Washburn Family

November

2012-01-16T15:51:00.000-08:00

In November my beautiful, spunky, fun-loving Grandma turned 99. I decided it was not everyday your Grandma had a 99th birthday... and that I needed to help celebrate such a glorious life! So last minute, I ceased the opportunity to take advantage of an Exxon nanny and left Seth and the boys for five days as I was Portland bound.

We celebrated at a beautiful vineyard in McMinnville, Oregon. We enjoyed the gorgeous scenery, a quaint lunch, feeding the cows too many apples, playing a few mean rounds of BINGO (per Gma's request), opening presents, eating pie, and witnessing a beautiful slide show put together of Grandma's 99 years. I think she lasted about 3 hours before she started to fall asleep in her chair... which was longer than we all expected!

The Birthday girl (Gma Nina) with my dad and his sister.

I had other pics with Grandma looking at the camera, but I just thought this picture of her looking at me was really sweet. I love my Grandma so much and am grateful for the life I have been able to share with her. No one can say this lady has not lived, loved and laughed to the fullest.

The last few times I have seen Grandma... she has reminded me not to be sad for her when she passes on. She reminds me that she has had nothing short of a wonderful life. That she has lived a FULL life and that she looks forward to the day she gets to be with Grandpa again. My Grandma is an amazing woman. I will be sad the day she leaves us, but can't help but feel comfort and joy in the thought that she gets to be reunited with her one true love.

After the party we headed back to the house in McMinnville where both my Grandma's are cared for and we were able to continue the after party. Grandma Betty was not up to heading out to the vineyard that day, but we were still able to enjoy a good visit.

While I was in Oregon I took advantage of the opportunity to get together with my two BFF's from high school. We headed up the mountain to Eagle Crest and enjoyed a few days of sleeping in, taking naps, eating ice cream for breakfast, not getting showered until 6pm, going out to dinner, and then crawling right back into our PJ's. We chatted and lot, and fought a little... all in all... a pretty successful trip for the three of us. :) We were too busy being lazy to be bothered with taking pictures!

I can't remember the last time I have been in Oregon in the fall. I don't know if 2011 was an exceptional year for the Portland area, or if I never fully appreciated the beauty it had to offer as a kid. It was nothing short of breath taking! Every time I got in the car I was overwhelmed with all of it... the bright red, vivid orange, and blazing yellow. Set upon the picture perfect little mom and pop farmlands... I longed for my boys and the ability to share with them such beauty!

November also consisted of a delicious Thanksgiving dinner at our house among great friends. As always... Seth was more than happy to fry up a couple turkeys for all of us. We all pitched in on sides and had an amazing feast!

The kids feasting!

Once again, we were thankful to have this food to eat and friends, who are like family, to share it with. We feel blessed and are grateful for the simplest of joys in life.

Coop to the Hoop!

2011-12-17T11:56:00.001-08:00

You have to go check out this youtube video. My 10 year old nephew and his buddies filmed themselves making crazy basketball shots, edited it, added music, and uploaded it to youtube all on their own. As if being able to make the stunt shots wasn't enough? Go Coop! :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99isk_OQ6fE

October Maddness

2011-12-06T07:43:00.000-08:00

A lot of things happened in the month of October for the Washburns.

Mom successfully talked Connor out of football this year and into giving soccer another shot. Connor played for the Sea Monsters and was on a team of mostly beginners. (That's not very good when you are signed up for competitive 10U team.) However, I am still undecided as to if that was good, or bad for Connor. Sure, he never got to win a game which was a little discouraging... but he also looked like a super star out there on the field next to his teammates. :) And honestly, I think he felt a bit like one too. But apparently not enough... because he told me once again, that this would be his last year playing. It kills me because of all the sports he plays... he has the most raw talent for soccer. He got very aggressive this year and even started slide tackling. That is still not allowed at this age and even though every time he did it, the other team got a free kick-- I couldn't help but be proud. :)

Eli also played soccer again this year and was on a team with two of his buddies from church. He played for the Transformers. This second season of soccer only confirmed my conclusion of Eli's lack of coordination and no raw talent for the sport. But that's 100% ok... he's a lover, not a fighter! :) He has so much fun out there even if he never touches the ball the whole game. Eli can't be bothered with getting sweaty and hot (and soccer season is VERY hot here) and the thought of trying to fight a crazy mob of 5 yr old boys for a ball... just isn't appealing enough. If it rolls directly into his feet... he will kick it, but otherwise... it's just simply too much work! :)

On a rare free Saturday we had that month... we decided to jump in the car and go see the Sam Houston Statue about an hour away from our home. It is 67 feet tall! The thing was ginormous! Then we went from there to his home town in Huntsville, TX a few more miles down the road where we were able to go to a museum dedicated to him, and saw the home he raised a family in, and the home he died of pneumonia in. It was a fun day.

October was also the month that my niece, Ashley, had to have a surgery to remove a tumor on her brain. She has been recovering well. They had to shave part of her head to perform the surgery...so all her Uncle's and Poppy (my dad) decided to shave their heads with her. :) Per Ashley's request... they all shaved mohawks and took pictures of it, before it all came off.

Eli thought Seth looked pretty awesome and wanted to do it, too! (Connor thought he was crazy.) But Eli insisted on KEEPING his mohawk. (Although, I wouldn't let him shave it to the skin... we shaved it to a #1 guard.) I couldn't help but think he looked like a white, little 'Mr. T' every time I looked at him. "I pity da fool!" :)

October was also the month we also had our primary program (a first for me since being in the Primary secretary) which seemed to go fairly smoothly and without too many complications. YAY! (Here is where I need a picture of me jumping up and down in my Sunday clothes!) The kids did great and the spirit was strong. There is not a lot more you can ask for. I never realized how much work goes in to those programs before... but they prepare and work towards them ALL YEAR LONG!

This was the month Eli had his second set of tubes put in his ears as well, and once again had his adenoids removed. I guess they grow back... or the scar tissue does? And once again, they were affecting his breathing at night and needed to go. I think it was a little bit scarier for him this time around since he was a little older and more aware of what was going on. When they gave him the "loopy juice" before surgery and IV... it majorly freaked me out. He was funny on it at age 2... but he scared the heck out of me at age 5. I hope I never see that stoned look in his eyes ever again!!!

And of course we did some pumpkin carving, had multiple school, church, and friend Halloween parties, and went trick or treating! I think 3 must be the magic age for trick or treating because Dal took off this year, leaving us all in his dust! Last year we could not get him to be bothered with stepping foot out of the wagon, but this year we had a hard time keeping up!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T07:10:00.001-07:00

Our darling boys at the church 'trunk or treat' on Friday night.

(Dallin was a pirate, Connor was a bum, and Eli was a vampire.)

Saturday night our neighbors had a Halloween party. We opted to go as white trash. We figured it wasn't too far of a stretch from the truth! :)

My sexy man. Back off ladies! He's all MINE! ;)

If you have a local walmart near by (for the mu mu) this costume can be yours too! Just add some balloon boobs and dodge ball baby! :) I've never felt so glamorous!

(After I put on my rockin dollar store makeup... Eli told me sincerely that I looked beautiful! I hope that is not a hint as to what the future holds for us one day. ;)

After Seth and I figured out what we wanted to be and how we wanted to dress... I had no idea where to even look for a mu mu. Good Will? After striking out at Good Will... Seth suggested Wal mart. Jack pot! We found a whole rack of them. But my favorite part was when a lady stopped Seth and I as we were searching for that perfect one... and told us that there were "some REALLY cute ones for a steal a couple racks over... clearanced for only $5". We both had to bite our tongues and hold back our smiles as we thanked her for the tip. :)

Happy Halloween!

Mathletes

2011-10-25T23:01:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago Connor came home with a note asking if he could join an after school math group called the "Math Olympiads". He was one of three kids in his class asked to join and I knew it was a privilege to be asked. But to be honest, my first reaction was hesitation (although I didn't show it!).

You see, I come from a family where I think maybe there was a little more emphasis placed on being a starter for the school soccer team... than there were on academics. (I'm totally going to get a phone call for this entry! :) Don't get me wrong. There were standards. Like if we didn't get a 3.0 (straight B's) or higher, we had driving privileges taken away. So we weren't allowed to be total losers. But, my senior year when my report card came home and said I had 29 absences in my College Comp class in ONE semester... no questions were asked... because I had my B! Striving for excellence? Probably not.

So when Connor was asked to join the Mathletes... I was worried by accepting I would be setting him up for a future filled with Star Trek and pocket protectors. Not to mention it was one more extra curricular activity. The boy already has piano, scouts, golf and soccer at the present time. And I sure as heck wasn't going to drop a sport to join the math club! :)

But after talking to a friend about it, I was assured that Connor would remain untainted. That he is too social and too much of a people person to ever be a complete nerd. :) And not that there is anything wrong with nerds... I love nerds! I really do. I'm probably the biggest nerd of them all! But let's at least keep the kid's options open and let him decide if he wants to go down that dungeon and dragons road, or not. Right?

Seth on the other hand is always telling me we want our kids to be nerds. That nerdom is the key to raising good kids. He may have a point?

And don't worry, I am well aware the McKeehan's have always thought they were far cooler than they actually were/are. But that's OK... because it doesn't seem to phase us much. :) Seth just told me the other day that he thinks Connor got a double dose of the McKeehan genes. I'm not sure, but I'm fairly certain he was not meaning it in a positive way. ;)

So when Connor came home from his first day of Math Club... I asked him how it went. His response? "Uh, it was actually pretty boring."

Ahh, that's my boy! It looks like being a Mathlete is going to work out after all.

But I draw the line at buying him a T-shirt for it!

World's Easiest Party!

2011-10-25T22:12:00.001-07:00

For Eli's 5th birthday he wanted to have a pool party. Awesome! I didn't have to fork out hundreds of dollars to rent a place out, or even clean my own house! We headed over to the neighborhood pool... and just out of sheer dumb luck- aside from the lifeguards, we had the entire pool to ourselves!

Per Eli's request... he wanted donuts this year and not cake. Even better... I didn't have to bake! We tied balloons to a table and kept it stocked with watermelon, licorice, donuts, chips, soda, popsicles and sunscreen. What more could a 5 year old possibly want on a sunny Memorial Day morning? :)

They swam and ate... and ate and swam. No one even got cramps! :)

I think we had 8 kids show... plus my three. We asked each child to bring a parent so we didn't feel overwhelmed making sure everyone stayed afloat. But from the looks of these flotation devices... I don't think anyone was going anywhere! :)

After a couple hours at the pool... we took the presents home, got cleaned up, and opened them up in the comfort and peace of our own home.

I think I will be pushin for the pool party every year! :)

We are so grateful we to get to celebrate another year with this little guy! We love his kooky self, his lack of coordination in every aspect, and that smile that could melt any one's heart. XO

Connor's last day of 3rd grade.

2011-10-25T21:13:00.000-07:00

Yes, I realize I am a century behind. And I am aware that I am constantly mixing in the old with the new. But whatever. I am trying and that's just going to have to be good enough. :)

Connor had the GREATEST teacher for 3rd grade. Ms. Szoeke stole both our hearts. Probably his best teacher yet! He cried several nights before school got out... and several nights after... because he was positive he would never see her again.

She was a first year teacher and with cut backs they were only holding on to a few. For awhile we didn't know if she would be back (and neither did she)! She was so wonderful, that upon hearing this news I felt the need to march right into that front office and tell them all that if they let her go... they were making a HUGE mistake! Newbie or not... I could think of a few others we could trade her out for! :)

Luckily, this story has a happy ending! And she came back. And Connor was SO happy! Now Connor has another great teacher that he seems to be equally smitten with. But I think after Ms. Szoeke, she has big shoes to fill. We shall see. :)

Connor and some of the boys from his class. Who doesn't love a group of nerdy lookin 8 year old's? :)

The mind of a 5 year old.

2011-10-24T12:10:00.000-07:00

I carpool with a friend of mine to preschool everyday. I drive the morning shifts; she drives the afternoon shift. It seems to work out great. I know Eli really looks forward to the car ride with his buddy.

I also look forward to this car ride and the conversations these two little five year old boys are going to have. It's hysterical! I make sure the radio is off so I can hear... and if I have been asked to put in our favorite "rocket ship" song... I make sure it is turned down low. These boys are way more entertaining than even the best children song artists!

Some of my favorite conversations/debates between these two boys have been that of what actually killed off the dinosaurs (actually this seems to be a topic of choice), what the proper name for a mother is (Mom vs Mommy), the geographical location of volcanoes, what the proper age for having a girl friend is, and to compare and contrast what their younger siblings (that are only a couple months apart) can and can't do (both of which refer to their younger sibling as "my baby"). Don't let it fool you though; there are plenty of potty words and horribly bad knock-knock jokes mixed in among it all.

Or, at least I have always enjoyed these conversations until I heard today's. It went something like this...

Eli: You're house is better than mine.

Buddy: Na-uh.

Eli: Uh huh.... You're kitchen is TOTALLY better than mine!

Buddy: Thinks about it. No comment.

WHAT?!? This kid always has an argument! Gosh dangit. It is a sad, sad day when two 5 year old boys can agree that your kitchen is less than par! :)

Needles

2011-09-26T12:40:00.000-07:00

So, I don't know if it is really possible to genetically pass down a phobia... but I think we might be living proof it is!

Seth has always been way too scared of needles. He covers his eyes, grabs his arm in pain, and shrieks in aggravation every time a movie feels the need to show a needle piercing some one's skin. He can't watch me get shots... he can't watch the kids get them... and don't even think about telling him he needs one! The flu shot? HA! Donate blood? Not gonna happen. The only time in the 11 years we have been married that he has agreed to have a needle put in his arm... was to draw blood for life insurance. That speaks volumes. I know he must REALLY love us! :) (But we don't need to mention I thought he was going to pass out the whole time it was being done.)

Anyway, somehow Connor seems to have developed this same fear. I mean honestly, who likes to have shots? No one. And who likes to watch them while they give it to you? Only weirdos!

But who screams and cries for days knowing they are going to get a shot? Connor. Who passes up bribes of being able to pick out ANY toy they want at the toy store afterwards if they don't act a crazy fool? Connor does. Who ups and chucks a huge ace garbage can (3 x your size and weight when you are only 4 years old) at the Doctor when he says you need to get a shot? My Connor did. Who has to have his mom hold him down along with FOUR other nurses just to get his vaccinations? Yep, you guessed it, CONNOR! He's never even known until recently that his dad has a similar fear of needles... so it's not like this behavior has been learned. I don't get it!

Now don't get me wrong... my other boys don't like getting their vaccinations either. But they also aren't crazy psychos about it. :)

So when it came time for Connor's 9 year well child check up... the first thing he asks me is if he is getting a shot. I have learned the hard way to be completely honest when it comes to needles. I told him I didn't think he needed anymore vaccinations for awhile... but that there is always a possibility. (I also knew with it being the beginning of flu season... that the Doc might want to give him a flu vaccine.)

He stressed all night and hardly got a wink of sleep. When he had to leave school early for the doctor... he couldn't answer his friends where he was going because if he talked about it he was going to cry.

They called our name and first things first... they took height, weight and blood pressure and sent us on our merry way into our room. 30 seconds later the nurse comes back in , in a bit of a panic, and asks if Connor is feeling okay because his blood pressure is through the roof!! HA! Poor kid! I explained to the nurse his situation. And she said the doc wouldn't let us leave until it was checked again AFTER the check up was finished. (This was a first!)

So the kid lucked out... no vaccinations again until he is 12 and he was able to get the flu mist (they put up your nose) instead of the needle. We ALL breathed a sigh of relief! :)

And sure enough... they took his blood pressure afterwards... and he passed with flying colors! Crazy kid!!! :)

But don't let that fool you. The countdown to the 12th birthday has already begun. And it's NOT because he's looking forward to it!

San Antonio Trip

2011-08-05T07:50:00.000-07:00

In April we took a little family vacation to San Antonio. It was a fun filled five days and we were so glad my parents could share this time with us!

We walked down by the River Walk and took a boat ride along the river as we "oohed and ahhed" at all the shops and hotels. It is absolutely beautiful and I would love to go back for a romantic date with Seth sometime. (hint, hint!) But mostly I was just focused on trying to make sure my boys didn't fall in the river as the path runs right along it and there is no rail along the entire thing! :)

Our next stop was the Alamo! We first went to the mall and watched the educational, IMAX movie about it. After trying to answer 507 questions for Connor... we walked across the street and toured the real deal! It was very interesting. Much smaller than I expected. But you could not help but catch the spirit of "Remembering the Alamo". Connor (in all seriousness) wanted to ask everyone he saw "Are you for the Mexicans, or the Texans?" :) He was very pleased to know that even though the Texans had lost the Alamo... Sam Houston later formed an army and beat Santa Anna and his men gaining Texas' independence from Mexico. And now understanding the connection, he thinks living in Houston is even cooler!

Then came two fun filled days of rides, water slides, and shows at Sea World!

The Sea Lion/Otter show was very fun. The little ones loved it and it had a great set and a very cute "mystery" to solve.

I went into the Orca show hating these large mammals. I have seen one too many "Killer Whale" documentaries on the Discovery Channel for me to understand why they are called this. But these magnificent creatures demand respect and you cannot help but be amazed by their beauty. I caught the "BELIEVE" spirit (the name of the show) and felt amazed by all God's creations. A must see, when you are at Sea World!

Destiny and I had a great time off on our own. We got a "behind the scenes" experience with the dolphins. We were able to feed them, pet them, teach them commands and play with them, as well as learn more about them, how they are cared for and what it takes to become a dolphin trainer. I bet you didn't know the first thing they look for is a major in Psychology! (Paired with a minor in just about any science.)

Destiny was in pure heaven and very smitten with a certain dolphin. I personally think she would make a great dolphin trainer and should follow her dreams. BELIEVE Desty! :)

We also got to go see a good friend of mine (Regan!) that lives in San Antonio and spent some much needed catch up time with her and her family. I had not seen her for several years and it was so much fun! Unfortunately, I didn't think to take pictures being the dummy I am.

We had a great time and are already trying to plan our next trip back! :) Next time we want to try tubing down the Guadalupe River for sure!

Don't Hate Me...

2011-08-04T14:15:00.000-07:00

Cuz I'm classy!

Today I was in a hurry to pick up Connor and his friend from Nature Camp. I was running late (what's new?) and I rushed the little boys into the car, got them seated and buckled, and jumped in my own seat. I backed up all of three feet before Eli suddenly claimed to need the potty.

Seriously? Why don't they tell me these things BEFORE we are out the door and in the car?? So instead of turning off the car, unlocking the front door, turning off the house alarm, letting Eli use the restroom, resetting the alarm and re-locking the front door... I simply open the van and tell Eli to have at it and pick his favorite spot on the front lawn to christen.

Sometimes I wonder, if given the opportunity... if I would be friends with me!?? :)

Camping

2011-07-02T11:17:00.000-07:00

Over a four day weekend in April we decided to go camping at Sommerville Lake with some friends. It was hot and humid, but we didn't know it because we had torrential winds blowing non stop! It made camping life a bit hard, but we learned to like dirt in our food and the feeling of sand whipping against our skin. The wind flattened a few tents in camp as it snapped the poles left and right. 3 of our poles were included in that. But it couldn't keep us down! Good thing I am married to an Engineer who never leaves the house without a roll of twine! (Seriously, he keeps a roll in our car... I guess for just such a situation! :)

But the company more than made up for the high speed winds! We fished, swam, played in the sand, took bike rides, had cook outs, played in the fields, explored, enjoyed campfires (minus the fire part), and just enjoyed nature and all the play time!

And everyday when it was the hottest... or the wind was the strongest... (yes, that could mean multiple times in one day)... we would all head to the Blue Bell Factory (a short drive away) and enjoy the A/C, windlessness of it all and fill up on dollar scoops of the best ice cream money can buy! Pretty sure my kids ate at least 4 scoops each day! And when our tummies could hold no more... we just sat... and talked... for hours. You couldn't make us leave! Pretty sure they loved our dirty, smelly bunch!

And even though Blue Bell was only like a 15 min drive away... our kids would pass out each day on the way to and from. Camping is hard work! :)

And let's not forget our dear friend, the snake. He was spotted the last night in our camp and heading straight for our OPEN tent! I almost had a heart attack. Thanks to an axe and some one's wilderness skills... we were able to take care of business. (Thank goodness! There was some debate about whether to kill the snake, or not. I mean really? It was like midnight, pitch black, we did not know what kind of snake it was, and it was headed toward MY tent! Kill the sucka! :)

One could say I am not a fan of snakes. In fact, I have nightmares about snakes pretty regularly. Does that make it a phobia? Anyway, after all the drama I was pretty worked up (to say the least) and demanded Seth take us all home right then. Don't worry, he flat out ignored me and went right back to sleep... along with every other normal person in our camp site. Which means I had a very uncomfty, sleepless night ahead of me in the van. Good thing I have one of the best friends ever... and she slept in the van with me to keep me company, take my mind off of it all, and help me feel safe. (Wait, isn't that my husband's job?? Good for nothin... ;)

Dallin's 2 yr old pics

2011-07-02T09:39:00.000-07:00

I finally updated Dallin's pictures. So lil' Dal had his two year old pics taken in April (yes, three months away from turning three... and yes, the last time he had professional pics taken he was 3 months old) so you all can stop judging me now! :)

He's one cute kid! Pretty sure I could turn some of these into a modeling agency and be making millions! ;) But we'll just stick with running around in our undies all day long, catching frogs, and ramming trucks into Mom's walls.

Mother of the Year

2011-06-04T20:02:00.000-07:00

If after reading this post you don't want your kid to come over to our house to play anymore... I understand. But only if it's because you don't want your child around me. If it is because you don't want your child around Connor-- it's your loss. I'd go down swinging before I'd let his name be dragged through the mud. Connor has a heart of gold and is a good kid. He just has a troubled mother is all! :)

Let's establish this first. Connor is a big believer in abiding by rules... following them... keeping the commandments... and all that jazz. That's not a bad thing. But so much so, that if he weren't Mormon, I might think he would grow up to be some traveling Evangelical Preacher standing on roof tops and crying everyone to repentance if they don't change their ways. Okay, he still might? He doesn't like to mess up... and I can promise you that when he knows he made a mistake... NO ONE can punish him more than he does himself. It's quite worrisome for us at times, actually.

So, let's start at the beginning. All year there has been a particular child in Connor's class who has persistently teased and tormented Connor. He tells Connor he has a big head, he looks weird, he has too many freckles, he doesn't like his red hair, makes fun of his stuttering, the list goes on. He tackles him at recess during soccer or football games when Connor does not even have the ball. He teases him for playing with other kids. He throws things at Connor in the class room. He tears up his homework into a million pieces on the bus. If you ask me, he just wants Connor's attention and to be Connor's friend... and doesn't know how to go about it. But that does not give him the right to treat my son the way he does. I thought about going to the school about it... but I did not think it was bad enough to be considered "bullying". I'm still not sure it is? One second it seems like they were friends... the next Connor is crying his eyes out over something this kid did to him.

Connor has come to me many times over the year with these issues. To which often lead to the following conversation: (Here's where my fabulous parenting skills kick in!)

Me: "So then tell the teacher!"

Connor: "I do! But the teachers always just say, "Are you bleeding? Then don't tattle."

Me: (Sympathetically understanding this concept because my three kids tattle non stop on each other and it drives me crazy... I couldn't imagine having 20 kids tattling on each other all day, every day.) "Well, then turn around and punch him!!"

Connor: "But you always say I am not supposed to fight! I'll get in trouble."

Me: "Sometimes a kid like that needs to be hit. Better make sure it is hard the first time. You hit him once and he probably won't ever bug you again."

Yes, I truly had this conversation with my son... and here's where it gets better... not just once, but I probably had this talk at least three times over the course of this last school year.

Well, it looks like he may have taken me up on my advice!

I get a phone call from the Assistant Principle saying he has Connor in In-School-Suspension for fighting. And he will be in there for three days. I was in shock. MY Connor? He did not tell me the name of the other kid... but he did not need to. I immediately knew who it was.

Here's how it reportedly went down:

The kids were playing a game of "Cops and Robbers" on recess. This "kid" (to protect the guilty, I won't say his name) wanted to play. The other kids and Connor did not want said kid to play because he "doesn't play by the rules" (according to the teacher) "cheats" according to Connor. But Kid jumped into the game and started to play anyway. Connor told him to leave. Kid kept playing. Connor got mad... and pushed Kid. Kid pushed Connor back, jumped on his back and bit him on the shoulder. While Kid was still on Connor's back... Connor elbowed him in the stomach. That is when the fight got broken up.

According to Connor, this was Kid's THIRD ISS for fighting at school. Obviously, this is Connor's first. They both got the same punishment. Turns out the school has some lame "Zero Tolerance" rule for fighting. Okay, I AM joking! :) But I don't think they should have gotten the same punishment. Personally, I think Connor's biggest mistake was thinking that he could boss this kid around and decide who could and could not play the game.

Connor did tell me that his teacher (who was not on recess duty that day) did go to the office and try to claim in Connor's behalf it was "self defense" even though she did not see it. Which makes me feel better that without seeing it she felt she could claim this. It makes me feel that she was probably aware of the situation between the two boys and knows how both of them act for better or worse.

So as soon as I got that phone call... the guilt set in. I felt like I should be serving that ISS! Connor was hysterical and uncontrollably sobbing... for about three days straight saying that he was a horrible person and all sorts of personal torment.

I talked to Connor and told him it was wrong to try to tell other people what to do. That he doesn't get to decide things like that and should have found another way to control his temper... that in spite of my best advice, it is in fact wrong to get physical when things don't go our way. He understands this. I then told him I was to blame too because I should have gone to the school a long time ago and made others aware of what was going on... so that it was at least "reported". The next day I did go in and have a one on one with Assistant Principle and explained the same to him, that there have been issues between the two boys all year, but that I supported Connor's punishment and asked that the two boys NOT be in the same classroom next year.

Side note: Connor told me later that in ISS they told him that if they fought in Middle School... they wouldn't go to ISS, but that they would go to jail! They were asked if that was were they wanted to go and showed them pictures. I found this a bit funny. I guess their scare tactics worked... he's totally freaked over it! :)

As part of Connor's ISS he had to write a Speech about fighting and present it to the Kindergartners. He was mortified!!! He did not want to do this. But he wrote a honest and sincere speech during his lunch and recess time and presented it to those kids. He did such a good job he was asked to give it to the first graders too (if he wanted to). To which Connor kindly bowed out. :) (He has a buddy in first grade and was terrified he'd find out!)

I fully plan on posting the speech when I get a chance. It is pretty cute. :)

Overall, I would say this was a good learning experience for the both of us! Take my advice... Don't tell your kids to punch other kids. It just may come back to bite you in the butt!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! ( a wee late)

2011-05-24T18:51:00.000-07:00

Our St. Patrick's Day party was a big success this year. It fell over Spring Break and we invited a few new families into the green chaos. We had a green potluck breakfast. (We provided green pancakes and rainbow shaped platters of fruit and let everyone else bring a green side. We had green donuts, and green shamrock shaped banana muffins, and well... I can't remember what else people came up with because it was over two months ago! :) We all feasted like fat leprechauns and then played some fun games of hot potato (to Irish music), tied green balloons to the kids feet and made them dance an Irish jig as they tried to pop each other's balloons, and the hunt for the leprechaun's pot of gold as the grand finale!

Eli and his BFF, Rani.

(His shirt that HE picked out says, "Irish girls love me!" :)

The goal for this year's "treasure hunt" was to help the kids learn a little more about St. Patrick's Day (other than to just wear green. :) Here were my awesome clues:

1. Me name's a Danny O'Brian

and I'm a leprechaun ya see.

I'm small and clever

and you'll never want to take yer eyes off me.

(I then explained what leprechauns were (not all the kids knew!) and that according to Irish folklore if you keep your eyes on them they can't escape... but as soon as you do... they disappear.)

Us Leprechauns like to hide our treasure.

To find it...

You'll have to prove yourself beyond measure!

Me travels have been long

and me bladder is wee

I skipped to the loo my darlin'

and took meself a green pee.

(This clue is a kid favorite and I use it in my treasure hunt each year. They have to find the bathroom with the green food coloring in the toilet water to find the next clue.)

2. Thee flag of me land is beautiful

and brings me much pride.

Yell yer mum the colors

and you'll find yer next hide.

(They had to figure out where leprechauns are from: Ireland. And then had to figure out what are the colors of their flag: orange, white and green... once they got it right, I pulled the next clue out of my pocket)

3. I'm a prankster by night,

and a shoemaker by day.

But if ye want me to fix yer stanky shoes

you'll have to triple the pay!

(more folklore that leprechauns are shoemakers. clue hidden in one of Seth's stinky shoes:)

4. St. Patrick was a saintly man,

one of the best I knew.

Tell yer Dad the day he died

and you'll earn yer next clue.

(March 17th- believe it or not, this was one of the hardest clues for the kids to solve! We then talked a little bit about who St. Patrick really was. The next clue was on Seth)

5. If you got this far

ye must think yer pretty smart

I hid the next clue

on an Irish piece of Art.

(Hidden behind a framed piece of Celtic Art that my mom gave me when I got married)

6. Look for the symbol of Ireland.

It represents divinity...

The Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost,

and is a symbol for the trinity.

(Answer: Shamrock. Then they had to find a shamrock that was hidden in the house to get the next clue)

7. As I walked on by

I saw a lovely lass with eyes of blue

she stole me heart

and yer next clue!

(I have an Irish doll with red hair and blue eyes my mom also gave me... under her hat was the next clue. It took them awhile to figure out it was a doll and not an actual person this time. :)

8. I've got this on me side,

but you'll need it more.

It comes from four leaf clovers...

if you believe in this Irish folklore.

(Answer: Luck. Then they had to figure out to look behind my cute letters that spell LUCK to find the next clue.)

9. Ahhh, ye kids are clever

and me gold is hidden nearby.

It's hidden in a place warm and dark

and keeps me britches dry.

Answer: In the dryer! :) (It has to be hidden somewhere the kids won't see it while playing and eating and hunting!) Yes, it was my best treasure hunt yet. Pretty sure I should stop this year while I am on top. :)

The kids waiting patiently to divvy up the pot o gold!

The gold here is butterscotch candy, Rollos, Hershey Secret Treasures (gold bricks), and Chocolate gold coins. Basically anything wrapped in gold foil works great! Also I put individual packages of Skittles at the bottom this year (for the non-chocolate lover kids) to "taste the rainbow". Yes, I am a genius. :)

Till next year... may you have Love and Luck at your side always!!

Good Reminder to Wash Your Hands!

2011-05-09T17:30:00.000-07:00

Ever wondered how dirty your kids hands really are??

Check out this clean, white sock I put on Dallin's hand at the beginning of the day.

This is what it looked like come dinner time.

Yummy!

I am trying to break Dallin of the habit of thumb sucking. So I painted his thumbnail with that nasty nail polish stuff. Well, every now and again he forgets it's on there... and will start sucking his thumb. After doing so, he cries and refuses to swallow and/or shut his mouth for the next 10 minutes after he sucks it and lets all his saliva just overflow out. It really is a lovely sight... not to mention fun to clean up after. So this morning I decided to stick a sock over that hand so when he tried to suck it... he would get the sock, instead of the nasty taste. And if he took it off... well, he'd suffer the consequences! Well, to my surprise he did not resist it at all. In fact, I think he was quite relieved. He kept that sock on ALL day! But after a day of eating three meals, playing outside, coloring, and shopping at two different stores with mom... it is now quite disgustingly dirty!

SICK!

PLEASE WASH YOUR HANDS.
:)

Happiness!

2011-04-12T14:22:00.000-07:00

Three small experiences that have brought happiness into my life this week:

1) My Church Calling!

Last Sunday in Junior Primary the Primary chorister began to put up pictures on the chalk board to help teach the children the words to "I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus". While she was setting up, the Primary pianist started playing the prelude. As she did so the children one by one just started singing the words until they were all full blown singing "I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus." I was amazed and impressed how well all these little ones already knew the song. Listening to their sweet voices and their simple words... spoke straight to my heart. As I stood in the back I was unable to do anything but well up with tears of gratitude. I knew at that moment I was exactly where I wanted to be. Exactly where I needed to be. I am grateful for each one of those marvelous children, for their fun personalities, their sweet spirits, their abundance of love and knowledge of the Gospel. I feel privileged and honored to get to spend this precious time with them each Sunday! I love my new calling! It makes me so happy! :)

2.) Random little flowers!

I noticed a few days back that somehow this little flower randomly popped up on the side of our house, among rocks, and in the ugliest place it possibly could have (next to the obnoxious blue, dirty garbage can). We had Marigolds just like this in our flower beds at the front of our house last spring. But they were annuals. They should have all died with the frost/freeze this last winter brought. And on top of that.... how did it walk 30 feet, turn the corner and seed here and thrive of all places? Every time I go to empty the trash I see my little orange friend and it reminds me there is beauty in everything. It just makes me happy! :)

3) My Husband!

The man of the house has been away the last six nights. I think I texted him almost every night around 3 am with some problem: Kids having bad dreams, I'm spooked, I'm getting no sleep, I fell and rehurt my injured knee, etc.

I've had a busy and tiresome full schedule between the three boys on my own. After running over to Eli's preschool one morning for a parent teacher conference I came home and found a box on the doorstep. In it held a dozen beautiful spring colored roses: red, orange, yellow and pink with a note that said,

"Just wanted to let you know that I love, I'm thinking of you, and I appreciate all you do as a mother and wife!"

After several nights of less than 4 hours of sleep... and days filled with a constant go, go, go... I was tired, used and abused! :) This act of kindness was just the pick me up that I needed to make me feel loved and appreciated. Sure, Seth gives me flowers on Valentine's Day and our Anniversaries... but I don't think he has given me flowers "just because", ever, in the last ten years. It tugged on my heart strings. Seth's simple and thoughtful act made me a very happy lady!! :)

Yay for little children, the power of the Spirit, God's beauty all around, and loving husbands!!!

Missing In Action

2011-03-31T19:36:00.001-07:00

I've been neglecting the blog the last couple months. There are a few reasons for this:

1) The baseball season is upon us. You're looking at the new 8U Humble Indians First Baseman! Seth is the 3rd base coach again this year and I am the Team Mom. This includes, but is not limited to: one practice and two games a week. So far our Indians are 2-0!

2)Eli started T-ball! He is making his Poppy proud by playing for the Oakland A's! Eli is a on a 3 and 4 year old team provided through the local YMCA. He loves having his own separate thing from Connor! He has one practice and one game a week.

(Although this pic hides Eli's face a bit, I like it because of the big smile... and because it shows what an awesome coach this man is. He is all about getting on the kids level, having fun and teaching life lessons in the game of baseball!)

3) I recently received a new calling at church! I am the secretary for the Primary presidency. I absolutely LOVE it! I work with great people and think the kids are hilarious! It certainly keeps me busy.

4) Dallin is a very active, well practiced, tantrum throwing, busy-bodied little 2 year old! He's counting and learning colors (and frankly I am a little afraid he is going to soon surpass Eli in that department who seems to be lagging a bit).

5) Did I say Connor started baseball season???

So although I have not been blogging there has been a lot going on in the Washburn home! Some big, and some not so big.

Like the fact that Dallin falls out of his bed a lot...

You'd think we could buy the poor kid a bed rail... but he doesn't really seem to mind too much. :)

Eli had a Rodeo Parade at school that included line dancing with the occasional "Praise Jesus" thrown in there. In my mind a good representation of what Texas loves most: Cowboys and Jesus... and probably in that order.

Connor had his first Pinewood Derby Race. He picked out his design and built most of it himself(with occasional help from Seth). Come race day, Seth was out of town. So I got to go and do weigh-ins, and grease his wheels in between races with graphite powder, and give him the lecture that "win or lose... we need to be a good sport", and most importantly to NOT cry... I specifically remember saying that! Guess what, I was also there to hug him and hide his face when he cried on the FIRST race.

Connor and the "Holy Rider"

Good thing it was just the first race of many. I think there were 16 kids in his wolf den. (4 races with 4 cars in each one.) Connor took last the first race (thus the crying), and then took first in the next three races. He made it to the final four round! We were so excited! They raced one final time and it was very close, but he got last. There were only trophies for the first three kids that placed. It was so sad to see him be the only one to walk away without a trophy. But surprisingly, the kid took it like a champ. I was proud.

Final four race. I love this pic. Connor's face is priceless, as well as many of the leaders!

And these two were two of the cutest little cheer leaders around! They were pleased as punch to get their own little "twinkie derbys'!

No Sleep

2011-03-30T07:40:00.001-07:00

You know you're messed up when...

you can't sleep a wink because there is a storm outside. You are POSITIVE that among the howling winds, every crack of thunder is actually a crack of a falling tree... that is about to land smack dab on your house... and come crashing through your roof... on top of you and your husband... of even worse on top of your babies.

Thanks to Hurricane Ike over 2 years ago when we heard those high speed winds and cracking trees... three trees DID fall on our house. Now this is just how I get when it storms.

(One of the uprooted trees that fell on our house.)

(Luckily for us it was just the very tips of the trees that fell on our house and only the branches that actually punctured our roof.)

(Our neighbors were not quite so lucky. A tree came through their house and crushed EVERYTHING in their master bedroom. Thankfully, they slept with the baby in the nursery that night.)

But now do you understand my pain? I thought seriously about camping out in the hallway half way through the night. But I ultimately decided that if my family was going to die from falling trees... I didn't want to be the lone survivor. Instead, I kept waking up Seth to reassure me trees weren't going to, in fact, fall on us. His annoyance with me was more apparent than his willingness to provide me with comfort. Great, now we are going to die mad at each other! So I laid there all night in the dark with the blinds open... staring down the trees and getting ready to grab Seth with my superhuman strength and run upstairs and grab the kids with my lightening speed, all in a moments notice... if I saw a falling tree.

Yeah, that is about how my thought process worked.

So when I woke up dead tired this morning... Seth laughed at me.

I'm so not grabbing him next time.

Rodeo Carnival

2011-03-10T08:18:00.001-08:00

Friends from Louisiana came out for a fun filled Rodeo Carnival visit!

Nothing like bumper cars for some good ol' fashioned family fun!

The kids rode carnival rides until the were blue in the face!

Seth's Science Fair Project

2011-03-01T19:12:00.001-08:00

When I think of Science Fairs I think of 4th grade kids creating tomato sauce volcanoes and studying the dietary habits of ants.

The way I see it, Seth has basically been asked to create a big boy poster for an upscale Exxon Science Fair. He makes the said poster, people stop and ask questions about his research, and then he privileges them with his abundance of knowledge. Only his won't be as cool because there will be no exploding lava at the end.

He has been putting in countless hours into this 'poster'... which thus far still remains on a lap top screen. I've seen no actual proof of poster paper.

Personally I don't get how creating a poster can be so time consuming.

Hell, give me some scissors, a Sharpee, and a piece or two of card stock and I could knock that puppy out in 60 minutes flat. (And that's with adding some glitter glue for flare!)

Seth doesn't seem to want my help.

So tonight while Seth was home from work (but really still working on his poster)... I was putting the boys to bed.

Apparently I'm not the only one confused by all this poster nonsense. As Eli was saying his personal prayer before bed he slipped in, "Please bless Daddy will make a yummy toaster".

Connor's 1st Love Letter

2011-02-10T14:18:00.000-08:00

Today Connor came home from school with a letter...

handed to him from a girl...

supposedly written by another girl.

Although I would not categorize Connor as "girl crazy" by any means (that would be our Eli) I can tell he is flattered and a little excited about the idea of a secret admirer. Who wouldn't be?

And can you blame the girls for falling for this handsome devil?

These shoes are made for walkin!

2011-02-08T19:53:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you...

but trying to get out the door with my kids

is like trying to run with an elephant on my back.

Impossible.

I always forget something

and have to make at least two trips

from the driveway

back to inside the house

and then again

sometimes half way down the road.

And still, I often forget one of the kids' most basic needs:

a sippy cup, soccer ball, shoes, piano books, baseball glove, snack, pants (yes that's happened!), coat, backpack, extra diapers, sack lunch.

But even more often I forget my needs:

wallet, cell phone, purse, sunglasses, Blockbuster DVD, receipt, i-pod, water bottle.

Not to mention we are rarely on time for anything.

It is what it is.

It's our life.

I'm not making excuses

and I don't see a sudden change in the near future.

So when I buckled Eli in his seat today and saw these shoes on his feet:

I was just grateful he had on two...

and that it did not mean a third trip back inside the house.

So yes, my son and I

walked all around Ace Hardware, the Dollar Store, Kohls and the public library...

with two different shoes

and two right feet.

And I actually LIKED that I was okay with it.

Maybe we will do it again tomorrow?

What happened to the Dog Lady?

2011-02-02T21:51:00.000-08:00

(Disclaimer: These are the thoughts of a lady on a lot of pain medication!)

Once there was a little girl who loved all animals, especially dogs. You see, she had two herself and could not get enough of them.

One day her mother came home rather annoyed, after trying to pull into the driveway on her way home from work, only to find that her 7 year old daughter already had the space occupied.

A smile broke across her mother's face as she asked the girl, "What in the world are you doing?!?"

The girl, a bit confused replied, "What does it look like I am doing?? I am throwing the dogs a birthday party!"

Yes, I was that little girl. I remember it being a warm summer afternoon. I was hot just walking around in my swimsuit and bare feet and decided surely the next door neighbor's golden retriever was hot laying out in the heat with her thick coat of long hair. I suddenly had an idea! I was going to throw the dogs a pool party! I dragged out and brushed off my trusty green, plastic Mr. Turtle Pool and placed it smack dab in the middle of the driveway. I then filled it with hose water and put piles of dry dog food all around the pool. I went and got my two favorite dogs in the world from the backyard to join in on the fun. Turns out I was right, because it didn't take long for Shasta (the neighbor's dog) to make her way directly into my green wading pool. It was like I had a giant handful of hot greasey bacon in my hands, or something, because suddenly random dogs just started showing up out of the woodwork. I'm not kidding, a dog here, a dog there. Until, there I was with 5 or 6 dogs eating their carefully placed piles of dog food, and one dog swimming in the middle of it all. That was when my mom showed up.

My mom quickly made it clear that these other dogs were not to stay... and to clean up my mess when I was finished. But she let me be, as she walked away shaking her head. I then joined Shasta in the pool as we (okay, I) sang happy birthday and celebrated the birth of all these glorious dogs!

It was shortly after this incident that I started being referred to as the 'Dog Lady' around the house and neighborhood.

I simply loved dogs. When I grew up I wanted to have 150 dogs as pets and have someone pay me for it. It sounded like a great job to me!

Now, when I see dogs at the park... and I see their owner stopping to pick up their poop behind them... I want to vomit. Now, when I see dog hair all over some one's clothes or house... I think it is so NOT worth having a dog to have to clean up all that mess! Now, when friendly neighbor dogs jump up on me to give me a big kiss on my face... I am totally grossed out. Now, when I pet a dog... I can't think of anything until I wash my hands afterwards.

What happened to me? Where did the Dog Lady go? When did I become so cold hearted and non-animal friendly? I hate it! Sometimes I try to pretend that I still do love dogs (and sometimes I almost believe it myself) and then I see that a friend's dog vomited on their floor, or chewed up their shoes, or peed on their rug, or scratched up all their doors and tore up the couch, or that they have worms in their poop! And then I just can't think anything else but... "Why?!??". Sadly, my kids will probably never know the love of a dog.

Seriously though, what happened to that Dog Lady???

Hygeine Habits of a 4- Year Old

2011-01-24T07:31:00.000-08:00

Eli has a favorite red, fleece, GAP sweatshirt that he got two Christmas' ago and that he would wear everyday if we let him (and already does wear more than he should)! His most recent wearing was to the Monster Truck Jam on Saturday night. After church he pulled it out of the dirty clothes and tried to convince me to let him slip it back on... I told him, "NO WAY!". Then when Seth told him to get dressed for school this morning- sure enough he came back down the stairs wearing a mangy, dirty, nacho cheese, cotton candy covered red, GAP sweatshirt.

Seth: Eli that is filthy! Go take it off! You can not wear that to school today.

Eli: But there's not POOP on it!!

Seth: You're right. That is about the only thing NOT on it. Go take it off!

Apparently that is the standard of cleanliness around the Washburn home. Anything is fair game unless there is poop on it!?!

(Eli in his favorite sweatshirt at the Monster Truck Jam!)

Don't be Fancy, Just get Dancey!

2011-01-20T06:09:00.000-08:00

Today on the way home from dropping my oldest son off at school, "Raise Your Glass" came on the radio, by Pink. It is quite possibly my favorite song. So I turned it loud and proceeded to jam and encouraged Eli and Dallin to dance in their seats as well. After we were in our own driveway... the song was not over... so with proper good-song etiquette, we all jammed in our seats until it was finished.

Eli gave a half hearted performance at best. I didn't feel he was fully appreciating what a great song it was and I asked him, "Eli, do you know that is probably the best song out there?"

Eli's response? "Na-uh! Old McDonald's is!"

There was no argument from me. Sadly, Pink will probably never hold a candle next to a timeless classic like that.

My Baby...

2011-01-18T21:15:00.000-08:00

... is NOT a baby anymore. (SNIFF, SNIFF!)

All of a sudden, it's really starting to hit me that Dallin is growing up and becoming a little man faster than I would like to think.

Last night I had myself convinced I wanted another baby.

I even tossed the idea around with the kids.

All of them said they wanted another sibling.

Connor and Dallin both said they wanted a sister. Eli said he wanted one of each... a brother and a sister.

Then today happened.

Dallin complained and cried and whined and screamed and threw tantrum, after tantrum, after tantrum.

So, I am right back to square one... and ready to close up shop for good!

But it really was a nice thought.

(Oh, and just to clear my name... I was enjoying a girl's night out while these blue cup cake photos were being taken. But they are WAY too cute not to share! :)

Christmas 2010

2011-01-07T11:45:00.000-08:00

The Washburn's Christmas started out something like this...

being awakened at 2am by an excited 8 year old, followed by two half asleep, half crying, obedient little brothers.

Seth: "Connor, it is 2am! Why are you down here!?!"

Connor: "Well, um. I woke up to use the bathroom... and um, I forgot that we had a bathroom upstairs..." (make that TWO!) "and so I um, went downstairs to use it, but um, I was scared so I woke Eli and Dallin up to go with me, and um, then I saw all the presents and knew that Santa had come! Santa already came! It's Christmas! Hurry! Get up!"

Seth: "Go back to bed! It is NOT time to get up. It is still the middle of the night! You may NOT come back down here until it is at least 7am!" (I'm not sure why he said 7 when he knows full well on any other regular given day our kids are up by 6... but considering I had only been asleep for one hour at this point, I was too sleepy to say otherwise.)

Connor: "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" (as he proceeded to cry and throw a fit.)

Dallin and Eli obediently went back up to their beds to sleep. No ands, ifs, or buts.

But about 5am I was awakened to loud thuds, giggles, and the pitter-patter of little feet running around upstairs. We sat there and listened for awhile half asleep. But a little before 6, we too, decided to get up out of bed.

And our Christmas ended with something like this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTq20prt0K8

Only instead of Ralphie's family, it was Connor's. And instead of being all dressed up, we were still in our jammies. And instead of a Chinese restaurant being the only thing open... it was Denny's. And instead of eating duck... we ate nachos.

Classy. We know!

Oh, and in between it all, there was a bit of this...

Immediately upon coming down the stairs Dallin saw this little bad boy, hopped on without any questions as to if it was even his, or not, and took off driving around the house! It took him all of about 5.5 seconds to learn how to burn rubber. He would stand in one place and let the wheels spin as he made big black marks on his mom's wood floor! He was lucky it was Christmas!! What was Santa thinking charging that battery ahead of time?

Eli got a fun rhino board game from mom!

Connor got a flag football kit from Dad!

Eli is my little artist. He really enjoys painting and coloring and cutting and gluing right now. All things Connor NEVER enjoyed. He got this easel from Santa and loves it. Eli and Dallin have both enjoyed it!

This Christmas will live in our memories as the Christmas when we were introduced to breakfast nachos. All is right with the world.

Merry Christmas!
Love, the Washburn's

Christmas Eve 2010

2011-01-07T09:38:00.000-08:00

We invited the missionaries over for Christmas Eve again this year and we had a wonderful time with them. They truly brought a special spirit into our home.

We had a delicious ham dinner with sparkling cider, seasoned red potatoes, rolls, and jalapeno green beans. Personally, I am not a big ham eater, but I have to say after this dinner... I think I am! :) Everything about this dinner was AWESOME! Seth did an excellent job. (But let's give props where props are deserved... I pulled those Rhodes rolls out of the bag and let them thaw and rise before putting them in the oven for 15 minutes! ;)

After dinner was done we enjoyed listening to Christmas music (Mo Tab of course!) while Eli, Dallin and I made sugar cookies...

and the rest of the gang played board games. (Dominion and Battleship to name a few.) The missionaries LOVED Dominion.

After the games were done, the cookies were ready to decorate for Santa (and a few for our bellies too)!

**note Dallin DUMPING on the sprinkles, Connor LICKING his fingers, and Eli unsanitarily KNEELING on the table!**
We made sure Santa ONLY got cookies from our kids... and let the missionaries take home their OWN decorated cookies to Santa at their apartment! ;)

You know if you have sprinkles up the nose... you did a good job!

Then we all read the story of Christ's birth from the Bible and we watched the church's rendition of the Nativity.

Lastly, we each opened our one Christmas Eve gift. And what do you know... it was pajamas all around, AGAIN! :)

The missionaries were very appreciative and grateful the entire night.

The missionaries then left our home with a prayer around 9pm.

As a family, we watched a cartoon version of 'The Missing Wiseman'... or something of the sort? It was actaully pretty cute with an important message of the true meaning of Christmas.

From there we checked the Santa tracker and saw he was over Cuba! It was about 10pm so we set out our cookies and sprinkled our reindeer feed on the lawn, and all hurried to bed to make sure we were fast asleep for when Santa got to our house. (Cuz he skips over your house if you're awake!)

Santa was one lucky guy to score these puppies!!!

Merry Christmas!

Just Your Average Car Ride

2011-01-06T07:03:00.000-08:00

Now I will be the first to admit conversations with my boys are usually a little off the wall and often don't make sense. But today's car ride convo just might take the cake!

Eli: "Some mom's and dad's are in jail, right Mom?"

Me: pause. (where is this coming from?) "Uh, yeah."

Eli: "Is Daddy in jail?"

Me: ??? "No, Daddy is at work."

Eli: "Is Daddy a bad guy?"

Me: "No, Daddy is a good guy."

Eli: "A good, bad guy?"

Me: (WHAT THE WHAT?!?) "Uh, no Buddy, Daddy is JUST a good guy."

Eli: "But me-member (remember), Daddy is A SPY!!!"

I don't know what Seth is filling his kids heads with... probably day dreaming of some alter-ego. But whatever the case... I can only imagine what Eli is telling his friends and teachers at church and school!! :)

Sean's Story

2011-01-04T17:17:00.000-08:00

As most of you know, my brother Sean (see butt-rocker above), had a pulmonary embolism (or at least I think that is what it is called) a couple weeks ago and is still fighting to get well. As I read this email he sent out I could not help but be touched to the point of tears and felt the need that this needed to be shared. I asked his permission to post it on my blog and received it. I know it is a bit lengthy but it is well worth the read. My brother is an amazing person who I love and respect with all my heart. He is definitely one of my "heroes"! Please keep him in your prayers.

~Tiffany

Friends & Family –

I wanted to take a couple of minutes and give you all the latest update. As you have all heard I am out of the hospital and back at home resting and trying to outlast the clots in my left leg and in my lungs. The bottom half of both lungs are not currently functioning, and the top halves are working overtime to keep this big bootie upright. I am on a blood-thinner medicine called Coumadin and will be on this medicine from 6 months to a few years – we need to see how my body reacts to the blood thinning. Coumadin makes it so my body cannot produce any new blood clots. Meanwhile the clots will be broken down and absorbed into my body on their own over the next several months. Please pray that the clots will be absorbed quickly and that there will be no lasting damage to my lungs. If they do not absorb in a few months they will need to be removed surgically – a pretty risky procedure. I have been thinking about what has happened a lot over the last few days that I have been home from the hospital and with my family. I have decided to write down a few of my memories and thoughts and to share them with you. I have titled it “Heroes.”

Heroes
During the first week of December, I had a severe case of the flu – in fact it was only the second confirmed case of the flu in the state of Oregon in 2010. I had high fevers (up to 104.6) that came and went and lasted for upwards of 5 nights. They would be followed by the sweats and the shivers. I had no appetite and no desire to get out of bed and move around. Over that span of 8 days due to my strict diet of Gatorade and Nyquil, I lost 15 pounds and my will to do much of anything other than sleep. Over the weekend as I started to get better, I started to gain my strength. By Sunday night I felt that I had it kicked, on Monday started working from home and by Thursday I felt strong enough to go into the office. After a full day of work I felt strong enough to even go play basketball that night with my city league team.

The team consists of several friends from within and one or two from outside the church. Upon completing my second time down the court I started to feel a little weird, a little light-headed. It must have been the lasting effects of the flu I told myself and shook it off. By the next time down the court, things started getting black and I braced myself by putting my hands on my knees – the next thing I remember is looking up, waking up and looking at Charles Carter’s face and shaking my head violently, as if I were trying to shake the freckles off my face. As things came into focus I could see that I had blacked out. It was later reported to the ER doctor that I had blacked out for 1 minute and 30 seconds to 2 minutes, and was bright purple as I was not getting any oxygen. While I was out, someone called an ambulance, and as I came to and cleared my head I remember telling someone that I did not need an ambulance – that I just needed a place to sit down without 15 people staring at me. So I sat on the bench until halftime – and drank some more Gatorade.

Halftimes quickly approached and as I stood to shoot around with the team, and listened to them tell me I was a pansy for fainting and that I still had the flu - and as I started to warm up for the second half everything started to get black around me again. Not wanting to pass out again, I hurried and sat back down on the bench. Every time I stood for more that 5 seconds I would start to fade into darkness. I just needed to rest. I had exerted myself too soon after having the flu I told myself. So I kept score the second half of the game. When the game ended and I got up to leave – I could barely cross the gym floor without having to stop to rest. I stopped 3 more times on the way out of the gym.

By this time I just wanted to go home and go to bed. The guys on the team were a little worried, so they made me call Candace and tell her that I was on my way back to the ER – a place that our family had visited so many times that others joked that we should have a permanent, front row parking spot. The guys on the team then made me go to the ER. All of a sudden they were worried now that the game was over. I will never let any of them forget that I blacked out for 2 minutes on the basketball court and they all said, “Just wait until the game is over and then we’ll take you to the ER.” :) The doctor later told me that had I gone home to bed that night that I would have died in my sleep.

I had gotten into the ER rather quickly as chest pain patients move to the front of the line. Once I was inside the ER however they were in no hurry to give me a diagnosis, as we waited and waited and waited. While we waited three of my buddies (Charles Carter, Neil Buchan and Jim Welch) gave me a priesthood blessing that the doctors would be able to diagnose the problem quickly and that I would be calmed and able to breathe until they found out what was the matter. They blessed me that I would be able to have the faith I needed to be strong and trust that the Lord would protect me. At 3 am they said I had a “Pulmonary Embolism” – something we had discussed and dismissed earlier because of its severity. I needed to be moved to the ICU or Intensive Care Unit, where the doctors and nurses could watch me around the clock. Being that one of the basketball teammates was still at our house while our kids slept, Candace left around 5:30 am once I was stable and in good hands. She went home, made an attempt at sleep for 1 hour and then got the kids ready and off to school.

A Pulmonary Embolism? After several ex-rays, CAT Scans, blood tests and other – the medical staff decided that I had/have a blood clot the size of an orange on my lungs, and that when it passed through my heart on its way to my lungs earlier that night (as I was running down the basketball court for the third time and blacked out) that I should have died. That 60% of all people would have died in that moment. As my good buddy would say, “What the Fetch?!” “I should have died? Really? Me? Tonight? I’m 41 and have way too much to do still. I have to see the Blazers win a Championship, and see Porter and Jack score winning touchdowns in high school, and then write to them in foreign lands while they are serving their missions. I have to be able to grill the boys that want to take Megan on dates when they get back from their missions, and be there when she wins the state golf tourney and wants to play her practice rounds with her dad. I have to serve a mission with Candace, have to take her to Maui for our 25th wedding anniversary and back again for our 40th, have to spend more time with my brothers and sisters. I have to go on more golfing trips with my buddies and spend more time tickling my nieces and nephews. There is a lot more that I have to do before I leave this Earth!”

What will I do with this new gift of life? Will I squander it and be back to my same old self in 6 months having forgotten about this whole ordeal or would I use it to become someone better? Will I visit those in the hospital because I know first-hand how much that lifts the spirits, will I volunteer around town and do my part to make the world a better place? Will I talk to my brothers and sisters on a regular basis and be more interested in their lives? Will I quit with the petty competitions quit trying to win so much that I push others away? Will I love my family more than a Saturday afternoon football game? I want the answer to these questions to be yes. I hope this new lease on life has given me the strength to follow through in these areas.

The first morning in the ICU I figured out that my teammates were inspired to take me to the hospital. That morning at 8:30 am as I sat to eat some breakfast I had an attack – a severe pain in my chest that would not go away for 2 ½ hours. As the medical team went through their progression of medications trying to determine which would sooth my pain, I cried out in agony and feared for the first time that the doctors might actually know what they were talking about – that I might die right then and there in the ICU. It’s a scary thing when you think you are going to die. I started to think to myself, “Have I done everything I needed to take care of my family and loved ones? Will they be financially stable with me gone? How will they cope with losing their father and husband? Who will care for them when I can no longer do so?” This line of thinking lasted for about an hour and then switched to, “Have I done all that I need to return to live with my Heavenly Father? Have I asked forgiveness from my brothers and sisters for offending them at family reunions? Have I taught enough people about the gospel?” As the doctor finally determined that a combination of Dilaudid and Torredal would do the trick and as I started coming out of my physical and spiritual agony, I immediately started asking the nurse if he had ever heard of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He said yes – that his father was a missionary in Japan and that he had fallen away since his father’s death. We spoke a little more until exhaustion overcame me and I fell asleep.

After two days in the ICU, I was transferred to the Critical Care floor – one step down from the ICU, but not the general population – where I would spend the next 6 days in room 677. Five out of my nine nurses would be male – I thought it a little strange, but it turned out to be very lucky as all of my nurses took great care of me and helped me to recovery. None judged me as I asked for more medication, or as I cried when things got too intense or too tough for me to handle alone. Candace felt relieved that I had mostly male nurses as she felt they would be able to lift me and carry me where I needed to go were I to black out again. There were several times during my stay at the hospital that I felt breaks in the pain only to learn that some of you were praying and/or fasting for me. I still do feel those moments of reprise now at home knowing that you and many others are still praying for me and my family. I want to thank you for your prayers, for your well wishes and your care packages – all of which allowed me to smile and to think of things other than the pain or the realization that I could have (and should have according to my doctors) died two weeks ago.

I want to tell you that I appreciate each of you. I appreciate the many calls and offers from family and friends to come and stay with us during this rough time. Mom, Dad, Barb (Candace’s mom), Candace and Destiny coming to the hospital and sitting with me, playing Scrabble with me, taking me for short walks, getting me fresh water, or reading to me. I want to thank those of you who sat bedside with me or snuck in “outside food” and watched the Blazer games with me. I had over 50 visitors (52) in the hospital and many of those 50 came back several times. I had friends watch the kids, and even had some friends get us a Christmas tree when they noticed that we were without, two weeks before Christmas. I had balloons and cookies and candy and books and magazines and flowers and more candy – how did I lose 8 more pounds while in the hospital this week? What I enjoyed the most was the genuine conversation and concern and tears shed and the heartfelt hugs and kisses. This time spent made me feel loved and kept me from thinking about all of the times the doctors mentioned how “lucky I was to be alive.” There were many who didn’t make it to the hospital that did make it by the house. They also brought gifts of love such as meals for the family, flowers, Ice cream, cards and well wishes. There were so many in fact that I cannot mention them all. There were voicemails, and Facebook posts and text messages from 50 + additional people asking if or how they could help in any way.

Through this process I have come to realize several heroes that stood out during my time in the hospital. If I forgot some it’s because I was on medication and not thinking clearly, or because I still am on medication and am still not thinking clearly now. These heroes helped me in one way or another to realize that I have so much to live for and provided so much love and support – it made me want to be like them – selfless and Christ-like.

The real hero trough this ordeal was my mother-in-law, Barbara, for dropping everything and flying out from New Mexico at a moment’s notice to take care of our family. To take care of Candace and spend time with the kids so Candace could spend more time with me. She did this because she loves the spending time with the kids, she loves Candace and she loves me. I would feel remiss if I did not mention Len (Candace’s dad) who also sacrificed for us – sending his wife two weeks before Christmas to stay through Christmas.

The real heroes were the guys on the team – Charles Carter who stayed with me until 3 am in the ER then gave me a priesthood blessing of healing and comfort. Myles Cluff who immediately upon me arriving at St. Vincent’s Hospital drove to my home and told Candace to go to the hospital and that he would stay with the kids as long as she needed. Myles also visited me a few times at the hospital and made sure I had enough Lord of the Rings movies to last 2 weeks in the hospital. Jeff Nemelka and TJ Carroll who helped me up the stairs at THPRD, and who said, “I don’t think Sean should drive home.” Jim Welsh who also went to my house, came back to the ER, who also participated in the blessing and stayed until 3 am. Neil Buchan was the real hero as he was the one that wouldn’t take me home after the game when I asked him to – instead he took me to the hospital, helped with the blessing and stayed with me. He stayed with me for 4 days. He brought movies, he watched Blazer games with me, smuggled in food, and did everything a good friend could do. When I was feeling good he was feeling good and when I was not doing so hot – he was not doing so hot right beside me.

Kim and Reenie Fisher were the real heroes as they visited me three times, bringing balloons, treats, smiles and love. I can just look into either of their eyes and feel the spirit of the Lord radiate through them. They are such good friends and always had something funny to tell me, something to lift my spirits. I will definitely be visiting them on a regular basis in the old-folks home when they get there – hopefully sharing some of the peace and joy they brought to my bedside.

The real hero was Robbie Severson. She came in on Sunday and gave me a haircut and a shave. Have you ever seen the movie “Phenomenon” when John Travolta is dying and Kyra Sedgewick gives him that sexy hair cut and shave – an act of love from someone that wanted to make out with him? Well this wasn’t like that. :) This was an awesome act of kindness that motivated me to have the best day ever in the hospital, and helped me to feel great at times the rest of the week whenever anyone mentioned my great hair cut.

The real hero was Andy Thompson my best friend who for some reason has stuck with me since the 5th grade. He was the best man at my wedding, he’s my dentist, and he was there for me at the hospital. He too brought contraband food into the hospital, and stayed with me many nights until late at night empathizing with me from his many hospital visits as an old man. I felt our friendship bond grow even more during the time we spent together this last couple of weeks in the hospital and at now at home. The real hero was his hot wife Mari who asked if she could go Christmas shopping for me, and got everything on the list. And then stopped by to take me last minute shopping for anything else I felt we still needed.

Other heroes were Jade and Justin Thelin who visited me a few times while Jade himself had a broken ankle and was riding around on a mini bicycle to keep his leg elevated as he went. They brought by the famous Thelin Monster Cookies. Jade also brought his hot wife and his cute daughter Payton who made me smile. He then visited me at the house; bringing more goodies and his family again. They are both filed with such positive energy that it flows through them into others in their presence.

The real hero was Sheri Flynn, a neighbor who brought three bags of groceries as we were not concentrating on food at home. She brought over meals for the kids – good meals that they devoured. She brought fruit and snacks and flowers and friendship and love.

The real heroes are the Waldrips who came to the hospital and talked to me – just talked. They asked me about me and then talked to me like I wasn’t on my death bed and told me what was going n in their world. Oh yeah – they are the ones that bought us the great Christmas tree because they could see that we needed one, that there was two weeks until Christmas and that we didn’t have one. The night they brought it to the house there was no power and they had to put it up (an already frustrating Job) in the dark – with only the flashlights of three very excited kids as they felt the Christmas spirit enter their home that night.

The real heroes are the Jones twins, Adam and Austin (Porter’s friends who I have coached in basketball and baseball) who studied up on what blood clots were and then asked their mom to take them to see me. They asked questions and wanted to know when I would be better.

The real heroes were the Larimers who stopped by the hospital and listened, and brought their sweet daughter who made me smile wither cute dimples.

The real heroes are the Bingo ladies from Sunset Hills Ward. Nadine, Maureen and Robyn have been coming to the hospital every Tuesday at 1 pm to administer Bingo on close-captioned TV for 30 years. They take calls and put the room numbers of the winners on screen and announce their names on TV. They stopped by my room 30 minutes before the game and let me know what to expect and where to go to play. Candace, Mom and I had fun trying to get a Bingo. About half way through the game I decided I wanted to call Robyn and talk to her. So I called the number on the screen. It was answered and

I said: “Hello Robyn, how are you?”
The lady on the other end (Maureen) said: “This isn’t Robyn. Can I help you?”
Me: “Can I speak to Robyn?”
Maureen: “No. She’s on the air. What do you want? What room are you in?”
Me: “Uh, I have a Bingo, can I tell her?”
Maureen: “No. What room are you in and I will tell her?”
Me: “Ok. I don’t really have a Bingo but I wanted to call Robyn and tell her that she looks hot on TV!”
Maureen: Pause. “Is this Sean?”
Me: “Yes.”

Robyn stopped by after and awarded me and Jack prizes even though we didn’t win. Jack got two spinning tops and I got a back scratcher. I had wanted a back scratcher for two months and had even asked Santa to put one in my stocking…

The real heroes were the Weilers - A loving home teacher and good friend who stopped by on Sunday to bring the Sacrament so I could feel of the Savior’s love and be reminded of his great sacrifice. With five kids of their own, they volunteered to take three more of ours so Candace could come and visit me at the hospital. His wife’s beautiful voice calmed me and sent away my pain for 10 minutes as she shared her beautiful talent and song. Her reminder of my Savior’s role in my life, of His sacrifice and His love for me – the love that I have felt at so many times in my life, and the love that I felt today as I called out to me heavenly Father and asked for His help. I was reminded of our Heavenly Father’s Plan of Salvation and although this is but a blip on the radar in the eternal perspective, that He knows my pain and that He is there to ease my pain - if I just ask.
The real heroes were Megan, Porter and Jack. Each handled my hospitalizing a little differently. Megan (9) and her friends made me get well cards, snow globes and other trinkets I could place around my hospital room. Jack (3) asked Santa in the mall if his daddy could come home for Christmas, and ran in a jumped up on my bed with me each time he saw me. Porter (7), who I have been extra close to recently, didn’t know how to act at first when he would see me – not sure if he should touch me. My second best day at the hospital was when Megan, Porter and Candace came to the hospital and we all played a game. Porter sat next to me up on the bed while we played, gave me a hug and told me he loved me. They lifted my spirits more than I would have thought possible, and I missed them when they weren’t there with me.

The real hero was Loretta Taylor who drove my mother to and from the hospital. She came by and shared funny stories and made me laugh. She reminded me of how good I’ve got it and that things weren’t really that bad. She gave me a couple of great hugs and told me she loves me. The Dyers were also heroes as they came by a shared their feelings. They are like a second set of parents for me, and have taken care of all of us when ever needed. Their shared their testimony with me and let me know they knew everything would be ok.

The real heroes were my nurses – all 9 of them. Nick, Jewel, Justin, Yvonne, Phillip, Jim, Vlad, Mckenzie and Nonna. They were awesome and I spoke of them earlier.

My hot 15-year-old sister Destiny was the real hero as she came by and went on short walks with me in the hospital and held my hand in case I was to fall over. I’m not sure what she would have done had I fallen, but she was there with me regardless. She even took out her earphones a couple of times and talked to me as we walked. :)

The Bottgers were the real heroes as they brought great meals (steak and potatoes, ice cream, apple pie, cookies), lotion for Candace and get well cards for me, and love to our family.

Mike Betts was a hero as he came by to visit – he can always make me smile no matter my mood. We talked as friends of many years and in the end both got a little teary-eyed. To see a couple of big studs break down must have been pretty comical. When he left he hugged me told me he loved me and I knew he really did.

Stephanie, Kathy, Carla, Brooke, Erin, Weezie, Noreen, Michael, Dan, Amy, Terry and Iris were all heroes from Entercom. They came by and/or sent their love – they let me know that everyone at work is worried and wants me to return quickly. They brought me treats and bettered my spirits. Their messages of love and concern inspired me when I needed it the most.

The real hero was Julie Buchan. She brought me the best soup on the planet, and brought the power of NetFlix to my hospital room! She visited me several times, sat on the edge of my bed always with genuine concern as to my well being.

The real heroes were my parents. They were there at the hospital almost daily. They sat by me and talked, they read to me, they laughed and cried with me. They brought me Blizzards; they played games and rubbed my head when I was in pain or discomfort. They spoke to the family and let them know of any updates, and got the family prayers organized. They walked with me and prayed with me. I couldn’t ask for better parents.

The real hero through this all was the love of my life. I want to also tell each of you how much I love and appreciate Candace. She has sacrificed so much these last two weeks, living on such little sleep and spending so much time with me in the hospital, very rarely leaving me alone – and only doing so when she knew someone else would be here. She did all of this while getting the house ready for Christmas and getting the kids to and from school each day. The best part was when she walked into the room each day, sat on the edge of my bed and held my hand. As she did this ALL of the pain would leave my body for several minutes and everything would be better!

I love each of these great people and have learned so much from each of them – they are my heroes! And I hope to follow in their footsteps and become a hero like they have. They have sacrificed so much of their time, resources and talents, all to make me feel a little better while in the hospital, and to let me know of their love.

I have been home for a couple of days now and have had time to reflect on my time in room 677. It feels so good to be out of the hospital – I am nowhere near full strength, but as I get better I know I have my heroes to rely upon.

-Sean

Some pics of me and my bro:

I love you Sean! Get better! XOXO

Gettin' Crafty?

2011-01-04T15:09:00.000-08:00

I'm not really sure 'crafty' is the right word here... but for those of you who know me, know that I am not a real "go getter". I am a horrible decision maker and a very indecisive person by nature. I am the type of person who lives with 18 different paint splotches on her house walls for 2 years because she just can't bring herself to take that last step and commit to any of them!

This type of behavior drives my husband a bit nuts at times. (IE: When I left for Portland last summer he asked our neighbor for help on colors and had the whole downstairs painted while I was gone! :) Well, since then... our walls have been pretty, but bare as we have moved back almost none of our old "decorations" because they did not match, I wasn't sure where to put them, and/or just were not what I wanted, etc. I have lots of ideas (some great and others maybe not so much :). But I never seem to follow through with any of them. Seth was hounding me all winter long to finish some of these "projects".

One of these projects was the entry way wall when you walk in the door. I knew that I wanted a bunch of family photos framed and some vinyl lettering about family... but that was about it. So I finally searched around and found that perfect lettering for me! I showed my genius of a friend, and after complaining to her that frames were around $15 a pop at Target (for your average sized frame) she suggested going to Goodwill and buying a bunch of different sized frames and spray painting them black. Of course I had to drag her along with me because that was too much pressure for me to do alone! She happily went with me and helped me pick some out. I spent about $20 on frames and $5 on spray paint... and viola! I love it!! (Actually the big frame in the center IS from Target and was $30... but all the rest were Goodwill bargains!

I still don' t have a picture for the center frame. I can't decide if I want to go with a wedding photo, a family photo (which would have to be taken), or a nice recent pic of the three boys all together (which also would have to be taken). So don't expect to see a photo in there for at least another 18 months! ;)- Opinions appreciated!

Then that same awesome friend of mine... has a darling magnet board in her house that I have wanted to copy FOREVER to hang the kids art work on. But I just never did anything about it. I went as far as getting most of the necessary pieces but never put any of it together. Seth had to push me every step of the way. Together we did it and I love it! Right now it is filled with all our Christmas photos (instead of art work).

If you don't see your photo that means one of two things... 1. you have been upgraded to our fridge... or 2. you didn't send me a card, jerk! ;)-

The last project Seth made me finish was Connor's bed. But to be honest I think he ended up doing more of this one than I did. We have had a really nice children's bed someone gave us second hand years ago. It needed help, but had great potential. We both took turns painting coats of bright white paint (because that is what we already had in the garage) and it looks good.

But I still wanted to sand that edges for that shabby chic look! And then I saw another friend's bed that she stained after it was painted white and it gave it an awesome vintage look and I thought I would do that, too. :) But the stain I tried didn't make any difference on that stark white paint. Discouraged, I did not get much farther than that.

So guess who never got around to sanding it? And guess who got too tired of seeing a bed in the garage everyday? :) So Seth put it together and put it up in Connor's new bedroom of his own. It looks nice. I still might sand it... one day. :) But there are no pictures of that (for now) since I still have not decided what to do with his room. I know... it might be years people!!!

But I am so proud of these small accomplishments. Even if I was pushed, nudged, and prodded every step of the way! :)

Sick Eli

2011-01-04T10:28:00.000-08:00

Poor Eli has been feeling pretty icky today. I took him into the doctor and sure enough he has an ear infection in each ear (once again). My doc promised me this is the LAST trial run with antibiotics hoping to clear it up for good, and if not... we will put tubes in his ears for the second time. My lil' pooped Eli fell asleep watching toons before his AM doctor appointment and then again in the car on the way home. I decided his little body was in definite need of a real nap today so I took him upstairs to lay him down. I started to help undress him as I know he prefers to sleep in nothing but his undies.

ELI: Sometimes my clothes hurt me when I sleep.

ME: I know Baby, that is why I am helping you take them off. (Normally I am trying to encourage him to sleep with pajamas on, but I felt so sorry for the guy... I wasn't going to put up any fight).

ELI: (In a very tired yet concerned voice.) But Mommy, Santa Claus can see me!

He never seems concerned if Santa can see him when he is hitting his little brother, or sneaking his older brother's toys... but the kid suddenly is concerned if Santa can see him in his Spiderman Underoos?!? :)

Letter to Santa 2010

2010-12-17T12:41:00.000-08:00

I found this letter to Santa in Connor's backpack today (true to his spelling)...

Dear Santa,

Hi my name is connoR. I know what I whant. and I am having a test on you if you are real or not. I want the new Maden 11 Game. I want it because it is the best it has ashon (action). I helped my mom fold the landry. I alsow want a puppy. So I can have a buddy to play with. I was the alony (only) one that was clening at the party. I alsow want the vodeo game so I wunt be bord. I clend up my toy room. I hit my brother a lot. Plese frgiv me and good night.

Connor - age 8

Naughty or Nice?

Family Night

2010-12-07T21:22:00.000-08:00

Eli's preschool sent home a note last week about a birthday party they were going to have with the children for Jesus. To help celebrate they suggested a cute idea of bringing a wrapped toy as a gift to Christ. The children would unwrap their present, show the class, and then donate it to the local toy drive. This past family home evening, I took the opportunity to review the birth of our Savior with our kids (using our nativity set was a hit) and to try to explain to Eli why we were doing this and what it meant. There was some confusion.

Eli: So are we going to eat cake with Jesus?

Me: No. Jesus won't actually be at the party, He is in Heaven.

Eli: You can't eat cake in heaven?

Me: ????? (changing the subject) Christ taught us to share with others. We are going to give someone a present who probably won't have any other presents to open on Christmas morning.

Eli: Why?

Me: Well, maybe they don't have enough money, or maybe they don't have a mom or a dad, or maybe they're really sick... but the truth is, I'm not really sure. We do it because we love Christ and we know he would want us to do it.

Seth: There is a little boy out there Eli, who is going to have something to open for Christmas because YOU gave him this Nerf dart gun. Think how happy he is going to be because YOU shared with him. YOU are going to make a difference.

Eli: (With big eyes, a loud gasp, and a breathy voice) I saved Christmas!

Lol! I think maybe this kid has been watching a few too many Christmas movies this season! ;) However, his excitement from that moment on was very catching. You could tell he felt helpful, important, and proud to be making a difference in some one's life. I could even tell Connor was a bit jealous he was not "saving Christmas". :) I told Connor we could go and pick out a toy another day, to give as well. He was thrilled.

I felt a peaceful happiness in my heart that night. And even though our children still behave less than perfect as they fight and cry over silly things--I am proud to be their mama! :)

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-12-03T17:57:00.001-08:00

A couple years back while living in Louisiana we watched our friends inject a turkey filled with Cajun butter sauce and then fry it in peanut oil. It was delicious! I was not sure this qualified us to be able to copy and duplicate the same, but Seth was bound and determined he could, and assigned us the job of "turkey" for the Thanksgiving feast this year.

I also would like to state for the record... my husband bought SEVEN turkeys this Thanksgiving. Every time he'd stop at the store to pick something up for me, they were "practically giving away the turkey" and he could not pass it up. Last year we had to buy a deep freezer just to HOLD all our TURKEYS because Seth has a compulsive disorder when it comes to these fine feathered friends. However, seven is a new personal record. I am not sure where he gets this turkey hoarding need from, but he declares "it is the Adams" in him. :) Can we even eat 7 turkeys before they go bad? We polished off two on Thanksgiving day!

I did not get the greatest pictures this Thanksgiving, but I think that is because we were too busy having fun to worry about pictures. :) It was a great day filled with awesome food, and more importantly, with friends that we love dearly!

Seth frying up the turkey.

Mom- notice the fire extinguisher is in sight!

After all the horror stories I heard about frying turkeys I was paranoid Seth was going to burn down our house. At one point I had to run to him and tell him I was getting in the shower and if the house did start burning down... to please come and let me know!!! ;)-

Fried to perfection...Seth did not dissappoint! That was one awesome turkey! So moist and flavorful.

We shared the day with a couple of our favorite families! After feasting, was games!

The hostess with the mostess herself... Stacee! I love this girl! :)

The kids enjoying a nice dog pile on Danny, lucky guy.

Between us all there were 6 adults, 7 kids, and 1 dog! We gobbled til we wobbled and then some. I truly am grateful to have friends that feel like family. Thanks for the great day!!

You know you're white trash when...

2010-11-22T18:06:00.000-08:00

... you take your kids to the gas station to get ice cream bars for a Family Home Evening treat and suddenly realize two of your kids don't have on any shoes or socks, and one doesn't have on any pants... but y'all go inside just the same and hope no one else will notice... and no one does!!! NICE.

GRAM, THE UNCLE SAM!

2010-11-16T16:57:00.000-08:00

Meet spunky Nina. She turned 98 this month. This picture was taken with her great-grandson Jack (age 3) on Halloween. She won the Halloween costume contest. I should hope so!

Don't hate me because my Grandma IS cooler than yours!! :)

I love you Grandma!
(picture courtesy of Candace)

WHAT THE HECK!?!

2010-11-09T18:00:00.000-08:00

CONNOR: (Looking down at his naked feet) Are my feet weird?

ME: (Putting away folded laundry) No, your feet are perfectly normal.

CONNOR: Feet are like the weirdest part of the body...
...that and your penis.

ME: Connor.

CONNOR: What? It is like an antenna, or something, just sticking out off your body...

ME: Connor! I am NOT having this conversation with you. Stop!

CONNOR: (laughing) Oh my gosh! You're acting so immature!

Maybe our relationships are a little TOO open around the Washburn home?!? :) Regardless, I think someone may be ready for "the talk".

Eli Sayings

2010-11-02T06:35:00.000-07:00

Thunderstorms:

Last night was the first rain for quite some time now. It coincided with very LOUD thunder and lightening. About 1am I hear Eli screaming bloody murder and running down the stairs as fast as he can. I go to meet him and he literally jumped into my arms. I could actually feel his body trembling with fear. I gave him big loves and told him he could come sleep with us in our bed since I knew teh storm was not going to quit anytime soon. He quickly huddled up right next to me (taking up way more than his fair share of the bed space). About a minute later he pulls the pillow out from under my head and pushes me away as he whispers, "Sorry Mom, but you're pokey." (Yes, he was referring to my leg hairs!)

Back Rub:

So the next morning Eli wakes up way too early for my liking. He is too scared to get out of the bed by himself. His game plan? To continually inflict torture on me until I get up with him. I finally told him I would get up if he would give me a quick back scratch first. He sticks his hand under my shirt and quickly pulls it out. Suddenly I feel his foot on my back.

Me: What are you doing? Don't use your foot.

Eli: I used my hand, but you had too many bumpies.

Bumpies?!? Does he mean moles? Zits? Both? I tell you... this kid is doing a wonder for my complex!!

HALLOWEEN

2010-11-01T21:10:00.000-07:00

Meet Crusty...

He looked like this ALL night. He was NOT happy about wearing his costume. It makes me laugh every time I look at this picture!

Meet Mario...

He was THRILLED beyond belief to wear his costume!

(Which he only got via a guilty mother... otherwise he would have been Superman via the dress up box!)

Meet our Dead Football Player...

We came up with this idea and costume ourselves and were beyond pleased with ourselves! :)

Trunk or Treat 2010

Eli - Dallin - Connor

Trick or Treat 2010

The Gang!

Eli and and his love interest.

The little lion king in his chariot.

(Dallin only went to about 1 out of 10 houses because not only was he incredibly grumpy, but once he got one piece of candy... he was perfectly happy sitting there and eating it all up until it was gone. If he felt the need for another... then he would grace all with his presence again.)

Reaping their rewards!

After a hard night's work all the boys headed back to our house to check out the goods, trade, and enjoy! We let them stay up until 10pm to watch Gremlins. (And it was even a school night!)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Eli's Halloween Party

2010-10-29T19:07:00.000-07:00

Eli's preschool had a Halloween party this last week. It was on a Wednesday and I totally forgot about dressing him up. Once I had realized my mistake... I had to quickly scramble to get Dallin and myself dressed (because we were still in our pj's!).

I could only imagine how sad Eli would be to be the only kid in the school without a costume on as kids teased him and he sulked in the corner. Right as I was heading out the door I got a phone call from the school. You know the one... it was the phone call to all the bad mom's telling them to how horrible they are that they forgot! ;) Actually his teacher assured me that Eli was not upset at all, but that she did want to remind me to bring it for the actual party that did not start until several hours later.

However, in my guilty state I decided to stop by the store and fork over the dough for the overpriced, tacky 'Mario' costume he has been asking me for for the last two months. I showed up only about an hour after school had started to change his clothes. He was so excited to see that costume! Once we got it on he ran straight into his classroom and was beaming from head to toe! And they say you can't buy your way into your child's heart?? ;)-

But the truth is... Eli made for a VERY cute Mario! (Note his picture... it is Eli with a hat on that has a big E on it circled. I love it! :)

These are the two girls Eli talks about nonstop at preschool. I don't think he can make up his mind which one he likes better. But I am not exactly sure either one are very interested in him! ;) -

The whole class! My favorite is that kid on the right. His mom (or someone) must have hand sewn the costume to look like a Bazooka bubble gum wrapper and then he had that balloon tied to his head... to look like a bubble. It was hilarious!

Pumpkin Fun!

2010-10-29T11:07:00.000-07:00

I think we have a shot like this of Connor every year carving a pumpkin since he was two!

Dallin checking things out. He would cry if Seth even told him to touch it, but he enjoyed watching.

This is the 'pumpkin monster' Eli drew on his pumpkin and wanted us to carve for him. :) It is pretty cute, but a tad too detailed for our abilities!

The end result from left to right: Connor's pumpkin, Eli's pumpkin, Dallin's pumpkin.

Esther Ties the Knot!

2010-10-21T13:31:00.000-07:00

Pretty in Purple! On the way to the temple!

Brian and Esther seal the deal in the Oquirrh Mountain Temple!
October 1, 2010

LOVED Esther's dress! She made for a very beautiful bride!!

Dallin (looking quite GQ) with his buddy, Bear!

♥ My handsome hunk of burnin' love! ♥

Congrats Esther and Brian! We love you!!

GO SHARKS!

2010-10-21T13:13:00.000-07:00

Eli started his first season of soccer this Fall. Since I am the team mom for Connor's football team I have not been able to see or attend as many games/practices as I would like to. But I did make it to his first game (which is why we have pictures to show you! :)

Originally I had wanted to hold off another year until we had two kids in sports at one time, but Seth said we had held off long enough. (We had started Connor in soccer at age 3) So, I guess he was right. Our lives are crazy right now between the two sports and I can't imagine it gets any easier the older they get. But I'm glad we did it because I know Eli has really loved having his "own" thing separate from Connor.

Our ferocious looking sharks!

Here's to hoping Eli will choose to stick with soccer in the long run! :)

pReSkOoL

2010-10-21T12:32:00.000-07:00

Eli started preschool this year (we won't mention that it started almost two months ago)! He has been going three days a week and loves it!

I was worried because I had tried preschool last year with him and he cried and fought it tooth and nail... until I ended up pulling him out. I thought for sure there would be a water works show when I dropped him off for his first day of school this year. But he hopped right in and took his seat like a champ!

Then to my surprise, as I left the room... I started blubbering! That is SO not me! In fact, I am usually the one to make fun of the ladies crying as they drop their kids off at school. (Now you know!) I mean, really?!? Why act sad when you know you are all secretly happy that you get to go get that pedicure you have been wanting for the last 4 years? ;)-

But for some reason letting go was different with Eli than it was with Connor. Eli has always been my only mama's boy out of the family. I was feeling a bit nostalgic and misty eyed... until I turned the corner and they asked me for first months's tuition.

Suddenly, all was forgotten.

1st day of preschool... Dallin (2) and Eli (4).

Eli in front of his "school".

Eli is in the Green Room! He loves his two teachers and they seem to be equally smitten with him! He has not made as many friends as I would like him to, but he is learning a lot and after only a week or two he was spelling and writing his own name! Way to go buddy!

RAGNAR

2010-10-19T18:25:00.000-07:00

"Imagine this: Red rock, then views of the strip at night, then more red rock. You and eleven of your closest friends running relay-style day and night. Starting in the red rock oasis Valley of Fire State Park, your team of 12 maniacs will be embarking on a 195 mile adventure-fest sure to fill all of your desires. The party in your van will only get better as you leap frog your way past the breath taking views of Lake Mead, stunning views of the strip at night and then catch glimpses of Mt Charleston as you run through Spring Mountain National Recreation Area, then it's onto the majestic cliffs of Red Rock Canyon. The race (and your stamina) will wrap up at Red Rock Resort and Casino in the one and only city of sin, Las Vegas, NV." -Vegas Ragnar Website

This is what I have spent every waking (and some not awake) spare minutes I have had training for the last month and a half. I wish I had had more time to train... but it is what it is. The race is on in two days!! I will start Friday afternoon, run through the night and continue on Saturday morning. If you look at my legs... they only get harder with each leg... not only in distance, but in elevation level as well as rating "easy, moderate, or hard"... just as I will be most exhausted from fatigue... the sleep deprivation is sure to kick in. I am really worried about that last leg!!!

Honestly, I am not going for any certain mileage per hour... my goal is basic... TO FINISH!! :) (Baby steps over here people, BABY STEPS!)

I have put myself through hell and back for this race with 5am runs, excruciating personal trainer sessions, a badly sprained ankle, blisters, insane amounts of body ache, and more miles than one should ever have to put running to stand still on a treadmill. I even had my first running dream last night... only to be awakened by my alarm to get up and run... for what felt like a second time! It was a nightmare! :)

My first leg- (leg #9) - 3.1 miles -Easy
My middle leg - Leg #21 - 3.9 miles - Moderate

My last leg - Leg #33 - 5.6 miles - Hard

PRAYERS ARE WELCOME!!! :)

Connor's First Day of School

2010-09-07T14:28:00.000-07:00

THIRD GRADE

So handsome.

So silly.

So big, yet so little.

So embarrassed!

So sad.

Connor has two different teachers and two different class rooms this year. He has writing, science and math with one teacher (Ms. Szeoke) and social studies and reading with another (Ms. Price). So far he seems to like it. He thinks both teachers are very nice, as do I.

According to Connor:

Best thing about third grade: getting to read hard books.

Worst thing about third grade: having so much homework. (and he does!)

Happy Birthday To Us!

2010-09-05T18:04:00.000-07:00

Okay, So I am quite certain that the large majority of those reading this blog have heard of my "30th birthday mishap" from last year. Do Sea-Monkeys ring any bells? Long story short I will just say I love my husband dearly, but he is quite possibly the WORST present giver ever. (If he even remembers to give you one!) So last year I decided to go public with his attempts. And what do you know... I had the BEST birthday WEEK ever this year! Turns out he CAN be pretty thoughtful... you just have to shame the guy into it! ;)-

So we have been talking about painting the interior of our house forever and have had multiple paint splotches all over our walls for over a year now! When I left for Portland with the kids we had discussed Seth taking the opportunity to paint while we were gone for three weeks. But we never finalized colors before I left... and when I asked him if he had the chance to paint at all, he said no, and I believed him! When we came home and I opened the door I walked into a whole new house! He had painted the entire down stairs. Put up chair rail in the kitchen and dining room, crown molding in the family room and kitchen, molding around the family room windows... he worked SO hard and had my neighbor's excellent interior design skills to help! It looks awesome! He said he pulled his first all nighter ever and actually worked all the way through one night! It was a WONDERFUL birthday surprise!

So Saturday the 7th was Dallin's 2nd Birthday. We started the celebrations that morning with donuts for breakfast! :)

We got dressed in our swimsuits and headed out to the new water park 'Pirate's Bay' in Baytown to celebrate. (okay really it was an Exxon work party... but the kids all thought it was to celebrate Dallin's birthday so we went with it!) It was awesome! Every single one of the kids loved it and were able to eat as much pizza and soda as their tummy could hold besides. :)

When we got home Seth had arranged for a sitter that night so we could go out to celebrate my birthday. (I didn't even have to ask or arrange it myself!) We met up for dinner at my favorite Mexican restaurant (Pappisitos) with two other couples. We ate, had a few drinks (virgin of course!), and we took our time... there was no need to rush out the door before one of the kids had a meltdown, or before the waiter noticed the entire bottle of ketchup smeared all over the floor, nor did we have to leave a 40% tip because of the tornado that seemed to hit our table alone that night. Instead we sat for at least another hour chatting and laughing after we were all done eating. I had a turn to be thoroughly embarrassed by a heavy, over sized sombrero that was placed on my head as they all sang and clapped and brought me a free dessert... it was great! And I did feel a little guilty that we were celebrating my birthday on Dallin's actual birthday... but apparently not guilty enough! ;) We came home afterwards and played Rock Band with our friends until almost midnight. We are WILD and CRAZY over here in the Washburn home!!

Sunday, Seth made me a yummy dinner of my choice (chicken Alfredo pasta), allowed me to nap, and experimented on the cupcakes he made for Dallin and I. He tried to put bite-size candy bars in each cupcake. I don't really recommend it to anyone, but it was the thought that counts! :)

That is a 3 and 1 pink candles... for 31... and 2 blue candles... for well, 2! :)

Dallin opened his presents on Sunday afternoon. He is our little car fanatic. (We have never had one until this child!) So he recieved several cars and this cool car racer and loved everything about it!

Until Eli started getting jealous and kept trying to steal Dallin's presents away. :)

(Notice the lovely brown and green walls! :)

Oh, and for any of you interested... Sports Clips gives out sweet mullet birthday hair cuts, for free! See Dallin for details.

Dallin is 2 now and we expect nothing but the best from him. His tantrum throwing is already up to expert level! He has started speaking a lot more this last month and can say some 3-4 word sentences. He has the sweetest voice in the world one second and a shrill shriek that can make you want to kill something the next. He's climbing out of his crib every second he gets and is refusing to sit in the high chair (he climbs right out of that too). It is like all of a sudden he thinks he is a big boy! So he also got a booster seat for his birthday... and has recently joined us at the table! He loves it! :)

Dallin did not want to take a picture with me... but I made him! This is the only one we got.
(Again, what a lovely green kitchen and crown molding! ;)

Then on Monday (my actual birthday) I was spoiled rotten by friends here and received several lovely, thoughtful gifts. I was so surprised and felt a little unworthy! :) Then to top it off one of my friends arranged a fun girls night out at Tutti-Fruiti for frozen yogurt to celebrate! So stinkin' spoiled!

I LOVED IT! :)

A big thanks to all the wonderful people in my life who helped make it that way!

Miriam's Wedding!

2010-09-03T19:27:00.000-07:00

Miriam and Dan decided to get hitched for time and all eternity!

July 28, 2010

I love the big smile on Dan's face as he looks at Miriam!

Miriam made for one beautiful bride!

We love you Miriam and Dan and are so happy for you!

Connor's Baptism!

2010-08-30T19:52:00.000-07:00

We decided to baptize Connor in Utah when we had the chance to be with a lot of family for Miriam's wedding. It was a very special day filled with family and fun-- a day I hope Connor will never forget. This kid was so anxious to get baptized! It was pure torture for Connor to wait an extra two months so that we could share it with family. As Connor and Seth stood in the water I peaked at Connor while the baptism was being performed. Connor was standing there beaming wide eyed with a smile from ear to ear. It brought tears to my eyes and a smile to my face as I've never witnessed a more eager or excited person to be baptised in my life! :) God bless his little heart!

July 27th, 2010 Connor became an official member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!

Heidi and the kids drove an hour and a half to be there for it. Thanks for representing the McKeehan side guys! :) Heidi played the piano and Ashley sang a beautiful solo of "When I am Baptized".

The Washburn side! Becca gave a wonderful talk on what it means to be baptized, and Grandma Washburn gave an equally wonderful talk on receiving the Holy Ghost. Grandpa Washburn gave Connor a beautiful confirmation as he gave him the Holy Ghost. Great Grandma Washburn threw Connor an awesome BBQ afterwards filled with delicious food and lots of fun! We want to thank all of you for helping to make this be such a special day for Connor! We love you and are so happy you could share this day with us! XOXO

After the baptism Connor received his very own set of scriptures with his name on it!

"When I am Baptized"

"I like to look for rainbows whenever there is rain and ponder on the beauty of an earth made clean again.

I want my life to be as clean as earth right after rain. I want to be the best I can and live with God again.

I know when I am baptized my wrongs are washed away, and I can be forgiven and improve myself each day.

I want my life to be as clean as earth right after rain. I want to be the best I can and live with God again."

Family Fun Center!

2010-08-30T19:25:00.000-07:00

Mini Golf

Bumper Boats

Lazer Tag

and Video Games!

Does it get any better than that?!?

Random Summer Fun

2010-08-30T18:56:00.000-07:00

Connor, Caleb, Josh, and Porter got their faces painted as we ate dinner, listened to a live band and played in the fountain on a perfect summer night!

The newest member of the Cullen family! ;)-

Destiny is such a good Aunt always reading and playing games with the kids!

My handsome nephew, Porter, with his butterfly. We were able to watch these butterflies (over the weeks we were there) hatch from cocoons. The kids thought it was awesome!

My beautiful nieces (Megan, Kenna, and Ash) getting their faces painted at the sand castle contest in downtown Portland.

Taking the Max is a treat in and of itself to the kiddos!

Poppy might try to deny it, but he is a good babysitter! :)

LOVE IS... THESE KIDS! (And I like that you can see the adults lounging in the top of the photo !:)

DANG IT!

2010-08-24T19:17:00.000-07:00

So I just saw a stupid little floating baby on a friend's blog (nothing personal... I did it too when I was pregnant! :) and for the first time in a LONG time I felt something. I want a floating baby on my blog with a countdown until SHE arrives! ;) It brought tears to my eyes! The desire was there, but then reality hits and I just don't think I could handle it. I already feel like I live at the circus! ;)- I just don't think I am built the same as some of you other women. I have little patience, yell lots, am harder on my kids then I should be, need more kid-free breaks than probably most of you, stress too much, and frustrate easily. (And let's not even explore the fact that I don't cook, bake, sew, sing, etc! ) I am positive no one could love my boys more than I do, but sometimes I worry if my actions show that. So for now, I need to be happy and enjoy the three wonderful little men I have!

Football

2010-08-23T20:25:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I have been trying to get the summer vacation posts out of the way before I move on to other things... but this kid is just too funny!

Connor decided that this Fall he wanted to try football. I figured he was eight now and probably old enough to handle tackle football? The kids in the neighborhood play touch football in the street all the time and Connor seems to be better than most of them (even the older ones). So I said, "Why not?"

Well, I will tell you why not! How about because there are going to be kids twice Connor's height and five times his weight claiming to be eight out there!? And how about because it has already put us out more than $500? Or, what about the fact that they play 4 days as week, 2 hours a day? Never mind that it is 100+ degrees with 90% humidity out there. Or, did you know that the duty of being the 'team mom' would be enough to fill two full time jobs in and of itself? Still not sold? Well how about if nothing else, I would not sign up for football based on this reason alone... that there are some CRAZY-SCARY football parents out there!

After Connor's first practice he came home with a bloody knee on his right leg and a huge bruise (the picture does not do it justice) on his left thigh. (This is pre-gear.)

One week later and the team was ready to practice in full gear!

BEFORE

AFTER

Connor has repeatedly told me he likes it, just not the tackling part! :) So, he simply worked out a system to get around it. The coach has them line up in two lines and gives the first kid in line #1 the ball and tells him to run straight onto the kid in line#2. Line #2 then tries to throw the runner to the ground with nothing but brute force. Connor told me he always counts the number of kids in the line across from him. If he is less than pleased with who he is paired up with, he simply offers the person behind him to go ahead of him. Much obliged, they do it! ;)-

But before I make my kid out to sound like a total wuss... he actually is not! As of week three he is one of the teams best tacklers. The coach has caught on and now lines him up against the biggest kids on our team. Which makes me proud, but also scares me to death because I know he is getting hit pretty hard out there. And Connor seems to be able to take the beatings, too, without getting mad to the point of fits of rage, or crying like some of the other kids.

Connor is not the fastest one on the team, but he is still fast and seems to have the most stamina if you ask me. He is almost always in the top 3 runners beginning, middle, or end of practice.

I wouldn't know about his throwing or catching skills because I do not think they have thrown a ball yet since he has started this league. I think it's hilarious! I guess at this age they run all the plays?

I can hardly stand to sit there in the shade and watch him play in the sickening heat, and I am not the one running around nonstop with all that heat trapped inside! But somehow he hardly complains about it... just about "getting beat up". Poor kid.

After two weeks he has made up his mind that he is NOT going to play again next year. I told him if that is what he decide that is perfectly fine with me, but to at least wait until the games start before he makes that decision. And if he still feels that same way... then that is great, but that he still needs to finish off the season strong. He was perfectly fine with that. And he has been giving it his all... each and every practice!

On the drive home at 8:45pm:
Connor: Do you know what the best thing about football is?
Me: (Excited to hear him say something positive about it!) No, what!?
Connor: You get to stay up past your bedtime.

Future MVP? I doubt it!

Man, I love this kid! :)

TRAIN CONCERT!!!

2010-08-22T18:52:00.000-07:00

It all went something like this...

Sean (my brother) pulls up after work one day driving this...

(yes, I am kissing the car!)

a new 2011 5 series BMW (or something like that... I really don't know my cars... all I know is that it was a SWEET ride. And for those of you interested... it is STARTING at a mere $60, 575.

So he says glumly, "Sorry guys I have to work this weekend. They are making me drive this lame car up to the Columbia Gorge to show it off at the Train Concert. Would any of you want to come with me, I only have sucky VIP seating?"

It was a tough decision, but in the end Candace and I decided to leave the kids behind with sitters for a gorgeous day at the Gorge, listening to live music from one of my favoirte bands and jamming with Train only a few rows away!

Candace and Tiff before the concert started.

Watch the guy in the black shirt... "Who cares about Train!?... Check out that chic dancing! ;)-

Drops of Jupiter

Hey, Soul Sister!

And it was all made possible by this handsome devil that I call my brother.

Oh, and did I mention the concert was at a winery? There were thousands of these suckas laying around everywhere and at only $30 a bottle!

Bottoms Up!

Grandmas

2010-08-16T09:39:00.000-07:00

I was able head over to my Grandma McKeehan's and show up with the three boys for a surprise visit. She loved it! I was worried she might not know who I was, but she did! Shortly after we arrived Ryan's family showed up. Heidi, Ashley, and Kenna all played amazing piano pieces for Grandma and her friends and Kenna even did a few gymnastic tricks. We went back to her room and the kids cleaned Grandma out of about five different tins of stale cookies, hard jellybeans, and nuts! :) I think she liked sharing and the kids didn't seem to mind a bit that they had probably sat there waiting for them since the last time they visited! :) She handed out watches to the boys and necklaces to the girls. We had a nice chat and it is nice to know that Grandma is in such a nice facility with friends and good care takers.

We also took a trip to McMinnville to spend the day with Grandma Maine. Unfortunately we forgot our camera and I was not able to get a picture with her. I could tell Grandma was having a bit of a hard time with the loss of Grandpa back in December. But she too seemed to be in a wonderful home home with an AMAZING caretaker and surrounded by people who truly seem to love her. She is in a home with acres and acres of beautiful wetlands right behind the house. There is a family of deer that have made it there home there. We spent a lovely day at the park chatting with Grandma as the kids ran around and played.

I love both these amazing women and I am grateful to have them in my life. I hope when I grow old I can have the spunk and personality these two ladies radiate.

OMSI

2010-08-16T08:48:00.000-07:00

While in Portland we also spent a day at OMSI. The kids had great fun spending time with both McKeehan and Washburn cousins again! Candace was able to get us ALL in for free with their OMSI membership. Thanks Candace!

Mad scientists!

Dallin loved this fish tank built into the wall of the child play area.

My favorite was when Jack was happily playing in this sand area until Candace saw a snotty nosed kid come up to him (you know the green stuff with dual action) and quickly came over to move him away! :) I can't say I blame her.

Learning about how we get fresh water.

Connor conducting electricity.

There was all sorts of educational fun to be explored there. I think a few favorites were the water and air rockets, chemistry experiments, the sand play area, and the earthquake house.

Oregon Zoo

2010-08-15T20:39:00.000-07:00

I was more than pleased when I realized that our Houston Zoo membership got us into the Oregon Zoo for free! Especially since we went there twice while we were in town! :)

the Moms (Katrina, Kimm, and Tiff) ... trip 1

The chilluns (Ryan, Heidi, and kids drove out from Utah to spend a couple of days with us while we were there!) on zoo trip 2

Dallin LOVED this sea otter... and he seemed to like Dallin, too!

Cute baby elephants! :)

Dinosaurs were at the Portland zoo while we were there, which I was happy about since we missed seeing them when they came to Houston. Most of them were life size and animatronic. Pretty cool!

Eli and his Nana.

Dallin digging for dino bones!

kids zoo trip #1

We were lucky enough to be able to meet up with our California cousins (and Eugene cousins- seen with the moms in the very first photo) at the zoo! They happened to be in Portland at the same time for a couple of days!

Yikes! (Connor and Josh)

Love this pic!

AHHHHH!

It is not everyday that you get to see Hippo-bottom-us'! Ha!

I tried with all my might to convince those around me to skip over the petting zoo... I hate them with freaky goats running around and spreading their diseases everywhere. But if I had not let them I would not have this cute picture! :)

Seaside!

2010-08-15T19:56:00.000-07:00

We lived at our parents house in Portland for a good 10 days this summer! My dad took off a few days of work to do fun things with us. One of which was to go to the beach with us... twice! The first time we got Nana, Poppy, and Desty all to ourselves. The second time we went with Sean's and Ryan's family as well!

Even Colton made the trip! Lucky dog! (hehe) Isn't my lil' sis beautiful!?!

Seriously, my Dad is cooler than yours! :)

Connor making a sweet catch while playing football with Uncle Sean.

Mom and Big D enjoying each other's company down in the sand!

trip 1

trip 2

After enjoying the beach we had a blast on the bumper cars...

(Jack and Sean)
(Tiff and Eli)

... and riding the Twirl-A-Whirl!

(Connor and Porter)

And of course both trips up there included Elephant Ears, fresh salt water taffy and home made fudge!

Thanks for the great time (twice!) Mom and Dad!

P.S. Isn't my mom beautiful!?!

Sean and Candace's House

2010-08-15T17:07:00.000-07:00

We spent a good 10 days this summer living with my brother in his house. They have a HUGE backyard. (I want to say 1.5 acres?) As a result we all spent most of our time out there! Nothing beats a Portland summer!

There was lots of this...

followed by lots of crashing! Dallin mastered the art of pushing the gas, but was not the best at steering. He would drive until he ran into some bushes and then scream for someone to come turn him around... and off he would go again! :)

There was also lots of this...

and lots of this...

and lots of this... (eating outside). We ate outside for lunch and dinner almost every single day!

They have a sweet fire pit in their backyard ... so Nana and Poppy brought over the stuff to make Smores one night! Mmmmm!

and after all that there never seemed to be quite enough of this...

But the fun was not all for the kiddos, because after the gremlins went to bed at night there was ALOT of this...

I would say we averaged staying up until 1AM every night playing! I was so wasted come morning... but it was worth it! :)

WE LOVE OUR FAMILY!

4th of July

2010-08-14T22:12:00.000-07:00

This year our Fourth of July had a bit of a weak start. We had plans to see the Kingwood firework show with some friends who last minute totally bouged out on us. For their safety we will let them remain nameless, but you know who you are! :) (Disappointment #1)

Regardless, we headed up to Kingwood to watch fireworks as a family. We set up our blankets and chairs as we sat around with treats and enjoyed family time for a couple hours as we anticipated the show. We had heard great things about this particular neighborhood display. The firework show began... and then 12 minutes later (+/- a minute) it ended. No finale (that I could tell), nothin. It was just done. People all around us started folding up camp, but not the Washburns! We were positive it was not over. Maybe there was an intermission?!? :) Nope. Even our kids were let down. It certainly was no Oak Hills firework show! (Disappointment #2).

With three kids in tow and lugging enough crap for 50 others we see a couple of families from church. We realize we were sitting within feet of each other the whole time and did not know it! (disappointment #3) We chatted awhile and then said our goodbyes as we parted our separate ways to our cars.

As we drive home the kids were complaining (okay mostly just Connor) that the show was lame, and he never got to light off any fireworks of his own. The whining/crying got persistently worse as we had to drive past four different firework stands on our route home. Finally, we stopped off at the very last stand before our neighborhood (and break the Sabbath) to buy some firecrackers for the kid.

Before Seth and Connor even made it back to the car I received a text message on my phone from one of those church friends we saw saying (jokingly) something along the lines of, "Did I just see the Washburns walking away from a firework stand with about $100 worth of firecrackers in their hands?" Yes, yes you did. We had been caught red handed! I would like to say disappointment #4 right here, but the probability of them driving by at just the right time to see us with all the other thousand+ people who were a the show that night, in the dark and with all the traffic... it was just SO our luck! I found it quite comical and it was probably the highlight of my night?

We drove back into our neighborhood, where fireworks are not allowed, and worried that we were going to get slapped with a several hundred dollar fine every time we saw a car drive down the street. Lucky for us, both times it happened to be our neighbors who came out and joined us. The adults all sat around and chatted as the kids ran around unsupervised and lit illegal firecrackers until midnight. It turned out to be a great night after all!

God bless America!

Wake Up Call

2010-08-05T05:34:00.001-07:00

So usually before Seth leaves in the morning for work he will come into the bedroom to give me a kiss, say goodbye, and wake me up all at the same time.

Early this morning two little boys climbed into my bed (Eli and Dallin) which is not too different from any other day. However, I looked at the clock and it was 7am. Seth normally is heading out the door by that time and I could not hear any stirring so I asked Eli, "Where is Daddy?"

"He's at work."

"No he's not", I said. "He never came and said goodbye to me. Are you sure he is not in the office?"

Eli then climbs out of our bed runs to the front door in nothing but his undies, unlocks it, and screams from the top of his lungs (at 7am no less) to nothing but the air, "DADDY YOU FORGOT TO GIVE MOMMY KISSES! MY MOMMY WANTS KISSES!!!!!"

I can only imagine what all the neighbors think of us! :)

Got Bluberries?

2010-06-30T16:32:00.000-07:00

Cuz we do! 10 whole pounds of them!

Eli's 4th Birthday!

2010-06-28T20:10:00.000-07:00

For Eli's birthday this year we were originally going to celebrate at the pool. But last minute I realized that there was a Summerwood swim meet scheduled that day and I had to rethink my plans. Eli decided he wanted to have a Mickey Mouse party at the house. We invited 13 kids this year because it is summer time and usually we invite that many and end up with maybe 4. This year we had 12 show up! So fun for Eli and the other kids... total pandemonium for me!! I do not wish twelve 3 & 4 year old's on my worst enemy! ;)

Once again my friend Hyde pulls through with an amazing cake! So cute... and yummy too!

The big FOUR year old!

The kids feasting!

Opening presents was a nightmare. Every kid wanted to open up their own present they brought... and of course Eli wanted to open some too! :) Lots of tears on every one's part!

I had many different party games planned. But after hot potato and pin the nose on Mickey... I decided to stop trying to fight the chaos and started to embrace it! I called off all games and we let the kids run wild taking turns playing inside and out!

The majority of my pre-party prep time (probably a good 4 hours) was spent making these cute Mickey and Minnie Mouse ears for each of kids. Then I forgot to hand them out until the very end... and never got any of the kids pictured in them! :( The Minnie Mouse ones were darling (if I do say so myself)! Here is Eli wearing his ears after the party was over. All in all... I am thinking it is a safe bet to say that Eli probably won't have another party for 10 years! :)

At age four Eli is a stinker! :) He loves to sneak food, make messes and tease both his brothers. However, he always is willing to share the blame with Dallin once he is caught! :) Eli has a classic case of being the "middle child". He can not decide if he wants to be big like Connor, or a baby like Dallin.

Eli is our affectionate child and he loves to randomly come up to you and tell you he "wubs you" and plant a wet slobbery kiss on your lips (but only for his Mom! Somehow he has decided he won't kiss Daddy or the brothers on the lips... but is still more than happy to share kisses with them on the cheek). When Eli gets in trouble he will ask through tears, "You wub me still?". No one can stay mad at him when he does it... and I am quite certain he knows it! :) Eli loves to snuggle together under blankets.

Elijah has a very contagious little laugh that I love dearly. At four years old he is a very handsome little boy, tall and thin. Eli is fun loving and seems to make friends easily. Eli seems to have caught the McKeehan gene (and like Connor) is very competitive by nature.

Eli is still the "quirky" one of the bunch and we love him because of it! You are never sure what he is going to do or how he will react to things. Eli still loves anything pink and princess and we still don't know quite what to think of it! :) Monsters play a huge role in Eli's life right now and he refuses to walk into any room that does not already have a light on in it.

Thanks for being our miracle baby, Eli. We love you! Happy Four! XOXO.

Connor's 8th Birthday!

2010-06-28T11:38:00.000-07:00

For Connor's 8th birthday he wanted to have a baseball party and celebrate it at the batting cages. Since that means pretty much someone other than me is doing all the work... we invited 20 kids! :) Seventeen of those kids showed up! I think every single kid had a blast.

This party was extra special for Connor because Uncle Sean had a work trip in Austin, TX that week. So after flying all day to get to Austin, he and Aunt Candace hopped in a car and drove 3+ hours just to be there for it! Is that a great Aunt and Uncle, or what!?!

I wish I could take credit for this awesome cake, but it was made with love by my more talented and gifted friend, Hyde.

Eli and Connor all geared up and ready to get this baseball party started!

The batting line up! They divided the boys up into two teams and played a mini baseball game with a Nerf bat and ball for about an hour. The boys loved it and even the kids who I didn't think would enjoy it seemed to have a great time!

Clearly they were VERY into it! :)

Then it was time to go upstairs to the party room for pizza, cake and presents.

With almost twenty 7,8, and 9 year-old boys we saw a lot of this...

and this...

and some more of this!

Connor is the only child I know that does not care for cake. So we put his candle in some chocolate ice cream!

Present Time!

Connor made out like a bandit this year when it came to presents. Every single person spoiled him rotten, if you ask me! He came home with Legos galore, Bionicles, a Super Soaker, clothes, gift cards, cash, action figures, etc. I could not believe it! Sean made a comment about how it was probably because Connor is such a good kid and so well liked by everyone. It made me feel good to think that. :)

But I am quite certain Connor's favorite present of the year was this Astros jersey given to him by Sean and Candace. He wore it the rest of the day... and has worn it pretty much every day since! :) He told me a couple days ago he was going to pass the jersey on to his first born son! HA!

After presents we passed out party bags and gave each kid a token to go hit some balls in the batting cages.

Berkman (er I mean Connor!) hitting some balls...

But Ju-Ju was the cutest batter of them all!

And since Candace was the photographer at the party... I never got a picture of her until later. Thanks for coming Sean and Candace... you made Connor's birthday SO special!

Happy Birthday Bear! At 8 years old we love everything about you... for good and bad! :) We love your sense of humor and desire to make those around you happy. We love how helpful you are to your little brothers and the great example you set for them. We love your competitive spirit and don't hold you accountable for it one bit (since we know where you get it)! We love your big, sensitive heart. We even love your dramatic side and the nonstop chatter that seems to come out of you. At 8 years old... you are a pleasure and a blessing to have in our family! XO!

THANK YOU NANA AND POPPY!!

2010-06-27T18:49:00.000-07:00

For the grand-children's birthdays in our family Nana and Poppy normally send the kids the amount of dollars as years old they are in their birthday card. However, turning 8 is a special birthday in our family because it is the year we get baptised. So for Connor turning 8... Nana and Poppy sent Connor $50! $5 for tithing, $8 to spend as he pleased, and $37 to go in the bank to start his mission fund. What a great idea, thanks Nana and Poppy!

Pool Scare

2010-06-26T21:28:00.000-07:00

Today I had a bit of a scare at the pool. We were gathered together with a couple of other families to celebrate a birthday. It was a fairly crowded day at the pool.

After cake the kids all went back into the water. I was sitting at the table chatting with a couple of other ladies. I had looked and saw Seth was in the kid play area with Dallin and Eli. Connor asked me if he could head over into the deep pool (4.5 feet). I said yes. He is a strong swimmer (not to mention he can touch on his tip-toes.)

What Seth and I did not know was that Eli saw Connor go over and decided to follow him into that pool. What Seth and I did not know was that after we had cake... we both had forgotten to put Eli's life jacket back on. What ELI did not know... was that he cannot swim without that life jacket on.

Apparently Eli walked right into that deep water... and no one knew. Not Connor. Not Seth. Not me. Not even the lifeguards. A lady suntanning next to the pool saw him fighting to stay above water and jumped in to grab him.

He ran to me screaming. The poor kid was scared to death. I had the sickest feeling in my stomach as I sat there and held him. I have not been able to shake the awful feeling since.

I have felt this feeling once before when I lost Connor when he was only two. Not lost like I turned the next shopping aisle over and found him. But lost- LOST. As in we found him several STREETS over from where we were. He found an open door at my in-laws house and just wandered off... and fast! Anyone could have hit him. Anyone could have taken him. It still makes me sick to think about it.

I could have lost my baby today. I was not paying attention like I should have. It scares me to death to think of how other outcomes could have unfolded.

It makes me feel inadequate as a mother.

It makes my stomach turn.

It makes me hug each of my kids a little tighter.

It makes me thank the Lord it did not turn out differently.

It makes me pray it never happens again!

It only takes a few seconds.

And it only takes once.

So please, watch your babies... big or small... in the pool!

Connor the Comedian

2010-06-24T11:17:00.000-07:00

Connor: "Mom, listen to this joke I just made up!"

Me: "K, what?"

Connor: "Why was the toilet paper rolling down the hill?"

Me: "I don't know, why?"

Connor: "To get to the BOTTOM! BAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!"

I don't know why, but this actually struck me as really funny! I laughed pretty hard. Maybe because it is his first joke that has ever made any sense, or maybe because it is such an 8 year old boy thing. What I do know, is that I love my Bear, and I love that he makes me laugh!

DISCLAIMER: the comedian has now come out and told me he is NOT responsible for making this joke up. He heard it from a friend. (Phew! Good thing we have not baptized him yet. That was a close one! ;)

May Happenings...

2010-06-03T13:51:00.000-07:00

So I may have only been posting about baseball this past month, but believe it or not, there have been other events in our lives (squeezed in between practices, games and tournaments)!

Are these the cutest kids you have ever seen, or what?!? Crashing the Summerwood Sock Hop. Best Neighbors ever!

We have been trying to beat the heat by spending almost any free time we have at the pool or splash pad!

I came SO close to adopting this dog while Seth was out of town! Our neighbors found him lost and he had no tags except for an animal shelter number. My neighbor already has four dogs and asked me if I wanted to keep him if the shelter could not find the rightful owners. If Seth had been home... it would have been a BIG FAT NO! But he wasn't... :) ...and I watched him for a little while that day while we waited to hear from the shelter... and I fell in LOVE! So I said YES! Sadly (for me), the shelter had found the owners because the dog had been returned there once before. Isn't he beautiful?!

We have been having a lot of thunder storms here and recently a house down the street from us was struck by lightening and caught on fire. It was really sad to watch. (Seth did NOT think it was appropriate that I took a picture...oops!)

Don-Don and T-Dawg. :)

Dallin quickly warmed up to Daddy-Man!

Our friends came to visit from Louisiana for Memorial Day weekend. We had fun taking them to the Imax theater, the Butterfly pavilion, going swimming, playing games, eating lots of yummy food, celebrating Connor's 8th birthday and taking them to the beach! It was the perfect weekend!

Connor blowing out the candles and opening family presents with his friends Michael and Elle! He has a birthday party planned in a week.

Poor Eli! Yes, that is a granola bar with frosting on it and candles stuck on top! :) Connor had a baseball game that night so we had to rush and open presents after Daddy got home from work, then we hurried off to Chilli's for dinner (where they served him an ice cream sundae and sang to him), and from there we left for Connor's baseball game. But we still wanted Eli to blow out some candles on his birthday, and since I did not feel like making another cake knowing that he would be getting one this weekend at his birthday party... this was the end result. :) Lucky for us, he seemed perfectly happy about it!

Padre Update

2010-06-02T06:51:00.000-07:00

(first base coach, third base coach {Seth}, Coach Gerardo, pitcher,

Daniel, Big Isaac, Aden, Jaquori, Baylee, Gabriel aka: Bubba,

Connor, Matthew, Lil' Issac, Ryan)

The trophies may say second place... but we all know who the real first place team is!!

For all two of our faithful followers out there... I thought I would update you on the Padre season status. :) We finished out the season winning the rest of our games (Cardinals included)!

However, we lost our first place ranking because of a forfeit at the beginning of the season. The first time we played the Cardinals we only had 8 players and you have to have at least 9 to field a game. The cardinals did not seem to care and still wanted to play... and we beat them. Several weeks later the cardinals (clearly jealous of our boys' mad skills) decided to call in that forfeit causing it to count as a loss for our team... and dropping us from first place status to second. Don't worry we beat the crap out of them the second time we played them (and opted not to call the game at the 10 run lead) to thank them for their kindness... 25-4!!

With the season ending we have award ceremonies tonight. Tomorrow however, starts the playoffs for the Championship!! I fully expect our boys to take first and shove it to the Pirates who like to gloat in our faces every chance they get at the ball park that they are first place (not do to skill... because I could handle that... but because of dumb luck!). Thursday and Friday night are the big games! I am not sure who we will be playing and in what order, or exactly how many games we will actually play those nights, but I can hardly wait! :)

Although, I honestly believe we are a better team- I am still a bit nervous because the Pirates are a good team too, and they have shown that they can beat us. I know it will be a fun and nerve racking game to watch. And I have to admit this baseball season has ignited a new love for baseball in me that I did not know I had. (or at least for Little League ;)-

And as for crying... I rented 'A League of Their Own' to show Connor their was no crying allowed in baseball! :) So far it has worked. Last night another player on the team came up to me to tell me that his Dad made him watch that movie too! ;)

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO PADRES!!!!!

PADRES LOSE!

2010-05-18T06:22:00.000-07:00

It was the saddest day in the SD Padres Humble Baseball League history! We had been beating the Pirates most of the game by about 3-4 runs. (A relatively close game for Padre status) It is the last inning and Pirates are up to bat... from no where they knock out 5 great runs! The score is now 13-12... and the Padres are up to take care of business.

First batter chokes and strikes out. Second batter hits and it is an out at first base. Third batter gets a base hit. Fourth batter... is Connor. (Not our strongest hitter!) My nerves were shot... I could hardly watch as I just prayed he would not strike out. He swings... strike one. He swings... strike two. AHHHH! The third pitch he nails for a solid grounder past the 2nd and 3rd base. Whatever position that is (right field?) grabs it and throws it to second for the out. Pirates win!... Padres lose!... and by one point! Connor comes off the field in tears... he thinks it is his fault because he hit the ball. The other kid comes off the field in tears thinking it is his fault since he was the one tagged out. Three fourths of the dug out is in tears because this is the first game they not only lost, but did not kill the team by at least 7 points. It was heart breaking, but a bit comical at the same time. In my best Tom Hanks voice I said to them, "There's no crying in baseball!" They all just looked at me and cried harder! hahahahaha!

Last time the Padres played the Pirates... they beat them by ten! Thankfully, the Padres still hold their first place status. (Although that was no consolation to any of the boys!) However, I think the Pirates took their 3rd place ranking up a notch to 2nd... but I can't say for sure. It was a good game and both teams played their hearts out.

Personally, I think it was good for these boys to lose. Their egos were getting a little too big. But now that the word is out that the Padres can be beat... (and trust me the word really is out! Connor has a friend in the division above him and he already knew about the undefeated Padre loss before we even told him. ;)... I have a feeling the Cardinals are going to want it bad Thursday night. We will have to bring our A game to make sure everyone knows we mean business... and we are not messin' around anymore! :)

Meanwhile, Connor has spent hours in preparation for this game and will continue to do so by "practicing" on his PS3 MLB game! ;)- So send Connor and the Padres your good thoughts... and GO PADRES!!

Field Day

2010-05-11T21:07:00.000-07:00

I was able to attend Connor's field day for a little while this year. I had two small stinkers with me who seemed to want to cause trouble every which way I turned. But for the hour or so that I was there, I was able to see 4 of the 12 scheduled events. The first was a water relay (not pictured) which is why Connor is soaking wet in all of these pictures! :)

How low can YOU go? I must say... I am pretty sure I could have taken ALL of these kids... had I been playing! ;)

Who doesn't love a sack race? Connor's team won twice... not that I was paying attention to that. ;)

This is the game that I always hated... egg on a spoon. You have to have patience... something I still don't have. Maybe I should have played it a few more times as a child?!

It was a hot day full of lots of hard work for Connor boy... but in the end it was worth it because he got THIS moment. Penelope... the girl of his dreams...snuggled right up to him to pose for THIS picture. It was the best moment of his seven year life... or at least until I let him have Cheetos as an after school snack!

GO PADRES!

2010-05-11T12:38:00.001-07:00

I decided to let Connor venture from soccer this spring and try something new... his first year of baseball. He is loving it!... Almost a little too much (if you ask me. :) I want him to play soccer. But since baseball and soccer are the same seasons (Spring and Fall) Connor keeps threatening me that he is going to play baseball again in the fall. We'll see how that works out. :) Connor's team is doing great this season and is currently undefeated! 8-0.

Connor plays pitcher (#2) and seems to love it (even though it is still coaches pitch at this age).

Connor making the play to first base for the out!

(Oh, they also make the pitcher wear a helmet and mask at this age.)

SAFE! Connor makes the slide into home plate for the run!

THURSDAY NIGHT LIGHTS! :) Team huddle.

Seth volunteered to be the assistant coach this year and he is the permanent third base coach out on the field. If you ask me... he is the key to their wins! It doesn't matter if you are fat, skinny, slow or fast... Seth is going to tell you to keep running every time! ;)

Happy Mom's Day!

2010-05-09T20:14:00.000-07:00

Because of this GREAT woman and her constant example of what it means to be a MOTHER...

I, too, have had the desire and opportunity to know what it means to experience motherhood... three times over.

On May 30, 2002 Connor made me a mother for the very first time!

Four years later on June 1, 2006 Elijah graced our lives.

Last, but not least, Dallin Kelly came on August 7, 2008.

And although I often complain, I truly realize what a privilege and a blessing it means to have these three little boys call me "Mom".

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!
XOXO

DisneyLand/ California Adventure

2010-05-05T11:27:00.000-07:00

Days 3-5 were Disney Days and we met up with my brother, Sean, and his family. This was Seth's first time to Disney (as well as the kids)! The days were filled with nonstop junk food, roller coasters, Disney characters, fireworks, parades, cousins, smiles and laughter, tears and tantrums, and exhausted parents! (Luckily no puke! :) Seth even pulled a full 12 hour day at DL from 9-9 (against my will... I tried to convince him to come back to the hotel with me to take a brake and nap with the little ones) but he kept going. You can sure see how tired he is in some of the evening pics! :) If we had planned this vacation a little better... Seth and I both agree that we would have planned one day as a "down" day at the end... just to recover! Instead we were riding roller coasters up until we had to catch the plane!!

double click on slide show to enlarge pics

LEGOLAND

2010-05-05T11:16:00.000-07:00

Day 2 of our vacation we headed to Legoland. Seth and I were a little disappointed. It seemed more geared toward littler kids (3-6 years old). And really we were going for Connor because he is so into his Legos right now. But the boys loved it regardless. I think if we had gone after Disney... it would have been a big let down, but since it came first... they thought it was great! :)

if you double click on the sllide show you can see the pics bigger. :)

Santa Monica Beach

2010-05-05T10:35:00.000-07:00

We took our first own little family vacation ever (where we weren't intentionally going to see family, but we still managed it!) and we went to California for 5 days. Day 1 we met up with Ephraim and Kimm at Santa Monica beach and spent the day eating snacks, watching the waves and playing in the sand. It was awesome! The water was cold, but at least it was BLUE! (I am not a big fan of the brown ocean water in Texas. :) Really, I don't think we could have asked for a more perfect day!

Connor kite flying

The boys and their sand "castle" (really it was just a giant pile of dirt! ;)

The boys protecting their fortress from the waves!

Love is...

2010-04-13T12:42:00.000-07:00

these two little boys!

Happy Birthday Seth!

2010-04-13T12:14:00.000-07:00

I love this man. :)

Someone just couldn't quite wait to taste these treats! (I'll give you a hint... his name rhymes with Shmallin! ;)

For his birthday Seth got a bike and a two seater bike carriage so we can go on family bike rides now!

Dallin sure is happy now that he got his cupcake!

Happy Easter!

2010-04-08T17:51:00.000-07:00

Sunday Morning the boys woke up bright and early in anticipation of the Easter bunny!

(Yes, two of my three kids are dressed in Christmas pajamas... don't judge me! ;)

My three darling boys! Oh, how I love each one of them!

The Easter Bunny hides the baskets at our house... Connor was the last to find his this year. His basket had waterballoons, a couple baseballs, a sticker book, pencils, and Star Wars Legos. The Legos were a huge hit!

After they found their baskets they dumped out the goods only to fill them back up again with the treat filled eggs hidden outside.

When it came to the hunt Connor and Eli had no mercy on their baby brother. Poor Dallin only had two or three eggs. Which he was actually just fine with... because once he opened one... he had to eat everything out before he could move on to finding another. :)

(this pic is just because you can see conference in the background :)

I found it a bit ironic that as the rest of the world ventured out of their home for one out of two Sundays a year to go to church... we stayed home and watched church on TV for one out of two Sundays a year. :) Connor actually sat and listened to the whole Sunday morning conference (for the first time ever!) and when I quizzed him... I learned that he was in fact listening better than me!

Some friends invited us over for a delicious Easter dinner. (It was definitely worth blowing the diet over! ;) It was so nice to find ourselves surrounded by friends since distance does not allow us to share the holiday with our families.

I combed the boys hair and dressed them in Polo's and shorts for Easter dinner, but it may as well have been shackles and chains because they acted like it was TORTURE! :)

(Eli's bunny he is holding is Max-- from the cartoon Max and Ruby-- his favorite! We looked everywhere to find him one for Christmas and they did not have them. I was SO excited when I saw they had some out for Easter!)

(So I didn't exactly get the Easter picture I was hoping for...)

But we how grateful we are for this day and for the wonderful reminder that we have a Savior that Lives! We are grateful for our loving Father's plan, for the gift of eternal life, and the knowledge that there is life after death!

Beach Trip

2010-04-08T13:41:00.000-07:00

We had two days off of school for Easter Break. Some friends and I decided to take the kids down to Galveston for one of those days to play on the beach. The water was colder than us adults cared for, but it didn't seem to phase the kids a bit!

Tiff, Linds, Kenna, and Stacee

The cutest little mermaid I have ever seen!

This poor kid's mom suffered some OCD issues with taking three little boys to the beach on her own (no hubby) and as a result made lots of rules. One of which meant poor Eli and Dallin had to wear their life vests at ALL times... even though they hardly went in the water. Dallin only threw a fit about it once or twice. :)

Rani and the Sand Man. This kid had sand EVERYWHERE after this trip!

Cute kiddos loving every second of it!

Jacob and Connor

Trenty all tuckered out. He curled up on a towel and passed out!

On the way home Eli asked me if we could come back to the beach again everyday. I guess that meant it was a success! And the best part was that after a day of playing hard in the sun all three of my kids fell asleep on the way home and I was able to enjoy some blissful silence. :) It was a great day and I am so ready to go again!

Randoms

2010-04-05T09:31:00.000-07:00

Dallin and Eli had some fun posing with these silly sunglasses!

Ju-Ju-bee

E-Diddy

A random Lizard in our backyard eating a bug the size of itself. I watched it... it took it a LONG time to get it all in there! SICK! ;)

Rani (according to Eli she is his girlfriend) came up and grabbed Eli by the hands and starting giving him lessons on "how to dance like a prince and princess" on the kitchen floor. It was the cutest thing I have ever seen! :)

"HEY, LOOK MOM! I DIALED 9-1-1!"...

2010-03-28T19:59:00.000-07:00

said Connor beaming with pride.

In a panic I started yelling and screaming and ran over to hang up the phone. (I am sure this made the dispatcher on the other end feel very at ease.)

2.7 seconds later the police called back.

Yup, that is about how it went. Gotta love kids! :)

SPRING BREAK - DAY 6

2010-03-24T20:45:00.000-07:00

We had plans for the Rodeo this day (Saturday) but Seth told me I was too sick and I could not go. I had been willing, but I was secretly relieved when he told me this. At the same time, I was bummed that we missed out on Rodeo once again. Next year! :)

I took Connor to the store that morning to look at the bikes. Connor has had the same $40 bike since he was four and had outgrown it awhile back... not to mention he had recently popped the tire. The kid deserved a new bike! :) So we hit up Wally World to pick out a sweet new ride. His only request was "one that pedals backwards" (has hand breaks). Easy enough. We were big time when we walked out with the $70 bike... I am hoping that means we get seven years out of this one! ;)

Connor's bike is now the envy of all the kids on the block and they beg to ride it! :) I can hear "Oh how sweet, it is!" playing in the background of my head as Connor floats on cloud nine.

And his bike has those cool bars in the back so two can ride! :)

Seth then took Connor to a birthday party that day and let me once again SLEEP! We rented Astro Boy that night for the kids and called it a WEEK!

SPRING BREAK - DAY 5

2010-03-24T20:17:00.001-07:00

Friday morning comes and I feel (and look) even worse! My pink eye has now spread to both eyes, there is nothing pink about them... they are RED, and are starting to swell. I can't physically move anywhere with out wanting to cry (from my head pounding and body hurting). I promise a day of Rock Band (on almost mute) til Connor's heart is content. I didn't think he would go for this at all, but he actually seemed really happy about the idea! So we jammed for HOURS! I didn't have to move, was hidden from outside eyes, and I officially no longer suck at this game! It was a win-win situation for all! I can now hold my own on the guitar set on the easiest level. :)

Friday night Connor has a baseball practice (which is like hitting the jack pot for this kid) so somehow he thinks this is the "best day ever!". I didn't totally fail him after all. Seth is the assistant coach but I asked him to take Eli and let him run around unsupervised while I took Dallin with me to the minute clinic so I could get tested for Strep. Turns out the minute clinic should really be called the 800 hour clinic! The test came back negative... dangit! I was hoping some antibiotics would take care of the way I felt. I came home and SLEPT.

SPRING BREAK - DAY 4

2010-03-24T19:46:00.000-07:00

So it's the fourth day and I now have pink eye, but of course my Doc is out of town for the rest of the week and can't see me until Monday. He prescribes me some eye drops without seeing my eye, but they don't seem to be doing a darned thing! My eye proceeds to get worse and I start feeling SUPER lousy (body ache, chills, head ache, sore throat).

Still determined to give the boys a fun spring break... but too embarrassed to go anywhere I can be "seen"... I took them to the duck pond (with sunglasses on) to walk the lake and feed the ducks as well as our own tummies. We enjoyed the sunshine and ate Happy Meals on the park bench. Turns out those ducks are NUTS over french fries! The boys highlight was when we saw a whole family of turtles laying out on the "island"; four big ones and two baby ones. My personal highlight was after we passed a personal trainer with three high school aged girls working out. Suddenly my boys wanted to show me right then and there (on the pathway in front of all the cars) how well they could do push-ups. (Their push-ups were quite the site to behold!) And I think Connor could do a total of three sit ups. Maybe next time we will skip the McDonald's and hit the gym?! ;)

Later that evening when Dad was home we decided to hit the zoo and see if it would be a little less crowded a couple days later and at night. WRONG! But after we had made the trek out there and after we had prepared our picnic dinner we (or should I say "I") was determined to go to the zoo! Eli had been begging and crying ever since Monday to see the "yions" and "raffs" (lions and giraffes). So we waited over an hour just to park the car and braved the crowded masses.

I thought the wagon would be a great idea with both the boys... but it was a nightmare to steer and pull among all the crowds!

Eli and Tiff at the petting zoo. I am pretty sure there was a goat behind us that must have ran out of the picture at the last second! :) (Tiff in her hat and shades that she wore everywhere the rest of the week... at dusk... or in stores... everyone thought I was a creeper, I am sure! ;)

We didn't get the whole zoo done before it closed but Eli was satisfied seeing his lions and giraffes among a few others. We love you boys!

SPRING BREAK - DAY 3

2010-03-24T19:19:00.000-07:00

The third day of Spring break was St. Patrick's day! And once again we had big plans and high hopes. We had invited over 5 other families to join us for a St. Patties feast (of green pancakes, green eggs, green juice, Lucky Charms (with green milk), and a rainbow fruit platter) and to be finished off with a treasure hunt for the leprechauns pot of gold! Ironically, our luck seemed to have run out as I woke up that morning with PINK EYE! I quickly texted all the families to tell them that it was still on, but that they come at their own risk. Oh how they dropped like flies! (You know who you are!) It's okay, I would have done the same. ;) I was devastated to tell the boys that probably no one was going to show up and I was sorry. It quickly became quite the fest of tears at our house. Then my last friend to respond, single handily saved the day by texting me that she and the kids would take their chances and were coming! YAY!

The Little Leprechauns: Connor, Dallin (still in PJ's- but we made sure the night before that their jammies had some green so they wouldn't get pinched), Rainey, Larkin, Eli, and Jacob.

Dallin feasting on a pancake and Lucky Charms (of course he only ate the marshmallows out... why have they not made that cereal with only marshmallows yet)? Does any one's kid ever eat the rest?

My beautiful fruit rainbow deserved a picture all of it's own. :) I found the idea in the Family Fun magazine... a personal favorite. (I altered the clouds from marshmallows to Cool Whip... it made it perfect for dipping!)

The woman who saved St. Patrick's Day... God Bless You, Lindsey! :)

The kids seemed to enjoy the breakfast (and undoubtedly peed green for three days straight with all that food coloring ;) and the treasure hunt was a success (except for the fact that I had planned enough gold candied treasure for six families and now there were only two to eat it!) We missed the other families (although we totally understood), but had still had a fabulous time!

SPRING BREAK - DAY 2

2010-03-24T18:43:00.000-07:00

On the second day we decided to do Go-Carts as a family (meaning with Dad). Seth worked his Google coupon magic and got some great discounted prices for all of us. We had Connor lie and say he was 8. (What?! He hasn't been baptised yet... his sins can still be washed away. It was the only logical thing to do). This act was key in order for the the whole Washburn Family to race together. By doing so, Connor was able to drive by himself . Seth and I took turns in the two seater go-cart with Eli and for two extra dollars and an "if you are okay with it" then we were able to add Dallin on as a lap rider in the super-fast go-cart. (That actually holds up in court?) Anyway, we finished the night off with ice cream cones. It was a great day!

Three excited little boys!

OH YEAH, BAY-BEE!!

IT'S GO-CART TIME!

EAT MY DUST!

SPRING BREAK - DAY 1

2010-03-24T16:30:00.000-07:00

So for Spring Break we had great plans of going camping with our neighbors for a few days as we explored caverns that were hundreds of feet under the ground and went on a fun drive thru animal safari only to then be followed by a few days in San Antonio to visit one my my BFF's and check out to Sea World. And then the puking started... followed by the fever, double ear infection, and the diarrhea. And soon all our plans were flushed down the toilet (literally). We were all heart broken so I vowed to do something "fun" with the kids everyday and to make the best of the break.

We attempted the zoo, but turned up our noses at the insane line backed up for what seemed like miles just to get into the zoo parking lot! So we wandered around downtown Houston until we found a park and played on the playground for hours and had a lovely picnic with our friends.

I only got harassed for money by a homeless person once. When I told him I did not have any cash on me but that he was welcome to any of our picnic food there he told me, "I don't want no snacks, I want a burger! Can you go get me a burger? I will wait here for you." It really was so polite of him to offer like that. But when I told him NO, but that he really was welcome to the food... (which we had all sorts between the two families... I'm talking sandwiches, granola bars, several different kinds of crackers, drinks, chips, fruit, veggies, cookies, etc)... he said, "I want me some BURGERS!" And people wonder why we give money to charities outside the US and we don't feed our "own" homeless?!? At that point I just walked away... very fast! :)

Dallin loves to climb...

And loves him some Capri Suns... I think he drank SIX that day at the park!

Eli picnicking with his buddy Aaron.

Connor with his muy guapo friend Victor. I have a crush on this kid. If I wasn't already taken... I might just have waited for him! ;)

MY APOLOGIES

2010-03-22T21:59:00.000-07:00

I want to say sorry to anyone who may have heard some bad language on my blog site. I was shocked today when I heard a voice come on (in the place of a song on my playlist) and say some profanities where music was supposed to be playing. I am not sure how this happened since I always listen to the music before I add it to my playlist. But regardless... I apologize to anyone else who may have heard it. I deleted that particular "song" and went through and checked all the rest. They should be fine now. If anyone does hear something that is inappropriate (other than maybe me ranting in a blog post ;) please feel free to let me know so that I can do something about it.

Clean Slate

2010-03-17T09:03:00.000-07:00

Spring always brings a sense of renewal. So that is what I am going to do. I am going to allow myself a fresh start. I am wiping my own slate clean. (Is that acceptable? I don't know, but I am doing it!) I am allowing myself a "do-over" and am going to try to do right by ME, by my FRIENDS, by my FAMILY, and most importantly by my GOD. I am only human and my slate probably won't stay clean for very long-- but I feel a renewed sense and longing to try harder-- so I am.

Eli's Lingo

2010-03-07T20:04:00.000-08:00

A few days back I could tell Elijah was very tired. He hadn't slept well the night before, wasn't feeling well, and woke up extra early that morning. Eli is in the process of phasing out of naps and had not taken a nap for several days in a row.

Me: Eli, you are going to have to take a nap today.

Elijah: No! I don't want to!

Me: I am sorry Eli, but you have to. Your body is telling me it is very tired.

Elijah: No Mommy! My bottom is not tired! See! (then in a high disguised voice he says) I Eli's bottom, I not tired!

(For the record... he feel asleep in record time that day :)

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Eli always tends to add "so bad!" to the end of all of his sentences to make his point. It always makes me laugh. He is never hungry, but hungry so bad! He doesn't just want to watch a show, but he wants to watch a show so bad! (you get the point) I was holding Eli and giving him a love when we had this conversation.

Me: How come you are so cute, Eli?

Eli: Um, cuz I yuv (love) you so bad! (and he leaned in to give me a big kiss)

Could I love this boy anymore? I think not! :)