Let's get real

(but only for like 5 minutes cause that's all I can handle)
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1. My ho-hum attitude is annoying me.
Honest.  That's kinda been my attitude for about a week about most things and it's to the point where I'm bugging me.  I'm sure it's only temporary but it's been long enough.  Moving on...
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 2.  I'm good at what I do and yet, am I?
I like my job but I guess I'm feeling a little stagnant and that's not fun.
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  3.  Good grades down the tubes...no way Jose.
Each of the kiddos brought home an unusual grade over the past few days.  Odd.  Really odd.  So we buckled down and fixed what needed to be fixed and I think we are back to normal in the smarty pants department.
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4.  Oh no she didn't!
Someone tried to tell me what was best for my child when it came to an extra curricular activity.  She insinuated that missing school for a dance program was more important then school itself.  Usually I would be inclined to agree that a few hours away from school is no big deal BUT we did just miss a lot of school for a vacation so school takes priority at the moment.  It is up to me and my dancer to figure out what is best.  Not her. Period.
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5.  What am I passionate about?
I'm not really sure at the moment and it's bugging me.
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  6. These headaches stink.
It's not a migraine-but this dull thud in the back of my head is get on my nerves.  It may be the on set of the grey weather.  In the fall I often get headaches when our days start being more grey then sun/blue sky.  After having awesome weather for a few weeks in Hawaii and then coming home to great weather I think I have a fall headaches in the spring.  You follow?
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  7. This weather makes me grumpy.
It's the truth. I'm trying to fight the grumpiness.  Can't it just be sunny?
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  8.  I take things too personally and I know it.

That's the truth too. I need to learn to let thing roll off my shoulders and let the things that matter, matter and the things that don't fall to the wayside. I can do that, right?  I'll just need a reminder now and again.
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9.  Jillian Micheals.
My legs are killing me and I want to yell at her but the 30 minutes is worth every second.
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10.  Being real is real annoying.
I'm just being real for posterity's sake.  I wouldn't want my future grandchildren to read their favorite bedtime story (this blog, duh) and  think Grandma was perfect.  Cause let's be real, I'm close to perfect but I'm not quite there yet.  Maybe next year.

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Newbies

 We thought Grandpa and Grandma needed more animals at the farm. Lucky for us Jason had a friend from high school who needed to part with some 15 Quail.  Yesterday we went and collected them and took them to the Grandparents house.

 They are a little over a month and look at how cute they are.  They are still getting their feathers and so they look a little mangy but cute none the less.  We learned how quick quail are.  They are movers!  They are sassy too.  When you go to grab them (gently, of course) they yell at you.  We all found it amusing.

 Ginger was a tad jealous of the new kids so Kahau gave her a little lovin'.

Mo (short for Mohawk) stood watch over the whole operation.

 Here are some more new additions to the farm.  These ducks have taken residence down at that the pond and they are fun-ny. According to Grandma they will follow you everywhere and when not paid attention to they nip you in the behind.  The Moscovy duck (the one with the red face) is Waggers and he is the ring leader.

 Can you spot the odd man in this picture?  Even though he is the same size and gets along quite well with them Ramses is NOT a duck.

 After riding the new doodlebug and hanging out with the animals there was only one way to end the day: Illegally.  Jason loaded everyone on the outside of the truck and up the driveway we drove.  Then at the top of the driveway I ruined the kids fun and made them get inside the car and wear a seat belt.  Yep, that's right, I'm a fun sucker.

Our ward has talent

Two of my Mia Maids, Kylie (the blonde) and Ashley (the brunette) put on a ward talent show on Saturday.  The girls did such a great job at putting together a fun ward activity.  So many people shared artwork and handmade items to show off their talents and after the pot luck people took to the stage to show off some pretty neat tricks.  There was instrument playing (piano, recorder, ukelele), handstands, a beat boxing missionary, 17 different ways to do push-ups, a game of chess, hula hooping and much-much more.  After every few talents Ashley and Kylie prepared to have some games played by the audience to show off some of our more unsophisticated talents.

This game started with about 10 people and culminated with Jason beating out David Shepherd.  Maybe he should have told Dave that he was his high schools champ in this game.

Way to go honey!

Another "in-between" game was the Oreo Cookie game.  You place an Oreo on your head and then without using your hands move it down your face to your mouth.  See Lindsay there on the right?  She is the master of this game, no question. See the cute 7 year old in the blue?  He tried his very best and eventually got the cookie into his mouth....with the help of some appendages. See the guy in the plaid?  He got lucky and his cookie rolled into his mouth. Lucky.

Our ward really is the highlight of living in our town.  There are just so many great, fun people.

Braley's spring concert

The spring concert was great this past Friday.  It's really too bad Ansen and daddy missed it but lucky for them I took a lot of video.  Braley did so well.  She was nervous about playing her recorder in front of all the people but she worried for nothing.  She did awesome.

She is cute as a button and uper talented.

Love this girl!

Doodlebug Day

 As previously mentioned Ansen turned 7 on Friday.  I'd say it was a pretty great day for 4 reasons:

1.  It did not rain.  We live in Oregon.  It rains a lot all the time.  It didn't on Friday.  It was nice.

2.  He got to share cupcakes with his class during the end of the school day.  He was line leader ALL week and even got to be the first one out to the bus.

3.  He got to miss his Evening Spring Music Concert (which he really didn't want to attend) in order to go to the Father and Son's camp out.  There he and daddy ate junk food, went to bed late and piddled in bushes....his words, not mine.

4.  Number 4 came today after church...

 A doodlebug!!!  His very own!  Except that he needs to share with his sisters.  Let me be completely honest. Until Friday I didn't have a clue what a doodlebug bike thingy was. We saw a brand new one at a local tag sale (read: 'garage sale' for all you West Coasters).  Then when I found out what it was I promptly forgot about it because my kids were not going to be driving a death machine.  Then Jason started listing all the fun things the kids could do with it and I saw his logic.  I'll repeat that.  I saw his logic.
  Gah!
The words just don't taste right in my mouth.

Actually I realized that no kid ever broke their arm falling off the couch from watching T.V. and I would much rather my kids be out buzzing around on the death trap and breaking their arms then watching someone else on T.V.  doing it.

I know I sound cray-cray but oh well.

 So out at Grandpa and Grandma's place tonight the kids learned how to ride.  The girls had to learn first because Ansen is still a little small to ride on his own so he is their passenger for the summer. Or at least the beginning of it.

 They buzzed all over and had so much fun.  And it was so fun watch them.  They were naturals.

 So now they are all professionals at the Doodlebug and this summer should be fun with it around.  They think they are so cool riding it.  It's true, they are.

Eventually we will tell them that we sold our cars and this is our new mode of family transportation because gas is so stinking expensive. 
But for now we will let them enjoy themselves.

Lucky number 7

Fact:

Ansen is seven.

Fact:

He is beyond awesome.

Fact: 

He is our favorite 7 year old boy we have ever met.

Hands down.

 He is infectious (in a good way).  He is funny and whitty and scarrrrrrastic......don't know where he got that from.  He is a charmer with that blonde hair and those blue eyes.  He is a great student and an even better friend.  He loves to be a part of whatever is going on and is always the first one up  (bright and early) to make sure he doesn't miss any of the action. For his birthday he and dad are going to the Father & Sons camp out and he could not be more excited.

Happy Birthday Ansen!  We love you so much.

This is your year!

Mama's, fires, money & more

Just a reminder y'all.

  Sunday was Mother's Day. It would have been ever so kind of all of you (or even one of you) to send me a reminder text, e-mail, kick in the pants about a week ago when I was thinking I still had til this upcoming Sunday to do something for my mama and Jason's as well.  Don't you know me well enough to know I wasn't even aware of what day of the week it was for the past 2 weeks and so there was no possible way for me to remember a holiday on top of that!?  Geez guys I thought we were closer than that. 

 Even with your epic fail as friends and family I did manage to call my Ma and confess my sins of not getting her anything but my undying love.....yet.  I am sure all my siblings showed me up and now I have to work extra hard to make it up but that's alright. I like a challenge.

We even saw Jason's mom for dinner and wished her a Happy Mother's Day in person.  What a lucky, lucky lady.

I am grateful for my kids and for the Mother's, Auntie's, Grandma's, friends I have all around me-near and far-to show me what this job is all about.

You ladies are all my hero's and smokin' hot ones at that.

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Speaking of smokin' hot.

The High School here in town burned down on Friday morning.  Well, not alllll of it but a fair amount.  Three 15 year old boys lit hand sanitizer on fire in a classroom and then tried to put the fire our with paper towel.  Ummmm, hello?

Thankfully the 1,300+ people that were in the building all got out safely and there were no injuries. The fire quickly turned into a 4 Alarm fire and you could see the smoke from just about anywhere in town.

 As for finishing the school year?  The seniors go back next Monday so they can get their last 12 days of school in.  The 9-11th graders are waiting to hear when/if they will finish the year.

The 3 boys are in Juvenile Detention and it was announced they would be tried as adults.  How scary for them and their families.

My poor kids have had to listen to me rant about "making good choices" and "being the one person to say no to doing stupid things."  I hope they are listening.

 

 Speaking of stupid things....I am so over paying for health insurance.  Someone call Canada, I'm coming over.  We rarely use our insurance anymore yet we pay stoopid amounts for it each month JUST to have a high deductible. Anyone have an idea of how to cut health insurance costs with out cutting our health insurance?  It's time to do something.

 Speaking of a time to do something...Family: Isn't it about time?

We discovered something on vaca that we knew but it's nice to be reminded of every once and a while.  We like being together. The 5 of us. That's right I said it. We like being together every night for dinner and every morning for, well, morning bickering and fights over who is going to wear what.

 While it can be really hard to be a part of a family at times it can also be super duper nice too.

I'm glad you are part of our family!