A New Era

So there are a few things I swore I would NEVER do. One is be like my Mother, two is be over a certain weight, and three be a soccer Mom who drives a minivan. Now a month before my 38th birthday I have found that I should never say never, because I have now become everything I said I wouldn't.

I am more like my Mother everyday, I even laugh like her. I fluctuate between being above and below the weight I said I would never reach. (I am not telling you because I don't want anyone to know and it's a work in progress to lose the weight I know I need to.) Then to top it all off Ethan plays soccer and yesterday we bought a minivan. Ahhhggg!
It's really nice, it gives us a lot of room/storage and we got a killer deal on it. Mason will be 2 this August and we finally had to admit that we needed to be practical and get something that would meet our families needs. It's a dark blue, 2008 Chrysler Town & Country. Holly and Ethan love it because it has a DVD system in it and Ethan really loves it because he found out there is a place to hook up a video game system. He was ready to move our Wii out into the van last night, but we had to explain to him that he doesn't get to play video games unless we are going on a really long trip. Which we are planning to go on in July. We are going to Canada, it has been over 8 years since I was home, so I wouldn't miss it for the world and I know that the minivan will make the trip with 3 kids so much easier.

Somehow I just feel like I have given into everything I said I wouldn't and so now I'm officially middle aged and old. Buying this minivan was like saying goodbye to my youth. The next thing I know my kids are going to be dating and I'll be saying "where did the time go". Who am I kidding I'm already saying that. Wasn't I just in high school?

Don't get me wrong I love the minivan with all it's features that make my life with kids so much easier, it's just all the implication that go along with it.

Anyway it is just going to take some time for me to adjust to the next stage of my life, that I have been beating away with a very big stick for a such long time.

sigh......

Many Posts

I have now caught up on everything I have missed posting over the past little while. So read all the posts below. Fun pictures, fun stories so be sure to read all. Have fun and I look forward to lots of comments. Oh how I love comments!

Walking to School

Ethan has been bugging me to walk him to school forever. It is a ways and I'm the type of person that I need to plan and outing like that so I told him last week that if the weather was good and we planned the day ahead of time we could do it. So last Wednesday we planned on walking to school. Ethan was up at 5:30 am so that he would be sure to wake me up in time. We got all ready and set off at 8:10 am to walk Ethan to school. Holly had to ride her bike and Mason wasn't too happy that he had to be in the stroller but we set off.
We made it half way there and I made my kids stop by the fountain in a park that is between our house and the school. I love the fountain and think it is a great place for pictures. To bad they roped it off so you can't get up to sit on the rocks. That would make some awesome pictures.

Anyway I've gotten off track here. We get all the way to the school and Ethan takes off without giving me a hug or anything just "Bye Mom". I guess he is just at that "too embarrassed to kiss his Mom" age.

Holly by this time was getting tired but I told her that if she could make it to the park we would stop for a bit and she and Mason could play. That got her there and they played but we also found a couple of ladies in our Ward that said that on Wednesday's a bunch of them get together and meet at the fountain so they can all walk together and pick up their kids from school and then they stop at the park on the way back so that all the Mom's can talk and the kids can all play together. Holly heard this and decided that we could go home make a picnic and then go walk to get Ethan and play with the other kids on the way back.

Being the wonderful Mom I am said "yes", not thinking that I wouldn't be in any shape to walk all that way again but we did it. We ate some of our picnic but the kids were having too much fun to stop and eat much. We finally got home and crashed! I got burned to a crisp because I was too busy making sure the kids had sun screen on I forgot about myself. Holly got a huge blister on the back of her heel and was so tired that I never want to walk Ethan to school again. I clocked it the next day and found that it is 1.2 miles one way to the school and Holly and I did that 4 times. So we walked a total of 4.8 miles between 8am and 12noon. It was Earth Day so I can say I did my part because I didn't drive my car the whole day.

Ethan had the gall to ask if we could walk the next day. I told him once I recover from the last time I will think about driving to the park and walking him from there but I will not walk to and from school with all three kids again. I'll think about it if it's just him and I, but we'll see.

Sofie the Kidnapped Spider

We were all in our back yard the other day, enjoying the sun shine and playing a little ball, when the golden lab puppy who lives just through the fence came to play. I guess there is a hole behind our shed that he can get through from his yard to ours. This dog loves to play with who ever he can find. My kids love him BUT are a little freaked out because of how excited this dog gets.

Well the puppy decides that he is going to have some fun and gets a hold of the tennis ball that Ryan and Ethan was using to play baseball with and takes off with it through the fence. We all thought this was funny but were trying to figure out what we were going to use to play ball with when the puppy appears again with the ball in his mouth and runs around with it. Clearly just wanting to play with someone.

This goes on for a little bit when Holly puts her stuffed spider, Sofie down to swing. The dog runs right over, grabs Sofie in his mouth and runs off behind the shed and through the hole in the fence. Thinking he was going to do the same thing with Sofie the spider that he did with the ball we wait for him to come back with her. We wait, and wait and Holly is starting to really get upset. Then the dog comes back but without Sofie at which point Holly freaks out. I look at Ryan and say you better go over and tell the people who live there 1) that the dog took off with Holly's stuffed spider and ask if we can get her back and 2) to see if they even know that the dog is getting out.
So Ryan says "oh alright" and gets Ethan to go with him. I stay in the yard with Holly and Mason and try to get Holly to calm down to no avail. Ryan returns a few minutes latter triumphant with Sofie in hand. Holly is so overjoyed she can't thank her Dad enough for "saving Sofie". A little girl is happy once again and so ends our tale of Sofie the kidnapped Spider.

Easter 2009

Easter was quite at our house this year. The kids got up and had a Easter egg hunt around the house and enjoyed what the Easter Bunny brought them. They didn't get new outfits or anything we just went to church and then came home and had a Ham dinner.

But I guess that is the best way to celebrate the Savior. Simply and with family.

Here are a few pictures of the kids with their Easter treats.

Holly checking out the baskets...

I love the look that Ethan is giving his sister while looking for eggs.

And here is my cute boy...

Boomer

So Mason now has an official nickname that has stuck. Boomer. Because he destroys everything he gets his little hands on and so it looks like it just went "boom". Get it.

Anyway he has been at it again. He is taller than Ethan and Holly were at his age and so I've have had to learn the hard way that he can reach a lot. Also to add insult to injury he is a little to smart for his own good, as he has watched his older brother and sister and has learned how to use a stool. So I can't leave him alone for one minute.

He loves to go get the stool out of the bathroom that we have for the other two to use to reach the sink to brush their teeth, and brings it into the kitchen. I keep a box of tissue on the island there as we are always in need one for someone. Mason just loves to pull out all the tissues because when you pull one out another one just pops up. As you can see from the picture I made the mistake of buying too big of a box thinking it would last longer. Oh how wrong I was. The bigger the box the faster it goes with Mason around.

Mason also loves anything electronic, especially if it is his Dads. Ryan is always on his Blackberry or his iTouch so Mason just seems to thinks that its cool because Dad does it. So I walk into my bedroom one night and find this...

He is lying on his Dad's side of our bed with Ryan's Blackberry, pushing all the buttons he can. Lucky for Ryan that he locked it before he put it down so that Mason wouldn't call anyone. I guess he learned after Mason got a hold of it and called Wal*mart's wire transfer center one day.

Mason has such a great personality and is so cute you can't help but just love him. The problem is that he knows just how cute he is and uses it to his advantage. I know life with him is going to be so much fun!

To Much

So I haven't been really good about posting anything lately and that is mostly because I just haven't had the motivation to. I think I took on to much for too long and now my body and mind are shutting down.
My kitchen still isn't done, my room still needs to be painted and Ethan's room is begging to be done. But I just don't have the energy to do the dishes so where do I get the energy to finish my house? I have no idea....
The weather around here really isn't helping matters either. We have a nice day where the sun is shining and I can open all the windows and then... RAIN and COLD blow in. Talk about a downer. Today is SNOWED! I really am starting to think that the sun will never come out.
I don't know about anyone else but I like the sun shine, not the heat but the sun. It can be cold and snowy out but give me the sun! I didn't used to be like this...maybe I've just been married to Ryan too long. I am starting to take on some of his traits because he really needs the sun shine to be a happy boy.
Anyway I'm not slacking because the the lack of anything to write about just the motivation and energy to do it. So pray for sun. For me pray for sun...