My New Garden

Obviously this is not it. Here's our old garden. Brick boarder falling apart, crappy rabbit fence falling down due to animals. Not a pretty sight. Oh, and this spot also gets full sun all day so my veggies got fried last summer. Not the best picture for our back yard.
So here's the shady side of our house, and the beginnings of our new garden. Jared, with all his WONDERFUL handy man skills it building this for me.

And here's the final results. YEAH!!! It's beautiful. And it's right outside my Front Room side window so I get to see it and enjoy it's beauty all day.

And look at my "Big Boy" Tomatoes that are just getting bigger by the second. We are hand watering everyday, and doing Miracle Grow once a week. It's my hope to have the tastiest tomatoes EVER. I'm so excited.

Stinkin' Animals

I swear, if I ever have a nice looking back yard I'll be in shock.

No, it's really not that bad, but there are parts of it that could definitely use some improvement. Like right off my porch for example. This is what I found yesterday afternoon.
If you can't tell what that is let me back up just a bit. Yes, that is my bunny's butt. I'm not sure how long she's been digging this hole, but you can see the foundation really well. I don't think she was too happy when I filled it all in. The eventual plan is to extend the porch. So there will be cement over this nasty spot. Kind of hard to dig through cement.

One of the many reasons we are moving the garden to a Non-Animal side of the house. That's one of Charlies little dolls, silly dog.

To My Mom

Mom,
I know this is late and I sent your gift off today, but I'd just like to say how much I love you!!! You are the bestest Mom any kid could ever ask for. And even though this kid is now 31 I still know I can count on you for everything. You know how to fix every boo boo, cook any meal out there, you know how to remove every stain, give the best moral support there is and just be a down right awesome Mommy. Thank you Mom for being the greatest example to me of what a Mom should be. I love you!!

My Mothers Day

I had a great Mothers Day thanks to my awesome Husband. Our Stake had a Father/Son Camp out Friday night and they didn't get home till Noonish on Saturday. So when they walked in the door Jared told me I had the afternoon off. I was meant to go shopping with $50-$80 in tow. "Go buy a couple new outfits, go hang out at Barnes and Noble. Just don't come home till around 5. So I left the house at 12:30 and came home at 5.

I have never been a big shopper, but this was quite the experience. I walked into Kohls and 2 hours later, walked out. I think I tried on just about everything they had. Even stuff I knew I wouldn't buy but just wanted to try on for fun to see how it looked. Shopping can actually be a fun experience when you're not dragging kids through the store. And I purposefully avoided the children's sections. That was harder to do than I thought. :)

So also for Mothers Day I got to take Aspen to the Eye Dr. As we left they gave me this rose. They were giving one to every Mom as a gift. I thought it was sweet.
So all said and done I love my little family, and they really do treat me well. Jared also cooked just about everything on actual Mothers Day, and let me sit and read my book, take a nap, and play with my kiddos. It was a lovely day.

Sicily at the Recital

While everyone else was eating cookies, Sicily and her little friend, Courtney, had a little go at the keys. And even though they didn't play the best, they definitely had their hearts into it. Just look at those faces.

Spring Piano Recital

You can't really tell by the picture but our wonderful piano teacher, Miss Brooke, is having baby #4 this summer. And because it's #4 she will no longer be teaching piano after this recital. We just want to say how much we have LOVED playing piano with Miss Brooke. My kids have learned so much, and so have I. Thank you Brooke for all the time and love you have put into building my children's talents!
Aspen and I were lucky enough to get to play a duet together for her piece. Aspen did such an awesome job. She stayed on tempo and played clear as a bell the entire time! And she was a cool little cucumber, where as I was a bit nervous. Way to go Aspen, you're moving up quick!

London is our piano whiz. This is the 2nd recital where he has been featured amongst the final to play, which is really a big compliment. He did such a good job, and has practiced hard for this moment. Keep moving forward London, you're going to go far.

P90X

Jared has finally found a program to do for him what he needs it to. P90X!!! Please do not go into this program half heartedly. It is Butt Kicking hard. But Jared loves it. LOTS of pull ups, LOTS of push ups, way too much Plyometrics and it will definitely do for you what you want it to.

As you can see the kids love to join in. Jared does his best to do it in the mornings before he goes to work. But sometimes late nights don't allow for a 5 AM wake up call. Sicily is a good little Cheerleader, but sometimes gets run over when Jared's not paying close enough attention. :)

Swim Team

Our city has a summer swim team that goes from May 10th-July 14th. We decided since we're not planning on going anywhere this summer that we'd give it a shot.

They had a Meet the Coach practice this last week for all the new swimmers. The kids really liked it overall, Phoenix was a bit scared of the water, but London and Aspen did awesome. I'm really excited to see how well they'll improve over the summer.
This is London doing the backstroke. It's kind of long, I know, but if you look in the background you'll see Phoenix and Aspen waiting their turn.

Summer Hair Cuts

Well as you can see London's hair was getting a bit out of hand. I tried to convince him to just let me cut the sideburns. But he would have none of it. So I tried another tactic. "Swim Team starts next week. We either buzz your head or you have to wear a swim cap." Guess which one he chose.?!
Ok, I admit. It wasn't required to get the for swim team. So I did let him keep this cut for 1 day, the whole day. And we did go to Swim Team like this. But man, those Mohawks create good water resistance. Flows right off the spike.

But he was not about to go to church with that on his head. So Saturday night we finished the job. Looks much better, and just in time to get a nice tan line in the hair too.

Kindergarten Shots

Phoenix just has the worst of luck. We are currently getting him registered for Kindergarten, and he had to get a few shots. 4 to be exact. It was NOT, I repeat, NOT a fun experience for him.

First off the check up was totally fine. The Doctor was a sweetheart, like usual, and he loved her. Then the nurse came in with 4 HUGE needles. She had him lay down with his legs dangling over the table, which she then leaned against. I got the joy of holding his arms. He was good and fine and we were cracking jokes to distract him, but then she stuck in the first needle. And all HECK broke loose. He was screaming his brains out and fighting to get away.

Man I hate when they have to get shots, but we all know they need them. I was the best mom in the world afterwards and took him out for a Blizzard.

But 2 days later his leg looked like this.
We called the emergency Dr number and she told me it's a type of reaction some kids get to the Tetanus shot. It was hot and inflamed and nasty. We gave him Benedryl and I-B Profen for the next few days. And thank goodness, it came and went really fast. Showed up the 1 day and was gone 2-3 days later. Gone! Thank you!

He's my 3rd child of 4 and the first one to have this type of a reaction. He acted totally fine the whole time, unless we touched it of course, it was a bit sensitive. And he's completely fine now. I am so glad we're done with shots. (That is if you don't count the booster we have to do in 6 months, Dang it!)

My Crazy Zoo

Since we do own so many pets I post on them as much as my kids. It's kind of hard not to when you have a 90 lb dog, breathing in your face half of the day, not to notice him. So here's a little note on what my Crazy little animals are up to.

We live in a double circle with kids in every house, so people tend to drive rather slowly on our street. But even still, I don't know all of my neighbors. So when I send the kids out front to ride there bikes, Charlie goes with them. And more often than not, those kids of mine frequently forget to let Charlie back inside with them when they're done playing. So this is the sweet, pathetic little face that sits patiently at the front door, waiting for someone to let him back inside.
And of course there's the usual breakfast entertainment. I think Charlie is the most patient dog in the entire world. Not only do the kids jump all over him but so does the rabbit. It's just so cute, I had to film it.

But here's the not so cute side of pets. They dig and dig and dig. Then the rains come and make the back yard even prettier. And I'm not too sure if Charlie was trying to wash his little doll toy or drown it. But I thought it was funny anyway.

30 Minute Pet

While talking on the phone in the kitchen the other morning I heard a very loud THUMP on my sliding glass door. Only to look up and find this poor little baby Cardinal flopping around on the ground. I thought she was a gonner for sure. Especially when Charlie walked up to have a sniff.

So dog in the garage, I made a call to the vet. She said to just let him be. Apparently they hit the glass with their chests and it just knocks the wind out of them. When they get their wind back they'll fly away.

So for 30 mins we had a pet baby Cardinal. We all got to pet her, Phoenix put a handful of bird seed in front of her, which she ate all of and we got a few pictures. Then she flew away. I'm REALLY glad she was ok. Kind of sad we couldn't keep her, but really, I'd rather have a boy cardinal anyway...if I had a choice that is.

Hair Raising Experience

I know I probably show off Sicily's hair way to much, but there's a very good reason.
I never got to do this with Aspens hair. NEVER!! When Aspen was about 3 SHE chopped her shoulder length hair to the top of her ears, both sides. One nasty looking mullet. So from 3-5 her hair more or less looked just like her brothers.

So the fact that Sicily actually has hair I can do something with, plus it's beautiful Strawberry Blonde color, we have a lot of girly hair fun in our house.

That is, when she sits still long enough to let me do it. :)

Primary Hoe Down

I am now the Primary Chorister in our Ward and as such I got to help out with the Primary Activity, leading all those cute kiddos in song. But these were not your ordinary Primary songs...

1st off here's Sicily modeling our cute, church safe, camp fire (we had to turn it off because the lightbulb was melting the plastic). And here's the fun kids I got to sing with. Some of their favorites included:

Baby Bumble Bee, Father Abraham (I got my workout here), Waddle E Atcha, This is the song that never ends, On Top of Spaghetti, Little bar of soap, Boom-Chicka-Boom (I think this was the ultimate favorite)...and on and on. At least 17 in all.

They had the kids split into groups by class, I think I had 6-8 groups come through. So you can imagine singing Father Abraham 8 times and see how tired you'd be at the end.

They also got to dig through Hay to find little candies and toys, Jared ran the relay races which included dressing up in real cowboy gear, and they got to make WAY awesome trail mix. All in all it was a very fun Saturday morning.

Blackberries

Our local soccer fields have a few Blackberry Patches surrounding it. So this morning some friends and I went picking. I only got a few cups but I'm betting if I go for FHE on Monday, there will be WAY more. All sorts of red and white ones that just need a few more days. YUM!!
Keep in mind when you go berry picking that you really should wear pants, and a long sleeve shirt if you can. OUCH!!

No Swimming

When we first moved to Texas I took my dog for a rather long walk and got lost. Eventually we came across a river and headed down for a drink. Charlie, or course, lost his footing and fell in. It was actually kind of funny and I think he felt rather refreshed. Luckily this was not in the water with him.
We found this "little" guy (8-10 ft long) about a mile from our house. Phoenix and Sicily were enthralled that we found an Alligator NOT at the alligator park. Like they don't actually live in the wild or something.

This turtle (probably 16 inches across) was just around the corner from our friendly alligator. I wasn't positive if it was a turtle until I got this picture home. It was a super sunny day so I couldn't see too good in the camera. But it sure looks like a turtle to me.

Bugz Play

All of our First Grade recently performed the cutest little play ever. Aspen got to be a Flower (as you can see) and did so good with all the songs and her little speaking part. We are so proud of her. She's just the bravest kid ever.
There are so many 1st Graders they actually split the play in half. One group performed Tuesday night and our Group performed Thursday night.

A copy of the program for posterity. I think Aspen will have these songs memorized for the rest of her life.

2 of our little Bug friends. Ladybug Reagan, Flower Aspen and Bumblebee Meagan. Aren't they the cutest!

Aspen did so good with her line. She was one of the few kids you could actually understand, mostly because she didn't have her lips right on the microphone.

A group of Bugz. Ladybug, Flower (Aspen), Bumblebee, Fire Ant, Army ant, Fire Ant, Army Ant.

What is she doing?

Don't worry, I actually told her to climb up the window.
When we bought our home this upper window had a crack in it, so the previous owners replaced the window before we moved in. But they neglected to seal it correctly so we had some water damage after the first few major rain storms. Jared finally got around to fixing it and had taped some newspaper on the window so we could do some touch up paint. We then put away the ladder but never pulled down the newspaper.

So with some help from our "Little Monkey" we were finally able to pull down all the newspaper and ever piece of tape. Thank goodness this girl can climb.

Poor Kid

I'd love to tell some grand story that Phoenix got in a fight and won. But this is not actually a Black Eye, it's allergies. The pollen count is off the charts and my whole family is feeling the effects. Poor Phoenix was only outside playing for about 30 mins and came in looking like this. Usually my boys eyes only puff up if they're around cats too much, so this is definitely a first.

Snuggles

Sicily just adores her big brother and he is so patient with her. They've been sharing a room for a little while but things had to change. Sicily would climb into Phoenix's bed every night. He didn't really mind, but that boy was NOT getting enough sleep. But it sure makes for a cute picture.
We now have a "Boys Room" again. London is not the happiest about having to share again, but so far things are going ok.

Look I'm Tall

I'm not totally positive what Phoenix was learning about in school today. But he came home with a book they'd made with his Finger Prints on one page, lists of his favorite things and this string taped inside to show us how tall he is. He had to pull it out and show me, because he was just so proud. Pre-school is just the best. Look at that smile

1st Grade Field Trip

I got the chance to go with Aspen on her 1st Grade Field Trip to the Houston Children's Museum. It was so much fun. There were about a million kids. I got assigned to Aspen and another little girl, so it was no big deal.

We started out the day at the park for a quick play and some lunch. This is our teacher Mrs. Hobbs, Aspen and Reagan her cute little friend.
Once we got to the Museum they took our class straight out to the water play area. So much to do and I was Shocked that Aspen didn't just jump right in, because that's what she usually does.

They had little toy boats they were sending down these locks. I tried to explain to the kids what they were but they were just too busy playing.

Inside was just as fun. They've recently redone the Museum and added a TON of stuff. Nothing we did today had I actually seen before. This was a cute little math area. Aspen was rather proud of herself for peddling the bike up to 100 all on her own.

And of course, the rock wall. There is nothing better for Aspen than one of these.

This was the funnest game of Dodge Ball I've ever seen. And no one gets hurt!

This was the path we took to get to our next area. Most of the Moms went up the stairs right behind, but me, Mrs. Hobbs and 2 other Moms climbed up this. It was tough, there were some pretty tight squeezes. So fun, Aspen just laughed at my hair when I finally made it out. :)

Easter Sunday

I know she's looking good! But hey, what can I say, we'd just gotten up, had an awesome Easter Egg Hunt and dug straight into the candy. What a morning!

As Sicily counts all the eggs Phoenix is in the background sporting an obvious liking for chocolate. He said he had a mustache like Dad. :)

They had way too much candy before breakfast. It was a good thing we had Conference this Sunday, Sacrament meeting would not have gone too well with all that chocolate in them.

We've recently discovered many things Sicily has in common with her Daddy. One of which is an apparent Dislike for Cadberry Easter Eggs. :)

Lift...Lift!!! The Ham weighs 10 lbs by the way, that's 1/3 her weight. One tough little cookie if you ask me.

Aspen was rather proud of her set up for our Easter Dinner. She thought the table just looked divine. I think she did a rather nice job of it.

I acquired a really cute Easter muffin tin last year. This year it made or dinner rolls. Aren't they adorable?

Easter Egging

All dressed and ready for dyeing. We had such fun dyeing our Easter Eggs this year. And they all turned out so cute. The best part was coloring them with the crayon and then the dye not sticking to that part. But the kids really love the plastic sleeves that stick onto the egg once you put them in boiling water.
I was just glad I had them all in aprons. I had to scrub my counter tops with Comet when we were done, they were PINK!! And Sicily kept taste testing the dyes, "Sour!" she'd say. Yuck!

End of Spring Break

I am now up to date on all our Spring Break adventures. Thanks for the read, I hope you all enjoy the pictures.

Now, on with the show.