kid for sale...

he is sweet, sincere and brutally honest! For the purpose of this post and to protect the above mentioned, we will call him "Ronald".
Today we went to the zoo with Carin and the girls. While we were
there we were explaining to the older kids that we use to take a
picture of them in front of their favorite animal when they were little. Cameron was always in front of the elephant, "Ronald" in front of the giraffe and Ellie in front of the zebra. Wesley wanted to know what animal he would be in front of, to which I jokingly replied, "the monkey, because that is what you act like!". It was at this point "Ronald" said, "I know what
animal you would be mom."
me: what
"Ronald": a panda bear
me: why
"Ronald": because you eat your food fast and a panda eats their food fast, you are mean sometimes and a panda is mean sometimes, but your both nice most of the time, and, well...
you know.
At this point I will fill all of you in on something - "Ronald" (and his brothers) have been told that they are NEVER under any circumstance aloud to tell someone that they are fat, no matter if they are pregnant, if they are the biggest person they have ever seen, or even if they look like a panda bear. I think "Ronald" is working his way around this rule!

"Ronald" in 2002

"Ronald" today
Sorry, I couldn't locate a panda for the sake of comparison!

some people think it's gross, but it's really good on toast...

diarrhea, diarrhea
Let's just say Chase isn't feeling great today, so we stayed home. While I was changing diaper after diaper and washing and washing my hands, I couldn't get the "diarrhea song" out of my head (I know - gross)! Maybe this is why we usually try to stay busy!
I am trying to remember all the verses we use to sing as kids - I have 4 boys.
I need to know these things.
So, "when your walking up a ladder and you feel a splitter splatter"
diarrhea (cha cha cha) diarrhea!
Come on - everyone sing with me...
When your driving in your Chevy
and your feeling something heavy...
*I would make this another contest, but my previous winner(s) would quickly inform you that I haven't yet paid up for the last one (I am still searching for the perfect dessert Annemarie! The tastebuds creator wasn't suppose to win - such pressure!). And, who wants a treat when they are thinking of intestinal problems and who really wants to be known as the diarrhea champ anyways?
**Sorry Annie for the subject matter - I know, I know - somethings are better left unsaid BUT didn't you use to sing this song too?? I can almost recollect a verse off amongst us kids - who could remember the most - who was most creative - no?

towell, check! shirt, check! underwear...

Today was BUSY!!! We went to swim lessons this morning. The plan was to leave strait from there and go to the Children's Museum. Backing up just a bit - before we left the house I asked each boy at least twice if they had packed a towel and clothes nice enough to be seen in public - "of course we did mom". When lessons were over they all got in the showers. One by one they came out - Wesley first - who looked perfect (I packed his stuff) and then Cameron - he is wearing jeans with a hole in them and informs me that he has no underwear (and yes - I hope this embarrasses him - he deserves it!!). FINALLY, Reagan appears with the same outfit that he had on yesterday (which he pulled out of the dirty clothes YESTERDAY).
At this point we should just go home - but luckily for them, we were meeting friends - so off we went. Fortunately for Cameron, we had time to stop at Old Navy and get him more comfortable! He loved building things and playing dress-up (I don't think he will ever out grow that!).totally off subject - Tonight Reagan asked me if I would rather be on American Idol or So You Think You Can Dance? I told him I didn't sing or dance very well, so I wouldn't want to be on either show. He responds by saying, "Maybe you could do a weight loss show. You know, like Biggest Looser." Reagan - go to bed!
Bill - get me some ice cream!After we were done at the museum, we went to the water park. Wesley loved running through the water and then laying on the ground and making a "skeleton"!Chase took it all in, except for the water! His favorite part was seeing Nana and getting some ice cream before we headed home! He was asleep before everyone was buckled up (poor kid) and I woke him up at 7:00 tonight (poor me)! I think he is more excited than me for the boys to go back to school! Another fun day - another activity crossed off the list!
I guess tomorrow, instead of going to the zoo, we will make my biggest looser audition tape!

"having fun with your family"...

We went bowling this afternoon - which won 3 to 1 over the park (I was undecided). The highlight of the outing was this... trying to be good I went to subway first and got myself a healthy sandwich and only ate a few (handfuls) of cheese fries and did you know how good grilled cheese crust dipped in fry sauce is??? speaking of fry sauce - Cameron thought that I wouldn't notice if he wiped his hands on the back of Wesley's new shirt - not that I saw him do it - and Wesley definitely didn't see it - I just knew - and he is a horrible liar - when he admitted it he said that he "didn't want to ruin his new shirt - the 20 napkins sitting on the table never crossed his mind! how cute are size 6 bowling shoes - Chase was very upset about having to turn them back in (mainly because that meant he had to put his flip flops back on - I keep trying to explain to him that fashion is more important than comfort!)
Reagan beat out all the other kids (again) and repeatedly told everyone on the way home"it's not about winning, it's about having fun with your family, right mom?!" that of course was right after reminding everyone that he was 1st, Cameron was 2nd, Wesley was 3rd and Chase was 4th!

all we need is love...

{click to enlarge - it works this time!}

I love my baby

I love my camera

I love my sister for teaching me how to use my camera
{realizing I still have MUCH to learn}

and tonight...

I even love dandelions!!

practice makes perfect?

I have been feeling the pressure - everyone else my age is doing it, he says - well, if everyone else was jumping off a cliff - who am I kidding - he would be the leader! So, I gave in and let Cameron do some of the mowing - after all, this will benefit me SOMEDAY. We started in the backyard, where no one will see, and I went around 2 times and made a "box" for him to mow around. He didn't have the strength to start the mower, which is a good thing, so I got it started and he said he was done about 10 minutes later.
Weird, I thought, it takes me about 45-60 minutes to mow the back yard - then I saw his strategy. He figured if you mow each row about 6 inches apart, you can get done faster. I told him that I would fix the part he missed (because of course he couldn't see it) and he could finish the weeding (oh - now he can see it!). Needless to say, he will continue backyard mowing for awhile!

what do you call a fish with no eyes?

FSH!!

The weather continued to be crappy this week - so we did another indoor activity! This time we went to the aquarium with our friends! Cameron and Reagan had never been before - they thought it was fun (of course anything with a gift shop is fun to them!). Reagan would have liked to slow down (I know - Reagan slow down - we don't usually put those words in the same sentence) and read about all the different creatures - but the other kids were not on the same page (except maybe Katie)! In fact I think they were racing to see who could finish first - but not without a "that's it?" when they were done! My kids were all wimpy and didn't pet the stingrays - in fact I think Katie and Carter were the only brave ones! Aidan didn't even want his mom to pet them - although he could have cared less if I did - where's the love Aidan?? When all was said and done - the kids had a blast and us moms were exhausted (I don't want to speak for the other mom's - but I was about ready to feed a few of mine to the sharks - nothing that a diet coke and a cream cheese brownie on the way home couldn't fix)!

game on...

I love playing games and my house is too messy to have a "game night" so, rather than clean, I thought we should all play a
"blog game". Lets call this one...
Movie Buffs R Us
here are the rules - I will put a quote from a movie - if you know what movie it is from you put the name of the movie and then a different movie quote - you are aloud to play as many times as you want (play lots - it will be fun!!) but can't answer your own quote (obviously)! I would love to offer a prize to the winner, but I am not one of those fancy shmancy blogs that rake in lots of dough or Ellen - so lets just say that if you are the winner and are local - I will make you a yummy treat - if you are one of my long distance buddies, I will make a treat (in honor of you) and then eat it myself (while thinking of you - of course)!
OK - let the games begin...

V: Questions?
B: Yeah, I've got a question. Does Barry Manilow know that you raid his wardrobe?
V: I'll give you the answer to that question, Mr. "B", next Saturday. Don't mess with the bull young man, you'll get the horns.

all dressed up and nowhere to go...

OK - maybe that isn't exactly what I said - maybe it was closer to
"you aren't going anywhere dressed like that!".

Today we had planned on going to the zoo but since it was 50 degrees and raining all day we decided to wait a week or so - then we were going to go to the Children's Museum but Chase took an extra long (4.5 hour) nap - so we passed that up as well. Instead (after a wardrobe change) we went and saw
Speed Racer!!
The boys L-O-V-E-D it and I loved watching them loving it! They were laughing out loud and cheering and Wesley yelled "he WON!" (hope that didn't spoil it for any of you that thought the good guy might not finish first!) All and all another fun day (18 to go)!

here is sweet Chase after his nice long nap - he actually isn't being that sweet - he is telling me "no" instead of "cheese" like I asked - maybe he needed an extra half hour!

2 years and $1000 later...

he finally knows all the words to "I had a tiny turtle"!
Wesley is a preschool graduate!!!
woo hoo!!!

It seemed like just last month he could finally walk in without my assistance - oh wait - that was just last month!

Wesley is so excited to start kindergarten and now he is one step closer! But before I rush him off to the "real" world of kindergarten (in 69 days - but who's counting) here is a quick look down memory lane...

deja vu...

Weren't we just off track - I swear I have looked at the calendar 10 times to make sure their isn't a mistake - but sigh (then deep breath) - we are off again - lets see what these 21 days have to offer...
Today we went to the Dinosaur Museum in Ogden - I thought it would be nice and cool up in the mountains - a good way to beat the heat (not that I am complaining about the heat - bring it on!)

as you can see by Wesley's face - I was wrong! It was HOT! But that didn't stop the boys from running around like a pack of allosaurusses (btw - that is the plural of allosaurus according to wikitionary - another website and spell check disagree - the website says allosauruas is both single and plural - I could picture Ross having a debate about this - he would probably also inform me that they didn't run around in a "pack" but it is way too late to google that!)!

(yes - Chase will be in every picture - as you learned from the previous post - he is my favorite!)

(no - I couldn't get a picture with all 4 boys together - I was lucky enough to come home with all of them!)

Thanks Sara (and kids) for coming with us - we had a blast - sorry again about lunch (or lack thereof) - who would of thought that the cafe wouldn't be open during off season???
So, 1 day done 20 to go...

if you don't have anything nice to say...

This is what I made for breakfast...

It was my first time trying
German Pancakes (or pop-up pancakes - that is what we will call them!)
They were fun and easy and yummy!
This is the response I received...

Chase - "I want strawberry pancakes...yum...more pancakes...thank you"
Wesley - "I don't like that kind!" (never tried a bite)
Reagan - "I just couldn't eat the strawberries" (then goes over to the bowl of cut up strawberries and eats those all up?)
Cameron - "Mom, what is this?...it would be better without strawberries!"
Bill - no words came out of his mouth but he did manage to burp, fart and burp again - that was when Chase said "excuse you"!
Did I ever mention Chase is my favorite?

recycle, reuse, REWARD...

before & afterMy neighbor and I "traded" armoires (the purpose of the trade was for her to be able to get one down her tight fitting stairs - which didn't work - but she gave me hers anyways - I will say that mine does look lovely in her garage - thanks robin!) I have liked this armoire since I first laid eyes on it 8 years ago and although it was already pretty - I thought black would look better in my house - so I have been sanding and painting and this is the result!
I am trying to decide whether to rough it up a bit (with sandpaper NOT children) or keep it how it is - what do you think??

one brownie cheesecake - please...

You are a brownie cheesecake!

A little chunky and a little gooey,
you pretty much run on sugar!
You take hedonism to the extreme and people love you for it!

The quizzes never fail me! I didn't know what "hedonism" meant so I looked it up...devotion to pleasure as a way of life - sounds good to me!

What kind of cheesecake are you???

and on the farm he had a...

Wesley had his 2nd and final preschool field trip today and this time we went to the farm! He had a blast running around, riding the tractor and holding hands with his partner. When it was time to pick partners he ran up to this cute little girl - she was trying to be partners with another girl - but Wesley won - what a charmer - little did he know - she wasn't afraid of anything - he had to break the hand rule a few times when she was getting to close to the cows and sheep and roosters and pigs - he is a chicken!! These 3 little goslings followed us around the whole time! They were so cute and could run so fast - but not as fast as Wes - he was scared of them too!

happy birthday billy...

Today is Bill's b-day!! Unfortunately for him, it wasn't the most exciting day (he has more exciting stuff planned later this week) but we did manage to do a little celebrating tonight...

the boys were super excited to give him hours of entertainment with a new game and the planet earth dvd!
You might have noticed that Reagan is a wreck in all of the pictures (if you didn't - click on the pictures to enlarge - it is hilarious not working for some reason - so just look really close - it is still funny!) don't worry - he is not dying - he just didn't like dinner - and cried about it for a couple hours - every party has a pooper!!
I hope you had a great day Bill - love ya!

queen for a day...

I hope you all had a lovely mother's day - I know I did.
It started on Saturday afternoon when Bill took the 3 oldest boys shopping for presents for me!!! They were gone for 3 hours, so while Chase napped, I read and napped and didn't answer the phone - ahhhh! That was actually present enough - BUT I didn't tell them that - in the morning Bill made breakfast (eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, french toast and strawberries!) and then the boys anxiously handed out presents...

I got flowers...

and homemade cards...

and thumbprint flower magnets...

and oh ya - this!!!
Thank you boys for being mine and Bill for making me feel so special - it was a perfect day!!! I love you all!