March Madness (but apparently not at our house)

It's March Madness. The NCAA Tournament is winding down. This is the best basketball of the year. Imagine my horror to find my husband sitting in front of the television with our 5-year-old watching golf. Seriously- GOLF!



There's a great basketball game on, and he's choosing to watch golf. And what's worse, he's teaching our son to watch/play golf instead of basketball. Tanner was asking questions about it and everything. This will never do. I guess I'm going to have to take over the athletic socialization of our children. It's sad it's had to come to this.

Easter Day

Here's the pictures of the real deal. Tyson hadn't uploaded them from his camera yet when I posted last. (He was too busy with his egg pictures to mess with ones of people!)

Egg Hunts and Insanity

We had a great Easter at our house. We started with an Easter Egg hunt on Saturday that our HOA does every year. It's more of an egg collection, since they basically just throw hundreds of eggs out on the grass at the park and let the kids go.








Tayler had realized the day before what he might find in his eggs because after I had filled 2 dozen eggs to take for the hunt, he found them, emptied them, and ate the tasty things he found inside. I then had to dive into the "other" Easter candy stash to refill the same eggs. That kid has a nose for candy. I guess he comes by it naturally.

We had a great time coloring eggs, too, although I didn't want a mess, so we put Tayler to bed first and just had Tanner color the eggs with us. Then I remembered that it was Tyson, not Tayler, that had spilled the egg dye last year. Luckily we made it through without incident, although I'm afraid my husband is losing it. After we finished coloring eggs, I found him doing this in the basement (read "make-shift photo studio," which is why it looks pretty cluttered and messy):

Seriously, he is taking pictures of our eggs. Granted, he did just get a new macro lens that he has been using to take pictures of everything, but come on - eggs? I do have the prettiest professional pictures of our Easter eggs of anyone we know.


Look at the beautiful reflection of the colors on the black. Have you ever seen lighting on an egg like that. Yes, I know it's Easter, not Halloween. It's called boiling too many eggs creativity. But really, am I the only one who thinks Tyson's lost it?

Are My Kids Just Dumb?

Have you ever met a parent who doesn't think their child is brilliant? Me neither. But I'm beginning to wonder about a couple of mine. Take Tayler, for instance. A week and a half ago he began climbing out of his crib. And not so much climbing as falling on his head over and over again. While that alone might make you question his intelligence, it gets better. I was very stressed about this newly acquired skill, but only for a day. It seems he forgot how to do it. I know my child, and if he thought he could get out, he would. He just plain forgot how. In a day.

And then there's Tanner with his never ending questions. Yesterday while we were out for a run on the dirt road by our house, Tanner and McKayla were admiring the cows in the pasture (did I mention it's a stinky dirt road?). McKayla was liking the white cows the best, but Tanner, being the bright kid he is, informed her he liked the dark brown ones because "They make the chocolate milk, right Mom?" There's some things you don't expect you need to explicitly teach a child. I was wrong. So maybe I'm the slow one....

And if you're wondering, I still think my kids are brilliant. Please don't tell me differently!

Who Me a Bad Blogger?

I've been horrible lately about maintaining this site. But never fear, I have plenty of excuses. Here they are in no particular order:

1. Too many impromptu carpet cleanings. For example, one day (like I've mentioned before, I'm not sure what day it was. It's just the day of the poop.) since my slow blogging began, Tayler thought that it might be nice to not poop in his diaper. It might be better on the carpet. I only have 2 rooms that are "living space" (not bedrooms) that still have carpet, and he picked one. He removed his diaper and pooped. I was only 5 feet away, but I was blocked by a couch and honestly couldn't tell what was happening until he came around the couch holding up his "chocolate" covered hands saying "Cuhcuh." It appears he squatted twice and then stepped in once. Not liking the mess on his foot, he tried to wipe it off with his hand. Unfortunately, (or fortunately, depending on your perspective) this mess was precisely the color of my carpet. (Hooray, I have poop colored carpet.) This meant that unless I shampooed all of the carpet, I would be paranoid about poop that I couldn't see. And so, my entire day was made up of shampooing the basement. Not to leave out the upstairs, Tayler then proceeded to vomit all over his bedroom carpet the next night. Yea for Bissell carpet cleaners! I thought about taking pictures for the blog, but I chose to spare you the disgusting details....
   
2. Mourning the loss of the Jeep. I hate to admit it, but I really did cry when it left. It was pretty traumatic for all of us. Thanks so much Mom and Dad for the "comforting" card and the comfort food! Yum! (If you've never had VChocolates, you really should try at least the caramels and the toffee.)
3. Picking sick kids up from school. OK, so just one. I got a call from Tanner's school secretary the other day saying "I've got Tanner here in the office." My first thought was "Oh no, what did he do?" It's a natural instinct with that kid. Then she informed me that Tanner had vomited in the hallway on the way to computers. Is it wrong that my natural reaction was "Yea, I don't have to clean it up!"? Sorry Mr. Janitor! So he was home for a couple of days, and yes, I did get to clean up my share.
4. Church Callings, and yes, it is intended to be plural. I've been given yet another calling to add to my ever-growing list - Girls Camp Director. I think in my ward, unless you have a calling that is in full view every Sunday, they forget that you have a calling and just keep giving more, although this time, before extending the call, the 2nd counselor tried to comfort me by saying "Don't worry, we're not going to release you from your other callings...." Some comfort that is! I've spent hours online and in stores already trying to plan. This is a big job! Anyone with any input on fun activities, crafts, food, etc., please, please, please give it to me.
5. Not just cleaning up after, but doing the "sick kid" thing in full force. Tanner and Tayler with thier stomach bug, and McKayla with strep throat. We make it through the whole winter with very little of anything, and then the warmer weather hits and everyone gets sick. Go figure!
6. Worrying about the possible stench left in my house from said sick children.
7. Trying to get back in shape after a long winter of doing not so much. Why did I ever agree to run a race with Tyson in May?
8. Shopping at the Park City outlets. I didn't say everything was bad that was keeping me from blogging!
9. Trying to convince Tanner he doesn't have Super Powers. He and Kaden were having a race the other day, and Kaden asked Tanner very nicely before the race to please not use his "Dash Powers" this time. Tanner kindly agreed without so much as a hesitation. They both honesty believe he either is Dash, or at least shares his powers!
   

Which Kid to Sell.......

Well, it's finally come to it. Tyson has decided that it's time to sell one of his babies based on the family finances and practicality. Believe me, choosing which one to sell was a very difficult decision. After careful consideration and weighing all the pros and cons of each, Tyson decided that one just isn't pulling his/her weight. He/she takes up space and isn't being very useful. Although he loves him/her with all of his heart, there seems to be no other choice, both financially and practically. After all the blood, sweat, and tears, it's just time to let it go. And so with great sadness, Tyson has sold his baby, the Jeep.



It only has 4 seat belts, a fact that has made it impossible for us to use it as a family for nearly 2 years. It was either sell the Jeep or one of the other kids. All logic and practicality says that this was the only sound fiscal decision. But still, this is his Jeep. This is part of what has made Tyson himself since I have known him. He bought this Jeep basically stock when I first met him, and he has built it into an amazing machine. We have so many amazing memories in Moab. I can't believe how hard it is to say goodbye to a car! But it really has been a part of our family and who we were. I guess we can start to make new, non-Jeep memories now. But deep down, Tyson will always be a Jeeper. (In fact, he's already devising plans to replace it with a more family friendly version!)