Hilarious

I think kids are pretty funny. I really don't know where they come up with most of the stuff they say. My kids are no exception and I've been keeping a record for awhile. Time to write down all these hilarious moments so I can remember them forever and laugh over.... and over.... again.


-One day Daphne and I were talking about Virginia and Utah and the differences between them. She told me Virginia had a lot of trees and Utah didn't have very many, but Utah had mountains and Virginia didn't. Then she asked what a place with a lot of trees was called. I told her it was like a forest. Then she asked what Utah was. I told her it was a desert. She said "Oh.... well, I don't like Utah much anymore. It's just too moldy!" Moldy, huh? Okey-dokey :)

-One of Laylah's favorite games to play is "Primary" She is the teacher and she is always trying to get everyone else to be the primary kids. Anyway, one day she was telling the story of the Sermon on the Mount and how there was not enough food to feed all the people, but there was a boy who had 5 loaves of bread and 2 small fishes. She said Jesus blessed it and spread it around for everyone to share but there was still not enough and everyone went home because they were too hungry to listen anymore. Hmmmm.... what are they teaching my daughter in primary?!

-Andy got Daphne up one night to go potty and she was so out of it and tired. He told her to hurry up and take a whiz because she was just sitting there. She started to go pee and said "Whiiiiz" very sleepily. Then she looked up at him and glared and he said "Oh, sorry-you don't want to be the Whiz Kid?" And she answered "No! And you are a Toot Head!"

-One morning I was sleeping and I was woken up with a little voice whispering in my ear "Look... I'm mommy!" I opened my eyes to see Baron, who had a pair of my high heels on and a bunch of jewelry of mine draped all over his body. Cutest little mommy I've ever seen!

-I was washing sheets one day and went to get Jonah's. I noticed his stuffed bear that he cannot sleep without (and that is totally trashed) had yellow marker colored all over it. It even had writing on it-it didn't say anything, but just had various letters written. I asked him why he was coloring on his bear and he told me Baron had climbed up the ladder and done it. I told him I knew he wasn't telling the truth and that he had, in fact, done it. He asked me, exasperated "How come you always know when I am not telling you the truth?!"

-Baron is very confused about us always saying that there is a baby in my tummy. Whenever we tell him there is a baby in there he always says "nu-uh!" or "no way!" and shakes his head. One night while all the kids, except Bear, were getting ready for bed he was patting my tummy and saying "Baby in there?" Andy and I said "Yes, there is!" He said "Lemme see" and he proceeded to lift up my shirt to my bare belly. He patted it for a minute and then said "I wanna hear it. What does it say?" I said "Um, nothing-it doesn't talk." He looked at me for a minute and then leaned down and put his ear up against my belly. A slow smile spread across his face. And then he sat up. I said "What did the baby tell you?" He said "Baby say go brush teeth and go to bed." Haha! What a good baby :)

-I was sitting on the couch one night and Jonah came up and stood directly behind me. He then asked if I could see him. I told him no. He said "Ha! I knew it! My primary teacher told me adults have eyes in the backs of their heads so they can always see what kids are doing! But I didn't believe her and I was right!" Hmmm, smart kid :)

-I was giving all my kids haircuts a few days ago and Laylah decided she wanted some layers. Daphne overheard her and said "Shrek has layers. Like an onion. So what does that mean? Are you going to put an onion in Laylah's hair mom?" Too much movie watching? Maybe :)

-Jonah had some balloons for his birthday and he decided he wanted to let them go outside and watch them fly away. We all went out to watch and Laylah started singing the song (from the band The Fray) "Don't let me go, don't let me go, don't let me gooo-ooo-ooo-ooo! That's what those balloons are thinking I bet!"

-Andy went upstairs to put some sheets on the boys' bed and there were a bunch of dried boogers smeared on Jonah's bunkbed rail and also some on the wall. Andy asked Jonah about it and Jonah said "Well, I think Bear crawled up there and did it." Then thinking this was maybe a better idea he blurted out "Maybe they crawl out of my nose while I am sleeping!"

-And last but not least, today at church Baron got the hiccups during sacrement meeting. They were really bothering him, but Andy told him to wait until after the sacrement and then he'd take him to go get a drink. After we had the water Bear said "Okay, go get a drink...." and then he realized he wasn't hiccuping anymore. He yelled "Hey! Where mine hiccups go?!" Outrageous that they would just disappear like that, don't you think?


Haha! I just love the entertainment my kids give me. Hopefully you got a laugh or two as well :)

New Pictures

While we were in Utah I had my brother-in-law's sister do some pictures of my kiddos. She is just starting out in photography and wanted some practice, and I think she did a great job. Especially considering she had MY kids to work with. They are not big fans of getting their pictures taken. Especially Baron. Laylah was an angel of course. Jonah and Daphne were.... themselves. So, here's the result:Baron would not smile .... until I started sneaking him treats. That's why he's eating in some of the pictures. Hey, whatever works, right?

Oh, and they all had some tatoos from Jonah's birthday party on their arms.... I don't think these things through.... oh well *sigh*

Baron didn't enjoy us forcing him to sit on a milk can :)


Baron the Stink hiding that cute smile...

And thats all folks...

Jonah's Exciting Week

I know I have posted about Jonah a lot, but he has had a lot going on! I don't know if it's from turning 6 or what, but a lot of things have been happening to him recently...We gave him his birthday presents as soon as we got home from the airport. He has been wanting his own pet forever and had been asking for some sort of reptile or another. I wasn't quite ready for that, but his friend Colby has guinea pigs and Jonah loves them, so we decided to get some of those. Actually, we hadn't decided, we'd only talked about it, but Andy went ahead and did it while we were gone. They are adorable! We love them. Only one of them was for Jonah and the other is for the family. Meet Harley and Zu-zu, our new piggies.

He also got a new Wii game. This was not my idea.... he wants to play it non-stop.

We also had a little family party that night. Andy brought a projector home from work and we set it up on our empty family room wall. We rented Alice in Wonderland. It was a little scary for Bear (luckily he fell asleep after coming to snuggle with me :), but everyone else loved it.

We'd had enough cake, so Andy made chocolate shakes and popcorn. We put a candle in Jonah's bowl and sang Happy Birthday one more time.

It was so great to all be together again. We all ended up on the couch in one big heap (from the scary parts :) And Andy said "I sure missed you all!! It's so great to be together again." And it was. I was so happy.

A few days later Jonah decided he'd like to learn to ride a 2-wheeler. It was a sweltering night, but we went out and Andy started running up and down the street with him, telling him what to do. I have to say-Andy is an amazing father, but....he isn't the most patient when it comes to teaching how to ride a bike. He tried with Laylah once or twice, but I'm the one who ended up teaching her because she wouldn't do it with Andy anymore. Well, the same thing happened with Jonah. Jonah gave up because Andy was losing his patience. So I took some pictures of Daphne and Laylah riding around

After Jonah took a break, he decided to try again:
But after a few minutes he asked me to help him instead. I kind of laughed-me? With my huge pregnant belly? But of course, how could I not? So I did. And I'm sure I looked ridiculous. In fact, Andy took a picture, but I refuse to put it up. And after only a few minutes, he pretty much had it down-what can I say? I am a great teacher :) He just wouldn't keep his head up-he wanted to look at the pedals.

So he had a few crashes-once right into the mailbox. But after a little more practice that night he almost had it perfect! Good thing. I was about to fall over.

The next morning we were going swimming and he begged me to take him out and practice for a few minutes before we left. We did, and after a few minutes he was doing it perfectly, all by himself! Way to go Jo!

Now he's a pro and zooming all over the neighborhood.

A couple days later we were sitting around and I made a comment about Jonah's crooked lower tooth. It has been loose since April, barely hanging on in his mouth, and he was just terrified to lose it for some reason (It couldn't have been his memory of Andy pulling out one of Laylah's loose teeth with pliers.... right? ;) I told him it was time to get it out, it was barely hanging in there! Plus his new tooth was already poking through. He was nervous, but he let Andy pull it out. It was quick and hardly bled. I guess he wrapped it up in toilet paper and put it on the counter (I found out later). I thought it was trash and threw it out. Later when we were getting ready for bed he couldn't find his tooth. I told him we'd look for it and bring it up and put it under his pillow. So he went up to bed. Andy told me "I think he wrapped it up and put it on the counter" I froze and said "In a piece of toilet paper?" Andy laughed and said "Uhhh, ya.... did you throw it away?" I ran to the trash can and started searching through it. I found the toilet paper but the tooth was nowhere to be found. Curse those teeny tiny baby teeth!! I went up to tell Jo the bad news, but that we would write the Tooth Fairy a note explaining what had happened. He was already fast asleep. Phew! So we just put his $ under his pillow in a cute little Tooth Fairy envelope.

He was so excited in the morning to find it. I told him he had already fallen asleep and I put his tooth under his pillow for him and the Tooth Fairy came and got it and that was that!

So there is Jo's exciting week.

And also-I am a terrible Tooth Fairy.

Our Adventure Home

Here's our little adventure of going home and finally making it back to Virginia...



Our plane left Vegas around 4:30 and was supposed to get into Florida at 11:55 PM. I didn't think it would be that big of a deal, so I had chosen the flight with the night layover and our next flight left at 7AM to go home to DC. I was very prepared with pillows, blankets, etc. and just thought we'd campout for the night, get up early for our flight and go home. Well, here's what really happened: Our flight getting into Florida was late, so we didn't get there until almost 1 AM. I didn't think the kids would be that tired considering it was only 9:30ish Vegas time. But they all fell asleep during the last hour on the flight. And then Baron screamed his head off the last half hour and kept grabbing at his ears because I'm assuming they didn't pop and were hurting him. After we finally landed everyone kept telling me how great my kids were and how amazing I was and blah blah blah.... don't get me wrong-it was nice of them and I'm glad I have pretty good kids overall, but I was so sick of hearing it. I just wanted to go HOME at this point. After everyone de-planed I tried to wake up my kids for the next 10 minutes and they all just started bawling. Except Laylah. I don't know what I would have done without her. She was carrying as much as she could and I was carrying the rest, including Bear because everyone else was a crying mess. And Baron was pretty much screaming and hysterical. I'm sure they were all just exhausted and had had enough.



We got off the plane and I started to set up beds right there at the gate. The potty was close, they all ran and went, and then I had them all laid down and they were almost asleep when a security guard walked by and asked me what I was doing. I told him I had a layover and was putting my kids to bed. He told me they locked up the gate area at night and that I had to go out into the lobby to sleep. I almost lost it right there. Tears just started leaking out and I almost started sobbing. My poor body had had it, I was SO tired, my kids were SO tired (not to mention alseep already!!) and I didn't want to do it anymore. I slowly woke up the kids, packed up our stuff, and headed out to the lobby, only to RE-SET up their beds and our little area. The kids fell asleep fairly quickly, and then I called Andy and told him all about it. We talked for bit and then I plugged my phone in a few feet away and tried to sleep for a bit.



About an hour and a half later a girl nudged me and said my phone had been ringing. I checked it and it had been Andy. I called him back and he immedietly said "I have bad news. Your flight has been cancelled and they want you to wait 24 hours and take the Saturday morning 7 AM flight." I couldn't believe it and thought he was joking. I just wanted to go home so badly that I would have done just about anything to get there. He told me he had called every customer service # he could find and they just kept telling him they were sorry, but there was nothing they could do. They said I would need to go talk to someone at the check-in desk and work it out with them. He tried telling them I had 4 sleeping children with me, but they didn't care. Andy was so furious and said he had already looked up several other flights, and even looked into driving down to get me himself. Of course that was impractical, he was just trying to rescue me. I love that guy. Cute sleepy heads




He told me to go up to the desk and demand a flight home, even if they had to put me on another airline. After we hung up, I said a little prayer to be able to find someone to watch the kids for a few minutes so I could go talk to someone at the desk (which was about 500 feet away around a corner, but of course there was no way was I going to leave the kids by themselves) I waited awhile and finally spotted an older couple. I went up to them and explained my predicament. They were so sweet and so graciously came and sat by the kids while I went to talk to a lady at the check-in desk. I explained to her I was on the cancelled flight and that I was 6 months pregnant and that I had 4 kids with me and that there was absolutely NO WAY I was staying here another day. Andy had told me to pretend to cry, but by this point I didn't have to pretend... I was in tears before I started talking. The lady was SO nice and told me I would be first on the list to be taken care of and that her supervisor got in at 5AM. She took my phone #, gave me a food voucher for breakfast and told me she'd call me when she and her supervisor had something figured out. I went back to my kids. It was getting busier in the airport though and was kind of loud. I was surprised my kids were sleeping through all of this, but they slept on. I got a call around 5:15 AM and it was the lady from the desk saying they had several options. I chose a flight that left at 11:30 AM that went straight to D.C. I called Andy, ecstatic, and told him the good news. I was finally able to doze off for a bit. I guess Laylah woke up and took this picture of all of us:

I guess we were a pretty funny sight because people kept walking by and pointing at us and smiling. Someone even asked if they could take our picture-I said no :) I dozed off and on until about 7 and the rest of the kids woke up by 8. We got breakfast, cleaned up a bit in the bathroom and packed up all our stuff. We headed to terminal 3 from terminal 4 (the other airline wasn't even in the same building) and got checked in. We got through security and into our gate with an hour an a half to spare. There was actually a hurricane going on outside and the weather was crazy. They announced the flight would be delayed due to the weather, which I kind of expected. The kids were pretty good, but acting a little crazy by this point (hey, they all got a decent nights sleep!) and running around a lot. I kept getting dirty looks from this crusty old guy and I wanted to yell right in his face "Do you know what I've even been through?! NO!! So stop looking at me you idiot!" I restrained myself, but if he would have said one word, I would have let him have it-seriously. I cannot remember ever feeling more worn out, tired, or exhausted than I did at this point. I just sat there and didn't even care what the heck my kids were doing. I don't think I could have moved out of my chair for anything short of a natural disaster.

We finally got onto the plane and took off around 12:30. It was a 2 1/2 hour flight and we all slept almost the entire time. When we landed, I was so excited to see Andy I could hardly contain myself. I was rushing and telling the kids to hurry up. We made it out and there he was-my Knight in Shining Armor. He had food and drinks for us, and flowers for me. What a guy. He took me into his arms and I just melted. Or collapsed. Whichever :) The kids were beyond thrilled to see their daddy and we sat and ate and talked and then decided to brave the Friday afternoon DC traffic and headed home. It took 2 1/2 hours and I slept the entire time.

So there you have it. My insane trip home from Utah all by myself with my 4 little kids. I know, I know. I'm crazy. I never think it'll be that bad and after I do it I think "What is wrong with me?! What was I thinking?" And then a week after it's over I think "It really wasn't THAT bad... I could do it again."

Haha.... we'll see :)

Sea Creature Swim Party

Jonah decided he'd like to have his birthday party in Utah while we were visiting. I was very happy with that because I don't know any of his friends or their parents in Virginia, and didn't want to have to track them down! He chose a Sea Creature Swim Party and wanted to do it at my grandma's house. We decorated the clubhouse with all things Sea Creature and did cake and presents in there and then swam in the pool for awhile, playing water games and just enjoying the nice, hot day. I loved the goodie bags full of sea creature tatoos, blow-up fish, bubbles, sea creature squirt toys, sea creature silly bandz, and packages of goldfish crackers all in a deep blue sea colored bag. It was so much fun and he was so happy most of his friends could come. It was such a fun party!I made the Ocean cupcakes for it, and I was pretty proud of myself :)

Cute kiddos

The mom's... Becca and Cristan graciously stayed to help me out. Thanks girls-you're the best!

Watching the birthday boy open his gifts

Jonah was so happy with all of his gifts and has been playing with them non-stop. He mostly asked for and received pool toys like water guns, dive sticks, a kickboard, water toys, etc. I gave him a couple toys from Andy and I and the kids. We got him some clothes, a snorkel and a monkey Webkinz that he named WooHoo. Andy had gotten the rest of his gifts and we were saving them for when we could celebrate at home all together.

Happy Birthday to You!

Cupcakes and ice cream cones


Jonah and his Great Grandma Marge. Thanks for letting us do his party there grandma! You're the best!

Also, thanks to Kaylie and my dad for all their help-especially Kaylie. She is the best sister/aunt ever.... she helped me bring everything, decorate, and played in the pool with all the kids. I love her and couldn't have done it without her!

Happy Birthday Jonah!

Happy 6th Birthday Jonah!

We celebrated Jonah's birthday with a family party the day before his actual birthday. My mom made him his favorite dinner (okay, I helped :) of chicken roll-ups, spinach casserole, mashed potatoes (okay, he didn't actually ask for these, but we added them to the meal and he said "I didn't ask for those!!" He hates mashed potatoes :), a berry fruit tray, and rolls. Yum yum. I made a GIANT 4-layer totally lopsided (but delicious :) cake. I was cracking up the whole time about how bad it looked. My first layer cake ever. Go me.I got Jonah his own little cake. He loved it and made a huge mess of it.

We had my whole family over and most of Andrew's. Jonah got so much money from everyone for his birthday. He's already spent some of it, but at least saved some in his piggy bank. He also got a magic kit and a camera from grandparents.
All I can say is.... wow. I look really tired in this picture.

Jonah looks forward to his birthday all year because he is the last in our family (not for long though!) He was so excited to get to celebrate it in Utah with all his cousins and grandparents and friends at his birthday party. Here's a little bit about Jonah at age 6...

Jonah is average size for his age. At his 6 year check-up he was 55% for height and weight. He enjoys school for the most part. He likes to read and write stories. He's a smart kid but he's also the class clown and gets into trouble sometimes. He loves to play with friends and wants to be outside all the time. He loves to "explore" and packs his backpack full of stuff and wanders around outside doing who knows what. He has the biggest imagination and can make a game out of anything. He will keep himself entertained for hours at a time. He loves to ride his bike, go hiking in the "woods", and his favorite thing ever lately is swimming and he has become an excellent swimmer. He loves to play the Wii-in particular, any Mario game. I have to put the timer on or he would just play all day long. He also likes playing games on the computer and on his Leapster. He's a gadget guy and loves electronics. He doesn't love to help. Whenever I ask him to do something he says "I caaaaan't." I have to constantly remind him to do his chores. He is kind of a lazy guy when it comes to his responsibilites. He is my pickiest eater (which isn't saying much-he's still a great eater) and his favorite foods are cereal, milk, eggs, pancakes, crepes, instant oatmeal (apple cinnamon :), peanut butter and honey sandwiches, apples, any berry, grilled cheese, quesidillas, chicken, and he's not a huge fan of vegetables, but he'll eat most of them. He's not a huge fan of baked treats either, so I can't really bribe him with stuff like that, darn it. He is SO hilarious and is always keeping our family laughing. I can't imagine my life without him and love him to pieces, forever and ever.

I wanted to record Jonah's labor and delivery story... I was induced with Jonah nearly a week early. My belly was measuring 45 centimeters when I delivered, so we knew he was going to be a big boy. We had moved out of our apartment 2 days before I had him and I can't believe that didn't put me into labor. Moving and cleaning ALL DAY LONG and not a single contraction. Anyway, the hospital called around 6:30 telling us to come in. We got there at 7 and they started the pitocin and my doctor broke my water by 8. I had decided to try and do it unmedicated because we didn't have that great of insurance and I thought I'd try and save us some money. Only 2 hours into it I was dialated to about a 5-6 and about ready to die. I was feeling really dizzy and nauseated. Andrew told me I didn't look so good. I screamed at him to shut-up and leave me alone. He told me that maybe I should go ahead and get the epidural, but I told him no. Around 11 Am I was dialated to a 7-8 and about ready to scream from the pain. I remembered my mom telling me (because she delivered all 6 of us naturally) that when I felt like I just couldn't take it anymore, I would deliver within a half hour. I tried to keep that in mind, but the pain was just too much. I begged for an epidural and within 5 minutes, I was happy. My doctor came in shortly after that and checked me and I was at a 10, but he also found out that the baby was posterior and that's probably why my labor had been so intense. Well, more intense than the usual :) He got out the forceps and had me push with each contraction, and at the same time was trying to turn the baby to the face down position so I'd have an easier time delivering. After 5-10 minutes Jonah started coming out facing sideways. The doctor said he was just too big to turn, but that I was doing fine. One last contraction and push and he was out, born at 11:52 AM. They set him on me and I remember saying "This baby is a giant!" And he was. He was 10 lbs. 7 oz. and 22 1/4 inches long. Jonah was the chubbiest thing ever. He had about 3 chins and he was too big to even fit in the usual hospital nursury clothing, so they found him a little nightie that fit better (and was size 3-6 months!) Jonah was a really hard baby. He cried all the time and always wanted to be held, but sometimes would still just cry and cry even while I tried to console him. Suddenly around 7-8 months he had a change of heart and turned into the best infant ever. He was always huge until around age 2 when he averaged out. He's always had red hair, which I have loved. He's always been such a sweetheart and I am so happy he's mine :)