The Frog Princess...

Jumper has chosen to live in in his birdbath/habitat for 2 days now! Gavin doesn't seem suprised to find him still here every day, he says Jumper likes him. =) Every morning I check to see if he is still here and I'm suprised to still see him. This morning I told Gavin that I think Jumper is really a girl and is waiting to be kissed and turned into a Princess. It was pretty cute yesterday because some neighbor kids were over looking at him when Gavin came home from his friends house. He came over touched the water and pronouced it way too hot. He said "everyone back up and move away, I've got to cool down his water". His tone of voice was the cutest part because he was so serious and authoritive. He has also been catching bugs for him to eat. But we are not allowed to watch and see if he eats them. Gavin insists he likes to eat without being watched.

Gavin's newest critter...

Joy of joys! Gavin found this cute little frog this morning. He has spent hours out there with his new pet Jumper. Takes me back to my own frog capturing days. They were never this cute in Nevada though!

He made him this little "habitat" in the bird bath on our front porch. He says mosquitoes will lay there eggs in the water and that will be what Jumper eats. Think he's watched one too many animal show?

Sad Story

Our good friends the Pierces moved back to Utah in March. Amazingly, Ashlyn still asks for Natalie and Marcus all the time. She does not comprehend the whole moving idea at all. It is so sad! I would love to be able to read her mind and know what she is thinking. Yesterday I was out doing my visiting teaching and I was driving the route we used to take to go to their house. Ashlyn got sooo excited! She started yelling Natalie, Marcus, YAY! While clapping her hands. As we approached their house she got more and more excited. The thought came to me that if I took her to the door and let her see the new people living there maybe it would help her understand that they don't live here anymore. I knew if I just drove on by she would most probably have a melt down for sure! I felt pretty silly but we knocked at the door and I explained why we were bothering these people. (Yes, the guy did look at me strangely.) Poor Ashlyn went from Christmas morning excitement to a look of utter confusion. I felt downright cruel but I am at a loss as how to help her understand why we can't see them whenever we want. It is times like these that really make me wish for a magic wand.

Ode to Rain

One of my favorite feelings is waking up in the night to the sound of rain. There is just something so delicious feeling about being nice and cozy in your bed while listening to the soothing sound of rain falling. For some reason rainy days make me feel like not only is it okay to be completely lazy but almost expected of me. It got me to thinking though about why I love rainstorms so much.

Growing up in the desert of Southern Nevada, rain was a rare commodity. We did occasionally have thunderstorms where the power would go out. My favorite was when this happened in the evenings and we would have to get out the kerosene lamp. I remember at the first hint of rain hoping for a power outage. And joy of joy when it actually did!!! Running with such excitement for the lighting of the lamp. These occurrences happened less and less as I got older, finally dying out completely. Modern technology conquering the elements, I suppose. I think that's where my love of rain began. With nothing to do but watch the storm and wait for lightening to illuminate the sky for that brief instant of time. Listening to the thunder roll, as a small child it all seemed almost magical. Beyond human understanding or control. Even the smell was divine. Rain falling on parched desert sand is such a clean smell. The mind can't help but turn to diety and the mysteries of life.

Ashlyn's Castle!!!

The last few times we have been in Dothan, Ashlyn has lost her mind over this castle. She'll say "MOMMOM LOOK!!! A CASTLE!!! ASHLYN SEE CASTLE!!!!" Today was her lucky day she finally got to go the the castle. The Pizza Kastle is basically a glorified Chuck E. Cheese's. She got $5 worth of tokens to go to town on. I'm a little worried about a future gambling addiction though because her favorite part was pushing the tokens in the slots. Forget about playing them.

She thought this tractor was pretty cool. It even had a TV screen that showed video of tractors doing their thing while it jiggled around.

Here she is gleefully beating the snot out of some sharks! Yeehaw! She also really enjoyed feeding the tickets to the ticket counting machine.

Beware of Stinky Pee...

Let me start off by saying Ashlyn seems to be that unlucky person who has one health problem after another so the chances of this happening to your child are probably very slim but I say it is better to be informed than ignorant. She has been to more doctors than my older two kids combined. About two weeks ago I noticed that Ashlyn's pee was smelling really foul. But that seemed to be her only symptom. Otherwise she seemed perfectly fine. I realize I have an overly developed sense of smell and can even smell a difference in my kids pee when they take antibiotics. I asked Chris if he had noticed and he said he had so then I knew it must be pretty strong, and not just my imagination. I thought she might have a UTI but felt a little silly listing her cheif complaint as stinky pee. Something of an oxymoron! As if pee ever smells good. Regardless, I took her in to see the Doctor and we tried and tried to get her to pee in a cup but of course she would not. But I could tell the Doctor thought I was just another panicy Mom. He said she's probably just a little dehydrated and her urine is really concentrated. I went home with a pee cup and after several days finally got her to pee on her potty and was able to take in a urine sample. Sure enough the lab results came back today and she does indeed have a UTI and the culture is growing out E. coli! They told me they would have to call around to find a pharmacy that even carried the medication she would need and get back to me with the info. This can develop into a serious problem if left untreated.

Of course I rushed right down to Rite Aid to pick it up and Ashlyn spied a giant, stuffed Dora doll she couldn't live without. Curse the inventor of Dora and their merchandising team! Dora is everywhere and on everything! I kid you not. She kept hugging her and saying oh, MomMom (thats her new name for me) I lub Dora! She's so cute! Dora loves Ashlyn! I was seriously caving and thinking I would cough up the $20 bucks and buy her Dora. Chris and I have been trying to be better with our money so I called him to strengthen my resolve and help me say no. Of course, he said, "No Way! Don't you buy her that." But then Ashlyn got on the phone with her Daddy and started telling him how much she lubs her Dora. And then reeled him in with I love my Daddy. When I got back on the phone with Chris he said oh, buy her the Dora doll, its only 20 bucks. Even though I know she is totally working us it still works. You would think we would be a little tougher her being our third child and all. Anyways, back to the original story.

The moral of the story is this, Mom's know when there is something wrong with thier child! Always listen to that intution that tells you something isn't right no matter what the doctor says. We Moms want to believe there is nothing wrong so it is nice to let yourself believe that. But you will be able to tell the difference between normal Mom worry and something really doesn't seem right. As a new Mom I was too easily made to feel stupid by the all knowing doctors and think well the doctor must know best. Just remember you know your child best! Thanks for helping me remember that Emilie. =) I will try to refrain from giving out parenting advice from now on. ha, ha.

Back to School!!!

Gavin had his first day as a first grader today. He would've enjoyed a little more summer break and wasn't very chipper this morning. He has also been very uncooperative with my photo taking lately. He complains and avoids it at all costs. Chris had to order him to "let his mother get a picture", as you can see from his very fake smile. I took him to the Children's Place and let him pick out whatever shirt he wanted for the 1st day of school. He actually didn't just grab the first thing but took his time picking one out. This shirt was the winner.


Whitney was in such a hurry to get off to her first day as a 4th grader, that she wasn't very cooperative with my picture taking either! Hence the poor quality of this shot. (I'm considering doing retakes tomorrow, but then they technically won't be 1st day shots. What a dilemma.) She was beyond thrilled to be headed back to school. She got the teacher she wanted and one of her favorite friends is in her class too. What more could you ask for? She was pretty limited on her choice of apparel because of her school's dress code. She had her choice of 6 different colored polo shirts. =)

Annnoying...

I decided to be a nice Mom today and take my kids swimming before school starts up on Thursday. I got us all ready to go complete with sunblocking everyone. We headed down to Aviator's Landing only to find that it is now only open on weekends. How retarded is that?!?! Now I have a houseful of majorly disappointed kids. Especially Ashlyn who does not understand why we are not swimming. Just thought I'd save anyone else from a pointless trip and pouty kids.

Gavin's Splash Bash!!!

Okay, Chris and I freely admit that we live vicariously through our children. We both have December birthdays and we hate it! Gavin is our much anticipated summer baby. We get to plan parties for him with all those fun summer time activities. We surprised him by renting a giant, inflatable water slide. It was awesome! We had a shark theme because Gavin is fascinated by sharks.



Chris literally filled up around 700 water balloons! He had a little help from Dave & I but mostly it was all him. His hands were prune like claws by the time he was done. Our wonderful neighbors the Pattersons let us use their yard because Chris deemed ours "not level enough". They were probably a little worried about all those water balloon fragments in their yard but I'll let you in on a little secret. Give each kid a cheap baggie and offer prizes for who ever picks up the most water balloon pieces. It seriously took them about 5 minutes!


In Gavin's opinion a party is not complete without a pinata. Since we live in brand new housing all we have are baby trees. Chris solved this problem by climbing onto the roof and dangling the shark pinata over the edge. I'm so bummed I didn't get a picture of this (though I did get it on the video cam). I was too busy with crowd control and trying to keep 20 kids from getting brained by the pinata bat. Kids and pinatas are like sharks with a drop of blood, they go into a feeding frenzy at the mere sniff of candy. Oh, yes that is the remains of said shark pinata on Gavin's head. ha,ha.


Left to Right: Jack, Liam, Aaron, Whitney, Lillian, Jessica, Emily, Bethany, Nathanial, Brian, Colton, Riley
First row: AJ, Conner, Sean, Kaden, Gavin, Abby, Aidan

The Birthday Boy!

Heather's hair rant!

Life is so unfair! Not only is my natural hair color the most boring color known to man (potato skin brown) but even worse it is naturally curly. Imagine this being said to you in an Eastern European accent dripping with disdain, "this color, I do not like, it is not pretty. It is like the color of potato skins. True story. You would think by my age I would have made peace with this issue but unfortunately I have not. Hence the hair rant, just so people can have a small inkling to my pain. This is not a attempt to fish out some compliments. I want people to know that I am fully aware of how hideous my hair is. This morning I even shocked myself a little. As I was attempting to do something with this frizzy mop, I actually found myself seriously pondering this thought "I wonder if I went through chemotherapy if my hair texture would change?" Or if you find yourself thinking its a good thing there aren't any hair clippers in the house or I would be shaving my head Britney Spears style, you know your pain is real. This humidity makes my hair wild and out of control! If you saw me on the 4th of July you will understand what I am talking about. Suffice it to say that my own husband alternated between pity and laughter every time he looked in my direction. I am stuck between a rock and a hard place literally. Straightening my hair is an hour long process that half the time ends up looking like a Brillo pad after a few hours. I have tried countless products, treatments ect. Wearing it curly makes me feel like I'm stuck in the era of big hair bands and have fallen into a time warp. I would so cut it super short, if only I wouldn't look like a man in drag. Don't even start me on my hair disasters. I could go on for pages but I will stop myself. My poor husband gets to listen to this rant at least every few months. I can't even find a color that looks good on me. My last attempt was supposed to be a dark brunette but ended up looking very red. I am open to any suggestions, ideas or even sympathy.