oh so natural

So after yet another night of painting and scrubbing and looking for missing kittens we fell into bed(so it was only 9:30 you try raising five kids). Peace at last I stretched out in nice clean sheets, had perfect white noise from the window fan and was gone. Fast forward to 4:15 am clomp clomp, rattle rattle.... what the h#&% as I flew out of bed Mike so calmly replied just a cow!!!!!!!!! Sure enough my newly planted flowers went the way of free range and the worst part, I just shrugged and went back to sleep.

showing our age

Friday Mike and I started the dreaded pre painting, pre moving sorting, you know go through all your belongings get rid of half of it and repacking the rest(so you can get rid of that the next time) when I stumbled upon my childhood pride and joy my record collection. Yup you heard me a super sized stack of super sized vinyl. Wow what memories that brought back, me and Brooke, Saige, friends and cousins dancing and singing along with Annie, Ernie's Hits, and our all time favorite(tongue in cheek) I'm a Mormon! including the smash hit I want to be a Mother(yeah probably was my favorite). Mike being the great husband that he is even volunteered to go out to the shed and dig out my old record player for me. So there I am so excited to share the music from my childhood with my cute little group when Carsten spies my treasures "WOW mom look at the size of those disks did you have to carry your cd player on your back like a backpack, what kind of batteries did it take?" Well I told him to just be quiet and he was in for a great treat, So I played Ernie's hits for them turns out they have never seen Sesame Street so Ernie who, and some pretty good scratches, so it really did sound as if Ernie's rubber duckie had been exposed to a little to many bubbles, so we moved on to I Have a Song for You all about animals, volume 3. The only problem is that by then Kallison was dancing to Hannah Montana on her mp3, Braxton and Carsten had gone back to the wii and Ardynn just stood there looking at me like I had just told her she was going to have to start wearing Sam Jams(complete with hammer loop) and putting her hair in a side pony. At least Dawson thought it was cool he just stood there and shook his little osh kosh clad back side bopping out to Kitten in the Sun and Mister Stand-On-One-Leg, his mommy is so hip. By then even Mike had given into his unwarranted need to laugh at my lost childhood and safely retreated back to the shed and his own "lost boxes of childhood treasure." Well the records and there player are safely packed for the move, the kids are all back to the 21 century, Mike is still out in the shed laughing at me, and as for me when did I get old?

just thinking

Okay so we are now on day four of summer break, and currently my darlings are chasing each other around the house shooting bubbles at each other. Dawson is not even been dressed today, there is a big, okay huge orange cat on my lap, and the house is starting to look like the circus came by and forgot to take the animals back. The best part is we are all totally happy(maybe not the cat he is now digging his claws into my leg). So with that start I am going to tell you all a few of the little things that make me happy.
1. Five(5) crazy HEALTHY half dressed kids.
2. A great husband who flies his tail off so I can enjoy the above mentioned kids and cats and dogs, and yes even the goldfish.
3. Strange but true a wonderful Grandmother who keeps me full of free samples, no kidding last month she gave me a year supply of my favorite deodorant.
4. A great book.
5. CHOCOLATE
6.All of my great friends.
7. New beads!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
8. The for sell sign ready to go out in front om my house.
9. Mikes limp that I now only notice when he is tired.
10. The above limper whose awesome dedication to physical therapy has left only a slight limp.
11. The family of his donor who gave of their loved one, so Mikes leg could be rebuilt.
12. did I mention new beads.
13. Cute new toe rings for summer
14. My new BBQ grill.
15. Snow in May.

SAY WHAT

Okay so today I was speechless(something that rarely happens) my very cute, very observant nine year old came up to me with a very interesting question "Mom whats reptile dysfunction?" Umm... hello does anyone want to help, it was only a few months ago he questioned us about where Viagra Falls was. Now my kids are pretty smart they know all the "correct" names for body parts(and some pretty strange ones too), but I am so not ready for these talks. Really is there any way to keep them small? By the way reptile dysfunction is when your "lizard" just can't get up and go anymore.

Spring pictures

Here are the latest pictures of the "School Kids" they are all out of school and making big plans for summer. Carsten is playing Baseball and all will be taking swim lessons. we will also be traveling to Utah for the get together at "The Compound" in July.

her first graduation

Last Tuesday Ardynn graduated from kindergarten, she is now an official first grader. Friday was our last day of school not only for the year but also our last day at Williams Elementary School, next school year if we are still living here the kids will be attending Liberty Tradional Charter School.

Oh how the mighty have fallen

Just for the record I am a very smug person, I always inwardly smile when ever some incapable person says "wow you have five kids, how do you do it?" So it is with great humility that I tell this horrible tale. Our weather has been awful: cold, wet, windy, even snowy so super mom that I am let my little darlings loose with all the extra birthday treats from the girls birthday parties.
We are talking bubbles, stickers, make-up even feather boas( the boys use these to tease the cats) and remember those fun little grow a sponges tons of those. I was thinking wow everyone played so cute, and the boys helped the girls hatch their fun little sponges, maybe we should do this more often, so pat pat on the back until alas two days later when I changed the babies bottom it was the worst dirty diaper ever my darling one year old the apple of my eye had s#*&
out a 747 bright yellow jumbo jet , apparently he had swallowed a small harmless sponge capsule, that had traveled through his little digestive tract that had dissolved leaving only a jumbo jet and a very clean one year old.

ooh baby

As you can see we can crawl, Friday no one was watching the baby, Mike and Kallison decided to play pet vet on the computer and I was fixing lunch, so Dawson took the opportunity to remind us that we are not as "baby proof" as we had thought. But a little ash never hurt anybody.

US

To all my family and friends here is a little letter about me and mine.

Welcome to chaos, my house is a mess, it is clean, but we live here, I do not care if your floors are spotless, we are playing outside or listening to a great story from one of the kids. We do not take pictures of everything as we are to busy being the picture. I will brag on ALL of my kids as they are the best, honestly I don't know where they get it because I am a real troll.

BRAXTON is amazing he is only 9 but understands more about the world than most adults(our poor children have gone through so much this year and he has stood so strong). Of course we are proud of him but most importantly he loves himself. He has such a great personality and holds no malice towards anyone. His teachers have all told Mike and I, that Bug is the first student others turn to as he does not judge. He is such a great student that he will start attending forth grade part of the day after Christmas break.

CARSTEN is our little cub he is the sweetest little boy ever, at 7 he is in the first grade and has discovered in himself a great love of math he is absolutely wonderful at it. He also has an amazing ability with animals, they all seem to love and trust him. He has been such a bright spirit for me this past year, with his infectious laugh you just hear it and your day is better.

ARDYNN is truly our sunshine, she has finally(her words)started kindergarten were she surprised us all and had already taught herself to read. She and Carsten both were named Students of the Month for September. We call her our future Doctor as she spent so much time helping Mike this past winter she is so curious about all things medical we have great hopes for her career future.


KALLISON is my best friend as she tells me that every day. She is such a special little girl, she could take care of the entire family single handed as she is so independent. Dawson lights up the minute he sees her, and they talk in their own special language(I sometimes wonder what great secrets they tell.) She already shows such great love and potential for life That I cannot wait to see where she goes.

DAWSON has been such a blessing to us all, he has taught me not just the importance of being a mom, but to also slow down and enjoy the little things. Seeing him fight so hard for life made me see the wonder in each day even if my "list" never gets finished.

So there in a nut shell is our children each a special blessing to us, and none complete with out each other. They really do make a great team.

labor day

Wow, we had a great weekend. Brooke and Brad came up from Phoenix with the boys, so we met up with them (and all their friends and other family) and went to the Cococnino Co. Fair. The older kids rode the mechanical bull, boy was that funny. We looked at the rabbits, the cows, the pigs, and met up with some Llamas(which Cooper stated calling mamas). After playing games and riding a ton of rides, we headed to Chili's for a fun dinner(thanks Brooke for letting everyone sing me happy birthday and telling the staff I was 21 with five kids).

Sunday we all met for the annual Labor Day Rodeo, and had lots of fun there also, Braxton, Carsten, and Ardynn made the run for the calf, and Carsten came pretty close to grabbing the ribbon but better luck next year.