No One Can Make a Face...

Like my Nolan can make a face!

The kid has the hugest eyes and he loves to make faces! It is hard for me to get a picture without him trying to make some sort of face. And sometimes he closes one eye and it makes his other eye really bug out! He makes me laugh. He is ALWAYS the entertainer!


Yep... he is at that age! Body humor is ALL THE RAGE! Booger, Farts, Burps... sigh!

Some of my favorite faces of his are in these 2 pictures! He was making a monster face of the camera... and I thought he really pulled it off well! Look at the intensity, and the way it looks like his right eyeball could just pop out!!! He was a GREAT zombie!!!

Don't get me wrong... he can look very sweet! And he is VERY handsome!

But then when the intesity strikes, that boy can bring it! The Easter Bunny left sand "ruins" in his basket. You use a brush and a hard plastic pic to dig out an artifact. When he really had to use pressure to break through the hardened sand, you could really see it in his face, so of course I had to take pictures!


This one is my favorite! Look at him go! Go Nolan Go!

I love my Crazy Boy!!!

Deja vu!

What is with my kids and sneaking chocolate pudding? I suppose it has to do with me not keeping a constant watch on the child with the chocolate pudding!

This is Lettie once upon a time when she was about a year old! Nolan had to have pudding to put some medicine in. I would put the medicine in a spoonful of pudding and then when he took it he could finish the rest of the pudding. He left it on the coffee table while I was doing dishes. I came into the living room and this is what I found:



Now fast forward to just a few days ago. Lettie still has trouble eating some things, so she requested chocolate pudding. She must have left it unattended on the couch she was sitting on! Sure enough, I come into the living room and this is what I find:



The good thing is she much have finished up most of the pudding and Callie was trying to get the little bit leftover. When Lettie got into the pudding it was basically a whole container EVERYWHERE! The thing I wonder is how come it always end up dripped down the middle of their forehead? How do they manage to get the pudding right between the eyes?!? It is amazing how a little container of chocolate pudding can make such a mess!

The Evolution of the Playset!

The reviews said you had to really love your children to put this playset together for them. AMEN!

Good thing we love our children! We finished about 10 days ago, we just did not have time to post with Lettie's surgery and everything!

Day 1: Levi and I started around noon and got the frame done. We got the boards sorted and ready!

Day2: Levi was at school so I did as much as I could by myself. He has pulled out his neck so I did the the floor and everything that one person could do by themselves.


Day 3: Levi was at school so I put up the railings. He for had gotten a stomach bug so basically I did all of day 3 with a little board holding help from Levi. the shingles are not on, but the railings are up where I do not have a heart attack every time a baby tries to join me at the top of the playset!

Typical me as I am building. Callie wanting me to hold her and Jovie getting into everything. Her favorite thing to do was to dump out my screws and then throw them. Callie would throw them too! They both are really good throwers now that they practices with a whole tub of 2" wood screws!
Day 4:The weather was AMAZING so I did as much work as I could do while Levi was at school. It was Thursday and they were calling for rain on Friday and we wanted to seal the wood before it rained... then we found out it was still too cold at night (it has to not get below 50 degrees) to properly seal the wood. So I was hurring for nothing. But I got the shingles on, the walkway finished!

Day 5: EVERY child got the stomach flu! Puke everywhere!!! It was BAD! When Levi got home I was able to put the tunnel and tunnel bracings in place... EVERYTHING WAS DONE BUT THE LITLE CROWS NEST! Then...


Day 6: My turn. I get the stomach bug BAD! I could not get out of bed! So... my dear sweet darling husband put the crows nest on. He would always talk about how as a kid the other kids would try to steal and hide the last pieces of a puzzle so they could be the ones to put them in. This was my "last piece" of the puzzle that I did not get to put in because I was SO SICK!!! Levi said he felt bad that I put all that work into it and I did not get the crowning moment of putting in the last screw, standing back, and admiring my work!

But I suppose I shall not complain! It turned out pretty didn't it! The kids love it! So, although it took a lot of work... yes it was worth it to see the joy my kids have when playing on it!


See look! Isn't that a cute picture?!? It is moments like this that make it all worth it! We bought a baby swing for it as well and Callie loves to swing. For some reason it scares my normally fearless Jovie! But Jovie is all about the slide! We had to remove the bottom rungs of the rock ladder so the big kids can still go up, but the babies can not! We are going to put something to block them from going down the big ladder as well. But other than that it is pretty baby friendly! I am going to make them a Home Sweet Home sign for the inside of the playhouse and maybe make some curtains that can be taken down and washed easily! There are so many fun things we can do with it! We are going to do our best to take good care of it so we can have years and years of family fun on our playset!!!

She did good... but still...

POOR PRINCESS TEENIE!

I went with Lettie to the hospital along with my mom. Levi was not feeling well, so he stayed home with the babies. When she got to the hospital she was fine until she was taken back. Then she said she was a little nervous. Before taking the kids back they give them some "happy medicine"! My mom and I could not resist taking pictures of her under the influence of this medicine because she was SO FUNNY! Her eyes were glassy, she had a relaxed & lose smile, she was slurring, and she was saying all sorts of funny things. She kept starting knock knock jokes that she would never finish because by the time I could say "Who's there?" she would lose her train of thought and end up starting over, or laughing very slowly! She also went on and on about how she wanted to ride the elevator up just once (I think the noises in the holding area sounded like elevator dings)! She was very upset when they took her from me and I was sad to see her go, but I they said she will never remember it because of the medicine.

The surgery did not take long at all, but the doctor said her adenoids were definately enlarged and she will breathe and sleep A LOT better now!

She came out of surgery and was out of her head. They always are. She was MAD and did not like that she had a oxygen monitor taped to her toe (which itself was just a teeny piece of plastic, NOTHING compared to the fact she had her tonsils and adenoids just cut out) and she kept trying to kick it off with her other foot. She was also upset about the IV and I really did not blame her. They do not want her to pull it out so they taped it tight to her hand and it looked like it hurt. When they took it off you could see where the plastic dug into her hands.

When they got her to an actual hospital room to recover in, the cartoons on the TV distracted her from the IV and she calmed down. She drank some apple juice and was able to get her IV out. We got home today, gave her Tylenol with codeine, and she has eaten probably at LEAST 8 Popsicles. She is very sore and very pitiful, but I can not help but think she will feel A LOT better tomorrow. I hope. I hope she will at least be able to eat something besides Popsicles. We will see! In the meantime I hope you enjoyed the picture of my drunk, but happy Princess Teenie!

My sleeping beauty!

Poor Callice! She just could not stay awake any longer and she fell asleep in her shredded cheese! I did not mind so much though, because it made a really cute picture.

Look at those long long lashes! She has such an angelic look about her when she is asleep! Even with cheese on her face!

Jovie tried to wake her up, but had no luck! She loves to pick on sister when she is tired!

Jovie is so pretty!

Jovie got into sister's make-up and made herself pretty! She came downstairs all glittery and sparkley! She had lipstick on the side of her face and a big blotch of purple glitter body stuff on the side of her face. And then of course she decorated her shirt with purple glitter gel as well! She KNEW she was georgeous! She had glitter everywhere... she was even glittery after a few baths!

Callie did not get into the make-up... but she thought Jovie was pretty as well! She kept looking over at her and smiling! Life with girls is always fun!

Jovie & her clubbed foot!

I went to change Jovie's diaper and I noticed a big bulge in the left leg of her sleeper. It is hard to see in the picture because her sleeper is baggy. I could not figure out what it was. I thought maybe a balled up onesie or something had been in the leg of her sleeper when I put it on and I just did not notice it. But how could I not notice something that big? Then when I grabbed her to change her diaper I realized her diaper was not on. One side came undone on her diaper and it has slipped down into the leg of her sleeper. But as you can see from the pictures, it did not bother her one bit! She is so easy-going! I love that girl! She is my little Pixie!

I dreamed...

I was 3.5 mo pregnant and did not know it until I went to the doctor because I was not feeling well. I woke up in panic... it was true NIGHTMARE! It took me awhile to calm down, it seemed so real. I seriously think I would not have been as panicy about a dream of being chased by a man with a knife.

And no... it is not funny!
And no... I am not pregnant!
And no... it is not a sign!

And I thought I have a lot of kids...

The fish in the middle of the picture (pale yellow with random spots) is Lovie! Levi bought her for me because she was ugly and he knew I would love an ugly fish. The only problem is, she is my only breeding female. So, we have an ugly fish making even uglier fish (that is her baby from her first "batch" to the left in front of her). The first time only about 8 babies survived. She was a new mom and did not know what she was doing, forgot they were her babies, got hungry, and ate some of them. They are mouth brooders. They lay their eggs, the male fertilizes them, and then they carry them in their mouth for about 3 weeks before releasing them. So, I figure she was probably really hungry. Plus, she is a small fish compared to the other ones, she does not have extra fishy fat to waste. In the 2nd batch all the babies died because we were moving the tank, she got nervous, and released them too early. We also lost our other breeding female in the move and her 3 babies. She only had 3 because we did not even realize she was a mommy until 3 babies showed up in the tank and she was protecting them. We were wondering why she was acting so weird.

Anyway, this is Lovie's 3rd batch of babies and she is now a seasoned mom and we did not lose one. We moved her into a separate tank when it looked like her mouth was about to bust open being so filled with babies. Open your mouth as wide as you can while still keeping your lips together and then puff out your cheeks. That is what she looked like... and I bet you look even siller than she did trying it out right now! Haha!

When she finally "let go" there were babies EVERYWHERE! And they were BIG! Lovie is really a teeny fish... I can not believe she held SO MANY for SO LONG! When they are released they usually have a yoke sac they live off of (looks like their belly is really big). These no longer had a yoke sac she held them so long! It is like having puppies ready to eat puppy food the first day. And to top it off she was being a really great mom and protecting them so well that is was near impossible to catch her so we could move her back to the main tank.


So, here are her babies. And as predicted they are ugly! Randomly spotted and striped and splotchy on a light yellow background! And there are AT LEAST 30 of them! They are everywhere! She had them about 3 weeks ago, so they are getting big! I could not get a great picture of them. But here is just a teeny area of the tank and there are about 13 fish in this picture, so that just shows how many we have!




Here is a view from above! I love to watch them grow! I love to watch them swim around and get braver the bigger they get. When they are old enough where their patterns are more distinguishable I am going to keep some of the not-as-ugly ones and give the rest to a pet store. Whenever Levi complains about how ugly they are, I remind him he was the one to buy me Lovie in the first place, so it is his fault!

I just wanted to share with you guys the joy of being a fish grandma to a nice healthy brood of over 30 babies! If anyone in the Charlotte area wants some Chiclids, feel free to let me know!

I sent Harry Potter to school!!!

Today was a reading celebration at Nolan's school! They celebrated Dr. Seuss's birthday on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday they were supposed to bring their favorite book. Of course Nolan brought Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Yep, we are already on the 3rd book! For those who do not know we read Harry Potter whenever he gets a happy face. I do not know who is more anxious for him to get a happy face... me or him! Thursday was hat day and he wore a cool dragon hat. And today, Friday, was dress as your favorite book character day. Which of course for Nolan was... Harry Potter! But I had NOTHING! And I kept forgetting to ask around to borrow something from other people (I know at the ward Halloween party there were PLENTY of Harry Potters). So, what is a mom to do?

Well, I told Nolan he was going to be Harry when he is home with the Dursley's, so that took care of tracking down robes. He had some of those Coke bottle fake "nerd" joke glasses. So I took them, sawed through the rims with a kitchen knife (quite an undertaking), took the middles out, and hot glued them back together. A little eyeliner and I made the scar. Then I spiked his hair and messed it up in typical Harry Potter fashion. The only problem is... no wand. He at least needed a wand. I could have sent him to school with his own personal Nimbus 2000 (aka my nice feather duster), but I am sure it would come back home missing most of it's emu feathers. See Post. So, I rummaged through my craft drawer, pulled the end off a paint brush, a tah-dah... instant wand!

I thought it turned out pretty good! I felt like a resourceful super-mom!

My poor Princess Teenie (aka Lettie)...

She has to get her adenoids out! While they are at it they are also taking her tonsils. Sigh...

She snores! She snores BAD!!!

There are even points where her breathing is interrupted. So she has a sort of sleep apnea as well. When they took a x-ray you could see that she had absolutely no distiguishable airway between her mouth and nose. So, picture the adnoid in the picture being so enlarged it cuts off the airway. That is Lettie. You could see the airway going to her mouth, but no further. She breathes out of her mouth. You would think she had a cold all the time. Sometimes she even snores while awake! Poor kid!

She is so teeny tiny, I hate for her to have to have surgery! But I am anxious for her to have her "nose fixed" and I think she is too!!! I think it will also help her speech. She talks like her nose is stuffed and I do not think she hears herself correctly because of it, so she does not annuciate!

She also sleeps a lot more than she should. Sometimes she is impossible to wake up even at 9am because she is so restless as she sleeps. So, it is a good thing... I think I am more nervous than she is! Also, she is such a pitiful thing when she gets sick or hurt too! So I know she is going to be a pitiful pitiful Princess Teenie! So keep us in your thoughts and prayers Monday, March 17!

Levi got a bonus at work...

So we got a swing set! It has been at Sam's club and every time we are there we are eyeing it! They had the same one last year and we were eyeing it then too, but it was just not the right time. All the reviews say the same thing: It is great when put together, but you have to love your kids very much to take on the undertaking of putting it together... which is what Levi and I are planning to do, so I suppose we really love our kids! It says it takes 2 men at 20 man hours a piece... so I suppose it will be a few weeks before Levi and I are done! Wish us luck! I will post pictures at the ribbon cutting ceremony!