, we were all pretty excited to go to the Ward Trunk or Treat. It was a bit of a bummer since we weren't having our soup contest, but nonetheless, we were still excited. And I was even going to sort of decorate our "trunk" and give out candy!!

Here's the Mario gang.

Jordan with her friend Karly and her little brother.
Landon with Regan, a girl I babysit afterschool. He is in LOVE with her!
The kids had a great time and got lots of candy! That is really bad for me 'cause I have eaten too much of it!

Pumpkins and fun

2010-11-03T20:37:00.007-04:00

Darin does not like to carve pumpkins, so the tradition has been that he gets a white pumpkin and either decorates it with marker, or the little plastic face pieces that I found. (Would I be mean if I said that he, and now our 3 kiddos, are wimpy because they don't like pumpkin guts on their hands?) Although Jordan LOVED collecting the seeds. She was thrilled when she found that after a couple days of keeping them in her room, some of them started sprouting roots:) I wanted to take pictures of the boys when I meanly put their hands inside the pumpkin-Landon was beside himself-he did not like it at all. My hands were too pumpkiny to take any pics during the process. I'll have to remind Darin to take some shots next year.

I tried to get a picture of the 3 kiddos outside when we put our pumpkins out, but Jordan was upset about something and didn't want to cooperate, hence the googly eyes.
It was such a beautiful night so the boys and I played outside for a while. I was trying to get a pic of the pumpkin with it dark and the pumpkin lit up...can't figure it out..

but the boys and I had lots of fun any how:)`

Spencer and my simple, plain old fashioned Jack O Lantern! Which I must say was sooo much easier to cut with my nice sharp pampered chef knives!!
Brothers

Having fun with different settings on my camera.
We had a great October and I have tons to put on the blog-if only to find the time!!

him, again!

2010-11-03T20:06:00.004-04:00

When the boys went down stairs to play after school one day last week, I just thought they were going to play with the little people. Spencer tried to take two butter knives down, but I stopped that.

Little did I know that he had already taken a big Costco size jar of peanut butter down.

Yeah, a BIG jar.

All of a sudden Spencer and Patrick run up and tell me that Landon is getting peanut butter everywhere.

Yup, he sure did.

Good thing this chair is leather and cleaned up quickly. It smelled like peanut butter a while; which is better than smelling like mildew, I guess.

Now getting it off the carpet was another thing.
Here's the culprit....

When on earth will this child stop his mischief.....I guess he will always be in some trouble of one kind...it will just change as he gets older!!

a bit of a predicament

2010-10-27T20:34:00.006-04:00

When you send your son up to go to the bathroom and get ready to take a bath, this is not what you expect to see. Landon was screaming like crazy, so I went up to see. Usually sending him up to go to the bathroom is not a problem.

Not tonight.
We had a heck of a time getting this off his head. Darin tried, but Landon screamed so hard he gave up.
This was before I had to just yank the thing off. He was not happy about his ears getting smashed, poor kid. I finally had to just really yank it off. His poor ears. The were red after and I imagine they really hurt.
I was too busy calming him down to get an after shot. His ears were really red and I felt bad for him.

So now we are 3 for 3 with the toilet seats! That's 100%. Not sure it is something we want to be 100% in, nonetheless, we are!

Mommy and daddy's bed is sooo much better!

2010-10-27T15:14:00.004-04:00

Mommy and daddy's bed is really much better.

Last night was a bit traumatic for Jordan. She fell at the pumpkin patch the day before. I regret to admit that we probably did not clean it well enough right when it happened. To my credit, I was trying to keep track of a troop of 13 Brownies at the time. A friend of mine offered to help, but Jordan would not let anyone help.

So I noticed she was getting a blood blister. I put the boys in the tub to play and went to work on her knee with peroxide and cotton balls. Holy torture!! I had to call Darin up to calm her and hold her arms so I could at least put some peroxide on it. I could still see dirt, so I was really trying to get it clean. (And this is after a bath last night after it happened)

We got it cleaned up and put on band aids and neosporin. Afterwards I had Darin telling me my nursing skills are lacking. He said he would have held her down and scrubbed it.

Yeah right.

I wish I had a picture of her face anytime I would get near her. So bedtime was traumatic. She insisted in sleeping in her clothes so she wouldn't have to pull her skirt over her boo boo and then have to put pants on over.

Serious drama here.

She fought going to bed, so as the weary parents we so often are after fighting her to go to sleep, Darin authorized her to fall asleep in our bed. We didn't hear from her again.

What we found when we went up to bed.
This is actually the first thing we saw on the door.

Yeah, no thanks to me at all. Darin thoroughly enjoyed this note.
So, the bed thing doesn't end with Jordan. A small creature found his way to our bed about 4:00. Spencer.

He is horrible when he comes to our bed. He insists on kicking the covers off. I keep trying to pull them up, so he then goes to the end of the bed, thus limiting the movement of my legs else I kick him in the head. They he comes close to falling off many times, so I sleep horribly.

Landon joined us between 6:30 and 7:00. At least he slept on Darin's side and didn't interfere with my sleep.

What I found when I got up this morning.

I don't think it will ever end. It's just life-mommy and daddy's bed is much better!!

Seriously

2010-10-26T15:01:00.002-04:00

First of all, I laughed hysterically this morning when I saw a mom wearing one of Jordan's dresses!!! I did a double take when I saw it...just weird to see an adult woman wearing it when I am used to my 7 year old wearing it. And she wasn't super tiny, either. It was a bit tight. I know there are some cute things for little girls that some adult women would like, but really....how many women who aren't super tiny really shop in the little girls section? So funny.

Next, I am not impressed with my experience shopping at Aldi today. First of all, it was further down RT. 1 than I thought. Next you have to put a quarter in to get a cart. So if you don't have one, you are either out of luck, or you have to go somewhere to get change, which adds time to your limited schedule. Luckily I found one at the bottom of my bag.

So I got all my shopping done and went to check out only to find that you have to pay a dime for plastic bags and 6 cents for paper!!! Seriously? Ok, would have brought some bags from home if I would have known that part.

Not liking Aldi at this point.

Finally, they only take cash and debit. I didn't see any signs, either. I was really annoyed that I either had to leave the groceries I had taken the time to put in my cart, or use ALL the cash I had in my wallet. Seriously annoying since they used to take checks. Who doesn't at least take checks? Well, I guess when you are in a not so nice part of town, debit and cash are the best bet. And the whole quarter in the cart thing probably does reduce the cart theft.

When you need a lesson on how to shop at a certain store, I'm not sure it's worth it. Don't think I'll hurry back there anytime soon.

"Air and Scare"

2010-10-25T21:51:00.007-04:00

On Saturday we went to the Udvar Hazy Air and Space Museum-an extension of the Smithsonian downtown. I had read about it it the paper, but kind of forgot until I heard it on the radio. I talked a very hesitant Darin into taking the kids.

We know it would be crowded, but did not expect to sit in a massive line of cars to get in. It was crazy, and when we left at around 4:45, the line was even longer.

I felt like it was a really fun activity, and wasn't too expensive it you figure that we had our family of 5, plus one of Spencer's friends, we paid the $15 for parking, but the rest was free.

After waiting in line, we finally got in. It was pretty busy, but I did expect that. We went to the floor and did some crafts, pretended to be ghost busters, race against witch balloons, shot air guns, got candy, did robots, had face painting done, and saw Star Wars Characters.
There was a nice alien greeting us as we went in.
Here are the kids aiming the air guns at some ghosts that were hung up. The JROTC would line them up and talked to them like they were on a training mission. Spencer and his friend Gabey got some personal assistance from a nice soldier.

I thought it was great that they had a bunch of face painter. The line moved pretty well. The boys all got face paint. I was pretty happy it was a small picture rather than the whole face kind they got at Silver Diner once.
A dragon for Spencer, or should I say Mario!The kids all really loved the robots. It was pretty funny to see them try to go through the maze. Most of the kids there just controlled it for a while, then gave the controller to the people in line. It was funny because the boys in charge asked me if Landon was Yoshi. I said yes and they one kid said "I told you he was Yoshi" to another one.

Oh and on a related note, I think it would be safe to say that the most repeated costume there was Mario. I kept trying to get Jordan to be Princess Peach, but she did not like the color of the dress. Stinker!
Here's Spencer with his little friend Amelia. Such a cute witch!
The boys with some star wars characters. I tried to get them to stand by Darth Vader, but they weren't

It was really a fun day! If you live here and love Star Wars, you should put it on your calendar for next year:)

A new obsession

2010-10-23T22:36:00.009-04:00

It took a little bit to get Jordan into reading, but now she quite frequently has her nose in a book-a certain series of books:

Junie B. Jones.

She was so thrilled on day last week when she found one in her classroom that her teacher let her bring home.

Here she is her own little reading nook. Yes, that is a Costco box.
Landon had to get in on the action as well:)
Why are you bothering me? Can't a girl sit in a box and read her book in peace?
"My name is Jordan and I'm a Junieaholic."

So Junie, I would like to thank you for getting Jordan to read, but is there any way you can suggest anything new to her? Thanks.