Happy Birthday, Zoey!

My baby is two years old today!

I'm kind of sad and kind of happy about that. I'm sad that my baby is growing so fast, but really happy to be getting out of the baby stage. The bottles are gone and give me about 6 more months and the diapers will be gone, too!

Zoey is such a sweet thing. She's my most shy child. She has this look that she gives everyone and it's really hard for anyone she doesn't know to get her to smile. We can get her to smile easily, though, and really, that's what's most important. Zoey LOVES her siblings. She loves to play with all of them and they love to play with her. Neither of my other girls were much into baby dolls, but Zoey carries one all over the house.

It's so hard to believe that two years ago, Zoey was looking like this:

Zoey was born with immature lungs and had to be fed through a tube. She would suck on a bottle and forget to breath. She hung out in the hospital for a week after her birth and that was really hard for me. Only because I had other children at home and didn't feel like I could spend much time with her.

The night before my c-section, my mom reminded me that I should get a blessing from Scott and my dad. In the blessing, Scott talked a lot about how everything was going to be ok. That is would all turn out alright. I thought it referred to the c-section and me. I never dreamed that my child would have problems. That blessing became really important over the next couple of weeks. I never once panicked over Zoey's health. I was so calm. And anyone who knows me, would be very surprised by this. The way the doctor's talked to us, was as if they expected us to be so upset and we weren't. I never doubted that Zoey would come home and be fine. It was almost as if this were a minor inconvenience. The Lord really blessed me during that time.


And now here she is turning two and she's just as healthy and happy as any other kid. She's such a joy and we love her so much.

Happy birthday, Zo.

Thank You, Anonymous Grandma!

It's because of you, that my baby will look SO DARN CUTE this winter!

Let me explain. You know how when you first walk into Costco, they have all of their new deals right by the door? Well, right now, it's winter coats. And I saw the table with these cute little girls fleece coats. They had a brown with a pink bow (almost gone), a couple of pink ones with rose thingies (I didn't really like those) and this little light blue number that made me melt. So, of course, I can never resist anything that will make my baby beautiful. They were running out of these pretty quick and the table was huge. So, they had a pile in the front and a pile in the back of the blue. Of course, none of the ones in the front were the right size. Dang. So, I'm kind of looking around for someone who worked at Costco to come over and get the ones in the back so I could see the sizes, and the woman next to me starts talking to me about how it figures that we can't get to the ones in the back. I said that I was about to climb on the table myself and she says "Let me do it. I'm a grandma, I'll do anything for my babies." So I laughingly help her up on the table and she climbs through fleece coats and finds the right size for both Zoey and her granddaughter! So, thank you anonymous, Grandma! I'll think of you every time I put this coat on Zoey!

George

For some reason this morning Porter brought up the subject of ghosts. I can't remember why. So, I started to tell my kids the story of George. George was a ghost that lived in our Cabrosa house when I was a kid. He amazingly showed up, when my younger brother was standing next to a broken object in our home. George had a tendency to break things. And Jordan was usually nearby, when George ran off, so mom wouldn't scold him. We even had a picture of George to prove his existence. One of the cabinets in the kitchen had a wood grain shaped just like a ghost. Eyes and all. It was very strange. Poor George got blamed for quite a few things that I'm sure he didn't do.

My kids thought it was pretty amazing that their mother had a ghost as a kid and wanted to know why we couldn't have one, too. Well, first of all we don't have a picture of a ghost, so how could we prove that there was one in the first place?

As we got into the car this morning, I happened to look out of the garage onto the street and saw the most incredible thing. The sun shining behind our house just happened to make the shape of a ghost complete with eyes! (Maybe the sun was reflecting off the house across the street. I don't know, but it had eyes.) Regan thought for sure that George was saying Hello. Great, just what I need. A mischievous ghost moving into my house.

Pre-School Started....

Need I say more?

The Curse Of The TENT

Yes, I said CURSE. Our tent hates us. It seems like every time we camp in our tent, we have the worst night! It usually consists of no sleep, crying children and vomit. Not to mention, it gets cold in a tent! And squishy. Fitting six in a tent is no easy feat. Especially, when mom insists on a cot. I don't sleep on the ground anymore.

Last weekend was our ward camp out and unfortunately, the campsite was not big enough to allow trailers. *sob* So, we packed up our tent and all the supplies we could think of and headed into the wilderness. I really love my trailer. We set up camp and joined the others for dinner and campfire fun. All too soon, my son decided to do a "Porter". He burned his hand on a lantern. So, by the time we had him bandaged up, he was looking a little tired. We were in our tent at this time and Porter was crying (burns hurt) so I had him in his pajamas and cuddled on my lap with a blanket tucked tight around us. He finally falls asleep and Scott and I are talking about how we can get him off my lap and into his sleeping bag, when I feel my leg get really warm and it start to spread down my leg. sigh. My son has just peed on my leg. And of course, anticipating an accident, I brought him extra underwear and shorts. No extra pajamas. Luckily, I had not changed into my pajamas, yet, so I didn't have to sleep in my underwear, like Porter did.

All this time, Zoey is a bouncing ball of energy. She did not want to be confined to the tent. Did I mention the tent isn't very big? Anyway, she ran around as best as she could until she literally, collapsed onto a pillow and was out.

I slept poorly that night. Part of the tent collapsed or something, because I had tent wall in my face all night and I woke up slightly damp. I love my trailer.

Of course with all the excitement, I didn't take pictures, so about 10 minutes before we left I ran around and tried to take pictures.

This seems to be the only pictures we get of Regan lately. We've hit the teen attitude early. Yes, April, laugh. Go on. Just get it out!
I keep trying to get a picture of Zoey's mean face, which she gives EVERYONE! But every time I turn the camera in her direction, she smiles. It's the funniest thing. She could be crying her eyes out, but the minute the camera is pointed in her direction, she beams!
This is Zoey's favorite position. I think I may have to get this child into gymnastics.

Oh, one more thing: I LOVE MY TRAILER!!!!

A Little Sneak Peak...

I just finished a major portion of Hali's baptism dress, even though, I haven't even started piecing it together, yet. I just thought I'd let you all get a peak at what I've been doing for the last two or so months. This is all by hand!


Just wait until you see the finished product!

Two Wise Men, A Shepard, And Mary......

Have Been Decapitated!!!!

At least, the third wise man only lost his feet.

You can survive with no feet. Not so much with no head. I guess he was feeling generous with baby Jesus, cause there's not a scratch on him or any of the animals. Scott, I'd be a little worried, though. Joseph was broken into many pieces! Pre-school just can't start soon enough.

Public Speaking Update

I spoke too soon.

Not only did Porter say "me". (See story below for that to make sense!) He also practically ate the mic. I had to keep pulling his hands down and all the primary kids giggled through the whole talk. Then to make matters worse, we have opening exercises in the chapel. And Porter must have gotten bored sitting on the stand, so he started running around the choir chairs. It took three of us to corner him! I dragged him out of the chapel and Porter only survived, because one of his teachers came out with me and sat with him so I could go back in and lead the closing song. I would have skipped the song and beaten him, but, you know, I have to keep up those appearances of having it all together.

Only one more week until preschool starts!! And it better have some sort of affect on him, because my sanity is counting on it!!!!!!!

We Must Be Great Public Speakers

Porter is giving his SECOND talk in Primary tomorrow. Yes, number two. Numero dos. And he's only been in Primary since January.

Gotta love the kool-aid mustache.

They kind of have a screwy was to decide who does what. They have all the kids names on index cards inside of a mailbox (normal size mailbox, not cute, small, decorated mailbox), then they pick the cards on Sunday for the following Sunday. It just seems like the same kids keep getting the same things over and over. This would be talk number five for our family in the last year. Hali got it twice towards the end of last year, then Porter got one in the Spring. Regan was so disappointed that she hadn't gotten chosen for a talk for like two years, that I went to the Primary President and asked if she could schedule her in there somewhere, so about three weeks ago, Regan gave one. And now, Porter again. Only my kids would be begging to give talks.

Porter is actually really great. For being four, he has no problem in front of the mic. I know, this is Porter, no, I'm not surprised. I just thought he'd get up there and make weird noises and say "HI" with his mouth practically eating the mic. But he didn't. He repeated everything I told him to say. I was so proud.

So, earlier we were practicing his talk and he repeated after me like an old pro. Although, he sometimes gets a little confused. Example: I say (for him to repeat)

"Is passed in front of you."
(It's a talk about taking the sacrament. You know, so the above sentence will sort of make sense) and Porter says
"Is passed in front of me."
No, no, Porter. "Is passed in front of you."
"Is passed in front of me."
Ugh. No, Porter you need to say the word "you".

He finally got it, but we'll have to see how it goes tomorrow.

A Fun Family Weekend

This last weekend was so much fun! And now we are all tired and cranky, because we haven't had much sleep.

On Friday, we all went over to Mike and Amy's for dinner, because Jeff, Lori and the kids flew in from Denver for all the festivities. The kids ran around and had fun and the adults all visited and sort of watched the opening ceremonies on TV. We stayed really late and of course, couldn't sleep in the next day.

Saturday, we celebrated Granpa Vern's 100th birthday. His daughter, Carolyn planned a really nice party and lots of people came.

Grandpa is actually starting to show his age. I know, he's 100, Nikki! But the man has been so strong for so long, that I was really kind of sad. When I first sat down with him, he didn't know who I was. Course, that could have been my hair. He hasn't seen me since I've gone so dark. But then I heard that he didn't recognize David (his grandson), either. But again, the man is 100.

Here is our family with grandpa. I know we all match. That's because there was a professional photographer there and we took advantage of it for some family pictures. We'll get those in the next couple of weeks and let you all see them.

Sunday, we went to Dave and Natalie's, for the blessing of Spencer. It's so nice to snuggle and cuddle him and then give him back. There was no baby hunger at all! So nice. It was also great to see other aunts, uncles, and cousins on Scott's side that we just haven't seen in a while. Oh, and Nat, I did get Spencer a present and forgot to bring it! Maybe we'll swing by tonight! We watched the Olympics and I have to say Amy sure makes it exciting to watch, even when she wakes up sleeping babies! HeHe!

Of course, it wouldn't be a Jackson weekend without Porter making some kind of spectacle of himself. Apparently, during the blessing (which was not at church, but in Dave and Nat's home) Porter, who was in the backyard, needed to go to the bathroom. So he came to the back door and knocked on it to be let in. Lori was right there and motioned for him to wait until the blessing was over. Porter, being the boy I know, decided that he couldn't wait and peed off the back deck, making designs and aiming through the railings. Scott, this is all on your shoulders. I certainly didn't teach him to pee outside!

Update on the A/C

Leave it to men to find the simple fix. I perspired ALL day yesterday, to have Scott come home and flip a switch.

Apparently, there is a switch on the furnace that turns the a/c on and off. While the kids were playing in the basement (and I was dealing with other stuff), Porter or Zoey turned off the air conditioner.

I guess I'm just glad that it was so simple and didn't cost me a dime!

And The Comedy Just Keeps Rollin On

You know how sometimes things happen and it's not until after that you realize: 1. That was actually pretty funny and 2. I should have taken pictures. That was my yesterday. Well, and today, too.

So, once a week Scott goes mountain biking with some guys after work and he doesn't return until late. That always seems to be the night that the kids (read Porter) go out of control. I was upstairs for quite some time last night and about 6:00 went down to start making dinner. First thing I notice is that it's quiet (the kids are all down in the basement). Second, the back sliding door is wide open. So I go over to shut it, mumbling about lazy kids, turn around and see the refrigerator door open as well. I walk over, with more mumbling and then notice the plastic bag on the floor in front of it. The bag that was previously in the refrigerator that happen to have about 4 lbs of raw ground beef in it. Not so much any more. With the fridge door open, the dog took it upon herself to relieve me of about 2 lbs of that raw meat. UGH. I admit I lost it. I didn't think it was so funny at the time. Certainly not funny enough to grab the camera. I did kick the dog outside and put Porter in a time out, stressing to him the entire time about how important it is to CLOSE DOORS!!!!

The dog stayed outside for about 45 minutes until I got tired of the whining, sure that my neighbors were going to start throwing things in my backyard. Not ten minutes later, I was informed that there was a large deposit of raw, regurgitated ground beef at the top of my stairs. Again, the dog made a trip outside.

Scott got home late, but stayed up to play video games and told me this morning that the dog threw up three more times last night. Lovely.

And now, I'm sitting in a sweltering house, because my A/C has decided not to work. My house is now at a toasty 87 degrees. And that's down stairs.

Isn't life so much fun?!

Breaking Dawn

I know that everyone has been dying to get my opinion on this book and probably can't believe that I haven't posted anything so far. I know, Katie, you've been trying to get a hold of me all weekend to discuss the book. I've just been busy, but we'll have all next weekend to talk to our hearts content!

I've been done with it for days, and am still thinking it over. Regan has been reading the series and it's interesting to see her point of view compared to mine. Over all, I liked it. I think she wrapped things up nicely. That said, I was still a little disappointed. I mean, first of all, it was too long. I felt there were areas in the book that dragged. She could have easily cut out 100 to 200 pages (it's almost 800 pages long). I won't spoil anything here, by saying anything about plot. I guess I just thought I would be wowed, and I wasn't. It was good, just not great. Maybe, I just expected a lot.

Regan loved it, though. Maybe I'm just too old.

It Figures!

My son. This coming Saturday, at Granpa Vern's 100th birthday party, we are having family portraits taken. I've gone out and bought new clothes for everyone, so that we could have a nice picture to hang in the house. So, it figures that my son would then fall over the back of the couch last night and wake up this morning with this:

I told him to go look at himself in the mirror and I could hear him say "What the heck?" And then he tried to tell me that it was just a marker drawn on his nose. Nice try. He got really upset when Hali suggested that I use make-up to cover it up. "I don't want make-up!" Like it's the grossest thing he could imagine. (You can do that happy dance, Scott!) I just hope that it fades by Saturday. Little stinker.

It's Getting a Little Comical Around Here!

So, last week we fought that bug. Right on the heels of that, I got my womanly time of the month, which is normally no big deal. But maybe twice a year I get one that just knocks me out. We're talking bad cramps and a lower back pain that KILLS! Yep, you guessed it. I just had it. Now, the third blow to my body.
I have PINK EYE!
I've had it before, probably three, four years ago, so last night I suspected that it was coming. The doctor confirmed it this morning. AAAAHHHH!!! I really want to deal with this now. I'm still trying to catch up from everything else that I let go during the last couple of weeks and now I have this. Ugh. I hate my glasses and now I get to wear them for the next week. Yipee. At least, it'll be done by the time next weekend rolls around. Scott's grandpa turns 100 next Saturday, and we are having a big party complete with family pictures. Really glad the contacts and especially the make-up will be back by then! Then on Sunday, my nephew is getting blessed. I would have really hated to miss both of those! I just hope that I can keep it away from the rest of the family.

My mom and Scott, both think it's hysterical. Yeah, Scott, you'll think it's funny up until the time you get it!