A new name & a lesson taught

Everyone knows how I have described this kid in the past. Wall and carpet artist, smearer, squirter and dumper to name a few. He has recently decided it was high time for a new name. He has been far too quiet around here lately. Well, actually that is a complete lie, it is more like I have gotten use to his naughtiness and he has just decided to up his game.

His new name is loser - loser of a diamond stud earring. That just seems to fit right in with the rest now doesn't it.

Owen likes to push our chair over to our dresser and "play" with anything up there. I have some diamond stud earrings in their own box that I forgot to put away at a higher elevation (for this exact reason). Last night I noticed the box was not sitting exactly where I left it. I got nervous. I shook the box and I heard noise. I just about set it down thinking I was safe when I decided I had better open it just in case. What I found were 2 earring backs and no earrings. Deep breath. And why couldn't the backs be missing and the earrings safe inside?

I immediately get down on my hands and knees and start looking for the lost earrings. I figured that he probably didn't have a real interest in them to actually take them somewhere. He probably opened the box, dumped them on the ground and then moved on to his next naughty act. I found one right off the bat right in front of the dresser. The next one was nowhere to be found. I went to bed very grumpy thinking of ways I could sell him without getting in trouble.

The next morning right after Owen woke up, I showed him the recovered earring and asked him where the other one was. It wasn't like I had any confidence that he could actually tell me, but I was desperate so I decided to ask him anyways. All he could tell me was that it "jumped" out of the box and "it was running down the street." So he was no help at all. Surprise surprise. I felt every inch of the carpet. Scott looked in all of the dresser drawers. Even Bennett and Taylor came in to help me. No luck.

After awhile of hunting it dawned on me that maybe this would be a good time to teach my boys a little lesson. So I asked "What is something else that we can do when we need help finding something." Taylor immediately responded "We can pray and ask for help." Thank goodness something Scott and I have taught has sunk in.

So we all get down on our knees and Taylor says a prayer asking Heavenly Father to help us find my earring. In the back of my mind I was hoping that he would immediately help us so that I wouldn't have to try and explain the whole concept of sometimes prayers aren't immediately answered. I didn't want to confuse them at this point.

We started looking again. A few minutes later it occurred to me that maybe we should look on the chair that he drags over to the dresser to see if it somehow got wedged between the seat and the back of the chair. And sure enough there it was shinning in all it's glory!

We all got down and thanked Heavenly Father for helping us and I immediately got up and put my earrings away in a very high spot.

Crazy Crazy Hair!

This kid has the craziest hair. Once in awhile I think I should shave it, but I just can't. I love it! None of my other boys had hair like this.






The hair at the top of his head sticks straight up. It will not lay flat!

o.k. this is just freaky

The first time we spoke in Sacrament meeting with President Eyring sitting behind myself and Scott was absolutely terrifying.

The second time Scott spoke in Sacrament meeting with President Eyring sitting behind him was funny. Funny because I wasn't the one speaking and the chance that it would happen a second time was slim to none.

The third time Scott spoke in Sacrament meeting (today) with President Eyring sitting behind him was just downright freaky. This is a man who comes to our Ward 3 maybe 4 times a year. The 3 times Scott has spoken in our Ward in the 2 1/2 years we have been here and President Eyring manages to be there each and every time. Yikes! What are the chances of this? Miniscule? I can tell you one thing. I wasn't grumbling today about wrestling 4 boys myself while Scott sat on the stand. I wouldn't have traded with him for anything.

What is a boy? I will show you.

2 pictures = 2 absolutely perfect examples of what a boy truly is.

Boys manage to somehow bring mud and sand into the house and into my laundry baskets despite the fact that the ground has been frozen solid for months.



Boys will find amazing spots to store their toys. I'm pretty sure this lego ladder did not come as a bonus prize with the sandwich bags. Why is this in here? I have no idea. Especially considering the fact that the lego ladder has never been a coveted lego accessory in our house and worthy of hiding from the other brothers.



That's the kind of house I live in.

I must say

There is really nothing better than a freshly washed baby. Mmmmmm

Things overheard at our house today

"Mom this isn't a chore this is cleaning the whole house."

"We have to clean up everything and you're just playing around."

"Mom, can't we just stop cleaning?"

"It's going to take forever."

"Mom we've already cleaned like half of the house."

"Mom, you're working us to death."

"Do we have to clean up everything?"

"We've been cleaning for an hour and I don't want to clean for 2 hours."

"We're going to clean forever."

"This is not a good Valentine's Day."


Yep, cleaning day today. I'm such a mean mom.

sixes!

Rules:
1. go to the document/ my pictures site on your computer
2. go to your sixth file
3. go to your sixth picture
4. blog about it
5. tag 6 people

Since I use iphoto to organize my pictures I just started at the top and counted over 6 folders. That took me to the Alaska cruise that Scott's family took back in 2004. Six pictures into the folder was this



A picture of my sisters-in-law Kathy, and Diane and my brother-in-law Dave. They are standing on some unknown bridge somewhere in Alaska.

Heck I might as well add a few more picture while I'm at it. It was quite a nice cruise.



This is Dolly's house, the famous prostitute in Ketchikan. You could take a tour of her house and see the condom shower curtain that she made. We skipped that tour.



Having dinner with one of the ship's officers. He was from Norway. Can't remember his name to save my life.



The scenery was stunning.



The icebergs were this blue.

Scott and I both agreed that we would love to visit again.

Karen, Amber, Kari, Sarah L., Michelle, Lisa - would you like to join?

Fashion at the Kimballs

The Kimballs aren't exactly known for our fashion sense. Let me show you why.

Example 1:
Taylor's Sunday shirt. He wears this shirt EVERY Sunday. Not any other day. If I try to convince him to wear this shirt or any other decent shirt (ie one with a collar) any other day of the week I am greeted with wailing and gnashing of teeth.



Example 2:
This is what he wears every other day of the week. EVERY. He has this new BYU jersey and an older one. He actually prefers the older one because it has a number on it, but I do have to wash it occasionally so he will resort to wearing this one on occasion. Only when they are both dirty will he wear something else in his drawer. A collarless, pictureless long sleeve t-shirt.



No collars. No camo. No stripes. Plain and simple.

Funny story about the bruise on his forehead. The other day when I picked him up from Tae Kwon Do I noticed this bruise that wasn't there when I dropped him off. Before I asked him the obvious question about what happened I had already concluded that he must of had a rough day sparring. No. He hit his forehead on a chair as he was bending over to take off his shoes. The sparring didn't phase him. The chair did.

Example 3:
My pickiest kid of all. If Owen had a choice he would choose to wear pajamas all day every day. In fact most days he does. We have gotten into the bad habit of changing his pajamas at night into clean ones. Only when we go out will he put clothes on. I call him my little hermit. I can't blame him. I would love to wear pajamas all day, but wearing stretchy things makes me feel 10 pounds heavier and my self-esteem plummets, so I try and avoid it while the sun is up.

Owen's next choice would be to wear his Batman costume around the house. 3 sizes too small and skimpy as all get out. Never mind that it is freezing outside and there is more fabric in his underwear than in this entire thing. He has loved it to pieces literally.


If we actually have to leave the house this is the outfit of choice. Jeans, his robot shirt, snow boots and his "white coat." On the cutting edge of fashion this kid is. Look at that strut.



Example #3
Now I haven't forgotten Bennett. I actually don't have a picture of him in his favorite outfit because he is the easiest of all when it comes to clothes. He wears jeans and some variety of shirt in his drawer. He is not dead set on any one thing. Occasionally he will get wild and crazy and wear his camo or cargo pants, but that is about it.

Bennett's specialty is accessories. He is all about accessorizing when it comes to playtime. Whether it is smashing guitars with beanie hats, wrapping blankets around bodies for capes, or in this case wearing glasses while hunting sharks in a ski boat. He knows what works best.



Long gone are the days when I dreamed of my kids looking like Gap commercials. Instead I've got kids with minds of their own and the looks that prove it.

Happy Birthday Kiddo!

I declared this year to be a "keep it simple" year when it comes to birthday parties. How does one do that? Simple. Toss the parties. So I informed the boys that for their upcoming birthdays we would be celebrating them together as a family. That's it. And to my total surprise they were fine with that.

I asked Taylor how he wanted to celebrate with the family. He replied that he wanted to go out to dinner at Tepanyaki's and then go to a movie. Sounds good to me. Since my Dad's birthday is a day before Taylor's we invited him and Mom along for the meal. Now I must say I was a bit surprised that Taylor suggested this place due to the fact that they do not serve burgers and fries. His Grandma has told him all about it, so he decided to give it a go.

The entertainment, the boys loved. The food they thought was so so. They loved the meat. The veggies they could do without. That is no surprise.



As you can see the meal started out with a lot of fire. They loved it after they got over the initial surprise. Check out their faces!



Now I know this is all about Taylor, but this pix of Owen is so cute. He wasn't so impressed with the "cooking show." He didn't like the fact that this man was throwing food all over the place. I can't imagine why. He throws food all over our house. What is the difference? He sat awfully close to Grandpa and made sure he didn't smile.



Taylor was even brave enough to try to catch a flying shrimp in his mouth. He almost caught it. One of his missed shrimps, somehow ended up in Owen's boot. That caused him more distress and he wouldn't turn around and face the cook for fear he would get food thrown at him. Again, why is this any different than what happens at our house?



Happy Birthday Taylor and Dad!



Now Taylor's birthday cake didn't turn out so great. I'm no cake decorator. You know how you have something pictured in your mind and it never comes out the way you imagined it? That is what happened.

I decided I wanted to ice the cake blue and then stencil a white Y on the top with powdered sugar since he is such a big cougar fan. I cut out a Y stencil and put it ever so carefully on the cake. I dusted the Y with the sugar. Everything was going relatively smoothly until I realized my stencil was stuck to the icing. Trying to get it unstuck without letting the extra sugar fall onto the cake turned into an ordeal. I finally pulled the paper off, smoothed out the icing and carefully put the lid on it.

When I took the lid off a few hours later, half of the powdered sugar had gotten stuck on the underside of the lid and the other half had pretty much just absorbed into the icing. Then to top it off one of the other boys (Owen?) had pushed the lid down onto the cake far enough that a huge chunk of icing with cake attached ended up on the underside of the lid as well. Do I get points for trying even though it looked terrible?



Hope you had a good one!