March in Review

Jackson was telling the sister missionaries how in Book of Mormon, EVERYONE is wicked.

The kids watched Princess Bride. In the opening scene, the curly headed kid is playing nintendo from his bed. Jackson said in a very excited voice, "Too bad I don't have a TV in my room. Then I could watch TV when I was trying to go to sleep!"

Jackson said to Carter, "This little piggy went to the market, this little piggy had gross beef…"

We always trick Sydney by saying stuff like, "What's that under there?" And she says, "Underwear?" But it doesn't work on Jackson because he says, "Where under there?"

The kids have hundreds of stuffed animals (ok maybe just 30 or so). They don't fit in their spot anymore, and they spill over into the room. We told them to choose enough to fill up a garbage bag, and we would give the garbage bag to poor kids who don't have enough money to buy stuffed animals. We spent ten minutes making decisions, and the kids fought back lots of tears. When I was taking the bag out, Jackson said with a shaky voice, "But what if we are poor kids?"

Jackson was "reading" a book to Keresa. He said, "On Monday the very hungry caterpillar ate one orange. On Tuesday he ate two pears. On Threesday he ate three plums. On Foursday..."

Sydney was standing still while Jackson was running around her in a circle over and over. He said, "Look Mom! We are making a Walmart!" Keresa said, "Do you mean a Target?" Jackson said, "Oh yeah."

We made muffin cake for breakfast. I told Sydney that's what prince charming calls Fiona on Shrek. She said, "No dad, he says muffin man."

Keresa gave the kids almonds. She told them they are the same thing as the nuts in her favorite kind of ice cream.  Sydney said, "Those rocks are almonds?" And Jackson added, "In rocky row ice cream?" (maybe now they'll try it since they know they're not really rocks).

Jackson was unwrapping the foil of a chocolate egg. I asked if he even knew what kind of candy it was. He said, "It's a chocolate jelly bean."

Syd said, "5+5+5+5=20." I asked how she knew that. She said, "Because I counted all my fingers and toes one time."

Jackson said, "Dad let's play: Sydney will be the princess, I will be the silver guy, and you be the dragon."

We were eating at the Grundy sandwich shop. Jackson said, "Some boys look like mommies!" When we looked, the guy had a big long mullet.

Sydney said, "Which kind of Jesus do we celebrate at Easter?"

We had stir fry. Sydney was pretty confused. She was excited all day to have stir fry and when we finally served it she acted like it was the wrong thing. A few minutes into dinner she said, "Oh I got confused with Shake 'n bake!" (stir = shake, fry = bake)

Sydney said, "Mom, how do I use my imagination?"

Jackson always gets car sick on the way to church driving down that windy mountain road. We told him about moving to Las Vegas. He started crying and gave a worried look. He said, "But my belly will hurt for three days because we have to drive so far!" We told him we would help him feel better and maybe he could ride in the moving truck with Dad.

Sydney was telling Mom it’s too bad there is hair all over the place at Sherri's school. Jackson interrupted and said, "Well it’s a HAIR school!" (duh)

Family Pictures!!!

While we were in Vegas for Christmas my cousin Diana took our family pictures. I've always wanted to have an outdoor type photo shoot, but never knew who to call. She's been taking some photography classes, and I think she did an amazing job! Thank so much Diana, they were worth the wait!!

Here a just a few of my favorites.

Sydney Rae, 5 years old

Jackson G, 3 years old

Carter G, 6 weeks old (look how TINY he was!!)

The kiddos

Our whole gang.

Just the two of us.

Thanks again Diana, I couldn't have hoped for more!

Carter's almost 4 months old!

Remember this high chair?

Well, maybe you don't, but I do! Sydney used it..

... and so did Jackson.

Since then we got a new table and the good ole' red high chair just doesn't work with it.

So, Carter has been spoiled with a new one!

And he LOVES it!

He loves playing with toys on the tray.
He loves sitting at the table with the family.
He loves watching Mom cook.
He loves laughing at Dad.

But the thing he loves most is...


EATING!

Yup! Ten days before his "legal eating age" Carter had his first go at the spoon. He's a champ. We should have known he'd love it...he probably would have spoon fed the day he was born if we had let him. As you can tell by those cheeks, he's an eater!

And just for fun, here's another cute video of Carter.

Oh, and one more so the other kids don't feel left out.

Blessings

I had some lab work done while we were in Las Vegas over the Summer.

It was while I was seeing a doctor who agreed to see me for free (because our out of state insurance would not work in Las Vegas).

I didn't realize at the time of the lab work, which was done in the same office, that it was not included in the free office visit.

A few weeks later I received a bill in the mail for $555.00.

For 8 months now I've been working with my insurance and the lab that did the blood work to try and get the bill covered...knowing that it wouldn't be covered but at least then I could pull the "I'm uninsured and won't you give me a discount on my bill" card.

So, today was the day to call and pay the bill...after 8 months of stressing about not having the money to dump into this kind of thing.

I was hoping they would at least let me set up a payment plan and just pay a small amount each month.

Never did I expect that after several extensions on the due date, endless calls to my insurance, and hours of waiting on hold, that the lady on the other end of the line would say

"Looks like it's all taken care. You have a zero balance."

My insurance paid...on a bill that should not have been covered...and we are blessed yet again.

I'm so happy I just had to share.

Don't forget to read McKay's new post below!

February in Review

Greetings - here's what February was like through the eyes of the children. -mk

During scriptures, we read Nephi Laman Lemuel and Sam. Jackson said,
"Hey like green eggs and ham Sam I am!"

From some Disney movie, Keresa quotes a part when someone says, "Pea soup!" and she says it in a weird funny voice. She has said it for the kids for years, and they both laugh and laugh. We found out the reason Sydney thought it was so funny was that for all this time she has thought Keresa said pee soup (as in pp), not pea (as in the vegetables) soup.

We got out the kids' book to read to them at night. When we were
looking for the spot where we left off the night before, Jackson said
"where's the question mark?" (book mark)

We were talking about nice guys and mean guys. Sydney said "mean guys
are like Roberts." (robbers)

Driving back from church it got real quiet in the car. Keresa looked
around to make sure the kids weren't up to no good. She looked at
Jackson. He had his finger pointing up and was hovering it close to
his nose, just holding it there. After a staring match he told Mom, "Stop looking at me!" because he wanted to secretly pick his nose.

Keresa cut up fruit for us to decorate our desserts. When she dumped out
a pile of kiwis for Jackson he said, "That's a huge pile of seaweed!" Syd
said, "No Jackson, they're called key weed."

Keresa was doing speech therapy to Jackson. She was trying to get him to say
three instead of free, thanks instead of fanks, etc. She said a bunch of
words that start with "th". Sydney was listening and said, "Everything
starts with 'th!' Oh wait, not 'school'."

We saw all the stuffed trophy animals in Bass Pro Shops. Jackson asked if they were real, and I told him they are real animals, just dead. Syd said "But are their eyes moist?"

Spring Break 2010

Spring Break came early for us this year. Who's ever heard of Spring Break in February?? Weird, but the break was much needed and anticipated, so we were happy regardless of the snow. We headed to Gatlinburg, TN where my parents were nice enough to donate some time share points so we could have a luxurious 5 night stay in a beautiful condo.

The kids were most excited about the whirlpool bathtubs. They took baths every single night and we even bought them some "wobble gobbles" at Wal-Mart.

This was our 4th visit to Gatlinburg since we moved in in 2007. Every year we've thrown around the idea of going to the Ripley's Aquarium but have never gone due to the cost. With this being our LAST trip there we decided we'd splurge and go. I'm glad we waited until this year. Sydney and Jackson were SO into it. We just followed them through and let them take as long as they wanted at each display. Also, because it's their off-season we had the place practically to ourselves. We packed a lunch and spent about half the day there. It was really fun. I wish I had more pictures to show for it...


Check out these MONSTER SPIDER CRABS. They freaked me out. I can look at sharks all day, but I never want to see these babies again.
C-R-E-E-P-Y


They had a little "discover" section where the kids got to play with a lot of hands on stuff. McKay enjoyed it right along with the kids.

So, although the cost was a little hard to swallow...we decided it was worth it. Very fun day.

Two days into our trip it started snowing and didn't stop the rest of the week. So, we spent lots of time watching movies, reading books, coloring, EATING, and hanging out together. It was still tons of fun. We even let the kids do something that is forbidden at home... jump on the bed...shh, don't tell anyone.

We pulled the crappy mattress off of one of the sofa beds and just left it on the floor all week. If the kids got restless or started fighting we'd tell them in our meanest voice "GO JUMP ON YOUR BED!" They'd get a really sad look on their face until they realized what we said, then they run off laughing into the other room and jump until they were tired. I don't think they'll ever forget that.

Here are a couple pictures of us just hanging out.

By the end of the week we were ready to venture out again. We found a Bass Pro Shop not too far away and spent a good 2 hours just roaming the store. I told McKay if he wants me to be his camping wife then we'll have to go on a shopping spree there first. We sat in all the boats, pretended to ride all the four wheelers, and ran through all the tents.

Here's a picture of the kids on what they thought was one of the coolest benches ever.

So, that was our trip in a nutshell. Now we're back in Grundy and half way through another week. Snow is still falling as we speak, but we're supposed to have temperatures in the 50's by this weekend. (fingers crossed!) I just got word that my Mom and sisters are leaving Las Vegas in just 7 weeks, yes 7 weeks to come here and help us pack and move back to home!!! Can it really be that soon? Yes, it can, and I C A N' T W A I T!!


Lastly, here are just a couple pictures that were on my camera from around the house.

Enjoy!