VALENTINES DAY EARLY

So some days are the days you relax and clean up for nothing and just have a quiet day. I have been waiting for quiet days for along time and now that they are here I am really glad it is in short spurts. But none-the-less I will enjoy the few minutes.

I was also thinking about Valentines day and the things that go on that day. You can feel the love in the air and it is a little exciting to know many of the couples out there say I Love you just a few more times. They hug longer or they make a special dinner. When you have kids you have the same feelings except they are x'5 for me. So its a good day. I guess its the mind set you have for the day. Mine is planned. 4-H in the morning with the kids and then Game Night in the evening with the husband and friends. Then to my sweet surprise last week Sean brought me a beautiful multi-frame frame. Its really nice and a stretch for him to come up with something he knew I would love. And today a beautiful miniture rose planter showed up at the front door. SWEET. To add to the love pile there is the Dr. Pepper he bought for me. Yes-my true love knows me best.
So-lets dedicate this part of the letter to the one who makes me feel like I am the only one in a room full of women, the one that offers foot rubs for no reason. Maybe I would mention in the letter about how fast he fixes my computer when I know there are six sitting on his desk, the laundry that he does when there is no end to it or the starting of my car in the morning so I dont have to get in a cold car. Sometimes, when I am already tired of the day he dries the dishes and puts them away or starts a very hot bath for me to melt away the day. I would love for everyone to see him in the morning when he calls all the kids in for morning prayer so all I have to do is slip out of bed onto the floor with out even opening my eyes. The quiet way he mumbles through helping me hang or move things in the house. I know that is purely out of love. The drooling that takes place when I make anything eatable or the happy attitude he pull out of somewhere deep when he went to bed at 4 am after playing Call of Duty 5. Thats love. See many women expect something great for Valentines day-I get something great for everyday.

Tuesday Ireland had her 10th birthday and it was a fun day. She opted for the small party and the bigger gift. Every other year we give them the choice of a big party with friends and the fixin's or a big gift. They choose-and it keeps us from going crazy each year and they fall on the even birthdays. . . you know 8, 10, 12 . . . I love birthdays and without the everyother year thing I would go crazy !!! Anyway, she had a family party and got the Nintendo DS with the car charger and all of the other things you "need" to have entertainment all of the time. If you dont know what a DS is just imagine a gameboy on steiroids. During the party Patrick also decided he wanted one for his April birthday. Well at least now we know and can plan on his little party and big gift.

Also this week I jumped in and made some bread and cinnimon rolls that were FANTASTIC. They melted in your mouth like when you were a kid and ate cotton candy. Yum-so I had to take a picture to prove that once in a great while I can make something worth my time other then kids.

This is what 10 pounds of oatmeal looks like. . .

Publish Post

25 Things you may not know about me. . .

1. I love the color Yellow. And when you put it with another color I love that color too. You know like Yellow with white or Yellow with red.

2. I cant decorate worth beans.

3. I like to cook but I cant. I am happy to say that hasn't stopped me.

4. Easter is my Favorite holiday. Then July4th.

5. I love to people watch.

6. I don't mind traffic.

7. I want to live abroad with the kids for a year for fun.

8. I love to sing but cant. I get in the car and turn the radio up as loud as I can and go for it.

9. Sean can sing so I stop singing in church to listen to him.

10. I want a horse still.

11. Telling people things that sounds crazy is usually for shock value. What other fun can I have at their expense and they think its real!

12. I LOVE RAIN

13. Sean is the only one for me even though he doesn't think that exists.

14. Crayons. . .Yep I still collect boxes of them and have like 50 boxes of all sizes and shapes.

15. If I were on a deserted island and could only take one object with me it would be my bed.

16. I can make myself feel more guilty when I say "no" then my kids can.

17. I love to eat out with Sean

18. I still believe in Santa and the Easter bunny. WHAT? They still come every year.

19. Church is alot funner when you didn't want to go and then you hear something you are so glad you didn't miss.

20. Patrick, Ireland, Liam, Benjamin and Shea ARE the cutest kids in the world and I feel bad for everyone else. If only they could be so lucky.

21. Watching kids play around with Dad is soo cool! You cant pay for that.

22. I don't have gray hair yet! Yea.

23. I love that while watching some Miss America thing on TLC all the women had their thighs rubbing together. That made me smile.

24. I am ok with plastic surgery if it is putting things back where it was before kids or it just makes you feel good.

25. Camping is alot funner with your own family! I love spending non-electrical time with the kids. . .meaning no game boys, computers, ipods, or televisions.

As you can see we have been a little too bored at night with our family sometimes. We have even let our true colors come out. Its actually been quite funny.
This last week Little Shea set out to have her feet rubbed with lotion. She got it and then got Ireland and Liam. While she sat on the couch she had them rubbing her feet. If Ireland or Liam got up she fussed until they sat back down. It was funny. The funniest was when she was crawling around the house like a doggy. We asked her if she wanted some "nummies" and got her a rummikin full of water. Then we laughed in a circle around her. She loved the spotlight.
Ben is getting better and better at his spelling and writing of his words. I think he likes being at home as much as I like having him here.

Winter days

Well we are working our way into the new year. It is still a very white year and I expect it to be for awhile. This is a blessing and a curse. We love the water but now know where the "hot" or "cold" spots are in our house. The front porch seems to have a magnet for the water run off and the steps and walkway dont get warm enough to keep the water warm thus we have a block of ice at our front steps. I guess next year we will get our heat tape on better. Not just thrown up there-yes literally thrown up there.

Our family activities have slowed down as far as traveling goes. But the other activities have started up again. Basketball is in full swing. Patrick seems to be doing really well inspite of his feet. Hopefully soon he will grow into them but not too soon. He made 4 points out of the 14 the first game he played. Ireland is definately one of the tallest on her team. She is also pretty fast and alert when she is watching the ball getting thrown around so fast. She has the luxery of Dad as her coach again. It is fun to watch them figure things out. Liam started his last night. He towered over most of the kids and did better than most. I am sure we are not bias at all. But his is more of a learning year. Hopefully, this will decide if he even likes basketball as most of the other sports have been weaned out. *Whew*I think next year he would rather take piano and guitar. He has the gift as the other two do.

Benjamin is still very much an active homebody. He would rather be home then anywhere. I can appreciate that. Today we will be working on making special cards for our family and friends. Its our little secret. Then tomorrow we will work on a few decorations to stash on windows and doors. Really he is working on his scissor skills. He dosent know that though. All he knows is he has to write his name 3 times as well as "Mom" and "Dad". Oh and "K" seems to be a hard letter.

Shea is still not talking and still has no need to. She understands everything and will do most everything you ask. She is entering into her 2's and we are feeling it. She comes to us with a new diaper when she . . .well you know. I think in a month or two we will give potty training a try. I am so glad girls learn faster then boys.

Thats mostly it. Sean and I are just doing the family thing. We enjoy when family comes to visit. We enjoy sitting on the computers at night playing Settlers of Catan and he usually is rubbing my feet. I really enjoy that. I think the only thing we dont enjoy is the dishes we have to do every night. I think I shall never buy an appliance off of ksl again. So at tax time we will finally have the dishwasher we thought we had.

Merry Christmas.

After almost 13 years we finally stayed home for a Christmas Holiday. We did miss seeing family for the day but we also equally loved watching the kids get to play with their new toys. I think we were happy with the path we took when we got more family gifts and less "stuff" for the kids. Yea we are just buying entertainment but I think we did pretty good. It was also nice to pay cash for everything.

The kids got plasma cars. What are those? I dont really know except they go on their own and they just go-Not sure how but hey- cheap fast and easy. They also got the Sunday clothes and socks. They were happy about those-well they said they were. Sean and I took them up to the hill behind the school. It was small enough that Patrick could try out his new snowboard and the others to burn off energy. It was fun and the kids came back ready for a big dinner. Thank goodness I started it before we left. It was a big one! That finished off the kids and they all kinda trickled into their area and did their thing. It was a great day.

So-Sean and I are walking through walmart getting some of the last of the things-Yes Walmart-that is ALL we have in this little town. So, anyway, I am getting ready for a game night with friends and looking at the chocolate for the chocolate fountain we are setting up for that night and a guy comes walking up. About 25 and very G-Q. Very much like my little brother. He gets so close to me I start backing up and he tells me "I have had a good year this year with my business. Use this or I am sure you know someone who would need this. But if you need it you use it. Merry Christmas" and walks off. He just put a $100 bill in my cart on my jacket. Like the highly intelligent person I am I just stood there staring-

By the time I got myself together he was gone. So I stood. . .and stood. I heard a woman say thank you around the isle-I went over there as he said " you dont need to thank me" to another person and I hugged him.

Talk about Christmas Spirit-

Its paying it forward and I was on both ends of the spectrum. It was weird and very cool at the same time.

Last night the snow started. It was fun...to watch...up close...as we were putting up lights...still. So we finished the lights and spent the night settling down. Getting things done for the house to look like we are actually moved in. We all spent some time at a drug prevention night at the high school. It was alot of fun and I do think that the message came across to all of the kids. Then there was Pizza and kids singing-Patrick opted out thinking that the song sounded like a girls song. ok-I get that.


We are excited for the holidays. We are really hunkering down and spending time with the kids. We are seeing that at only 11 Patrick is closer to leaving us then staying. That scares us a little.

Sean and I also got to see Glenn Beck thanks to a little sister! She talked with a guy doing interviews and by the time they were done I think he had to leave the interview line because he had no tickets left. She milked him out of not 2 but 8 tickets for all of us to go to his "Christmas Sweater" show. We tried to wait for him but he took too long and after a while you just gotta teach those celebrities a lesson in manners. Ha Ha!!! I left feeling like Christmas could come and I was ready. I felt the spirit and I felt a great amount of love for my family. It was a great boost for our Christmas holiday cheer. I am so glad for this time of year and so glad for the feelings that come along. Being in the great mood we were in I guess we were being challenged. About the time we hit Thistle -1 in the morning-we saw two college kids walking clumsily along the road. They had swerved to miss hitting a deer and rolled off of the side of the mountain. It is a serious drop. Good thing we had 2 cars and switching kids around made it so we could take these guys to the local hospital. We dropped our kids off and I went with them to the hospital. They were pretty out of it so I just talked to them hoping that their shock would wear off soon. It did and by the time we got there they could carry on a conversation. About 3 :30 am Sean and I hit the sack for a quick nap before church. It was a good day-everyone was safe!

MERRY CHRISTMAS.