What a week.

Thursday: Tobyn comes to me and informs me the milk, that we just opened and is all but full, is bad. I double check, it is. This is the 2nd gallon of milk I have thrown away in the last 3 days. Wonder what's going on. Check the fridge. Nothing is cold. Clean out the fridge, through away all of the dairy (none of it is good), and proceed to defrost the fridge. Talk to Todd, decide since this is the 3rd time we've defrosted it since we've moved here and nothing is ever REALLY cold that it's time to get a new fridge. *sigh* Tanner has had a fever for 5 days, I decide it's probably time to take him in. The Dr. thinks it might be strep, but not sure, loads us up with meds and sends us home. Get Tobyn to school late.

Friday: Normal morning, big kids get to school, get Tobyn to school, he's late for the 5th day that week. Oh-well. Go to The Home Depot, discuss finishes and fridge style with the sales person. Takes longer than I had planned. Decide on fridge style, set up delivery for Tues. Hunt all over for a fly swatter. Start to feel really tired and wishing I could just go home and relax. Feel worse as the day goes. Kids come home. See Tate and know that he is NOT getting better from his cough he's had all week.

Saturday: Realize I am NOT getting any better. Give into the fact that I probably have what Tate has, Tanner has/had. Tate's no better, Hope it's not going to be what Titus had. Make a deal with the kids that they can sleep in mom's room (on the floor not in my bed) Todd's out of town. I worry about Tate and I want to sleep, figure it's a good compromise. All through the night Tate coughs, and coughs and coughs. Nothing helps. Poor kid.

Sunday: Repete of Saturday. But now Todd is home *insert very small weak cheer* Todd says he has little bumps on his arm and they itch. Decides we all probably should go to the Dr the next day. TC starts to cough and cough and cough, but no fever.

Monday: Send Titus and TC to school. Thinking TC acts fine, no fever, so he should be ok. Pile 3 kids and 2 parents into the Dr. office. Dr. looks, listen and pokes and Tate and I. Decides it is most likely a viral Bronchitis (yup, what Titus had) gives us a list, yes, list of meds for us to take to keep the coughing under control. Mucinex is one of those. Tell Dr about TC. She says it's probably the same thing but with no fever he's fine. Give him some Mucinex and cough meds to help control the cough if he needs it. Todd's is an allergic reaction to something gives him somethings to take care of it.

Tuesday: I still feel like poo. Tate comes in complaining of itchy feet. Think it's weird but give him some cream to put on it. New fridge is delivered. We all Oooo and Aaaa over the HUGE black fridge that now is in our kitchen. All kids go to school. Think most of them are on the mend. Now if I can just get feeling better. Night comes and Tate AND TC have hives, all over. great. Text todd and have him pick up MORE meds to help them.

Wednesday: Still feel crapy, but think I might be getting better. Tate still has hives all over his hands. Rub more cream give more meds. Figure out they are allergic to the Mucinex, nice. Write a note to his teacher if he gets worse to come home. We make it through the day OK. few! TC comes home from scouts and complains of more itching. Lift up his shirt. He is covered in hives from his neck to his bum. Give more meds. Drug every one (legally of course) for the night and tuck everyone into bed.

Thursday: Wake up and realize my fever might actually be gone and despite all the coughing I think we are ALL doing better. TC hives are gone, so are Tates. Better? I hope so!

I think what an awful week then I see THIS and think.....It's not been so bad.

Fly's

See this ^?

At any given time there is at least 3 flys in our house. The doors are open a lot, with all the kids running in and out, imagine that. Anyway, I bought this stuff hoping that it would help take care of them (the flys not the kids).

Nope. It stinks and there isn't 1 less fly in our house than there was before. Todd wondered if the smell wasn't attracting more flys INTO the house. Needless to say, the non-toxic fly trap has moved outdoors.

I guess the true way to get rid of flys is a fly swatter. Too bad I can't find one! I have checked: wal-mart, Target, and Home Depot. Maybe I'm not looking the right place. I even checked the isle marked "Pest Control". You would think a fly swatter would be considered Pest Control.

I will continue my search, there has got to be a fly swatter somewhere!

SPRING BREAK!

Our original plan for the week of Spring Break was to go to UT. We thought it would be really fun and were looking forward to it and then realized there was no way we would get there and back. The flights were WAY booked that week. So we decided since Todd had 3 1/2 days off , we would just find local things to do. I tried to "theme" the days so we didn't get too bored...we meaning kids :-)

Monday was hang out day. The kids played I did some reading we cleaned a little, just basically hung out. Todd had to work and 1 day of not doing much seemed OK with all of us.

Tuesday was Outdoor day. We went to our park, in the neighborhood, and had a picnic. It was fun. It was a little cool but not bad! The kids played on the slides:

Played a good game of Tag with Todd:
Tanner and I just hanging out:
After we were worn out we came home. Later that night for dinner we had a BBQ. Just the classic hamburgers and hotdogs. It was our first BBQ of the year and it tasted SO yummy! We are excited to have our BBQ so we don't have to heat up the kitchen on the HOT TX summers!
To finish the day off we roasted marshmallows over the BBQ and had smores.
The next day we bribed the kids for thoroughly cleaning the house with a trip to GattiTown. It kind of reminded me of a cross between Pirate Island (with out the theme) and Chuck-e-Cheese. But this was WAY more worth the $. Fist off you got a buffet (all you can eat of course), it was clean and bright, and the games were pretty reasonably priced.

TC found a fun game. We laughed 'cause he was turning in circles, but he had fun!
Tate and Titus played some racing games:
Eating the food. The pizza really wasn't bad. I was expecting cardboard stuff, but it was pretty good!
Tanner was easy to please. He didn't care (or know) if we put $ in the game, he just like sitting and thinking he was playing:

The kids favorite by far was the bumper cars! It made their day to have a turn on them. Tobyn was SO excited to ride! He was just barley tall enough. His head hit the line right on, the look on his face the whole time was priceless.

Somewhere in between the fun Todd and Titus worked on Titus's Pinewood Derby car. The trash can was the work bench:

And the table is where the painting happened:

St Patricks day was Thursday. So we ate everything green! (Ok we didn't EAT everything, just what we did eat was green)

Green pancakes for breakfast :
Sitting down for a green dinner:

Green salad, green jell-o (to remember UT as well as celebrate St. patty's day) even the pasta had some green in it, but you can't tell so much from the photo, and to drink? Green kool-aid!

Dessert...of course...green frosted mint brownies...yum.

To end the week it was Titus's Pinewood Derby. His car did pretty well. I am sure it would have done much better if Todd has been there to tweak it just right.

The car commin' down the track:

His car. Which won "Best use of Hardware"

He was a part of the flag ceremony:

Titus and his car: I really did think he had fun even though he doesn't look too excited in this picture.
I was worried it would be a stressful week, but it turned out to be a lot of fun! It was nice to spend time as a family and the boys really got to know some of the other kids in the neighborhood.

Oh and PS: Notice how nice and clear, focused , and over all better the pictures are? I got a NEW CAMERA!! I LOVE it! Todd completely spoiled me when he bought it for me. I love it and think it is totally worth it! I have loved taking picts of all sorts of things!!

Changes

I figured out how to fix the spacing problem! Google is wonderful :-) Trying out some new designs and such so that's why the changes

The Mr. Busy guy

This is the face that is most seen on this kid. He is BUSY, ALL the time! He has started a 1/2 day school (5 days a week) here and he loves it. Who am I kidding I love it! He has a ton of energy and is on the go all the time. It is so different from when he was a baby. He wouldn't leave my side for anything. He would cry for hours if I left him. Nursery was horrible. It wasn't until he was 2 1/2 almost ready to leave nursery that he decided it was OK that mom and dad weren't there. He would scream for the 2 hours while Todd and I were in there.

Now he is Mr independent. He makes his own top-ramen (in the microwave) he gets into Netflix to watch his cartoons, he likes to make is own PB&J's and he gets dressed himself, usually with everything on backwards. Oh-he knows it, but doesn't care.

He loves to ride his bike, and scooters. He was riding his Razor scooter at 2 years old. He is a little bit of a dare devil and reminds me a lot of how Titus was when he was little. Most of all he loves tagging a long with his brothers and loves that he is getting old enough to hang out with them when they go on adventures.

We sure love each and everyone of our kids. They drive us crazy and somedays it's over the top having all boys. But I wouldn't trade any of it. I love all of their personalities and what they bring to our family. I can't picture our family with out each of them in it. I guess Heavenly Father knows what he is doing (or I hope so 'cause I'm not so sure of what I'm doing) and I pray that I can raise these boys to be wonderful men!

Titus!

Titus is a cool guy. He is a little more calm and reserved than the other ones. He is just as fine to sit home and play Nintendo or read as he is to go outside and play. He is a good reader and picks up on things quickly. He took a long time to talk. He stuck to 2 word phrases like "milk please?" or "shoes on!" forever. Then one day he came to me and said "Mom, can I have some more milk please?" But that's his style.

The kids LOVES to cook pancakes. He is right there flippin' pancakes whenever possible. He loves to cook other things but pancakes are his specialty. He has also discovered fishing. He takes the fishing rod to one of the two ponds and spends a couple of hours fishing a week. Todd and I love that he loves it and love the fact even more, that he taught him self (mostly) Todd and I are not big fishers...fisherpeople...fishermen?

He has always been pretty brave. He doesn't mind staying home by himself for a few minutes at a time. He also love Poke'mon cards. He has a pretty big collection of them. He has almost always had a "just go with it" attitude, but can be stubborn when he wants to...um...wonder where he gets that from?

Titus is pretty awesome. We love his smile and his personality. We're sure glad he chose to come into our family!

The middle kid

The smile says it all. Tate's our "middle child." He quite literally is, but he was blessed in such a way he doesn't get lost too often. He does have a hard time being too big for the little kids stuff, but not big enough for the big kids stuff. But he does his best and we try to make things just for him.

He loves to draw, write stories, play with his friends, ride his bike, and play baseball. He has a terrific smile and will flash it at anyone that says his name. He is a good big brother and reads to Tobyn at night during quiet reading time. This year is a big year for him. He turns 8 in a couple of months and can't wait! He is counting down the days until he get to be baptized. He is looking forward to cub scouts and getting his own set of scriptures (like the big kids have)

We love that he is always ready for a good joke, to listen to one or to tell his own.

He is in 2nd grade this year and the oldest grade in his school. He also has his own locker and LOVES it. He does a great job of keeping track of Tobyn on the buss and coming home after school. We love that his laugh and smile fill the house. It would be a lonely place with out him

We love you Tate!

The Oldest...

TC is a good kid. Being our oldest we put a lot of pressure on him to do things first, be the bravest, be the good example, help around the house ect. Sometimes I have to remind myself that he is only 11. But on the other hand I think "Holy cow he's 11!!" Just a few months and he will be a deacon. Crazy! He will be doing the YM stuff, and it's just hard to believe that I am a mom of an 11 year old.

He love's Yu-gi-uh cards. He loves to "duel" anybody that is willing to sit still for 5 mins. He also love swords and knives. He's growing up and likes to listen to his ipod while he's cleaning, doing homework, playing the PS3 or just hanging out. He is quick to give me a hug and say "I love you mom" Something, I hope dearly, he doesn't grow out of. He is a big help around the house! He loves taking care of Tanner and he is a good brother. He also Loves scouts! He has his first overnight camp-out and despite being pretty nervous about the whole thing, he had LOTS of fun.

He is having a little bit of a hard time adjusting to the move. I think a big part of it is that he is the older so he remembers what he left behind. We are working on finding friends here, and I am confident, with time, he will. He is a pretty social kid (like his mom) and has several friends around school. School is a lot different here, and the kids are adjusting pretty well, but he loves having his own locker!

I love this kid and can't believe how fast he is growing!

My Baby

This guy is our baby. Unfortunately we still call him "the baby" meaning:

"Has anyone seen the baby?" (not that we loose him, but we do have 5 kids. He gets "mixed" in a little) or

"Can you get the baby some cereal?" or

"put the baby in his own bed, I'm sick of him squishing me!"

But the truth is he is 3. I know he will always be my baby and in a way still is a baby. But he is growing up. All 30" of him act so big. It has been 6 years since we had a 3 year old that would talk in a way that you could understand most of what he is saying. I LOVE it!

Even though he is my baby, I still try to convince him to grow up just a little enough to get rid of diapers (aka potty trained), and sleep in his own bed, give up his blankey (I know that's a tuff one, but I am not pushing too hard) ect.

He sure is a funny kid.

The other day Todd was trying to convince him to go potty "like a big boy" this is what I hear from the the other room:

D- "Just try to go potty Tanner. Please, just try!"

T-"I can't do it!"

D-"Yes you can, you can be big and wear big boy underwear."

T (as he comes running out of the bathroom)-"I can't dad, I can't do it, I can't make bubbles" throws his hands up in the air, storms over and hands Todd a diaper "I can't do it dad."

I guess he's not ready....

Then the other day he wanted to go outside with his brothers and I said no

"Mom, I not tiny, I big I go outside with my brothers!"

He also insists he stays home by himself when we are going somewhere he doesn't want to go

"I stay home!"

M-"You can't your too little!"

T-"Noooo. I can!"

M-"Are you going to stay home by yourself?"

T-"Yes, I can see I can. I watch a movie!"

And last but not least-

We dropped Tobyn off at school and Tanner looks at me from the back seat in his car seat, with his hands in the air

"Mom?! Where's my buddy going?"

M- "To school"

T- "Oh, I will miss my buddy"

Guess in someways I don't want him to get big.