The Blasphemy of Babes

Kids say the funniest things,

especially a 5 year old and a 3 year old

who are constantly going to Church and learning about Jesus.

The other day I was walking by the playroom

while the boys were playing.

I heard Jackson telling Hayden very matter of fact,

"Jesus Christ likes Kaleidoscopes."

Sooooo I stopped and

did a 180 to look and see what was going on.

Hayden just said, "Oh." and they kept playing,

quite happily I might add.

Jackson also just got his own,

very first, Book of Mormon.

He is so excited about it.

He walks around all day talking about how

he "Loves the Scriptures!'

He holds them constantly.

Then he'll stop and sit down to look through them.

So of course he found the pictures.

"Mom, this is Joseph Smith!"

"Yep."

"Mom, who is this?"

"Samuel the lamanite"

etc. etc.

Then he got to a picture of Jesus,

"Hayden! This is Jesus Christ!!!"

(He was very excited.)

To which Hayden looked at the picture and said,

"Oh! What's up Jesus?"

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I'm really glad Jackson had preschool today so that he could have some kind of St. Patrick's Day celebration, even though he came home talking about "Lucky the Leprechaun" and now I'm afraid I will actually have to do something on St. Patrick's Day. The only festive thing I did today was to say, "Look, you get to wear your St. Patrick's Day shirt from Grandma Jones!" Wait, that's a lie. I did buy Hayden a shamrock sugar cookie, but that was mostly because I wanted a sugar cookie, and not because it was St. Patrick's Day. The point: Aren't their shirts cute? Thanks Grandma Jones! Thanks for the pillow cases too! We had to include them in the picture.

This picture was not easy to come by. Can you guess which child took a fabulous nap today and which child did not? I'll give you a hint.

SmilingTrying to hideGood thing I love my little crazies. Hope you had a happy St. Patrick's Day!

Snow

It hasn't really snowed since January. Well, like the snow that actually sticks to the ground so your boys can sledding. I'm hoping we don't make up for it now that it's march, but it snowed recently and we put on the snow suits and headed outside. (I am secretly praying that it is the last time this season we'll go play in the snow.) The boys do love to play in it though. They were very proud of their snow castles.Jackson loves to sled, and Hayden has apparently forgotten how. He would get scared and roll off every time.While Jackson was sledding Hayden was busy throwing snowballs at me. Can you see them flying through the air? This shot was my favorite. Let's pray the fun in the snow is over.

Brainwashing

I'm starting early.

Grandpa took us to the BYU - San Diego State game.The boys had a lot of fun. Jackson is becoming quite the BYU fan. I'm so proud. The other day Jackson's friend said he didn't like the color red. I asked him what his favorite color was and he said, "Boy colors." I told him that red was a boy color and he said, "It's because of the stinkin Utes!" I laughed so hard. This exchange has deepened Jackson's love for BYU and anything blue. On our home from the basketball game Jackson was asking about the Utes and saying he didn't like them. I told them that they don't like BYU very much and he said, "Why wouldn't they like BYU? WHY mom?"

I don't know Jackson, I just don't know. :) To any Ute fan who is taking the time to read this I respect your opinions even though I don't understand them. Really, I do. Which reminded me of a funny experience I had a while ago.

I had a piano student ask me if I like the Utes. I said as nicely as possible that I'm not really a fan. She asked if I liked BYU and I told her yes. She looked kind of dissapointed and said in her six year old sweet little voice, "Do you think you will ever be a fan of the Utes? Can't you just like them?" Trying not to laugh I nicely said, "Well, I don't think I'll ever become a fan."

"But why?" She asked.

"Uhhhhh, I've never gone to school there?"

Then she looked at me like, "Oh, well that can be fixed." and we went on with our lesson.

No, it cannot be fixed, and it's funny because I wasn't really a BYU fan until after I started going to school there. Now there's no turning back though, so I might as well ingrain the fever into my children, right?

p.s. Is it wrong that I couldn't help noticing a drastic difference between these two teams, and then I took a picture of it? AND I cut my children's hair today. They look much better.

8 Years?!

8 Years ago today this is what I was doing. I love today. It makes me smile. We're celebrating on Friday with no kiddies. To think that back then we didn't have them is the craziest part. I love you Ty! Thanks for making me laugh -- every day. Speaking of making me laugh, I thought I would share a picture of one of the most classic pictures from my wedding day. I remember the photographer telling Ty's brothers to "Pick her up." I stood there thinking, "What?! Can I say no, because this is going to be awkward."

And it was.


At least it's funny now. Happy Anniversary to me!

I Have a Headache

and it's not caffeine related. I think it's from my five year old. A little from my 3 year old, but mostly from my 5 year old. Now, I am not a headache person. I rarely get headaches (that don't come directly from caffeine withdrawal). I never understood when husband would say, "That kid is giving me a headache." How can a kid give you a physical headache? "Suck it up," I would think. "It's just a headache. How bad can it be?"

Husband will be glad to know that I have been put in my place, and I can kind of relate.

I don't know if the 5 year old is getting sick, or he's just five, but everything that comes out of that kid's mouth is either hilarious and sweet, or extremely whinny and mean. Tonight we attempted to do Valentine cards for a preschool Valentine's day party tomorrow. Jackson wanted to write every one's name on the card himself. He needed help at first and then he didn't want help anymore by saying, and I quote (because I wrote them down immediately),

"Keep your mouth zipped, ok?"

"Don't say a word until I am finished."

After shushing me once, he said, "I'm thinking in my head what letter goes after!"

At least he did try to be polite by saying, "Thanks for not saying a word."

And these were the least annoying comments. All day long it was mostly a five minute long string of comments such as:

"HAYDEN!"
or
"MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMY!!!!!!!"
or
"HAYDEN DID _____________!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
and
"It's not fair!"
or
"Hayden has __________. What do I get?" etc. etc. ETC.

And All of these phrases are followed by the cry of a 9 month old girl. By the end of the night, my head was/is throbbing, and every time he talked, I cringed. Does anyone have a muzzle, or laryngitis? I just need one day without anyone talking to me, then I'll recover. Is that too much to ask?

"Stuff" Bumblebee

Let me introduce you to Hayden's new best friend.
This is Bumblebee, Stealth Bumblebee to be exact. Hayden got him for Christmas and up until a week or two ago, he didn't really care that much about him. He'd play with him occasionally when Jackson was playing with Transformers, and he'd take him some places because he wanted to be like his brother and Jackson can't leave the house without a toy, but in the last two weeks, Stealth Bumblebee or "Stuff Bumblebee" as Hayden calls it, is now Hayden's new best friend.

Hayden has learned from his older brother that when you single out a toy as your favorite toy it has to go everywhere with you. Everywhere. AND you have to sleep with it. We have taken "Stuff" with us every time we go to the car, to Grandmas and even inside the library and the store. I knew he was developing a serious attachment when he said he wanted "Stuff" in his bed to sleep with and then it stayed there.

He usually says he wants to sleep with a toy, mostly because Jackson sleeps with about 5 toys in his bed, and then when he lays down he promptly throws them onto the floor. But not "Stuff". This one has stayed in the bed for 3 days, and is now on his pillow just waiting for Hayden to smack his head on him when he flops around in his sleep. I have snuck in to his room and put it on the floor so he wouldn't roll onto it, but then he'll wake up in the middle of the night and come in my room saying he "Lost Stuff Bumblebee."

You can imagine the trauma we experienced the other day when we couldn't find "Stuff" anywhere. I looked for that thing all morning and he whined about it all morning. Every other sentence was, "Where is Stuff Bumblebee? Are you looking for it Mom? Did you find it?" I thought it was lost forever but then finally, finally, after Hayden went down for a nap and I went to make myself some lunch, I found it--in the pantry!

I was so happy, and then I realized he probably left it there when he was trying to sneak some treats without Mommy knowing. Stinker.

Basketball

The boys did Itty Bitty Basketball this month. It is really fun for me to watch them play. This was Hayden's first time in some kind of organized sports and he did really well. At first he would get a little intimidated and take himself out of the game.
But luckily Jackson was on his team and he helped Hayden get up and stay with the right coach. By the end Hayden wasn't scared to get into it. I think he actually enjoyed himself. Jackson had fun too. Here he is playing defense, while Hayden is watching. Then Hayden started playing zone, I guess.Since my pictures are so bad (I am a lazy mom. I just sat on the bench and zoomed in as much as I could. I didn't want to get up.) I'll explain what you can't really see in this one, but Jackson actually made a basket over all of the other team.And this next picture is so bad, but this is Hayden and he just ran up and made a basket in the middle of all those kids. It was awesome. They loved Lenny the Lion. Jackson and Hayden used to be so scared of him, but apparently they got over it. I was so proud of them. They were the funniest little basketball players. I love having boys!

I Hate My Teeth - Two of Them Specifically

I hate my teeth. They are terrible. I don't know any other 28 year old who has had the work done on my teeth that I have had done. I realize that drinking soda doesn't help, but I'm REALLY careful. I don't let it touch my teeth, and most of the stuff that has happened to my teeth happened before I was addicted to Dr. Pepper. I'm writing now because I'm in pain. I am in pain, and I'm going to give you a history of two of my most annoying teeth. Ya, only two, if I gave your the history of my mouth, well, we don't have that much time.

Did I tell you what I got for Christmas? It was really really extravagant, and about $2,000 over budget. Can you guess? Well I will tell you. A new tooth, an implant to be more specific. Isn't that a great Christmas present? Maybe for a 90 year old, but that was my Christmas. I'm going to give you the history of this new tooth, because I have another one that is on the same path.

My Christmas present started giving me problems when I was 18. Somehow I cracked it, and so I got a huge cavity and had to have a crown. When they put the crown on it was the most painful thing I have exprienced, even more painful than my throbbing tooth right now. I gasped really loud, doubled over in pain, and cried for 2 minutes until they gave me more novicaine. (I should tell you, my body metabolizes novicaine so fast. Every time I go to the Dentist I sit there sweating in terror because I know any second the novicaine will be gone and pain will shoot through my entire head) I should have known it was a bad sign. Two and a half years later, I was married with no dental insurance, and my brother and sister-in-law came over to watch a movie. My tooth started bugging me and by the time the movie was over I was laying on the couch wanting to die. The bottom side of my jaw was swollen because my tooth had abscessed out of control. So then I had a root canal, and another crown. about 3 years later a new dentist found a massive cavity under the crown, and had to drill away half of my remaining root and place a titanium rod in my root to stabilize the structure enough to hold a crown. A year later, it abscessed again, and I had to get an apicoectomy. After my APICO, six months later, my tooth cracked and was rotting from the inside out - so they had to pull it. After all that work, they PULLED my tooth. Ty was mad they didn't pull it when I was 18. So now I have a new tooth healing in my mouth. Yipee.

No onto my next tooth that is killing me right now, and I'm almost considering getting it pulled considering it's history. The tooth that is throbbing so consistently in my mouth has another unique history. It was my first root canal ever. Somehow a circle sized hole fell out of the middle of this tooth. The hole was pretty deep and my dentist at that time, also known as IDIOT who owes me 10,000, filled it for me saying, "If it starts to throb, come back in, you'll need a root canal." 2 weeks later, I was back and in the most excruciating pain of my life. When they numbed my mouth I was in heaven, and when they started scraping out the infection, I could actually feel the scraping a bit, but it felt so good, because with every scrape, the pain lessoned. It was like scratching an itch and I wondered why people hated root canals because I was so happy.

Alright - fastforwad 5 years later. I'm at the endododist for first tooth that I told you about that was eventually pulled, and I'm saying, "I know I'm pregnant, but I swear to I have the worst taste in my mouth and puss is leaking out from my crown, but it doesn't hurt." (Gross huh!) They X rayed it and said, well, you have an infection, and your body is keeping it in check, but still, you're living with an infection. I said I'd keep living with it and hopefully I wouldn't go into preterm labor. Which I didn't.

Fast forward another year. I got a new dentist, who I LOVE and he told me I needed a new crown on this specific tooth, for some reason I can't remember, and I might as well get my root canal retreated because it was still infected and you don't want a new crown and then get a retreatment bccause then you'll need another new crown. So I went back to my endodontist and had it retreated and I found out that the reason it was leaking puss was because they had missed a whole canal. Most teeth have 3 canals, but my molars have 4. So my wonderful endodontist fixed it and I felt WONDERFUL and then three days ago my tooth started aching. I thought, it would go away, and now I want to die, half because of the pain, and half because I know they're going to tell me I'll need an apicoectomy. And do you know how expensive those are, and I just got a new tooth. AAAAAAA. Woe is me.

Thanks for listening to me vent. I just can't believe it sometimes and I don't get any sympathy from husband who groans and moans every time I say the word, "tooth." THE END.

Catch up: Part 1 - Jackson's Birthday

I haven't been blogging lately and I feel so out of practice! I'm going to play catch up now starting with Jackson's Birthday. He had a fun-packed day. We started by going to the Kangaroo Zoo for the 3rd year in a row. I think he just thinks that's where you go on your birthday, but he loves it so we went again.

When we got there Jackson told girl that was working at the desk that it was his birthday. The girl told us that we could sign up online somewhere so that he could come on his birthday for free, which is great. As she was telling me this I remember saying, "Oh ya, I wish I would have known that earlier." And then I had some faint recognition of the year before, and the guy working at the desk (who used to be my neighbor and is now has my in-laws for mission presidents) telling me the same thing, and me saying, "Oh ya, I wish I would have known about that." and then remembering that the year before, on Jackson's 3rd birthday, the girl at the counter told me the same thing, and I said, "Oh ya, I wish I would have known about that." Do you think I'll remember for next year? Let's hope.

But here are some pictures. My camera is eating my batteries so I have to change them almost every time I take pictures, and so of course my camera died, but I got a few.
Then we got lunch and Jackson went to preschool, which is a party in itself. He came home with this awesome birthday crown that he did NOT want to take off.

Then my family came over for a little party, well for opening presents and eating cake. Jackson still hasn't asked me for a "friends" party, which I am so grateful for. I do feel a little guilty for not throwing a party with friends for him yet, but he hasn't asked, so why complicate things? Maybe next year. He was really really happy having his grandma and grandpa come over, along with Logan and Amanda.
Sometimes I wonder where Jackson gets his cheesy smile from, and why he sometimes turns his head in an odd direction. I now know he learned it from his dad.Jackson had two cakes this year. He told us that he wanted a "Rachet" (Jackson's most favorite transformer) cake. I was going to try to order a transformer cake, and then I forgot, and so Ty started to make him one. It wasn't working out like he had envisioned, so he told me to make another one. Long story short, we both ran out of time and laughed at our cakes. Someday I'll make it easier on myself and just buy one. We love you Jackson. Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Jackson

Dear Jackson,

I can’t believe you are five years old. I know you can’t believe it either. You’ve been telling me all week. “Mom, I can’t believe I’m 5!” Sometimes you tell me you don’t want to be 5. I know it’s a little scary. It’s scary for me too. I actually remember being 5. That’s pretty much when my life started. I remember my 5th birthday party, and even what I wore. So I’m really worried now because now you’ll probably remember things, which means you’re a real person , in a real life, if you know what I mean. Do you know you are the best 5 year old ever? I wrote a letter to your brother for his birthday and I told him some of the things that I love about him. I’ll do the same for you. This might be long.

I just love you kid! I don’t know where to start. You have so many good qualities. I don’t want you to ever change! Ok, here goes for real.

I love how you can’t quite say your R’s. You try so hard but it comes out like wag, or bwotha, or Heavenly Fada.

I love your sweet voice. You’re so smart and when you talk I just think the only thing that makes you sound 5 sometimes is the fact that you can’t say your r’s. I just love love love your voice, and almost everything you say. It’s so funny, or smart, or sweet. I hope you are always sweet. It’s not a bad thing.

I love how you love people. You love EVERYONE. You want to be everyone’s friend. You say hi to strangers, you love other kids, you love your teachers, you just love people and you love to be happy. I’ve tried to teach you about stranger danger, but you just don’t get it. You love everyone too much.

I love your enthusiasm for holidays, and birthdays, and I guess parties in general. You love the holidays. I love how you get so excited for pumpkins, and then Turkeys, and Christmas anything. I love that on your birthday whenever anyone knocked on the door you said, “I think that’s someone coming to give me a birthday present!” and you were pretty much right.

Jackson, you are so special. It’s hard for me to put it in words. I’m just so used to your infectious little presence.

I love how you are so eager to always give the prayer, and volunteer for things in primary. I love how you got a bracelet from primary that says, “I know my Savior loves me.” And you haven’t taken it off in a week. (It’s one of those rubber ones, so it’s ok.)

I love how you love to go to Church.

I love how you take care of your brother and teach him how to play transformers. I love to hear you play transformers and how you are always Rachet and Hayden is now Ironhide, or how you are Optimus and Hayden is Megatron. I hope you always take care of your brother. He looks up to you so much, and for the most part you are so patient and loving with him, except when he takes your toys, of course.

I love how you want to play “Mommy and Daddy,” when you’re playing with girls. When you’re with boys , it’s always transformers, but with your cousin or your friends, you always take a little while to play what they want to. You are so in tune with other people’s needs.

I love how you love to read books. You just absorb them and even memorize them. Remember the Lion book you memorized? That was amazing.

I love that you are 5 and you will still take some naps for me.

I love that you need me and you will let me hold you while I read stories and you always hold my hand when we’re walking somewhere. Please let me hold your hand forever, please?

I love how much you love your grandma and grandpas and how you love to go do fun things. If I ever have enough money we’re going to travel all over together. Your daddy won’t go with me, but I know you will, and we’ll have a blast.

Oh Jackson, your sweetness is infectious, your intelligence is immeasurable, as is everyone’s love for you. You have the best personality. Don’t become shy like your Mommy. Please keep shining on. You are what keeps me going. I love you. You give me so much happiness in life just knowing that something so wonderful essentially came from me. You’re the reason I was put on this earth. Just like I tell you all the time, thanks for choosing me as your Mommy. I’m the luckiest girl in the world.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas with these kids is awesome. We hope you have a great one!

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Hayden's First Crush

Does anyone else feel like they're drowning? I feel like everything is spinning out of control, and I've never really had that expression apply to me, but I seriously feel like I'm in one spot and everything is spinning like crazy, and that my life has become a crazy spinning chaotic thing. But that's just a normal Tuesday, with teaching lessons and everything else that goes on. One thing that helps keep me sane on Tuesdays is taking my boys to gymnastics on Tuesday mornings. I seriously look forward to it every week. I don't think about anything stressful because I'm too busy laughing and being entertained by watching these kids do gymnastics.

Jackson and Hayden go during the same hour because they have a four year old class and a 2 year old mom and tot class at the same time. ( I KNOW Hayden is 3, but they don't.) Today was Hayden's last one. I'm really sad, and he will be too. He is used to the hilarious kids in his class, especially one little girl. I noticed this month that he always tried to sit by Sophie, who by the way is the cutest little girl in the whole class. When I'm not laughing at Hayden I'm laughing at her. And the girl knows how to work it. Both of them made it a point to try to sit by each other today and after we left the class Hayden said to me,

"Mom, Sophie touched me and talked to me!"

She would seriously touch Hayden's arm when she said something to him. Good thing she'll be in the 3 year old class in February, or maybe it's not.

My House

smells like burnt peas. I burned peas tonight. I hate peas, I hate the taste, the smell, the texture, excuse me while I dry heave, but my kids need more green vegetables so I cooked peas, but they burned. Not only did they burn, they turned black and smoked and ruined my favorite corning wear dish. I thought I had the burner on low, but it was on high, and while I was in my room, they burned. And then when I left the house, I smelled like burnt peas and now, all I can smell is burnt peas and I've cleaned everything, deodorized everything, sprayed every room and it stinks. Help me. Oh and yesterday I ran over my neighbors mailbox. It's only Tuesday. I'm not having a good week.

Pictures of Hayden's Birthday

I'm finally getting around to posting pictures of Hayden's birthday. In the morning Jackson and Hayden had fun climbing like mountain goats on the rocks in my parents backyard. This is Hayden saying "Happy birthday!" to himself.Hayden loved opening his presents this year. He loved his cards too. Funny how wonderful grandmas think alike, they both gave Hayden the same card.Can you tell he's excited about his transformers?And his new fleet of planes?Ok, now I'm really embarrassed to post the pictures of my first personal cake wreck. But here it goes. When I asked Hayden what kind of cake he wanted he said, "A Jack-O-Lantern!" And so he got one. It didn't turn out anything like it was supposed to. I don't really know how to work with frosting, or how to decorate, but he was really happy with it and that's all that matters right? Jackson and Hayden were really funny opening presents this year. I enjoyed it. Please ignore my stupid comments and maniacal laughing.

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