Gunnar's gift

I forgot to mention the great gift that Gunnar made for us (mostly for the mama, I am sure). He made it at school. He said that he painted everything himself and put the rub on letters all by himself. He said that the teacher had cut the little fabric pieces out, I think. But other than that, it was all him. I think it turned out really well. I love it.

Christmas Aftermath

Ever try to write a blog post while being attacked by a munchkin? It's quite humorous actually. That kid has been on a sugar high for about 68 hours. When will we recover? Soon, I hope. I did put the rest of the candy up in the pantry out of sight. I hope that will help. He has eaten quite a few little oranges as well, but the sugar is still winning.

My mom was able to come spend Christmas with us. It was awesome. The boys went to sleep pretty easily & quickly after we watched their Portable North Pole messages from Santa. Gunnar claims he doesn't remember, but about 10:30pm after Neil and I had just gone to bed Gunnar got down out of his bed. Luckily, their door is very squeaky. I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter. As soon as I opened the door, he scrambled back up to his top bunk.

At about 4:10am, Gunnar woke up and came in to see if he could go downstairs. "No, Gunnar, it's 4:10AM! Go back to bed," I mumble. "But don't we wake up normally at 3:30am?" Gunnar asked excitedly. "No, Gunnar . . . 6:30am." Gunnar sighed and returned to his bed. About 5:54am Paden and Fischer both woke up. It was no stopping them then. Fischer didn't know what was going on, but was doing his normal screaming for something to drink. Luckily, he was easily distracted by the presents.

I really thought this year was going to be pretty low key. Santa did well. He brought Gunnar and Erector set (could be found at Costco, I heard). He brought Paden the new Donkey Kong Country Returns for the Wii. He brought Fischer a ride-on toy four-wheeler (foot powered). He also brought them all a 105-piece, four-drawer, tool chest . . . to share. I love that Santa went easy on the stockings - a little candy and a key chain flash-light. The grandparents, on the other hand . . . well, we are so thankful for the grandparents. :) They did their job, well.

Grandma with the puppies made some fabulous hats for each of the boys. They love them. They will be wearing them anytime they leave the house, I am sure. Grandpa & Grandma Livingston scored big with the Snuggies! Thanks! WE ALL love them. They are really warm. I can see how we are going to struggle with sharing on those babies.

So, it's the day after Christmas and we've accomplished so much. Gunnar finished his first car built with his Erector set. It's pretty awesome. Paden has gotten to the last level on his new game. (Don't think he's that great, he cheats.) Fischer . . . well, Fischer has eaten most of Gunnar's candy, decided he really likes Coca-Cola Classic (caffeine free, of course) and expended the most amount of energy of anyone in the house (probably more than all of us combined). We made caramel corn today, so flippin' tasty! We made M&M cookies, using Fischer's candy (trying to use that up). My dining room floor got cleaned - thanks, Mom! I haven't tried out my Christmas present yet, but I so would have, had my mom not beat me too it. She bought us a Shark Steam mop thing. It looks like a much better design than the monster one we got last year that has had broken handle for the last 6 months.

Tomorrow . . . laundry and wal-mart . . . sounds like a grand plan. The boys have gift cards to spend. That should be exciting to see what kind of crap, I mean great stuff, they come home with.

So, it's almost bed time. I suppose I should be a good mom and make sure the little tummies are full of something not in the junk food group before bed. These pictures are repeat from FB, but they are the best ones of the few I took yesterday.

PS - I just had an epiphany . . . upload pictures before putting words to your post. I am not sure I have not thought of that before!!! It just took me about 10 minutes to get the pictures where I wanted them.

It's starting to look a lot like Christmas . . . maybe

I remember how excited I was as a kid to decorate for Christmas!! This year, not so much. A serious lack of motivation has set in. However, we did (we, meaning Neil and the boys) got the decorations out of the garage attic. We decorated (we, meaning, the boys) the tree and put a few decorations out. We (we, meaning I) didn't help them out and we didn't finish. We'll finish up tomorrow, I hope. We (we, meaning Neil) did "put up" the Christmas lights on the outside of the house. By "put up" I mean plugged in. Yeah, we totally didn't take our lights off the house last year. It's been only slightly embarrassing for the last 365 days. We are awesome, I know. By awesome, I mean lame, retarded and ridiculous. I mean, it's us . . . the ones who didn't take 18 ft pool down until it snowed 6 inches in it. What's the fun in taking it down in nice weather? Blizzard is much more exciting!

Anyway . . . our tree is definitely NOT going to win any beauty awards, but I love that the boys did it all. It's NOT a Grandma Livingston approved tree. This would not pass the test at her house - it's way too chaotic and mixed up! I'll have to either get a stool for them to finish or finish it for them.

I am not sure if you can see some of my favorites of this tree . . . there's no decorations above Gunnar's reach; there's a Rescue Hero toy hanging from the bead garland; there's a snowman ornament hanging in it's protective storage container and the giant wreath of Paden's hands. There was two wreaths of hands, but I am not sure what happened to the other.

But seriously, my most favorite is that they were SOOO happily decorating the tree together - all three boys. I am not sure how much help Fischer actually was, but he was right there in the mix of things. They got out their Thomas the Tank Engine track and built a track under the tree.

I was in the kitchen making dinner and Paden comes to ask me to write the following note:

"Dear Santa,
Please turn off the engine. Have a Merry Christmas!"

The 8.5 x 11 sized note is hanging directly on the tree at Paden's eye level. He explained that they want to leave Thomas running on Christmas Eve, but that Santa should turn it off because we don't want the batteries to run out. They just think of everything don't they? Paden also reminded me that we need to make cookies for Santa. Thanks, Pade . . . probably don't need to do that today, but thanks for the reminder! :-)

Gotta love those boys. They are so fun. Oh, I almost forgot. Did you know that I am the best mom in the whole world because I helped them put in Christmas lights all around their bedroom? How sweet. I didn't realize how easy it was to be mom of the year. Here I am trying to keep clean clothes in the dressers, keep food in the bellies, keep the dirt out of their fingernails and keep the word of God in their minds. Wow, have I been focusing my energies in the wrong place. It's all the Christmas lights . . . it's all in the Christmas lights.

I think we are pretty well done Christmas shopping. We are going light this year. It's hard to break away from wanting the boys have longer than 2 minutes of opening presents joy. But, in reality, they don't NEED a darn thing. Since the boys aren't one of my two faithful blog readers, I can spill the beans on what we talked Santa into bringing to our house this year. We got a Harbor Freight special tool box. Over 100 piece tool set in a 4-drawer box for $35! What a steal! It's in the back of the van, they haven't managed to look back there in the last 4 days! We got an erector set from Costco, something for Gunnar to use the tools on. Paden likes tools too, but not as much as Gunnar, so we plan on getting him the new Donkey Kong game, which puts us over our desired $100 Christmas budget by a little bit. Neil really believes that 18-month old Fischer doesn't need anything for Christmas, but you can't tell me that he won't be right there looking for what's his. So, I am not really sure what to get him. The boys really want snuggies - so if any family members out there are struggling with what to get the boys - snuggies. Adult size, please! :)

On a non-Christmas related note . . . we are taking away the binkie. Wish us luck. On Friday, we took Fischer for his 18-month check up. All is well, except that we (we, meaning me, myself and I) got "reprimanded" for having the binkie in the backpack. So, yeah, it's time. Fischer has looked for it a couple of times today. I let him have it last night because he was with a baby sitter, but when he woke up in the middle of the night, I couldn't find it, so I thought what a better time than the middle of the night to make the kid give it up. I brought him into bed with him and he definitely fidgeted for much longer without it. When Gunnar was little, he had a binkie, but he was not attached to it all. When he turned 18 months old, I put the binkies in the cupboard and he never, ever had an issue. Paden never took to a binkie. I really thought that I could go 18 months with Fischer's bink. I think I made the wrong choice. The kid is a little and by a little, I mean a lot) attached to it. I am sure he'll made through relatively un-traumatized by the event. He already hasn't been sleeping through the night, so it's not really that big of deal. Right? Right.

Wow, it's way past my bedtime! The end . . .

Week in Review

You would think that a review would happen at the end of the week, rather than on a Tuesday night. Well . . . it is what it is; it's a week in review on a Tuesday.

Saturday (9/25)

I want to back up to Saturday - Our company was a major sponsor and participant in a Step Out Walk to Fight Diabetes. We had fundraisers at the plants and then we had some walkers in bright orange shirts. I am very proud to work for a great company which does great things - look at all those shirts! I wasn't in the picture because the bathroom was SOOOO far away that I didn't make it back in time. Oh well, I am not photogenic anyway. :)

So, just as a matter of recording history - here's how my walk went . . . Paden and Fischer were with me. This walk was four miles and it was a super nice day - sunny and warm! So, we had the big bike trailer/stoller and Paden had his scooter. The first two miles went pretty well. My shoe was coming untied toward the half-way point. Someone pointed it out and I could not stop other wise kids would be jumping out of the stoller. So, we got to the half-way point and got out of the way. I tied my shoe and sure enough Fischer wanted out of the stroller. The last two miles was tough. Fischer wanted to walk, but short legs are pretty slow. Then he wanted to walk the wrong direction; he was walking in everyone's way. Luckily, he's cute, so people didn't get bothered by him. While he was walking, I tried to get Paden to push the stroller, but he couldn't drive it well and he was out of control. That might have been bothersome to other walkers. So, then I put Fischer on my shoulders and pushed an empty stroller while Paden rode his scooter. While on my shoulders, Fischer pulled my hat off and was making a messy of my already messy, sweaty hair, I couldn't really see. Then I got him to sit in the stoller with the bribery of grapes. I had to have Paden sit with him and bite the grapes in half just to be sure he wouldn't choke on them. That entertained them until the grapes were just about gone, so that was pretty good. Then Fischer wanted to stand up in the stroller, which is absolutely not designed for that. So, we did shoulders again and walking again for a little bit. Needless to say, we finished the walk near the end of the pack where we had started out in the beginning. I had borrowed a 15 passenger van to carpool some of the walkers, so they all had to wait for me to finish; I bet they would have agreed on the carpool had they known that! Fiesta Foods had food afterwards for the walkers, so actually everyone got to eat while they waited for me and my little troopers. Of course, I had to take Paden to McDonald's "because I was good, right mama?" All in all, it was a pretty good time. Next time, I definitely need a walking partner though - I got left in the dust by my orange shirted co-workers (how rude) and had to battle those little cuties by myself.

Monday (9/27)

I don't think that anything noteworthy happened on Monday; I can't recall right now anyway.

Tuesday (9/28)

At some point in time, maybe Sunday, we had the boys help calendar out our dinner menu. Their request for the menu was this:

Spaghetti Tacos

I have no idea where the boys got the idea of Spaghetti Tacos, I seem to recall mention of iCarly, but I am not sure. They thought they were awesome and fun and tasty. I just had plain spaghetti . . . boring . . . I know. I might have tried it if I could be assured that the store bought taco shells weren't stale, like they ALWAYS are. So, no, I had to pass.

Wednesday (9/29)

Neil left early to take some stuff up to hunting camp. Nothing else really exciting happened this day other than I snapped this cute photo of Fischer talking on his play phone during breakfast. It's helpful when you keep the camera handy; i.e. on the kitchen table after photographing Spaghetti Tacos the night before. ;-)

So, this has taken a long time to post this much (close to 90 minutes) . I just can't finish the rest tonight. Paden has a cough tonight out of nowhere, which has caused him to throw up a couple of times. Fabulous. At least he gets to the bathroom when he needs to, but I have had to stop to sit with him and to clean the toilet, etc. So, yeah . . . week in review to be continued . . .

My First Vinyl Project

I have been wanting to try vinyl for the cricut for a long time. I bought some a long time ago, I just really wasn't sure what to do with it, so there it sat. I did cut out some letters for a sign that I never did see the finished product once. Anyway, there are some things I want to do around the house to make the house more, well . . . homey. I am NOT a good interior decorator - NOT my talent. I wish it were sometimes, although I'd likely be broke at that point.


So, here's my first project. I think it looks great - other than the whole wall really isn't finished yet. To not get a glare, I had to take the photo from an angle, so this photo might look a little crooked. Also our walls are brown, not gray as they appear here. I really should learn how to use my fancy-schmancy camera some day. But . . . ta-da . . .

I need to get new frames so that Fischer can be on the wall too (I have them picked out, just need to go get them!). Here's where this vinyl project resides above our piano:

So there it is. The first real decorating I have done in our house and it only took me just under 3 years. :) It was kind of rewarding and I should do more. Our family picture will be as is without a frame. It's supposed to be a canvas print, but we didn't get that one yet. Hopefully it will be here soon.

So, how was your Sunday? I had a pretty good one. Fischer was not cranky during church, which really is helpful. He was throwing colored pencils at everyone which didn't impress the older ladies, but at least he wasn't screaming. So, maybe he needs something smaller and without sharp edges to play with at church; I'll keep that in mind for next time. We had a good lesson in relief society and some pretty good talks in sacrament, as well. I rarely remember Sunday School, hopefully no one is offended by that! ;-)

I watched the RS General Broadcast from home yesterday. Fischer was napping and Paden was playing computer. I actually got to watch the broadcast with limited interruption. Gunnar was with Neil out playing in the woods (setting up hunting camp). I loved the message that President Monson gave. He's a funny guy and gave a great talk. The message of not passing judgement is an important one. I loved it and was definitely humbled by it. I encourage you to listen to it, whether you are of the same religion or not. It was a great message. It's available in 63 languages at the link above. Isn't that amazing? 63 languages and it was just live in SLC yesterday. Technology is truly amazing.

Following the RS Broadcast, I watched another show on BYUTV called "Emma Smith: My Story". That was a great, great short program. It was about the life of Emma Smith. What a great example of a faithful, strong, determined, humble, sweet woman was Emma. I lost count of how many children she gave birth to that did not live but minutes following their birth. And she kept trying. After being run out of her home so many times, how did she not give up? In her words which I can't quote exactly, strength isn't something that you have, it's something that you find. You find it by going though hardships, you find it because God helps you find it. Emma found much strength in her difficult life. She had more trials than any one person I know. If she can find happiness, then so can we.

I have thought a lot about those two messages since I watched them. I am so thankful for the chance be humbled by those messages. I plan to be more thoughtful, less judgmental and find more strength to endure through the trivial trials I face with more faith in Heavenly Father's plan. Endure through trials with less murmuring and more joy. Really, what are my trials? I think I have a much easier life than Emma Smith did and I feel no room to complain, nor speak ill of my circumstances at all. Maybe I will even read more and learn more than choose other activities that are mushing my brain! Wow, now that's ambitious of me!

Well, off to think of my next vinyl project. I really want it to be in my dining room. Hmmmm . . . paint color needs to be chosen . . . pronto!

Don't Work Without These

Here we have our very own shoe rack of Georgia Boots. (Papa needs to oil his up a bit.) Gunnar's main attraction to Georgia Boots is there are no laces. I think Paden's reason might also be the same. I am not sure I can keep these off those two. The only reason this picture has no feet in them is because they were changing out of their church clothes. Gunnar changed into shorts and put them back on to watch TV all afternoon. For many years, Gunnar has worn black pants for church, probably about the last 5 years. When he was three he had a pair of khaki color pants and a blue shirt he wore. But when those were too small he switched to black pants. Being somewhat fashion conscious, I told Gunnar I would rather him not wear black pants with brown shoes. So, he let me buy him some khaki pants again. He even pulled out his old white shirt instead of his blue. He looked great today, should have snapped his pic too. Maybe next week. I love having boys. They are so easy on Sundays - same outfit every week. :O)

So, I am feeling a little left out of the Georgia boot club though. I am getting some boots for Christmas. I am really not a cowboy boot connoisseur, so I can't recall which brand I want, but I will know them when I see them again.

Speaking of Christmas, what do you do the year following the purchase, er, uh, Santa's delivery of a family gift such as the Wii? I love watching my kids open gifts on Christmas, it's joyful. However, I do NOT want them to continue to think that is what Christmas is all about. I liked last year that Santa brought family gift and there wasn't a lot of opening and greediness. How do we move away from that. So, I am trying to think of some ideas. If we don't start now, we'll end up with last minute shopping for crap they don't need. :)

I have a pile of laundry that needs to be put away, so I am going to attempt to at least put a few things away . . . tonight. It is getting very close to my bed time though, so wish me luck - really it's the clothes that need to be wished luck 'cuz they might want to be where they are supposed to be instead of a giant pile on the floor. I really don't like to have to dig around in the morning to find clothes for everyone. Why, why, why are they not already put away? Even though I took a nap today, I am still tired. Yes, I took a nap. I haven't done that in forever! I actually slept for at least 90 minutes. It was good, except that I woke up lethargic.

I made the boys clean with me for 30 minutes. I think that might be a new good thing. I am not sure how many days a week I an feasibly do that. Every night of the week, we are busy with soccer, meetings, homework, reading time, bath/showers, screaming baby wandering around, oh and dinner. So, yeah. But 30 minutes a day with each person working in a different area of the house would theoretically keep it pretty clean throughout the week. My house definitely DOES NOT need to be on the show Clean House, but I wouldn't mind emptying out a few rooms and dejunking, decluttering and remodeling.

What do you think about a gray dining room? I really need to paint it. I bought red to paint one wall in the dining room red, but I haven't done it yet. It's only been about 2 years since I bought the paint. So, I am thinking about an art project for the dining room. Three wood panels, 2 feet wide by 3.5 feet long or so. I want them smooth and painted gray. Then, I am going to cut out some 2 feet tall flowers out of vinyl and stick them on. I am sure it will look much better than I can describe. Look on allposters.com for decals, that's where I got the idea. I do have a cricut and a cool program (Sure Cuts A Lot) and I could do some pretty swell art projects - it's just about time and energy. So, if I do the gray wall panels, I am not sure what color to paint the walls though. I am not really good at that interior decorating stuff. I see a lot of stuff I like, I just don't get it done. I did see in someone's house vinyl on the wall that said (changed to our name & date): the LIVINGSTON family, est'd 2000 (it was two lines and it looked cool). I think I am going to do that when we get our family picture back. It should be here this week.

End random post here . . .

A Day to Remember - Lots of Love

Saturday, September 11th - the first available weekend we felt we had after Gunnar turned eight. At our church, we don't baptize babies. We baptize children at the age of (at least) eight - an age when they can understand and be accountable. I am sure they know the difference between right and wrong well before this magic age of eight, but we spend several years teaching and preparing them through all their classes at church and at home. I believe eight is a good age, although it's not really up to me - that's what the Lord decided, so we roll with it.

It is a day to remember. Gunnar obviously doesn't know what happened nine years ago in New York, but I do. I remember getting ready for work in our old East Wenatchee apartment. Neil and I hadn't been married one year yet. It was truly amazing footage on the TV all day long. What a strange day.

So, move forward nine years and we get to remember something else very special. Our oldest son is baptized. It's the first of many fairly major events in life. That means he is growing up; he's still a boy, but he's growing up fast.

We had a very nice afternoon. The weather was nice. I was a little cranky, I will admit, before we left for the church. We had a house cleaning frenzy in the morning - one where the boys were less than motivated to help and were great little dilly-dally-ers. So annoying. Then Gunnar had a soccer game, which was somewhat painful. He actually did play well most of the game, but he did excellent in the 4th quarter. Practices don't really teach game situations, so it's hard for those kids to go from dribbling ball drills to how to play a game. Anyway, enough about that.

After the game, we had a little over an hour before I felt we needed to leave. Of course, the ironing of clothes and bathing/showering of 2/3 of the kids took longer than I would have liked. But, we made it to the church on time. :-)

We had several family members there. I LOVE THAT! I come from a small family. I was terrified when I first joined the Livingston family - absolutely terrified (of course I wouldn't admit it then, but everyone could tell). It is reassuring to know that I was voted "in" by my nieces during a special meeting of the minds. Thanks, girls. You are the best! So, now that I have been a part of the family for officially almost 10 years, I couldn't imagine it any other way. I love that we all come together for family events. It's harder as the years go by and everyone gets older. We used to travel for ordinations to different offices in the Aaronic priesthood. That's how dedicated we are. Neil and I now live a little far to go for those things, but we do make it for major happenings. (Except the baby blessing of the twins, sorry Downs, trip to the mountains to see my Grandparents - I feel terrible we missed that.)

Sorry for the digression . . .

Gunnar chose his cousin Jake to give the talk on Baptism and cousin Brad to give the talk on the Holy Ghost. They did a good job. I always forget just how redneck cousin Jake is, but I love him and all of his redneck-ness. :-) I love that he brought his silver dollar that he got from Grandma Great Livingston when he was baptised 20 years ago. I think that made some eyes teary. I love that Gunnar's Grandma Livingston decided to carry on the tradition of silver dollars and Bibles for our kids (and Tessa) since Grandma Great is not here to do it for them. What is really special is the note that goes with the silver dollar, which goes with his brand new scriptures:

Gunnar,

In this blue bag is a dollar made of precious metal, silver. The bag is a protector & keeps it shining.

If you live by these scriptures, your life will be shining and bright. They will teach you many things and help you to resist the many temptations you will face in life as you get older.

I know these books are true and will guide you throughout your life, and help you prepare for your mission.

Grandpa and I are very proud of you this day. We are grateful for the good mom and dad you have and for the testimony of the gospel they have.

I know the church is true and I'm grateful for all my blessings it brings to me. I know the scriptures are the word of God.

Remember to study and pray often.

Grandma & Grandpa L.

I love that my lovely nieces were willing to sing a tune for Gunnar's baptism and step in to lead the music. I love that my nephews were honored to speak. I love that my in-laws wouldn't have missed it for anything! I love that Gunnar's confirmation blessing was awesome! I wish I could remember it all. Where is that pocket tape recorder when you need it? I know we all have one our phones, what was I thinking? Anyway, I do remember that he was blessed to be a good example, especially for his brothers. He was also blessed with courage to be a leader for good. I love that. Gunnar can do it if he puts his heart and soul into it.

It was a pretty low-key, low-stress event. I did send Neil to the wrong bakery to pick up the cake afterwards, so it took a few extra minutes (or 15). I will take the blame for not communicating correctly where the cake was to be picked up. It was an excellent cake though, so well worth the wait. I am bummed that Jaye Dean, Uncle Milo and Hank broke down on the way and weren't able to make it. Thank you to Uncle Max for coming to their safe rescue and return home. Thank you, Hank for making an appearance even if you missed everything but the food. :)

Thank you to our Primary Presidency for helping make it less stressful. "My Baptism Book" was awesome and my sister-in-law totally, seriously wants one. Thank you for filling the font with warm water and making personal sacrifices to be there. :)

I recall Jake talking about the fact that for at least a split second, you are free from sin. For some of us that feeling doesn't last as long as it does for others. I was curious how this would affect Gunnar. Sunday could be just another Sunday where we have to rush and fight to get people dressed and out the door. Although, we did arrive at church during the opening song instead of before it started, we had a pretty good morning without frustration and yelling. The boys weren't argumentative while getting ready. I don't think they brushed their teeth or anything, but they were dressed. Gunnar actually wore a tie. A new tie given to him yesterday by some friends. Thank you, friends. He's not worn a tie since he was too little to remember. He also wanted to bring his new scriptures to church. I dug out an old scripture bag for him to borrow until he gets his own. I meant to order the one he wanted, but I honestly didn't remember that until he pulled his scriptures out of his gift bag this morning.

Again, I digressed from where I was originally going with my thoughts . . .

So, Gunnar was pretty cooperative today. We got home from church and Neil took Fischer upstairs for a nap. Gunnar came downstairs, got a chocolate milk out of the garage, stuck the straw in and handed it to me. Awe, for me? He was so sweet. He didn't even like rush to get himself one. He and I played catch with the football, inside, downstairs, for a little while. He then took a break to get himself a milk. He was just being a very nice kid. He's excited for football (which doesn't happen for like three more school years) because he will be able to push people around and not get yelled at like he does in soccer.

We ate one of his favorite meals for dinner - BBQ pork short ribs (with Aunt Cathy's sauce), mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli and Pillsbury flaky layers biscuits, with POG juice (I think he drank the last of the cream soda, actually, but I drank POG). Mmm, good.

Gunnar was just being a nice, polite boy today. He didn't chew or talk with his mouth open; he didn't rush through his food; he read his book when it was time and I didn't hear him whine; he picked out his $10 worth of Scholastic Books; he went to bed without whining, although did have to scarf a piece of cake before he went. It was a nice Sunday.

I know that we have several friends and many family members who do not share our same faith or religion. I know that some people will not understand why we do what we do. I know that we don't fully understand what we do what we do. But, what I do know is that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a way of life, not just a thing we do. The way we live is peaceful and happy. We live free from major drama, free from major chaos and free from negativity. We chose to be productive members of society who aren't perfect by any stretch of the imagination. We chose to believe we can repent for our mistakes so that we can return to live in eternal bliss with our family. We chose to believe in life on earth as a journey to our next destination, Heaven with Heavenly parents and a Heavenly brother, Jesus Christ. The Spirit that we feel when we are with our family participating in righteous activities is real. The Spirit fills our hearts and, often times, fills our eyes with tears. I know that our Father in Heaven loves us. He blesses us each day with so many things . . . physical blessings as well as spiritual ones. It's always been hard for me to express my feelings, especially to those who aren't members of the LDS church. Luckily, I can do it here. :) I believe what I believe. In the end, if my beliefs are inaccurate, at least I can say that I lived my life in peace, in happiness, and in fun. I can say that I tried my best to raise my children as respectful, productive, intelligent members of society who can take care of themselves and who have an end goal in life. Although, we are encouraged often to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with our friends and family, I usually don't. I know I am not a perfect example of a "saint", but I hope that others will know what is in my heart by the way that I conduct my life (which reminds me I should make some conscious efforts in some areas!).

I love my family - all of them - my mom, my grandparents, my aunts, uncles & cousins. I love them all. I appreciate EVERYTHING that my mom and my grandparents have done for me. There aren't enough minutes in the day to say how much I love them. I am happy to be living a life that has a meaning and purpose. I love my three sons - wow, three sons - that sounds a little strange. They teach me so much. They are amazing on so many levels. I love my husband and couldn't imagine life without him. And, I love the crazy family I married into. I am happy to say that I don't have crazy, meddling in-laws and I have a fantabulous mess of nieces, nephews, and great nieces & nephews that I couldn't have otherwise being an only child.

I hope Gunnar will remember this day for years to come. I hope he remembers the feelings he felt and I hope he remembers the Spirit he felt. I pray always that he continues to follow in the Gospel footsteps, so that he too can have a peaceful and happy life full of fun!

Pictures to follow . . . of course another thing that went wrong was a dead camera battery. Thanks to Aunt Ann and Aunt Susan for always being prepared with fully charged camera batteries. I also didn't get a picture of Gunnar in his baptismal clothes; he was so cute this afternoon when I mentioned that. He, who normally hates to be in pictures, said we could just go into Hermiston and he could put it back on really quick for a picture. Awe . . . well, we'll see. :-)

So many missed Blog-ortunities

It is the end of the summer. What the heck? Already? Yes, already. Ho, hum. I think my boys definitely need it. They are pretty much crabby at each other constantly. Our pool never fully recovered from our week's vacation in July, so they haven't been swimming in the last two weeks, they are even grossed out by it, which should tell you how bad it got. We let the pond, I mean pool, water out today. It's the end of summer. Bummer.

I have had several opportunities to blog, but have had three times as many excuses as to why I couldn't get it done. I am back on the band wagon. I am on it. Unloading my random thoughts here is much more effective for me. I am not going to update my FB status every time I have a good thought to get out of my head, not to mention there sometimes just isn't enough characters allotted in that "what's on your mind" box. So, yeah, why do I need to spend as much time on there. I can read everyone else's "mind" which just fills mine up again when really my purpose is winding down and relaxing. I am totally rambling. I love it!

So, we are awesome. In case you didn't know it already, this little family of mine is awesome. So awesome in fact that I am willing to bet we have done at least one thing that no one else (who reads this blog) has done. Have you ever gotten a 30-foot motor home that is towing a car stuck in the pavement in the middle of a very busy city? I dare you to beat that one - can't be done!

So, we walk into a Jamba Juice around 8pm on a Sunday evening (Brad's travel rules in effect) and order some drinks to go. I ask the lady at the cash register, "So . . . did you hear about the motor home that got stuck coming into the parking lot?" The nice Jamba Juice employee responds, "Yes, we did. Some other customers told us about it." The exhausted me replies, "Yeah, that was us . . . trying to get here about 2 hours ago." Needless to say that little ordeal did cost us some extra cash and a heck of a lot of frustration and stress. Word to the wise, don't take your motor home towing a car up into a strip mall parking when there is an short incline. "How short," you might ask. Well, that's a little hard to say because it's obvious we don't have that good of judgment. :) I think our judgement has improved . . . or maybe we've just been scared into all inclines are to be avoided. The boys did get a free pizza out of it. Thank you, Pizza Hut in Salem on the corner of a very busy street.

School starts Monday. Yes, Monday. That is only, count them, one . . . two . . . days away. That is amazing. Paden will be going to Kindergarten and was excited, but now seems a little nervous, but won't admit it because he's stubborn like that. Gunnar will be in second grade. For those of you keeping track, he is repeating the second grade. Although, it was a tough decision, we went with it. Gunnar turned 8 only 3 weeks ago. Academically, he likely would have been fine. Overall, we felt it the right decision to have him go back to the second grade. We have the same teacher as last year because we think she was great. She knows where Gunnar is academically and so he won't have to really start completely over, she'll keep him advancing. Our elementary school seems very screwy this year with a bunch of "blended" classes. It's not making much sense to us parents, but it's what we've got. Gunnar will have 1st graders in his class and so will Paden. It's all weird, so we'll see how it goes. As long as I don't lose Paden to boredom, we'll be doing well.

On a good note, we were pretty successful with school shopping. The boys found shoes they liked very quickly; they got matching ones actually - good deal. Their nice Columbia back packs were 50% off, so they each got to get one, even though Gunnar probably didn't need a new one this year. They did well with some new shirts. We'll need a few more pants and long sleeves as fall approaches, but I didn't get a chance to really clean out their dressers before went, so I wasn't sure on our current inventory. I know that most of Gunnar's stuff from last year is too small. He has grown a lot, in my opinion. What kid doubles their shoe size in the course of 3 months or so. Gunnar was still wearing his tennis shoes at the end of the school year which were a size 1.5 and the ones I just bought him are a size 3. I can almost get my foot into them! OK, that might be a slight exaggeration, but the kid has got some big feet!

Gunnar is playing soccer. First game tomorrow. I hope someone has his uniform. We missed last Saturday, so we've got nothing. Just thought of that at this moment, actually. Would have been nice to call the coach earlier today about that - duh! I hope soccer turns out OK this year. The coach we have is a lady that I've found to be rude in the past, so I am going to try to kill her with kindness. That's the plan anyway, but who knows how well my patience will hold on. They play 4 on 4 and there's like 10 kids on each time. I am worried about playing time. Gunnar will get bored and discouraged if he has to sit a lot. It's probably a good lesson for him to learn, but he is only 8, so they just like to run around and kick the ball.

So, Fischer is working on about an hour of crying in his bed. It's very difficult for me to leave him there, but the kid is so stinkin' spoiled. He's got to learn he has to sleep in his bed. For the last few weeks, he's been waking up earlier and earlier and I just bring him in my bed because I am too tired to fight with him about it. So, tonight he woke up after being asleep for two hours. Not cool. So, he's been in there crying for nearly an hour. He hasn't woke up the other two. It's about my bed time, so I wonder if I will be able to sleep through it too. So sad. That kid is going to have a sore throat and headache after this. You know how that is when you've cried too much. I feel bad for him . . . just not bad enough yet to go get him out. Breaking my heart, poor little guy. I know, guilt trip me, it's OK. I can handle it.

Speaking of breaking my heart . . . Paden, Gunnar and I went to take Fischer for his 15 month check up on Tuesday. Usually, the doctor's office visit is quick and painless. Paden usually goes with me because Gunnar is in school, so he knows the routine. Well, he forgot his DS - heaven forbid! And it took a LONG time to get in and out of there. At one point in time he says, "If they make us wait here all night, they are going to break my heart." What the . . .? Yes, he's my kid and I love him to pieces.

Well, folks . . . that felt good. I am glad I was able to entertain myself through Fischer's crying. He was starting to slow down a while back, then I went to turn the TV off in there, that got him all fired up again. He's starting to slow back down . . . I hope.

PS - if you have noticed that I used to have long list of blogs on my side bar and now I don't, it's a work in progress. I am having issues with blog back grounds and I am not smart enough to change my background without having to re-do my whole list again. Some day soon, I will fix it. "Soon" is a very subjective, relative term, mind you. :)

Pool Time!

Last summer, we were fortunate that someone gave us their old pool with the blow up ring. It was awesome. The boys lived in the pool. It was great! WAS is the operative word here. We got a dog in November, so he's still a puppy - a BIG puppy. He's a black lab who I am sure I will grow to love someday . . . someday. So, the nice, big puppy dog drug so many things around our back yard - stuff I didn't even know we owned. He found so many great things to chew on, scratch that, DESTROY. I bet you can't guess what he drug out from the shed and destroyed! If you guessed it was our fabulous, free pool from last summer you are correct. DESTROYED the pool. Lovely. So, we thought we were going to get a little bit bigger one anyway, but we thought we'd wait until later in the summer (not sure about the logic there, but we weren't ready to spend money yet). However, our decision was made for us when we saw the sadness of the chewed up pool.

Craig's List here we come. A couple of weeks ago we found a great deal on a new pool. It was not in the nearest town near us, but close enough to where we were travelling that we went for it. On the way from getting the pool, we got to frequent the great Larry's Drive-in for some famous chicken. Yum.

So, the pool is slightly bigger than we imagined in our heads. It's good though. Plenty of room for the boys and friends and parents (if I were to dare to put a suit on - hey I could get brave).

It was pretty nice today. I forgot I was feeding the missionaries tonight, so I did finally have a reason to mop my floor and finish the dishes, only to make more dirty dishes. I wonder what is going to motivate me to fold laundry - digging through a huge pile to find clothing to wear is annoying enough it should motivate, alas it does not.

Here's some pictures of the boys enjoying the pool. We plan to have some friends over on Monday to enjoy the pool some more! Hooray for summer.

Fischer's not too sure what to think of the pool yet. We've got to get in with him, but haven't been brave enough yet. I also want to get him a float tube, so maybe we can do that this week.

Fischer's 1st Birthday

We enjoyed cake and ice cream for Fischer's first birthday on Sunday, May 23rd. We didn't have a big elaborate party for him. We bought him only one gift - a bag of whiffle balls. He LOVES them. I am not sure I got any pictures of him playing with them yet, but this little boy LOVES to throw everything. He can grip one ball in each hand and throw them for as long as his little heart desires. Here's some classic "First Birthday Cake" pictures:

RANDOM THOUGHTS:

Fischer is pretty happy, go-lucky little boy. He loves his biggest brother. He and his middle brother have a mutal feeling of "oh, you're my brother". Fischer loves to throw everything. He eats pretty much everything. He does not like pancakes with syrup, but likes them with jelly instead. He loves peaches and can eat about 1/2 a quart jar in one sitting if you let him. He has long eyelashes and a very cute smile. He's constantly drooling. He jibber-jabbers quite a bit as well. He loves to play with cars and trucks. He sleeps good most nights, but every morinng between 5am and 6am (usually closer to 5am), he wakes up and cries. When I go into his room, he is usually standing up and then he sees me and hands his blanket to me; he wants out. So, he comes to lay down with me for a little bit. I was worried about taking his bottle away since it had been so long since I had a baby and I really couldn't remember exactly how I managed that one. So, at his check up on Tuesday, I mentioned that to the doctor and the doctor said just pack them away and give him a cup instead. I think that's pretty much what I did with the other two (outside of my dear, sweet mother-in-law who gave Paden his bottle a couple months longer than I did). So, I put the bottles up and that was that. I think in the car ride which was long on Friday he would have settled down sooner with his bottle, so he had to cry a litle longer than he might have. We all survived it though and he fell asleep about 10 minutes from our destination, of course.

We are certainly blessed to have a sweet little boy. We can tell already that he is a combination of Gunnar and Paden - we'll see how that goes as he gets older! It should be interesting.

Too Tired To . . .

. . . steam mop floor, even though the tools we were given seem to work really well. Thanks, Mom!

. . . fold mounds of clothes - so much so that I think some clean have fallen to the floor to become dirty again in hopes of someday making it to their cozy home of chest of drawers.

. . . blog - definitly need more energy to give a proper post to my baby's birthday. I am only getting this little blog post out, while I wait for pictures to download off my camera.

. . . to wait too much longer for the washer to be done, good thing I just heard it beeping!

I tell you what . . . I am so glad it stays light out longer as the summer draws near, I get tired when it gets dark. You can only imagine how unproductive I am during the winter. Sheesh.

So, I do have some pictures of Mr. Fischer's 1st Birthday on Shutterfly, so feel free to check them out. Tomorrow we have his check up, so maybe I can report on his hugeness tomorrow along with his birthday update. He is so stinking cute! I know, I know he's my kid. So, I give myself permission to brag about him.

Must put clothes in dryer and then put head on pillow!

Two for 2

Two weeks ago today, my second child had two teeth that were so unbelievably lose that they couldn't even wait until the second hour of church to come out. Neil pulled one out right during sacrament meeting. The other came out about 2 o'clock that afternoon, not too long after we got home from church because I couldn't take a second look at that second loose tooth holding on by two flimsy strings.Luckily for Paden, we didn't have have to wait two days for the tooth fairy to come. We know sometimes she gets backed up depending on how many kids bravely allow their parents to pull out their teeth. :-) Luckily for us, the tooth fairy collects these rare bills for occasions where two teeth are destined to come out together. At first Paden didn't think it was real money. We assured him it was, it is just a special one worth TWO dollars! He has now safety tucked his 2 dollar bill away in his dresser. Silly boy!

From Hawks to Zags

A couple of weeks ago, we decided to switch the boys from the small room to the bigger room. Don't ask my why I didn't put the boys in the bigger room from the start - it's just not making any sense to me either. The boys old room is 10 ft by 10 ft - pretty small. It had two dressers, a crib and a ginormous, hand-built bunk bed. Their new room is 10 ft by 13 feet and the two dressers now fit inside the closet, so there's a lot of floor space for them. The weekend of "remodeling" went pretty well. We emptied the computer room and shoved stuff in my room and the boys bathroom - we're talking barley walking room only and no use of the bathroom. We (well, Neil and Robert) scraped the popcorn off the ceiling, tore out the carpet, retextured the ceiling, painted and voila. Well, it sounds easier than it really was - although it wasn't awful.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

They chose the colors of Gonzaga -blue, red and gray. The gray is pretty light, but it looks nice. We ran out of gumption to paint the new computer room (old boys' room), so it's still got the Seahawks colors in it. We (Neil and Robert) scraped the popcorn ceiling off in there and put down some dark wood laminate flooring. It looks really nice. I don't have everything quite put away yet, but we're getting there, slowly. We just need to repaint though because it all doesn't really go together. It was a lot of work to paint the "teeth" on their walls, so I am just not ready to paint over it yet. Here's a little about that painting adventure. Pictures of new computer room not yet available. :)

Well, well, well . . .

Blogging more frequently would be beneficial for me in many ways, but for whatever reason, it just doesn't happen. So, there's going to be quite a few gaps in my memory, which makes me somewhat sad. I'll get over it.

As a matter of preservation, let's document my morning. It wasn't all that bad, I am sure I've had worse. So, we tell Gunnar to go get in the shower. He comes back and says that there's some water in the tub. Well, drain it - duh. Sometimes kids don't really get some things, so I go check it out. There's some nasty something in the tub from the night before. Thought it was just mud and sand, as normal, but upon further review - soggy paper-like substance. Me: "Did you put toilet paper in the bathtub." Gunnar: "Umm . . . Paden did." Of course, Paden. So, I get the gross soggy paper-like substance out of the tub and get the shower turned on for him. Immediately following that task, I discoverd many wads of toilet paper on the back of the bathroom door and ceiling near the door. Nice. It was pretty gross. So, Paden was summoned to get his butt upstairs. He proceeded to blame Gunnar for the toilet paper mess. SO ANNOYING. I have been telling myself all day long that I would have been less annoyed had the boys just said something like, "yes, mama. we did it. we had fun, we thought it was funny. we're sorry, we'll be happy to clean that up." Blaming the other guy was more frustrating . . . I think.

Tonight, Paden comes to me and proceeds to apologize. So, for what is he apologizing? Writing on the wall. He forgot that he wasn't supposed to do that. Ok. So, he's never written on the wall that I remember, not even when he was little. Gunnar did when he about 18 months old or less, that's when we had to paint his room over the permanent marker. Anyway, earlier today Neil found Paden upstairs with a top-spiral notebook and a pencil. He was being Steve - looking for clues. The clue he found was the one he drew on the wall. Cute, huh?

Anyhoo . . . first day back to school was interesting. I wish I could say that it was uneventful, but as you can see we had a few notable notes. :-)

We were able to take the boys to Grandma and Grandpa Livingston's for a couple of days of their spring break. We were able to visit a few old friends - miss you all!! We got to eat the best donuts ever, courtesy of Akins - so yummy. I was only able to take a couple of days off work, but I think the boys had a pretty good time riding the 4-wheeler, sleeping in the motor home and eating whatever their little tummies desired.

Fischer is growing like a little weed. At his 9-month check-up last month he was almost 22 pounds and like 28 inches - can't recall exactly and paper is downstairs - too far. He's such a cute boy. He loves his mama - of course that makes me smile all the time. He is certainly heavy though and that coupled with a love for mama makes my arm and back really sore! He loves his brothers, loves to be with them wherever they are. He likes to play and tease. He has a fantastic giggle. Don't mess with his food or get in his way of food - that is cause for anger and pouty lip - which is still cute as ever.

We've decided that we wanted to replace the flooring in the computer room. No big deal - pretty much rectangle room, cheap laminate flooring, easy project. Well, after a few days of thinking, we're now going to move the boys to the computer room since it's bigger and soon we'll be in need of room for three beds. The closet is bigger, so we can put the dressers inside the closet and have more floor space. They don't do much, but sleep, but sometimes they bring toys and play and watch movies when the downstairs TV is occupied. So, now it's a bigger project than originally thought. We're going to take everything out, rip out the carpet, scrape the popcorn ceiling off, re-texture ceiling, paint ceiling, paint walls, put carpet squares (just have to buy one more box) in computer room, move boys in. Moving the boys means diassembling home-made, beasty, bunk beds. Once the boys are out of their current room, the floor will already be out since we're moving their carpet squares over. We'll scrape the popcorn off, texture and paint the ceiling, then put laminate flooring in there. THEN, selectively move items back into computer/craft room. Hopefully, I can slim down the junk - declutter + dejunk = delightful.

Oh how I wish I would have documented some of the other funny stuff that those boys say. They really are funny. Gotta love them. Even though I like my job, I like being a mom more. I can still say that even after the wet toilet paper wads.

Some random pictures just for the heck of it. Enjoy!

Gunnar, ready for 4-wheelin' in his new carhart bibs and craig's list-good-find helmet

Fischer loves baths, although he refuses to sit, which when you are wobbling on your feet makes for an interesting bathing experience.

Oh yeah, Paden turned 5 last month. Finally five.

Paden's attempt at a front flip, not gonna make it! :)

Gunnar's flip - he's really, really close to landing these.

Fischer and Alana - just chillin'

Sir Drools-a-Lot being goofy. . .

Dear Blog,

I apologize for ignoring you for several weeks at a time. I apologize that we haven't spend much time together. I know that writing with you does help relieve some mental pressure and we both know how good that feels to get it all out!

Blog, I hope that you can forgive me for spending time with FB and with Mario, Luigi and Toad. It's pretty tricky to balance what little free time I have between so many different interests. I have completely neglected, Scrapbooking, so you should feel a little better than her. Housework probably likes to be ignored, since she's mean and just likes to laugh in my face 'cuz she's ALWAYS there! Anyway, just sayin'.

Blog, I will try to visit with you more often. I know that you like to see pictures too. Well, I would have to take some for us to enjoy them together. Did you you know that I didn't even take any pictures on Christmas? I KNOW. That is sad. I didn't take any pictures, that I recall, when my mom came to visit. I didn't take any pictures at the Livingston family Christmas party. Mr. Nikon is probably feeling pretty neglected right about now too.

Oh Blog, it is getting to be past my bed time. I hear our friend Housework calling for me, but really, it's 10:30pm - doesn't she realize I have to get up go to work tomorrow. Sheesh. Give me a break. Oh wait, that's what I have been doing all weekend. Right.

Well, I am going to bed anyway. Thanks for being here for me, Blog. I appreciate that you are always here when I need you. You are so dependable like that.

Good night!
Love,
me