Birthday 33

Ha-he-hey there.  I'm just trying to survive and blogging does not fall on my survival checklist.  That's all I can say!  Coming to you only approximately 102 days late ISSSSSSSSSS my birthday post.

I may sound silly, but all I wanted for my birthday was to relive some old memories, speed style because we didn't have oodles of money for a babysitter.  The Husband and I visited our old haunts in reverse order and had some silly times wondering what people thought of us taking pics in front of their houses (our former abodes).  It was a good activity, and I was thankful The Husband went along with it.

First we have the college days:

His place-Chaffee Hall

My place-Driscoll Hall

Behind us in the above pic is my dorm room window which did not used to be overgrown with plant life.  Stage budget cuts maybe?  Or going for a more naturalized look.

This is the front entrance to my dorm and sometimes beloved Honors College.

We met in English on Tuesday, the second day of classes, in the liberal arts building.  We were assigned to the same group.

Then, of course, there were the goo goo eyes, the desire, despair, disagreements, drama, but most of all my feeling really overwhelmed that smack at the beginning of college I was madly in love and the guy was talking marriage.  Not expected and unprepared.  Nonetheless we:

Ended up here.  This is a duplex.  We lived in the front part.  I bedroom/1bath, teeny washer and dryer, teeny oven.  It was small, especially when we added a beagle, but it was our first place together after we were sealed.  We found it at the beginning of June, so that is where my man lived until we were legal.  I remember crying at having to spend $800 of my hard-earned savings on furniture, etc.  Starting a life together can be expensive.  Growing up is hard to do.  Growing up in your first year of marriage in a teeny apartment is hard also, but it's all part of the package.  We had some odd neighbors, and the duplex sharer would fight with her boyfriend very loudly and had a psychotic Rottweiler.  We survived, survived well and learned a lot.  Then Lucas started pushing for buying a home when we had lived in our duplex for about a year and a half because my little Judy Moody was on the way.

 We then moved here, stressfully when I was writing my senior thesis and getting ready for graduation all while 5 months pregnant.  But whatever!  Then, after nearly years and definitely 4 kids later, as documented in post long ago and far away, we moved to our yellow house in our beautiful neighborhood.

 K, I know seeing us kiss is gross, but here is us in love 12+ years and 4.?? kids later in front of where it all began.

It was a great birthday. simple but full of good times, and a Friday wherein I DID NOT have to work.  Thank you Boss Karen!

Why Boys Aren't So Bad

I am a believer that every person in a family is meant to be there for a specific purpose.  I didn't get my husband or my kids by accident.  We each have a purpose of being in this family unit.  BUT, there are A LOT of boys in this house.  Still, if I'm not being too obsessed with just surviving the day, I get reminders of what a blessing it is to have my boys:  For example:

Nearly every day I am presented with flowers from all 3 of my boys.  I always feel so sad throwing them away, and so I set them near where I'm working.  Naturally, the next day there are dry flowers and eventually they do go bye-bye, but if I thought about it, they probably feel a little burst of love for me when they think, "Hey, I wanna pick Mom a flower."  Even though also every day I get told how horrible my food is (for the record it is fabulous-2 of them just happen to be the world's most pickiest eaters), they love me as their mom.  That's something at least.

And this:

I should be ashamed of myself because in a way (albeit innocent) it belittles The Husband, but seriously my boys are needy and chatty and, at times, utterly exhausting, so to know that maybe I'm doing okay as a mom, that they are full of sweetness and love, again makes me smile...and laugh a little in this case.

In other news, guess who turned 2! 2! 2?  

The Hulk has managed to outgrow all his siblings for his first 2 years of life when you compare on our birthday growth chart wall (anyway have a catchier name for that?)  This kid can eat and is mostly NOT A PICKY EATER (hint, hint Obi-Wan? Quiet Man?)  This kid has quite the place in our hearts as he actually shows enthusiasm and favoritism for his daddy.  Not sure where we went wrong with 1-3, but this kid hollers when he hears the garage door opening, meaning Daddy is home and he will blow kisses nonstop when Daddy leaves.  He is getting into the Terrible Twos right off the bat by telling us no when we asked him to do something, but, fortunately, I think, his tantrums are still in the cute stage where I think, yep, whatever little buddy.  It'll blow over in a minute.  His smiles and hugs are unforgettable and can make any bad moment turn sweet.  His love of crayon/marker/pen wall and toy and floor and counter and fence art are less desirable, but I can't see him continuing this habit for too many more years.  He and his brothers played with this little train set for hours on his bday and then his other toys from Grandma.  Still having a hard time convincing the boys the present wasn't for all of them, not that they can't play with them all.  Sharing is highly recommended here, but they are indeed Shawn's presents for his birthday.  The Quiet Man even announced, "I don't hate (Hulk's real name) anymore."  He must have really liked to play with the toys if he was willing to express such brotherly love.

Oh, and one last thing, The Quiet Man is very jealous of The Hulk on a daily basis, which makes me sad and frustrated at times, but when I make them hug to make up, as much as The Quiet Man thinks I'm sick and wrong for doing it, The Hulk brightens up no matter what horrible thing his brother has just done to him and runs to initiate the hug and a kiss.  He is rough.  He is tough, but he is full to the brim with love to share all around.

Well, well, well, I will man up and actually download camera pics so you can see some sweet swimming moves from Judy Moody, Obi-Wan and The Quiet Man, plus we have a video (none too thrilling because it is so short) of Judy Moody's second piano recital).  I will get the ol' bum in gear...promise.

And in other, other, really last, last news, I am now our ward's Primary President, meaning I am in charge of making things run smoothly and making sure all the kids ages 18 months to 12 years old feel loved and get taught about Jesus, sort of behave, etc.  There's the simplified explanation of it.  I know to most people it's no big deal, but I am not a natural born leader.  Sure I pulled off some leadership stunts in high school because I was determined to get scholarships, but I am way better at being the counselor or grunt man or go-fer, etc.  It is my comfort spot.  I have some insecurities where I think why would anyone want me to be in charge?  I'm not the best or brightest or most able, BUT I have had several wise leaders tell me since I was asked to do this that for whatever reason the children in our ward need me right now.  I don't have to do my calling the way any other primary president has.  I, Anna Banana, am enough.  I have whatever the Lord wants these kids to get right now, and so, as much as I don't see it, I have faith that if I try my hardest, some good will come of it for the poor, sweet souls entrusted in my care every Sunday.

Summer So Far

Let's cram a month and a half of fun (exhaustion at times for me) into one post.  In mid May, we had the pleasure of having Grandma Dee and Grandpa Terry come visit us for a week.  These 2 could keep me young.  They are very energetic compared to Husband and me.  The kids had so fun showing them all they know and can do, and we had a few outings to show them around town and, of course, SHOPPING WITH DEE...always fun.  The only downside...Husband and I fell off the healthy wagon and enjoyed way too much delicious food while they were here...not their fault, we easily succumb to temptation.

School ended before June (unheard of in this state but these are the times of education cutbacks, and besides I personally think school should ALWAYS end before June).  Since then, it's been swim lessons, fun Friday mornings and trying to keep technology use in check.  These sweet children of mine are technology piranhas, vampires, whatever you want to call it.

Judy Moody has been doing an experiment (which seems to have unfortunately ended yesterday) of being a very kind and agreeable and willing daughter.  It was fabulous!  All the yes mothers and not screaming and crying like certain smaller minions was absolutely lovable and appreciated.  She is still my right hand girl in this heavily pre-testosterone and testosterone laden environment.  She got to do swim lessons this year (we skipped last year) and it was good for her to improve some of the lesser used strokes.  She was so happy she went and kissed the deep bottom of the pool on today, her last day.  Judy has been having a blast since she has a great friend who lives 3 houses over and is in heaven.  They mostly get along great and are so silly/fun to watch and listen to.

Obi Wan apparently only is a fanatical reader when it means he stays up insanely late on school nights because I see a lot less book cracking lately, even though we have a ton (almost) of books checked out from the library.  He is obsessed (always with something) with a game called Nimble Quest right now and has actually used some of his chore money to purchase characters in the app.  Obi also has a friend who is the little brother of Lily's friend, although they seem to end up over here playing on technology which is not my opinion of a play date.  Boys!

The Quiet Man isn't so quiet when he is crying.  He's had a bit of an adjustment this summer having to share things with Judy and Obi as they are home from school.  He will definitely be ready for preschool in the fall.  I think hanging out with kids his age and being necessitated to use his words will be so good for him.  Husband and I worry about him.  He seems to be super smart and can make any sounds when we practice but just won't use those words.  I've heard a few people say they've heard of this situation before, but it sure feels unique to us.  Talk, Quiet Man, Talk!

The Hulk has really upped his artistic aspirations this summer as his siblings have been careless in where they leave art supplies lying around.  He is proficient in wall art and carpet/flooring art and has truly excelled at body art.  This morning he managed to pour a whole box of cereal into a bucket and to drizzle a bottle of Hershey's syrup into the floor.  Enzo thanked him for that one.  All these mishaps could be prevented if older siblings were a bit more responsible.  Each time he sees a pool, he starts trying to strip down and go swimming.  Poor kid.  I will need to take him soon since he's watched all the others swim and swim and swim.

For fun, I have been reading way more than usual and inspecting/weeding my garden often with the kids.  We did go camping at the beginning of June with our church group, such a fun spot, and Judy Moody managed to find a rattlesnake by our tent.  Too bad we didn't believe her but good her friend's dad did.  I will spare you the Lord of the Flies details.  We will just say in an outdoor environment, teen and pre-teen boys really take to nature and survival of the fittest or fastest or smartest.

For future summer plans, a little more swim lesson time, homemade ice cream on The Fourth, and hoping to manage a rendezvous with my mom and Husband's mom/sister/other family hopefully.  I also am pushing for one more slightly longer camping trip.  I've said before to many people, hyper kids just seem still active but so at peace and happy in nature, always finding something to do and so full of good stuff.  I love watching my kids away from "most" of civilization.  I'll try but will make no promises to get some pictures transferred over.  Times like these I need a smart phone, but I do not want to pay for one of them yet.

A Week of Blessings

First off, humbled am I by my photography skills, but thankfully I don't have a great camera to use and I don't have time to really worry about light and angle and stuff, so I can live with they are better than the old overexposed/polaroid pics that were taken when I was little.  My family has evolved, if ever so slightly.  :)

 This is the view (screen and all) out my bedroom window.  There are what is either honeysuckle or columbine to the left of a lilac bush.  I am so thankful as I was going all crazy this spring prepping beds that I didn't hack those down.  Could've sworn they were weeds, but I should have learned by now the former owner took her flowers seriously.  On the side of the house, desperate to make another place for salad stuff to grow, I hacked down an ugly bush (I feel pretty confident it want have some kind of amazing blooms later and besides it is growing back with a vengeance) and then these plants with interesting leaves (which I was sure were weeds but The Husband had said he liked) I only destroyed 1 of.  Turns out the saved one has these beautiful pinkish lavendar flowers that are coned shape.  Woopsie! but at least I didn't take them both out.

I will say this yard is A LOT OF WORK for not being anywhere near an acre...or a half acre.  I have grand visions impossible dreams of the children weeding with me side by side for a few minutes every morning, just so we can make and keep this baby looking stellar.  Oh well, if they fail me, I at least won't fail myself.

In the productive type of gardening, The Husband and I were able to get a ton of free strawberry plants, so I've turned right in front of my bedroom window into a strawberry patch.  Woot!  It's strawberries versus some kind of aggressive perennial flower plants, but with my trusty sidekicks, the strawberries shall prevail.  Judy Moody is growing a cabbage for some Bonnie Plants 3rd grader contest to be entered by September.  Obi Wan insisted on a pumpkin patch, so we have 2 and I hope he will have desires to tend to them and help us take the squash bugs and eggs off to kill them and save the plants.  I planted fabulous tomatoes and peppers and for my dear Judy I saw peppercini plants and had to get those to see if we can raise enough to pickle.  She is a lover of them, if ever I saw one.  Also got cukes, pickling cukes, and zucchini and watermelon.  I shant bore you with all the seeds I planted, but I am SO EXCITED.  From end of May through October, my gardening life is a little piece of heavenly peace and something where I can have physical evidence I'm doing a good job.  You don't get that with much other stuff as a mom/wife, so gardening has become more and more wonderful and important to me with each passing year.  

Going back a ways, in April we got A FENCE!!!  I was worried neighbors would be mad or our yard would feel even smaller, but we've gotten lots of compliments, AND it made our yard feel larger.  I think maybe I had built in a 20 foot zone from the street to my kids so that they didn't get hit, and now that we are fenced safety for mom and freedom for kids in our backyard.

Now, for my miracles of the week:

Keep in mind that we all have our darkest trials and brightest days and that we can't realistically compare our experiences to other peoples' because this week I had the neatest experience over what many might consider a stupid thing.

Last week we had visitors, and it was fabulous but I didn't think about much else.  So this week, Judy Moody had Achievement day for girls, and I had specifically said the Sunday before to her leaders that I would be there early with my key to let them get in and get set up.  Cool, right?  Wrong.  The day of the activity came and I woke up realizing, "I don't have my key!"  I had no idea where it was, assumed I had just laid it some miscellaneous place in the house, so since I had until that evening, I was tearing through everything, thinking of ANY possibilities.  And I am a worrier, so I worried about if they would have to re-key the building, the shame of everyone getting a new key because I COULDN"T be responsible.  Did I mention I have a guilt complex the size of Texas?  I prayed, I pleaded (yes, I realize it was just a key), and I almost got to bargaining.  Have you ever tried to bargain with God?  I have, and the bummer is I let my side of the bargain down 9/10 times, so I try to avoid that now.  Then at least I'm honest.  I texted to ask to borrow a key, so at least the girls would be taken care of.  Well, that night after I unlocked the door, I thought I'd take a peak in the nursery and see if I just laid it there when we set up last time, it fell down, and maybe was miraculously not found by anyone.  I told the leader my plan, and she said she had found a key last time.  Behold!  My faith waxed and waned throughout the day and I thought I would have to walk my personal hall of shame and make the church get re-keyed, but right then, after me the mostly non hugger felt compelled to hug this fine leader who had kept the key and had no idea it was mine, I was filled with giddy joy.  It was rotten spending the day worrying and beating myself up, and though He made me wait ALL DAY, the Lord gave me what I asked for.  It was a righteous desire, silly but righteous, and just because of how earnest and concerned I felt, it helped me know he does care about me, silly, forgetful, basket case, worry wart me.  And I really need to remember that, every day, even if my mind is so full of who knows what that I can't hear Him, he is there waiting to bless me.  I love my Father in Heaven, and that I have a chance to be a good steward and less careless with the key I am entrusted with.

Now, my other "big to me" blessing of the week:

See those little fellers up there?  They don't look like much, but they are 2 of my 8 pepper plants.  Here in TV, once the snow melts off Schafer Butte by the ski resort, it is "safe" to plant your summer flowers and vegetables.  Well, eager Anna Banana, impulsive and irrational (yes we are talking about the same person) at times, was wanting so much to have all the beautiful flowers that the previous had, and so I went and spent $100 bucks in mid April and planted away all day.  It was so unseasonably warm, and then as I covered the last roots with dirt and a neighbor came to compliment me, I realized that NO ONE ELSE had planted and that the me who has been gardening here for 12 years knew that I should not be planting these frost sensitive plants.  Still, I had no inclination to dig them back up, so in our well kept neighborhood, every night after dark, I would tromp out with mason jars, sheets, broom sticks, 1 x 4s, bags of fertilizer and cover up all the plants.  It was so tedious and I had to do it all by myself which was really ridiculously hard on windy nights, BUT I only lost a few of the plants which was a small price to pay for my less than genius choice. 

 Then, it officially warmed up, the snow was melted off Schafer, but with our VIG (very important guests) here, I didn't feel it would be right to disappear as I planted on Mothers' Day weekend, because that is normally when it's okay to plant.  Still, last weekend, only 1 week "late", I spent a blissful few hours playing in the dirt and got all the things in.  I was so bummed because I had to go to work at that point and hadn't planted seeds, but over the next few days, I got EVERYTHING planted that I wanted to.  JUBILATION!  I am so simply pleased.  It is a bummer that my husband doesn't agree.  BUT THEN

THEN

THEN....

this last Tuesday night, a frost warning.  What the?  Not fair.  Again, I couldn't very well dig them all up, and as I am using the already created beds, the plants are spread ALL OVER THE YARD.  No easy task to cover them all, and I was quite sick of it after my early flower planting debacle, so I took my chances.  And my gamble paid off just this once.  I think that God new my heart and that this was really important to me, and that from my silly mistake in April I had paid plenty.  I followed the rules this time, and when I went out to check the plants it A. didn't feel too cold and B. they looked fine.  I figured the frost warning wasn't as severe as they had said it would be.  Then at church today, come to find out that lots of people lost their plants.  I don't know if my backyard is blessed with a heat pocket or what, but not 1 of my plants had any sort of problem.  I am happy to simply consider it a small miracle to me from Heavenly Father.  He truly gives us what we need when we need it and lets us learn lessons along the way from some of our mistakes at least.  So there you have it-dos miracles that made my week great.  NOW my challenge is to live this coming week to actually be worthy of those blessings because I need to pay a little more attention for sure.

I'm THAT Blogger

I think the difference is I don't have regular readers, but I hate it when I am following a blog and they never post and never post and now I am THAT person.  I suppose it is okay if blogging dropped from a great idea at the top of my New Year's goals to bottom of the barrel of my life (it's a deep, deep barrel).  In the name of recording a bit, here goes:

Currently, we have grandparents here (Husband's Dad and Step Mom) and they are in all out grand kid spoiling mode.  Oh, if only grand kids were less greedy and more grateful.  We haven't seen them for 2.5 years, since my SIL's wedding, so it is fun to show them how the kids have grown, especially The Hulk, who they have never seen in person.  He is quite the charmer, in his violent little way.

The Hulk likes to do something really naughty then instantly turn on cute and innocent in hopes of saving his misbehaved little self from discipline.  He is SO cuddly when he isn't violent-that hasn't changed.  He is saying a ton of words and busting out sentences, and deep in my heart I am hoping that he won't have a speech delay...please, just 1 of them.  I am thankful that I have had 4 healthy kids, but 1 of them not needing speech therapy and being able to have meaningful conversation with people besides me as a toddler would be quite a treat.

The Quiet Man gets to go to an inclusion preschool this fall.  He is not picking up his speech quickly enough.  Ironically, he is the first kid who his speech therapist has had who can make every individual sound without any problems, but then resorts to gibberish as soon as you engage him in conversation.  What does that mean?  I don't know.  His therapist says she wouldn't be surprised if he just started talking crystal clear one day, but I doubt that would happen.  I have great faith that preschool where he has 4 teachers/aides interacting with him and working on sounds and no mommylator (mom who translates) to help him out will help him grow and grow.

Obi Wan (is that my smarty pants name, hoopsie) is officially GT (that's what the people in the know call gifted and talented kids), and though everyone gets bored of a bragger, I can't believe that out of my average self came a kid who is super smart.  It cracks me up, and suddenly so many things that he's done and said through the years make sense.  He is just functioning on a different plane than the rest of us.  I feel guilty (mom guilt, bleh) because I want to stimulate his mind enough so that he can grow, but that mind can soak in a lot of information.  I need to learn more and strike a balance between encouraging him to learn and teaching him that he doesn't need to act like a know it all in all situations.  Sometimes, he is just cute about it, and then I don't mind.  He keeps reading and reading, and he informed me yesterday that he didn't like his brand new curtains his grandma made for him so much but that he could live with them but they were boring.  I just had to leave the room.  I already tell myself I'm not good enough.  It stings when the kids join in the beatings.

Judy Moody is still getting that sense of humor.  Explaining the birds and bees to her last fall has brought on a lot of questions, a lot of moments where my innards were squirming uncomfortably on the inside as I tried to calmly and clearly and concisely answer her odd questions.  I am trying to avoid the freaking out and yelling who put you up to this that my mom did.  Another thing I have to have faith on is that we have done the right thing and that being open but age appropriate won't bite me in the butt later on.  I want her to know the "LOVE" is a beautiful, natural but meant for specific times with a specific person.  The questions he comes up with, though!  Who thinks of that stuff when they're 9.  I thought of stuff like that when I was a teenager or already married.  Life is full of YIKES moments.

The Husband and I are training up to first a 5K.  I AM SO HAPPY because he thought he could never run due to a sore knee, but lo and behold with appropriate training he is rocking and has actually increased my speed.  Our hope is a 10K or half marathon in October but that is a serious amount of mileage for my busy, tired, chocolate and ice cream loving soul.  We will see.

I just got a job opportunity in my same field which I would need to do in addition to my current job.  I kind of think it's too crazy and kind of want to try it because what if it led to something that allowed me better hours with my family.  It's one of those things where you ask if it's the Lord making something fall into your lap or a temptation to lure you away from what's important, etc.  IDK, IDK, IDK.

But warm weather is good and fun family in town is great, and I love life.

Except for the screaming SERIOUSLY

This is how I wish our family was all the time


In reality, this week feels like a constant headache as The Quiet Man (ironically not so quiet) and The Hulk have perfected a form of scream fighting that makes my eardrums ache and my blood run cold.  They are healthy, at least.  Judy Moody has her first piano recital next month, and I am so excited ahe will be playing REAL songs w/ both hands!  She has been really self motivated and my heart could burst w/ joy as 2 and 3 are NOT self motivated so much, and The Hulk is self motivated...but to my detriment.  Come what may and love it?  I'll miss these times?  Too many people have said that for me to question that it will happen someday, but each day my heart yearns for more love and less quarreling in this house and for some occasional peace and reflective time.  I can't always go to the temple, but it seems the only way lately.  Remember What About Bob? W/ Bill Murray?  That, my friends is my family.  I WANT, I WANT!  I NEED, I NEED!  I love them (even if Judy Moody and her friend decided 58 degrees is perfect swimsuit weather), but being a mom never ends, let alone trying to be a really good mom.  How does an introvert successfully pull this off?

And in my health news, does 4.5 days of healthy eating and exercise combat a day w/ a big bit of work/kid related stress eating?  I sure hope so.  I will be good for tonight and all,of the new week though...promise.

SPRING!!!

Ah, this week is looking amazing weather wise.  Strongly encouraging (never nagging) my husband to get our fence in.  The children are DESPERATE to be outside lots, and I have a strong desire to preserve them from being road kill.  We had a fun family bike ride last Saturday and a good walk today.  These family outings are fascinating case studies of human behavior.  Judy Moody (so extra moody this week) is speedy and always thinking of what she wants to do next, so she go, go, goes and is hearing challenged.  Obi Wan (on the 7th HP book) is ALWAYS last and that is w/ much encouragement to keep up so the wolves don't catch him.  Tonight, he was contriving plans for his Minecraft world, brows furrowed as he tortoised along behind us.  The Quiet Man (set up for preschool to help w/ his speech development next school year) runs ahead and lags back and visits w/ everybody.  He was determined to push the Hulk's stroller a good ways tonight, but I have the sneaking suspicion if I had let go he would have pushed it straight into the road.  competition is stiff between those 2 .  They will seriously just sit, both holding on to the same object, scream, cry, and slap/hit/pinch each other for long periods of time if I don't intervene.  Wow.  The Hulk, displaying his softer side, has attempted a little sharing and a lot of hanging out w/ Daddy this week.  He may give bite marks and concussions, but beneath it all lies a caring, compassionate person...right?


We are happy and blessed indeed, and w/o FB, I have no idea how so many loved ones are doing.  I hope very well.