Easter in Texas

I am relieved that I don't have any awful stories to tell you about our plane ride to Texas.  Adam didn't dip anybody's clothes into the blue toilet water.  Nobody got lost.  Melt downs were mostly by Kyle and it was only because he wasn't getting his usual long naps. We had a couple of snooty flight attendants that didn't seem to like our angelic kids but all our flights were on time. And this is probably our last time flying before we have to pay for FIVE TICKETS.  (fainted and woke back up....I'm ok.)

But we made it!!  And right out of the gate, the girls discovered that this whole time they've been visiting Gram and Poppy's house, they have never known that they have their own private mountain.  

I present to you...ROCK MOUNTAIN!!!  It's really just a pile of gravel but to our kids, it was the WORLD.  See their white leggings??  They were brown by the time we came inside that evening.  They would sit on top of rock mountain and slide down it as if it were a slide.  Ouch!

 Gigi flew in to spend time with the family as well.  I love that she is there when we all get together.  She lives in Nevada and is my mom's mother.  Love her!

Can you tell that mom and Adam are having a disagreement over dying Easter eggs?!  One of my favorite things about being married to Adam is his relationship with my mom.  They get along so well and when they get together they make me laugh so much.

Hunting Easter eggs with Poppy.  Kyle wore his boots but they were a little narrow for his Fred Flintstones feet.  He was tired when it was time to hunt eggs so his lovey had to tag along.    

Here is one of Adam's bags of dirt (the tie) that the girls got him for his birthday.

Emi has her party eyes on.  Some evenings, when she is lying in bed, she has Adam lay his head on her tummy and she pets his hair or his face.  Then she tells him that his face is crunchy.  She also told him the other day when she was darting through the room to "look out big bottom!"

My sweet girls.

 After we ate lunch, Emilie got up from the table and went to wash her hands but she saw a bug on the floor by the front door and made a big scene.  When Gram got up to kill it for her, Emilie yelled, "I can't handle this!!!"

Mom and Adam built a fire so we could make s'mores, while Dad, Robbie, and I did some roping.  I got to rope a lot with Robbie and my dad enjoyed running the chute and watching us.  My soft city rear end was a little sore!

Robbie and Lindsey joined us for a couple of days.  Kasey just had baby Nathaniel and stayed home where her mom was taking care of her and the new baby.  It was awfully sweet of her to spare Robbie for a couple of days!

Sweet cousins

 For a couple of evenings we went on family walks and Aubrie and Emilie would have foot races.  We were impressed with how far Aubrie could run!  And she was running in boots!  Emilie would try to keep up but then start crying and stopped when she realized she couldn't.  It was on those walks that I breathed in enough blooming mesquite and other desert foliage and almost died with allergies.

Aubrie got to do dishes at Gram's house.

Kyle would pull his hat down so low that he couldn't look up to see where he was going, he could only see his own shoes.  Any time you tried to pull his hat up, he would slap it back down over his eyes.  He's so stubborn.  He ended up with a fever for a couple of days and the finger that he always sucks on got a huge blister that we had to drain and keep bandaged.  We thought he was teething or something, but I think it was the start of his strep.

 Poppy had plenty of calves for us to rope and we enjoyed feeding them their grain.  Aubrie ended up riding one after we roped it.  Adam hung on to her and ran along with her, but it didn't buck.  

Cousins

We love Gigi

Every evening the kids got to ride the horses.  Aubrie wanted riding lessons from Poppy so she could ride all by herself.

Mom and Gigi on Duke and Slick

 At Gram and Poppy's house, you get spoiled with cookies and treats.  Kyle got to eat an ice cream bar but when it melted it pissed him off.

Since his boots didn't fit that well, he wore Emilie's pink boots around.  He refused to wear his other shoes.

We had so much fun and my parents are so hospitable to my large family.  The food is always delicious and the company is perfect.  I love getting my battery re-charged and watching the kids play.  There is no where to go and not a lot to do, so it's fun seeing what kind of games the kids come up with.  One of the girls' favorite thing to do is find sea shells...Dad eats pistachios out by his barn and the girls pick up the shells and think they are sea shells.  They also liked to play with the gravel.  Aubrie built a bunny trap.  Little did she know that Gram stood on the back porch the day before we got there and shot the Easter bunny that was eating her roses.  Glad she didn't have a bunny problem when we were there!!  The kids get to sleep in mom and dad's room on "cowboy beds" which are cots with sheets and blankets.  Emilie would get up in the middle of the night and start walking out the door and mom would have to catch her and put her back in bed.  We made so many memories to hold us through until we get to go back.  

I hope everyone enjoyed their Easter holiday!  Precious is the lamb who died for our sins!

Love to all!

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Bear with me

I've got so much catching up to do and it doesn't hurt that my blog is suffering, too.  I've been wanting to put up pictures and write about life's happenings, but life is happening way too fast!!!  Bear with me as I stumble here and there to help get you caught up!

We have Mother's Day.  I've got one of the best mom's out there.  I had so much fun being home in Texas (next blog post) and I actually enjoyed getting sick because both my mom and my grandma were there and took turns bringing me a blanket, tea, a cookie,  or medicine.  I milked it as long as I could because around here, I get to do those things for my kids and hubby.  

Last year we lucked into the best family picture ever taken in the history of families all because everyone smiled and Petey laid his head on Adam's lap like a content and perfect angel.  It was a total fluke and now we have high expectations on Mother's Day.  This photo took way too much time, the sun was way too bright, and we couldn't find the part of the tripod that screws into the camera so we taped the camera to the tripod.  

 Kyle was sick while we were in Texas for a couple of days, but then perked back up.  I ended up taking him to the doctor because as soon as we got home, his eyes were runny and nose started running so I thought his allergies were acting up.  Turns out he had strep, but not the throat kind, the staph infection kind.  He had a spot behind his ear that looked like a scab and they swabbed it and it turned out to be strep.  Nothing a day off from school and round of antibiotics couldn't fix.   

Big boys scream if you try to give them medicine so they have to take it themselves.

 Aubrie was born with a herniated belly button.  She ran around with what looked like a huge out-y bebo.  The pediatrician told us that if it doesn't go away by the time she is five, we can get it fixed.  So we took off for the surgeon and sure enough, it needed to get fixed and we signed up for a surgery date.  She was really good about not being nervous.  It helped that she talked things over with her classmates and they prayed for her.  Everything went well.  She was so brave and recovered perfectly.  When she came out of anesthesia, we weren't back there yet and she told the male nurse, "Oh.  Hi there."  And she visited with him and ate a Popsicle.  But as soon as we turned the corner into her room, she started crying and let her guard down.  It was so sweet to see how tough she could be.    

Showing off her new bebo.  She got a digital camera and she loves carrying it around and taking pictures of everybody.  We all have very unflattering pictures on her camera.  Just yesterday she snuck upstairs and took a picture of Brittney breast feeding baby Grayson.  

 This has officially been the longest winter of my life.  I definitely hate winter.  I've had so much of the kids being inside that I've stopped caring what they do, as long as they go outside.  So Aubrie began to dig holes in my flower beds.  Emilie collected rocks and put them on the window sill.  Kyle enjoyed standing in the garden boxes and stomping on the dirt.  This all came back to haunt me when I went to get the yard ready for summer.  After we planted plants and seeds in our garden, Kyle went and did the Mexican hat dance on them.  I don't think the carrots minded but we won't be having any bell peppers this year.  I had to buy dirt to fill in the giant hole Aubrie dug in the flower bed and Emilie had to move her rock collection somewhere else.  

April:  digging holes in a nice skirt and white leggings.  Mom doesn't care because it should be in the 60s. 

 AND THEN, this happened:

My precious baby graduated from preschool.  When they walked across the stage they announced what the kids wanted to be when they grow up and Aubrie said she wanted to be a doctor.  

I just can't believe she is five and going to be in Kindergarten this August.  I did pretty good throughout the graduation.  I teared up a little when I saw her in a cap and gown.  But it helped that it was the last day of school for my class and I was sitting with them in the sanctuary and we had to get back to our room to send them all home and get the room ready for summer.  But then this Sunday, we were on our way to church and she was singing "10,000 Reasons" and "Our God" by Chris Tomlin and I lost it.  Every morning when I back out of the garage, the kids pray on the way to school.  They have gotten pretty good at it and their prayers are so sweet to listen to.  And then this spring they requested to listen to "Our God" on our short drive to school and it hit me that it is going to be a long time before I have them all in the car with me and I'm taking them to school.  Next year Adam plans on taking Aubrie to school on the way to work since her school starts a lot earlier than Emilie and Kyle's MDO.  

My friend Marcie sent this picture of her little boy, Teague and Aubrie through the years.

 God gave me these sweet kids to raise and send out into this world and I'm working really hard this summer on preparing to send Aubrie off to Kindergarten. 

That Emilie.  She's a mess.  I've mentioned before that she speaks her own language, Eminese.  Well, one of her words is Kekis (Key-kiss).  She will say kekis while talking about something and then stop herself and say, "Wait.  Did I just say Kekis?"  She also calls us a Julius, which is her version of genius.  But then she conjugated the word julius but it is a noun and not a verb.  Bear with me.  So she'll tell Adam that he is a Julius.  Then she will say that I am a Jilas and Aubrie or Kyle is a junius. I hope she gets into linguistics or something when she goes to college.  

 The big guy has been getting bigger.  For months I haven't understood why he would say, "I want cookie" and bring me the bag of flour until one day I was on the phone and he brought me the bag of flour and I realized it had a huge picture of a cookie on the side of it.  Duh mom.  The pantry door definitely has a lock on it because otherwise this kid would be helping himself to whatever he wanted all day long.

He has become quite the talker.  On the way to church, Adam pointed to a tractor and said, "Look at the tractor, Kyle." and he responded, "Yeah da.  I see the tractor."

 Brittney talked me into re-starting our Cinco De Mayo parties.  We haven't had one since 2008.  So this year we put one together last minute and had a great turn out.  We had fajitas, enchiladas, tamales, salsas, salads, a pinata, and some tequila cupcakes for adults only.  :) 

All lined up and ready to hit the pinata!

 In other news, I'm an Auntie again!  Robbie and Kasey had their baby boy, Nathaniel Grant.  I love this picture of Robbie checking out his baby boy.  

We have also learned that Kyle can sleep anywhere.  Including the grocery cart with crazy Emi.  But it turns out that crazy Emi is a pretty good nurturer.  She ended up holding his head the rest of the way through the store.  

I catch her and Kyle loving on each other quite a bit.  I took this pic from the other room the other day.  He was supposed be eating his breakfast, but was fussing because he was the last one at the table, so she was consoling him.  

 Adam had a birthday.  The kids live for his birthday and Father's Day because we get to get up and sneak out of the house to go get donuts and give them to him in bed.  I took the kids shopping a couple of weeks before his birthday and really worked on explaining to them that they are NOT to tell Daddy when he gets home about the things we got him.  So as soon as he walks in the door, Emilie runs up to him and said, "Daddy!  We went shopping today and got you DIRT!!!"  And from then on, for anybody's birthday they tell them that they got them a bag of dirt for their birthday and then giggle as if they are pulling one over on us.  

Oh man.  The headboard.  I've been wanting a headboard for 9 years and I've finally found one on craigslist.  It was huge and heavy and Katie had me all jazzed up to get it painted and stained just like I wanted it.  She always is so confident in my abilities.  This one weekend project took three.  Sanding went well.  Painting it this cool green color went well.  But rubbing the stain on with a rag and getting it even didn't go well.  So after the second try, we got it perfect and went to put on the poly and it took off the stain.  So we had to start over.  So we get it just right again and plan on leaving it alone for a week and then putting on the poly.  That evening we go to move it to the other side of the garage and realize that our little helpers that go out to the garage and feed the dog picked up our paint roller and smudged a glob of paint on the headboard.  I was SO MAD!!!  But after Adam calmed me down and pointed out that it was right where his pillow will lay and nobody will be able to tell, we decided to leave it.  I kind of like that it's there so we can always remember this age.

The final product!

Here's some good news, as Emilie said, "Mommy!  I went to the dentist and I didn't scream and people didn't have to hug me!" In other words, she was a big girl at the dentist office and I didn't have to restrain her like a savage animal.

Waiting on getting her x-rays.

 We have had several visits from Adam's parents.  They were here to watch the kids when Aubrie had surgery and were here for their dance recital.  

And that's it.  We are pretty much caught up...to Easter.  Yipes.  In the meantime.  I hope everyone is going buck wild for summer like we are!!!

Love to all!

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This is Stinky Britches

It is spring break craziness around here.  Metro has a two week break.  MDO's break is next week.  Dance Class' break is this week...it's all confusing.  Since we didn't have to rush off to dance on Wednesday after school, I took advantage of the flexible schedule and put Kyle down for a morning nap and then put everyone down for a nap after we picked Aubrie up at school.

But something got to me.  I ran into a mom friend while picking up Aubrie and she mentioned that they were headed to the zoo after school.  The what?!  And a bunch of moms that pick up their kids at my class always go somewhere to do something...like get ice cream, go to the park, a playdate.  AND our school has a huge indoor playground and it is crowded with all these winning moms who pick up their kids at school and let them play in the playground.

AM I THE ONLY LOSER MOM WHOSE KIDS ARE WILD, GROUCHY SAVAGES AFTER SCHOOL?!?!?!

I thought, you know what Kellie, you're just soft.  You're just lazy.  It's time to be a fun mom.  Quit holding your kids back.  Get out there and be a winner.

So today, I'm putting away my walkie talkie and keys, carrying six bags and Kyle in the other hand, and telling Aubrie for the fourth time to put her sweater in her backpack and Emilie looks outside and says, "Mom?  Can we play outside?"  It goes silent.  All three kids' heads slowly turn to me and look for an answer.  I look outside at the beautiful weather and think of all my winner moms who are making me look bad and say...."Yes."

They bolted.  Outside they went.  They didn't look back.  They might have misheard me or I may have changed my mind.  They are jumping on the swings and Kyle's picking up gravel and letting it run through his fingers as if he found a treasure chest of gold.  MOM NEVER LETS ME PLAY WITH THE GRAVEL!

But it's not 3 minutes into that playground when some older kids are running over my kids and they are throwing rocks down the slide and tempting Emilie to do the same.  So I decide to go big time.  I announce that we are going to their favorite park.  We take off for our favorite park and the kids are beside themselves.  We pull up and I smell that Kyle has a stink.  So I unbuckle him and start to change his diaper and then Aubrie announces she has to go potty.  So she pops a squat in the car (relax, we have a portable potty) and we get out and head for the playground.

It's not five minutes into it when Emilie runs up and says she has to go.  So I round all three kids up and head back to the car.  Kyle is flipping out.  He thinks we are leaving.  He goes boneless.  He now weighs 100 pounds boneless.  We get to the car and Emi pops a squat.  We wrap up and head back to the park.  FIVE MINUTES LATER Aubrie runs up and announces loudly that she has to go poo!  Good grief.  We are not dropping THAT load in the car.  I look WAAAAY across the parking lot at the restrooms on the other side of the park and decide to get the stroller instead of carry a boneless whale all the way over there.  So I buckle Kyle in and we hike to the restroom for Aubrie to do her business.

We get back to the playground for the THIRD time and Kyle spots two kids with a soccer ball.  He bee lines over towards them and tries to grab their ball and I grab him.  He's screaming.  I carry him over to the slide to distract him and he just goes down the slide and races back for the ball.  I grab him again.  He's screaming LOUDER and kicking and acting like I'm a stranger trying to steal him.  We have everyone's attention now.  Lovely.  I put him down and he races back for the ball.  The poor little girl's mom tells her to share with Kyle and she is so upset she goes and hides behind a tree and the kids have to stop playing so my spoiled brat can play with their ball.

I've had it.  I grab him and take him behind the tree to thank her and return the ball and then go to strap him into the stroller.  I've got one of those cheap umbrella strollers that has been mis-handled by every Southwest Airline luggage crew you can think of and it has a lot of miles put on it.  Well, Kyle and I put it to the test.  He arched his back, I'm shoving him back into the seat and trying to buckle without pinching his belly fat.  He's still screaming.  Aubrie and Emilie are taking off towards the car and I'm trying to keep one eye on them to make sure they don't run out into the parking lot and I'm wrestling a squeeling pig.  And did you know that Kyle is so big that once you DO get him buckled in, if he arches his back while he's buckled in he can actually walk with the stroller strapped to his back???

It.
Was.
Horrible.

Forget it, moms.  I want to be a loser.  Kudos to you super moms.  I ain't one of them.

But wait.  On the way home, we grab some dinner and the whole time I'm thinking, "What's wrong with you, Kellie?  You are tough.  You WERE tough.  Are you just a quitter now?? You pansy!"

So I'm back to thinking I've got this under control and decide we are going to do an early bath tonight with bubbles!  (Adam is late coming home and as of the last 4 baths, Kyle's gotten in trouble for hitting and splashing and been banished from the bath early)

So in the bathtub my naked babies go.  Look at them!  See?  This is easy! They are so happy!  YESSSS!!  You did it, Kellie.  You rock!  Until...

A floater.

A big.  fat.  floater.

Sonofa.

And you know what.  I grabbed it with my bare hands.  You heard me.  BARE HANDS.

THAT is how tough I am.

I emptied that bath water out, scrubbed the tub, then plopped those kids back in there and shook that floater off like it was nothing.  NOTHING, I TELL YOU!

But seriously, I'm not taking my kids anywhere fun after school....ever.

  

We made up.  I climbed in his crib for some cuddle time because this is my last baby and I always wondered what it was like in there.  And yes, I'm still wearing my Christmas jammies.

When we are in an elevator, or at a store, or at church...anywhere, if an adult starts talking to the kids, Emilie immediately takes over and tells our life story.  But she begins with introducing everyone and it's always, "My sister Aubrie, I'm Emilie, and this is stinky britches." 

senior stinky britches

We had rebound ready drills the other night.  Adam was showing them how to get low and get your elbows out.  We didn't know until she returned to the room with an ice pack, but Aubrie got injured during the drills.  Kyle mostly sucked his finger.

We found Emilie sleeping with her socks on her hands.  She leaves her light on and we have to go turn it off every night.

I hope everyone is having a good week.  A friend posted on facebook that her toddler pulled the fire alarm at school today.  That makes me feel SO good.  Finish strong, my friends. 

Love to all!

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LadyBug Incident of 2014

Nothing gets you geared up for the day better than a major family crisis FIRST THING in the morning.  I stepped out of the shower and Aubrie had come down stairs to talk to me.  She does this every morning.  It's usually to tattle on Adam, argue about the outfit I laid out for her, or give me some outrageous request (can we have donuts and chocolate milk for breakfast?)

This morning she greets me with a ladybug.  And it isn't a pretty ladybug.  It's crunchy and brown.  I asked her where she got it and she said matter of factly, "Silly mommy.  I TOLD YOU, it was in my nightstand."  

Friends, there was this one nice day last month that Aubrie was outside finding lady bugs and putting them in this old Christmas cookie tin and carrying them around.  She filled it with rocks and grass and flipped out when Kyle dumped it all out and she had to save them.  Well, in true Aubrie fashion, she most likely trafficked one of those ladybugs into her room and put it in her nightstand for safe keeping.

This ladybug was DEAD.  Crunchy dead.  

NEWSFLASH:  THE LADYBUG WAS NOT IN THE NIGHTSTAND.  I REPEAT, NOT IN THE NIGHTSTAND.  I just asked Adam a question and he said, "that she found it on the kitchen window sill, it fell on the floor, she picked it up, looked at it, loved it, and brought it in to you.  But yes, that thing was dead."

OK, so now we are at the part where she brought it to me. I asked, "Can it fly?"  "I don't think so." she responds.  So I tell her that she probably misses her family and she should set her outside to play while she is at school today.

Aubrie leaves my room.  This is what Adam said happened next:

Breakfast was ready and I told her to go ahead and take it outside.  So she takes three steps towards the door and says, "Emilie needs to say goodbye to ladybug."  And then it started.  Tears.  A big ol' cry fest over saying goodbye to the ladybug and how much they'll both miss her.  

Meanwhile, I'm in my bathroom and I can hear everything.  Emilie is BAWLING and saying things like, "we shouldn't have said goodbye."  "Ladybug will miss us."  "We will never see Ladybug again forever!!" and Aubrie is sobbing and saying things like, "Daddy made me put her outside."  "She won't ever find her way back."  "This is the worst day EVER."

Kyle doesn't care about the drama.  His breakfast is good!

Adam comes into our room and looks at me and flops on the bed and says that when our daughters start PMSing, he and Kyle are going to check into a hotel or he will be traveling that week and he lays down on the bed.  

I am putting on my makeup and I am giving him a pep talk.  I remind him of the Tinkerbell movie that we have been watching lately on Netflix and told him to go tell the girls that the little girl in the movie had to let Tinkerbell go and not keep her because she had to go home to her family.  Adam is feeling confident and goes back out to the war zone and feeds the girls my Tinkerbell line.

MISTAKE.

Aubrie sobs, "I KNOW DAD!  Jennifer cries in the movie when Tinkerbell leaves and so we can cry, too!!!"  

By this time, I've made my way into the kitchen to make lunches and I grabbed my camera to capture this moment.  It was truly unbelievable.  After Aubrie ate her breakfast, she went upstairs and DREW her ladybug a picture.  This about sent Adam over the edge as he watched her walk outside and lay it down on the patio table "So that my ladybug can remember me and carry this picture around while I'm gone."

 Poor Girls.  Nothing hurts more than the loss of a ladybug.  Adam has never been more happy to leave for work.  Hope you aren't having any meltdowns this week!  

Love to all!

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