And I thought he was still sleeping

This is what I found one day this week when I went to go check on Jax. It was past when he normally wakes up from nap time. I thought he was just sleeping a little longer than usual. Nope. I left the wipes on the dresser and he went to town when he woke up! The tears on his face were only because he was mad that I came in to get him and then left to get the camera!

Looking for a house cleaner? I have two!

I heard my two muchkins in the bathroom the other day. That is never good. Jade will usually yell "MOM!!!! HE's in the bathroom!" If she finds him in there (because that means he is either playing in the toilet, pulling out my trash, or undoing the toilet paper roll). So when I heard both of them in there laughing and having a good time, I knew they had to be up to something. I guess it was just some good, "clean", Fun! And my 4 year old? Yeah, not sassy at all. I mean you heard her- She knows how to clean walls. I don't have to worry about her at all!

Sleeping Jadyn

We all know she doesn't sleep in her bed by herself-even if she is tired. A few nights ago I was on the computer. She had been up in my bed watching a show and it had ended. Rather than fall asleep she came downstairs and said she was ready for me to come up. I told her I would be a few minutes...and then a few more. She finally just curled up on a floor! I must admit I did feel a little guilty about it, but she was obviously fine with it! I took her up a few minutes later-yes, to my bed. When is she going to sleep in her room? If you ask her, she will say "When I am bigger and go to school" Right.....

The girl can dance.....

My kids both love when we turn up the music and dance. Jade likes it more than Jax though. She is loving "All the single ladies" by Beyonce and was rocking out one night. She had every piece of jewelry she owns on and even a necklace on her head because it made her "like more model". She was cracking me up. I was nice enough to capture it on camera for her later years! ;) And telling her to dance like Uncle Mike? Let's just say a video of him from New Year's was posted on Facebook. Jade happened to see it when I opened it. She laughed hysterically and will now say "Look mom, it's like Uncle Mike" Hmmmm.....I don't know why this video showed up so dark....oh well, I still laugh every time I watch it

Jumpin Jacks

I took my kids to a bounce house the other day. They both LOVED it. Jade just ran up and down the slides for 1.5 hours. It was reconfirmed that kids have SO much more energy than I do. I climbed up the slides-carrying Jax- about 5 times and holy crap-It's hard to do! :) Jax didn't love the slides. He would cry when we got to the top. He definitely preferred just jumping around. I got a month pass because it was the same price as what I would have paid for us to go for just one day (odd, I know) so I'm sure we'll be going back soon. Jax loved sitting on this train

and down she goes.....

Poor Jax....Funny thing is he laughs when she tackles him....until she doesn't let go-then he screams!

Dear Jax: My walls are NOT coloring pages

My little Jax LOVES "colors" crayons, markers, pens, pencils-he loves them all. Problem is Jade ALSO loves to color. She is in a phase right now where she colors all. the. time. Jaxon is FAST. When he sees that she is coloring he is immediately there. Trying desperately to get his hands on something. We try to keep everything out of reach but I swear he can sniff them out anywhere! Because of this my walls have taken a beating. This is new for me. Jade didn't color on walls. She was really good at understanding "we ONLY color on paper". I have been better at sitting with Jax and letting him color on paper so he understands that is where we color. It's gotten a little better, but I have to continually keep my eye out for the "color" snatching thief! Needless to say we have a few paint touch ups that need to be done!

He talks.....and loves pudding

Or maybe he really just loves playing in his pudding? Jax loves using a spoon. My problem comes when the pudding (and the same happens with yogurt) is about 3/4 of the way gone and he can't work the spoon to get the rest. So.....he then uses his hand to get the rest. But then he realizes that he has fun play food on his hand and that it is actually more fun to play with than to eat! To be honest I usually indulge him-He eats most the food and then entertains himself for awhile. I love this picture because it also shows the pudding he managed to get on the wall! :)

About two weeks ago Jax finally started to repeat words we asked him to say. Before that he would use about 5 words but if we ever said "Jax....say Daddy" He would say "Ughhhh" and then continue on his way. So I was amazed a few weeks ago when I asked him to say something and he did. and then again. and then again. He only lets me ask about 5 things and then he gets bored and won't participate. Gorilla and sorry are probably 2 of my favorite words he says. It's so cute. His vocab has grown 10 x's in the past two weeks. It's amazing. I love this video because he sounds so cute when he talks. I also love when the spoon gets stuck to his hand! I cleaned him up shortly after this!

Barak Obama

I am not big on politics. I'm just not. Sometimes I wish I was. Sometimes I think I should be. It's just not my forte. Today I am going to talk about it. It's my blog so I guess I can discuss what I want.

Today Barak Obama was signed (is that even the term) in to office. I watched a little of the inauguration on t.v. today. Not all of it-I mean it was over 6 hours long. Here is how I feel about it:

1- I think he seems like a good man. I think he is coming in to a time where I can't imagine why anyone would want to be Pres. Things are a mess. This country is in a bad spot. So, I can hope for the best and wish him the best

2- I think it is great that we have our first black president. I don't think he is as great as God-which sometimes it seems that others do. It's hard for me to understand all the hype I guess. I love everyone all the same-I don't care what religion they are or what color. I understand that others would have different views on this, which I am fine with. Again...I just think he is being hailed as the greatest person ever.

3- I don't think Bush should be blamed for all the problems in this country.

4- I am appalled at this final quote from the inauguration benediction:

"we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around ... when yellow will be mellow ... when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right."

I'm sorry....but that seems just wrong to me. Maybe one of the more racist judgmental comments I have heard in a long time. I feel like he was saying "The other races are wonderful, but I sure do hope those white people will embrace what is right." Are you kidding me? If there is one thing concerning race I feel VERY strongly about is the fact that it is not just white people who are racist and to have that be the final sentence of the benediction disturbs me. How about something like "May we all embrace what is right...."

I don't agree with what that man says, but as we enter this new part of history I am praying that we can all become more united. I do not think it is only Barak Obama alone can solve the Country's problems. I think that comes from all of us. I give him my support. In the end I hope this "change" inspires us to be more loving and open to all people.

Surprise ending.....

I got a call today from the detective on our fraud case. It's comes with quite a surprise that the individual that was kind enough to steal my credit card has been caught and has also confessed to running up a credit card bill of over $5,000 in my name. That-makes me happy. I don't really have any awful feelings toward this person. I do hope they end up having to pay back ALL of that $5,000. I am glad they didn't get away with it. I hope the food-massages-concerts-etc were all worth it because I'm sure the criminal record and punishment that will come with it won't be quite as pleasant!

Family Home Evening

We try to have FHE at our house. We don't make it every Monday, but we make an effort. That said, FHE is interesting with little kids. Never sure how much comes from it and when we mention Family Home Evening Jadyn immediately says "Oh good. Let's play duck, duck goose" She loves playing that game after Family Home Evening. Have ya ever tried to play with three people? Makes it a little more challenging but----she enjoys it all the same. Well we needed a song first.
Mom: Jade what song should we sing?
Jade: The daddy one. Ya know? Where he comes home? Well when Jesus comes?
Mom: Oh...you mean I wonder when he comes again? (I've been singing this to them lately at night)
Jade: Yep, that one.

So next we talked a little about goals.
Mom: Jade do you know what goals are?
Jade: Yeah, like Jewelry.
Mom: Ok......not exactly. (thinking: Jewelry? What?)
So I explain a little about goals.
We talk about some goals for Jax: Talk, say a prayers, sing a song
Then it was Jade's turn
Dad: OK Jade, what are some things you can try to do this next year.
Jadyn is now in her "I'm going to be funny" stage of the night and the next 5 min go like this
Jade: I am going to..........Drink bread (insert hysterical laughing)
Scott and I look at each other-laughing
Mom: No Jade, we need to be serious. What can you try to do?
Jade: Well my favorite is to pee. (insert hysterical laughing)
Jaxon: bo-bo (insert Jaxon laughing)
Dad: Come on Jade
Jade: Ok.....I will learn to eat green beans (laughing again as if this was the funniest thing ever)
Jaxon: Bo-bo (more laughing from Jax)

By then we were wondering where this laughing child came from. Somehow we were all laughing at that point and Jax would say bo-bo over and over and laugh at that-as if he was contributing to his humor. We did write down a few things for her: Kickover from her backbends, cartwheels, write all her numbers (she already does her letters) and learn to read some words. Be nice to her brother.
We needed another closing song. Jade voluntered a made up song about crayons and dinner. It was followed by all of us singing "I am a Child of God" even though Jade was insistent that we didn't need that one since she had already sang!

What a fun Family Home Evening. It's all about spending time as a family right? :) As I am writing this I am feeling guilty though. I told Jade her and Jax needed a bath before we played Duck, Duck, Goose (Jax was covered in spaghetti sauce) and that if they took a bath we would play as soon as they got out. I forgot. I hate when I forget what I promised. Guess we will all be playing Duck Duck Goose when Scott gets home tomorrow!

Recap 2008 and in with 2009!

With the new year comes my usual hesitation. The nervesness of what the new year "could" bring. The long and looming January. I worry more this year about my job. With the many lay offs that they just did, it makes me really nervous. I like what I do and it's such a blessing to be able to work from home. I worry a lot about it. I do like to set goals for the new year. I know some people don't, but I do. I have been thinking about them and I'm hoping to set goals for Family Home Evening on Monday. I know a lot of people who choose a word to live by each year. I am going to do it. I have been thinking about it and will choose one soon.

Highlights of 2008
- Moving: Not at all in the forcast at the beginning of 2008 and yet here were are!
- Scott turned 30!
- Jax turned one and got tubes. Tubes for us meant our very calm little boy became anything but that. :)
- Jade started dance and gymnastics and loves both!
- Jade turned 4 and learned all her letters, sounds, and can write her name (any many other words)
- Starting and finishing the basement.
- Ali running 3 1/2 marathons

Christmas!

We had such a fun day! We woke up to a Blizzard. I am talking more of a blizzard than I have EVER seen. It was so crazy. Nothing like a white Christmas though. I loved it. Jax woke up at 8:00 so we woke Jadyn up as well. I wonder how long the kids will sleep in on Christmas!?! We will enjoy it while we can. The kids loved their gifts! Jade got a doll house and Leapster and Jax a train table. Jaxon's favorite gift was probably his new tooth brushes! :) Funny kid! Lucky for us, my mom only lives a block away so the drive over wasn't bad. We had such a fun time having breakfast with family and then opening more gifts. It's always a zoo in there when we open gifts but everyone has a wonderful time! We were needing to head over to Scott's Dad's house. Scott took Jax out to the car and was going to pull up so that we didn't have to walk out in the blizzard. 5 min later I couldn't figure out what was taking him so long! I looked out the front door and down the street and I noticed he was stuck! He had gone down the street to turn around and was stuck in the snow! I sent my brothers to go see if they could help. They would push him out only to get stuck again. We ended up having to be towed home! It was such a crazy storm! We decided that we would just hang out at home until it passed. It was so nice! The kids were able to play with their new toys all morning and then we put them down for naps/rest time. By the time they woke up the snow had stopped. We ran over to my grandma's for dinner and then to Scott's dad's house. It was fun to see everyone on Christmas! The kids were definitely wired from the craziness of the day! I put Jax to bed as soon as we got home. Mike and Brand came over so Jade stayed up and opened presents from them. About 30 min later she was asleep on my lap (and Scott was asleep on the couch!) It was a great day.
I love spending the day with family. It helps to remind me of the reason we celebrate. I am grateful for the Savior. For his birth and for his life.

I love the "I just woke up" look! Waiting to go see if Santa came!

The view from the porch!

Jade with her Dollhouse!

Jade playing with Jax's train table!


Mom and Jade

Jax opening his favorite present-tooth brushes!

My Christams present
Cute Jax playing at my grandma's

Our last week of Break

I promise the blogs on daily recaps will end soon. But since I use this for a journal I need to feel "caught up" on our holiday break. So here goes. The final week of catch up.
Fri (Dec 26th): Movie Day. I've posted about them before-Scott's movie day. The past few he has only done 3 or 4 in a day but this year he was able to fit in 5. And yes, he was happy about that. My dad actually went to 5 as well! Jade went with Scott to the first show. I actually finally went and saw Twilight that day too! I went with my mom, dad, sister-in-law and niece. I liked it. I am glad Scott was able to do his movie day again. He looks forward to it and it's a nice break for him.
Sat (Dec 27th): I love Christmas and all that comes with it, but I am also one that once it's over, I am ready to move on. In years past I take the decorations done the day after. This year I waited until 2 days after! It's an effort though. I'm not sure it really takes that much longer to take it down than it does to put up, but it sure feels that way! AFter the kids woke up we were off to my grandma's annual swimming party. We always have a lot of fun. We all got in the pool this year. It probably was a bad idea for me to get in a swimsuit. It shows the love I have for my kids! ;) Jade LOVED it and was in the water for 2 hours straight. She loved jumping off the diving board. Her moves were awesome! Jax loved just being in the water. I'm excited that he will be big enough this summer for a normal life jacket that doesn't make him float on his back. He will be happy about that-as will I. He loved going down the slide over. and over. and over. I got out about 20 min before our time was done and went downstairs to get changed. Since I had to get myself and the two kids showered it took a little time. I came upstairs 2 min after 6:00 and the next group of people were already there and getting undressed. I was a bit paniced as I saw the red plastic covering the door. Any guess who came to swim after us-the NUDISTS!!! Yep! I'm glad we got to swim first! :)

Jax getting in his last fill of the snowman globe before we put it away. Notice his toothbrushes

Jade doing her moves off the diving board

Mon (Dec 29th): We decided that we had a week of play and fun and that we needed to get some work done this week. So I told scott I would work Monday and he could take the kids and then he could work Tuesday and I would take the kids. So-Scott and Brand took the kids to the Aquarium. The plan was to take them to the Bear House (Cabella's) afterwards, but Jax fell asleep on the way so they brought him home first and then went with just Jade. All the while I was working on the basement. We had our extra bedroom full of just storage stuff and boxes from the move. It was a huge effort. I worked all day. Stopped for a few hours and then worked again until 3:00 in the morning and I wasn't finished until later in the week! It was crazy but SOOO nice to get finished. A few days before I had told Jade that Monday was Grandma Carla's birthday. She said "Well we should still celebrate. I'll blow out her candles." We all know Jade loves any birthday celebration and it doesn't matter if the person is here or not. A celebration should be had. So Mike and Brand came over and we had dinner and then a cake for carla's birthday. We sang and of course.....Jade blew out the candles! Probably just the way Carla would have wanted it.

Jade excited about the party

JAx enjoyed the cake

Tues (Dec 30th): My turn with the kids. I had heard that there is a little City Museum close by that is free so I took the kids. It was small but cute and the kids had a good time. Afterwards the kids and I went to eat at Pei Weis. They were both really good and we had a fun time. Unfortunately I had a dentist apt that afternoon. I needed two crowns. A 2 hour dentist apt turned in to a 3.5 hour apt. I think I ended up getting like 10 shots. 4 of them were in the roof of my mouth. They had to drill my gums and it was just so miserable. I will full on admit that near the end I was actually crying in the chair. I think part of that was the 3 hours I had been on nitrus but I was in pain and the shots were wearing off. It was just bad. The fact that at the end of the apt I had to put the $1000 on my credit card, didn't help either. It was a long night. I got home at 8:30 and took Jade and up to bed we went. I was spent.

Jax was VERY mad when we had to leave this area. He loved it.

Jade had to get her pic by this because "Daddy would love it"

Jade being "teacher" in the little school house

Jade being the student
Jax playing with the checkers

Jade dressed up

Wed (Dec 31st): The only thing to add to today besides New Year's eve stuff is that I had the kids again while Scott worked more on the basement. The outing didn't go as well as the day before. My cute little Jade decided to kick me in the store after seeing that her little brother was sitting in her spot in the stroller. The outing ended there and we left our stuff and went home. She knew she was in big trouble and did herself a favor by falling asleep on the way home! :) Both kids actually fell asleep on the way home, which was nice.
Thurs (Jan 1): My nice mom took my kids for me for 3 hours in the morning so we could finish the basement and the house. We spent the majority of the day at home just hanging out. It was nice to get a few things finished.
Fri (Jan 2): Back to work for me. Scott had the day off though so he went with BRandee down to see his grandparents. We didn't see them on Christmas so it was good for Scott to go down. It sounded like everyone had a great time and they went out to Lunch and the kids were actually pretty good. Scott's grandpa gave Jax a little rocking horse for Christmas. He actually made one just like it for Scott as a kid. We had it at the old house for awhile but then Brand stored it for us while we were moving. Now she can keep that one and we each have one. Jax loved it!After nap time we headed over to Jungle Jims to hang out with SCott's Dad and Belva's family. Jade was in heaven to be there and get to hang out with Weston and my cute "baby" Jax could not have been happier. How is my baby old enough to be riding some rides by himself? He seriously loved the place. He could just run around and do everything the bigger kids could do. There were lights, games, places to play. He just loved it. I need to take him back sometime soon. They both had a great night. I enjoyed watching them both be so happy. The highlight to Michael and Brandee's night was seeing SCott get nailed in the face by the mallet to this hitting game. They were rolling on the floor laughing. Had scott not have been concerned if his eye was still intact would have been laughing with them! I think I missed a good moment. We really have a great night and the kids were so good.

Sat (Jan 3): The plan for the day was to hang out and relax. It didn't quite work out that way, but we sure got a few more things checked off of the to-do list! We started by getting THE bed put together in JAxon's room. To scott the bed is greater than gold. It's a firetruck bed and don't get me wrong, it is a cute bed. It was made by his Grandpa, which is pretty cool, but if you talk to SCott about THE bed, will you clearly see it brings back a lot of wonderful childhood memories. We aren't planning on moving Jax in it any time soon but the situation was this: Roy no longer wanted this HUGE bed in his basement and there was no way Scott was letting him get rid of it. So it was moved to our garage. When we cleaned out the garage we realized we had no where to really put it, so we moved the parts up to Jax's room. And there it sat-in parts, for 2.5 months. IT takes up a lot of room but it will be ok when we eventually take the crib out. And....I will admit, it's a pretty cute bed that I think he will love! Anyway, after that I went with my mom to my great aunts house. She has moved and left a few things at her old house that she didn't want. One of which was a bed that we are putting downstairs. There were few other things I put dibs on. When I left I called my uncle and just said when he goes to get his bead, can he help us get our bed we were taking as well. He said sure, let's go do it now. Well....from there I asked if he could help get the piano from my dad's. He was nice enough to do so and I am happy to say that I am now the proud owner of a piano. I am so happy about it! It was an effort to get it downstairs but it made it. I was told it will never make it back upstairs though! My uncle also took a load of our crap to D.I. We owe him big time. So three hours later............ our week of working came to an end. I told SCott thanks for doing so much and said I would take the kids out for awhile so he could just sit and relax. The night only ended badly when I broke my little toe. Ouch!
Sun (Jan 3rd): New schedule at church 9:30-12:30 with Sacrament first. Nursery was CRAZY. The primary was CRAZY. I think everyone just felt the change. Next week should be a bit calmer. Nursery has been ok. It's good that Jax doesn't care if I am in there or not because I tend to be in and out helping the entire time. That afternoon I took a 3 hour nap. I was very happy

Ok, so there ya have it. The final summary of our holiday break. It is so nice to have nearly 2 weeks every year to spend time with each other. It comes just before baseball starts, so it is a good thing. I am grateful for all the fun things we were able to do as well as all of the projects we were finally able to finish. It was just a really good two weeks!

New Year's Eve!

I think this may have been one of my favorite New Year's Eve. The kids and I went to the mall around 5:00 and I let them play for awhile. We grabbed dinner on the way home and met Scott at my sister's house. We have gone to her house the past few years but there are usually more people. This year it was just our family, Meg's family, My mom, dad, Josh, my grandma and Dave. We ate dinner and then I let Jax play for a little while. I played rockband for a song or two. It was fun! I put Jax to bed at around 8:00. Jade was playing with the kids. Scott was playin Wii golf. I played a game with Meg, my mom, grandma and Dave and then I watched a movie. Next thing I knew I was telling everyone that we only had 10 min until midnight! Usually I am ready to go around 10:00 but I think since I was just relaxing, it was quiet and the kids were either asleep or playing it went by so quickly!

Making brownies for the party!

Superheroes!

Love sac diving!

I told Jade to give him a kiss! He wasn't thrilled. Jade thought she was hillarious!

Enjoying his restful new year's eveShe made it past midnight but it sure made her tired the next day!

Christmas Eve

I love Christmas Eve. It starts Christmas for me. We kept the tradition and Celebrated at my Dad's. All my family was there. Dinner was fantastic, the games were wonderful and the spirit of Christmas was strong. Thanks for another great party dad! We loved it.

This is what happens when I try to get a pic of the two of them

At least Jade cooperates!

Jax playing peek a boo after his meal of peas!

Jaxon Running the money. Lyssa helped him on his turn but after that he did it all by himself in between everyone else! He loved it

Video of Jade

Me and my niece Lyssa

My mom and Me.

The fam
Me and the kids

We all won these lights in the white elephant game. Mine will be perfect for running. Jadyn loves hers!
The kids in their new Jammies from grandpa. I love this picture!