Braxton's Preschool Graduation

The school year flew by and now the end has come. Braxton has had a fantastic year at preschool w/ his amazing teacher, Miss Heidi. They have done so many creative activities w/ all sorts of hands on experiences. I am glad that he will get to go back for one more year!

Here are a few cute things that he has said this year that Miss Heidi kept track of:

Braxton: "If I were the President, I would watch the cartoon station."

They were talking about being thankful for things. Here is Braxton's thought: "I am thankful that Santa brings me presents."

In February they wrote down something they loved. Braxton: "I love Parker." -- his friend in preschool.

They had a week about careers and such and talked about how they could be anything that they wanted to be. Braxton: "I can be a Star Wars Guy!"

Braxton said that his favorite color is green cause it is the color of a light saber and a crayon.

Braxton's favorite thing about preschool was riding the 2-wheeler bikes and making skid marks on the sidewalk. This kid is going to have lopsided tires from all of the skid marks he makes.

He cracks me up with the things that he thinks up! Miss Heidi, Miss Mistee and Miss Paula all said how quiet he is at school and finally this last month has started opening up to talk to them with random stories. Braxton... quiet? Maybe they don't play indians, star wars, and such at school. :)

Anyway- I am proud of Braxton for doing so well in school this year! I never had to drag him out the door to go and we usually remembered the backpack. :)

A Run For My Money

I guess this isn't my "mom" week. Some weeks go by with a few hiccups and others make me want to crawl in a hole till the kids are grown adults w/ perfect lives (cause that is how it is going to turn out... right?!)

I am not sure exactly why I can't seem to be able to handle Landen. We didn't really ever have problems w/ the other two kids coloring on things that weren't paper, taking apart things that weren't toys, being super sneaky, painting the toilet w/ their toothbrushes etc... Does he not get enough attention? I am sure part of it he is trying to entertain himself. Part of it is the fact that he has an older brother training him to do things that he shouldn't. Another part is that there are two older kids who leave crayons, scissors and such around for Landen's convience (it was so much easier when it was just Bryce and I getting stuff out). I am sure a little bit bigger house with more space to hide from me doesn't help me not seeing every move that is made. Now the question is... what do I do about it all?

This morning I was in the kitchen for a minute trying to get the dough started for some rolls for the kids' teachers. Braxton and Landen have been fighting or being mischievious all morning. I am already a bit frustrated w/ them. I had Landen come downstairs w/ me so that Braxton could finish his chores w/out another distraction. Landen went into the living room and was quiet. I was grateful for the moment of peace. He usually goes in there and looks at a few of my books on the table... not today. Today he found out that our decorative pillows on the couch unzip and there is stuffing inside. I am not sure if he thought that the stuffing looked better all over the floor, if he was looking for a prize inside the pillow or what. I walked in after 2 minutes to check on him and found my floor covered in little bits of cotton. I should have taken a picture but it took all of my thoughts to keep self control. We stuffed it all back into the cushions and I am lucky it wasn't a hard mess to clean up but I have about had it!

I thought about sending the boys out back to play, but we have a sandbox and Landen LOVES to throw sand. He loves riding bikes in the front yard but doesn't understand to not stay out of the road or go clear down the street. So for now I let them turn on the tv and pray he will be content for 5 minutes.

I think that I have a curious kid, with lots of energy and a high intelligence to want to figure things out and see what happens to stuff if he stomps on it, throws it, eats it, etc... My right brained personality prefers total and complete order with perfect cleanliness. I guess in the afterlife I will get that but not till then!

I just needed to vent and reading this makes it not seem like such a big deal. Well, Landen is done watching tv (he lasted 3 minutes) so back to work.

It's a sticky mess...

What brings a good laundry day to a complete hault???? 2 pieces of bubblegum in the dryer. GRRRRR! My dad LOVES to give the kids bubblegum and my kids LOVE to get it. Unfortunately he doesn't just give them one piece, he fills their pockets. I want to shoot him right now but I know it is my fault for not checking pockets... I hate checking pockets! Kindof a dumb thing to hate but I do.

Anyway- it could have been worse. Luckily only one of Braxton's socks fell victim to the gum (as far as I know at this moment) so I am considering myself lucky.

Now its time to go break up a fight between Braxton and Landen (again). I think that I need to go back and re-read my post from yesterday or look at the cute mother's day stuff they gave me!

Progress Has Been Made

Life has been a little crazy so blogging went by the way side for a bit. The week before Mother's Day I finally had a day to work in the yard to get my "to-do" list checked off. After working 12 hours straight, my new garden spots were finished, compost placed, weeds pulled and new plants in their spots! I am so excited to have that big one out of the way!!! I should have taken before and after pictures but it wouldn't have done it justice. My biggest accomplishment is that I have more garden space, I survived all million spiders under the deck and even made friends (okay- not friends.. aquaintances) with a snake. Fortunately for both of us he found a different home... for now.

The list is getting checked off a bit at a time so it seems to be tine to start a whole new one! :)

I had a fantastic Mother's Day weekend! Abbey and Braxton were dying to give me breakfast in bed and since Sundays are such crazy days around our house we decided to celebrate it on Saturday. At 7 am on the dot they were up like lightening bolts making toast, a banana and a glass of milk for me. The kids joined me in bed and we all ate my breakfast together. Abbey was quick with refills of fruit loops and they were lucky that Bryce was gone motorbiking so that there was space for them to snuggle in. I loved the little presents with their hand prints and such. They filled out a little paper about me in primary and here are a few of their answers:

BRAXTON--

Mom's favorite food: corn (I am glad a healthy food stuck in his mind and not all of the treats I eat!)

Mom likes to: do the dishes, make the bed and brush her teeth. (I had to laugh at this one! He watches me do these things a ton!)

Favorite things about my mom: when she watches tv w/ me, she's nice. (I guess I don't need to keep thinking of creative things to do w/ him since he LOVES tv!)

Mom loves it when I: make my bed (YES I DO!)


ABBEY--

Mom's favorite food: "mixaken"-- mexican. (I do love it)

Mom likes to: spend time w/ me and my family. (Of course I do!)

Mom's favorite color: rainbow, black and white.

Favorite things about my mom: She is nice. She is helpful. She reads to me. She makes good cookies. (THANKS ABBEY!)

Mom loves it when I: help her and am nice. (YES I DO!)

I had to crack up cause Abbey had decided that she doesn't want to be called "Abbey" anymore at school and has now started signing all of her stuff "Abigail." It is her official name but it cracks me up. She made herself a new desk nametag for school w/ it changed.

LANDEN-- made me a fruit loop necklace in nursery and could hardly wait to give it to me till 3 seconds went by and he wanted it back. His white dress shirt was rainbow colored within seconds but he was quiet for a few minutes.

I have some fantastic kids and it makes me feel so great to read these little things from their eyes that they love me. They weren't liking me quite so much a bit later when they were back to doing their chores.

One more proud moment on Mother's Day: Braxton gave his first talk in primary! He has done scriptures and prayers before but never a talk. He did a FABULOUS job! Bryce helped him, kept it short and he stood right up to do it. WAY TO GO BRAXTON!

What Have I Done?

I am successfully managed to overwhelm my self yet another time. I thought that I would be so good and make a list of things/projects that I want to accomplish (or want Bryce to accomplish in some cases) so I could keep track of it all and check stuff off my list. Well, I started a project, and then another, and another and probably a few more but haven't really completed most of them. Now I am frustrated with myself, grumpy w/ everyone around me and trying not to fall into the "pit of despair" over my own projects, that I thought up on my own. What is wrong with this picture??? Typing this up and reading it makes me think that I am even more crazy than I had even realized before! The things my family puts up with.

I have received some great advice from my friend, Ali and I am doing my best to stick to it. I am picking ONE thing on my list to work on, putting the list away and I can't look at it and especially can't add anything to it till I get my project completed.

I have picked my biggest and most time consuming project to try and finish first. I am going to finish cleaning out the deck flower bed so I can put in a garden! I went to the nursery tonight and picked up my plants and if the weather holds out tomorrow, I will be outside working! I am excited to have a finished project done and hopefully will get some decent peppers, tomatoes, squash, and such out of it!

The Toothfairy Returns

Yesterday Abbey lost another tooth! It was really wiggly so Bryce tied floss around it, Abbey yanked hard and out it came. She was so excited! To make sure it looked nice and shiny she decided to rinse it off in the sink. Not such a good idea. Down the drain it went and instant tears from Abbey. Being the superhero dad that he is, Bryce took the pea trap out of the sink and out came Abbey's tooth. Way to save the day Bryce! This time Abbey listened to us, put it in a bag and immediately stuck it under her pillow for the toothfairy to come. Abbey is WAY excited to have lost another one. I was surprised though that it was on the bottom side when her other top middle tooth is hardly even moving. Oh well, the only thing that I can say is that the tooth fairy might have to start looking for a day job to help pay for all of these teeth that keep falling out!

Such Brotherly Love

Friday night Bryce put the kids in bed and came down to the office where we were both working on things we needed to get done. A few minutes had gone by and we could hear the boys up in their room playing. Bryce went up, Landen was out of his bed, they got in trouble, he put them back in bed and came back down stairs. Not even 2 minutes later Braxtonn came down stairs to tattle that Landen was out of bed. Back upstairs went Bryce, Landen got spanked, put back in bed and Bryce came back down stairs to keep working on his stuff. This happened a few times and we couldn't figure out why. Landen is really pretty good to stay in bed and usually after getting in trouble once he doesn't try it again, but not tonight. Since we were getting frustrated and a little bit suspicious, Bryce stayed upstairs and listened at the boys' bedroom door. Bryce heard whispering and quickly opened the door and asked to Braxton, "What did you say?" Landen was quick with the response, "GET OUT." Braxton was busted. When Braxton thought that Bryce had gone back down stairs he started whispering to Landen telling him to get out of bed. When Landen would get out, Braxton felt it was his duty to come down stairs and tell on him, watch Landen get in trouble and start the mess all over again! WHAT A STINKER! I couldn't believe it. I felt so bad for Landen for getting in trouble so many times when Braxton was coaching him to do it! I am worried that this is a start of things to come. It is probably getting about time to get Landen out of the crib but I am not ready for this change to come. Usually he is good to stay in his crib (even though he can easily climb out) and I don't think he would stay on a regular bed long enough to fall asleep. Is getting a cage considered child abuse???? Just kidding. :)