Sunday, November 23, 2008

Jackson's 10th Birthday





























A couple of weeks ago when Jackson turned 10, I had a crazy reality check. I HAVE BEEN A MOTHER FOR A DECADE!!!!! How is that even possible? The next thought came into my mind that I am really old. I still catch myself looking at the cute young married girls in my ward, that have husbands in law school, and thinking that they are my age. It is sad when I realize that I have 4 kids, and I'm not young anymore. Time goes by way too fast. Jackson is already more than half way through his time at home with us. I want him to be Carter's age again and do it all over again. He told me this morning that he just realized that in the "olden days" that there was color. He said he just always imagined it in black and white. I had to chuckle. I had parent teacher conferences for the boys on Friday. I love going to parent teacher conferences. I get to sit and smile and nod while their teachers tell me how great my boys are. It makes me so happy! It is really great to be a mother.

Tonight Mark and Heather's family will be here and then Eric's family will be here on Wednesday. Next time I blog I will have so many great things to share from our week of fun, Thanksgiving and Hayden's baptism. I figured I better post Jackson's birthday party before it got lost in the shuffle. He wasn't even supposed to have a party this year. I told him he could have 1 or 2 friends spend the night. He couldn't decide on 2 friends. Then we thought of having flag football at the shock practice center since that would be free and he is obsessed with football. I put on the invitations-- no gifts, but he got so many gift cards that it was the "greatest day of his life" going to spend them. He just kept telling more and more little boys about the party. There ended up being 35 boys there. Eric got 3 Shock players to come and run a mini-camp and then coach the teams. It was every little boys dream come true. I don't know if we could ever throw a party for the boys that was better!



Sunday, November 16, 2008

My Random Addictions

Ever since I got through birthday season--Jackson's party was the last and it was over a week ago--pictures to come soon--I started watching Lost. I had 2 seasons on my dvr and hadn't started watching them. I got through the first episode and wasn't that enthralled, and then about halfway through the second episode I got really into it. That is all I want to do now. I have a little crush on Jack and I want the body of Kate. Something tells me that sitting on my butt watching Lost and staying up too late to want to excercise the next morning isn't going to help me ever get a body like Kate's, though. I'm so into all of their lives it is like they are real people or something. I have a serious problem.
Today at church they talked a lot about gratitude, and it got me thinking a lot. I'm so thankful for everything I have in my life--most of all for my Savior and my family. Eric started a new job consulting, and he has been gone for all but 4 days in the last month. It has really made me appreciate him even more and treasure the time we do have with him. I know this is not a permanent thing having him gone so much, so that is how I'm surviving. My babies are the sweetest things in the world, too!!!!
Jackson has grown up so much lately. He has really stepped up and helped me since Eric has been gone. I'm so proud of him. He is so incredibly thoughtful and kind! He is just cute. We haven't finished the sports court in our yard yet, and Jackson really wanted a basketball hoop to practice on. I told him maybe we could get our hoop back from our old house and put it on the slab outside. This morning he asked me if the Nelsons were "mentally attracted" to the basketball hoop or if they said we could take it. (We left it when we moved since we didn't want to move it or store it while we were at my parents.) I figured out he had heard me ask Danna if they were "emotionally attached" to the hoop. Tonight I asked him what the phrase was that he had used. He told me and then asked, "mom, you aren't going to put that in your blog are you?" He thought it was just too embarassing, but I told him it was cute.
Tonight I was so done with Olivia not listening to anything I told her. I kneeled down and grabbed her face so she would have to look at me when I talked to her. I asked her,"DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?" Hayden was watching us and said to me, "I think Olivia just made a self to self connection." I asked him what the heck that was and he acted like I was crazy that I didn't know what that was. He then went into a long explanation of all the different connections. I didn't understand it all. 8 year olds today are for sure smarter than I was. He is growing up so much, too. The other night I came upstairs to tell the boys that they needed to get the garbages and recycle bin stuff collected and out on the curb. Hayden told me that he had already done it, and that Jackson hadn't even helped. I looked around and saw that he hadn't missed any of the garbages around the house and the big garbage and the recycle bin were out on the curb. I was proud of him for doing everything by himself and before I even asked.
Olivia is so darn cute, but she has been a challenge for me lately. I keep on asking her not to do things and she tells me that Carter is doing it. I can't get it through her head that he is 2 and she is 5. Most of the time I am squeezing her and telling her I'm so happy that she can be my daughter, but sometimes I am telling her to just please stop talking and asking questions. Everything she asks me is so random and unanswerable. It makes my head want to explode. I guess with her the highs are higher and the lows are lower. One day Carter ripped the leg off of her paper dog. She screamed for an hour that he had ruined her life. The next day we had some left over chicken, and she told me that she didn't want any. Later she came back and wanted some. When she was told it was all gone she screamed, "If I don't get some chicken I WILL DIE!" A little dramatic?
Carter is getting a little easier lately. I just don't want him to grow up. He is the most adorable little thing you will ever see. I just want to kiss and squeeze him all the time. He loooooooooves my mom more than about anything in the world. He calls her Bama and asks to see her at least 3 times a day. If we are anywhere near her house and don't stop he throws a fit. He is finally starting to talk a ton. He is so funny. He will not call Jackson by his name. He always calls him Hayden and he calls Hayden, Hayden. When we try to get him to say Jackson he tells us, "NO! HAYNEN!!!!" It is so cute how much he loves Olivia, too. He gets very worried when he doesn't know where Olivia is. Today at church he started screaming during the prayer, "Where IA? Where IA?" She had gone 2 rows back to sit with her teacher. I think it is cute how he stills calls her IA even though he could say her whole name now. He just loves his IA!

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Why am I always on the front row?



Jackson told me the other day how terrible it is that he has to stand on the ground in front of the risers. "Why am I always on the front row?" Well, he is on the front row because he is one of the shortest kids in choir. I like it, though, because it is always easy for me to see him. Yesterday Solar Energy sang at the Veteran's day assembly at school. Jackson sang in a solo group on one of the songs. They sounded really good, and he was so cute! I guess it is worth taking him early to school 2 days a week.

Halloween

I'm not sure which alternate universe Harry Potter and Bob Marley hang out. On Halloween night, they hung out at my house........until Jackson was too cool for us and went trick-or-treating with his friend Travis.

















Carter didn't want to have anything to do with putting his costume on. I decided he could just wear his skeleton shirt. Eric was out of town, and I was so tired!!!!! I had been working like a crazy woman to get super saturday ready. It was the next morning. I was okay with whatever was low stress to get me through the night.





I'm pretty sure Olivia was the cutest witch out trick-or-treating in our neighborhood or any neighborhood for that matter. We went over to my friend Kristi's house for dinner and then went around the neighborhood together. It was such a nice night! It was our first year in our new neighborhood. It was awesome. People go all out. It was so much fun!!!!


















We finally got Carter's costume on to go trick-or-treating. He loved the idea of running up to people's doors and getting candy. He is so stubborn. I couldn't get him to say Trick-or-treat. He would just go up and yell, "I want some!" or "have some tandy!"






























Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Pumpkins

Every year we go to my friend Emily's grandparent's house to carve pumpkins before Halloween. Emily's son Tanner is 15 months younger than Jackson and at least 15 inches taller. We just don't have the right tall genes in our family. If Jackson is anything like Eric, he will go through puberty and grow 8 inches on his mission.





Emily was patient enough to help Olivia carve her pumpkin.









I guess I failed to take a single picture of Carter that day. Emily's Garret was done with the carving and found a spot on the garage floor.






It is hard to tell from this picture, but you can kind of see Olivia in the background. She got herself dressed for the party. She is wearing bright pink shorts with argyle leg warmers and a yellow shirt. What kind of mother lets their daughter wear outfits like that?





Emily's brother Jon






Hayden's Harry Potter 8th Birthday

I'm pretty sure Hayden is the cutest 8 year old ever! On October 25th (Hayden's actual birthday) Aunt Carol threw an awesome Harry Potter party in her dungeon basement. This is where I sat to cut the cake.


Jackson was a lovely house elf.


Olivia and our friend Tori


Eric was the bar tender

Uncle Brian made a great Snape!

My neice Kimberly ran the station where the students got their pet.


This was the wand making station.

Eric gave everyone their butter beer.


Each student (party guest) sat in the chair to find out what house they were going to be in. Ofcourse our Harry was in Griffendor.