WINTERY WONDERLAND!

Yes that is what Jared called this picture...ha ha! This is outside his apartment.

WEEKEND WRAP-UP!

Like usual when Jared comes into town we are jam packed full of stuff. I got to make dinner on Friday for my family and it was really nice. All the boys were in the back playing, Emma was at dance and I was alone in the house making dinner for everyone...just like usual, just like it should be and I loved it.Saturday we got up early for our last 8am soccer game for the season. Eli was on a great team this season and really grew in the sport.After the game we stayed and played at the park for about an hour and the kiddos got to play with Grandpa Jensen and chase him around for a bit as well.After a quick lunch, Grandma Rodgers came over and stayed with the twins so Jared and Eli could go to Isaac's baptism and then Emma and I ran off to another dance competition. This time around the studio did awesome! One of Emma's dances got a special judges award (sounds a lot cooler than what it really is), 1st place in their age category and 3rd overall and then the other dance got 2nd overall. We were super excited for them.

When we came home it was time for Jared and I to go out and celebrate Valentine's Day! He got Grandma Jensen to babysit and made a dinner reservation for us and it was really nice not to have to do that stuff for once. Sadly the date ended at 8:30pm because I had to be up so early the next day.

Sunday morning came and Emma and I got up at 5:30am to head out to the rest of the dance competition (both her dances that day came in 2nd overall for their category) at 6:15am. Jared got up and got all the boys ready and headed out to my cousin's baby blessing and was even out of the door at 8am with food started in the crockpot, I was so impressed! We had a great time with the Rodgers, ate good food, laughed a lot and left wishing we could hang out more. I love that my kids are always so welcomed over there even though they are only 2nd cousins. I do want to announce on here that I have fully forgiven my cousin for a being a douche bag and taking claim on a name for the last 10 years and then 1 month before the baby was born he changed names...even though you didn't give me flowers like Jennifer, I still forgive you Ryan but not because you took out a poopy diaper for me :)

Later Sunday night we went over to Grandma's house to pick out a bowl from Uncle Eric. Last time Abby was here, her and Emma went on a rock hunt and found rocks with turquoise in them. He was able to take those and grind them up and made a bowl with some of that turquoise in it. Of course Emma LOVED that bowl and wanted it because it had a special Abby memory attached to it.Monday morning we all slept in, had breakfast, the kids played while Jared and I took a nap together (yes, I took a nap at like 10am) and then we went out and did yard work together as a family. Is it weird to say that was fun?! It was though. I offered to pay Emma 10 cents a weed she pulled and she looked at me like I was crazy so I said, fine, a nickel for every weed you pulled (back in my day, my dad gave me a penny so I thought I was being most generous!) and I am sure glad I ended up changing my mind...I thought we had like maybe 20 weeds...ya she ended up pulling $6.75 worth of weeds!! (just for the record they were little tiny ones that you didn't really notice - I promise we are not white trash, in fact, we had a landscaper over last week doing our yard work so don't think we are those ugly front yard people - it must have just been the rain or something :)

Finally 3pm came and it was time for Jared to head back. It is always sad to see him go, but nice knowing you are one more week closer to it all being over. I have to say, it really makes you appreciate each other and the little things more while he is home. I love just sitting with him on the giant bean bag watching the Thursday night shows we tivo'd together, or being able to say, "go ask your dad", I love the excited giddiness I get when he is around for the weekend and the wanting to get dressed up and do my hair for him. It's fun. I love him.

US AIRWAYS = US CRAPWAYS!

So Jared left his apartment this morning at 3:45am to catch a 5:30am flight back to Phoenix. He got on the plane and they were set to take off and then they inform all the passengers this lovely piece of info:
So a light on the wing is burned out and the plane can't fly without it when its dark. US Air doesn't have a maintenance crew here in Portland so they can't fix it unless they pay someone here and corporate in Pittsburgh doesn't want to pay - so we are stuck on the plane for 90 min waiting for the sun to come up so we can fly without the light. (those were Jared's words not the Pilot's)

Then I get a text telling me it's been delayed another 45 minutes on top of that. Awesome. Thanks cheap skates, you suck and I would like to charge you a late fee since you charge us a baggage fee.

SPIDER BITE!

Eli: "I want a spider to bite me..."
Me: "Why do you want a spider to bite you?"
Eli: "because...can you help me find a spider so it can bite me?"
Me: "you don't want a spider to bite you..."
Eli: "yes, i do...then i will have webs like Peter Parker"

Yes, Eli and Tyson are obsessed with Spiderman and now Eli wants to be bit and have super spidey powers!

BEST COMPLIMENT OF 2011!

Maddy Parry just signed up for a ballet class at Emma's dance studio and while Stephanie was down there watching Maddy she turned her head on occasion and watched Emma dance as well. The next day when Steph and I were talking she gave me my most favorite compliment of 2011!It went something like this: "you know, you tell me how much Emma loves to dance and all the hours she puts into it and all the driving you guys do and the money and everything and I finally see why you do what you do. Emma loves it. I knew she loved it, but I never knew how much she loved it until I saw her dance. You can't explain it to people, they just have to see it for themselves. She lights up in there and I totally understand why you do it now."

That made my day, my year, my whatever. It's true, Emma loves to dance, but you do have to see her to fully understand it. She is different in there, you can't explain it. Thank you Stephanie for giving me the best compliment ever and for reaffirming to me what Jared and I are doing is the right thing for her.

1 MISSING BEST FRIEND, 4 FAVORITE VALENTINES AND 1 PUKER!

I woke up this morning with big plans, pink pancakes for the kiddos, heart shaped sandwich, a nasty blog about my husband tomorrow, a fun movie/dessert night with the kids, etc...some times life throws ya a curve ball and you just have to run with it.

We started out on the right foot. I got up and made the kids pink pancakes for breakfast and even got Emma a heart shaped sandwich packed in her lunch!We got her off to school and we did our usual things around the house, the boys played, I picked up, talked to my friends on the phone, told them how I couldn't wait to blog about how Jared broke the one promise I made him make me before he left, you know, the important things :)

The afternoon rolled around and I was excited to get the evening going. I got Emma already for dance, Eli already for soccer and went to go get the twins up to put them in the car and Tyler was looking up at me with a most scared look on his face, I asked him what was the matter, but he didn't need to tell me, I saw. He threw up. Happiness #1 for today, he threw up in bed, easy clean up - everything just got dumped in the washing machine - thank you Tyler - 5 minutes later and I would have made another trip to the car wash.

Got Emma to dance, went into dance and looked for her shoe again, checked all the girls bags myself, still no shoe, looked for another girl's missing shoe for her mom and found it and for whatever reason I felt like I should just sit down right then and text her really quick so as I was texting her...Tyler threw up again. Happiness #2 for the day, again, 5 minutes later and we would have been in the car so thank you Tyler for your well timed vomit - all I had to do this time was run him outside and he made it on the sidewalk and so dumping a bucket on water on it was another painless clean up.

I load the boys back up and start to head home only to the sound of tears from the back of the car. Eli was soooo sad he was going to miss soccer because Tyler was sick. He didn't understand why I couldn't just get someone to sit with Tyler and Tyler's house while I took him. It was breaking my heart poor kid, especially since this is his last week.

We get home, get Tyler taken care of and there is a knock at my door. Blake was outside with flowers for me from Jared. I know Stephanie help put the idea in his head but he finally did remember that his promise to me was flowers on Valentine's day. I always think it is a big waste of time and money, but I figured if he wasn't going to be in town then this was the one and only year I would like flowers on Vday.

While I was giving Blake the 3rd degree about whose idea the flowers were, Tyler threw up yet again. Poor little buddy, no fever, still had an appetite, still ran around with his brothers but just threw up a few times. (I kinda blame the greasy Pizza Hut I bought us for lunch today - oops).

I had a romantic dessert night (ha ha) planned for me and the kiddos for tonight, every year I am pretty selfish and just think about me and Jared on Valentine's day but since he wasn't here this year I thought it would be fun to do something fun with my 4 favorite kiddos! Because I didn't want Tyler to eat anything I ended up putting the twins to bed and me, Emma and Eli sat down for a 6 layered triffle, sparkling cider, my new roses from my lover and some candles. Eli was just super excited for dessert and the fact that his drink was in a "glass"! We sat around and ate and watched "Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown" and then off to bed for the other two.Here is one of my Valentines - isn't he cute :)That's when my night gets good. I brought my flowers into the den, brought me the rest of the sparkling cider in there and oh ya, the chocolate covered strawberries my visiting teachers left for me tonight and I settled in for a night of the Bachelor.Happy Valentine's Day to me! Happiness # 3 - I survived a crazy day and I still had a good, fatty time!

A RE-CAP FROM LAST WEEK!

There are a few things I left out from this week that I wanted to remember...

Eli has been asking to go to "Uncle Norm's" house to see his cows and horse. He wasn't there, but Cara let them pet and feed them. The boys (minus scaredy Tyler) loved it!On Saturday me and my mom took the kids out to Rawhide for a bit. Emma loved the gun show and the horse show, it really surprised me how much she got into it. The boys just loved being outside, walking around in the dirt and climbing on everything. The best part of the whole trip though, what made it all worth it, was the "shoot guns" the boys got. They love taking things from their room and pretending they are "shoot guns" (that's what they call them). I decided to buy them each one and they were in heaven. They would walk around shooting everyone, taking it in and out of their holster, etc. They had a lot of fun and it was a great time waster so I loved it.And my favorite/worse part of the whole week had to do with Emma. The girl loses dance shoes all the time. I can't stand it. They usually end up showing up somewhere (not at our house) but the stress to find it is going to give me a heart attack. I can't stand it. It is the bane of my existence. This weekend I discovered Emma lost one of her 3 week old pirouettes, awhhhhh! I have tried everything to help her remember and not lose her shoes. I have tried every punishment as well to try and help sink in how much she needs to be more responsible with them. We have tried grounding, doing dirty jobs around the house (like wiping down all the baseboards), taking away electronics from her, threatening her to buy the replacement pair, etc...nothing has got it to sink in. Finally this weekend was the last straw for me. I decided, you lose your shoes, you will have to wear mismatched shoes then. No one thought I would do it, but I did it.
Today Emma went to church in a nice cream colored sweater with a red skirt and 1 brown sketcher with 1 pink high top converse. (sorry I totally dropped the ball on the picture taking). When she came in our room to get dressed and I told her what shoes she was going to wear, she lost it. She cried. Then on the way to church she cried louder, "everyone is going to think I am lame and dumb cause my shoes don't match." Then when Sacrament was about to end she asked if we were going home (we never go home, why would we start now?!). I told her no and then the tears started again, then she said she was going to hide in the bathroom and I told her no, she was going to class and hopefully this would teach her a lesson.
Tomorrow we will be going to dance and I will be checking each girls bag for Emma's shoe, if it is not in there, Tuesday she will be back to mismatched shoes until I can come up with another plan!
ps - I must not forget a shout-out to the goodies I got this week! Thanks friends for the fountain pepsi, cinnamon rolls, tortilla soup and bag of chocolates! (yes, I seriously have been gaining weight since Jared left!)

$90 VOMIT!

Have you ever thought about how much vomit might cost? Well, today it cost me $90. $90 to get my car cleaned to remove the vomit Eli accidentally did in there.

We pulled up to the gym this morning, I got out started getting the kids out and I noticed the fruit loop colored, smelly vomit all over. Poor little guy, didn't even tell me he didn't feel well and I never even heard him do it.

I like to look for the small miracles/grateful things in life that make me smile. As I was getting Eli out of the car and deciding what to do, Carrie Tomlinson pulled up to go to the gym and she ever so kindly sat with my boys while I ran inside to get towels to try and soak some of it up. I have never seen her in the parking lot before, but will forever be grateful for the small miracle this morning.

Next, I clean it up as best I can with my wet paper towels and load the boys back up and call Jared and tell him how I think I need to spend some money to take the car to be cleaned (I would have done it myself, but the smell was making me sick and it was in every little nook and cranny I just couldn't bring myself to do it). Small grateful thing number 2, Jared without hesitation told me to do whatever I needed to do and not worry about the money. Yes!, he didn't make me feel guilty or tell me I should clean it myself (not that he would, it's just nice to have his full support).

We drive over to Danny's Car Wash and I show them the puke and ask him how much to clean my car and clean it up and after tax and tip my total came to $90. They said it would take about an hour and half, I was a little nervous about staying there that whole time in case Eli had to throw up more. I waited a few minutes and then decided, maybe I can call and friend and they will come and get me and my boys. Small grateful thing number 3, Denise answered her phone and like Jared, without hesitation, drove right over and picked us all up, dropped us off at home and told me what time she would be back to take us to pick up the car. She even stayed at the car wash place and helped me load car seats back in, waited with my kids while I payed, etc...so helpful, so grateful.

Happy thing number 4, Carrie showed up at my house with saltines and clear gatorades for Eli. I told him it was a special drink that would help him get better and make him not throw up. It was awesome how special he thought he was with his own drinks.
Poor little buddy took a 3 1/2 hour nap today, he had no fever, no more vomit, no one else seems to be sick and all are in bed sound asleep for the night and that makes it a nice round happiness/miracle number 5!

FUNNY LITTLE THINGS...

Random things that made me smile today, even when I wanted to smack heads together (but I didn't, so don't call CPS).

After going to Nash's birthday party at Peter Piper Pizza - Elias has been obsessed with going there again. Aunt Jenn gave him a fist full of coins and he ran around playing video games all night. He couldn't have been happier. So today he grabbed a fist full of change from his money jar and told me he was ready to go to the pizza place and he promised me he would eat pizza! (I told him he couldn't play games until after he ate his pizza).

This morning when I went to go get the twins out of bed, I heard them yelling, "go away ghost" and then they would break out into roars of laughter. I peeked in on them to see what they were doing and they would take turns covering themselves with their blankets and then the other one would yell, "go away ghost" and then they would swap places. I love how they crack each other up!

Tyson's latest obsession is Spiderman. We have to watch it at least once every day (doesn't matter which one, 1, 2 or 3), he has to wear one of the costumes through out the day (whenever I will allow it), he carries the action figure with him around the house and in the car AND he has to carry the DVD paper slip cover with him every where as well.

AIRPLANES!

Every time the boys see an airplane they think that dad is in it. Today we saw an airplane in the sky and Eli asked, "where is that plane going?" I said, "I don't know..." He was quick to respond with, "I want it to come back with my dad!" It was kinda sad but kinda cute at the same time :)

ANOTHER AIRPORT MIX-UP!

I now know exactly where to pick up Jared, I can track his flight second by second on a website I have (thanks Joel) and I even call a sitter several days in advance to come to the house at 11pm and sit while I run quickly out to pick up Jared. After the first time, it sounds simple and easy enough, right?!

I called one of my visiting teachers, asked her to come to my house at 11pm on Friday and she graciously said, "yes, of course, I would be happy too!"

Friday came and I thought maybe I should call and give her a reminder phone call, but then I decided against it because I didn't want to be annoying. That night I tracked Jared's flight and saw he had landed a tad early, but I didn't worry about it because I knew it would take a little bit to get off the plane and I saw no point in calling her to just ask her to come over 10 minutes early, Jared would wait and be just fine. He landed, called me to tell me he was ready to go and I apologized and told him she wasn't here yet, but that she would be here at 11pm and I would hustle over there. He had no problem with that. I kept checking the windows to see if she was outside and finally it was 11:08pm, I didn't want to be annoying, but I thought even if she had left her house at 11pm she would have been here by now. So I got a little nervous and called her house. No answer. I waited another couple of minutes in case she was on her way over. She never called back and she never showed up. (I didn't get mad though incase something bad had happened - luckily she was at church so I know they are ok, now I just have to find the right moment to remind her she forgot about me - ha ha) I called 2 friends who didn't answer their phones, I looked across the street and my neighbor didn't look like he was up either....so...I took a big swallow and picked up the phone and called Joel. (He was one of the ones in the airport search party 2 weeks earlier and I didn't want to bug him or my other friends again this time too).

He answered his phone right away and rushed out to pick him up, no hesitation. It is so nice to have friends who will drop everything for you. I hope that some time we will be able to get this airport thing down without having any little problems :)

I AM NOT EMBARRASSED TO ADMIT...

That while Jared is away I get lazy and don't shave my legs as often. This morning Eli crawled into bed with me and we were snuggling watching Disney channel and Eli says, "Ouch mom!"
"what?"
"your whiskers are poking me!"
I guess I should continue to shave on a regular basis to spare my son from getting poked by my leg whiskers.

I NOW GIVE BACK MY CROWN AND STEP OFF MY THRONE...

I will no longer walk around like I am the greatest Queen of all Mothers. I will no longer sit upon my throne and judge other mothers (OK maybe I will a little).

Today while I was on the phone with my dad he asked me how it was going today and checking in with me. I told him it was great. I even began to brag about how well I was handling everything. How I had more patience for my kids, blah blah blah. Well, I guess I needed a quick slap in the face. The rest of the day I was not the greatest mother of all time anymore. (OK, not that I ever was, I am only trying to make the story better)

I thought me and the kids were having a great day today, Eli had school, the twins played together, we had a play date at our house afterwards, we went to the park and watched Logan run his race, we played at the park, I had to go to a meeting but came stocked with goodies to entertain the troops, etc. But man oh man, about halfway through the meeting everything went downhill fast. Let's just say my throat is a little sore from yelling and the twins went to bed 30 minutes early!

Oops, perhaps tomorrow I can start earning back my throne to sit upon.

FEEDING THE HORSE...

Guess how I found the twins killing time while waiting for Eli to be done with preschool...feeding the horse from their sippy cup :)