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!