2010!

Oh my goodness, I am so behind in this blog! Time just runs away from me. And Jared has been keeping the camera and laptop at his office a lot lately, so that’s another excuse. So I have two months to catch up on.

So much for global warming in this part of the U.S.A. because January brought MORE snow and ice. Kaia was ecstatic that school was canceled five days and the snow shovel got lots of use this year. Especially with our driveway—its pretty steep and we never would have made it in the garage without diligently keeping it ice free. And during one of the winter storms, Grandma and Grandpa were here to help keep all the kids entertained.







We celebrated two birthdays—Tatum and Maren. Well three I guess. Jared had one too! Maren ate a big dinner and so wasn’t really into the cake like all the other kids had been on their first birthday. Just that much less of a mess for me to clean up :)





Tatum wanted princess everything of course and Grandma made the requested Cinderella cake. She got a Dorothy outfit complete with Toto in a basket and seriously wears it every day. I let her wear it to the library and the store and stuff if she insists and with her ruby red slippers she gets a lot of laughs.






I know I have said this before, but she is the total alpha female. She will not be ignored and she is a social genius. She knows exactly how to get what she wants. And she is finally potty trained!!! Just woke up one day and decided to do it. Which made it easy for me! And incidentally, why does potty training always bring out the most embarrassing situations? Or is it just me? Tell me you have some stories to tell too. I remember Brandt was really stubborn about it and shortly after his third birthday we finally just said, sorry, its underwear or else. So we all were at the mall on a Saturday, and of course he wets himself and doesn’t care or tell anyone, so when I finally find out what he has done I grab the spare pair in my purse and Jared takes him in the men’s room to change. So they are gone for like twenty minutes and I’m starting to think should I go in there and check on them or what? Finally they come out and Jared is red-faced, looking left and right. Of course Brandt didn’t want anyone to change his underwear (like I said, the kid is stubborn) and starts yelling and crying when they get in the stall, “Don’t take my pants off! No! I don’t want you to take my pants off! Not my underwear! No!” Jared half expected some cop to cuff him on the way out. I was laughing so hard. Then last week right in the middle of grocery shopping (does this happen to anyone else? It drives me nuts! I have to take the cart up to the front and ask one of the workers to watch it. Because if I don’t I have had my cart disappear a couple of times. Then take all three kids into the bathroom, try to have Brandt keep Maren from touching the floor or anything else, or else I try and balance her on my lap while I am helping Tatum use the toilet in a stall that barely fits one person, let alone three or four!)…um where was I…oh yeah, so I am helping Tatum use the restroom and I need to go too, and Brandt was seeming to do an okay time with Maren so I figured I would hurry and go. And then, much to my embarrassment, Tatum starts saying loudly, “Good job Mom. You are such a big girl going pee-pee on the potty. You can have an M&M when we get home.” Yes, I heard some laughter a couple stalls over.

Kaia is getting pretty good at the piano. She and Brandt play it all of the time. Kaia can sight read a little bit, and Brandt can’t at all, but they both pick out different tunes every day. We love the piano! They are both doing great in school. The things Kaia is learning amaze me. I know I didn’t learn some of them when I was in Junior High School! She always does her homework without asking and she never needs my help with it. She’s so reliable and so…well, good and I don’t tell her that enough. Brandt had his first call from a girl :) He gets along with everybody. Really. And has a soft place in his heart for those who seem to be overlooked by everyone else.

Maren has started walking everywhere. She is so darn proud of herself. She has joined the other siblings and dances too. She also climbs the stairs really well, and I haven’t gotten a gate because I figured she’s old enough to learn how to go up and down by herself. But she refuses to go down backwards. She watches everyone else do it and thinks, why can’t I? So I am having to be a very diligent, watchful momma these days. She is a super busy baby and she is not entertained by the older ones because they are doing their own thing, so she is my little shadow. Or, rather, I am hers. The only time I get anything done is when she is taking a nap. And that’s another reason this blog is suffering, because nap time is when I can do my housework! Which I better get back at! Until next month…or two :)

December

Well, we hope ya’ll had a very Merry Christmas and happy New Years. Can you believe we had a white one? The whole time Jared was saying all he wanted for Christmas was snow and we would always laugh and I would tell him to keep praying. In the last 105 years here in Oklahoma, there have only been five white Christmases. We don’t get much snow here. More ice than snow. Well Jared kept checking the weather every week and about a week before Christmas he says to me, “There’s supposed to be some snow next Thursday (Christmas Eve).” I thought nothing of it. The weather here is really hard to predict (hello tornadoes), and half of the time they get it wrong. And when it does snow here it is usually a dusting and is gone the next day. Jared keeps checking the weather and I think he must have had some kind of premonition about it this year because every day the weatherman’s snow prediction would grow until it got to 6 inches. So we waited it out and sure enough, Christmas Eve gave us a blizzard like I’ve never seen here and we woke up to 14 inches of snow on Christmas! The kids had a lot of fun with it and since we have a pretty steep driveway, we blew up the pool tubes and did a little sledding. Even me :) So yeah, we had a fun day. In fact, there is still snow on the ground and I am ready for it to be gone!






Kaia and Brandt were happy to be done with their first semester of school. Our Utah grandpa and grandma came to visit before Christmas and that was fun for all of us. And Aunt Celeste and Uncle Layn came as well with their two kids after Christmas, braving the long drive from Arizona for us. It was cold, icy and my kids got a nasty bug while they were here, so I don’t think they had the most fantastic trip, but it was fun to see them and the kids had a blast playing together.



Santa was good to the kids this year and got them exactly what they asked for. (Thank goodness it was all something realistic this year!) They went and visited the Santa at the mall for the first time ever. They were always pretty scared of him before, but all three of the oldest decided they wanted to do it this year. Brandt was saying to me a couple days previous, “Is it the real Santa there, Mom?” Think fast, think fast…”I don’t know. We’ll have to check him out. How can you tell?” He thinks for a minute and says, “If his mustache doesn’t move around.” Perfectly logical. They all three went up together and stood there and told Santa what they wanted and then Brandt runs over to me after and says, “It’s the real Santa, Mom! His mustache doesn’t move!” And after Santa brought Kaia her Littlest Pet Shop clubhouse, Brandt his Millennium Falcon lego set, and Tatum her Wizard of Oz movie, even Kaia was convinced. She says to me, “That must have been the real Santa at the mall Mom, because we got what we asked for.” And if you can read between the lines here, yes, she had been disappointed before at Christmas, ha ha. One year she asked for a talking parrot and instead got a bleating lamb. Santa really did try to find that parrot…




Kaia and Brandt finished up their first semester of school and were ready for a break. We did some fun things with everybody—I usually feel bad going places during the day without Kaia since she’s at school, so it was nice to have everybody around. But, harder to keep tabs on everyone too. One day I put the youngest two down for naps and told Kaia and Brandt I was going to shower. I come out 15 minutes later to find them on the computer, watching YouTube videos! Whoa, how did you get on YouTube? “I typed it in Google.” Kaia says. I guess it’s easy to spell and every once in a while Jared will find funny videos for them to watch so I suppose that’s how Kaia knew what it was. Pretty scary huh? My seven-year-old knows how to surf the web. No more computer without mom or dad’s permission, okay?



Tatum is so obsessed with Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz right now. Jared and I got her red, ruby shoes (or slippers as she likes to call them) and she has to wear them everywhere and tell everybody about them. She is a crack up when she’s watching the movie and Dorothy and the other characters start singing We’re Off To See the Wizard and skipping down the yellow brick road. Tatum gets this focused look on her face, hurries and puts on her ruby slippers and starts taking giant skipping steps around the house until the song is over like it’s her job.

Maren is pulling herself up on everything and is getting quite vocal. If she wants something, you know it. She is a great eater, but still kind of a scrawny thing. Looks like someone left their ring pop out...



I love the dynamics of our family with the four kids. It made me laugh the other day when Kaia gets out all her candy she had gotten from her party at school the last day before winter break, and announces to Brandt and Tatum she is opening a candy store. Brandt runs to get all his money and Tatum just kind of hangs back watching her get it all out. A couple of minutes later, Kaia is charging Brandt $1 for ONE smartie (she is SO like her mother was at her age, it cracks me up!) which Brandt is only too happy to pay, and Tatum has snuck in behind the transaction swiping whatever she can grab before Kaia turns around. And then Maren finds her way in there and I hear, “Mom, help! Get Maren!”

And that little role play is our family in a nutshell.

P.S. Don’t worry, I didn’t really let her take advantage of her brother like that :)

November

So I know my posts have been a little shorter and less detailed lately. It's a reflection of my life I think. The past 4 months or so have just been so busy. I thought it would get a little easier when school started, but it seems the opposite has happened. Or maybe it's just the ages of my kids and the fact I have more of a house to clean. Who knows? So I felt I needed a little break and decided that I was desperate enough to drive the 16 hours to Arizona for Thanksgiving week for it. My dad flew in and helped me drive out --thanks dad! I couldn't have done it by myself with the four kids. I'm glad we went, the kids had a blast playing with their cousins and getting spoiled by their grandparents, and I had fun hanging with my family, working out when I wanted to and believe it or not, shopping for myself which I haven't done like that since I've been married! Always the poor student :) Jared flew in on Wednesday and we had a great Thanksgiving with family and friends. Thanks mom and dad for being so gracious and helpful, we had a great time!

At the train park...


Mya and Maren eatin' and chillin'


Brandt got to pet stingrays at the zoo


Kaia celebrated Number 7 this month! Can you believe it? I feel old...Jared and I took her out to dinner and shopping to pick out something she wanted. I honestly couldn't think of anything to get her, she's a hard one to shop for. So I just thought why not have a special night with her and mom and dad. We got a sitter for the youngest three and she chose a restaurant and a shopping destination. We had so much fun with her and glad we did it. I think we may do it for all the kid's birthdays now. She is brilliant and beautiful and we couldn't ask for a better child.



Brandt is such a great brother. He and Kaia of course are best buddies, but he is so sweet and gentle to his little sisters. Maren just adores him and has a special smile whenever she sees him coming toward her. He always holds the doors for me without being asked and is quite the social butterfly.



Tatum seems to have grown up so much in the past month. I didn't think it was possible, but she talks even more now. And with more thought too. I thought she was hard to reason with before. Now it can officially be considered "sass."

"Tatum, your pajamas don't go there."

"Yes they do."

"No they don't. Come pick them up and put them away."

"You do it. I'm busy."

Whoa baby. She is a fiesty one. My mom says it's genetic ;) She is a lot of fun though. Our family would be very vanilla without her and I love her for that.




Maren keeps changing so fast. She finally decided that inching across the room on her bottom just wasn't fast enough and started crawling. Now she is everywhere! She is so proud of herself and applauds her efforts at the least amount of encouragement. She is a total mommy's girl and so blonde. And it's straight like her biggest sister. Two curly, two straight. Funny how genetics works.



Oh and I got an early Christmas present. A piano! Craigslist was so good to me, and so was my hubby, getting it set up in the home while I was gone. Love it! Looking forward to Christmas!

October

Let's see, this month we built a sandbox, visited family in Arkansas, had family visit from Utah, bought three goldfish, flushed three goldfish, enjoyed the fabulous fall weather, had a trip to the ER for some bleeding tonsils, Maren learned to wave, and we all ate lots of candy.

We all helped design and build a sandbox for the backyard. Can you believe it needed 1.5 TONS of sand when all was said and done!? We had so much fun doing it, and even more playing in it. The kids literally spend hours out there on sunny days and it's totally worth the sand I am always sweeping up from the floors, wiping off little toes and shaking out of pockets.





Enjoying the weather at the lake. It doesn't get any better than a weenie roast and s'mores, a beautiful "beach" and a playground!









For fall break we went to Arkansas to visit cousins and see some fall colors. We spent the weekend hiking and playing and the kids had such a fun time. Thanks Skinners!







For Halloween we went to the Storybook Forest instead of the pumpkin patch this year and loved it. (Sorry no pics) Then Uncles David and Travis came to visit which was so great. The kids adored them and they were a huge help to the momma! As you can see I had three "bumblebees." Not planned, that's just what they all ended up choosing. Of course Tatum had to be a princess. She is SO obsessed. She wants to watch princess movies all day. When she brushes her teeth she says, "I have pretty Belle teeth." When she brushes her hair she says, "I have pretty Belle hair." She crawls up next to me on the couch and sighs, saying "I am so, so pretty Mom." And because she is only two and right then she is the cutest thing ever, I put my arm around her and say, "Yes you are sweetie." Aren't they fun?

September

Go Cougars! Labor Day weekend we went to Dallas with the Skinners to see BYU pull out a win over OU. Kind of a rough game for Jared and I. Maren would start screaming if I even walked into the stadium so until the fourth quarter when she was so tired she couldn't even muster a complaint, Jared and I took turns roaming the corridors with her. Plus, it was kind of weird rooting for both teams. It was really a win-win for us, but we were a little sad to see OU lose a close one. Anyways, it was a fun weekend and thanks to a dear friend for watching my three oldest overnight :)





















Kaia and Brandt are busy with school and soccer. Brandt is a little disallusioned with school after finding out it's not all fun and games like preschool was. He said to me, "All I do is work Mom!" My reply..."Get used to it. Join the club." Tatum is starting to use the big potty more (hooray!), but still a long way off from wearing her princess panties she picked out. Maren has her two top teeth in now as well and is turning into a big time mommy's girl. She loves reading books and turning the pages as we go.

And finally the triathlon! My mom and dad came out to watch the kids and spend a week with us (thank you, thank you!) and Jared and I did our little sprint triathlon. I got confused during the race and missed 3 or 4 miles of the bike portion which I was pretty ticked off about at the end when I found out, but we had so much fun! I think it will become a tradition for us every year. And I had a lot of fun training with Jared and my home girls. Now if we could just get those road bikes we've been coveting...

A few co-trainees...and some of my all-time favorite gals

Anyone else have problems with grainy pics?? Maybe I'm running out of allotted memory??

So I know this is a short post, but I am tired and needed to get something on here quick. Be better next month!

August

I don't know why my pics are so grainy. Weird. Sorry.

So long summer! The kids started school this month. Kaia was not so excited, and Brandt was so excited. They are so different those two. Maybe that's why they get along so well. Kaia's crying because she has to eat lunch at school, and Brandt's crying because he has to eat lunch at home (half day kindergarten). Kaia's crying because she has to take the bus to school and Brandt's crying because he can't take the bus to school. I can't win.

Picks up and drops off right in front of the house. How nice is that?!

Kaia is slowly adjusting to school once again. She is my sensitive one. New school, new teacher, new transportation (bus)...it takes her a couple of weeks to get going. She had a bike wreck last week too and really hit her face hard. Had some mouth trauma which takes a couple of weeks to get through. She couldn't really bite her food or eat certain things. But she has actually healed up nicely and we're just lucky she still has her teeth! (Raining cats and dogs that morning of school, so I just got her in the car waiting for the bus)



Brandt has been loving school. He is so independent. He has to pick out what he wears every day and fixes his own hair now too (as you can see from his school pic :). He got mad the first day of school because I had to walk him to his classroom.

Brandt: No Mom. Don't come with me. I can do it myself.

Me: I have to come the first day of school.

Brandt: Why?

Me: Do you know where to go?

Brandt: I can find it Mom.

Roll of the eyes... Wouldn't hug me goodbye. Heck, wouldn't even make eye contact and say goodbye. I always thought I would be one of those cool moms. But no, my child is five and already embarrassed by my presence.




















Tatum has been talking up a storm lately. In fact, I can't get her to be quiet! She just loves to hear the sound of her own voice I guess. She'll talk to Maren and then get mad and yell at her because she won't talk back to her. "She's not talking to me Mom!" She is THE most persistant person I have ever known {you are a very close second Celeste ;) love ya :) }. She is so independent like her brother and is such a girl. Loves princesses, dresses, talking on the phone, shoes (always wears her dress up shoes to the store), etc, etc. She told me the other day, "I need to brush my princess hair Mom." Uh, okay. She puts a dress on before we go to her friend's house so she "can show Brans my pretty dress." I'm sure a three-year-old boy will really appreciate that dear. Help! Can you imagine Teen Tatum??


Guess I should just get used to seeing this...


Maren has two new teeth! Goodbye gummy smiles :( She's getting a little more fiesty, and has to grab everything! She loves her siblings and is a mommy's girl. And still the best-natured, happiest baby girl.














Dancing to Michael Jackson and washing the car :)

So funny, my kids are on a Michael Jackson phase. He's been in the news a lot recently and Kaia asked who he was. So we showed them some of his old moves via music videos and they pulled out my old album and have been singing and dancing ever since. So the other day Brandt comes up to me in his Batman costume--just the black one-piece--and some gold Mardi Gras beads and says, "I'm Michael Jackson today Mom. He wears all black and a gold necklace." Lookin' good. Then he tells me to come upstairs for his "performance." Kaia has the music and stage lighting ready, and Brandt grabs a toy microphone. It was all I could do to not bust up laughing. (In fact you can hear me lose it a little in the video and Kaia saying "Don't laugh.") I convinced him to tape a little of it so we could all watch it later.

We are finally getting some cooler temperatures here. Hello September! Awesome weather, college football...what more could you ask for? ;)