May 15th, 2012

This has been one of the best weeks for me. I started out the week taking some newborn pictures for my friend Charsty. She has such a precious little baby!

My mom came into town on Thursday, and Barb came into town on Friday night. I had all of my moms here to watch me graduate with my Bachelors of Science in Political Science on Saturday the 12th. I can't even begin to describe how great I felt! I feel as if a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders and that I can conquer the world now. It took me 10 years, and three kids, but I did it!!!

The last month of school I wasn't sure how I was going to do everything I needed to finish. Brandt got to deal with all my stress, and emotions. One thing kept happening right after another: Covey broke his arm, we all got super sick, I was pregnant, my back was hurting, and lastly the week before school got out I had a miscarriage. After the miscarriage I was really down for a few days until I was reminded of the scripture in 2nd Corinthians that I posted in an earlier post. It reminded me that all of the afflictions and challenges that I was facing were but for a moment, and that I would be renewed day by day. It was great to have that reminder that the Lord was there for me and that everything was happening for a reason. I began to push ahead with a much more positive outlook, and now I have accomplished my goal. Despite everything I am done!!!!!!!!!!

I felt so much love and support having my family around for graduation. I couldn't stop smiling most of the day. After graduation we all went out to Rosies Cantina to celebrate, and later that night we played hours of card games. All in all it is one of those special days I will not forget.

The family waiting for the graduation ceremony to begin.

My kids - a bbig part of the reason I wanted to finish school so badly.

Me and Brandt. Without his support, and sometimes just plain pushing me, I don't think I could have ever acomplished this. I love him so much!

Mothers Day on Sunday was also special. Like I said I had both my moms in town with me. (That does not happen often.....) Brandt got up early and made us all cinnamon rolls, and then he and the kids hopped on the bed and woke me up with hugs and kisses telling me "happy mothers day" . We went to church and I got to teach the lesson in Relief Society. I was nervous about the lesson but I think it went good. I had so many sister participate, and share stories about prayer in their lives, and I could just feel the spirit so strong.

Me and all of my moms!

Not every moment of my week was perfect, and I did have times when I lost my patience, but all in all This was a great week - and this is what I am going to remember.

View Comments (1)

Add Comment

Back to Top

May 6th, 2012

This has been a great week! To start off with I finished school. I turned in my 25 page paper, gave a presentation on it, and took my exit exam on Wednesday. Now I am officially done and waiting until graduation on May 12th. I have to say I feel like a HUGE weight has been lifted from my shoulders, and like I could conquer the world.

Wednesday night my friend Charsty went into labor. She and her husband dropped of their two other girls at my house to spend the night, as they headed into the hospital. Thursday morning came and she still hadn't had the baby. I brought her girls into the hospital around 10:30am and was able to stay in the room through the rest of labor and delivery.

I have to say that being there was one of the neatest experiences I have had. I used to think that I would feel awkward being in the room with another woman having a baby (mainly because there is no modesty in childbirth) but I didn't at all. It was so incredibly special and sweet to see that baby enter the world. To watch my friends two year old daughter look up with excitement when she heard the baby cry for the first time. To see the joy and love of every member of their family as they welcomed this perfect baby into the world, my heart was so full. I couldn't help but shed a tear of happiness myself. I am so grateful for my friendship with Charsty, and that I was able to share in this moment of their joy. Congratulations baby Ariella on joining such a wonderful family!

Friday was the Stake Father-Son Camp Out. Brandt left with both Covey and Xander and I stayed home with Jerrica. while the boys were gone I had a small girls night here at the house to celebrate finishing school. It was strange being home alone with just Jerrica. I was able to sleep in until 9am, and just relax.

The boys really enjoyed the campout. They kept talking about it to me after they got home. Their favorite part was sleeping in the tent, but going out in a canoe was also fun. Brandt said that he liked waking up by Xander in the morning. He woke up first, and as Xander was waking up slowly he kept looking at Brandt and smiling these huge smiles until he fully woke up. We love our boys!

Covey is starting to have very set opinions on things. Here are a few things Covey said on Sunday that really amused me.

Covey got upset Sunday morning when Brandt called Covey his son. Covey informed Brandt that the "Sun" is in the sky, and that there is only one sun. No matter what Brandt said he could not convince Covey of the difference between "sun" and "son". Covey then went into the bedroom and colored Brandt a picture of a sun. He showed it to Brandt and even drew an "x" in the center of the sun to make sure Brandt knew what he was talking about.

Later that morning:

Me: "Covey you need to wait while I help button Xanders shirt. Have a little patience."

Covey: "NO! I don't want any!"

I think that that sums up the way most of us feel :)

After church Covey and Xander called Grandpa Horrocks to see if we could go visit tonight. Grandpa mentioned cookies and the boys got super excited. Then Grandpa said "Maybe I'll have to fix some tonight". Covey got a very disappointed look on his face and replied "Grandpa, don't fix the cookies, you need to make them."

Dad also came over this week to help Brandt build the playground. They set up spot lights and worked on it until around 11pm one night!

View Comments (1)

Add Comment

Back to Top

April 28th, 2012

I have to admit that this week had a very rough/emotional start for me. It began with me working on my C++ final, and getting so frustrated that I would want to scream. Then on Tuesday night right before I was going to submit the final I somehow closed it without saving it, and lost all of my answers. So at 11:30pm I started answering all the questions all over again. I didn't get to bed until around 1am. Then in the middle of the week I had some things happen that just made me very sad/depressed. I was upset and feeling down until Thursday night when I was saying my prayers and asking the Lord to help me. As I was praying I was reminded of a scripture that I used to read often during rough times. It is 2nd Corinthians 4:16-18

" 16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;

18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal."

That scripture gave me strength to know that whatever I was going though, my spirit would be renewed and I could handle it. It reminded me that the Lord has an eternal plan for us, and to not focus too much on the small trials we are going through.

After this my week got better, and here are some happy things that stood out to me on the second part of the week.

- Putting the kids in the bathtub and watching them play. They got laughing so hard, and I couldn't help but laugh too. I love it when they can easily bring a smile to my face.

- I started teaching Covey and Xander to load and unload the dishwasher. Since I am not supposed to bend much I decided they are old enough to learn how to help. Xander is so excited about it, because it helps prove to Covey that Xander is "a big boy now!!"

- Getting cookies and some sweet notes from a friend and her daughter. They really brightened my night.

- Laughing really hard with my friend Charsty talking about ways that people have tried to "naturally" induce labor. Especially when we talked about jogging down the street and then jumping and squatting at each mailbox you pass.... It was a great and much needed laugh.

- Bringing the kids out to the Arsenal on Thursday for "Bring your kids to work" day. They had a blast and got to see some tanks, and helicopters and things that were parked outside. Xander saw a trailer type thing and he got so excited he yelled "Mommy, its Wally!!"

- Staying up late with the kids, shutting off all the lights, and curling up with blankets and pillows in the living room to watch tv until Daddy got home.

- Being able to talk to my mom, and her always seeming to know what to say to help me feel better.

View Comments (0)

Add Comment

Back to Top

April 23rd, 2012

Highlights from this week:

Driving with the kids to Grandma Horrocks house and Xander decided that driving down a hill was like going down a slide. The rest of the way there every time we went down a hill Xander and Jerrica would yell Weeeeeeeeeee!

Jerrica waving and shouting "Bye Bye!" happily to each cashier as we left the store.

Covey came up to me and scrunched up his nose. He felt it with his finger and said "Mommy, I have lines on my nose now. You try it mommy." I then scrunched my nose, and his eyes went wide and he said "Wow, you have Dozens of lines on your nose." When asked what "dozens" means he quickly replied that he didn't know. :)

I put some pinto beans out to soak overnight and forgot about them. A ton of them sprouted, so we decided to plant some in the garden and also in pots. It got pretty cold this week, so we brought the pots inside, and the beans grew like crazy! All of us have enjoyed watching how much they grow in the matter of 24 hours. The kids are super excited, and we are thinking about planning some more things in the house to watch grow as well. We shall see.

Covey went to the doctor to get a cast put on this week. However to our surprise we were given the option of a brace instead of a cast - as long as Covey would keep it on. Knowing Covey I knew he would probably do fine with a brace. Covey was a little disappointed at first because he had finally decided what color he wanted his cast to be (blue) and his brace only came in black. However after I told him that his arm would not be as itchy he decided it was a great idea.

The doctor also said it would be alright for Covey to ride a bike now, since he still uses training wheels. When we left the doctors office we went to Target and bought him his first big boy bike. He has been working for a couple months on household chores to earn this bike, and he had finally earned it about a day before he broke his arm. He was super excited to be able to get it now. Daddy and Covey put it together that night, and he got to start riding it. Also since Covey has a big bike, Xande now gets to have the hotwheels. He as pretty excited too.

While we were outside, we found that Jerrica has been dumping dirt, rocks, toys, and pretty much everything she can get her hands on into where our water shut off is. Here is Brandt cleaning it out.

Saturday it was our turn as a family to help clean the church. I of course am restricted on what I can do with my back, so I worked on general pick up and things where I didn't have to bend. The boys were super excited to go, and asked all day when we were going to be leaving to clean the church. I had all three kids wiping down the glass doors to get hand prints off, and Covey helped Daddy with the vacuum cord as he went around the church. The only down side was when Covey shut Xander in the gym with the lights off and told him there was a monster in there.... Poor Xander, he was so scared I thought he was going to wet his pants. Covey got a nice talking to...

Covey's new thing is to say "Did you say guinea pig?" anytime you say something he didn't hear.

Jerrica is obsessed with makeup. On Sunday she found some bright red lipstick I had bought a while back for a murder mystery dinner. She put it on, and then walked out for breakfast.

View Comments (0)

Add Comment

Back to Top

April 14th, 2012

This week started out with a bang... or I guess I should say a crack. On Monday night Brandt was working late and I was having the kids get ready for bed. I sent the boys into the bathroom to start brushing their teeth. Less than a minute later Covey came out of the bathroom screaming. he walked over to me and held up his arm and said it hurt. I could tell just by glancing at it that it must be broken, because it looked bent to the side down by his wrist. I told the kids that we were going to need to go get in the car, so that I could bring Covey to the doctor. According to covey he climbed up on the little counter by the bathroom sink to brush his teeth and fell off.

Hind sight is great - I was in kind of a hurry to get the kids out of the door because I had never seen a broken bone before, and I could tell Covey was really hurting. I just had the kids go get in the car as they were. I dropped Xander and Jerrica off at my friend Charsty's house and continued onto the hospital. Halfway there it hit me that I didn't know how dressed Covey was since he was getting ready for bed. I asked "Covey, do you have pants on?".... "yes mommy" Then I asked "Do you have any shoes?" - No. So we ended up carrying covey around the hospital.

Brandt met me at the ER about 9pm and we were there with Covey until 1am. They took x-rays and found that he had broken both the bones in his arm just a little ways above his wrist. They had to sedate him, set the bones, and put his arm in a brace. Covey really did not want to be at the hospital. He kept telling us "I want to go home.... my arm is feeling a lil' bit better - can we go home?" Luckily the nurse who was in charge of explaining everything to Covey was named Caitlin (Just like his aunt Caitlin) and he sure seemed to perk up when she said her name.

It was kind of rough seeing Covey sedated to say the least. They gave him the medicine in his IV and less than a minute later he was unresponsive. I say it that way because he was basically asleep but his eyes stayed wide open and shook back and forth quickly. Other than that he really looked dead. I had to turn my head and Brandt got really light headed. Coveys arm got set and put in a splint. We finally made it home around 1:30am.

Covey went in on thursday to the Orthopedic doctor, but he won't be getting a cast on for another week due to swelling in his arm.

Jerrica is still my girl that likes to get into EVERYTHING. On Friday she found a bottle of nail polish and painted all of her finger and toe nails. Magically she didn't get any on my floor, and she actually did pretty good getting them on the nails. Later that day Brandt was out working on the playground and I went out to check on him, Jerrica climbed up to the kitchen counter and dumped out an entire (big) bottle of cinnamon. I walked into the house to find her completely brown from head to toe, and crying because she got it in her eyes. I gave her a shower and cleaned her up. I would have totally taken a picture of her if it wasn't in her eyes because she looked rather comical. Later that night I found her in the kitchen holding half a dozen snickerdoodles with a bite taken out of each one....

Xander is doing good and becoming my big helper since Covey hurt his arm. He even helped me unload the dish washer the other day. Since I am not supposed to bend he stood there and handed me one plate at a time for me to put in the cupboard. Then he and Jerrica both helped put all the silverware away. I love that boy. His smile just melts my heart!

View Comments (1)

Add Comment

Back to Top

April 9th, 2012

Highlights from this week:

- Covey calling sneezes "Bless-yous". No matter how I try to explain that it is called a sneeze and that we tell someone "Bless you" after they sneeze he insists that they are called "Bless-yous".

- Because of my back issues, I am still not supposed to bend very much. Covey decided that his new job is to completely switch the laundry for me. He empties half the drier and then climbs in to get the rest. Unfortunately I didn't have the camera close by when he tried to empty the washer. He was so determined to get the socks out of the bottom without help that he was leaning in so far his legs were dangling out of the top for balance.

- Covey came up to me at the beginning of the week and told me that he can now wink with both of his eyes. He then showed me. He is still having a harder time winking with his left eye, but he was so proud of himself as he told me "I can do it now because I just keep practicing mommy!"

- Friday night I couldn't fall asleep, I just laid there listening to Brandt snore lightly. After a while I rolled over onto my side and it startled Brandt. He sat up on his pillow. looked at me and said "I don't think you are using that word properly". Then he laid back down and was asleep. I couldn't help but laugh.

- Saturday we died Easter eggs. Jerrica kept trying to drink the vinegar dye... and eat the color crayons - yuck!

Saturday we also went looking for a bike for Covey. He has now basically earned a big boy bike, so he got to go to the store. Unfortunately the store we went to did not have any boy bikes with 18 inch wheels... and I would not buy the blue sparkly one with tassels. Instead we bought him his bike helmet and we will look again somewhere else for a bike later.

- I know I would normally put Sunday on next weeks post, but I thought I'd keep dying Easter Eggs and Easter together. Easter was a great day. We went to church together, and then went to visit the duck pond at UAH and feed the geese. The kids had a blast, and it was beautiful weather. That night we went over to Brandt's parent's house and had a big Easter dinner and let the kids all play. Everyone was tired out by the end, but we went to bed happy.

I hope everyone had a very happy Easter!!!

View Comments (0)

Add Comment

Back to Top

April 1st, 2012

Since last week I complained quite a bit, this week I am going to write about some of the things I am thankful for.

* I am thankful for my awesome friends who have been willing to watch my kids here and there so I can write my paper. I am now up to 6 pages - only 19 more to go.

* I am thankful for a physical therapist who seems to really want to help me get rid of the pain. I went in on Wednesday and found that the pain is from my bulging disks. I somehow upset them, and now I am supposed to take it easy and not bend as much as humanly possible all through the weekend. I go back on Monday to see if it gets any better.

* I am thankful Covey is enjoying learning to read so much. We are now up to lesson 44 in his book, and he still begs to read it every day.

* I am thankful for friend who have dropped things to help me at a moments notice.

* I am thankful for science class at Charsty's house and that the kids enjoyed learning about pressure this week while playing with balloon rockets.

View Comments (0)

Add Comment

Back to Top

March 25th, 2012

This week I figure I will show you a real glimpse of me. I have had several people comment to me over the past few months "I don't know how you do it". I have to say it is not easy and there are times that I just sit down and want to cry. Life is not always what it seems at times and this week has had its ups and downs. Here is a view of what my week was really like:

Sunday:

Bad: Sunday started my week out. I had a great time going to church - except that I had to wear my ugly tennis shoes with my dress. You see my back is still out, and when that happens I have to wear shoes with really good support or the pain is so much worse. Even though I wore a long dress with my tennis shoes I still hated it. Every time I looked down I saw my dirty shoes - not something nice that you normally wear to church. Sigh....

Good: My great husband kept reminding me that I was beautiful and that it didn't matter what was on my feet. I did however really enjoy listening to the talks and lessons in church! Sunday night ended with us going over to Brandt's parents house and visiting with his grandparents who are in town. It was a lot of fun to visit with family and relax. His sister even made homemade chocolate chip cookies. I went to bed happy.

Monday

Bad: Monday started out and my back spasmed so badly when I was getting Jerrica changed that Brandt had to help me up off the floor. I went into the chiropractor for an adjustment, and the kids were very good to help me out. I am up to about day 5-6 of not being able to do much around the house because of back pain... and I constantly see the mess piling up.... I went to sleep thinking about my paper that I need to write for school. I only have about 5 weeks left and I have so much to do it makes my head spin. I lay in bed trying to figure out how to work on it and manage the kids and house... and how to work on it when my back kills after sitting for a couple minutes.

Good: Monday night we went out to Kids Kingdom for a big family get together. Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Horrocks got pizza for everyone to eat, and the kids all played at the playground. After it got dark we all went back to Grandma's house and had a family home evening lesson out of the patio. It was so nice sitting out under the stars singing "I am a Child of God" and "Families can be Together Forever". I don't think that is a time I will soon forget.

Tuesday

Bad: My house is super messy. Having my back out for over a week, things tend to pile up. I decide that the living room needs to be conquered and that we need to wash some dishes in the kitchen. Covey and Xander are upset because they have to help out a lot with cleaning when my back is out, since I can not pick things up off the floor easily.... It is hard depending on other people for help.

Good: When I tell Jerrica "I love you" she responds back "Too!!!" I think it is so cute! Tuesday night we had Brandt's Grandparents over for dinner and a movie. They loved dinner, but hated the movie:) While they were here Covey really got to know his Great Grandma more, and loved the visit!

wednesday

We got the backyard leveled today for the playground we are putting together for the kids. The boys loved watching the landscapers work! That night we went over to Brandt's parents house to see Grandma and Grandpa again before they left. We all got to eat Boiled Raison Cookies. I was nervous to try one because I really don't like raisons, but they were good. I also got to call poison control today because Jerrica got ahold of some roll on back pain relief, and started to eat it. Luckily it wasn't enough that I had to bring her to the doctor, but it was enough to give her diarrhea.

Thursday

Covey got to go to the dentist and get his first filling. He did really good while we were there. Sadly my back was spasaming so much that I couldn't sit though the appointment and ended up standing in the corner of the room. After the dentist I went straight to the chiropractor for another adjustment. The rest of the day went pretty good, with having lunch with my good friend Charsty, and then just relaxing. Although that night my back spasamed so badly while I was trying to work on my paper that Brandt had to help me stand up.....

Friday

Brought the kids to science class, and enjoyed a good laugh with my friend. Pain level goes up to a 9 (on a scale from 1-10) during the afternoon. Covey is really beginning to love reading and begs me to do a reading lesson with him.

Saturday

Pain level is between an eight and a nine. Brandt's Friend Dave came over to help us move the railroad ties to the backyard to place around 2 sides of the playground. The playground area is starting to look really nice, and we are all starting to get excited. That night as Covey was doing his reading lesson he learned a new sound. After reading the word "Ate" he turned to me and said "I'm so excited!!! I love learning new words!!!". I'm glad that he is enjoying learning to read.

If you made it though this entire post I think you deserve a pat on the back. (smile) This is a glimpse of what a week in my house is really like. My house is messy, I get grumpy, and my kids aren't perfect. I have struggles and joys just like everyone else. While there are times I want to seriously pull my hair out and scream, there are more times that I feel overwhelmed by how lucky I am to have my sweet children and wonderful husband. I hope that you are all having a great week!!!

View Comments (1)

Add Comment

Back to Top

March 19th, 2012

(We got a macro lens for our camera, and Brandt has been enjoying taking pictures with it)

This week has been fairly uneventful. I threw my back out and so we stayed home, and I worked on my paper. However here are a few highlights of the week:

Thursday we had a small thunderstorm. During the downpour of rain I noticed that we had water coming in the kitchen under the window. We had enough come in to completely soak a hand towel. Anyway I called Brandt to let him know we have a leak somewhere that we need to fix soon. As I was talking to Brandt on the phone Covey walked in and told me "Mommy when it rains and lots and lots of water comes in the house we just need to do this:" He then plugged his nose with one hand and covered his eyes with the other. I guess he thinks the house will fill up with water. (Smile)

On Friday we went over to Brandt's sister Maries house, and celebrated his nieces birthday. It was nice to spend time together as a family!

Covey during the day is calling Jerrica "Jerrica-callie". I don't know where he got that...

Brandt's Grandparents came into town this week so we all got to spend some time with Great Grandma and Grandpa Horrocks.

Xander stayed dry through the night the whole week!!!!!

View Comments (2)

Add Comment

Back to Top

March 10th, 2012

Sunday I also got to have another lesson with Covey about lying. I was in the office and Covey was playing with his scissors cutting different shapes out of paper. He started telling me that his hair is really long. It took a minute to process but I told him that he was not to cut his own hair and explained why. Not a minute later I heard a "snip" that did not sound like it was on paper. I turned to Covey and asked him "Covey did you cut your hair?" Covey replied "no". I then reminded him that he gets in more trouble if he lies to Mommy and asked the question again only to get the same answer. I then asked Covey to walk over to me. Once he got close enough I reached out and took a handful of freshly cut hair off the top of his head and showed it to him. He quickly realized that he got caught in a lie. Needless to say I ended up doing haircuts Sunday night to help fix the weird haircut he gave himself.

Sunday was our last day with David and Gloria before they left for Korea. We were able to have some fun playing Imagine If and Perudo while eating candied pecans. Here is David doing his "I Pitty the fool" pose.

Monday I woke up with a bad cold. Brandt stayed home with the other kids while I took Covey into school for his speech class. After speech I went to ask about getting him registered for Kindergarten next year. (I can't believe he is that old already!!!) He went and did his entrance assessment test, and then since he was one of the first kids to get registered for kindergarten he got a gift - a backpack filled with almost all of his school supplies, and a Curious George book! Covey is super excited.

The rest of Monday through Wednesday consisted of me being knocked down by a cold. I slept a lot during that time. My poor kids watched more tv those days then they have in months I think. Wednesday my sweet Mother-in-law came over and helped clean up a few rooms in my house and vacuum. It really meant a lot!

Friday night as I was getting the kids ready for bed Covey was trying to tell me something. Every time he finished his first sentence Xander would interrupt him and start making lots of noise and talking. Finally Covey was frustrated and said "Xander! Don't you remember Primary? Remember, only one person talks at a time Xander." He then turned to me and calmly finished his story. (smile)

Saturday I got to focus on school work and preparing my lesson for Relief Society the next day. Sadly I have to admit that school is killing me this semester. It is my last semester and I am supposed to graduate in May. However I am taking my Senior Research project, and a C++ course and I feel overwhelmed. Brandt has been a big help by pushing me along, although am I the only one who ever feels like completely shutting down when thinking about the tasks ahead to accomplish? I keep thinking about all the things that I want to work on. Goals that I have for the future for myself and my family. There are so many things I want to learn to do... and yet I can't let myself do them until I finish this semester. I think the adversary is working hard on me this semester..... I just have to focus on the end goal - In May my mom's will be here and I will graduate, and be able to proudly show my kids that you can finish a decree while raising your kids. Sigh... just 2 more months.

Saturday night we went out to a cake auction at the Jones house. Their son was trying to earn money for his Eagle Scout project. There were several cakes there, but we kept getting out bid. Towards the end there was one cake that no one was bidding on, so I took pitty and let Covey place a bid. Needless to say we won the Potty Cake with a surprise inside.

Jerrica took a sharpie to her face...

Covey & Jerrica doing dishes.

View Comments (2)

Add Comment

Back to Top

March 4th, 2012

On Tuesday Covey kept walking around the house telling me that he wanted to go out to eat. I was getting frustrated and told him that it costs money to go out and eat. That didn't seem to phase him at all - he really wanted to go to McDonalds and get some chicken nuggets. I thought for as second and then informed him that chicken nuggets cost 245 pennies. I thought that would make him realize that we wouldn't just go and give them 3 pennies and get food. I also didn't think where was any way we had that many pennies in our house. Covey spent the next 45 minutes searching though change jars, couches, etc looking for pennies. In the end he had 251 pennies and proudly declared that he had enough for chicken nuggets. Sadly I realized that for all of his work I would be bringing them out to McDonalds...

When we got to McDonalds Covey carried his Ziploc bag of pennies in and set them on the counter and happily said "I would like 6 chicken nuggets please". The cashier didn't bother to count them, she just took my word that there were that many pennies in the bag. Unfortunately I underestimated how much the chicken nuggets cost. It came to a total of $3.05 for a 6 piece chicken nugget... That is practically 50 cents a chicken nugget!!! From now on if we go out for chicken nuggets I will go to Wendy's where they are on the dollar menu.

All in all it was a fun trip and after the kids all ate I let them go and play on the playplace playground. They all came home happy and tired.

Jerrica LOVES hats, jewelry, basically any type of accessory. On Thursday this week she kept walking around wearing hats. As the day passed she went from wearing one hat at a time to two. I thought it was pretty cute. Also with the new blender we have Jerrica LOVES green smoothies. Every day she begs to drink a green smoothie. I just like the fact that she is getting some fruits and veggies in her every day!

Jerrica throwing a tantrum...

On Thursday David and Gloria and their son came back into town. They are getting ready to head overseas for David's next assignment in the military. They are staying here until Monday morning before they head out. We will miss them a lot. They have lived here for a few years now and we have done so much together. Gloria and I were even pregnant at the same time, and our kids were born just over a week apart from each other.

Picture of clouds from my driveway.(Not when sirens were going!)

Friday was a busy day. We were supposed to get bad storms Friday night so I was rather surprised when the tornado sirens went off while I was eating breakfast. I went and turned on the TV and saw that it was headed our direction and would hit our area in about 5 minutes. I calmly walked to my bedroom and started to clear out our closet. Like I said the storms were supposed to be later, so I didn't have my closet cleaned out yet. Once it was ready Me, Xander, Jerrica, and Covey went into my master closet along with David, Gloria, and their son. I have a bag that I keep in my closet at all times with books, crackers, fruit snacks, and toys for the kids to play with and keep them calm. I also brought in my tablet and turned on Curious George for the kids to watch. In my closet I also keep Brandt's caving helmets with the head lights on them, and an extra flashlight too. When the storms came through our electricity was flickering so much that we just turned off the closet light and had flash lights on to keep my kids calm. We were all fine but the tornado went threw about a mile away from our house pretty much along the same path as the tornado last April. Luckily this tornado was only an EF2, but it still left quite a bit of damage in its wake. Like I said we are all safe and sound. I guess this is officially the beginning of tornado season.

Here is a link to an artical about the tornados: Click here

Jerrica out in the driveway feeling the wind during a break in the storms.

Covey modeling Brandt's caving helmet.

I want to document a little Covey conversation on Saturday. Covey came up to me and said, "Xander ate my tooth!" I asked him, "Xander ate your tooth? Your tooth is still in your mouth!" He replied, "I took it out; this is a new one. Xander ate my other one and I want my tooth back mommy!" I had no idea what he was talking about. Brandt thinks that he is talking about Nerds candy (because he likes to put them between his lips as if they are teeth.)

View Comments (0)

Add Comment

Back to Top

Feburary 27th, 2012

Since I am not doing so good at updating my journal or my website, I have decided to follow my friend Kelly's example and try to write some things down once a week - starting today.

Highlights of last week:

I made up daily schedules for the kids and started to implement them. It is going really well! We have hours set aside for playing, a couple clean up times each day to help control the mess, and times set aside for other activities like reading etc.

I started working on teaching Covey how to read. We are using the book "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons". It is a really good book, and I started to work on it about 9 months ago with Covey but gave up then because he didn't seem ready. This week though we started over and Covey it loving it. He is working a lot harder on sounding out the sounds, and making sure he puts the sounds together without a pause so that he can tell what the word is. He even got a Penguins of Madagascar movie for all of his hard work.

wednesday night I overheard this conversation:
Xander: "Wow... That is a BIG ball."

Covey: "No Xander, that is the moon."

Xander: "Wow... That is a BIG moon."

Friday night Brandt had the Varsity Boy scouts at our house for a sleep over. They are working on making a video, and so they were finishing up the filming and working on some of the editing while they were here.

One major plus to having the boy scouts at the house was that I left the kids with Brandt and went shopping for a couple hours. I was able to find a few new shirts (which I really needed because mine are getting old and worn out), and I was also able to get some backpacks and work on our 72 hour kits. I used to keep our 72 hour kit in a suitcase when it was for me, Brandt, and Covey but now that we are a family of 5 that doesn't make much sense anymore. My friend Charsty really inspired me by her 72 hour kits so I decided to work on mine. I still need to buy 1 more backpack, but other than that we are mainly done. Covey helped me put them together and he loves the idea that one of them is his. (The blue one of course)

Jerrica is continuing to become my handful. This week I got to call poison control because she got into my bathroom cupboard and found a bottle of Vicks vapor steam. (The stuff you put in your humidifier - not drink) She walked through the house sucking on the top until she got to the room I was in. She was unable to get the childproof lid off but she was able to suck some of the fluid out anyway. I called poison control and they said to watch her for 4 hours because the main ingredient can cause seizures. Luckily she was just fine... I now have even more child locks in the house.

Saturday our friend Adam Tuck came over and helped us cut up some wood in our yard. We had a tree down in the back that was left over from the tornados last year. we cut that up and then I kept a fires going for basically 2 days straight trying to burn a bunch of the wood we had in our yard. I love sitting around a fire at night (But I HATE smelling like campfire :)

View Comments (0)

Add Comment

Back to Top

February 24, 2012

Covey loves listening to a cassette (thats right - not a cd) tape of songs about different seasons. He made up a dance to the one about spring and wanted to show everyone. Here it is:

View Comments (0)

Add Comment

Back to Top