I'm tired...

Today was one of those days that I felt pulled in many directions. I had a lot to accomplish today. I jolted awake from a coma at 8:30 and realized the boys were still sleeping? Was it really 8:30!?! I felt a little panicked and overwelmed all of the sudden. I wanted to be on our way by 9AM...well that wasn't happening...and from there the day just snowballed. Sadly my highlight was when I discovered Levi had single handedly covered his brother and a good portion of himself with an entire bottle of Waterbabies sunscreen in a few short minutes. And, I mean COVERED!! It's was quite impressive actually, he managed to miss his eyes (thank goodness) all together. My mind immediately goes to the Nickelodeon days with the green goo they would get dumped on their head. That was Greyson, white goo. All I could do was laugh, clearly Levi thought he was helping. They were outside, this is what Mommy always does...why not? We've had two baths today and they STILL went to bed smelling like Coppertone. My greatest disappointment...my camera battery died...it was awesome!

Sweet Summertime...

Fun in the sun...isn't it amazing how some things can really form your day? For me, lately it's been the first 15 seconds in the morning when I wake up. I can determine by how much light is streaming in from our blinds what kind of day were in for. I LOVE sunshine and so do the kiddos, we are loving the vitamin D!

Safety First!

Our little Levi has always been an awesome sleeper. In fact up until just the other night he had yet to realize he CAN get out of his big boy bed. The bed is literally 4...5 inches off the ground, at best. When he wakes up in the morning or from naps he will call for me. Even if I'm pre-occupied with his brother and I call to him that it's okay to come out...he will wait and call and call and CALLLLL until I come. Apparently he got a wild hair a few nights ago, as this is what I discovered when I went into check on him before I went to bed. I'm certain the bike helmet was on at one point as he LOVES to wear that thing and he was literally sleeping on the car. Both of which were across the room, requiring him to venture out of bed into the darkness. Al beit that was a night of fun filled dreams! Man I love this kid!

Have you had your poultry fat today?

My darling son Levi & his cousin Connor sure have! While my sister in law and I were still outside with Greyson the two boys wandered into the house. Two 2 1/2 year olds mind you. Then we realized it was too quiet and they had been gone for a little too long. Apparently it was snack time..."mmmm it's good Mommy" Levi said. I couldn't determine what exactly they were eating. There wasn't any suspisious wrappers or evidence to be found, other than it smelled like apples, cinnamon and oatmeal. I had Levi show me...he opened the pantry to reveal Tia's "yummy" dog treats! Sweet! Then I started reading the package... cleans teeth, freshens breath, great for training...really??? Hmmm...maybe these could work for a two year old??? :)

Bouncing in the Buff

Could life get any better for a 2 1/2 year old???

I love these pics of Greyson and Josh...he's always busy...touching...checking things out. He's all over the place now, EVERYTHING...goes in this childs mouth! :)

Six Kids...Two Dogs...Muy Loco!

My sister and brother went away for the weekend to enjoy their 9 year anniversary. I happily offered to watch my niece & nephews. Then, one of Josh's buddies needed a last minute favor to watch his 9 year old for a couple hours on Saturday. I mean really, if you have 5, what's 1 more? Greg & Kara were attending a family retirement party in Vancouver, WA. So Tia had her very best buddy Red to play with all weekend. Here's what I know right now, this moment:

• My eyes are burning, from lack of sleep I think?


• The Lil Tykes bouncy house we bought for Levi's birthday was/is money WELL spent!


• Whining is equivalent if not worse than fingernails on a chalkboard


• All boys instinctively love to wrestle, how, why?


• Haley is going to be such a good Mommy someday
• I love watching Tanner one on one with Greyson, he gets down on his level and is very sweet and gentle with him


• Carter doesn't have a care in the world and has no shame. What you see is what you get. The kid can seriously poop faster than anyone I know!


• I am no longer cool the moment Levi's cousins walk in the door or was I ever?


• Kids go BANANAS for ice cream bars and stickers


• We would be very poor if I had to feed 5 kids daily


• I'm so thankful they are all for the most part really great, good kids


• I would be a total nut bag if I had 5 kids


• Grandma & Grandpa I have no idea how you did it with 6 kids for the greater part of your lives!!


• My boys are asleep and I'm SO excited that's were I'm headed!!!

And, were mobile...

...yes indeed it's true, Greyson is crawling. He's been on the cusp doing this scoot/crawl/monkey walk until now. He discovered he could reach what he wanted out in the yard today playing. Tia's not safe, brothers toys surely aren't safe and he was just chewing on Josh's flip flop...lovely.

Dad's Day

Oh the fun...BBQ, family, home run derby (whiffle ball & bat) & curveball of the pyramid decent that is, not baseball. :) Above all the GLORIOUS sun! This is Josh's perfect day. We love you sunshine, please don't go....

Josh loved our art project, his comment was "wait, why is there a number 1"...that would be a lower case 'L'.
Naptime for G, not too happy that Mom can't wait until after nap for photos...but then everyone wouldn't have their Sunday best on!! :)
Levi 4 wheelin with his cousins. Not exactly sure why HE doesn't have the helmet on.
So Josh totally made me add this one..."hon, put that one on - I have perfect form, you see that?" Please...
Miss Tia didn't miss any of the fun, chasing any stray balls!

Love you Lil Buddy xoxo

Michael, my little brother is en route to Great Lakes, Illinois for Navy boot camp training. Last night was rough, but my Mom, sister, his girlfriend Krysta and I plan to go down for his graduation in 8 weeks. That will be an even more difficult goodbye. Four years is a good chunk of time, especially with growing babies. He just sent me a text..."I love you sis, tell those boys i love them everyday!" We love you too lil buddy, we'll miss you everyday! And I was doing so good today...

Craft Day for Daddy

So I totally stole this idea from Red Envelope (love their stuff) but they wanted $42 bucks + shipping. No joke, I spent $7 on this super fun and cute idea for Dad! How adorable will this be in his office?!? I bought everything at Michael's for $1, yes each canvas was $1. Here's the trick, the canvases were in the dollar section but they had a sketch on them. We painted over the picture with two coats of paints (their paint is also on sale for $1). Viola, blank painted canvas ready for their hand prints. We all had fun and it burned about an hour of yet another dreary June day. Love it, I know Josh will love it!

I will warn you though, there are a lot of "cool" things to little people in that store these days. As I was pondering my canvas trick, I turn back to my cart Levi had loaded about 7 bird houses in my cart...huh? Not sure what that fascination is about. Greyson was gnawing on a pair of sunglasses to which he had already ingested the tag. Nice.

** The above pic is from Red Envelopes site, I'll post our creation when were done drying. :)**

Nine Months Today ~ Greyson Jax ~

And...not so happy when brother takes his ducky in the bath, but how cute are those 2 little toothers! :)
9 months of fun so far!!

Mt. Rainer + Propellers = NO KIDS!!

Josh & I just returned from a quick trip to Sun River, Oregon with his work. (Discount Tire - shamless plug, YES call him, call me for a deal - seriously!!) Each year they take all the managers and wives from the region somewhere fun for some R & R. This is our second year to Sun River, we opted to fly this time, opposed to the 7 hour drive each way we made last year. I DO NOT have fond memories of that drive and it may or may not have to do with the fact that I was 6 months pregnant at the time. :) All in all it was a nice time. I was a little nervous as this was my first time away from either of the boys for more than 1 night and I had yet to leave Greyson overnight. Of course we missed them terribly, but I'm pretty sure they were unaware of our absence given the fun and love they were surrounded by with my family.
When we arrived on Sunday it was beautiful and 75 degrees. Josh golfed, I enjoyed the spa...all on Discount Tire..woohoo!!! I even got to sleep into 9:30, I felt like I was waking from a coma. Then just as if God was shaking us back to reality and reminding us where we really lived, we woke to some snow flurries & strong wind this morning. I really must have missed some months along the way, am I that tired?? I'm certain it's June 10th, correct me if I'm wrong but this IS Summer??
How beautiful is Mt. Rainer, I felt like we could reach out and touch it. It was amazing to see. I was so excited I got to use my new camera to snap for awesome shots.
Which then got us both thinking, do we always see Rainer when we fly, just don't really 'see' it? As we wrangle kids and make sure everyone is happy & entertained.
Josh & I were recalling the last time we flew alone...several years ago. It sure was fun to enjoy the view, actually talk to each other and not sweat for 45 minutes!
I don't know why, but I thought to take this pic and I really love it. It a bit deceiving to you all, as the propellers were moving so fast while in the air you could not see the blades, but with my new cool camera you can...I thought it was a fun photo!

S.A.D.

Do I need to run out for a light box...this is what I discovered when I googled S.A.D.:

Seasonal affective disorder (SAD), also known as winter depression, is a mood disorder whose sufferers experience normal mental health throughout most of the year, but experience depressive symptoms in the winter. As stated by the U.S. National Library of Medicine:
"Some people experience a serious mood change when the seasons change. They may sleep too much, have little energy, and crave sweets and starchy foods. They may also feel depressed. Though symptoms can be severe, they usually clear up."[1]

Hmmm, the symptoms usually clear up...when would that be? When it's Summer and the sun generally shines for more than a day or two...

Levi started "barking" again a couple days ago and tonight is the worst...now Greyson is starting to cough. It's been raining...pouring at times AND it's definately June! What's the deal??? Josh said he heard that August is supposed to be insanely hot. Perhaps, he's just trying to brighten my day, but I'll take it...I'm holding onto that!

Love, LOVE this...

Awesome!

Levi was all smiles when they returned home at midnight with his cool tiger sticker and hospital band (both of which he won't take off) I have to follow up with his pediatrician, but hopefully I haven't scarred him for life - literally! Sad...

Mom of the year!

So as if I haven't cried enough this weekend...
Levi burned the tips of his four fingers on his right hand minus the thumb tonight. I was boiling sweet potatoes (making baby food for Greyson) and I had just turned off the burner and taken the pan to the sink to drain the water. Levi always wants to help and watch, he had brought his little chair over to stand on to watch...but he used his hand on the burner to help support himself as he got down to move the chair to the sink where I was. Ahhh, as you've heard a million times...I literally turned for a second and the moment I heard him I knew it. I am SO mad at myself! So sad for him, as I think we can all relate being burned at least once in our lifetime. It only gets worse before it gets better. I ran it under cold water immediately for as long as he would let me. Then I let him play in the sink with his toys and cups with the cold water running. At least he was keeping it somewhat in water that way, right? I thought he might be in the clear, but then it hit. Poor baby was really hurting. I called the nurse line at Evergreen (which I should have done to begin with). Again, SO mad at myself! She thinks he might have 3rd degree burns based on how hot it was and that it was beginning to blister when I talked to her. I know, I know...I am terrible! The nurse said he needed to be seen at the ER to stop so they could stop the burn and they could assess it in order to heal properly so he won't have permanant damage on his precious little fingers. I know, I know...I'm terrible. So here I sit blogging, while my poor husband and little guy are in the ER. I have "the goods" for Greyson so we figured it would be better for me to stay in case he woke up...I pray it's not as bad as they think...I think... :(