Camille's Blog

I KNOW!!

2012-01-19T05:43:00.000-08:00

I need to post again about something. ANYTHING!! But we just are that boring we havnt done anything fun. Just homework, school, work, school, and DVR episodes of Desperate Housewives.

Homespun Nativity

2011-12-24T16:37:00.000-08:00

This year I thought the kids could learn more from being a part of the story. So my mom quickly put together some cute costumes and we worked with what we had. It turned out to be fun and informative. Next year we will make better clothes. Andrew and I were Wisemen but we looked like a couple of wise asses so I didn't add a pic of us to this otherwise sweet scene.

Addie as Mary Dallin is Joseph. Baby doll is Jesus

Grandpa Bassett read the from the Bible the full story.

The not so angelic Angel Olivia

Cutest Shepard boy ever!

Making Christmas Cards-Nuff said

2011-12-23T10:00:00.000-08:00

Ward Christmas Party Santa

2011-12-23T09:57:00.001-08:00

I know they believe in Santa but ever since my dad dressed up and was the Santa for the ward party that one year, I think they know the one at the mall and Costco and ward parties etc are not legit.

Company Christmas Party

2011-12-18T17:04:00.001-08:00

The reason this is blog worthy is I have NEVER had an UpDo before. I didn't go to prom. Too busy getting knocked up! Its funny and true and the same time. And I had a really really cheap wedding. Almost as bad as eloping. The past Christmas parties I had either just had a baby or was preggers so I wore my hair down hoping it would take the focus off of my fat rolls. Any who it was so painful. My head hurt! And taking the bobby pins out was like pulling needles out of an open wound. I know I am soo dramatic but beauty hurts. Don't even get me started on how painful I think high heels are.

We went on a Disney Cruise

2011-12-13T20:30:00.001-08:00

My sister planned it out and we had a BLAST!! Literally not exaggerating at all. I loved every second of it. I can hardly wait to book another one. I broke it up into different sub topics so I could fit all the fun in. And even then there are hundreds of pictures I didn't include. I am so happy she did this for me and the kids. Its something we will always remember and cherish. Good times.. no drama JUST MAD FUN!!

The Vessel!!

2011-12-13T20:27:00.000-08:00

Stuff for kids to do

2011-12-13T20:12:00.000-08:00

Swimming. Two different pools with a huge tv screen to watch Disney movies while you swim

Water slides for little kids and big kids. And a toddler Nemo splash area.

Shopping

Every night they had these elaborate shows that were like full on broad way productions. We made sure to get good seats to each one.

In the ballroom at different time slots the kids can go and meet the different Disney Characters. Princesses, Mickey and Miney, Santa you name it.

Miniature golf on the upper deck. Also basketball hoops and shuffle board.

Last but DEF not least is the kids club. You can check them at any time and odds are they will be babysat by tinker bell or goofy and they have non stop fun activities all day long. It was hard to get them to want to leave.

Cast Away Cay

2011-12-13T19:57:00.000-08:00

Day three we spent the day at Cast Away Cay. Its a private Island that is owned by Disney. Gorgeous crystal blue water. Fish swimming around your feet. Such a fun relaxing day.

Atlantis

2011-12-13T19:51:00.000-08:00

The second day we docked at Nassau/Bahamas and went to a private resort called Atlantis and spent the day at their water park and private lagoon...oh and don't let me forget the aquarium with the largest manta ray I have ever seen. Easily as wide a giant SUV.

Pirate Party

2011-12-13T19:37:00.000-08:00

Day two in the evening we had the most bad ass pirate party known to man kind. It was so much fun. It started with our actors acting out that our ship was being attacked by another pirate ship. They made it look like the big screen had been hit by a canon ball and shattered. I looked over at Olivia and she was crying and when I asked why she said "we are going down". Lol!! She bought the whole story hook line and sinker. Then we watched the best firework show on the seven seas and danced the night away. Too much fun!!

Olivia and Derek were so excited and cute acting like a Pirate check this video clip out of her doing a pirate. So CUTE!!

2011-12-13T18:52:00.000-08:00

The Hotel Stay

2011-12-13T18:39:00.000-08:00

The day before we got onto the ship and the day after we stayed at a Disney World resort hotel in Orlando. It made the travel a little easier to break it up and get a day to rest. Plus the kids thought all the giant characters were super cool. And they had this fun pool party the last day we were there. I won the "name the song" contest!!

Addie's Piano

2011-12-03T11:21:00.000-08:00

Here is a clip of Addie playing her Christmas song for her recital piece. She is only 7 and hasn't been taking lessons for a full year yet. I am so proud of her I get a little teary eyed when she plays. She never makes mistakes and doesn't even need to read the music. Once she has it down she has in down. I wish I were more like her sometimes.

Addie cut her lip

2011-12-02T18:29:00.000-08:00

I seriously feel like December is always the month for the "shit to hit the fan" as they say. Because it would be nice to have more money to enjoy the Holidays and support my Egg Nog obsession, it seems that too many things happen that take away that money. We already had car trouble that we had to dip into savings to fix. And then Addie hit her lip causing a nice Urgent Care co pay and prescription drug fee. Its not that we can not afford these things during any other month its just all the stuff we want to buy for the kids Christmas plus these expenses kinda chaps my hide. If you remember last year Olivia was in the ER on Christmas Eve for shoving a bead into her ear. So more than the money its just a bad time of the year to be that stressed and worried.
She has a round of antibiotics and some mouth wash to rinse with and that should be the worst if it. It does look terrible right??

Egg Holder

2011-12-02T18:24:00.000-08:00

My sweet boy Dalliin made this for me to hold my egg until I am ready to cook it. I love it!! Not cause its helpful, but simply because my boy made it and its pretty damn creative!

Christmas Pictures

2011-12-02T18:21:00.001-08:00

Hamster obsessed

2011-11-30T13:11:00.000-08:00

Olivia has been obsessed with hamsters for a long time. She did a great job with her pet that she got for her birthday. She was the best little hamster mom. When she accidentally killed it I thought it was best to give it some time before we got her a new one, time to really think about what she did. I caught her one night on her knees telling her heavenly father how much she missed her hamster and how sorry she was, and that she wanted him to take care of it now that it is in Heaven. I won't lie I even got teary eyed at the funeral cause I know how much she loved her pet. She truly loved Analease.
The other day she brought home this book from the school library and would just stare at the pictures and talk about how much she loved her hamster. She is getting a new one for Christmas and I can hardly contain myself and wait that long.

Addie's contribution

2011-11-30T13:07:00.000-08:00

Decorating for Christmas and the kids wanted to help out so Addie did something creative with the fish bowl. I thought it was too cute to not document.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-26T06:14:00.000-08:00

Ohhh Lordy. Too much fun to write about but let me see if I can sum it up quickly. Really good food (almost like it wasn't fair to have to try and cram it all in in one day). Um.. Martinellis (need I say more?) Kids got to drive around the neighborhood standing out of Grandmas sun roof. All the boys went fishing (derek and dallin came back covered in mud). Andrew and Dallin got too competitive playing PlayStation baseball with John. I watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow for the first time-EPIC (i cried). Peyton laughed her ass off playing with my kids. We went around the table saying what we are Thankful for--My mom said her "butt warmer" in her car (she was serious) (now my kids think its the best joke ever. I never allow potty talk..but since Grandma mentioned it they feel immune to a consequence). John said he was thankful we welcomed him into our family (which goes to show you how sweet this guy is cause our family are a bunch of assholes). Peyton was blessed by Andrew and my dad into the church (she was a total Diva shoving their hands off her head and pushing them away.. so no one could keep a straight face or stay reverent). Becka got bit by an aggressive goose at the duck pond. Left overs of the best food. And short/sweet Goodbyes.

Preschool Pre Feast

2011-11-25T16:37:00.000-08:00

Derek's preschool had a little pre thanksgiving feast for them the Friday before the Holiday weekend. It consisted of basic kid friendly food (smart smart teachers I tell ya) and it was for the most part as awkward as dining with the IN-Laws. The conversation was pretty dry and a few of the little girls in his class were staring me down with those evil bitchy glares that only females can pull off. No worries though I came to support Derek so in that case: Mission Accomplished!

Naughty Boy

2011-11-25T16:33:00.000-08:00

I take a short nap and this is what I wake up to. Not the best idea since Christmas is coming so soon. Santa was almost tempted to take back one of the nice presents she bought him, that is stowed away in the attic, she was that mad. But she calmed down after a trip to Starbucks and cute new shoes from Target. Ooops!!! I meant -HE- was tempted to have the elves hold back a present but then changed his mind after a cup of hot cocoa and a good book by a crackling fire.

Dear Santa

2011-11-15T08:53:00.000-08:00

The kids sat down and did this on their own. Pretty cute stuff. I wanted to always remember these so I decided to post.

Addie,
Life for life girl stuff. Moxie girl horse set. Kinect Pets. Walkable Pet. Shop tiger and horse.

Dallin,
Dear Santa how is Mrs. Clause? If you've seen my grades you would be proud. So for my first gift the lego Black Pearl and the lego Pirates of the Caribean game. Especially both super diaper babies and the Lego Ninjago Fire Temple.

Olivia,
Merry Christmas. Life for Life Girl. I want a hamster. I also want a toy horse. And a build a bear. And a set of clothes.

Saturday Nov 13th

2011-11-15T08:45:00.000-08:00

We went down to San Antonio for two reason's #1-Andrew and I were running the half marathon relay. I ran the first leg and stayed with him through the finish to keep him from walking. We had fun but no pics. I never bring extra stuff to keep track of and I don't buy from brightroom photography cause its too expensive. After the race we headed straight over to my nephew Nolan's Hockey party. The kids got to go ice skating before the Hockey game started and play all kinds of games. Addie did the best she went around twice which is leaps and bounds better then she did when we visited Annette last year. Its the first Hockey game I have ever been to. Very fun to watch and very violent!

Dallin is learning

2011-11-06T16:03:00.000-08:00

When my dad is in football season so is Dallin. It makes my dad too busy to make it to one of Dallin's games and Dallin too busy to make it to one of grandpa's games. This Sat Dallin's season was over and my dad had one more game to coach so we made it a point to go show our support. More importantly my dad wanted to teach Dallin a few things. He is very lucky to have my dad on his side cause most coaches in youth sports are just dads/football fans which doesn't always make a good coach. This is his 5th season and he never learns much so my dad got him a pass to go down on the field. Each and every play he got to see bigger kids do it and see how to do it right. The team they were playing are very very good. The Houston area is a very competitive in football they have huge stadiums and enormous amounts of money to throw at football. Most people that are not from Texas are shocked at how nice the facilities are and how the community treats the football coaches like Gods. The school my dad is at is a little different. After hurricane Katrina a bunch of student athletes moved to the Houston area from New Orleans. Well the bigger nicer high schools tried to stay with the best athletes so they split school boundaries and my dad's high school kind of got what was left over. Which is great for my dad...he loves working with young boys and showing them how to grow and develop character. But it was hard for me to watch. Some of his players come from very rough environments so some of the parents were drunk and screaming and yelling obscene things at the coaching staff. Even worse they were embarrassing their sons out there playing hard. Some of the things these men were yelling were so cruel and wrong I wanted to back hand them. Yet my dad and the other coaches stayed calm and kept teaching and encouraging the players. Life is not simple or easy and 90% of what makes it so hard is dealing with people and trying to manage relationships. I love that Dallin got to see that aspect as well cause its prevalent in this sport. These boys will see that no matter who or where they came from they can become the kind of change they want in life. I can't tell you how many times I have been in some random public place and had ex players of my dad come up and tell me what a difference he made in their life. I am so proud to be his daughter words can't express. My kids love him to death.

Andrew and Dallin talking about the play that just happened

This is the cops trying to calm down one of the parents ;(

my dad ignoring the man

still trying to ignore the angry mob

Dallin was scared but Andrew was talking him through it.

Derek's Art

2011-11-06T15:44:00.000-08:00

Now that Derek is in pre school he comes home 3 days a week with a folder full of fun art projects. I don't know if most moms share my sentiment but I love everything so much that I want to keep it forever! Feeling like I can somehow hold onto how cute he is at this age if I hoard all his belongings. However having watched the TLC show "Hoarding Buried Alive" I snap out of it in a flash and let it sit stuck to the fridge for a few days then trash it. I do take a digital pic of my favorites and that doesn't take up too much space or clutter up my home. I wanted to post these two just for memory sake on my blog. Love his work. To me its worth millions

Halloween 2011

2011-11-03T08:19:00.000-07:00

Carnival Party

2011-11-02T19:05:00.000-07:00

Derek and my niece Peyton have birthdays 3 days apart. And given they are so close to Halloween we figured it would be fun to have a carnival. The idea was to do it every year so when we started planning we went all out thinking most of the booths would be used over and over again. It was soo so so so much fun. Every single adult and child had so much fun. It was hard having the older kids stay at their booth and not want to go play but that was the only downside. Each kid got tickets at the start to buy candy and games. And there were no limits or rules to how often you could play and how many prizes you could win. We seriously had one kid at the fishing booth for over 20 min. Fishing up a storm.

2011-11-02T18:51:00.000-07:00

The Balloon Lady

2011-11-02T08:24:00.000-07:00

I had to do a seperate post for her cause she was the bomb! She does really good face painting and her balloon creations are like nothing I have ever seen. She makes these cute little bug braclets for babies....and her swords have the coolest handles. I mean she killed it. A big hit!!

The Slide

2011-11-02T08:13:00.000-07:00

Yes! The slide gets its very OWN post because it was the BOMB!! If you go to a community fair or carnival you often pay and then wait forever in line with some drab ornery worker telling you to wait and then you can go down feel the rush the wind in your face and its over. Well these kids got to go over and over and over again. We had it rented out for over 5 hours and every single min was sooo worth it. My mom even went down it!

Dessert

2011-11-01T13:18:00.000-07:00

After the fun at Chuck E Cheese we went to Applebees for birthday desserts. I love their Maple Butter Blondie and kids like their chocolate lava cake. Plus they came out and sang your typical lame food chain restaurant type birthday song for Peyton and Derek. Did I mention their birthdays are like 3 days apart. Who could ask for more??

I think I will name this picture Cleavage

Chucky E Cheese

2011-11-01T13:06:00.000-07:00

Just know that we went to Chuck E Cheese as is our custom and we had a blast!! This night of of brought to you by Aunt Net.

The fun never stops

2011-10-27T07:14:00.000-07:00

Naturally I got myself into a hole when I decided to participate in one of the days of Red Ribbon week. The kids couldn't handle the thought of not doing the next day as well. I am spent! but I did grab a few pairs of socks at the store. I couldn't find anything in the boys department so Dallin's socks are from the womens department. Shhh dont tell him he will freak out. By the time he cares enough to read this post he will be a teenager and hate me any ways. Its our little secret until then. Don't want to ruin his day... they were all soo happy. It makes me feel bad that I have not tried harder in the past. Not bad enough to do this crap next year.

Crazy Hair Day

2011-10-26T10:12:00.000-07:00

good to see the reflector patch on Livvy's backpack works

Just another damn thing to do. Seriously I feel like every other day one of my kids has a paper requiring me to do something for their class or for the school fundraiser or the book fair, or collect box tops,or walk them to school for national walk to school day etc. I usually never make it a point to do these things cause I can never keep up. I am sure my kids have missed their fair share of wear your pajamas to school day. I feel bad about it cause this stuff is fun for them but mostly I am pissed at these damn cutesy PTA bitches that come up with this crap! Last night after teaching a class and making dinner and I was ready for a Hot steamy bath when my kids spring the whole "its crazy hair day tomorrow" thing on me. I decide to go to the store and buy a bunch of spray paint and hair clips and rubber bands and make the best of it. This morning I woke up and got as creative as a non morning person can get. They were so excited for school so I am happy about my efforts. But as I sent them away on their bikes the thought occurred to me that I hope it really is crazy hair day! I never saw a paper or announcement about it and my kids are notorious for mixing things up like that. Now I am crossing my fingers till they get home.

Friday Night

2011-10-15T19:38:00.001-07:00

I feel like so many people have cool places to go and people to see on the weekends. All my gym friends seem to have BIG plans every weekend. I always feel lame cause outside of a netflix movie I don't have much to get excited about. Last night though I was outside with my kids and realized it beats going to a bar and doing the single thing and watching a movie at home is the bomb cause you can pause it plus eat and cuddle up with a blanket on the couch. Before the sun went down we took the kids outside to play with them and had a real good time. Riding bikes, practicing tennis, teaching Dallin some basketball skills and just doing family time. I realized I actually prefer to be at home chillaxin and thats why I never have plans. I dont make them!

Homecoming

2011-10-09T18:23:00.000-07:00

This weekend was Homecoming for Dallin and Olivia. You would think no big deal right? I mean they are young. But not in Texas. It was a big deal. The whole week was full of preparation for this one day. I was going to miss it for my race but I had Andrew take some pics. Here in Texas the big thing is a mum for the girls. The bigger the better and a garter for the boys. The cheer leaders got to escort the boys onto the field as they called out their names. Olivia escorted several boys. Which she loved doing but I guess her old man wasn't too pleased with it.. cause he stopped taking pics after the third one. Dallin ran away from his little cheerleader thinking that was the cool thing to do. That so would NOT have happened if I was there! All the football players had a poster that needed to be put on the fence for them. I just did what I could do and he was happy with it.

Tough Mudder

2011-10-08T19:25:00.001-07:00

By far the most difficult race I have ever done hands down. I loved the challenge and was glad to push my boundaries. When they say its the toughest event on the planet. That's pretty much spot on. I am so tired and sore. 12 miles and 29 obstacles. Crazy. I actually blacked out with the electro shock at the end. And my whole body was throbbing. I can't describe how much energy and camaraderie there was amongst the other racers. Its the most amazing thing to experience that is indescribable. Only if you can run 12 miles and are willing to throw 170 lb people over a wall would you get it. To all the people that ran with me I say Good Job and thanks for your help.

counting

2011-09-27T13:53:00.000-07:00

Andrew loves to play hide and go seek with the kids. Who ever is "it" usually counts to about 18 (don't ask me why) and then its time to go seek out the hiders. I had to catch Derek on camera counting cause I think its so stinkin cute. I know I am the only one that finds this cute but hey its my blog and my choice of memories. I couldn't leave this one out. The best part is because he starts counting with the number 18 Olivia is always stressed and worried about finding a spot thinking time is already up.

Boys will be Boys

2011-09-21T15:32:00.000-07:00

I never got to see how boys play growing up. My brother was the only boy and though he did torture us he was gone allot playing sports. So when moms would tell me "you know how boys are" I kinda didn't know. Now that I have two of my own it basically means they wrestle and fight ALL THE TIME. At any given time during the day one of them can simply touch the other one and they will go into full on wrestle mode. It always ends with some one getting hurt but you learn to ignore the crying cause its a never ending day to day sort of thing. I even thought maybe with my boys being so far apart in age it would be more of a big brother loving and showing the little guy how to do things sort of mentor thing. Nope!
Here is a picture of the boys slapping each other with their shirts. The little one got caught in the eye and I played the don't come crying to me card so he ended up finding sun glasses so they could continue to inflict pain on one another for a couple more hours. HATE HATE HATE IT!!

Addie turns 7

2011-09-20T19:22:00.000-07:00

Its been a fun Birthday for Addie this year. She keeps getting taller and skinnier. She is really doing well at piano and very good at school. She is our smart little diva. Grandma Bassett came out on Sunday and we gave her birthday presents and then all went out to dinner at AppleBees. On Monday she got nirthday cupcakes for her class and went to get manicures and pedicures with a couple of her little friends and sister. They loved it. I can't blame them I love getting pampered too. Have fun being 7 cute girl!

Thanks Aunt net for the horse presents you sent. You know she loved them !!

Cheer

2011-09-17T13:33:00.000-07:00

BYU looses

2011-09-17T12:58:00.001-07:00

I am not a fan of any college or NFL team but I am a BYU hater so I can pick up and start cheering for any one they play on game day. Growing up around BYU fans left a bad taste in my mouth. There is an occasional exception to the rule but for the most part they think they are better than other college teams because they judge their student athletes and kick them off the team if they make a moral mistake. Its the most hypocritical situation on the planet. I am a firm believer that you should be called and set apart to ever be in a position to judge another and even then it should be done prayerfully. If a man has an affair you can not enforce a monetary consequence like taking away his job so why would you not allow a student athlete to play sports when they make a mistake. The real judge and the real consequence comes when we go to heaven. Any bishop will tell you that they are simply there for you to humble yourself before god and confess to they in no way judge you or give you a consequence. I would never sign up to be judged by any one but my maker. He is the ONLY one that paid for my sins and can make that judgment call. I say go to church and confess your sins to Bishop not a school board.
This past weekend BYU played University of Texas and I love my state and I know enough about football to know they were in way over their heads. There was a ton of hype around it and the more BYU fans started to talk the more annoyed I got. They have a better team this year than they have had in the past. And Texas has a not so good team this year soo you would think BYU could win right? Um no. I didn't run my mouth and talk trash before the game and sat patiently and listened to all of the BYU fans talk talk talking. I knew that when they lost my patience would make that moment so much more worth it. And it did! I sat between Andrew and this other BYU guy and the whole first half of the game they were like giddy little school girls. But I knew there was way too much time left to play and I loved every single second of it when Texas figured out their quarterback problem and actually started to really play. Best Day of the year for me. Today I will be rooting for Utah but nothing will feel as good as when Texas won. The best part was when the longhorn crowd started chanting "Go back to Utah" Yup. Go home !

Football 2011

2011-09-12T10:17:00.000-07:00

This is game 2 for the season and its not the best year for Dallin so far. Not because he isn't playing well but because of coaching. That's been the hardest part of youth sports. Dallin is playing amazing and doing well. He is limited on what positions he can play and not being developed the way I would like. I don't think we should care as much about winning for young kids as much as we do about developing them in multiple positions. But not every one sees things the same way. I am so over worrying about it. I know what potential Dallin has. I see it and I believe in him. These young teams he is on are just stepping stones and no matter what we will make the best out of the season. I am so proud of him. I have always felt from the day he was born we were blessed with a child that has incredible talent. Its no mistake that my dad is his grandfather and though I feel inadequate to be his mom I will always fight hard for him and NEVER let any one slow him down. That's my promise to you BIG D! You were born for this you have loved it since you were little and you WILL go far.

Crazy Boy!

2011-09-06T19:46:00.000-07:00

Derek cracks me up. He has gone through some pretty wild stages and its always very embarrassing to take him in public. He began with a NO shoe policy. That still hasn't been fixed. Last year he would wear nothing but his swim trunks every day and I do mean every day. This year I tried to make it better by buying two pair of swim trunks that he can alternate between. Now that he can ride a bike he insisted on buying a helmet. Me being the I could care less kind of mom I have always been didn't feel a need to buy one for his safety. But I gave in when I saw how excited it made him. And now he wont take that thing off. Its so funny cause he even swims and showers with it on. I would soo ooooo take him any day over some nerdy whiny know it all child that started reading early and wears sweater vests. Give em Hell Derek!!

Derek's First Day of Preschool

2011-09-02T12:04:00.000-07:00

Derek had to wait a week to go to preschool. They figure parents are busy enough getting their other kids to elementary school or middle school ect that they coudl use a week off before they take in the little little guys. But they couldn't be more wrong in my case cause Derek was royally pissed. He put his back pack on and started to walk to preschool one day convinced it was a conspiracy cooked up by his shady mom. I love how I am on the hot seat any time things go south. It was a horrible week and I couldnt do enough to distract him. He finally got to go to class this week and never wanted to go home.

Cheerleading

2011-08-27T17:48:00.000-07:00

Any one that knows me knows I HATE cheerleading. So I wont get on my whole soap box about it. Needless to say when ever I hate stuff I usually end up being forced to deal with it in one way or another. Olivia begged to be in Cheer this year and I let it happen. She loves it waaaay more than soccer and is Happy so I am happy FOR HER- not to be confused with happy ABOUT IT.

Triathalon

2011-08-27T16:35:00.000-07:00

I did my first sprint Tri today. My brother did one with his nephew in Tennessee last month. I have always wanted to try one but never known all the in's and out's of the whole thing. Every time you ask people they make it seem like a really big deal. Which is usually their need to feel like they a major and important in some way. Most of the people that I have found that get really into it and buy ALL the stuff turn out to be pretty average when it comes to the actual race. I suck at swimming and I let it freak me out. I am a strong runner so no worries there. The biking part I feel is lame. You can buy a $1500-$2000.00 bike and do decent but I don't ever want to spend near that much!. Ever! So when my bro called I thought I need to just give it a try. I used some coupons and points at dicks (sporting goods) and got a pretty low grade Hybrid bike for $100.00. A helmet and a pair of bike shorts. That's it! If I did what others suggested I would be in the hole a hell of allot more than that. I had so much fun and loved it. I hated the swim part cause we were in a pool and you have to swim down the lane then go under the rope and swim down the lane next to it. People were pushy and tried to climb over you when it came to transitioning lanes. I was more than happy to move back and let them go. So I lost time there. I also am slow when I transitioned from one leg to the next. After the swim I had to run in dirt to my bike so I sat down and cleaned my feet off. Obviously not too efficient. Overall I did pretty good. I finished 5th overall for the women. The chicks at the top had much nicer bikes than me and were able to cut off 2 min there. Plus they were much better swimmers. I sucked at my swim! I am just really bad and its hard to undo what you have been doing wrong for so many years. But I will keep working on it. My time was 1:09:15 One hour and nine min! Not bad. The 400 meter swim I did in 12 min... The bike 32 min and the run in 21 min. I could have run faster too just didn't push myself cause I have to teach tomorrow. Plus these sort of things are only fun if you can walk and don't want to throw up when you are done. I will probably do a couple per year and that's it. Like I said I am not willing to sink the kind of money I would have needed to spend on a bike to be very competitive. But I had a good time. I even got to run with my brother for his leg of the run. And eat brunch with my nephews!

Dallin is 9 now!

2011-08-25T12:49:00.000-07:00

Dallin's birthday was the second day of school. He claimed we should have let him stay home from school but I thought that was a bad idea so he went any way. But before we sent him off we loaded him with sugar to show him how much we love him. I woke up extra early and got him his favorite donuts and put candles in one and we sang to him. We added some chocolate milk for good measure and sent all the kids off to let their teachers deal with their sugar high and subsequent sugar low. Not my problem yo! I took cupcakes to his class and then we had pizza and ice cream cake. Pretty low key but fun none the less.

His oreo birthday cake. I made sure to have some before I went to work and was sick as a dog.

His morning birthday donuts. We live large in this house Baby!

I found these cute cupcakes that look like hamburgers to take to his school class. The kids in his class thought it was so cool. Major mom points on this one.

Annettes Present

2011-08-25T11:40:00.000-07:00

Annette wasn't able to come out for Dallin's birthday this year. I told the kids I would still take them to chuck-E-cheese but they all didn't want to go without her. She sent Dallin some money and a really cool scrapbook that she made of their trip to Lego Land. She took Dallin over spring break and he loved it. The best part is with his book he was able to tell us all about everything and you could tell how exciting the whole trip was for him. He loved the gift! I posted some video clips for her so she could see.

First Day of School

2011-08-23T08:29:00.000-07:00

Final days of summer

2011-08-19T11:57:00.000-07:00

Its the home stretch and its going sooo slow. I think this summer was extra hard cause it was soo hot most days we were stuck inside which drives me crazy. I have been trying to do something fun every day to celebrate the end of this all day long with 4 kids thing. I have been lax on most of my parenting. Not putting on sunblock, letting them "fight it out", allowing friends that I HATE over, food in the living room (gasp). And today water in the back yard. Because of the drought we have not been allowed to water and if you do water it costs a ton. But its FRIDAY so I let it all out and went hog wild and hooked up the sprinkler so they could jump on the tramp. No matter what the water bill reads it was so worth it cause I got 2 hours of them being entertained! I know they might get skin cancer having been out there that long but.. According to my mom the end of the world is going to happen any day now so why worry about skin cancer? Live it up a little people!

Lefty's Money

2011-08-16T06:51:00.000-07:00

I got an e-mail last night from Lefty's Left handed store I will copy and paste it in here.
Hi Camille,
Congratulations! Your picture of Addie was selected in our 2011 Intl. Left Hander's Day photo contest. Our graphic artist was really drawn to Addie's eyes. The photo can currently be seen on Lefty's home page and Facebook page.
The gift certificate amount was applied to your account. An copy of the gift certificate was also sent to your email address.
Thank you for participating,
Carla for Lefty
Yes! Yes! Yes! Now I can buy her the markers and pens that she wants from their left handed store.
Here is the link to the website ---> http://www.leftyslefthanded.com

more....Baaaaack to school

2011-08-11T15:18:00.000-07:00

All my kids will be in school this year which will leave me all by myself for hours a day :) I was so not ready to put Derek in preschool. I wanted to keep him as long as I could but he has been around kids his whole life. He will be all by himself and bored and lets face it I suck at playing cars. I refuse to baby sit another persons child to bring in a friend cause that makes me feel so tied down with vacations and dr. appointments. Once you get "fixed" and decide you are done you are done DONE DONE DONE!. Meaning I did my kids play dates and play groups and babysitting swaps ect. But I am done with kids. I get the year off. Preschool was a good option for him to play and do crafts and music time. Which will be way more fun than hanging out with mom. :( I thought about going back to school to fill up my free time but then I decided to literally just take a break. I do teach still so work keeps me occupied and I have tons of friends ect with my job and I will volunteer at the kids school. And I don't know what else. We will see how it goes. But I am so damn excited I can't stop buying back to school stuff for the kids. I have even taken on extra classes to help with the expense. I hung up most of their stuff today. I had been stock piling it in my closet cause I wanted them to not wear it all and keep it brand new for school. Once I saw it all together in their drawers and closets I realized I went waaaay over board. One more week and I free free free. No babies no potty training. NADA Just lunch dates and shopping and all the fun stuff. I had them young and I paid my dues I don't know if I would recommend it to any one to do it the way I did it but it works for me and I am happy.

Cute back to school clothes. Luv my girls

Back to School Preparation

2011-08-09T10:14:00.000-07:00

Getting ready to go back to school this year is a real trip. We have Mrs. Olivia starting kindergarten and Derek in preschool so ALL of my Chillins are going to school in some form. It started with a inventory of sorts. We went through all of our clothes and got rid of socks with holes, things that didn't fit ect. Olivia got a bunch of hand me downs but I still bought her new stuff to make it all exciting. Then we went to the doctor and got shots and physical exams ect. Dallin had to do the whole turn your head and cough thing this year. It was awkward between us. I didn't know what to say to comfort him and he didn't want to talk about it so we went out to lunch and I let him have whatever he wanted. Then I took all the paper work to the schools and paid fees ect... Next was shopping for new clothes. Each kid got a ton of stuff and this year I set the bar at 3 pairs of shoes per kid. Last year we always couldn't find a pair or they were wet cause they played in puddles ect. I also got back pack hooks for them to hang their back pack on. I hated how they were always all over the floor or beds. And then we started a chore chart. It helps us get organized and set for what kind of structure we need to get through the school days. Today I am going to buy alarm clocks for each room in hopes that we can take the next two weeks to acclimate to waking up earlier. We didn't do this last year and we were running behind every day in the beginning. 14 more days to freedom. Its been a crazy busy summer

Does the punishment fit the crime??

2011-08-04T12:52:00.000-07:00

Well Dallin has reached the age where time outs don't work. Its pretty lame and they don't give a crap about sitting in a corner for 8-9 min so... Gotta do something else. Writting sentences! Yes! They hate hate hate it. Which means magic. And its good for hand writting and reading better. I am tooo damn clever for my own good. Andrew thinks its funny. But its not like he is here all day and gets where I am coming from. This day they all did bad stuff within minutes of each other so it was a family gathering. Derek was not bad but he didn't know what to do with himself with out play mates so he joined thme and scribbled all over his paper.

San Antonio childrens museum

2011-07-29T09:46:00.000-07:00

So we went to the childrens museum after a fun lunch with my cousin Maren and my brother and his boys. This is only like 1/4 of what there was to do there. (my phone ran out of battery)

2011-07-29T09:43:00.000-07:00

Leftys

2011-07-27T11:15:00.000-07:00

Addie is left handed and I have been a little slow on helping her with this.One time she was sweeping the floor and said mom I am having a hard time. I looked over at her and the way she was doing it looked weird so I said "um cause your doing it all retarded" then I realized she was doing it opposite of how I do it cause she is left handed. (that reminds me I need to put money aside for the therapy she will need for having such a lame mom). But recently I have been trying allot harder to learn more about leftys.
You would be surprised at how much leftys do differently(maybe YOU wouldn't but I was). They even have a pencil sharpener for them cause they turn the pencil counterclockwise to get it sharp. They also have clocks where the numbers go the other way ect.. Some stuff I think she will just adapt to and learn to adjust to the right handed way of things but I got what I thought she needed. The crazy thing is she can write backwards with ease. Any word! she doesn't even have to think about it. If I spelled my name backwards I would have to go through each letter and then I could say what comes next. She doesn't do this. When she writes her name on her school work she writes it backwards. And the other day she wrote a whole book this way. She even made a book that you can only read if you hold it up to a mirror. Meaning she had to switch the sentence around so when you read it in the mirror it makes sense. Crazy! It would take me hours to make a book like that. It only took her a few minutes.
I had to order some left handed school supplies online for her and it sucks how much they cost. They are having a contest where you send in a photo of your child using left handed products and you get a gift card to their store. Not exactly like winning the lottery but I will take what I can get. So I did a little mini Ghetto photo shoot and sent a couple of pics in. If I hired a photographer to take the pics it would cost me more than the gift card is worth but I do agree that they would do a much better job than I did. What do you think? wish me luck

Bikes

2011-07-27T10:45:00.000-07:00

This summer I decided I wanted ALL my kids to ride their bikes. I hadn't even tried to teach Addie since she was 4 and we had a fight in Arizona. She stormed off and sat on the neighbors porch saying she wanted a new home. So she was really behind Olivia is at the right age and Derek is probably a little young but I wanted it to be over with. Some parents act like its this major major feat that their child is riding their bike early but I mean please. It means nothing in the bigger scheme of things. Its not like something you can put on their resume when they want to be the CFO of some company.
Its just a matter of timing and the parents willingness to help the child through it. I tend to be on the lazier side of parenting but I was aggressive this year. The girls learned in less than an hour. Olivia doesn't like it but she picked up on it quickly. Derek took some bribery with a toy each time he rode his bike. Now my game plan is to take them all out every other day for a longer ride to help smooth out the kinks. The girls freak out going down hill and are too weak to pump up a hill but that will come with time.

Swimming pics

2011-07-27T10:40:00.001-07:00

Summer is almost over. 3 more weeks so we just swim and hope the time passes quickly.

Bored as Bored can be...

2011-07-22T17:37:00.000-07:00

Summer time and I don't want to swim every day which means on the off days there is nothing else to do. The kids have made so many forts I could scream and pull my hair out. This day they made puppets and made a puppet show. I thought it was fairly cute how they made them by folding paper. But the actual show was so funny. All they did was bark and hiss along with the music. I watched cause I had nothing better to do.

2011-07-22T17:25:00.000-07:00

I got 5 words for you!

2011-07-19T11:06:00.000-07:00

Don't play games with kids!

And to be more specific board games or anything made by Hasbro. I hate it its awful and frustrating. I got clued into this one for the first time when Andrews sister would let her son play card games with us one new years eve. I am quick to pick up on things so when my kids ask to play I say NO. Andrew on the other hand seems to think its loads of fun like every other Mormon Settlers of Catan addict that has never been drunk and so therefore uses board games as their high. So every once in a while I get suckered into playing with him and the kids and slowly it breaks down into the most frustrating thing ever. Some one cheats, some one whines cause they are not doing well in the game, I trash talk, no one can handle that, the three year old leaves to go play with some toys, and BAM game over! Here is one example of a simple game of memory gone bad.

2011-07-19T10:41:00.000-07:00

Peyton

2011-07-18T07:36:00.001-07:00

My little niece came to visit and my kids just love playing with her. Now that I think about it I was pretty damn smart to have all my kids first so when these new little ones come along there is plenty of love to give them. If I were busy breast feeding or potty training my own little ones I doubt I would have enough energy to spare. But that's not the case now I love my little niece and nephew some thing fierce. And so do my kids. Addie decided to teach Peyton how to draw this trip. It cracks me up cause they are so patient with her. I am freakishly impatient and I love moments like this where I can see that my kids are not taking after me and are smart enough to see my short comings as immature and ridiculous. Which means I will win the game of having superior children by default. No shame = All gain.

2011-07-18T07:31:00.000-07:00

Pet addendum

2011-07-15T15:44:00.000-07:00

Time to update you all on the whole pet situation as I am so sure you are wanting to know how its going. So last time I posted Addie had replaced a dead fish with a bird and we got a new fish to add to the family pot. Well allot of sh** has gone down since then. One day Dallin confesses he has "misplaced" his lizard. He took him out and forgot to put him back he was distraught and we were pissed. So for a couple of days while I was cleaning I would look in closets and drawers(don't ask me why I thought he would be in drawers some times I do dramatic things for more of an effect)only to come up empty handed. Andrew and I went to bed and agreed he was dead and Dallin had to earn back the cost for the lizard. The next day he found him under his bed. But Addies bird was dead. I was like "PSHHH" thats Petco's problem and I pulled out my 15 day return policy and told the chick at the counter I wanted a new bird. To which she replied um I need to see the dead bird. WHA? For reals? So I went home, Andrew dug it out of the trash and I sat in a stupor not sure how to package it and bring it in. I put it in the zip lock bag and went on my merry way. As I was walking through the parking lot with the bird people were giving me these horrible faces like I was Hannibal Lecter and was suffocating a bird in the bag. But I will never see any of them again so who cares right? Once I got there I was ready to quickly make the exchange but NOOOOOO. I was interrogated for like 20 min on what I might have done to kill the bird. Do you use allot of candles... How often do you vacuum...Was it near a vent? It felt like they might as well have an interrogation room like they do down at the police station equipped with a lie detector and the window where they see you but you can't see them. After all that she takes the bird back to the "bird expert" and wants him to have a look. What the HELL? its a 30 dollar bird you act like I killed Ghandi. Long story short I came home with Isabella. Our new bird. I had to go back the next day and get all the feed and toys and vitamins I claimed we had for the first bird and couldn't be the reason for its death. Then about a week later Dereks Hamster died. He literally squeezed it so hard when he would hold it he smashed its skull. Sheesh kido ease up on the death grip. We waited about a week and then I told the kids in the car that whatever they did do not tell Petco people the other hamster died. I wasn't worried about the return policy I just wanted to get in and out of there no questions asked. A couple of times it almost came out. Like they asked if we had a cage and everything already and the kids were like yeah we already had....a.. (then they look at me and see a vain popping in my forehead and eye twitching) and change it to "our friends gave us their old cage" Yes!! Snow Cones for every one! And as I type this the new Hamster that is lost under the couch I sit on. Roll Call-Reggie the dog still cute. El Ferno-Found and happy to be back in his cage. Analise-Fat as ever over loved and over fed. Isabella- Sweet and nicer than the last bird. Shelby-New Hamster under thee couch. Fish-still has no name.

Transformers

2011-07-10T05:45:00.000-07:00

Annette was visiting and we decided to go see a movie. Derek had seen the previews for the new Transformers movie and was dying to go see it. So was Dallin and I won't lie I was really excited about it too. Derek is pretty young for PG-13 but we figured we could just cover his eyes on the bad parts (we never ended up covering his eyes) It really wasn't that bad. We all loved the movie. There is something about thinking the world is going to end and then fighting to get it back that gives me a new sense of excitement for the day. Needless to say when we got home this is the kind of behavior Derek was engaging in. So... I guess these movies do kinda have an effect on the little ones.

this clip was after they beat down my front door and threw water bottles I had stored in the garage at the window.

The 5th.. Tennis Camp

2011-07-05T20:17:00.000-07:00

So the best part about the 4th is it was the day before the 5th and thats the day Addie starts Tennis Camp. She loved it. I loved that she loved it and I do hope it will be something she stays with in the long run. So far there isn't much out there for kids besides these camps. We have looked and looked and private lessons are an option but way expensive. I guess we will just have to work with her until we find something more cheap and resonable.

The 4th ...

2011-07-05T20:10:00.000-07:00

This year the only thing I liked about the 4th was the cute outfits my little sis bought the girls. They had canceled all the fireworks in Texas and you wouldn't even know it was a holiday at all without those. My older sis came to town and we went to my borhters house in San Antonio and played hard (love his baby) but yeah I missed the fireworks. O well it is what it is ....heres to hoping for some really killer fireworks next year. And maybe I will add a parade and all kind of fun stuff to make up this year.
Ohhh I could dress up like the statue of Liberty. See thats positive thinking!

All Star end of season party=dumb boys

2011-06-27T16:38:00.000-07:00

Last Day of Baseball

2011-06-25T14:23:00.001-07:00

Its the last day of Baseball at least for this year any way. And I have to compartmentalize these kinds of things cause I can't wrap my mind around the thought of doing this for years and years. They made it to the final tournament and played really well but it was double elimination and the competition got the best of them. I am very happy that its over cause it hot as HELL and miserable to stand out there and watch. No amount of snow cones can help with 109 degrees. Been there done that.

2011-06-25T14:12:00.000-07:00

Fathers Day

2011-06-23T13:01:00.000-07:00

It was a Sunday so I went to church with the three youngest after teaching my morning pump class and Andrew and Dallin went to an All Star baseball tournament. Dallin hit a home run and a couple of other really good balls far out there. Andrew was beyond excited to watch his son play so well. Dallin has really gotten better at baseball these past few weeks and thats all that Andrew could want(I couldn't think of anything to get him). It was 109 that day so we went to SubWay and then swimming. What else can you do on a hot day like that?

The Lake

2011-06-23T12:41:00.000-07:00

I love love love living this close to a lake. I run there at least twice a week and I like to follow it up with a good swim. I hate swimming sooo much. Which is why I do it. I really feel like the best thing for you is what you hate. If thats running then its your meal ticket to success. I feel this way about swimming and one year later I don't like it even a tincy bit more. O well. Its nice to cool off after sitting in the sun with the kids.

Zoolander

2011-06-23T12:33:00.000-07:00

We went to the lake. Olivia started posing for pics and then the other two kids joined in the fun. We had a good time.

A little change to our list of pets

2011-06-20T11:18:00.000-07:00

So we originally had Dallin-Lizard Addie-Fish Olivia-Hampster Derek-Hamster Family-Dog. Addie's fish died and then Andrew decided it should be replaced with a bird. How he considers that an equal trade off I don't know. The worst part is he is an accountant so you would think he would be better at math. We decided to get another fish cause we bought the bowl and food and stuff and it would be a waste. So now the fish is a Family fish and Addie's pet is a bird named Shimmer. The new fish has no name yet.... Sheesh.. I have allot more to say about all this but I better just leave it at that!

Scout Camp

2011-06-18T19:25:00.001-07:00

The Boy Scouts of America held a camp all week long every day till 9 pm. I can't really tell you what went on cause I basically dropped him off and went my merry way. I do know this much... He told me leaders spray painted all the poisen Ivy hot pink. Um.. what the hell? I never had leaders that smart at girls camp!!

What if some one called CPS?

2011-06-18T12:27:00.001-07:00

For those of you that don't have kids CPS is child protective services. A bunch of egotistical bums that just have nothing better to do than cause trouble. Kind of like the police. There are some that catch the bad guy and really work hard but 90% of them just go around and interview perfectly good people twisting your words and misinterpreting the situation to make a crazy story. My favorite story of all time was when a close friend of mine told me about how she was changing her overly hyper sons diaper and he was wiggling too much so she lost her cool and started slapping him with an unused diaper. the next thing she knows the diaper explodes and all the absorbent beads inside the lining go into his mouth and nose. They then get bigger as they absorb his saliva and he starts to choke. She panics and calls her pediatrician and tells them what he is choking on and they ask how he got diaper beads in his mouth and she had to make up a story about how he was eating a diaper. And the lady on the phone was like "sick you dont throw away your dirty diapers". She said she was nervous for days every time her doorbell rang thinking some one was going to call CPS. Sooo freaking funny! I laughed about that story so hard.
Every time I go to urgent care they send some one in to talk to you about the incident but its like crazy how they ask the questions and put you on the spot. Well I have come across a few thing with my kids and I can't help but conjure up a story that I might tell should they get called. The other day I came down from my room after reading a book for a long time and saw Derek like this. I guess his older siblings had captured him and he was in prison. :/
Just one example of many where it could be very hard to explain to CPS.

Pets, Pets and more pets

2011-06-17T07:17:00.001-07:00

I have already talked about how possessive Olivia is with her hamster. All the kids have been complaining that she never lets them hold the hamster ect. Dallin hit a couple of awesome home runs and we told him we would reward him. What he wanted was a pet lizard. I thought it would be no big deal but the initial set up is pretty expensive. By the time we got everything for his bearded dragon it was $225.00. Then the other kids had a fit and all wanted a pet too. I think the heat must have melted my brain cause I went with it. Most of the pets are fairly easy to take care of and I want them to learn how to take car of a pet. They have to earn the money for their food with chores. Just like a child they have to work to feed it and take care of it. If all goes well they will fail to make enough to feed their pets or not take care of them and then it dies and they think twice about having children cause they couldn't even handle a fish ect... I don't want them getting married and having kids too young (like me). Watch this whole thing back fire like most of my ideas do. Whatever I have good intentions!

Dallin got a lizard. Very sweet little guy. I have never and will never hold it. El Ferno

Derek got a mini dwarf hamster. It either bites you or plays dead. Please wear oven mittens when you handle Maximus.

Addie chose a fish. Cheap,very easy,cheap=My new favorite child. The fish is named petite princess. Its a male fish....
Olivia got some furniture for her pet and we still have Reggie our Family dog.

Carwash

2011-06-14T19:44:00.000-07:00

I was totally at wits end and I hate entertaining my kids when they are home from school all day so I decided to go throuh a car wash. It makes me laugh at how excited the kids got. You would think we never do anything with them.

Odd ...

2011-06-12T16:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the girls dance recital and I have to say I was struggling to get through it. I am happy that they liked to preform but the problem is I have to watch every other kid in the dance program preform and quit frankly I don't give a rip. Especially when its off the wall crazy stuff. Dancing is a form of art if you will. One lunatic could splat paint on a canvas and charge $2,000.00 for it and the question is are you an idiot for buying it? I happen to love art but I still think its a valid point. These older girls that did solos and group dances were well I don't know. Like there was this one dance that was suppose to represent kids caught up in bullying and these girl were fluttering around pulling on each other falling to the ground all dramatic only to strip off their black shirts to reveal white shirts underneath and walk of stage like you would walk down the isle for a wedding. I have 4 words that come to mind - I DON'T GET IT! Check this video out of a solo by this one girl. You are not allowed to video cause they want you to buy from them. Another way to loose mad cash. So sorry if its blurry and side ways but listen to the music and watch. The girl is obviously very talented. But I am not that into the dance. In conclusion I wouldn't pay $2,000 per say for this kind of art. Others probably would its just a matter of taste.
end

Take a long long hard look.....

2011-06-12T16:37:00.000-07:00

I want you to look long and hard at these pictures and then go back and look at them again cause I swear this is the last time I do this whole dance thing. Its was such a headache and for how much it all costs I am not too sure its worth it. I look at the older girls dancing and I just think is this what I can keep paying into and hope for? (chubby overly dramatic divas) I am open to new and different things but I also wonder about the skill set they are learning and how it helps them with their lives later on. I have way to many friends that were dancers/cheerleaders and now struggle with their weight after having babies to claim its that good of a work out. You would need to do it allot for it to be enough of a calorie burn for weight loss. If you want to be competitive then its insane amounts of money. And there are other competitive things they could do for allot less. Plus its not that cute any more. Olivia and Addie were fun to watch but they are on the edge of it being adorable. And there is allot to be said about quiting while you are ahead. So I think we wont continue this next year and see how they feel about it if they miss it or if it was just fun while it lasted. I spent way way way too much on it and I do think its lame how expensive this stuff is. Like the older girls that are really into it spend close to 375 a month and that doesn't include costumes and recital fees. Freaking A. I am not against people that are into it. But it seems like if you do want to do it you have to "drink the koolaid" and be a part of a cult. There isn't really a healthy medium that I have seen. I just don't know that its for us.

I love This

2011-06-09T19:30:00.000-07:00

I love this for multiple reasons.
1-Derek can't read
2-Addie can't spell
3-My kids clearly don't like to share so why should I? (me trying to justify the stash of candy I bring out each night after they go to sleep)
4-It was me that got into her legos not Derek.
Bwah haha ha hahahahahaha.

Analise

2011-06-08T07:30:00.000-07:00

Ok so I do find a certain type of parent annoying. Very annoying. The kind that name their kid something off the wall or hard to spell and think its uber cute that they did that. Um...NO people it just makes life harder for them. Andrew did this to a couple of our kids and I feel really bad for them. Then they are soo biased towards their child they don't realize that other kids are doing the same mediocre things their kids are and ITS NOT THAT BIG OF A DEAL! And they always favor their children. Life is tuff people the sooner you help your kids realize they are part of a larger group and they need to fit in the easier life will be for them. One time we had our son on a soccer team. And this mom of a really un athletic kid kept yelling at the other boys because they were hogging the soccer ball and not giving her son a chance to kick it. I am the kind of mom that is like if you want that ball you have to go get it yourself. I can't hold your hand at school and make friends for you or talk to your boss when you get a real job and negotiate a promotion for my kids. ANNOYING! I hate those kinds of parents. Stop cutting the crust off of bread! Bread has crust tell you kids to DEAL WITH IT!! Well.....Olivia is exactly like these parents that I hate. Only her child in this case is a hamster. She thinks its the cutest,smartest,most perfect hamster ever and she is way into it. Its really a step up form the mice I kill off in the garage every year. Every morning she comes down and gives me the play by play of how she chewed her food. Like no Hamster could ever do it as cute or well as Analise. Do you love the name? She got her for her birthday and I didn't think she would live for very long so I have yet to blog about our new addition. You should try baby sitting for Olivia ...you can't do enough for her little bundle of joy. I guess I should be glad that she loves her birthday present so much. I just am a little bitter that I am the only one that cleans out the cage right now. Ahhh the things we do for our kids.

First Sat as an ALL STAR

2011-06-05T19:34:00.000-07:00

So done with Baseball and Dallin is so miserable and Andrew and I are so regreting putting him in it every flippin time we have to write another check for some thing lame and stupid related to this ALL STAR thing. But here we are pretending so he feels like we think THINGS are important blah blah blah. Worst part is the pants! Aside from being a white nightmare to remove stains from they make the players look kind of ghetto. Three more weeks to go. Its the 10,000 hour rule baby. Bottom line is he is getting in more time and that makes him better faster.

Dance is almost over

2011-06-05T19:28:00.000-07:00

Thank Gawd dance is almost over. I don't know why but this year I hated waiting an hour whilst entertaining Derek for her to finish dancing. I think I picked a bad day and time but had to follow through. They have their recital this coming Sat the 11th so mark your calendars and come read my blog. Whatever!.... you know you are freaking out with excitement blog stalker!

Ouch !!

2011-06-05T19:22:00.000-07:00

Yeah Home Boy got hurt again. It makes me soooo sick to my stomach. I am not sure what happened. Let me just say two men were babysitting and my son was there but he is of the male gender too so none of the stories match. I was running and got home and had to debate as to get him stitches or not. My sister (the nurse) said he needed them but I don't do the whole thing when you take them back and deal with the crying so our next best option was steri strips since none of the men were willing to take him in. I am going to try my best to keep a record of all the trama he has caused me as his mother so he will know why I fully expect him to contribute to my nursing home fund.

Kung Fu Panda 2

2011-06-05T19:17:00.000-07:00

We got a new movie theater really close to our home and its great cause we love movies. Mostly Aunt Net takes the kids so they are dying to have her come out and take them. I decided to be ambitious and brave a movie with them cause they have been so excited since it was built and she won't be out here again till July. We did Kung Fu Panda 2 in 3D. The whole 3D thing makes me dizzy as hell and its hard cause Derek didn't keep his glasses on and if you don't wear them the screen is blurry. Watch him need glasses next year or go cross eyed because of all this new technology.

Mothers Day

2011-05-30T06:31:00.000-07:00

Oooops I forgot to post for mothers day. I don't know why but this year the kids didn't bring home much from school. Usually they make something really cute and creative and bring it home to me. I guess with budget cuts this year teachers didn't feel like doing much and were slacking BIG TIME! O well. The kids still pulled through. They got together with Andrew and decided to make me breakfast. I was already awake and had to wait in my room forever. Oh my gosh I must be ADD (attention deficit disorder) cause I was so bored and every second felt like a life time. Plus I could hear the kids fighting and could smell things burning so I was dying to go downstairs and help. But everything turned out ok and it was yummy. The kids were so hungry they ate half of it. But no worries. I hate Mothers Day cause I feel like a bad mom most of the time and I don't want praise or recognition for things I would do come hell or high water. My kids are smart and talented and I really feel like it has nothing to do with me. Sure I can take Addie to piano practice but she is the one playing and learning. Every time I go to one of Dallin's practices I see where he has gotten better at sports and that all him too. Olivia is really funny. I do encourage fun times but at her age she is busting out some hilarious jokes that not even Jerry Seinfeld's kids could think of. And of course Derek still has a knack for finding dangerous situations and I for sure didn't encourage that behavior. (my new goal for his life expectancy is 6 yrs old) Plus my kids have made me grow and be responsible. I am friendly and smile at people I HATE! and don't have road rage and drive careful so I don't embarrass them any more than I have to. Overall its kind of a lame holiday. Not something I look forward to. I couldn't justify a big purchase on behalf of myself for such and occasion so I shared my breakfast in bed and secretly thanked god for my chubby little babies.

The beach a week later

2011-05-28T11:48:00.000-07:00

True story. So we drive down to Corpus and we get to the beach and every one is beyond excited and we set up and start acting all dumb like we havn't seen the ocean in years and Dallin dives in and the baby start jumping in the waves and the next thing I know Dallin comes over to me and tells me his arm hurts and its all red and I am freakin out cause I think he got stung by a jelly fish but he is so calm and normal I am not sure. A couple of min later Derek starts screaming like he had his arm amputated and I know for sure he got stung. I try to act like I am busy helping by running to the car and realize I have no idea why I went to the car. So to make myself look helpful while andrew holds Derek I grab an empty cup out of the cup holder and run back to them. I tell Andrew we have to pee on it and every one gives me look but duh! every one knows you have to pee on it. So I have Dallin hold up a towel and I pull the crotch of my swim bottoms to the side and fill up the cup (that I now have from going to the car...so that worked in my favor). With in seconds of me pouring the urine on Derek's arm he stops crying and calms down. Dallin walks over and taps my shoulder and says his arm still hurts can I pee for him. No worries! I whip it out again and preform like a champ. And I would do the same for you! Andrew went out in the water and said it was full of jelly fish. Other people on the beach said they all had the same problem. I guess its jelly fish season or something cause we were just at this same beach a week ago. Andrew had fun catching them. I have a pic of one he caught. Even after they are dead they can still sting you. We found that out when I had to pee for a complete stranger later on (kidding). Stay Hydrated people cause you never know when your urine will come in handy. Lucky for all these people mine smells like strawberries snap!

see how stressed they are that I made them stand near the water to take a pic.

What to do on land?

2011-05-28T11:44:00.001-07:00

After all the initial drama we moved further down but....NO ONE was willing to get in the water and swim. I will admit I was scurrred too. So the kids caught crabs and made sand castles. In each of those shells you see is a frightened worried crab that wont come out but my kids named them and played house any way.

Fountains :)

2011-05-28T11:38:00.001-07:00

We were driving back from the beach itchy and loaded with sand when we saw these public fountains that you coudl swim in and thought BONUS! So we joined all the mexicans that were swimming in their clothes and fit right in. It was a major score cause no one swam at the beach and we were all hot and sticky.

Ducks vs Turtles

2011-05-28T11:34:00.001-07:00

After we got back from the beach and cooled off and had dinner Becka took us to feed the ducks and it was really cool cause a whole bunch of turtles swam over and were fighting for the bread as well. It made the kids go wild and they naturally wanted to catch one. I have never seen that many turtles before. Pretty cool.

Schlitterbahn

2011-05-28T11:25:00.000-07:00

Best water park known to man! Seriuosly blows all other water parks out of the water. The one on South Padre Island is my favorite cause they planned it out perfectly. All the big cool rides shoot of of the lazy river that takes you around to each ride and you wait in line in water under shade just chillin in your float. Most water parks have you stand in line for a LONG time staring at fat butts and beer gutts while your legs ache and you cant tell if the lady in front of you is peeing on the pavement or just dripping extra water from her swim bottoms. None of that here folks. Best Idea ever! We only took the older two cause its so hard to have one parent on lock down at the splash park with the little ones while the older ones are totally riding and having fun. It was a great day of major fun water rides and rapids.

Heads will Roll---After I am done laughing :/

2011-05-24T13:50:00.000-07:00

Long hot day at Dallin's baseball games and I stop at Whataburger to order them some lunch. I tell them to "SIT STILL and DON'T TOUCH EACH OTHER!!" And this is what I come back to. So mad!

Beach to Bay Run

2011-05-24T13:42:00.000-07:00

Last year I ran the beach to bay marathon relay with all my friends. Its to support our troops and people in Texas love their soldiers so its crazy crazy chalk full of people. It was so crazy last year I thought I would never do it again but I agreed to this time cause we organized it a little better. The idea is leg one would run all the way to leg 4 and get the car keys of leg 4 and drive to the end of the race to meet leg 4,5, and 6 who will all have run together. It keeps it simple cause it was hard when one person would stop at the end of their leg 4 miles away from the rest of us and try to find each other at the end. It worked out great but it meant I had to run a half marathon. No worries I had a fun time and don't mind running that far. My little sis lives down in Corpus so I went a day early and we did soem fun stuff. I only have pics of the kids cause I don't run with a phone or camera or anything I hate accessories. The first day we went to the mall and the kids got to ride this train all the way through the mall they loved it! And then we played and had cookies and pizza. Then we called it a night and I raced and we started the fun as soon as I got home. Read on for more pics :)

beach to bay-Aquarium

2011-05-24T13:38:00.001-07:00

Corpus has a really well done aquarium. Love it! Its one of the best out there. They added a new Dolphin show and you can touch sting rays and hold star fish. Now they have a new kids splash park. Major benefit of living in Texas. Kids love fish!

beach to bay - day at the beach

2011-05-24T13:36:00.001-07:00

Sand and kids is a big big mess let me just say that but soooo worth it.