A Nickel for Our Thoughts

Snowmobiling for V day

2012-02-15T17:37:00.001-08:00

Adjusting

2012-02-09T21:35:00.000-08:00

It seems adjusting back to Utah is harder than we thought it would be. Everyone has been sick- Ezra had his first stomach bug the first week we were here. Jeebs has been feeling lethargic and fluish. He finally went to the doctor today and has tested positive for strep and she also thought mono was causing the swollen glands. Cagey battled a stomach ache for a few weeks until we figured out it was probably constipation. Taylor is afraid of the master bathroom, Cagey is afraid of the jetted tub in the kids' bathroom. Ezra keeps asking "where is your house?" And, there has been very little snow. It's probably our fault. We do have new callings- well new for Jeebs. I'm back in primary as the music director which is exactly where I love to be. Jeebs is an assistant ward clerk which will be new for him. I have missed the mountains and it's nice to have such beautiful views every day. We can also see at least two temples from the neighborhood. Awesome sauce.

TimTam Slam

2012-02-07T20:04:00.001-08:00

We found these at Super Target in Sandy today. This is Jeebs' favorite thing to eat from his mission. First you take Australia's favorite cookie...TimTams.

Then you bite off diagonal corners.

Step 3: use it like a a straw and slurp up some milk, hot chocolate or if you're in Australia, a drink called milo (Jeebs says it's like postum). Keep sucking until it's just about to fall apart.

Step 4: Slam it in yo' face! (I had to do it twice and it was worth every calorie.)

We are rednecks...hear us roar

2012-02-04T21:48:00.001-08:00

Or shoot. I shot my brother's big
AK 47. That's really all I have to say about that except...be jealous. Jeebs exploded some coke cans and Page took out a pummelo. Glen took out some zombies which is pretty cool if we ever have a zombie invasion. Post UPdate: Apparently I'm not as cool as I thought and neither is my brother. I shot an AK 74 not an AK 47. Not as cool, Glen...

Sisters

2012-02-02T14:57:00.001-08:00

The mooks and the tates love each other. Taylor always wants her sister to stay in her room at night. If only she would sleep through the night!

Brian Regan

2012-01-29T17:56:00.001-08:00

Jeebs surprised me with tickets to Brian Regan! I can't believe I got to see him in person. He did this bit about marching bands which was hilariously perfect because of my total band nerdiness. Our seats were in the balcony on a crooked floor. It was like we were in a fun house, I had to keep looking at Jeebs so I wouldn't freak out. I was freaking out a little it anyway.

As glamorous as it gets for me...

2012-01-26T16:44:00.001-08:00

Foot rubs with lotion from my kids who want to stay up past their bedtime is about as glamorous as it gets for me. Actually it's pretty wonderful, until I have to deal with over tired kids the next day.

Happy Birthday Gee!

2012-01-26T08:05:00.000-08:00

If you were here I'd be calling you on your cell phone and singing you a beautiful rendition of "Happy Birthday" or "Happy Happy Birthday yang yang dear". By beautiful I mean gross and annoying. Then I'd probably throw you a surprise birthday party with all your favorite people, your family. Then, I'd take you out shopping and we'd buy all kinds of cute shoes. Then I'd make Page give you a massage- he's pretty good at it. We'd go see Glen and tell him to shut up! and then we'd come back home and have cupcakes with yellow frosting and daisies. Sound like a good birthday? Maybe someday... I wonder what birthdays will be like during the millenium...anyway, Happy birthday gert!! I love you and miss you more than you know or maybe you do.

PS I forgot- for breakfast I'd make you cheese toast and hot chocolate. I wouldn't even eat your cheese:)

a lot of booty

2012-01-25T21:23:00.000-08:00

We went to the circus last night with my brother and his family. The first thing he said to me when we sat down was, "this is pretty ghetto, get ready to see lots of booty." I leaned over to Jeebs and he immediately thought it was going to be the metaphorical kind of booty. Let me tell you it was close encounters of the real booty kind. I wonder what was going on in the person's brain that thought up those skimpy, booty cutting outfits for girls spinning around on ropes. We did have an awesome time though. The guy on the tight rope almost fell and we were all secretly wishing one of the tigers would take off a limb. There is definitely something wrong with us.

Mooks pooped her outfit before the circus so I did what any good mother would do- pulled out an extra outfit I had in my diaper bag- it was under Ezra's extra outfit- and immediately changed her. And if you believe that I have a house to sell you in North Carolina priced BELOW appraisal value!! (I had to haul rear to the Children's Place and I bought the warmest, cheapest ($5), and easiest outfit I could find).

Week 3 in Utah

2012-01-21T13:32:00.000-08:00

Today I went to Great Harvest for the first time since we've been here. I almost laughed out loud when I saw this loaf of bread named after my mom. If anybody deserves a loaf of Great Harvest bread named after them it's my mom. I will spare the details of how this bread has saved and ruined my mom's life. Let's just say- she is very deserving of this honor.

Also this week we made it to the park for the first time. It's January people- we should be snowed into our houses. Yesterday it was 50 degrees. Mooks did not need this hat, but it was too cute to leave it at home.

A Nanny

2012-01-19T08:57:00.000-08:00

Ezra took advantage of my dry skin this morning and made some art work using my shoelace. He is a true artist using strange and new mediums. His first pic he called "A Nanny" or for you less artsy folks- a banana.

His second piece was lovingly called "A circle"- which translates to a bunch of craziness and maybe there's a circle in there. That's our morning so far- scripture reading and shoelace dry skin drawing.

funny religion

2012-01-17T21:05:00.000-08:00

It's a funny religion we have. We're here in Utah and just said goodbye to grandma and grandpa Nicolaysen for 2 years. They're going on a mission to oversee the missionary training center in Guatemala. They packed up their home and a few of their belongings, said goodbye to their kids and grandkids and boarded a plane.

We headed down to BYU campus to get a few items from the bookstore. BYU has to be the craziest college campus around. There are pregnant girls (with wedding rings) waddling from building to building, grown macho men with baby carriers and/or small children trailing behind and older folks traipsing around waiting for a meeting or some kind of training. We all have a common thread that binds us together- the gospel. Whether we're in North Carolina, Utah or Guatemala it's all the same, requiring our sacrifices and pushing us out of our comfort zones and I love it.

Zoo in the winter

2012-01-12T09:58:00.000-08:00

A zoo trip in East Texas has always meant suffering. I convinced the parental units to go while we were there for Christmas. It was in the 50's and the first time any of us had ever been when we weren't sweating down our backsides. In the shade we were actually cold!

Mookie's first Christmas

2012-01-10T21:09:00.000-08:00

The East Texas Oil Museum is a must see if you're in East Texas for vacation...

That's Cagey's roughneck face.

Christmas on Sunday is exhausting. Daddy had to speak in our sacrament meeting and I threatened him with his life not to go over 3 min. He bore his testimony and sat down- you're welcome Longview I, II, and III wards.

recent amazingness

2012-01-09T21:27:00.000-08:00

1. I went to walmart and let Cagey buy himself a sucker. There were people waiting but I let him dig in his pockets and find the right change all by himself. I only apologized once. That's progress for me folks. I am constantly not wanting to bother people with my existence.

2. Ezra has had his first day of puking in his life. He he puked at two restaurants here in Utah-awesome.

3. I finally joined the rest of the world and got my own cell phone. Be afraid-be very afraid...

4. I'm blogging from jeebs' girlfriend tablet. It's taking me twice as long.

And finally- I live down the road from Ikea so be jealous

ps people that work at cell phone stores are annoying- don't you think?

The land of cheap milk and good bread

2012-01-03T13:44:00.000-08:00

We have made it back to Utah. Hoo-ray for good bread! Boooooo to the plethora of runners making you feel too bad about yourself to eat said bread.

Boooo for the lack of snow. It's 52 degrees today- in January- in Utah. It's like the universe knows we're back. I guess I can't complain too much because the kids are able to go outside all day long! I will enjoy the mild winter as long as it lasts.

Saggy baggy pants

2011-12-24T21:01:00.000-08:00

Right now I can either wear pants that are a little bit snug or ridiculously large. Being that it's the holidays, I've chosen to wear the latter. You know what wearing saggy, baggy pants gives you? It gives you a false sense of confidence. You think, maybe I've lost some weight- I mean these pants are just falling off of me. You feel good, small even. Then, you see sweater dresses at Dillard's and you think- hey maybe, just maybe I can pull off a sweater dress because heck look how loose my pants are! Then with your new found confidence you march into the dressing room with 5 sweater dresses to try on. Let me tell you- you think you can make a sweater dress work, you CAN NOT make a sweater dress work. I will wear my snug pants from now on.

Lessons learned on the road

2011-12-19T11:50:00.000-08:00

1. Cagey needs more fiber in his diet- stopping at a gas station for 30 minutes is not my idea of a good time.

2. Handicap stalls put the tp too far away from the toilet. Thank you Taylor for crawling under the stall and saving your brother.

3. Micky D's and Wendy's will never get your order right...never.

4. Chick-fil-a I love that you're closed on Sundays and keeping the sabbath day holy, but danguh being resigned to Micky D's breakfast 2 days in a row is just wrong.

5. When you keep seeing Arby's signs for a beef and cheddar sandwich and you're thinking Arby's you better let Jeebs know instead of trying to make it easy on him and going for Wendy's because the kids want Wendy's. Did that sentence make sense? Probably not- what I'm getting at is- I was thinking Arby's all day and the kids opted for Wendy's so I opted for Wendy's. Jeebs came back with Wendy's for the kids and salad without the chili to go on said salad and....Arby's for him.

6. Somehow the dog can do acrobatics in his little kennel and when you get him out he will have his leg so twisted in his blanket that you have to cut his leg, I mean the blanket off.

7. NEVER take Ezra into a public restroom with you. He will say out loud that "Cagey is peeing like a dog?" I don't know what that means, but maybe using the toilet instead of a diaper somehow seems beneath him, like a dog.

Stay tuned, we have more miles to go.........

Truly Jeebs' daughter

2011-12-14T18:28:00.000-08:00

Jeebs can usually be found tangled in electrical wires (maybe not tangled, but he has a huge box of cords he's constantly digging through and I'm sure he'd enjoy rolling in them if he could) and his kids aren't any different.

Last Sunday in New Bern

2011-12-14T18:21:00.000-08:00

Like a big bobo head I forgot my camera to take pics with all our New Bern friends, but I made the kids pose for a few. We will miss our ward!

Burka for Mooka

2011-12-09T20:00:00.001-08:00

Jeebs went in to get Mooks out of the bed and found her preparing for life under sharia law. I have no idea how to spell sharia law and I'm not googling it because I want to live. (I don't know how to spell burka either)

My bouquet

2011-12-09T19:49:00.001-08:00

My wedding bouquet has lasted 10 years, 4 moves, 4 children and a partridge in a pear tree. It will not be making it's way back to Utah with us. I finally bit the bullet and threw it away. I did save one of the dried out flowers. My sister made this out of the bouquet the florist made- which was so not very pretty. She used the white roses and formed them into a pretty nosegay and wrapped them in satin white ribbons accented with a couple of thin silver ribbons. Our wedding colors were blue, white and silver. I thought I would be able to keep it forever- put it in a shadow box, but it has sat in a mug in my closet the entire time we've lived in this house. I decided to snap a pic, document it and leave it behind. Ten years has gone by way too fast.

Awakenings

2011-12-05T18:31:00.001-08:00

My piano lessons started when I was in middle school. I remember starting and being hugely excited to one day play like momma or Yang. Then as my lessons drug on and my teacher shook her head in disappointment as she thumbed through my practice log or lack of practice log I started to lose interest. I wanted to play, but I could never remember to do theory (I was usually digging through my teacher's couch cushions looking for a pencil to complete my assignments as I waited for it to be my turn) and the songs I was assigned sounded so boring and for lack of a better word rinky dink. Oh and the festivals my teacher wanted me to play in- ugh. I would always comply and immediately start a secret plot to somehow get out of it. I hated playing in front of people- and I thought I would faint dead away playing in front of judges at the hymn festival. But, I made it through 2 years. My teacher's head shaking got more annoying and her prices got more insane so I had an out and I took it. I started playing anything I wanted. Anything that sounded hard- hymns, classical pieces, pieces in the backs of all my books. I played everything and cursed my teacher behind her back. I started playing the Children's songs and then the easier pieces my sister played. I found that if I practiced enough I could play well enough to get through most accompaniment piano parts. I was eventually called as primary pianist then relief society pianist, then relief society pianist again in a different ward and then again as primary pianist in yet another ward. Eventually it gets around that I can play and then I always have a way I can help out in church meetings.

Yesterday after church my 2 years of disappointing my piano teacher helped out in a way I could have never guessed. A couple of months ago the mother of this man came to me and gave me a piece of music. It was the only piece that Brother Brown has composed and had written down. Through his different illnesses he has apparently lost the ability to read music. He didn't remember the piece and she asked if I could learn it and play it for him. Yesterday I bucked up all my courage and told him I had the piece ready to play for him. My hands shook and I played the piece as best I could with my stubby fingers as he and his parents listened in silence. I got done, looked up and asked him, "remember it?" His face lit up and, "Yes!" He sat down and played as I stood by his mother and listened to how it was supposed to be played. Both of his parents thanked me profusely- I was just so happy to be a part of awakening Brother Brown to some of his former thoughts. I'll never forget it...music is powerful.

Oh my holy big garage sale

2011-12-04T16:15:00.001-08:00

Our yard sale was kind of ridiculous and ya know what? We could probably do another one. Dang. Mookie decided she didn't want to sleep in that morning so when Jeebs decided to get up at 5:30 she wanted up too. Which means I had to get up and try to set up everything with baby in tow. I finally got a chance to breathe and get my moby out of the car so I could have my hands free. Our first "customer" showed up at 6:40. I knew there would be early birds, but wow. I think we had made $50 before 7am.

My inner Gwen

2011-11-30T19:29:00.001-08:00

I love Gwen Stefani. Okay- I love her style...she is probably a total skank. But, I love her bleached blonde platinum hair with tons o' makeup. I used to sing No Doubt at the top of my lungs whilst driving home from school. I think I was singing Don't Speak the same trip I tried opening a bag of sunflower seeds and slung my (parental units) car into a ditch. Easy open bag my big buttocks. Anyway, I was asked by a friend in the ward to sing one of her songs -Hollaback Girl with new lyrics for her tennis club skit. Jeebs is a genius and added all kinds of effects to make me sound ok. Ya know they recorded Annette Funicello's voice several times over and layered it so it would sound decent because she could not sang. Same kind of thing, but I think it could use another layer. Anyway if you want to laugh at me go here and give it a listen. Enjoy Glen and Page- my brothers are my biggest supporters. By supporters I mean make fun of me every chance they get. I never retaliate.

GarBAGE Sale

2011-11-25T13:39:00.001-08:00

Anybody want some dang cute girl clothes? I have a titanic load of girl clothes that I'm selling in my garage sale tomorrow from 7-11. Everything is cute and cheap- ranging in sizes itty bitty to size 10. Most of it's gymboree. I have boy clothes from sizes itty bitty to 2T. I thought moving was gonna be hard. After this garage sale, it'll be cake! But really, I hope somebody will show up to this thing because DAngUH we are clearing it out.

Note to self: do yard sales more often.

Thanksgiving and the hog

2011-11-24T17:55:00.001-08:00

This is the dessert tray. Taylor was struggling to hold it up and it was just us. I had pie crust in the fridge, but after all of this I thought pie would be going just a bit over board.

We had a yummy feast just the six of us. Well, Mookie really didn't feast. She had rice cereal that she gagged on over and over. I busted out my china. I had to get out one more plate because we are now a family of five eaters! I also busted out my red target goblets, but I only had four because last year we were a family of four eaters. I think I don't want to be an eater ever again.

After eating and digesting... Jeebs took Cagey for a ride on the hog. Then, I took Ezra for a ride on the hog. Basically, we're eaters and hog riders.

Happy eating, hog riding, wallowing on the floor Thanksgiving.

The Amazing Meny Mooks

2011-11-22T05:59:00.001-08:00

Mooks has been doing this for a couple of weeks. She gets here and then can't figure out what to do next so she does what any sensible baby would do...scream for someone to pick her up.

And HOOray!! I caught her smiley face on camera!! Look at that baby! I could suck her face off.

And last, but not least, she can not ride on one's hip like a baby- she must stand and then eventually climb up your side...digging and clawing with her little toe daggers. Oh well- she can get right in my fat crevice and stand on my hip bone for a very secure ride.

Plan to fail

2011-11-21T16:15:00.001-08:00

I am not a planner, a think ahead-er, a make a list-er. It is just beyond me. Cagey's school changes from day to day. We do what I think we should do. Have we not done geography for a while? Let's do that! Yeah somehow in spite of me my children learn. We really must be hard wired to learn because I can't even remember my children's name some days in this looney bin and Cagey completes page after page of math in his workbooks with very few mistakes. Jeebs has gotten good at stuffing diapers and wipes into the diaper bag and for me that's good enough. Need a toy to keep occupied at church? Have a pen or my keys, or how about some lip gloss? If they need a rattle, my bottle of mints will have to suffice. I know this is giving my momma a nervous breakdown as she reads this- if she actually reads it. Anyway, what I'm getting at is that I am behind. There is not turkey thawing in the fridge, cornbread mix waiting in the cupboard to make it's triumphant entry and no cranberry sauce in the shape of a can (actually Jeebs just bought some of that tonight- just for me though because no one else will eat it). Thanksgiving just snuck up on me. Wasn't it Halloween last week? I'm pretty sure it was because I can still scroll down on my blog and see pics of my super heroes and angry bird characters. So really it's not my fault. Nothing has been bought for Thanksgiving dinner...and really it doesn't matter. My kids hate Thanksgiving food. We asked them what they wanted and they all replied, "mashed potatoes." Yuck. Me? A big ol' pan of cornbread dressing. Don't even get me started on stove-top bluck. But, it will come together- it always does and I can't wait to lay down on the food and then roll around sick in our living room watching Christmas movies because Christmas is gonna sneak up on me too.

PS If you want to eat something D-Vine:
gingerbread blondies

These are the best things evAH. I made them for my final Relief Society lesson and they were GONE. I'm glad something went right with my last lesson because the lesson itself was a disaster! Ever taught a lesson when the whole class just started having their own conversations amongst themselves as you stood at the front with your hands in the air and your mouth hanging open? Yep.

6 months

2011-11-18T15:24:00.001-08:00

What we do

2011-11-13T17:29:00.001-08:00

1. Ezra is insane...certifiable, but sometimes he turns super sweet and says, "I wanna hug you!"
2. Mookie is figuring out the crawling thing. It makes her mad she can't get up and chase her crazy sibs. But, she has super cute boots and clothes so that makes everything better...in my mind anyway.
3. Cagey concentrates on video games mostly. He is somehow learning about the solar system and something called history.
4. Taylor is still loving eggnog...some things never change. Her shirt was bedazzled courtesy of me. I had to add a little snaz to that thing. I can't take boring outfits.

Jeebs is working and working and...working. Big shocker. I am cleaning, homeschooling and working out every day. Yeah, we're real exciting. We did start packing up closets yesterday. After one, I'm done. This move is going to kill us.

Ummm, reading???

2011-11-08T18:19:00.000-08:00

Cagey is getting to be a really good reader. He can already read most of his first grade readers and all of the short stories in his reading lessons. The problem comes when he becomes aware of words in places we were happy he was blissfully ignorant of just a few months prior. Last week as I walked from the kitchen to my bedroom in my 10 year old cut off sweat pants he calls to me, "Mommy, why do you have hot tie written on your bum?" Yeah they're 10 years old, it was a joke and now they are gone. Later, he read over my shoulder as I perused different websites and asked me, "Mommy what is Porn?" Okay that last sentence sounded really bad. Let me clarify- it was an advertisement for some kind of Porn blocker or something. I tried to tell him in the simplest terms possible, "it's bad things you shouldn't look at." He replied, "Like bums?" Yes, Cagey exactly like bums. I'm sick of seeing bums...especially ones with hot tie written across them.

A scooter and a letter

2011-11-06T18:36:00.000-08:00

Several months ago our neighbors across the street came to the door with an electric scooter. They were moving out and didn't want to take it with them. It needed a new tube in one of the tires, but other than that it was in great shape. Jeebs took it and parked it on the back patio. There it sat for months and months. Several weeks ago I got it out and charged the battery just to see if it would still run. I got it charged and HOorah! it worked. There on the front porch (charging) it sat. Cagey would get it going every once in a while, sitting on it with the kickstand down revving the engine. But, that was all it was good for. So yesterday after being the evil queen to my children, we took them to the playground and then to Walmart for a tire tube (and milk). Jeebs got it fixed in about an hour or so and as I was working out I see him easing out of the driveway going for a ride. As soon as he got back I grabbed my sweater and sneaked out of the house. I jumped on and I was off, laughing like an idiot. It is the funnest thing ever. I always wanted a scooter when I was little and now I, I mean my kids have one. As I'm riding, wind in my hair, cold in my face and squirrels racing under my bum- I remembered my neighbors growing up had a scooter. Momma told us under no circumstances were we to ride, sit on or even touch their scooter. They offered many times to let us ride, but we were under strict orders. One day my friend brought her scooter down and parked it on the back patio. I stared at it, I pined for it and when she offered to let me sit on it I couldn't take it- I was tempted beyond my capacity to resist and I climbed on imagining racing down dirt roads and through woods. My next emotion was guilt, horrible horrible guilt for this unforgivable act I had committed. In the next few seconds momma swung open the glass door and my moments were over. "Nessa, get off that scooter! right now!" At least she caught me and I didn't have to live with hiding my transgression. And that's what I think about as I ride down our road, 32 years old, a thousand miles from momma, and giddy with a smile that I can't wipe off my face...especially when I pass other neighbors watching me from their driveways shaking their heads.

Last night after my joy ride I came in to prepare my lesson for church. I am teaching the Valiant 11 class while they are looking for a new permanent teacher. The lesson was about Cornelius. He was the first gentile to join the church. The main focus was missionary work and how everybody in the world needs to hear the gospel. It was suggested to get missionary items and share them with the class. I immediately started looking for pics and letters from my sibs. Searching through my stuff I found a pic that Page sent me from Chicago and a letter that my sister sent me from Kentucky. She sent me lots of letters, but this one I kept. It makes me ache inside, but I have to share on here in case I lose it. She starts off talking about how much she's been missing me and how she hates missing all these big things in my life I've been going through- like having a baby. She goes on to say

"Maybe it's our Heavenly Father's way of making us grow by always separating us at critical times. I can see and am learning that you CAN do it just fine without me (even though it whomps and if you do anything else without me- well we gonna throw down!) And, I can see that you just keep getting stronger and more confident (in life, spiritually, everything) and just cooler all the time. I think you already passed me up, for sure. Anyway, stop that crying, gee. I know you are. I love you and miss you. Write to me! I'll be home in a few short months.
Love, Yang"

If she only knew how right she was. Heavenly Father has separated us at this critical time in our lives and I don't know why. I just know I miss my sister every day. I hate that my kids don't know their Aunt Yang, but I know that it will all be okay. I know that all the missed opportunities in this life will be rectified in the next. I don't know how, but Heavenly Father knows and he will make it all okay, better than okay- perfect.

ps I know you're kicking missionary work in the boot-tay over there

We never got trick or treaters growing up

2011-10-31T17:18:00.000-07:00

So we eat it up now. Just walking around trick or treating is so much more fun than riding in the car and going to a dude's house with a 3 legged dog and crazy eyes. Taylor says she doesn't like trick or treating much anymore. Is she really growing up already? I do not like it.

Tandy is dandy but liquor is quicker

2011-10-31T17:09:00.001-07:00

I really don't know anything about liquor. BUT, I do know about a tandy cake. You make a yellow cake, frost it with peanut butter when it gets out of the oven and then place hershey bar pieces on top. Then, after they melt you spread them over the peanut butter and Ta-DA!! OH wait, then you have to chill it so it hardens like a reese's peanut butter cup, and TA-DA! It is delicious. Jeebs didn't want a lot of cake sitting around so I made a small one. It was just enough- wink wink Page.

On my BIRTH day

2011-10-29T19:13:00.000-07:00

Jeebs' birthday is tomorrow. We "celebrated" today because Sunday birthdays aren't real fun. And, apparently Jeebs wanted a heart attack for his birthday. He chose donuts for breakfast and a bacon cheeseburger with fries from 5 guys. I am an awesome wife and mother, I know- just send awards directly to me. However, in the tradition of most birthdays, especially Jeebs', there is always a twist. Just as he brought our bag o' grease for us to devour, Ezra pukes all over himself and on the table. He was eating peanuts and I didn't notice he had just bitten the whole dang shell, in true Nicolaysen children form, he gags and upchucks donut chunks all over. I jumped up and tried to catch the last few drops with Mookie dangling on my hip. A lady popped over and immediately offered to hold her for me as we cleaned the yuck. Then after cleaning up our table for the second time (it was dirty when we sat down) we discovered that they had put mayo, tomatoes and pickles on his burger and left them off of mine.

Our next stop was Best Buy because that's like shoe shopping for me for Jeebs. We roamed around and Jeebs lusted after the tablets- apparently they're small and sexy. Yep, my competition is a 7 inch something something tablet something. I gave in and headed for the car so he could buy happiness. After a few minutes he and Taylor came to the car with pencils for her and a stapler and new movie for me. Happy Birthday Jeebs.

Felt-tastic

2011-10-28T18:41:00.000-07:00

Felt is a wonderful fabric. I can do so many things with it and it doesn't have to be hemmed! After this halloween I will have almost every color of the rainbow. I was so happy with Ezra and Mooky's costumes- it is a rare rare thing g for things to turn out exactly like I see them in my head. So, Yay.

The kids were really excited for the trunk or treat- can you tell? My momma made my hat so I had to add that pic of me looking freaky in my black wig. I got it for Taylor but she wouldn't wear it and I take any chance to don a wig. Any hair is better than the feathers I have growing out of my head.

Cagey's costume was way more complicated than I ever imagined, but with Jeebs' super powers he figured it out. He is supposed to be this...

Halloween, I'm gettin' there

2011-10-26T16:53:00.000-07:00

Mooks will be a little pig and Ezra a bird. Fitting, right? I just have to make them wearable now- please let me be able to make them wearable! The skeleton cookies turned out ok, Jeebs didn't like the taste, but I did which means I can never make them again.

Ghostbusters!

2011-10-25T06:53:00.000-07:00

Last night for family home evening we carved pumpkins and I made apple cider floats for everybody. I love fall, Halloween and all that goes with it, but I am not ready this year. Today is the 25th and I have no costumes made. The 28th is our ward's trunk or treat so I have 3 days to get 'er done. 3 days!!! I feel like I go all day and get nothing accomplished. I get up, make breakfast, workout, shower, do Cagey's school, clean house, make lunch, get kids down for naps (which is pretty much an act of congress), pick up Tates from school, finish Cagey's school or help with homework or both, figure out what to make for dinner, make dinner, clean up dinner, and then collapse on the couch waiting for bedtime. Some how I've got to squeeze in costume making...maybe instead of blogging? Well anyway...

After we carved 3 huge pumpkins, I was bound and determined to roast some dang pumpkin seeds. Soooo while Jeebs blah blah blahed on the phone and the baby screamed I rinsed pumpkin seeds, seasoned them with curry powder and roasted them in the over. Taters and I ate 2 very large helpings-- they are good and I will forever roast my pumpkin seeds. I can't believe I waited so long to do it!

I almost forgot- the reason I named this post Ghostbusters! Last night we were listening to Halloween music and Ghostbusters came on. I can't ever hear that song without thinking about the Ghostbusters game we had for our Sega. We got it for one of the Christmases we had to wake up at 3 am because daddy had to go to work and he wanted to see us open our presents before he left. We would get up at 3, open presents and usually go back to bed. It was kind of awesome because you were getting up at 3 on Christmas morning, but not awesome because you were getting up at 3 on Christmas morning. Anyway, one Christmas Glen got the Ghostbusters game we'd been wanting and he immediately put it in and started playing it. My sister and I weren't much for playing, but we liked to watch. We got tired of watching after only a little while and went back to bed. I think we woke up around 7 and he was STILL playing. I couldn't believe he hadn't gone back to sleep, but it was pretty stinkin' fun game. Okay- baby screaming, gotta remember that I'm a homeschooler and get my bum in gear.

Can't catch it

2011-10-25T06:38:00.000-07:00

I promise Meny mooks has the sweetest smile, but as soon as she sees the camera she's a deer in headlights. I snuck up on her while her daddy was making her laugh. Then after 2 more shots she realized I was taking her pictures and her eyes pop wide open in her Cagey stare. And yes, I stick bows on her little bald head using corn syrup. It is the best thing ever and I think bows are so much cuter than headbands, that's just me. I do try to make sure she always has something on her head because she could be in the frilliest dress or all clad in pink and people will still ask, "oh, how old is HE?" It was the same way with Taylor- everywhere, "oh, what a cute little boy!" We tried and tried to teach Taters to say in response, "I'm a girl!" All she would ever say was, "What a Q bee boy!" I should have stuck more bows in that girl's head when I had the chance.

Oh the anger

2011-10-20T19:40:00.000-07:00

I could have really jacked someone up today if I were a dishonest person. Dang that honesty business. Not really. But oh oh oh some people make me angry. Taylor got a birthday check in the mail today and wanted to deposit it on the way home from school. I pulled into the ATM and then someone pulled up behind me. I didn't have my wallet out or the check endorsed so I decided to pull over to the side and let the other person go first. Pulled over- got everything in order and pulled back in behind the other people at the ATM. We sat and we sat and we waited and we waited. It was 2 young guys, smoking and laughing and taking Fo-evah. They finally decided to pull their dang big bootied car out of the way and I see them loop back around and come back up behind me. As I pull up to the ATM I see that the screen says "take card or another transaction" I immediately hit the take card and held the card out like here ya go, come get yer stinking card and nothing. They just sit there. I've got about 3 inches of space between the car door and the ATM so I squish my big lumpy butt out the door and walk all the way back to their car before they realize that, oh some strange woman has my ATM card! I got a very lame, thanks, with a tone of DUH yeah thats my card and then I squished myself back between the ATM and my coche. I told Taylor that the next time she wanted to deposit a birthday check on the way home from school the answer was no.

Raining, pouring

2011-10-19T06:44:00.000-07:00

My computer died. Just died. I've been using Jeebs' work computer and I didn't know how to get pics on here so there haven't been any posts sans pics that I've wanted to post. But, I finally asked Jeebs to get my pictures onto this computer so I could blog again. I was suffering withdrawals.

First, Mookie got new boots. They are the cutest things ever on her chubby little legs. I think they'll be nice and warm if we have a cold winter.

Then, Cagey and Ezra made Joseph's coat of many colors for Cagey's school. It quickly turned into, "I'm gonna put this brown dot on here that looks like poop." It all comes back to poop. I'm so glad he's learning so much history.

And no post would be complete without a cute pic of the Meny. She is getting chunky and hunky. She has been getting her knees up under her and scooting herself around. She turned 5 months yesterday- the same day I got a new nephew. Little AJ was born yesterday- they will be exactly 5 months apart. Hooray!
This past weekend Jeebs had a campout. I always let my kids sleep in my room on campout nights. They love it and it helps me sleep because if someone broke into the house I'd have all my little chicks in my room. I would just have to quickly close and lock my bedroom door and load the gun; yes, I think about this every time. They make a little pad on the floor because there's not enough room for everybody. Ezra decided the next night that he wanted to sleep in there again and he brought all the pillows and lined them up exactly as it was the night before. I thought it was sweet and made me feel kind of bad because he is the only one now without a roommate.

Monday was Taylor's birthday and the day we decided that Cagey should see a doctor about his wrist. He hurt it late Saturday afternoon and we thought for sure it was a bad sprain. But, better safe than sorry, Jeebs took him for an x-ray. Yep, both bones were broken. Awesome. He had to see an orthopedist to have it cast. I picked Taylor up from school early so we could make it to his appointment. I somehow made a chocolate cheesecake in all of that and tried to have some semblance of a celebration for Taylor's birthday.

I got her a skateboard so please pray we don't have any more broken bones!
That is our week in review...until next time.

Mumfest and rumblegut

2011-10-13T10:20:00.000-07:00

After five years of living in New Bern we finally made it to the mumfest. I was determined to go before we truck it back out west. These are the only pictures we took. I thought we should have proof that we paid $3 to go down a slide. (or maybe we shouldn't) We walked around the whole thing, rode 2 rides and then got some greasy, nasty goodness.

Carnival food always smells much better than it tastes. You walk around smelling the grease and think to yourself, "I really want some of that," really you don't want any of that. Yuck. I had 2 bites of the funnel cake and 2 bites of the ribbon fries and had rumblegut for the next 24 hours.

Still don't have pumpkins

2011-10-10T18:23:00.000-07:00

We went downtown to get a pumpkin because this is the most picturesque place in all of downtown New Bern. There's an old church, a graveyard, a playground and now a pumpkin patch all together in one nice package. We got there at 6:30 and everyone had gone- they close at 5:30. Soooo we still have no pumpkin, but we have lots of mosquito bites to remind us of our trip downtown. I thought we'd get a pic of the crew before going home because it is the perfect Halloween backdrop. But, it was either too dark or too light or whatever- just didn't work. I thought I'd post them all because Cagey is incapable of looking like a human boy.

Finally a picture outside...

2011-10-06T19:01:00.001-07:00

As I sat outside this morning watching the boys scooter up and down the drive way I smelled Utah. I was walking home from campus up the side of a mountain, past all the old homes with old landscaping but fragrant flowers. Again I was charging up the steep hills just wanting to get to my apartment. I didn't appreciate it then, but smelling it again today made me appreciate it today. My sister was there in that apartment, my family was whole and I didn't know the sadness that life could bring...I didn't know the joy either. That was this morning...as I sat just a few feet from this...
This was this evening. Taylor burst into the house proclaiming there was a snake in the yard. A snake! She gave me the, I may or may not be telling a lie smirk, but I followed Jeebs out to see the action. I watched from the (top of) picnic table as he clamped the snake's head in my loppers. Want a closer look?
I believe that's a copperhead folks. I'm sure I'll be corrected if it is not. I'm wondering if this (or one of it's siblings) is what bit Percy. I brought Percy in last week in the morning after being outside, tied to a chair, for 5 hours. He held one leg up and hobbled 3-legged into the kitchen. His front leg was swollen all the way to his paw. We called the vet and told them the situation and told us it was up to us whether or not to bring him in. I gave him my cure all, vitamin C. It works wonders on little dogs. Jeebs gave him benadryl and in 3 days he was back to normal. Yes, I know, we are awesome pet owners.

Another successful FHE

2011-10-04T18:41:00.000-07:00

(Meny mooks in one of her new outfits, with a little coin slot in the back)
FHE last night was not about resurrection. FHE was about Shadrach, Meeshach and Abednego. But, after it was all said and done Cagey came and sat next to me. He said quietly, "Mommy, I'm afraid of getting resurrected." I don't know where that came from, but apparently he's been thinking about it. I tried to explain that he has a lot of living and things to do before he's resurrected and by the time the time comes, he will be ready to see his body again. Cagey is that kid that spins on his head and makes funny noises with his lips while you're trying to tell him something and then he surprises you with picking up the concept of resurrection.

Spit bubbles and brother

2011-10-02T16:33:00.001-07:00

Mookie loves making spit bubbles and smiling at Cagey...

This last picture is courtesy of Ezra. He's getting better at aiming the camera. Right after taking this he threw the camera.

Showdown with Picasso

2011-09-30T17:36:00.000-07:00

I do not like birds. I do not like the fact that they have no control over their bowels. They just go at will. I do not like their gross little clawed up, 3 toed , shriveled feet. Their noises are even kinda freaky to me, though I have to admit it is pretty cool that our friend's cockatiel has a different whistle for each of them when he wants to get out. And this is where we begin our story. He was calling and calling and whistling and whistling and finally Wendy lets him out. I was in another room when the bird was let out so as I entered the scene Wendy was getting the bird off of Jeebs' shoulder. She tells me at this point that Picasso likes being on the shoulder of the tallest person in the room. I'm standing in the kitchen with Wendy and all the kids. I am about an inch taller than Wendy so all I can do is slouch a little bit and keep my eye on the bird ready to make a quick escape if he per chance tries to take flight and head for me. About 30 seconds after my initial thoughts of slouching race through my mind, he takes off and I see him in slow motion- wings expanding and flapping towards me. All I can do is turn and run screaming no, NO, NONONONONO. Someone caught the bird before he landed on me and I stop in the dining room where I am the only one standing. Again, here that dang bird comes- taking off, wings flapping, fwoomp fwoomp fwoomp, his nasty beady eyes staring straight at me, coming for me with his pucker string-less self. This time I turn, run, scream and frantically search for someone taller than me to stand by. There is no one. That has to be a first for me in my lifetime. I don't really no what happened next, I might have blacked out. He was caught and put away while everybody laughed at my freak out session. I was shaking and laughing at myself. I know it's ridiculous and I could've played it cool and said I was nervous it might land on my baby and scratch her. But really, if I had thought about it I probably would've lifted her up over my head so he would land on her and not me. (not really)

Yesterday I scooted Ezra out on the back porch with his lite saber (or is it light saber?) to do his swacking outside, instead of on my kitchen walls. He got in a few good swacks to my patio furniture and then I see him sucked up to the door as close as he can get, face pressed against the glass, tears coming out of his eyes, and screaming to let him in. I let him back in and asked him what was the matter. He tells me, "there's a bird out there!" I immediately replied, "A bird? the bird is not going to do anything to you!" I hear Jeebs yell from our bedroom, "How can you say that with a straight face?" It's true I have jacked up our kids. It's a good thing I married a man with only one fear, bees.

Modeling is tiring

2011-09-27T18:19:00.000-07:00

Mookie was tired of modeling. She looks kind of like a sad elf in that first picture. She was just so cute in Taylor's old outfit. I didn't think I would have much left of Taylor's that would work for Kilmeny, but I found a couple of outfits and I couldn't resist. When Cagey saw her in her little hat he laughed and said she looked like an artist. That kid.

Sacked out

2011-09-22T15:06:00.000-07:00

Ezra was so tired after coming home from a birthday party we went to on Saturday. He got several pieces of candy and apparently he was too tired to put another one in his mouth. His last piece only got as far as his chest.

Death of a honeybun

2011-09-20T19:33:00.000-07:00

First words to me from Taylor this morning, "did you have a honeybun?" Nope. I did not. Jeebs was searching through the cupboards and obviously upset about the empty honeybun box sitting by the trash. He asks me, are they really all gone? No, they are not all gone, there are 2 more in the cupboard. I just took them out of the box so they would take up less room. As Cagey and Ezra trickle in for breakfast they too spy the empty box (why didn't I put it in the recycling bin last night?). Cagey asks, can you get more honeybuns at the store next time you go? No, no I can not. Ezra asks for a honeybun for breakfast. I flippin' hate honeybuns today. I do not like my children eating pre- packaged processed baked goods. I think they all expressed more concern over the empty honeybun box today than they would if I were laying lifeless by the trash can. So- I did what any good chubby baking mom would do- I made pumpkin muffins. Yes I made them with a cake mix, but I couldn't resist the ease of the recipe. It's a spice cake mix, a can o' pumpkin, and butterscotch chips. Then I put a little dab of cream cheese frosting on the top of each one. My children said they tasted like heaven with frosting. I have to say if heaven ain't got frosting built in, I don't know if I want in. But, I digress, at least I got them to eat something with pumpkin in them. That is major for Cagey. Then I had to take a pic of my pico de gallo I made. I love pico- I could live on it and I just eat it with a spoon most of the time because I'm the only one that likes it. I also think it's pretty to look at. I can't ever make it without thinking about my Aunt Martha. We had it the first time at her house and it obviously made a big impression. Then, Ezra wanted his picture taken and he is such a cuteness I couldn't resist. And, I'm sure you're all wanting to know, those two last honeybuns are still in the cupboard. Nessa 1 Little Debbie 0

A marathon Sunday

2011-09-19T09:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had to speak in sacrament meeting. In general public speaking makes me want to vomit, but lately I've been even more panicky than usual. Before I had to speak Mooks decided she was unhappy sitting quietly so I had to take her out into the lobby and as I stood out there I walked in circles plotting an escape. I kept thinking, "I can just go in the bathroom and pretend I'm sick and they won't find me or I can just go nurse the baby and blame it all on her, or on and on and on," Then I would say a prayer and calm down for a second and then my mind would run away again and I thought I was going to die. So- calm, DYING, calm, DYING, calm, DYING! get the picture? Yeah, it was pretty awful. Jeebs came out and got the baby so I could go sit with the kids and go up to give my talk. I sat back down with my kids and looked at them and told myself, "Look, I made these kids, I pushed them from my loins (without drugs), I've kept them alive up to this point, I can read this stupid talk!" That got me through the next two minutes and then I had to go up to the podium and I felt like a firefighter running into a burning building as everyone else is running out. No, I'm not a hero.

I started off okay because I was telling a story in my own words. Then I felt like I was running a race. I had to get it all out before I passed out or died in front of every one. If I'm going to die, I don't want everyone to see it, ya know? The only people I saw during the whole thing were my family. I saw Jeebs giving me a face- which I found out afterwards he was giving me the "slow down" signal and my sweet kids on the front row being very reverent except for one point when Cagey and/or Ezra said something in their normal voice. The pup was grateful (what movie?). After I said "amen", I breathed out for probably the first time in 7 minutes. Yes, 7 minutes- I wanted Jeebs to have plenty of time for his 9 page talk. (Cagey asked him before we left, "daddy how long is that talk?" Cagey is not a fan of long talks.)

After I sat down I jumped back up to go get the baby from Jeebs so he could get ready for his talk. I took her to the mother's lounge and started nursing her and thankfully she fell asleep. I had turned up the volume in there so I wouldn't miss Jeebs' talk. He began with a joke about the intermediate hymn and then continued with, "and if anybody needs an auctioneer, my wife is available". I've always given my talks fast, but I think that one was a record.

After I got the baby to sleep I realized I had 3 unmanned children sitting on the front pew. I eased up and went back in to sit down thinking for sure I would have to take Ezra out. I sat down and I turn to see Ezra batting and swiping at Taylor's hair. I knew that wouldn't end well so I told Ezra to stop and Taylor urgently whispered, "if it keeps him quiet, let him do it!" I was sort of in shock. This is the girl that can't stand for Ezra to touch her in the car. This is the girl that can't stand a brush to touch her head. I was so thankful at that moment for my good children and for the extra help I know Heavenly Father was giving me. At one moment all three walked out to get water together and came back in unscathed and quiet. It can be done.

Then (are you still reading this?) I had to teach Relief Society and all I wanted to do was go home and take a nap. As I sat in Relief Society thinking how to start my lesson I started laughing about Brian Regan's "Me Monster" skit he does. I started my lesson with "I know you're all thinking here's Sister Nicolaysen again, she's back with tales of adventure apparently about auctioneering". Hallelujah that day is over!

and in case you haven't seen the me monster: seriously watch it.

Flooding the Nile

2011-09-16T19:14:00.000-07:00

Did you know the Nile River floods it's banks every year? I didn't. This homeschooling thing is hard. This was Cagey's little project for history. He made a little foil Nile river with grass seed in the dirt. We flood the Nile and the grass seed will hopefully grow. (please let it grow)

And then for date night- after Jeebs mowed the lawn and I contemplated going running, but instead worked on my talk for Sunday- we watched Brian Regan videos on you tube. This is one of my favorites- I'm dedicating it to you Giada big face Delaurentis.

He's not on here a lot

2011-09-15T05:53:00.000-07:00

Cagey hates to have his picture taken so I have to sneak up on him. He is the sweetest little guy. Yesterday he did all of his school without complaint. I told him after I got both babies to sleep (for about 3 seconds) that he needed to spend some time outside and get some sunshine. He wasn't happy about it, but he went out with only a sad look on his face. Cagey hates being the center of attention and doesn't want to waste time with too much talk talk talking. He asked why we had pictures of temples on our walls and I told him the quick answer, "So you can always remember what the goal is, to go to the temple," then I tried to expound a little bit and I got, "Moooommmyy, stoooop." I asked him the other day if he remembered something and he gave me one of his non-human boy looks with a scowl and said nothing. I asked him again and all I got was, "when I make this face that means no". I have to find something to interest this kid beyond video games. Do you want to do karate Cagey? no. Do you like basketball? no. Do you like football? no. Soccer? no. Baseball? no. Do you like running, Cagey? no. Music maybe? an instrument? we'll see. He truly is Jeebs' miniature.

This kid

2011-09-12T18:12:00.001-07:00

This kid rocks my world in so many ways. He is hilarious, quirky and insane all at the same time. One minute he's saying sweet things like, "thank you...so much," and the next he's trying to bite a hunk of flesh from his sister's back or shoulder or leg or whatever he can get his teeth in to. Today he was asking to do "judy duty" (Jeebs' jury duty was the highlight of our week last week).
Ezra lives life out loud and yet he is afraid of the garbage truck, the forklifts at Lowe's, and the train noise from our house. He just about knocked me down trying to get into the house and safely away from the noise of the train. I have never known a little boy afraid of trucks and trains and leaving the house without their hair fixed. He is the loudest child in existence and he refuses to be silenced. When his sibs try to tell him to stop singing he gets upset and tells them, "I wanna sing! I wanna sing!" or whatever the noise he's making, "I wanna wawawawa, I wanna wawawawa!" I believe that was the noise he was determined to make today. He almost always gives hugs and kisses when you want them and bites, scratches, hits and pulls hair when you don't. That's Ezra.

This is Meny MOOKUS!! She looked so cute on Sunday with her brand new dress, tights and shoes. She has turned into a little rollie pollie chunkus. When she wakes up she smiles and smiles. She tries to eat, but will stop mid breakfast and look up at me with a huge squinty eyed smile letting milk run down the side of her mouth. It's all I can do not to ingest her back into my body. It's weird- you really could just eat your babies up!!

Nothin' cuter...

2011-09-11T14:45:00.000-07:00

than a smiley, fuzzy headed baby in the morning.

3 Ghost Stories

2011-09-09T19:38:00.000-07:00

1. I saw something today out my bathroom door that I can not explain. I can't even tell it interestingly or explain in words exactly what I saw. But I will try. I went into my bathroom to well ya know, and I looked back at the open door- because we've already established I don't close the door. As soon as I looked I saw a white piece of material on the chair outside the bathroom door move slowly out of sight. I immediately thought, "that was weird, that had to be Percy dragging something off the chair with his leash". After I got done I looked at the chair and there were my white shams sitting on top both out of sight of the bathroom door. I put them up on the edge of the chair and tried to recreate what I saw and I couldn't do it. I brushed it off and thought there had to be some other explanation. About an hour later I was making lunch and dropped a shred of cheese on the kitchen floor. Just as I started to whistle for Percy I remembered he was still in his kennel from last night.

2. After lunch Jeebs IM'd me from his phone (he had jury duty this week, all week) and I started telling him about my ghost story. He kept giving explanation after explanation of what it could be. Then he asked me if I wanted another ghost story. Of course I did- who doesn't like a good ghost story? The minute I responded "ok", I heard male voices coming from my bedroom. For a split second I was freaked and then realized Jeebs was actually giving me a story...turning on Rush on his computer from his phone. Argh.

3. This last one really isn't a ghost story, but it scared the poop out of me. I got a watermelon on Saturday that turned out to be not so good. So we ate a little bit of one half and both chunks had been sitting on the counter since yesterday. Two days of watermelon counter sitting is all I can stand so I went to chunk it out in the woods. I walked out my back door, hurled the half into the woods (that's composting at it's best) and walked back up to my patio. As I passed my strawberry patch I noticed there was a strawberry ready to pick and a good size. I bent down and pulled off a couple of little bitty rotten berries and hurled them out towards the woods then grabbed the bigger one and it too had insect holes in it so away it went. I stood back up and looked at a big weed sticking up through my cute little patch and thought, "I need to get that dang ugly weed." I made a fraction of a move to get to the weed and my whole patch just started shaking violently. Out of the corner of my eye I see a black spot dart out of the patch. I screamed and looked more closely just to find Mr. Cottontail bounding back into the woods. I had to be careful because you know they can smell fear.

Game show junkies

2011-09-08T18:58:00.000-07:00

(Meny and Jeebs engrossed in Family Feud)
I used to love a good infomercial and I have always been a food network junkie. Jeebs- he's a gameshow junkie. He loves GSN and could even hold his own against my grandma in Wheel of Fortune. I guess the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree.

Also- I am so sick of reading baking blogs by skinny folks. If you bake- or have supposedly spent your life in a cinnabon line- you should be chubby...end of story. I'm gonna call the president so he can make this fair for all us baking chubbies.

Jury duty

2011-09-07T18:24:00.000-07:00

Jeebs has jury duty. He is juror number twelve. "A good jury should have like twelve," said in my Pedro voice. I told him to fake a facial tick or say he's a racist or something, but he was sworn in with his hand on a bible, a bible shared by as many other hands (or fingers) that could fit on it. He was gone all day today and he'll be gone tomorrow. I actually survived it. It's good to know that after having him home for 2 and a half years helping me most every day- I can still do it alone if he ever gets a job with an office.

Having one car, however, does really sucketh. I have to take him downtown, pick up Tates from school and then pick him back up downtown. I felt like a small taxi service today and Ezra did not get a nap except during taxi rides. Ya know what's cool though? I don't have a cell phone, but Jeebs can call our car through onstar. It's weird for the car to start ringing, but it's much easier and practical for me than a cell phone. Our free minutes are almost up, but right now it's perfect. Is it weird I don't have a cell phone? I think my momma and I are the only people I know without cell phones. I'd rather have a new outfit and shoes any day. I really want an outfit I can finish with a belt- that's my goal- get this belly in gear to be belted. Or I'd trade all my cell phone rights for this...(cuz apparently to the gov't a cell phone is a right)

Baby love

2011-09-05T19:41:00.001-07:00

I caught one picture of our Labor day celebrations. We didn't celebrate, unless you call going to Lowe's and eating quizno's for lunch a celebration. Hold up- there is a click beetle inside our house... sounds like a freaking horror movie in here.

Saturday we went to Sam's. I always find going around getting food samples at Sam's (or anywhere really) awkward. I mean, of course I want to have a free bite of that delicious, expensive pre-made junk that I'll never buy, but I don't want to look like the fatty that's excited for the free food. Sam's is crazy though the way people are hovering around waiting for their little easy bake ovens to ding so there's a fresh plate of hotwings to try. When I finally do get a sample of something I listen to their whole dang spiel with my, "wow I can't believe this good deal," face and I stand around looking at the product for a minute trying to look like I might actually genuinely consider buying it. I would be great on an infomercial. I used to love watching those things. And last but not least, PANCAKES!!

Journal

2011-09-01T19:25:00.000-07:00

This is supposed to be my journal so if I were writing in an actual journal I'd write about...
-my baby not taking a nap all day until I gave up and put her in the swing
-Cagey bawling about not getting a blue ticket (a new incentive program I thought would be genius and get him to work harder) and refusing to finish his work
-how I really would love to have my kids home, but I hate homeschooling and how much I suck at it.
-My body getting fatter after I have a baby
-Taylor wanting to look like a boy and bawling when I try to understand why she is so determined to look like a boy
-wondering why I didn't opt for the single life (not really, being single sucked)
-my two year old determined to put on his own clothes...inside out, upside down, sideways or backwards (kinda like the Wonkavator, I didn't know clothes could go on a body so many different ways) so 20 minutes after I say, "let's go for a walk," he's finally dressed, but I'm too worn out to go (and then we go anyway)

It was just another one of those days. I have them a lot lately, but in brighter news...we lowered our house price again. So, yeah.

The many hats of Meny

2011-08-31T19:08:00.000-07:00

Meny got brand new hats today in the mail from the bag (my mom). I had to let her model them and I made Taylor model with her. Taylor doesn't do modeling. I love the pink hat with the bow. I can't wait to bundle her up in her winter gear and plop a cute hat atop her cute little head. Except for the little pink and green stripey hat- it's gonna be a bag for Taylor's marbles. I just don't understand that hat at all. Maybe they were thinking, "I'm gonna make a bag work as a hat?" I donno. It's weird. I do want one of those knitted bows for myself though. Okay Ma?? Get busy and...go. I'm waiting. I want one.

In other news, Taylor didn't have school Monday or Tuesday and had a 2 hour delay today and tomorrow. It's kinda nice starting school just to stop it again. People are still recovering from the hurricane. A house down the road had a tree on their roof. They had it removed today and there's a nice hole in their roof. Some of our friends still don't have electricity- 5 days later. We discovered we're missing a shingle. I think we need to apply for federal disaster assistance immediately.

My final report

2011-08-28T19:53:00.000-07:00

We drove around today and have realized how lucky we are to have absolutely no damage to our house and practically no yard clean up to do. My poor flower beds are pretty beat up, but I can live with that. This dangling broken tree limb is the extent of our damage.
Our house still has all its siding, trim and shingles. About two houses down in the woods behind our house there was this tree. That dirt clump is the bottom of the tree- it extends up about 14 feet in the air. I've never seen a tree pull up so much earth around it.Driving around today we saw this over and over- trees down with huge amounts of ground pulled up with them. Hooray we made it through our first hurricane! I have to say I don't think I'll stick around for another one. I didn't sleep at all the night it came through. All I could think about was the tree in our backyard (the top picture) crashing into our bedroom. Or Ezra's room getting blown off our house, or trees slamming through our bedroom window, or a tornado ripping through...I was so glad to see daylight.

A little bit of the aftermath

2011-08-27T17:16:00.000-07:00

This is a little bit of our neighborhood. We were lucky- no trees on our house, no siding or trim or shingles ripped off. Just a couple of doors down from us there is a downed tree that pulled up about 14 feet of earth with it. I've never seen so much dirt pulled up by a tree!! Pics soon.

Live from ground zero

2011-08-27T16:36:00.000-07:00

breakfast by candlelight...
I couldn't really capture how badly the trees were whipping around...
After we got the generator CRUNKED! We had a fan, the fridge, a laptop and the TV plugged in! That's roughin' it in style.

and this is Jeebs' weather channel try out tape.

Another update

2011-08-27T05:37:00.000-07:00

We made it through the night. I'm not gonna lie, that was freaky. I woke up every 2 hours and could not go back to sleep until there was a long enough lull in the storm to relax. We were still in bed this morning around 7:50 when the electricity went out. At least we made it this long. We have friends that have been without power since 10 last night. The wind is crazy. I'm just glad it's finally daylight, but I am tired and I'll have to post pics soon, but they'll be through a window. I think the eye is about to go over in the next hour or so, so this should be interesting. Remember the Alamo!

Hurricane Irene, live blogging coverage

2011-08-26T19:57:00.000-07:00

This isn't really live, this is from Wednesday night at Walmart. This is the bread isle...
and the milk coolers. Jeebs bought extra flour so I could make bread. The only milk left was whole milk and I really don't mind.

Right now we're laying in bed listening to the rain hit the windows. We can't hear the wind inside the house yet, but I'm sure it's going to pick up soon. I'm thinking if we had gone to Raleigh I could at least be getting in some shopping tomorrow instead of hunkering down in the house all day.

1 Day down

2011-08-26T11:00:00.000-07:00

179 to go. Actually 178 too go now woohoo! I am not a school person. I don't celebrate my kids being out of the house, fighting them to do their work and the constant inability to go anywhere because Tates has to be at school. So, my friend Red gave me the idea of an after first day of school party. Sooo I made cupcakes and game bags. I had little to work with and going to the store is an act of congress lately. I had to be creative. We played water balloon toss, musical chairs and a coloring competition. But, the favorite was Jeebs picking a number and the person with the matching number got to slam a cupcake in his face!
Jeebs was a good sport. There are lots of pics on here of my feet so I thought I'd put one of my face. Meny looks a little scared, but that's how I roll...using my kids to cover most of me in pics.

I'm not ready for fall movies

2011-08-22T17:24:00.000-07:00

I am weird when it comes to movies. I can not stand to watch a movie that doesn't go with the season. Like watching a Christmas movie during the summer is nails on a chalkboard for me. During the summer it has to be summer movies. Each summer I seem to land on different movies that define summer. This year it was The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Tangled and Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. I loved Sorcerer's Apprentice- give me a good chick flick where a nerdy guy gets the girl and I'm smitten every time. My all time favorite winter movie is "While You Were Sleeping". Fall is Nancy Drew, all the Harry Potters and Hocus Pocus.

ps I am not ready for school to start. OH the stress. Anybody got any good ideas for first grader curriculum?

and also, I have been slobbering over these shoes all summer and I have resisted - Jeebs' wallet does the dance of joy

Things not to do at the beach

2011-08-20T17:56:00.000-07:00

1. Don't wear a bikini. It's just nasty...too much skin. Believe me, a normal one piece swimsuit is plenty o' skin for the whole world to see. You're walking around in yo' bra and undies...I don't know how someone was able to make people okay with walking around in public with just a bra and undies. Genius really. We do not salute you. (I wonder what fashion funkiness I could convince people to wear hmmm)

2.Don't be so thorough during your rinsing off. I'm talking to you bikini girl getting too far inside that cup with your rinsing and you creeper dude standing with your back turned to me and my chillens. I can still work out what you're rinsing with your back turned...eww.

3. Don't skim board so close to me. Really, there's a lot of ocean and a lot of beach so it's not okay to just use my area because I look like a nice chubby mom with four kids that won't mind your snot-nosed self getting all up in my spot. Thank you though for not decapitating one of my kids with a rogue board.

Thank you and good night.

Pretty baby

2011-08-20T17:19:00.000-07:00

Three month old little Meny in her cute outfit from Uncle Adam and Aunt Shantae. She is growing up too fast and I have the shoulder, arm, neck pain to prove it.

I ran a mile and a half yesterday-hollah. I'm still chubby-boo.

Yesterday as I sat...

2011-08-18T19:23:00.000-07:00

I started thinking of my sister. I was remembering her charging through BYU campus with her calf muscles bulging, her witty retorts to stupid things people would say, and how she always had a positive spin on everything. I remembered walking home from campus up the side of a mountain and she would stop and tell me to "pretend to look at the view" so she could catch her breath. The tv was blaring with some cartoon and the baby lay asleep on my lap- just a normal moment- but I started getting sadder and sadder. I felt like my facial features could drip off my head and land in my lap. My throat began to hurt and my heart began to pound until I pushed those thoughts away and filled them with my daily routine. What am I going to make for dinner, gotta change out the laundry, put the baby in her basket and maybe she'll stay asleep. I miss her so much lately- it's almost seven years and I realize that soon it will be a double digit number that denotes the number of years I haven't seen my sister. I hate that. Sometimes I have dreams that I'm doing this or that and my sister is there like she always was in my life. I know they're only in my head, but what does Dumbledore say? "Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real? ..."

We keep it interesting

2011-08-16T18:24:00.000-07:00

Summer is almost over and I don't want to think about starting school again. I guess this is our new reality for a long while. I do not like it Sam I am. It's the middle of August and it was actually nice outside. I forced the kids out for a walk down to the gazebo for a little trick scootering. There is a sign that says no skating or skateboarding, but it says nothing about scootering soooo...
After our walk I forced them out to pick weeds, evil laugh.
Nice weeded flower bed with my pretty moss roses, practically the only dang thing that bloomed. And all four of my chillens...Mooks was chillin' in the moses basket.

Need some cute girl clothes?

2011-08-14T19:56:00.001-07:00

What a cuter

2011-08-10T20:15:00.001-07:00

Percy AKA Wallie

2011-08-10T19:35:00.000-07:00

Drastic times call for drastic measures. Percy got the gift of a Nessa shave. With 4 chillens and a house that won't sell, Percy's grooming comes in last. Sorry "Wallie". Today he started shifting gears and Jeebs immediately scooped him up and held the mail under his mouth as he ran out the door. Ezra immediately asked, "Percy spit-up?" and Jeebs came back in the house to tell me he had a toenail stuck in his throat. Nope, that was my thumbnail...he likes them for snacks. Apparently, like Marshie, it got stuck in his throat. And yes, my thumbnails are as big as toenails.

Meny ain't so mini anymore

2011-08-09T19:20:00.000-07:00

(excuse the red eye- I couldn't resist the smirk)
Meny is about to outgrow the sink-tub. She actually has chunks and more chins than a Chinese phone book. I love to see her gummy smiles and hear her baby ooooh's and ahhhh's. Jeebs definitely has another meny-me.

My kids have it too easy, but that is gonna change

2011-08-08T20:21:00.000-07:00

I made my chillens pull weeds on Friday. It was painful to watch. I could have weeded the flowerbed whilst holding Meny in a quarter of the time, but I was determined to let them do it. Apparently they thought you could stare the weeds out of the ground or complain them out of the ground. My daddy is now vindicated. He used to threaten to put a rope handle on my rake if I didn't quit leaning on it. I feel his pain. (I still insist that a rake with a rope handle would be no good to anybody, it makes no sense daddy!)

My Ward

2011-08-07T14:09:00.000-07:00

New Bern has been rough. We've gone through a disgusting rental complete with a 250$ water leak debacle, several medical expenses not covered by insurance, job moving 2 hours away 6 months after buying our home, job loss, miscarriage and a continually depreciating house that has been on the market for almost 4 years. The saving grace? Our ward. The gospel is the same every where you go and I am eternally grateful for that. And, every ward has the good people you like and those ones that bless your life by teaching you patience. We have questioned our decision to move here over and over again and we have always come to the same conclusion- whatever has happened we have loved being in our New Bern Ward and meeting some of the best people. Today I came home with two things I will love forever.
This picture of Ezra was taken in nursery the day I was doing music in there for a friend. We were singing "To Be a Pioneer" and I forgot my boy pioneer hat...so the boys had to be little boys that lost their hats on their trek and borrowed their mother's bonnet (or something like that). This is Ezra's nursery face- he's got them all fooled. He looks so angelic. One of the nursery leaders took a picture of him and brought me a copy- hilarious. And this...
Remember this man? His mother gave me this music today. It's one of his original compositions. She wants me to work on it and play it for him so maybe he'll remember the piece. I can't wait to play it and I hope I can do it justice. I really am a mediocre pianist, but I am so excited to have a piece of his music for my own. This same sister also crocheted me a baby blanket for Kilmeny (which I will keep forever) and at 90 something was doing jumping jacks in the nursery. Awesome.

Peachy Peach again

2011-08-05T06:56:00.000-07:00

I bought milk at Walmart. It leaked in the back of my car. We have a liner in the back of our Tahoe and I thought it would be easily cleaned and contained. When we got into the car to head for the 3rd day of pony camp yesterday a wall of rotting gut wagon smell knocked us down. Wow- spoiled milk is bad. Now I know exactly why Glen unleashed a whole Peachy peach air freshener after the infamous spilled milk. It's getting worse the longer it sits in the boiling hot car. I'm afraid to get in the car today.

PS never take Ezra to the movies again. He was insane. I thought it would be the baby we would have to stress about, but holy hannah Ezra came out of nowhere. He was taking cues from the movie- as soon as it got loud he would get louder and in the quiet slow parts he was fascinated with his seat and continually wanted us to "watch this!" There were only 3 other people in the movie theater, which almost made it worse because there was no hiding the fact that it was our kid being a crazy person. Jeebs did apologize, but the older lady sitting in front of us said nothing and moved several rows down. I understand a rowdy kid messing up your movie experience, but we did wait 3 weeks to see the movie and we went on a Thursday night. Ahhh Ezra- it's a good thing I love you.

August 2nd (August is useless)

2011-08-03T16:45:00.001-07:00

7:15 drag myself out of bed

7:25 do my Jillian Michaels 20 min workout that still kicks your rear end and makes your quads quiver so you can't bend to go potty

7:50 throw out the oh so nutritious cold cereal and toast (at least my kids are liking ezekiel bread these days)

8:15 throw everybody (minus Cagey) into the car

8:20-9:10 drive to Morehead City like a bat out of heck

9:10 throw Tates out of the car for pony camp

9:20 turn back around and head for pony camp to drop Tater's water bottle off that we forgot to leave the first time.

9:30- 10:45 wander aimlessly around Bed, Bath and Beyond and then Michaels with nothing specific in mind, but still managing to spend $20

11:00 head to the beach for the first time this summer (pathetic, I know, but I just had a baby)

11:15 nurse baby, give Ezra a snack

11:25 head for the water

11:30 put feet in the water and Ezra freak out

11:35 head back to the car carrying baby because she is done being in her wrap

11:40 get back in car, nurse baby, change baby, nurse baby some more

11:55 head back to pony camp

12:10 pick up Tates and head for Panera (ahhhh Panera how do I love thee)

That was my day yesterday and today was another day of pony camp with 3 hours to kill in Morehead city. I went to Harris Teeter first to look for the few things that I can only get there and then headed to Walmart. I hate Walmart so much. I wrapped my baby again and took my non- nap taking 2 year old with me. After about 5 minutes into the store Ezra became totally irrational and inconsolable. A nice lady stocking sausage gave him a cereal bar- she was my hero for the day. He got up in the cart and ate his bar quietly. 3 minutes lady Meny got sick of being in her wrap and decided she wanted in on the party. She starts screaming and screaming and again I get all the fun looks from strangers. Sorry Mooks, no cereal bar for you! By this time I have her in one arm and dragging my buggy up to the front to check out. Apparently only 3 registers work in that row of 700 registers. While we were waiting Ezra decided he'd had enough of his cereal bar and started handing it to me in pieces. After I took the first chunk and then refused to take the rest of it he too the liberty to just prop it in the crease of my arm that was busy holding Mooks. I wonder what joys tomorrow will hold. There is a new Five Guys in Morehead, is it worth the calories? And remember I've been working out for almost a month now without a change in the scale- awesome.

I choose sanity

2011-07-29T20:48:00.000-07:00

Today I kept choosing not to lose my mind. I decided it was a choice and I decide to stay sane. I chose to stay sane when my 2 month old would not take a nap. I chose to stay sane when my 2 year old wiped his giant sucker all over the love seat and chair. I chose to stay sane when my baby cried and cried without reason. I chose to stay sane even after I ate a granola bar and hated myself for it. I chose to stay sane when I thought about how much my chub was glooping over the sides of my shorts. I chose to stay sane while Taylor watched episode after episode of Merlin on Hulu and Cagey played video games for 2 hours or more- I think I blacked out at some point. I chose to stay sane when Ezra repeatedly said "I want, I want, I want, I want," the whole time I was trying to get a our nutritious meal of hotdogs on the table. I chose to stay sane when Taylor showed up with red drink mix powder all over her shirt and the kitchen floor. And, I chose to stay sane when my baby didn't finally fall asleep for good until 11:20 or so. So, I choose sanity- today...yay me.

Yesterday I felt like Shrek when that little boy keeps telling him, "Do the ROAR!" and I think I eventually roared.

My name is Vanessa, my dog's name is Percy

2011-07-26T17:22:00.000-07:00

This is the view out of my bedroom window. See those pretty zinnias? (that's a flower, Page) My next door neighbor plants them for me. Yesterday I was out pulling weeds and she stopped for a minute to ask about my Meny and yada yada. After she pulled away I asked the kids to come out and help me and of course my dang jerk of a dog thought he'd take that opportunity to head for the hills. I was so hot and tired I figured I'd let him just go. When I had enough sweat in my shirt I could wring it out I went inside to cool off and feed the baby. I sat inside enjoying the a/c and then finished whatever things I had left to do inside. Cagey asked for Schlotzsky's and I figured if he had enough money for it I would go get it for him. The kids all brought me their money and I loaded Ezra and Meny up in the car. We went through the drive thru, picked up the 3 kid's meals and headed back home. I pulled in the driveway and I see my neighbor has just pulled back into hers. As I get out she yells to me "Hey Val, did you lose Wally?" I had to process that for a second and just said, "Oh yeah," and looked behind me to see another neighbor bringing little "Wally" up the driveway. He had been out that whole time and my neighbor thinks my name is Valerie. I've never had the heart to correct her because she's asked Jeebs at least twice what my name is. Oh well, she writes novels so maybe she'll base a character on me in one of her books and her name will be "Vanessa". Incidentally, another lady at church calls me "Natalie" and another sister I visit teach thinks my name is "Lacy". Unforgettable, is what I'm not.

Mook matches my bedroom

2011-07-26T17:13:00.000-07:00

We had to show our house today- the people were in and out in 6 minutes...not a good sign. Anyway, our bedroom was nice and clean and Meny made a perfect addition to my throw pillows.Then I thought I'd try to recreate the cutest baby picture I saw in a little shop downtown. It was a baby hanging in a netted fishing bag. This was the best I could do with my little piece of net.

Fake laughs

2011-07-23T14:01:00.000-07:00

(Meny in another cute outfit on her blanket made by my momma)
Do you have one? I have a pretty good one, but poor Jeebs, his is hilarious. I can always tell when Jeebs is talking to a woman from work that thinks they are so hilarious because he'll give his "I'm trying to be nice and laugh at your non-funny comment that apparently you think is so funny" laugh. I always have to laugh at his courtesy laughs. He thinks so few people are genuinely funny- he says he thinks I'm funny, but I know better. I know his laughs.

Hey Catnip

2011-07-21T18:59:00.000-07:00

(Mooky looking cute in her basket and sporting her cute onesie her Grandma Nicolaysen sent)

I finally got with it and bought the Hunger Games. I bought it Monday and finished it on Tuesday, then got the second book on Wednesday and finished it today. I immediately went and got the 3rd book. I haven't started it, but I am hooked. Good story- love it.

Cagey's day

2011-07-18T18:06:00.001-07:00

My little Ragin' Cajun is 6 today. We started his day with a trip out for breakfast at Sea Glass Cafe. He wanted to go for their huge waffles...and he filled every hole with maple syrup. He only ate half of it, Ezra devoured the other half. Ezra also ate the other half of my wrap (note to self: do not order Ezra his own food)

Yesterday the kids and I made all the birds and piggies for Cagey's angry birds cake. It turned out pretty dang cute. It's all in the eyebrows. After lunch Cagey got a surprise balloon bouquet from Grandy-ma, complete with a bag of starbursts Cagey said were just to weigh them down.

Cagey got a new PS3 game and a new track he's been wanting. He's playing the game as we speak and the track is sitting by itself in the middle of the living room floor. Oh and a bottle of chocolate syrup for chocolate milk- he's already had 3 glasses. We finished the night with 5$ Little Caesar's pizza and bowling. Cagey loves bowling- by the end of the game everybody had either pitched a fit or was in the process of pitching a fit except for poor Cagey. Of course there was his angry birds cake. Cagey and his games!I hope he enjoyed his day of not having to get clothes out of the dryer because it's all over tomorrow hehehe.I bowled with Meny in the Moby and I got 2 s pares! woohoo!

Poor daddy

2011-07-17T13:01:00.001-07:00

I'm just curious as to how my kids see the world. Not even "the" world, but their world more specifically. At dinner time Meny has an internal clock that says, "time to scream my head off because I smell something that doesn't smell like what I'm getting." (or something to that effect) So, almost every dinner I sit at the table, the baby propped precariously on one knee, foot propped on something else so I can raise the baby enough to the exposed feed bag so she can eat while we're eating. I've already made the meal, usually put it all out on the table, set the table and everybody just has to come in, serve themselves and eat the slop. A couple of nights ago I made my most excellent homemade flour tortillas and greek style hamburger meat- complete with all the toppings to make gyros. (it sounds weird, but homemade pita bread required a 500 degree oven and that ain't happening) I get everything and everybody settled and the mooks starts her little song. Since I was already eating and he had not yet sat down Jeebs scooped her up and tried to soothe her. She wasn't having it so he slipped outside into the heat because that's where she likes it. As soon as he closed the door Taylor pipes up with, "poor daddy."

Today we sit down to eat. Jeebs had put some chicken and bbq sauce in the crockpot- one of Taylor's favorite things. He made rice and heated up frozen corn and rolls to go with it. He seems to always make Sunday lunch because he has more time in the morning to throw something in the crockpot or I usually have to sit down and nurse a baby directly after church and nobody wants to wait for that. Soooooo, after everyone had filled their plates and the prayer had been said, he got a "thank you daddy" from Taylor and Cagey. I didn't pay much attention (because I wasn't sure what they had thanked him for) until Taylor says, " isn't anybody going to thank daddy for this delicious meal?" Somebody knife me...please. Oh and Jeebs, thank you for that wonderful meal.

ps I really am grateful to Jeebs for his Sunday dinners

I tried and I tired hehehe

2011-07-13T16:12:00.000-07:00

Meny mook looks so cute in her new gymbo outfit complete with red bow stuck on her head with karo syrup. She was not happy about it though. I tried and Tates was a good sport to pose with her screaming little sister. I forgot how fun dressing and accessorizing little girls is. Tates does not let me accessorize her.

Dollarsssssssss

2011-07-10T18:23:00.000-07:00

Cagey lost his first tooth the other night and in true Cagey form he just popped it out and calmly said, "my tooth came out." Also in true Cagey form after examining the hole in his gum I could see his permanent tooth already peeking through behind the tooth next to the newly lost tooth. I guess he'll be losing another one very soon. He kept talking about the tooth fairy bringing him "dollarssss" and slurring his s through his newly made hole. Then he asked "Wouldn't it be cool if I had a thousand teeth and they all fell out at once and the tooth fairy had to bring me a thousand dollarsssss?" Yes, Cagey it would be nice.

Baby's super closeup

2011-07-10T16:56:00.001-07:00

courtesy of Ezra. Every once in a while there are some gems on the memory card waiting for me.

pink petal dress

2011-07-10T15:40:00.000-07:00

Over six years ago when I was pregnant with Cagey I found this dress on sale at Gymboree in Provo. I didn't know if I was having a boy or girl, but it was so cute I couldn't pass it up. They had the little hat that matched as well, but it is still way too big. I bought the socks, but there were no shoes in a new born size so my mom got online and ordered both a 00 and 01 size shoe. Obviously, my baby, Cagey, turned out to be a boy so I packed it away with other baby clothes. We moved to North Carolina and 3 years later I was pregnant again with a baby due in the spring. I dug this little dress out complete with hat, socks and both pairs of shoes and ended up having to put it back away. Now, six years later I finally got to put it on my baby!! I was so excited and she got so many compliments on her little dress and shoes. The shoes, you must look at the shoes. They look like shoes Thumbelina would wear. This outfit just makes me so happy. I can't wait for the hat to fit as well, she'll probably be 5 years old.
The outtakes, Mooks was tired and I was making fun of her. She actually looks a lot like me before church on Sundays.

What we're doing

2011-07-07T19:08:00.000-07:00

We're pretty boring around here these days. We still haven't gotten into a routine and I let the kids play with the camera way too much. I did, however, get up and workout for the first time in 8 weeks and I am feeling it today. After working out I took the kids to Jacksonville (45 min away) to Sam's club. It wasn't near the disaster I thought it would be. We packed a lunch and sat at a park we had never gone to before to eat our lunch. As we ate (in the car, it was 92 degrees) the kids were looking at the playground saying they wanted to do this and that and "can we go play yet?" We finally got done, baby nursed, changed and wrapped up snug in her Moby. After 10 minutes of playing they were ready to go. I tried.

There was a trail at the park and after threatening to take away video games Cagey finally got out of the car. Taylor was all about it until she saw the "Beware of snakes" sign. She kept grabbing Ezra and yelling at him to "get away from the woods!" After 5 minutes of walking in the heat I decided to turn around and then we heard thunder. Awesome. We made it back to the car and back home...where I feel like staying forever.

Fireworks in your face

2011-07-05T18:15:00.001-07:00

I spent the whole night before the fourth smelling brisket tenderizing in the oven. I even half woke up to switch the baby from one side to the other and said to Jeebs, "that brisket smells so good." Yes, I love brisket, I need another one all to myself. We put Meny down for her nap around 10:30 and everybody headed outside. Jeebs set up an awesome baby monitor by skyping his cell phone through to his computer. So we could hear every sound she made and and see her little head in her crib. We don't do baby monitors, it's just another one of those things that I ask Jeebs if he can rig something up and he does. We spent a couple of hours outside in the pool and Taylor said it was the best 4th of July ever. (Five minutes later she was crying because she couldn't go under the water with her earache.)

After our ultimate nap time FAIL we headed over to the McCollom's house. After we stuffed our faces with some dang good food we had our own firework show in their backyard. I'm just gonna say, I've never seen an artillery shell explode at eye level. Scary. But, we had a blast and no one caught fire. (Ezra did not like the fireworks.)
Jeebs was taking pictures with his phone in one hand and Ezra in the other. We were too lazy (again) to get the big camera out.

Even babies take bad pictures

2011-07-02T18:15:00.000-07:00

Meny is not yet a daddy's girl, but she will be. They all eventually turn to the dark side. (jk Jeebs,)
Ezra was so sweet today-he kept throwing his arms around my head and saying "love you, bye bye". I guess bye bye comes after love you.

I have been missing my sister so much lately. I was sitting on my front porch with Ezra the other night thinking about how we used to watch Summer Magic every summer. I wanted to start singing "Summer magic, that..." and then I couldn't remember the words because we always fast forwarded over that song. It was so slow and boring. I know my sister was with me during Ezra's birth and Kilmeny's (Cagey's too for that matter). I just wish they could grow up knowing their Aunt Yang, hearing her laugh, and enjoying all the creativity and fun she brought with her everywhere she went. I miss talking and laughing with my sister. We used to have such good times sharing a room. We would laugh and laugh about those fatty and skinny jokes. Do you remember those? "Fatty and skinny were in the bed, fatty rolled over and skinny was dead." We would make up our own, "Fatty and skinny were in the car, skinny fell out because fatty left the door ajar."

Growing

2011-07-02T06:31:00.000-07:00

My baby is definitely growing...maybe not as fast as the boys that came out riding tricycles and turned into moose 2 weeks after they were born, but she's growing. She is a night owl- these were taken at about 11 last night. She likes to sleep in, but none of her siblings do. She was up until about 12:30 and then the kids were up at 7 or at least that's the first time I heard them. Ezra goes to screaming "DADDY", at the top of his lungs and he has started refusing to let anybody but daddy get him out of his crib. Ezra is definitely a mess. Taylor is a sleepwalker. She got up around 11:30 and came into the living room with nothing to say. She wasn't feeling very well and went to bed early, 3 hours later she comes in with her lips pooched out and looking crazy. Jeebs ushered her back to bed and in the morning she had no recollection of the event. Cagey went from sick to his stomach yesterday with face in a bowl- to running back to his
bedroom to grab a car to race around in the bowl. These kids are crazy.

Sleeping in

2011-07-01T08:51:00.000-07:00

(This picture makes me sleepy)

Meny loves to sleep in. It's a good thing because I will eventually be up early getting my walk/run/workout on. Eventually. I have been waiting and waiting to be able to workout again and now the time has come and now I'm just tired. blagh. I want Olive Garden.

Sunday morning

2011-06-26T10:45:00.000-07:00

(The girls before church in their cute Sunday clothes.)

This is Meny mook in her blessing outfit because I forgot to get a picture of her by herself on her blessing day. Yeah, I'm doing real good- I also call her meny mook all the time and sometimes Mookus- which sounds like I'm calling my child mucus...which is also another reason I should get some kind of an award.
ps These pics are pretty crumby because the regular camera was out of batteries (thank you Ezra) and I had to use Jeebs' phone.

What time is it? What time is it? What time is it?

2011-06-25T17:06:00.000-07:00

(Ezra loves to go!)

It's Adventure Time! Jeebs was just recently released as the Young Men's Pres and called as the scout master so now we have an excuse to go exploring for places to hike and camp. I take after my daddy- I love everything about camping except the having to sleep outside. Once it's nighttime, I'm ready to go in, get a shower and get in my bed. But, I love to hike and I've been itching to go. He found a trail out to a lake he thought would be a good place for camping so we headed out to make the 1 hour drive. Our older 2 were not happy about it and I guess karma is a you know what- and I got all the complaining I ever did paid back in one hike. Taylor complained of the bugs the whole way down the trail to the lake and Cagey whined and cried the whole way back. When I say the whole way- I mean the whole dang way!(Notice the double thumbs down)
(Insert Cagey's whining/crying soundtrack here)
(Jeebs and I will be leaving the older 2 scallywags at home next time)
(My mom said this every time she took us to the grocery store and every time we'd get to go)

Imagination

2011-06-23T20:50:00.000-07:00

Some time after Jeebs and I were unofficially engaged (whatever that means) we were driving back to Provo from Sandy. We were riding in what Glen and I lovingly called "the granny". (It was actually my grandma Wagley's car) Jeebs was driving, the windows were down because it was September and still hot, (the a/c was out) and I was dozing in the front seat. I don't remember the exact conversation, but I remember Jeebs saying to me that while I was sleeping next to him he could imagine us married, driving in our own car, and even a baby in the backseat. I thought it was so sweet at the time.

Fast forward 10 years later and we're in North Carolina driving on a 2 lane highway from Jacksonville (a town with actual stores and restaurants) to New Bern (40 min away) with our 4 babies in the back. Cagey was in the 3rd seat going insane, making random noises and laughing hysterically (no more Barq's root beer EVER for that kid). Taylor was laughing and munching on her snack from Sam's. Ezra was keeping a loud, running commentary complete with the occasional "shup up Cagey!" I don't know where he learned that word. And, last but not least, our Meny was screaming her head off in her car seat. I was not sleeping this time and I had to ask Jeebs if this is what he imagined so long ago. In true Jeebs fashion- "I think I imagined them asleep."