Layla's last day of Pre-school

Not sure why Layla is upset in the first picture, but that is pretty normal around here.

The second picture is one of Layla's best friends Elise.

The third is her posing with her Certificate!

Spring guests

We had some temporary visitors living under our deck. A mommy bird (or maybe it was the daddy) built a nest and then laid three eggs.

We watched three eggs.

Then one cracked and there was a creepy weird looking thing and two eggs.

Then there were two creepy looking weird things and one egg.

Then the creepy looking weird things looked even stranger as they grew straws out of their skin.

The the straw things started to get fuzzy.

Then they had feathers and talked to us with the little beaks.

Then Jason noticed that there was bird pooh all over the deck.

Jason went to the birds and scared them out of their nest.

Then the mommy and daddy bird dive bombed Jason and tried to attack him for showing the
birdies how to leave the nest.


And still one little egg sat in the nest.

Grocery Shopping

SO, I had to go to the grocery store. Almost out of milk, almost out of bread, almost out of pickles (don't ask).

So I pack up all three kids and off we go to Wal-mart. I spent 45mins yelling, "Get back in the cart." "You get one last chance." "THAT'S IT!!"

I buy apples, bananas, milk, pickles, bread, grapes, ice cream, popsickles, sandwich baggies, cereal, and lots of other food stuff. As we are walking to the checkout I see Oreo, Strawberry Milkshake Creme Chocolate Sandwich Cookies. They are 2 for $4 plus a $1 off coupon when you buy milk. Who can resist Oreo s for a dollar? In the cart they go.

Go to check out. Fight the kids again, "No, we are not getting gum." "Get back in the cart." "One more time and you are going to bed when we get home."

Pay, actually have cash, believe it or not!

Go out to car, unload kids, buckle kids, give kids each a snack, unload groceries, run cart back to cart house place, run back to car, jump in, get buckled, and remember....
THE COUPON, it is still in the pocket...so much for cheap cookies. At least they are good. Or maybe that is a bad thing. How can a serving possibly be two cookies? I think that they should be serious, just write on there that ten cookies is one serving, we all know it is true!!

Video

I was praying in the background...Please don't let my house fall down. In this video, my dad is inside hitting the block with a sledge hammer. Jason and neighbor Steve were trying to get the chunk out!

Hard work

This week-end Jason and Dad put a window in the basement!!!!!!! It took them two days, and was a very dusty project.

Bathroom Floor

So this is the finished bathroom floor. He finished the piping, repoured the concrete and put the beautiful tile down. I LOVE it! That hole is where the toilet will go. The sink will go beside that.

Construction

We (meaning Jason) have been doing lots of construction work in the basement. Whoever designed the layout was an idiot and made the entire back half of the basement useless. So, my incredible husband moved the bathroom rough ins. This entailed sawing through the concrete, breaking it all up with a giant sledge hammer, cutting into the existing pipes ( a little scary...um, do you know what goes through those pipes?!?) Anyway, so this is the re-routed shower and toilet drains.

I've been tagged!!

I've been tagged...

Here are the rules:
1. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
3. At the end, the player tags 5 others and posts their names. Then goes to their blog and posts them a comment to let them know they've been tagged and asks them to read your blog to find out the details.

1. What I was doing 10 years ago:
Ten years ago to the day I was taking finals for my nursing pre-requisites. Right after my finals I flew out to Provo, UT where I lived with my sister and her fun friends for two months. We played and had so much fun together. I got a job there doing telemarketing.

2. Five things on my to do list today:
Laundry
Put kids to bed (it is bed time here, but Dad isn't home yet. That is usually one of his chores)
clean up office
do dishes
get Mother's Day sharing time figured out

3. If I were a billionaire I would:
Buy a house on land where I could build my husnabd a big fun garage. Buy new cars that were made in the 2000's. (Our current cars were made in 1989, 1997, 1997, and 1999). I think that I would also go back to school.

4. Bad habits:
Laziness, I can avoid almost anything
Making excuses
Any kind of food, I just LOVE to eat. I don't have to be hungry
Being messy

5. Five places I've lived:
San Antonio, TX
Marrietta, GA
Mukilteo, WA
Ramstein-Mesenbach Germany
Havre de Grace, MD

6. Five jobs I've had:
Pizza Girl at Anthony's Pizza
Tutor in Math Center at Harfor Community College
Home Health Aide for Choice Care, a private pay company
Nurse at Harford Memorial Hospital
and my all time favorite: MOM!!!

I tag Jessica Loff, Katie Monson, Allison Testerman, Tiffany Rueckert, and I don't think that I have any other friends! (That haven't been tagged by my sister...that actually look at my blog) I could tag my mother in law, Patti, but she doesn't have her blog up and running yet.

Littler is cuter

So the other day at the playground a friend and I were talking about the general opinion that tiny versions of things are just so dang cute! For those of you who, like me, where size nine (or larger) shoes, you know that when you go shoe shopping, the display size 5 is WAY cuter than your man sized sandle.

Anyway, so that night when we went to Walmart and bought tiny ice cream cones, I just had to take a picture. Aren't they so cute! I could eat like ten of them in one sitting! And yes, that is a real strawberry it is sitting next to.

He is my son!

So I walk into the kitchen the other day and this is what I see!The brilliant child had gotten out a thing of frosting, opened it and was eating it!!

He is my child!!!!

Potty Training

To say we are potty training Ryan would be a HUGE exaggeration. But to say that I occasionally remember that he doesn't NEED to be in diapers, if I would just put forth a little effort, would be more accurate. Today was one of those days. He sat on the potty chair and ate a hot dog, and watched Teletubies. And he went potty. I cheered and gave him a hug and was so happy and excited.

The whole point of this post is, why doesn't someone cheer and congratulate me everytime I got potty. I never wet my pants anymore (at least when I am not 8-9 months pregnant, that is) and no one ever gives me candy.'

So, next time you go potty, picture me in your mind's eye cheering and clapping.

"I am so proud of you for going potty!!!"

Layla's Recital

Monday on Dr Phil

A Secret Inside: Extreme Hoarding

Imagine being forced to dwell in a space that is so cluttered with junk, food and trash, you can barely walk. Nancy and her boyfriend, Bob, live this nightmare every day. In their two homes, flies and plastic containers fill the kitchen, moldy food is stuffed in four refrigerators and boxes and plastic bags litter the house. The two youngest children sleep on the same couch in the living room, because one's bedroom is cluttered, and the other child doesn't even have a bedroom! Nancy, a former nurse, admits to being an extreme hoarder, but how did she and Bob, a former corporate attorney, allow their lives to degenerate to this chaotic clutter? Their home is trashed, and they're in debt $100,000. Could other issues be contributing to the chaos in the house as well? Hear from the three children, 16, 11 and 9, who are trapped in this mess. Are Nancy and Bob finally ready to rescue their family from the rubble before the kids' lives are ruined forever?

No, this is NOT about me...but in 30 years, who knows?? Just kidding, but I am inspired to go through things and we will be having a yard sale next Saturday. I am going to be getting rid of a lot of my baby things. If and when we do decide to have another baby, I am going to want new things anyway!

Austin's Birthday!

Austin was lucky this year. He had mulitple birtday parties. He one one party with Grandma and Grandpa Crowl, Emily, and David. David's birthday is the 29 of March, Emily's is the 2nd of April, so we had a big celebration.

Then on his actual birthday we went to Chuck E Cheeses where Grandma and Grandpa Richards met us

My husband's beard

My brothers are always posting pictures of their facial hair. Here is Jason's latest accomplishment in that arena!

We have a new Bishop!!

In our church we have a volunteer clergy. No one gets paid to do anything. We do not have a pastor, or a reverend. We have a Bishop. He is the father of our congregation. He has a full time job, and a family, sometimes he is still in school. He is usually in the position for around 5 years. It is a lot of work and can be overwhelming.

So anyway, we got a new one today. Our old Bishop was amazing and moved up to be the Stake President (this has nothing to do with eating red meat) but is another job with huge responsibilities.
I was shocked by who was called, not because he is not an amazing guy. Not because he is not qualified, not because I don't know that he will do an incredible job, but because he is our friend. He is 30 years old! He went to high school with my husband! He is too young to have that much responsibility! He has a two year old and a 6 month old.

WHEN DID WE GET SO OLD!?!?!? When did we turn into the parents? It seems like that is a job my dad should have, or the dad of one of my friends. NOT someone my age, not my friend! So weird!!

Okay, that is my rant. I totally support my new Bishop. I hope that his wife knows that I am here for her and will help her with anything, anytime!

My bedroom

I painted. Just now. I am trying to paint my bedroom, we have lived in the house for four and a half years, and I am just now painting. Anyway, so I painted one wall and want opinions...it is actually more of a purple than the picture shows. What do you think?

Entertaining a three year old!

This video is very dark, I hope you can see it. Turn up your volume to really appreciate this!

Easter Eggs

This is the kids dying Easter Eggs. Well, okay, this is them after they dyed the eggs. My hands were covered in sparkle magic dust to take pictures during.

Out of the mouth's of Babes!

Quote of the morning...can you figure it out?

Ryan: "No, no, mom-ma, shop shakin your boo-ashe."

Ok, since some of you think that we teach our children inappropriate words....

BOOTIE!!! That is what Ryan was telling me, to stop shaking my bootie.

My cool dude!

Notice anything different?

Our latest disaster

The other night we were laying on the floor playing steamroller for our family night activity when I noticed some lines on our ceiling. I pointed them out to Jason who jumped up and starte poking at the ceiling and then ran upstairs. Long story short, our master bathroom floor has been leaking and has molded and gotten rotten. Jason tore it all apart to see what was going on. His brilliant mother recommended that we see if our insurance will cover it. So we are waiting for an insurance adjuster to come out and see if they will help pay for any of it! Wish us luck.

New Dress

This is one of my latest finds. It was $5.99 at Gabriel Brothers. It is sleeveless, so for now I will wear a sweater with it, but I think that I will try to sew some little cap sleeves onto it. It is all white ( I know, crazy) with embroidered daisies. I actually bought two dresses, both for that same price. When I wear the other one, I will post a pic of it too. I think I like them even more because they were SO cheap!

Funny things

These are some funny things that have happened or been said at our house:

We were downstairs and Mommy was taking about the changing table.

Austin: Why are you taking that apart?
Mommy: We don't need it anymore.
Austin: Let's have a yard sale and sell it then.
Mommy: But what if we decide to have another baby? Then we will need it again. Don't you want to have a new baby someday?
Austin: No.
Mommy: You don't want a new brother?
Austin: No.
Mommy: Or a new sister?
Austin: NO!!
Mommy turned to Layla, "Layla don't you want a new brother, or a new sister?"
Layla: "No, I don't want you to yard sale me!!"





We were trying to leave to run some errands. I kept yelling at the kids and telling them to get ready.
Mommy: Austin, get your shoes on!

Mommy: Austin, get your shoes on!

Mommy: Austin, get your shoes on!!!!!

Mommy: AUSTIN, GET YOUR SHOES ON!!!!!!

Austin: I have my shoes on, you pyscho!!!




Today Austin picked up a pot that was sitting on the counter top, put it on his head and started dancing around singing, "I'm a pot head. I'm a pot head!"

Why there is so much food on the floor after dinner

All of these pictures were taken during a ten minute period. I was just fascinated to see how my youngest cannot sit still! Why on earth did Jason take the straps out of the high chair?

Layla helping clean

For Navin

This is Mikayla, Michelle's daughter. Navin, father/husband is in Iraq. This is a little video we make when they were visiting the other day of Mikayla's first lolly pop!