The Tooth Castle

A few weeks back this was the conversation Haley and I had...
"Mama, is the toothfairy real?" she asks sounding like she thought the whole idea of the toothfairy is ridiculous.
"Do you really want to know?" I wanted to really know where she was at with this.
"Yes! I want you to tell me the truth!"
"You really want me to tell you about the toothfairy?" I ask very hesitantly.
"Yes!"
"No, I am the toothfairy"
Her eyes fill with tears, "No you're not mom! The toothfairy is REAL!" Then she runs out of the room... Awesome, I am the mother of the year.

A few weeks pass and we are in the car...
"Mama, I know who the toothfairy is." Haley said
Not wanting to get the tears going I played along this time... "You do? Who?" thinking to myself, it is me you dork, I have already told you.
"Well, mama, I was talking to Gracie and she told me it is her grandpa."
"So Gracie's toothfairy is her grandpa, who is your toothfairy?" Thinking, YES she got it and I am in the clear!
"No, mama. Gracie's grandpa IS the toothfairy."
"So, if you loose a tooth, Gracie's grandpa is going to come to our house while you are sleeping to get your tooth and leave a treat under your pillow?"
"Yep..."
"So you think the toothfairy is Gracie's grandpa? For every kid?"
"Yeah, I guess."

So Last night....

Haley looses her tooth.
"Mama, what do you think the toothfairy will bring me?"
"I don't know, what do you want the toothfairy to bring you?"
"Can I have a dollar bill?"
"Ok.."

So... I think she knows it is me... :)
Personally, I don't care... but I don't want to crush her heart! To see her cry back when she asked the first time... made me so sad... Last night, even though I figured she knows it is me, I crawled into her room and slowly reached under her pillow for the tooth. She was so excited to wake up to find a dollar bill under her pillow.

I asked her this morning who the toothfairy was and she told me it was a flying tooth pady with wings... Her whole body IS a tooth... Sounds scary to me. And she said that the toothfairy builds a castle with all the kids baby teeth... GROSS!

Hunter's fashion sense

Hunter wanted to go outside and play so I told him he needed to get dressed (he was only wearing underwear at the time)... He quickly goes into his room, finds the first thing he sees and puts it on... sweat pants and Jonah's hat. Awesome :) I did make sure he had a shirt on and shoes before he went out!

8 Years and still going strong :)

On Tuesday, Jim and I celebrated our 8th year of marriage. WOW! We went to dinner and then spent the evening driving around looking for a daisy girl scout shirt for Haley. Regardless what we did it was nice to be together, alone. We were able to hold hands and walk side by side... Usually we are holding hands, but they are little and sticky :).

I have been watching Everyone Loves Raymond on DVD (thanks Joi) and watching it has really made me think of my marriage with Jim. Last night I was laying in bed thinking about all the reasons I love Jim and all the great things we have been through together so I wanted to post a blog post dedicated to Jim and all the great things in our marriage... I really don't know how to categorize my list.

- He is my best friend.
- We have THREE beautiful children!!!
- He is a wonderful father! He plays with the kids all the time... he is such an active parent. He reads to them EVERY night before bed. Not just one book... like three books each! If I have had a long day with them, when he comes home.... he has no problem giving me some quiet down time so I can chill while he takes care of the kids... On the weekends, he lets me sleep in (even though that is going away, not because he wont let me sleep in, it is more because I dont want too). These are things HE does... not things I make him because I am mean... he is just wanting to. Nice huh?
- I love that we both are boring. This comes from the episode in ELR where Debra and Ray go away on a getaway and Debra tries to make all these plans so that Ray thinks she is fun and not a boring house wife... when in the end they end up napping their WHOLE vacation getaway. I was thinking... that is EXACTLY what I would want to do. The weekend getaway I want is a weekend to the beach, a hotel room that overlooks the beach so I can have the blinds wide open and hear the crashing waves as I lay in bed reading a book or sleeping.... how fun am I?
- We both like the same kinds of movies. I like his boy movies... action, suspense, thrillers... I may not be into the war shot em thing... but other than that....
- We both love to play games... (except chess... I WILL NOT play that game with him... owww that and Monopoly!)
- He is the biggest dreamer I have met. He is so optimistic I love it. (well, sometimes it is a tad annoying)
- He WANTS me too and supports me in having me stay home with the kids. He doesnt care if we have to sell our house and move into a smaller place, he thinks that is important and supports me and encourages me in my staying at home efforts.
- He thinks I am beautiful even without makeup (that or he is a really good liar) :)
- One flaw... but we are still working on it... is he is a RED SOX fan :).... I dont mind that, I would just prefer him to come over to the ANGEL side of things :). May be make the RED SOX his number 2.... we will see.
- He really has a huge heart for the people out there that are in need.
- He is really funny...

You know... I could go on... but I have a head ache and a little boy who is jumping in my lap as we speak :) so I will have to go for now....

Huntero

Hunter loves to spell words with his letters... he cant write very well, but he can make words with his magnets... Phonetically. The other day when I went to pick him up at preschool, he tells me that he wants an O in his name.... so he decided that his NEW name is Huntero. He did this with his letters when we got home to show me how to spell it :).

Happy Easter (a few days later)

Jonah didnt care what he got for easter...

The kids each got a movie and some books for easter. We had had dinner the night before celebrating easter so Sunday was very relaxing. We went to church in the morning, then came home and watched BOTH of their new movies.... The Bee Movie and Enchanted. Both were REALLY cute movies....

Everyone is an ....EST

I was walking with Haley and Hunter yesterday, holding their hands and this was our conversation...
"I am holding my two oldest hands" I say!
"Well, I am the biggest!" Haley says
"yes, Haley you are the biggest" I respond
"I am the funnest!" Hunter says so dryly :)

I thought it was cute :)

COUSINS.... twice removed... or something like that

Last weekend we got to visit with Jim's cousin, Leah and her husband Dan and their son Gabe. Gabe will be two this June! Gabe and Hunter are two years apart... almost to the day!
The above picture is them "hiding" in the coat closet from uncle Dan!

The kids played so well together and had a blast! Uncle Dan was (always is) a huge hit! The kids wore him out!

Silly pose!

30 Facts about Jim!

Today is Jim's 30th Birthday!!! WOW, I have an OLD husband :).
So to celebrate his 30th I thought I would devote this post to 30 facts about him.... (I will keep them short)
1. he married his high school girlfriend :)
2. he will be celebrating his 8th anniversary on tuesday
3. he is hotter at 30 then 20 :)
4. is color blind
5. he use to be a pitcher and dreamed of playing in the majors :) but got hurt.
6. only ONLY drinks water
7. he is a terrific husband
8. he eats spinange with almost every meal :) and doesnt complain... I think he likes it.
9. he is quiet but not shy!
10. favorite all time baseball player - roger clemens (may be not anymore...) :)
11. is a HUGE dreamer!!!
12. has very manly feet
13. failed high school spanish
14. in college he was told all the time that he looked like john f kennedy jr.... until he died
15. has a HUGE heart for local missions
16. can quote (without the movie being on) back to the future
17. elbows his wife, in the face, at night, about three times a week
18. has a bad habit of picking his ear... the skin inside his ear, not ear wax
19... well, he does have a LOT of ear wax
20. is an internet user (inside joke)
21. a snapping specialist
22. professional hacky sack player
23. use to model :)
24. use to act
25. doesnt like to get his head wet when swimming
26. favorite TV show - LOST then HEROES
27. can fall asleep anywhere... like at the bowling alley!
28. is the most trust worthy guy I know!
29. he is an AWESOME father
30. is my best friend... I love him!!!! and his family adores him!

Won't you be my Neighbor?

I love our neighborhood! We have AWESOME neighbors... Everyday (if the weather allows) the kids on our street come out and play... all ages... range from Hunter (age 3) to Daniel (age 14, but he really supervises).

In the above picture, we have Haley, Hunter, Wes and Grace-across-street (my kids call her that because we have another friend - grace smart that we knew first before we moved.) Wes doesn't live ON our street... he lives two streets down. Him and Grace-across-the-street will be in kindergarten next year together.

Some of our activities include sidewalk chalk... very fun... WARNING.... sidewalk PAINT is not fun when the kids decide to paint your van!

Like I said, Wes lives two streets down and today that worked out great for us... Hunter knocked down our stupid pantry and glass containers that were temporarily resting on top fell on top of his head... GLASS was EVERYWHERE... his head was covered in glass like he just got out of a sand box, except it wasn't sand.... The sound was AWFUL!!! Haley and I immediately freaked out and screamed.... Jimmy ran into get Hunter out of the mess.... I took Haley down to Carrie's house so I could clean up the mess (and so she could be removed and calm down a bit, she was shaken up a bit) while Hunter and dad had a "clean Hunter party".... We had to shave ALL OF HIS CURLS off..... to get the glass out of his hair!!!! I am so sad! I loved Hunters longer curly hair... it was messy, but it was his style :(.... So when you see him next and he is BALD.... please know I am terribly sad about it :(

Thanks Carrie for taking care of Hay so I could clean the mess....

Last week sometime...

Hunter had pajama day at school for Dr. S's b-day :) (Yes I know the full name... I am too lazy to get up off my chair to go look it up - I got up at 6am this morning and am STILL waking up) :) They had green eggs and ham... He LOVED the green eggs... I helped out in his class and got to wear my PJs as well :) nice :) (this was March 3rd) :)

Grant turned 3... so here is a picture of three friends :)

Doesn't she look older here? she is NOT ALLOWED to get older :)

"New" friends... Drew and Jonah :) Jonah 13/2 months old and Drew 9/2 months old (HA! I may be tired and a poor speller but I can make improper fractions without waking up)

Logan and Haley.... big 11/2 year olds! WOW... I can't believe it! They have been friends BEFORE their 2 year b-day! (that is when kelly and I met).

A week strong

Ok, so I have gotten up EVERY morning at 6am... Yay me... but I have some thoughts... I love being ready and alive when my kids get up but see then the problem comes later when I turn into the wicked witch of the west.... will my body get use to this new schedule?

Also... here are some questions I have and want to hear from other moms out there so PLEASE comment and let me know...
- What time are your kids bedtime (lights are out)?
- Do they take naps?
- what time do they get up in the morning?

I ask because I am dragging Haley out of bed every morning and she is such a night owl...we put her to bed at 830 but she lays in bed awake for who knows how long... she gets no nap.

Gooooooooood morning Alta Loma!

This is a picture off my front porch at the wee hours of 630am :)

I decided I needed to become better prepared for my school days. I am not a morning person... (ask anyone who has seen me first thing in the morning...) so I am FORCING myself to be... :)

I am blogging it because I need the accountability!

WHY am I torturing myself?

Well, because I HATE rushing in the morning before school and to be honest... it doesn't matter WHEN I get up, I still hate to get up! I love my bed toooooo much. I could get up at 8am and STILL not be nice and grumpy and tired... so really, it doesn't matter.

Here are the benefits of me getting up early...
1. I am dresses and ready before the kids are up.
2. I get to see the sunrise which is one of my FAVORITE all time things to see :)
3. The kids and I can walk to school, take our time...
4. My kids can eat breakfast at home as opposed to cereal in a bag in the van on the way to school
5. I can have a morning quiet time :) I LOVE this one!

BUMMER about getting up early...
1. It is still dark outside..:( (but that only leads to my favorite scene :) - the sunrise)
2. It is cold (but it isnt that much warm later)
3. I don't get to lay in bed with Hunter and watch Thomas.... wait, this is a plus :)
4. Last night I fell asleep early :) (I like night time)

One of those days!

Jonah got shots today... FOUR! It is going to be one of those days :( poor guy!

He weighs 18 pounds and 6 oz.

Family Game Night

Jonah's version of family games... Hunter playing with his toys while he watches :)

Every Tuesday night we play games as a family. Sometimes we play on other nights, but EVERY Tuesday we play games. Then we read books. Each kids picks three books and Jimmy reads to them... They love having that special daddy time.

What a cutie!
This is what he does when I am on the computer :) it sits right next to me...

Huntman enjoying Jonah's toys... :)

My Random Brain...

Here are just some random, venting things...

Nursing a baby with teeth is NO FUN. Advice?

I LOVE hearing, "Sorry mom...." Hunter calling from the hallway bathroom... "I missed!"

Kitchen counter top grout... YUCK

Knowing that Jonah pooed just by looking at the BACK of his outfit because it leaked.

When my dog BURPS in my face...

When my dog sneezes and CRAP comes flying out and it lands on my BARE knee....

When the kids dump the sand out of their shoes on the carpet...

Not having a vacuum to vacuum it up right away :)

Arriving to school to pick up the kids and realize that you forgot to put your shirt back on from feeding your baby so you are standing out there in only a nursing tank top undershirt thing... Nursing pads on and all... NICE

There... thats good for now right?