#@*%##@*!

Brielle was not easy to ween from her pacifier. We made several, I mean SEVERAL failed attempts to rid our home of that thing! Each attempt began with a frenzied search for the missing binky that she so desperately wanted, led to an adamant refusal to spend another penny on those blasted things, at least one sleepless night while she begged and then screamed for one. Each attempt finally ended with her cheerfully finding at least one of the missing binkies the next morning. Not fun, people!
We finally did it, though. Months ago. We routed them all out, stood firm, and refused to buy anymore. Then we packed up a very small portion of our belongings and we moved to Texas. We've been her for a month and we can practically name every single belonging that we have with us. Brielle has completely forgotten all about her beloved binkies. So how in the #%@*#*! did this happen?! Seriously! How did it get here and where did she find it? I asked her about a million times. Each time she says, "Ummm. It's mine!" *#@^*!

Pool Pics

I know, I've got tons of time to blog, now and I just plain haven't. The thing is that we just don't do anything. Really! We are about as boring as it gets around here. I've looked through my camera, and these are pretty much all the pictures I have that I haven't shared. I'll try to do better in the future. Really, I will! In the meantime ... you get a few of my favorite pool pics. Enjoy!

Weekend Fun

First of all, I want to thank everyone for their comments on my last post. It makes me feel so loved to have all of your condolences!

Fortunately, we were able to get away from our cramped living quarters this weekend, and meet up with Jody's brother and his fam in San Antonio! Warning: This post is positively bursting with photos. My apologies!

This is us when we arrived Sat morning -- just before we completely melted! Seriously -- it was so hot that we finally gave-in and changed into our bathing suits for the rest of the day. This definitely helped our attitudes.

This is our poor clan trying to entice the dolphins to come a little closer. They were having none of that -- as you can see I couldn't even get one close enough to get them in the shot. My kids were hugely disappointed and it was all I could do to convince them this was not my fault!

While the dolphins fell a little short, this trip, the spooky 4-D movie was such a hit that we had to see it twice! The bonus to this one is that you got wet. (Did I mention that it was HOT!)?

I have to admit that Seaworld, San Antonio was a bit of a disappointment. The one in Orlando is much more family friendly, but Shamu (Or "Shampoo" as Brielle calls him)was definitely as cool as ever. For us, the very best part of the trip was getting to see Cam, Michelle, and kids. We haven't all been together in awhile and it was fun to see how close the kids still are. I was planning on Brielle and Shayla, who is only 4 months older, becoming really close, but they mostly admired each other from afar. The fun surprise was watching Shayla's older brother, Andin with Brielle. She figured out pretty quick that he worshipped the ground she walked on and she took full adavantage. It was so cute watching how attached they were to each other.

On Sunday we took a trip to the Alamo to see the sites and give the kids a little history lesson. (They had never even heard of Davy Crockett -- what are they teaching our kids these days!?)

I thought it was pretty cool and it's actually really beautiful up close. Can you tell that the kids are not nearly as impressed?

They were a little more appreciative once we got inside-- especially the boys. Nothing like Bowie knives, old guns and ammo, and some ancient cannons to get little boys interested in history!

Finally, we headed over to the Riverwalk since it was so close by. Since I was so excited-- the poor kids thought they were going to see something really great. Apparently, even the waterfalls and riverboats were not enough to make them walk around in that heat all day. We finally gave up after we snapped this quick photo. They look pretty done, don't they?

Thanks, Cameron and Michelle -- for all the fun, the water, and the ice cream!

Now who wants to come visit?

PS Hayley, now that I'm blogging again, don't you think this page needs a face lift -- you know, if you get bored .....

Home Sweet Home ... Sort of!

I kind of feel like we're living in some sort of freaky, alternate universe, or something. No aliens or cute vampires or anything -- just a surreal place that's missing most of our things and all of the people we love! Do I sound homesick? I really didn't mean to. This post is supposed to satisfy all of you who have been dying for a peek of the glory that is our new home. Here goes. This is our spectacular front door. It actually looks much nicer in the picture. I feel like I should get on Picnik and edit-in the dingy factor. You have no idea how badly I want to splurge on a welcome mat and a flower pot, or something. This proves I have a problem!

Notice our folding chairs for relaxing outside in the 108 degree weather -- they also double as our "company" chairs -- if anyone comes to visit we have to drag them inside so there's enough places to sit!

This is our cozy front room. The kids think that they have to sit right in front of the tv since it's so small. We have two of the fancy chairs that Trayson is lounging on in this pic. This has sparked numerous battles in our apartment. Good times!

This would be the boys' room aka, the dining room. Did I mention this place is cozy?

The girls actually get to share a bedroom, but Brielle is on the floor. We still don't trust her with a cot. The gray rubbermaid tub doubles as her nightstand and the boys' dresser. We are nothing if not resourceful!

Last, but certainly not least, is the master bedroom/office. We are currently on foam pads -- our fancy air mattress started leaking 4 days into this experiment. NOT my favorite part of this adventure!
While this experience has me desperately missing our actual home, it has already served to teach us a few lessons. First, I appreciate Idaho way more than I ever thought I would, if for no other reason that my bed is there!

Second, it really makes us realize how many great people we have in our lives. I thought I appreciated you all -- but I had no idea how much! Especially as I look around and see that so much of the few possessions we have here are actually donated by friends. Most of our furniture was generously donated by the "L" family -- you guys rock! and all of the rubbermaid bins that got us here and are now housing our clothing were furnished by the "w" family. Throw in everyone watching our yard, our animals, our house, our mail and I know that we are really really lucky to have you all!

Third, while I have spent most of my time complaining about how expensive it is to rent this nasty little apartment when we own a home -- it just occurred to me that it is seriously amazing that we can do it-- especially when it wasn't long ago that we wouldn't have even been able to imagine affording the rent here (anyone who saw our basement apartments will understand!)

We are also having tons of new experiences, so for now, we are just making the most of it and hanging in there.

A trip to the Zoo

Kutter's preschool class recently had a field trip to the zoo and Brielle and I were able to tag along. It was a bit colder than we had planned (and we all know how much I love cold!) but the kids really enjoyed it. We were technically with his whole class, but two of my friends and I kind of went off on our own. Maybe not our best idea ever. We had three moms, 6 of our own children, one that I borrowed, and two (empty, of course) strollers! It took me days to be able to remember my own name! Fortunately, we got a few cute pictures to prove we survived.
I love this one, because it is evidence that Brielle and Kutter thoroughly enjoy each other's company -- at least for now! The lions were part of the zoo's newest addition -- and they received their due respect. I only wish they could've got the children to hold this still for another hour! This is the only part of 3 hours when we weren't chasing them all!

This is my final signing-off before the big drive to Texas. I will be missing you all desperately, and I promise to get my Internet squared away as soon as I can (because I know that you will all be completely lost without me!)

Happy Birthday Breje!

It's not technically her birthday yet, but the computer'll be out of business by the time she reaches 12 (we'll sort of be on the road to Texas by then!) and we couldn't let this landmark birthday slide by without a big party, so we had one early!
We chose a polka dot theme (Thanks, Yvette, for the awesome idea!) and the girls really humored me. I was worried that they would think they were too old for such silliness, but they jumped right and we totally polka dotted to our hearts' content!
The decorations were easy. Balloons, sticky dots from the dollar store, fun colors, and round plates that spelled "Happy Birthday". We had polka dot napkins and I spilled Skittles all over the table for them to snack on while they played. Breje and her friend almost had more fun decorating than they did at the party! While we waited for the pizza to arrive, I let the girls make polka dot magnets for their lockers. I somehow managed to skip pictures of this but it was a huge hit and they turned out great.
After pizza, we had a ton of fun making polka dot flip flops. The girls really seemed to enjoy it and each pair turned out so uniquely different. I think they look adorable all together, don't you?

We also played "Who has the most polka dots". We put a bunch of questions into a bowl that asked things like "Who has the longest hair?" and "Who is the most boy crazy?" Whoever was chosen as the "most likely" received a polka dot sticker for her face. We had a tie and the girls were sweet enough to share their funny polka dot prize.

I tried to jazz up Breje's requested ice cream cake with some homemade polka dots -- not as cute as I had hoped, but it was definitely tasty!

She got tons and tons of fun presents-- her friends totally spoiled her, but the best part was just watching them all sit around and giggle together!

We sent them all home with polka dot goody bags, complete with "dots", gumballs, butterscotch candy, and round lip gloss. I'm thinking that I better apologize to all the moms for the inevitable sugar high! I seriously can't believe that my little girl is already twelve years old! She is really turning out to be an amazing young lady. She is smart, beautiful, friendly, and talented. She is usually a huge help with Brielle and puts up with her brothers as well as she can! I'm really proud of the young lady she's become, and thrilled that she is becoming such a good friend!

Visitors!

Jody's mom and sister made it out last weekend for a quick visit before we take off for Texas! I must say, they were real troopers, driving all this way for a rainy weekend with no plans! They got here late on Friday, just in time to help put kids to bed, and we spent most of Saturday morning getting ready for the boys soccer games -- only to have them canceled due to nasty weather. We finally did make it to one of our towns' few attractions-- double fried egg rolls at the local Chinese place Yummy! Afterwards, Treva had the insane idea of burning off all the extra calories with a rousing game of kickball in the rain! Notice that she is the only adult out there?! The rest of us mostly observed from the front porch, and eventually, the windows. I was going to edit this picture, but I loved seeing crazy Treva running around with all the kids in the rain, my poor trees about bending in half because of our famous "light breezes"! What a trooper!
We finally convinced everyone to come and spent most of the afternoon playing cards and munching on candy. There was one brief moment in the afternoon when the sun thought about shining, so Jody got out the motorcycles. I'll be forever disappointed that I didn't grab the camera in time to get a picture of Jody riding the kids' motorcycle, but I couldn't resist posting this picture of Treva getting her turn. What a goofball!