Last day of April....Still raining

I found this great poem it goes..."when you want to climb the walls and stand right up and shout, here's a little dammit rabbit that you cannot live without. Just grasp it firmly by the legs and find a place to slam it...as you whack the stuffing out yell dammit, dammit, dammit! If dammit's not a word you say then twist its skinny little neck, and grumbe out repeatedly oh heck, oh heck, oh heck!" The poem came with a stuffed rabbit. Well the only thing that I need to vent on is that the wonderful rabbit that we got for Easter is now DEAD! Why? Don't know...but it's definately dead. I was hoping to go online today and find a replacement before the kids found out....well that didn't go according to plan because my sister came down to watch the kids for 3 hours while I was at work and the kids wanted waffles for breakfast. we were out of waffles in the freezer inside so she went to our outside freezer in the garage (where the rabbit was kept) to get some more....well the kids followed her out and Madison saw and asked if it was dead. Lindsay didn't know well Madison being the 5-year old that she is wouldn't let it go and made Lindsay touch the rabbit to see if it was dead. (Lindsay want's me to put in that she is now traumatized from having to touch a dead bunny...She'll have do deal with a lot worse once she's married and has kids...but oh the life of a single girl should not have to touch a dead bunny) She then can't get a hold of me at work (cell battery was dying) so she called Daniel who was in a meeting and left because why on earth is Lindsay calling him? She let him know that the bunny was dead and he responded that we already knew...not the thing you tell her after she's had to touch it to make sure it was dead. So I get home to an upset Lindsay saying "You could have warned me!) Crap...did the kids find out?....yes well there goes the plan of switching it before the kids find out. Then Madison walks up to me and promptly announces to me that the bunny is dead! As for a new bunny well...with this "late" bunny we got lumber and hardware cloth and started building a rabbit hutch for the backyard...so when we found out the rabbit was dead I asked Daniel this is number four should we call it quits on the slaughter of bunnies at this household with which he responded...NO! I have $50 of lumber and a half built rabbit cage...We are getting another bunny! So it looks like I'll be looking for a new bunny (hopefully this one will last longer than 3 weeks)

Whoa...whoa oh oh...For the longest time

It's been a while...for which I must apologize. Part of it was beacuse I promised on an earlier blog that I would not complain/vent for a while. And as you can read from Jenn's posting...there has been a lot to complain about. But I think I'm over that now...maybe not...

Okay can I just say that Cars have now become the bane of my existence. From cars my greatest comes my greatest financial burden...not only in car payments but lately in maintenance. It is the greatest source of stress.

In spite of all my complaining about Carter, he can still give me a grin, a hug or a look that bleeds away stress...I tried getting a look like this from the trailblazer...and all it looks like is an evil smile...It sucks all the life and money out of me.

It is the source of my greatest worry. Right now there is nothing I can do with it. Trade in value is nothing (we bought it at the end of 2006 right before SUV prices and values dropped. So right now nobody will even take it as a trade in. So I am in a constant state of worry about how long it will last and how much longer before I have to do mre repairs on it.

It is the source of my greatest frustration. I thought that the reason for buying a newer vehicle was that it would cost less for repairs. Well in reality I have spent more on this car in 2 1/2 years in repairs than 8 years on our 1991 Explorer. So my frustration extends to GM for making a lousy vehicle for me to buy and on the sales group...For now I won't mention names but if you want to know who not to go to let me know and I will gladly tell you...because the sales group convinced me to the POC car!

Anyway...so I guess that the no complaining/venting thing is now out of the question. I guess I will just say what I'm feeling and you guys will just have to deal with it.

On a lighter side. We did have a good Easter holiday, the kids are happy with what the Easter bunny brought. Madison scored a goal on Saturday...she broke away from the group and ran it all the way all by herself. She looked great doing it and gave us the opportunity to celebrate her wonderful goal. By contrast Madison also had her kindergarten shots on Tuesday. This is much harder than when she was little. When kids are babies it's easier to detach...mostly because I don't think they understand why they hurt...they just know they hurt. But with Madiosn it was very hard to detach myself. When she looked into my eyes pleading for the shots to stop...I just about lost it. Of course I had to be the one to hold her down...Jennifer does not handle that kind of thing well.

Madison is excited for school and I think she is just waiting to learn. She loves doing the pre-K workbooks we have bought for her and interestingly enough she loves the math...I am excited for her to go to school and to watch her mind develop. I hope that she is more receptive to the importance of focusing in school...Anyway...till next time

Crazy April...

I'm sorry to all those blog stalkers (Katie) out there who are upset that its been 2 weeks since we updates our blog. It has been a crazy couple of weeks where sheer chaos has run amok in our household.

Well right after we posted our last blog, the Friday before Easter we went up to Wellsville (Logan area) and went to the American West Heritage Center for their baby animal days. The kids loved it they could pet ducks, turtles, chicks, rabbits, goats, cows, ponies, etc. And experience life in the old west. It was a lot of fun, the kids had a blast.

life in the good ol' days

Well we get ready to leave and our lovely bleep, bleep, bleep car decides it's going to break down. Well we've had trouble with it. the boys had to replace the accelerator sensor, and we knew the throttle body sensor was going to have to be replaced. Well that Friday it decided it wasn't going to work anymore. So here we are in the middle of farm country off to the side of the highway with 3 tired kids. Yeah! So Daniel's on the phone trying to find where the nearest dealership/service place is, while (like a girl) I'm calling my daddy seeing if he could come get us and tow us home. Well the nearest service station was back in Logan so

we would have to turn around on the highway only being able to go about 10-15 mph...not an option and they weren't open on Saturday. So our next option was to slowly to the side of the road with hazards on get to this rinky-dink service station about 10 miles ahead of us at the mouth of the canyon as you head south into sardine canyon. That was a white knuckle stress filled 10 miles. (and road kill is not pleasant to drive over going 5 mph...ewww (gag)) We get to the station and he isn't able to help us but he does reset the codes...whatever that means to the automobile savvy people out there and we are able to get home after a prayer and not pushing it over 2500 rpms. Well Saturday after a soccer game Easter egg hunts and such Daniel finally gets around to it and calls on the part we can't get a hold of the guy until Monday....which means i get to drive a tank(parents suburban) around on my first day back to work since having the baby, which is also a complete upset to our routine.

Well the boys get it fixed and it runs on Tuesday. All is well.....well not for long. Wednesday I'm taking the kids up to my mother-in-laws house for her to watch for the 3 hours I'm at work. It does it again...stuck on 193 with 3 children...bleepity bleep car...calling Daniel....calling work....calling mom for ride...no one is answering so I call Marla and she sends Brian in the van to get us. Meanwhile in the car my divinely inspired 5-yr old tells us we need to pray like last time and that Jesus will fix our car....(there's an attitude change for you I mean me) Well I have Brian take us home and he will keep Madison for preschool...on the way home Carter starts puking all over the van....can I please just die? can my day get any worse? and it's not even 9AM. Brian gets us home and I help clean the car as Brian carries Carter in (still puking) and I get McKinley in and send Brian off on his merry way (merrier than my way). I get carter undressed and in the tub and pick up McKinley because she's fussing...well no wonder she's fussing she's blown out everywhere...up the back...up the front...out the legs...getting her clothes off was a joke...there is poop everywhere! so she gets to get in the tub too. Finally after all that I get both of them to sleep and there is peace for a moment....Ahhhh. Then Daniel comes home and takes the car gingerly to Young Chevrolet to do a diagnostic and a 27 point inspection. The problem...all they had to do was reset the codes! However with the 27 point inspection they find that the differential is leaking, the transmission is leaking, we need a new fan clutch, a new brake booster and we need new tires. LOVELY! anyone want a 2005 (p.o.s.) trailblazer with only 50,000 miles on it?

That same Wednesday night I call a member of the bishopric to find out the theme for Sunday so I can choose the hymns and get them turned in for the program. Well somehow in the conversation he asks us to speak on Sunday. What? This Sunday? that only gives me 3 days to prepare...and I love to speak(hint of sarcasm)...I get so nervous that I speak really, really fast and a 15 min talk gets done in 5 min. Also Madison has to give a talk in primary on Sunday. No pressure or stress at all, we just have to prepare 3 talks and continue on with life? because there is now no routine because I've gone back to work and everything left of our routine has been totally screwed up with car and talk troubles. Not only that but I'm in charge of choir so I needed to prepare new numbers to practice since Easter was now over, and we were singing the next Sunday in sacrament. (Picture me running and screaming from my house pulling my hair out...that's how I felt).

Then on Friday my brother joined the air force reserves. Then on Saturday when we were having a dinner in his honor per say my mom's cousin called and informed us that their other cousin had died in an atv accident. (Bill Orton is cousins with my mom). So then the next Friday we had the funeral. All through this trying to keep up with 3 kids, laundry, dishes, work and book club :) (reading the Ruby Key by Holly Lisle...interesting) Also on Friday as I'm taking the kids to the neighbors to be watched while I'm at work the trailblazer gets a flat so call mom again and I get to drive the tank around for the next day and a half. Well glass half full there's one out of three tires that needs replacing taken care of...

Well enough of my boo-hoo sob story called my life. the sunny weather has been great. The kids and I have gone on walks and worked in the flower beds and have been in the process of building a rabbit cage...yes we got a bunny for Easter. Hopefully this one won't die. This one is number 4 for us. The first one died...don't know why ...got 2 more (1 was free) and Daniel had some oil spill on the drive way so he had kitty litter on it soaking it up...see where this is heading ...well carter picked it up and fed it to the bunnies....kitty litter absorbs...well those two bunnies were no longer....so now we have number 4 hopefully there will be no need for a fourth funeral. Hopefully things will start going better....April showers bring May flowers...

Carter

Okay...so Carter is an interesting charecter. I started on him the other day and kind of showed that he is a bit of a menace. There are some other things I must add. The kid is just cursed. Even when he is trying to be helpful and loving and caring, things go wrong. The other day he decided that he is going to take on the responsibility of feeding the dog...

Great! One less thing I have to do...but Carter needs boundaries...otherwise he emptied 2-3 buckets full of dog food all over the ground...

He is very much against sleeping...getting him to take a nap is like getting him to leave his sister alone...he thinks it's a game...Well all this really leads to is him falling asleep in wierd positions and/or wierd places....here he fell asleep standing up with his head on his bed and his arm jammed into the ladder to get up to Madison's bed...fun!

In the next picture...Carter can be found asleep in a shopping cart. Not the most comfortable place to sleep. But the kid just falls asleep in places when he becomes to tired to fight it anymore.

There are also pictures of him asleep on the our front porch but I don't have it with me.

This next picture I am embarassed to share...but Carter likes to play dress up with his sister...Well Jenn and I have spent some money on dress up clothes for Madison, but the thought never really occurred to us that Carter would want to try dressing up as well. Bottom line is...the boy is going to play dress up...regardless of what is available for him to dress up in. And for those that are wondering...YES THIS IS CARTER in Madison's Leotard with the little tutu around his waist!

Needless to say, we have bought him a couple of more masculine things for him to play dress up in.

All in all... the kid is a trial...he's been quite the adventure and I can't imagine my life without him. In spite of his cross dressing tendencies and his desire to never sleep...he is a very happy, sweet kid who is very sensitive and loving. He is also a boy...and I will never forget it...his favorite toy is a ball and he loves to through baseballs, footballs basketballs and soccerballs as hard and as far as he can...he loves to play catch and to he loves to snuggle...I guess you can't ask for much more...

In my defense

Okay...so after reading the post below, it would be easy to believe that I am some half-wit who didn't think things through...well I want you to know that...okay it's true. But I can't help it.

In my defense I don't think the kids have even looked at the thing in like months (partially due to snow) and in reality it was cold enough yesterday that they shouldn't have even been outside playing...but I honestly thought it would be fine to just leave the thing there and not worry about the kids finding it.

All in all I think it was an excuse to get the kids something else for Easter. Jenn has been bothering me about getting a new rabbit (Carter fed the other bunnies kitty litter...see post below regarding him). Since Easter is a great time to do it, she has been kind of asking...I've been kind of saying no...Well since the kids discovered the Jeep, we have to get something else for them. And of course yesterday afternoon I began to receive a bunch of e-mails from KSL Classifieds from Jenn...what were they? WABBITS...lots of them...some as cheap as $10 and some as much as $75. Well I figured if we could find the exact rabbit that I wanted, and it was under $25 it would be okay.

(I was secretly hoping that by setting these kinds of limitations there would be no possible way that we would find a rabbit)

Of course the very first place we call has the exact kind of rabbit we want for only $20 bucks...Okay so fine...Jenn starts getting the kids ready (we are going to the temple) so we can drop them off. We figure we can just stick the Rabbit in the back of the car in a cage while we are at the temple.

So as Jenn is working on the kids, I am working on getting the Rabbit cage set up...I ease it into the back of the Trailblazer and announce to my wife that we need to get going. Madison runs out to the car and looks in the back..."Are we getting a new rabbit?" she asks...

Crap...I've done it again...

Easter Blooper

Daniel is such a complete nut. I wanted to KILL him today. So here's what happened. For Easter we decided to get the kids batteries...woo-hoo (isn't it what every kid wants?) No batteries for the 4x4 Jeep that Tate's gave us about 2 years ago. Daniel's little brothers had it and they were obviously too big (10 at the time) so they gave it to us. Well it didn't have any batteries so the kids have just played on it. And washed it in the summer when we wash our car. They've had fun with it. The reason we haven't ever got batteries is because the batteries cost 29.95 a piece and it needs two! So we decided for Easter that's what they'll get they'll hunt for eggs that will lead them to the backyard to the jeep and WA-LA the jeep will magically run. Well when you buy the batteries you have to charge them first. So they've been charging in the garage. Last night after the kids were down for the night, Daniel goes out to put the batteries in to see if it will even work. The jeep is old. And it's been outside for two winters and summers and rain and basically it's been through the extremes...so we weren't sure if the cords hooking it up would be corroded or if the thing would even run at all. well it ran...he comes back in and says it works so we go to bed.

He has now gone to work this morning and were up and dressed and they want to play outside...so I bundle them up because of the wind and let them go outside to play on their scooters and I sit down at the table to read the newspaper while the baby's sleeping. The next thing I know is that the kids are bursting through the door screaming...THE TRUCK WORKS!!! THE TRUCK WORKS!!! My mind is reeling what? what truck what is all the excitement about...so I ask Madison what are you talking about? And her reply....the truck in the back it works we were playing in it and it moved and I couldn't get it through the gate so we drove it around and up front and IT WORKS! (all said in a very excited tone) Things are now clicking in my brain...truck...working...oh *!@* the jeep! Easter! CRAP! The kids proceed to drag me outside to show me the total awesomeness of their discovery. All the while I'm thinking crap now what are we going to do for Easter and I'm going to kill that man! So I go back inside and tell the kids to have fun while I start dialing Daniels work #. he picks up to a barrage of you idiot! what were you thinking? I'll tell you what you were thinking you weren't! how could you do this? now what are we going to do? And all he could do was stammer wh-wh-Jennifer what is the matter and what is going on that's got you all in a huff?! So I proceed to tell him the kids magical discover and how thrilled they are and that they are driving everywhere and think it's totally awesome ....he laughs! Well I knew it would be an awesome Easter who knew the Easter bunny came early on the Wednesday before? All I can do is look back and smile and enjoy the kids excitement over their early discover of Easter and magic :)

Good long weekend.

Wow, I had a great weekend. Okay so nothing too special happened, we just sat around and did nothing, but boy it's amazing how much more relaxing the weekend is when I am not getting the kids up and fed and dressed for church...now...I wouldn't change that for the world and I know the blessing far outweigh the struggles, but I never really realized how much energy it takes out of me when I have to get them ready, plus with Jenn's calling she sits up on the stand (ward chorister) and so I get to wrestle with the boy by myself. Madison does a great job at church and the organ music from the opening and sacrament hymn put the baby right to sleep...it's Carter who is the problem.

He is a menace...his favorite thing now is to use the back of the pew in front to catapult himself over the back and into the people in front of us. Of course when he acts up I can't very well stand up and leave with him (leaving the 5 year old and 2 month old to fend for themselves, so I sit there and hold him...I swear if someone in the ward doesn't call social services on me, I'll be shocked.

Overall though, it's nice to send him to nursery.

Fine...I decided...I am going to share my son with those readers who actuall follow this blog (Marly is the only one who ever makes comments so I am going to assume you are the only one who reads this). This is my son...

Carter - With Jenn's calling as ward choir director (yes and chorister) we get to do choir practice every week. Last week when we did choir practice we decided not to send Carter away...he spent his time in the chapel with us...we asked him to 'be good' and he responded by turning on the satellite link (for some reason it was turned on to a rock station) so in the middle of the choir practice, Guns and Roses startes blaring throughout the chapel. Well of course everybody reacted and Jenn turned around and turned the dang thing off...what does Carter do? He turns it back on of course. During the same session of choir practice, he decides he is going to ride the wall at the end of the stage (you know the one that seperates the stage from the congregation, and the pulpit is in the middle) like a horse...well it's like a 6 foot drop on the congregation side of it, and of course...he starts to fall...Against my better judgement (it said let him fall then he'll learn) I run down and grab him...of course he thinks this is absolutley hilarious.

This same son likes to 'push' McKinley in her swing...well he like to go high when he swings, so of course...I don't think our swing will ever be the same. This same son has given my 15 year old brother stitches...my mom a broken toe, knocked himself out 3 times (twice he head dived onto the pavement and once he ran head long into a 4X4 post), mom and dad (Jenn and me) have daily headaches to the point that we are personally ensuring that Tylenol, Advil and Excedrin will never require bailout money.

He has a car (toy little porsche that you can ride) at Grandma's house. The seat lifts up...well he keeps all kinds of lovely treasures in there. We have found week old bananas, cookies and all manner of food in that lovely seat.

If you couldn't tell by the picture that graces our Blog, we love Disneyland and we are saving for a trip there soon. We bought a big 3 gallon jug (for water) and told the kids that when it's full we will go to Disneyland. They get money for doing chores and for sleeping in their beds (we have a problem with children joining our bed in the middle of the night), and when Mom and Dad have extra change in their pockets they get to take that as well.

This is a great concept that we are trying to teach our children. Save for important things and forget about the little things. We allow them to keep their birthday money and stuff in anticipation of spending it on what they want (But they can save it for disneyland money), this way they have some sense of self saving as well. Well my lovely son...has taken the saving and scavenging for money to the extreme. He has resorted 'stealing'...now I don't put this on the same level as a 10 or 12 year old taking money and buying things they want...but he has raided my wallet of 50 dollars...my daughters purse of 15 dollars (from birthday money)...anytime he rides in anyones car...yep he empties their change thing...We have had to warn aunts, uncles and Grandparents that they need to clean up the cash if they don't want Carter to have it. He puts all of it in the jug, but we can't seem to explain it well enough that he can only do money we give him...I guess it's not too bad...we just need to watch him a bit closer when we go to the bank.

All in all, I am told that he is just a boy and that we better get used to it. But generally speaking he obeys less...he listens rarely and his favorite thing to do is to suplex Madison to the ground...it's at the point where we have had to teach basic self defense to our 5 year old daughter...

Walking past our house you frequently hear things like...PUT YOUR ELBOW IN HIS CHEST AND THEN PUSH OFF AND HE SHOULD LET YOU GO.

Conference

Well what a great weekend to have jammie sunday and listen to the prophet and apostles speak to us. I thought it was a great conference to have hope in these troubling times and to visit the temple often. I don't know who said it but they said what if the temple ordinances were taken away from us on the earth. and that the people who have passed on were able to do the work for us. Wouldn't you want them to be going to the temple as aoften as they could so you could have your work done? Or picture them in a great chapel sitting and waiting for their name to be called that their work is finally being done. How long will you let them sit there, what if it was you sitting waiting for your work to be done? It kind of makes you a little more motivated to go to the temple. Which reminds me we were able to go to the Draper Temple open house, Madison loved it, she wants the big chandelier in the celestial room to be in her room. She loves anything that glitters! what a girl :)