Jeff the Comedian

Jeff played a pretty good practical joke on me on Christmas Day. I need to give a little background so it will make sense. We have a 1999 Expedition that isn't the prettiest thing but it still runs and it gets us where we need to go. It's got a lot of miles on it and Jeff is worried that it's going to give out on us any day now. So for the past couple of months he's been talking about getting a new car, which I would love but I don't love the idea of having a car payment again so I keep telling him that we need to wait. So two days before Christmas Jeff went to pick up my present and he said, "I've got to go get your new car" and then he just laughed. So on Christmas morning when the kids got up Parker went straight to the garage and opened up the door. Jeff told Parker to shut the door so we could go open up our presents. Parker was all ancy and kept telling me that I needed to open up a particular present from Jeff. Finally Jeff gave in and he told me to open it. When I opened up the box there was a piece of paper in it that had a picture of a Denali and it had information about 0% interest for 72 months. I just sat there because I didn't know what to think. Then I noticed that it said to go and look in the garage. Then it clicked why Parker had gone to look in the garage...he was excited about my present. I just looked at Jeff and said, "Are you serious?" He just shrugged his shoulders and told me to go look. Parker was so excited he was bouncing off the walls. I was stunned, shocked, and speechless. I didn't think Jeff would really get me a new car but I knew that he had really been researching different types and so I thought maybe he had gone ahead and done it. So when we get upstairs and I start to get excited about having a new car and I open up the garage and there sits our old Expedition with a sign that says...."just kidding." I fell for it. After that Jeff felt a little (eency weency tiny bit) sorry because I really believed it but he still thought it was pretty funny.

Jeff's New Job

Jeff reminded me of a funny thing that happened to him a few weeks ago and I had write it down so I wouldn't forget it. Jeff was driving down the road in our bobtail dump truck and our new neighbor, that lives a couple houses down from us, ran out to the road and began waving at Jeff so he stopped the truck and rolled down the window. The guy jumped up on the truck and said, "Hey you forgot to get my garbage." Jeff just sat there for a minute because he was a little confused and then he realized that the guy thought he was the garbage man. Jeff patiently told him that he wasn't the garbage man and that he wasn't driving a garbage truck. The guy just sat there with a distant look on his face so Jeff continued to explain that we have a landscaping business and that he was actually driving a dump truck, which hauls things like rocks and mulch not garbage. After a few minutes he must have caught on and said, "Sorry dude!" I couldn't stop laughing when he told me. I guess if landscaping slows down we can always resort to garbage collection:)

Once There Was a Snowman

Madison's favorite song right now is "Once There Was a Snowman." She knows all the words to the song and will not sing it without doing the actions. Once we start singing it we usually end up singing it at least five or six times because she won't let us quit. When she wants me to sing it she'll say, "Mom, snowman" (it's not a question it's a demand). She also likes "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do you See." She knows all the animals in the song and their colors but her favorite animals are the brown bear and purple cat.

Princess or Football Player

For those of you that know Madison will understand when I say that she is more like a football player than a princess but at least once a day she brings me one of our princess dresses and wants me to put it on her. It's funny to watch her walk around in it because at this time in her life she is not at all feminine. She is "beefy" and tough but so dang cute and cuddly at the same time. She loves to play princess or house with Pieper and Adriana but she also likes to play football with Harrison and Parker.

Love Note

The other day Adriana was preparing her lunch and she brought me in a note card and asked me if I would write a note for her. I asked her why I needed to write a note and she said, "Because lots of kids get notes from their moms in their lunchbox but I never get one. So will you write me one and I'll act like I'm surprised and I promise I won't read it until tomorrow." So I wrote her a note telling her how much I loved her and I like how she always helps me out. The next day after school she got into the car and she was so excited because she had gotten a note from me.
I made a comment about it to Parker and he said, "I hope you never put one in my lunch box because that would be embarrassing. I'd just throw it away." His comment really surprised me because Parker usually likes cheesy things like that. The very next morning he said in a macho sort of way, "Mom, are you going to put a note in my lunchbox?" Right then I knew that that was his little way of letting me know that in all reality he would like one as well so I've got to remember to put a love note in his lunchbox.

Feeding the Ducks

Last Friday we decided to take the girls to a local pond to feed the ducks. We bought two loaves of bread to take with us. The girls had such a fun time throwing the bread to the ducks. Madison really got into it and wanted to be right there among all the ducks throwing them bread. There were two really aggressive swans that would walk right up to Madison and take the bread out of her hands. Madison decided to call it quits when one of the swans mistook her finger for bread. After that she wouldn't throw any more bread to them. Adriana and Pieper didn't mind the swans and finished up the rest of the loaf. Adriana was very concerned about getting the bread to the smaller ducks because she thought they probably didn't get as much as the bigger, faster ducks. Pieper liked throwing them whole pieces of bread because they would fight over it and chase each other around. Everyone had a lot of fun and I am glad that we took the time to do it.

In a Minute

Last week as I was getting Madison ready for her afternoon nap I asked her, "Do you want to take a nap?" I wasn't really expecting a response so she surprised me when she said, "Nope...in a minute." It was plain as day and so cute.

Family Pictures

We had our family pictures taken today and I sure wish I had taken someone along with me to record the whole thing because I am pretty sure I could have won a big chunk of change on America's Funniest Videos. It was a JOKE...and not a very funny one. Madison was more interested in the river and throwing rocks. Pieper wanted to be in every picture except the ones that she was meant to be in. Parker got the giggles and wouldn't sit still. Getting family pictures is always such a stressful thing for me because I want them to be perfect and turn out so cute. I am not sure that we will even have any cute ones (not the fault of the photographer by any means) because nobody wanted to cooperate. So my Christmas cards this year might be missing a few kids or half of them might be pulling a face because I am pinching them from behind.

She's What?

The other night as I was crocheting around a baby blanket Pieper asked me if the blanket was for Jennifer. I told her no and then she asked me if Jennifer was having a girl or boy baby. I told her that I didn't know and then kept crocheting. A couple minutes later Adriana said, "Wait...what? Is Jennifer having a baby?" I told her yes and then she said, "Oh my gosh, does she know that?"

Pieper's Voice

I may be prejudice but I have to say that Pieper has got the cutest voice in the world. It's quite a bit raspy and at the end of the day it seems to be even raspier (Yes, Brett that's a real word). Her voice is also quite deep and so with those two things combined it makes a cute little voice for her. Today she told me that her voice hurts and she needs to get it fixed so people don't laugh at her. I personally hope it doesn't change because I think it's quite cute!

Family Pet

I had this conversation with Pieper today while we were out taking bids:

Pieper: "Can I have a pet cat?"
Me: "No, I don't like cats."
Pieper: "Can I have another pet?"
Me: "No."
Pieper: "What animal does Dad like that I can have for a pet?"
Me: "Dad doesn't really like animals."
Pieper: "Then if I can"t have a cat that's alive can I have a dead one?"

How was I supposed to respond to that?

HUH???

I just had the following conversation with Pieper and I had to share it:

Pieper: "Harrison won't let me watch Tinkerbell on TV."
Me: "Of course he doesn't want to watch Tinkerbell because he thinks it's a movie for girls."
Pieper: "But I really want to watch it."
Me: "Is Tinkerbell on TV?"
Pieper: "On what TV?"
Me: "In the other room."
Pieper: "Did you buy it?"
Me: "No, is it on TV?"
Pieper: "What TV?"
Me: "Did you see Tinkerbell on the TV downstairs?"
Pieper: "Do we have it?"
Me: "HUH???????????"

If this makes sense to anybody please translate and let me know what it means.

Madison's new bed

My sister Janet found a cute little toddler bed at a yard sale and said I could use it for Madison until she got a little older and needed a bigger bed. She is currently sleeping in a pack & play and for those of you who know her can appreciate the fact that she is not a small little girl so there is not a lot of room for her in there. So we thought we would try the toddler bed and see how she liked it. I was a little nervous about how she would do but we put her on the bed with her blanket and cup and then turned off the lights and shut the door. We didn't hear anything all night so we assumed things were going well until about 5:00 AM. All of a sudden Madison started crying really hard. We both thought she had rolled off the bed so Jeff went to check on her. When he got to her room he could hear her crying but he could not find her anywhere. After searching for a few minutes he found her under the bed. I am not quite sure how she got under there because there is only about a four inch gap between the floor and the bed but somehow she managed. She was so scared she was shaking. It was funny and sad at the same time. The next night she did not want anything to do with her new bed. She threw a fit and started crying but I honestly think she was scared to death to be on the bed for fear that somehow she would end up underneath it again. So needless to say, she is once again sleeping in the pack & play for a few more months until we decide to try again.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEFF!!

Today's is Jeff's birthday and I wanted to share a little bit about the shopping experience I had with the kids yesterday while we were shopping for Jeff's birthday presents. Pieper and Adriana did some work for me earlier in the day so they could earn some money to buy Jeff a present. Pieper earned $2.00 and Adriana earned $5.00. While we were in the car driving to Target they were discussing what they were going to buy Jeff (most of which cost a lot more than they had) like a new outfit, his favorite candy bar, or a new bed (pretty random). As soon as we got inside the store they completely forgot all about Jeff and they began to find items such as a new purse, some jewelry, and new shoes that wanted to spend their money on. I tried to remind them that we were shopping for Jeff but they still tried to find things to buy for themselves. They finally settled on a couple presents that satisfied both their needs and Jeff's needs. Adriana bought Jeff a pack of gum and her a pack of gum and Pieper bought a package of three chapsticks and she gave one to Jeff and kept two for herself. When they got home they had the funnest time wrapping the presents and making cards. It just about killed them to wait until today to give him his presents.

That's Old

My mom had the following conversation with Pieper the other day:

Mom: "Pieper, did you know it's Janean's birthday today?"
Pieper: "How old is she?"
Mom: "She's 31 years old."
Pieper: "Wow, that's old. Is she going to die now?"
Mom: "No, she still has a long time to live."

My mom was laughing because she's in her early 60's (but doesn't look a day over 50) and said that if 31 is old than she's ancient.

I love how little kid's minds work. I remember being younger and thinking that 30 sounded so old but now that I am past that (just barely) it doesn't seem so old anymore.

I'm Back

I have to apologize for not updating this but it has been rather crazy lately with the landscaping season in full force so I haven't had a chance to do much journaling. But I would like to do better from now on and update this on a regular basis...so wish me luck:)

Adriana's Birthday

Adriana's birthday is coming up and she has informed me that all she wants is Taylor Swift Concert tickets and a backstage pass. That's a pretty tall order and I hope she's not too disappointed with just concert tickets and no backstage pass. She absolutely LOVES Taylor Swift. The other day one of her songs came on the radio and Adriana started to sing along. After the song was over she said, "I sound just like her don't I mom." I can't wait to see her face when I tell her that she's going to the concert. She has been asking me everyday if she can go for her birthday and I wanted to tell her so bad but instead I told her that I heard that all the tickets were gone. She thought about it for a minute and said, "Then can I watch it on TV instead?" Harrison quickly informed her that it wouldn't be on TV, which made her very disappointed. I like Taylor Swift as well so I'm looking forward to the concert.

Madison Update

Madison is such a fun little girl but she is currently going through a phase of wanting to be held. I don't mind holding her but she wants to be on my lap for two seconds and then she gets down and then she wants up again only to turn around and get down. Hopefully she will grow out of this stage soon. She loves to back up to things and sit down on them. If I am sitting on the floor she will walk backwards and sit on my lap. If she finds anything that is at her level she will back up to it and sit down. She is learning new words every day. Some of the new things she has learned are "hot, shoes, nose, Harrison, more, cheese, uh-huh, side (for outside), and bath." She still loves to be outside and has recently discovered the swings. She loves to be pushed in the swing and she actually doesn't mind just sitting there and hanging out without anybody pushing her. She has also discovered dogs and whenever she sees one she will start to bark and try and "pet" them (she usually just pulls their hair but in a loving way). She still has the fattest (is that even a word???) feet ever and I have only been able to find two pairs of shoes that don't squeeze her feet a bunch and leave marks. She is such a fun little girl and definitely keeps us on our toes.

Pieper's "Upcoming" Birthday

Pieper is always talking about her birthday and acts as if it's just around the corner, but it's not. The other day she was talking about it again and said, "Mom for my birthday I want a bathroom." I asked her what she was going to do with a bathroom and where she would put it and she said, "I'd put it in my room so I don't have to walk very far when I need to use it."

Madison

Madison's favorite words right now are "don't" and "ouch." If I tell her not to do something she'll walk up to me and say "don't" just plain as day. She is such a busy little girl. She loves to follow Pieper and Adriana around and "hang out" with them as Adriana has termed it. She still loves to eat and her favorite foods are pizza, mashed potatoes, and cheese. Of course she'll eat anything, which is obvious if you look at her monster thighs, which are so fun to squeeze. She loves music and whenever we put a CD on she will start to bounce up and down and turn around. She is jabbering so much and it's funny to listen to her because I think she thinks she is really talking. She loves to go outside but I don't like her to very often because her favorite thing to do is go up and down the block stairs, which makes me so nervous. We have a big backyard for her to explore and she decides to stay at the stairs. She is such a happy baby (unless it's nap time) and such a joy to have in our family.

3 going on 16

I asked Pieper to take the calculator to Jeff and she grabbed it from and then she started pushing all the buttons really fast. I said, "Pieper, hurry and take that to Dad he needs to use it." She looked at me and said, "Just a minute I'm texting really fast." What??????? How old is she...and how in the world does she know about texting? I just learned about six months ago how to do it and here my little 3 year old is pretending that she's texting.

The Story Continues...

Last night Jeff and I were talking about how he feels so old because he has grey hair and about what had happened a few days ago (refer to previous post) and he was laughing at how Chris didn't say anything about Jeff not being his dad. Jeff said, "It would have been so easy for him to just nicely correct him and tell him that it's not his dad." I started to laugh because it reminded me of a contractor that Jeff has done quite a bit of work for. For some reason he got it in his head that Jeff's name was Jerry. So while they were walking around a job site one day he kept saying, "What do you think about this Jerry? How would this look over here Jerry." Jeff never corrected him because he didn't want him to feel bad. It's been over a year and every time Jeff talks to the contractor he still gets called Jerry but he has never corrected him.

Jeff's "New" Son

Jeff came home the other day and had the funniest story to tell me. I thought some of you might enjoy this story as much as I did.

Chris, one of the guys that works with us, was picking up some paver samples for Jeff. The owner of the company came out and asked Chris if he could get his Dad's phone number. Chris was a little caught off guard because he wasn't sure how the owner knew his dad. Once again the owner said, "Can I get your dad's number. Jeff's your dad right?" Chris didn't feel like explaining that no Jeff wasn't his dad but he simply shook his head and said yes and then gave him the phone number. So a few minutes later the owner of the company called Jeff and said, "We just got your son all loaded up with the pavers so you should be good to go."

Jeff couldn't quit laughing after he got off the phone. I am a little surprised that Jeff was taking it so lightly because he is so self-conscious of his grey hair. What's funny is that Chris is actually a year older than Jeff. Jeff said, "I must look really old and Chris must look really young."

Buster Brown

I took Harrison and Parker to Famous Footwear yesterday to find some new church shoes. Much to Harrison's disappointment (and my excitement) he still has to buy shoes in the "little kids" section. After trying on several pairs of shoes we finally decided on a pair that were a great price and seemed to fit him the best. As we were walking out of the store Harrison said, "Please don't tell any of my friends that my church shoes are called Buster Brown because I will be so embarrassed."

My Babies are Getting so Big!

I am sure we can all remember back to the days when we were younger and wanted a piece of clothing or a certain type of shoes that were the "in" thing at the time. I always wanted a pair of Girbaud jeans and I think I finally got them about two years after they were no longer popular but that didn't matter to me. Well my boys just informed me that the cool thing right now at their school is shirts from Aeropostal. They can't just say "Aero" they need to say the whole name. So since we had to take a trip to the mall anyway for church shoes I decided to take them into Aeropostal for a quick look. They were so excited. I didn't think they would have anything that fit them but surprisingly enough they did. Harrison fits into their XS shirts. While I was looking at their shirts Harrison and Parker were talking back and forth.

Parker: "So these shirts are pretty cool."
Harrison: "Ya, Bryson wears them all the time."
Parker: "We are going to look awesome in these."
Harrison: "Ya, I can't wait."

So I broke down and bought them a couple shirts. Parker's shirts are a little long but the sales lady reassured us that they would shrink. He wore one today even though I didn't have a chance to shrink it. I didn't have the heart to tell him that he needed to wait to wear it.

Pieper's Christmas Dance

This is the dance that Pieper did for Christmas. The recital was held at the Festival of Trees. There were quite a few people there so at first I thought she might be too nervous to do it but she did a great job and had a fun time.

Football Players

For Christmas Santa brought Harrison and Parker complete football outfits with everything they need to be "professional" football players. Parker was so excited he wore it all day every day for at least a week. A couple nights I even found him in bed with his helmet on. They can't wait for warmer weather so they can use them in a game of football.

Now That's Thinking

For Christmas Adriana and Pieper got a four foot tall Barbie doll house. They love it so much and play with it quite a bit. One day I was picking up after Pieper and this is what I found...

This Barbie is sleeping in the kitchen on a night stand that Pieper moved from the bedroom. If you look closely you can see that Barbie has her sunglasses on. I guess the flourescent lights must be pretty bright.

This Barbie is laying (or lying...Brett which is it?) across the the couch. She actually looks like she is floating in the air but she's not. For some reason Pieper thought she would be more comfortable there than in her bed.

I guess she couldn't find a blanket to cover the Barbie with so she just put a dresser on top of her so she would stay warm.

Best Legs Ever

I took these pictures after Madison got out of the bath. I love her fat cheeks and I especially love her chubby, rolly, legs. Aren't they the best ever. It's no wonder I have to buy bigger pants...I can't fit them over her monster thighs.

Chug, Chug, Chug

The kids started teasing Madison one day because she drinks her bottle so fast. Harrison and the other kids started to chant "chug, chug, chug, chug." Madison thought it was funny and began to copy what they were doing.

Girl's vs Boy's

Adriana decided it would be a good idea to have a bathroom for the boys and one for the girls so she made signs. The boy's bathroom sign was on the master bathroom door and the girl's bathroom sign was on the main bathroom door. Pieper took the signs literally and would not use the "boy's" bathroom. One day she had to go so bad but someone was in the "girl's" bathroom and she just about wet her pants. It took quite a while for me to convince her that it was okay to use the "boy's" bathroom in an emergency. When she came out she was laughing. I asked her what was wrong and she said, "Now I'm a boy!" I left the signs up for about a week but then I had to take them down because it was causing too many problems with Pieper. She would actually get mad if someone went into the "wrong" bathroom.

Silly Boys

The other day we were at the Olive Garden and while we were waiting to be seated Pieper looked over at the men's bathroom and said, "Look that boy's naked." Jeff and I looked over to see what she was talking about and realized that she was talking about the men's bathroom sign. I had never noticed before but on the women's bathroom sign the lady is wearing a dress but on the men's it looks like he really isn't wearing anything. You'll have to look next time. It's amazing how little kid's minds work because I would have never noticed it before.

Baby Steps

This past week we were on our family vacation and Madison took three steps. She was so excited because we all started clapping and making a fuss over her. Since then she will randomly stand up and take a few steps. I'm sure it won't be long before she is walking.

Fading Polka Dots

The other day while I was getting Adriana ready she said, "Why are my polka dots getting lighter?" I couldn't figure out what she was talking about and then she pointed to her nose and said, "See my polka dots are lighter." She meant her freckles. When I reminded her of what they were called she couldn't stop laughing because she had called them polka dots.

Pizza & a Tip

Harrison and Parker stayed home from school today because they didn't want to go on the field trip with their school. Harrison felt like he was too masculine to go and watch boys dancing around in tights and Parker has to do everything that Harrison does so he stayed home as well. I don't let my kids stay home whenever they want but I do allow them one day, during the school year, that they can stay home. The one stipulation is that it can't be on a test day or when they are doing something really important. So Harrison and Parker decided to pick today as their one day off, which was fine with me.

While Jeff and I were out running errands Harrison decided to order pizza. So he called me up and said, "Mom I ordered some pizza..." and I had to ask him to repeat what he just said because I wasn't sure I had heard him right. But sure enough I did hear him right and he had ordered pizza from a local pizza joint. The crazy thing about the whole conversation was the fact that he was actually calling me up to ask how much of a tip he should give the delivery driver. I was amazed that someone his age would actually be concerned about how much to leave for a tip. Sometimes he amazes me with how grown up he is.

Funny Prayers

I wanted to write a couple things that were said while the kids were saying their prayers.

The other night it was Adriana's turn to pray. She usually goes through the whole family and blesses everybody. Lately Madison has had a bad cough and cold and hasn't been sleeping through the night. Jeff and I will usually pray that the kids will have a good night and get the rest that they need. So Adriana got to Madison and she said, "Bless that Madison won't wake up," and she ended it there. I quickly had to add, "during the night" so that Heavenly Father didn't make Madison a sleep permanently. I had to explain to her after the prayer why I had interrupted her because I didn't feel like I could let that one go without being corrected.

Yesterday it was Pieper's turn to say the blessing on the food and it turned into a long prayer (like it usually does) and she began to bless everybody and everything in our house. I am sure that most everybody knows what I am talking about here. It's great that she wants to say the blessing on her own but we might have to limit her saying the blessing on the food because by the time she was done the food was cold and we had to rewarm it. Anyway...towards the end of the prayer Pieper said, "Please bless my mom that she will be nice to me." I didn't realize that I had done anything to offend Pieper but obviously I had and she was going to let me know it. I tried to make it up to her today by letting her run errands with me and I even bought her a pack of gum, which is currently her favorite treat.

Best Baby

Sorry if this grosses anybody out...

We have been so blessed to have such a wonderful, easy-going baby. Madison is always so happy (except when Jennifer watches her or when Rich looks at her). She has been a little sick lately and consequently she's had a terrible runny nose and gunky eyes (which is so disgusting). The other morning I got Madison up and she had so much junk in her eyes she could not open them up but she sat right up when I called her name and had the biggest smile on her face. She had her eyes sealed shut but she was grinning from ear to ear and she kept moving her head around trying to find where my voice was coming from. It was so funny and I would have taken a picture but it was pretty gross.

Yucky snow

Yesterday while Pieper was at my mom's house she decided to eat some snow. My mom told her that she was going to get sick from the dirty snow because cats and dogs go to the bathroom in it and Pieper said, "No, I won't" My mom tried to tell her that it was gross and that she could get really sick and have to go to the hospital and Pieper looked at my mom and said, "No, I won't get sick because I already am so it doesn't matter." (Pieper currently has a terrible runny nose and cough)

There is no use arguing with Pieper because she has an answer for everything. It's funny and frustrating at the same time.

I'm sorry...so sorry!

I have to apologize for not writing for quite some time but life has been rather busy the past few days, weeks, months...

I just wanted to write something funny that Adriana said the other day. On the weekends our kids love to sleep in the toy room (they beg us to sleep in there on the floor). I personally think it's crazy because they would rather sleep on the floor than on their comfortable beds. Anyway...last Friday they couldn't find the remote for the TV in the toy room so they couldn't sleep in (heaven for bid they get up and change the channel by hand) there so they decided to sleep in the family room instead. After they had been downstairs for about ten minutes Adriana came upstairs and said, "I don't want to sleep downstairs because it's scary." We told her that it would be fine and that she needed to go lay down and then she said, "I don't really feel comfortable with this situation because it scares me."

I thought it was so funny that she used such big, grown up words.