Birthday Party Mania

Last night was Carson's birthday party. We did it at an indoor inflatable play place, like the place we went to for date night. We had a great turn out! We had 20 kids, a lot of their parents, plus all of our family that is in town. Carson had a blast and the best part for me is that I didn't have to do set up or clean up! They even cut and served the cake!


Most of Carson's friends that came

All of our family that is in town
King Carson sitting on the birthday throne

Tucker's Blessing Day

We had a great day today. Tucker was blessed and we had a ton of family come to spend this special day with us. Derrick's Mom, Dad, sister Cori, and brother Dustin came from Kentucky. My Mom, Dad, sister Cassity, brother Cody, sister-in-law Heather, brother Jeff, Grandma, and Grandpa all came from Salt Lake. And Derrick's aunt came from Winemucca. Talk about a crowd!

We have been enjoying all of our family. This is what my kids miss most about living in Utah, all of the family. I've had an emotional weekend, as this is very different than what we have had with the other 2 kids on their blessing weekends. Of course, Hallie is just different all together, but that's another story. It's been hard for me to think that I wouldn't have at least all of my immediate family with me, especially when we are used to my aunts, uncles, cousins, my mom's cousins, etc. with us.

The plan was for my sister and brother Cody to come. Well, yesterday while I was cleaning my house, the doorbell rang. Derrick told me it was for me. I thought it was kind of strange, since we were upstairs and he was no where near a window to see who it was. I went and opened the door and there was my older brother Jeff standing there. I guess he and his family had planned on driving out and something came up that he had to be back tonight. So my sister-in-law Trisha booked him a flight and he came out by himself and surprised me. It meant so much to me to have 2 of my brothers here. They have been involved in every major event in my kids' lives and it didn't seem right to not have them here. One of the hardest adjustments I have had since moving here is that my relationships with my brothers have really suffered. It meant the world to me that they made the effort to come out and be with us. Then, my brother Dustin called tonight and we talked for awhile. All in all, it was a very good day.

The whole tribe before church

The men who stood in the circle Our little family

Thank you to everyone that was able to be with us on this special day and to those that sent their love and thoughts our direction. We appreciate your love and support more than I could ever express!

Jump Man Jump

Derrick and I went on a group date with a bunch of people from our ward on Friday. We went to one of those indoor inflatable play places called Jump Man Jump. I have taken my kids there several times and played with them, but I would never have thought to go there with just adults. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!!!!

We had around 40 people there. They had an obstacle course, a jousting ring, a boxing ring, a slide that you had to climb up the ladder, grab onto some handles to hang over the slide and then go down an almost vertical slide, and then another, smaller slide. We did relays on the obstacle course and the two slides. There were jousting matches going on. It was great to see the boxing matches. You should have seen the guys. They were so competitive! Derrick pulled a muscle trying to win the obstacle course. It was hysterical to watch!

Afterwards, we all went out to ice cream. I think that is one of the funnest group dates I have been on. Carson's birthday party is Saturday, at another inflatable playplace and Derrick can't wait to rematch some of the dads that are bringing their kids. I had to tell him couldn't trample the kids, that it was Carson's party, not his, so we shall see how well he listens!

Tattoo Artist..amongst other things

We have had a very "interesting" week, I guess you could call it. My kids have been driving me absoulutely crazy! My sister-in-law asked me if they had formed a conspiracy against me. If one is not doing something, the other one is. Add to that all of their fighting with each other, it has been a very challenging week.

On Sunday, Hallie found a marker while I was feeding Tucker and Derrick was gone with Carson. Hallie was upstairs and I thought she was being a little too quiet, if you know what I mean. When Derrick got back, I sent him up to check on her. She was being her own tattoo artist...


I particularly like the black toe nails. Anyways, he put her in the bath, after discussing why we should not color on our bodies. He came down to show me the pictures he took of her and Carson started screaming that there was water everywhere. Derrick ran back upstairs and found 1/2" of water on the floor.Then, while he was cleaning this up, Carson started screaming that she colored all over his door.
Needless to say, she was in big trouble that night. It is a good thing she is so cute because if not, she would be sold to the highest bidder, or maybe the lowest bidder. Actually, I would probably just give her away.

Last night, I took Carson to football practice and was taking Hallie out of her car seat. Her bum felt a little less padded than normal, so I checked and sure enough, she had taken her pull up off and put her shorts back on commando. Once we had remedied that, we walked over to the practice. It was really windy and where Carson was practicing, there was a lot of dirt. Hallie kept throwing the dirt in the air and watching it shower down on everyone else watching the practice. She wouldn't stop and of course, I was trying to shield Tucker from the wind and couldn't make her stop. So we had to go over on the grass, where I couldn't see Carson practice, which I was frustrated about because Derrick was out of town and I knew I was going to be quizzed on how he had done. We sat down and I started talking to our friend and all of a sudden, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Hallie grab a handful of grass, open Carson's water and throw the grass inside.

These are just a few "highlights" of the last week. Maybe it's been a week and a half-- they all kind of blur together. Carson has been no means on his best behavior. I think his ears aren't really functional. They've stopped working about the same time that Hallie took a let-me-get-in-as-much-trouble-as-I-can-find pill. The other night at dinner, I kept telling him to get his feet off of Tucker's bouncy seat. He ignored me and I finally told him, a little forcefully to knock it off, that he was going to kick Tucker. Carson looked right at me and said, "All right Mrs. Bossy Pants!" I was so tempted to strangle him! And Tucker has decided that he has had enough of being the easy going child and he should be held at all times, making it more difficult for me to keep up with the other two.

On top of that, Carson continues to have problems with getting "hurt" at school. We had a lot of problems when school started with him coming home telling me that he had been hit that day, or punched, or thrown to the ground. It turned out that it was a 2nd grader picking on Carson. His teacher addressed it and we were good for a few days and then I started getting reports home again of him getting hurt. This time it was a different kid each day. I talked to his teacher again and from what we gathered, he was playing with a group of kids that were playing games that were on the rough side. We've been talking to Carson about staying away from certain kids and now certain games were off limits and thought we had things figured out. Then this morning, I took him to school and was watching him play before the bell rang and 2 boys came up and started picking on him. The first one just stole his basketball, but the second one started yelling at him and bumping him with his chest. Carson just stood there, like he had no idea what to do. I walked over and told the kid to knock it off, that you don't do that to other kids, but it is just so frustrating. He came home from school today with a black eye. Who knew that elementary school was a full contact sport? I am at a loss of what to do at this point. It would be a lot easier if it were just one kid that picks on him, but for the most part, it is different kids every time. Does he have a huge target on his back? Or does he contribute by playing with the wrong kids? It has been so frustrating trying to answer this question. This morning's incident was not provoked by him at all. But are others? And when you ask him, he always tells me he didn't do anything. The joys of parenting-- trying to figure this out!

More Pics

Pictures of my munchkins!

Happy Birthday Carson!!!

I can't believe Carson is 6 today! In some ways, it feels like yesterday that he was born. I think part of that is that Tucker looks so much like him that I am feeling deja vu a lot! Carson has grown up so much in the last year. A year ago, we were packing up and moving out here. Now he is a big first grader! He is reading so well now. He and I read Magic Treehouse books every afternoon and I love the one on one time with him! This morning, as he was opening up presents, he was reading all the words printed on the different shirts we got him. He loved the football one so much that he he wore it to school today, even though it was 85 degrees and the shirt is long sleeved!



I got to take treats into his class this afternoon. He was so excited to see me and the kids! He gave me a huge hug and helped Hallie sit at his desk. He loved showing Tucker off to all of his friends! He got to pass out the doughnuts to all of his classmates and he did it all with a HUGE smile!

Tonight I made his favorite dinner-- manicotti. We will have cake and ice cream in a little while. We won't be doing his birthday party for about 2 weeks. We have a bunch of family coming into town for Tucker's blessing the end of the month, so we decided to wait until then to do his party.

All in all, I think he has had a pretty good day. I am so proud of him and all of his accomplishments and I can't wait to see wait the next year brings for him!

I love you Carson!

Preview Pictures

Here are a few preview pictures that we had taken 2 weeks ago. I will be getting the rest tomorrow. I am so excited! They are turning out really cute!

Dressing Herself

So Hallie has decided that she can dress herself these days. She comes up with some pretty interesting outfits! Usually, while I am feeding Tucker in the morning, she goes into her room, pulls out the bottom drawer of her dresser and climbs on it to get into the higher drawers to get her clothes. I don't think she can see into her shirt drawer, which may contribute to the wild matches she comes up with. I thought I would share a couple of her latest outfits.



Believe it or not, I took her to school looking like this!
This is actually 3 shirts-- one as a shirt, one as a belt, and one as a skirt.
She fell asleep in this position. It was so cute!

Pictures

Doing well

Tucker is doing so well! Derrick looked at me the other night and asked if we were forgetting to do something because it was too easy to have him. He even has had a cold and other than it affecting his eating and sleeping, he has been so good throughout it.

Hallie on the other hand is having serious jealousy issues. It started after my mom came out. I guess it was easier to share her mom than her grammy. She has totally reverted on her potty training. We were doing so well with it and now she won't go at all. Yesterday all she wanted to do was be held by me. That's a little difficult when I am feeding Tucker as often as I am to deal with his congestion. I keep thinking that she is going to start doing better, but it hasn't happened yet.

Carson is doing really well in 1st grade. I got to volunteer in his classroom today for an hour. It was fun to see him interacting with his friends. He was so excited for me to be there. I really enjoyed getting to do something just for him while a friend watched Hallie and Tucker. I get to be in his class every other Tuesday. It is something that I am really looking forward to.