These Days

As crazy as my kids can sometimes make me feel, they also provide an unbelievable amount of entertainment to my life.  I am constantly laughing at the ridiculously cute comments that my little E throws at me, or the sassy eye rolls and hilariously dramatic expressions that Miss M comes up with, or the intense excitement that Robby portrays as he tells me about his "totally awesome new tricks on his bike".  It makes me sad when I forget to write down these cute little phrases they tell me.  In the moment I tell myself to write them down, then the next day I think "I will never forget what he/she said", and finally several weeks later I can no longer exactly remember what was said.  In an effort to improve my severely lacking long-term memory, here is my most recent comments from our little Toronto clan:

Robby:

"Mom, for your birthday we are getting you something EVEN more special than presents......we are throwing you a surprise birthday party!"  ---oh really buddy :)

"This is completely ridiculous" (when asked to clean his room)

"Your just no fun anymore" (his new common phrase when he gets disciplined or doesn't like what I am asking him to do....I will TOTALLY take this one any day over being called stupid like before!)

"Mom, I looked down when I was in the bathroom and realized I have a REALLY big willy--(in reference to his boy parts).  Isn't that awesome?!".......me: "uh, sure that's great"

"If there were a hundred sornadoes (tornadoes) and water spouts, it would vacuum Jesus right out of heaven"

"Mom, smile really big, I want to take your picture so that I can always remember what you look like when you die"....wow, you are really making me feel young buddy

R makes me smile every time I hear him pronounce "lets" as "yets"......Mom, yets go to the store right away :)

"I have a one hundred appetite" --his explanation for why he is always so hungry

"Mom, I'm not mad at you I'm just disappointed because...."

 like I"ve always said.....I have a pretty cool five year old!

Robby outside during March's "mud season"-----YUCK

Eli:

"I need my helmet on ALWAYS so I protect my head"  (his rationale for keeping his new Spiderman helmet on literally all day)

"My eye is not hurt, it just has purple color on it" (when asked if his black eye still hurts)

"I'm not a baby big boy...I am a little big boy"----in response to Robby telling him he's not big enough to do something

"Mom, I'm not a 'Jose', I'm just an Eli"---when I tell him "No-way Jose"

 

 the boys were spinning each other on the office chair and Eli kept telling Robby to go "faster and faster".....this was the end result :(

 *We had some seriously fantastic weather for one week in March with highs in the 80's; defninitely didn't last but we sure enjoyed that week with multiple play dates at the park*

Maddie:

"this day is the worst day of my life" (when Robby tattled on her ladybug she had hidden in her room and I made her take it outside)

"You would be the best Mommy ever if you bought us all the ice cream and treats we wanted"

"I'm pretty sure I was the cutest girl at church today.....now if only I could have some of your make up Mom"---silly girl 

--Maddie's favorite song right now is Taio Cruz's "Dynamite", it cracks me up when I watch her singing and dancing to this song.

"Mom, I feel like I'm being tortured and am your servant"--while working on her chores.....me: "so does this mean I am your servant every other day because I am constantly doing chores around the house"....Maddie: "I guess so" (with a smirk on her face)

 picture of my "servant girl" and our turtle power boy.....what is Robby doing? Why, laying on his bedroom floor because he is "just too tired" LOL

 My super cool first grader; always rocking her very own style!

 Maddie is in love with her new purple sneakers that she got from the Easter bunny

--our little gymnasti post-meet (intersquad).  She had a lot of fun and did really great

A few days ago our neighbor's Huskie, Granite, got "fixed" and has been wearing the "collar of shame" since then.  When Maddie came and saw Granite she asked the owner what happened.  He said "Oh, he got fixed and will be wearing this for the next week or so."  Maddie in return said "I need to go over and give Granite a hug and tell him I'm sorry that he has ticks".....LOL

Easter Twenty Twelve

I hate to admit it, but I think I get lazier and lazier with each passing Holiday. I have turned almost into a grinch and tend to not want to put any effort into decorating, celebrating, and doing over the top activities.  It's a good thing we have family that sends us fun holiday crafts, snacks, and games to play otherwise I might have completely bypassed Easter this year (other than the fact that I DO have a child that remembers each and every holiday and reminds the other two as well).  Easter this year was no exception to this general rule of laziness that I have going on.  I swore that I would bake roll out cookies and stamp them into fun spring shapes, make fun Easter cupcakes, go on multiple egg hunts, hide baskets with a fun riddle to locate them, and decorate hard boiled eggs.  Did any of this get done?  Not a chance.  Somehow the week went by way too fast and all of a sudden I had Saturday evening breathing down my neck.  I finally went to the store the night before Easter after all kids were nestled in their beds, got home around 10:15pm and was so exhausted I fell asleep on the couch.  When I woke up, I realized with a start that it was already 1:30 in the morning and nothing had been done.  I hurriedly threw together our Easter arrangement and dumped each basket in a random spot in our house.  Then it was off to bed for me, at least until Jesse got home from his trip to NYC at 2:30 am which meant I was up for another 45 minutes or so.  Let's just say the Sunday morning came way too quickly for us.  I was too tired to shoot any pictures of Easter basket discoveries or any of that nonsense.  In fact, I completely spaced taking a few pictures of our Easter outfits before church. 

On the way to church we looked back and Eli threw up all over his clothes while driving down the freeway.  He had been a tad bit questionable in the few minutes before we climbed in the car and clearly a jostling ride didn't help things at all.  Jesse dropped me and the older two kidlets off and then headed back home with mr E.  We had a pretty enjoyable time at church and I have to admit that Robby and Maddie behaved almost as good as I can imagine.  When we returned home, Eli greeted me by throwing up all over my brand new dress :)  What a way to be welcomed home. 

Although I never actually hid all the Easter eggs that were stuffed full of candy and money, I think the kids were sufficiently satisfied with the supply of treats in their baskets.  And Eli love love loves his new Spiderman bike from the Easter Bunny as well.

We did attend our church's Easter egg Hunt Saturday during the day and the children had a grand time collecting their 18 eggs and then looking through their spoils of the day.  It was quite a pleasant day to be outdoors and Eli was even able to wear his beloved Cars flip flops to the event :) 

The most 'normal' picture of Maddie in her Easter dress.  I need to post the outtakes of this endeavor to truly portray how silly our little girl is. 

Robby looking handsome in his Easter suit (never mind the fact that he quickly ditched his shoes after church) 

 Eli in heaven with his new bike and helmet

My Birthday

This year has been a hard one for me in regards to my BIG day.  Even though my life is far from care-free due to being married for almost an entire decade and mothering three little ones, I have always felt like I fit into the "younger group" of adulhood.  For the first time I am being forced to come to terms with the fact that I am now in the 30's group instead of the girls in their 20's. In some ways I haven't really felt young in a very long time (since Robby was born five years ago), but nevertheless I could still claim I was young in theory.  Now all of a sudden in my head I no longer sound like some "young thing" anymore. 

 Since I moved to New Hampshire in August, I have felt a renewed sense of young as I have celebrated multiple friends hitting thirty right alongside with me (and some have already proudly marched through this phase of life several years prior).  I feel like we are all still young at heart when we get together for girls nights; we can laugh hysterically at the ridiculous things that happen in small towns, share funny stories about our kids and hubbies, as well as enjoy "teeny bopper" movies while the husbands stay home with the children.  So of course I should have known that these friends would not let my birthday pass by without making sure I experienced a special evening out.  My goodness, did they ever deliver.  They threw me a surprise party that was veiled as a "Pinterest Party" the night before my actual birthday.  I walked into it excited to have a night out with friends with my official Pinterest fruit pizza in hand, only to realize that these girls had gone ALL out and decorated the community center with balloons, banners, cake, yummy treats, and the BEST coconut lime slushes all color coordinated in typical, perfect Maren fashion.  I was shocked and surprised and immediately gratified to know what great friends I have made here.  I truly feel so lucky to have gotten to know all these women over the past nine months and I am sure happy they will all be sticking around with us for another year longer!

 From left to right: Catherine Pyfer, Maren Layton, Kristie Barlow, Liz Igoe, Tiffany (me), Michelle Holbrook, Jen Fogarty, Ashley Kostle, Brittany, Andrea Dance

LOVE THESE GIRLS!!!

On my actual birthday I woke up and immediately joined several friends on the first of our "long runs" as we have begun to train for a half-marathon that will be coming up in middle May.  It was the perfect morning to go on a run and the first time I have ever really run without my Ipod blaring in my ears.  I have never realized how fulfilling it can be to just visit with friends while we go on a relaxing run together.  All in all, it brought out my running bug in full force and further motivated me to keep on training hard.  When I returned home, Jesse and the kids had decorated our front porch and downstairs with banners, streamers, and balloons.  The children were so excited to yell "Surprise....Happy Birthday Mommy" when I entered our house.  In came another influx of love into my heart.  In that moment, nothing could take away from the swelling in my heart of love.  I felt so loved and needed by my family.  And in that instant I was reminded of how close the five of us have gotten, since moving far away from our extended family and for that I am grateful. 

The presents soon followed and included new running clothes and shoes, and a brand new NINJA blender.  I have thoroughly enjoyed preparing tons of smoothies since then, anywhere from healthy green smoothies to ice cream infused fruit treats.  Not to mention how much better my feet feel in my new shoes; I can almost feel a palpable difference between running in old shoes and new ones.  The only downer to my birthday was that immediately following our "surprise party" I started to feel somewhat sick to my stomach, achy, and had some lovely GI issues.  I pretty much felt under the weather the rest of the day, that then translated into the whole weekend.....yuck. Jesse was so great with taking care of me, and allowing me to rest on the couch while we watched General Conference.  Even though he had to leave later that evening for Priesthood session, I still felt like it was a great day for me.

I have to admit that I am kind of a nerd when it comes to birthdays, including my own.  I look forward them with little child excitement and this year did not disappoint.  Although I cannot wait to be showered with more love next year on my birthday, I can wait awhile before tacking another year onto my age :)

Today

I have found out that there are two main things that must be incorporated into my daily life, in order for me to be happy.  The first is sleep (not a ton, at least 6.5 hours and not waking up until 7am), and the second is working out (not necessarily on a daily basis, but definitely at least 3-4 times a week).  I discovered just how important the second item on that list was this winter when I went through a monotonous winter filled with being cooped inside and snow/icy weather.  I ate my way through those days and came up feeling frumpy and blah.  About three weeks ago, I decided that a change was needed and registered for a 5K race.  Then I traded my pajamas and slippers for running gear and sneakers and out I headed.  I can safely say I haven't been happier in quite awhile and feel so much more energetic (like my old self).

Today was a really good day.  I was able to sleep well and go running this afternoon.  After surviving the first two semesters of J's school which included long days of classes and group projects and long nights full of studying and homework, I can confidently say I LOVE the third and final semester of this year.  He is home more, less stressed and able to help around the house like before.  He is really trying to be supporting of me training for my upcoming race in May (half-marathon....yikes).  Today he proudly announced that he felt pretty caught up with his studies and that I could go running if I wanted.  The internal debate lasted less than a second and I was out the door in a flash.  I feel like I am slowly returning to previous running shape and my lungs are getting stronger with each run.  Now I just need to learn how to tackle hills.....

Some other things that made today such a great day include:

*watching Robby at gymnastics this morning
*shopping at BJ's with my boys
*having Maddie proudly announce that there are only FOUR days until MY birthday (and yes I have trained her well)
*Going running
*Date night with Catherine to the movie theaters to see Hunger Games! (loved it)
*coming home to a clean kitchen with children nestled in their beds
*and last but not least, watching my boys play for HOURS with their new swim goggles on.....seriously was one of the cutest things ever :)

Shamrock Shuffle

This year for St. Patricks Day I headed out to the Lebanon green and ran a fun 5K race with some of my good friends here in New Hampshire.  It was the perfect race to participate in after a long running hiatus this winter.  It sort of kick started my workouts again and got me motivated to register for Half-Marathon that I am doing in May....yikes.  We all wore fun festive socks that Maren picked up from her Target trip and off we went.  I didn't end up running side by side with any of the girls but had a great time and was pleased to even have Jesse and the kids come at the end.  My time wasn't great (approx 30 minutes), but I was pleased to finally be out there running again!

*and Maren was amazing running at 31 weeks pregnant!!! She is sort of my hero :)

 Tiffany, Maren, Michelle, Ashley, and Kristie

 Me after the race with my "bigger two kids"---that is somehow how I seem to refer to Maddie and Robby when I am talking about my children :)

Maren, Tiffany, and Michelle

*I am seriously so lucky to have been blessed with such good friends that are living the same life as us right now*

Winter with Papa

My kids have been lucky enough to have their Papa come out multiple times to visit us.  Every time he comes they have so much fun together; this time did not disappoint.  Although he was only here for a few days, they built snowmen, went sledding, had a hot chocolate stand, cuddled, etc.  Thanks so much for all the time and attention you give to our children Papa......I know that they won't forget this.  XOXO

 Maddie is obsessed with food/drink stands where she earns money and is constantly come up with new ways to do this.  This winter she decided that she would do a hot chocolate stand to warm everyone up.  She made her sign, dragged the kid table to the corner by our house, pulled out a change jar, styrofoam cups, and lukewarm-semi watery hot chocolate.  Unfortunately there weren't too many customers lurking around to buy off of her, however she was excited that our neighbors the Dance's came outside and each bought a cup from her. 

 Eli was excited to get his own cup of cocoa and even sat out by Maddie for part of the time and helped "sell" with her

 Our poor pitiful snowman.  The crazy part is that this is literally the ONLY snowman that we made this year.  I guess we are officially Arizona wimps when it comes to the snow.  We have promised ourselves that next year there will be many more snowmen built.

 Papa was a trouper and slid down the hill over and over without any snow pants on.

February 12-18

I have somehow abandoned my blog this year and it makes me a little sad.  I love to record the little things about life, good or bad.  It somehow makes the bad feel more tolerable and I love being able to recognize my growth as an individual through those challenging times. I am going to attempt to catch up on February and then just move on with my life.

Sunday, February 12th: I taught Relief Society (a women's only meeting) at my church for the FIRST TIME EVER.  I was a little hesitant when they asked me to prepare a lesson because I had never done something like that before.  I am one hundred percent NOT a public speaker, never have been and never will be.  I'm also not one of those people that words come easily to with speeches or public events.  That is a talent that my husband has always had, not me.  But I put my faith in God that I would be able to speak the words that the sisters (and I) needed to hear.  Fortunately He delivers and was with me throughout my entire talk.  The topic I spoke about was "Loving Thy Neighbor as Thy Self".  I felt like I learned a lot more about what kind of Love I want in my life.  I want to have Agape (Godly) love in my life, I want that to be the kind of love that I give to others.  The kind of love that is non-partial, sacrificial, and unconditional, that expects nothing in return.  Not the natural man version that is weak in comparison, selfish and self-serving that is based on how other people behave toward us.  I hope that I can exercise more control over myself in the future and continually strive to develop the love that Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father continue to show me regardless of my own personal failures and shortcomings.  I want to be able to teach my children by example of the kind of love I want them to have in their own lives. 

Monday: February 13th: The boys and I headed over to our good friend's house for an afternoon of cookie decorating.  We had a great time frosting cookies and laughing while the kids ran wild and played together. Maddie was pretty jealous when she found out about all the fun we had, but luckily I had some extra frosting and cookies for her decorate that evening as well.  She also was really creative this year and handmade her Valentines for her school class.  She cut out heart shapes with construction paper and stapled them shut with a few hersheys kisses inside.  She constantly amazes me with her creative side.

Tuesday: February 14th: LOVE day! Maddie had a great time at her school party, passing out candy and getting lots of treats in return.  She had gymnastics after school so it was somewhat busy from about 2:30-5:30pm around our house.  I did homemade pizza that evening complete with heart shaped pepperoni's on top.  I have to admit there was no romance this year on V-Day with Jesse busy with school work, studying, group projects, etc.  But still a great day spent with my children showing them how much I love them.

Wednesday, February 15th: This particular night I worked at the hospital and it was one of our doctor's last shift at the hospital. Good thing we had some fun goggles to model in to celebrate the occassion.  Christina is a crack up and was so proud to say that she owns her very own pair.  Dr Johnston, we will sure miss you!!

Thursday, February 16th:  Jesse picked up the boys early from the sitters and we happened to get a bit of snow in the meantime.  So needless to say they all had a good time goofing around together.  I am seriosly dying at how cute Mr E is with mis-matched pajamas, ski goggles, and his hat backwards.  I sure love that little boy:)

Robby had to take his turn wearing the cool ski goggles.  He thinks they belong to him now and wants to wear them whenever he goes outside to play in the snow.

Friday: February 17th: CHILI DAY. Jesse and I worked together to make some yummy Chili for Tuck's annual competition. It was fun to do this together in the morning, although I was quite tired because I had worked the night before. By that evening I was worn out and just wanted to relax at home, so Jesse took Maddie on a daddy-daughter date to the event. She had a great time running around with the other kids while Jesse manned the chili station. Unfortunately we did not win, but we still had a great time making it.

Saturday, February 18th:  Last minute Date night/girls night!! I ended up going to a girls night movie of "Breaking Dawn: Part 1" with a group of girls that live in my neighborhood: Michelle, Maren, Andrea, Liz, and Emily.  We had a great time laughing, talking and watching a total chick flick without any male gagging during the movie.  After I got back from the movie Jesse and I ended up going to the Tuck "Hoe Down" for a few hours.  It was pretty fun, even though we didn't dress up at all to suit the occassion.  I love the chances I get to get out of the house for something non-work related without children and spend time with adult contacts.  I had fun dancing with Lauren, Jen, and Natalia: I sure love my "fellow groupies" on the dance floor :) while listening to the T13 band rock out to some good old fashioned country music.

Five

A certain someone has been counting down the days until his birthday since beginning of January. 

He has also been planning his "airplane/jetplane" themed birthday party

And has been making a list of all of the 'totally awesome' toys he wants for this said birthday.

And been practicing the new way to show everyone how old he is.

Who is this cute little boy you may ask.....

Robby, of course :)  {not to be confused with Robert per the Birthday boy}

Some fun things we did to celebrate his birthday include:

*lunch at McDonald's

*birthday dinner of Spaghetti and homemade meatballs

*Yummy giant "Cupcake" cake with Spumoni ice cream

*BJ's to pick out a few extra DS games with money from GGma and Nona & Papa

*family party/lots of happy birthdays from family

Robby always dreams big when it comes to presents and this year he did not disappoint.  He announced weeks before his birthday that all he wanted for his birthday was a remote control airplane and batteries for his remote control monster truck.  I started researching remote control airplanes and coudn't find one that flew that cost less than $100---that didn't look like it would fall apart the moment we tried it out.  Luckily my friend at work contacted me and said that her daughter had two DS game systems that she never played with and offered to give me one of them for FREE.  We picked it up a few days later and it was perfect condition.  The result= Robby loved it and has really enjoyed his new "Mario Kart" game as well as his Amusement Park & Diego DS games.

We kept his actual birthday sort of low key this year with the plan that we would have a big party for him the next day, Saturday.  He didn't seem to mind in the least bit and we did have a lovely time together opening presents and enjoying time with one another.  In fact, we had so much fun that the kids stayed up WAY too late.  I glanced at the clock at some point and realized with dismay that it was 9pm and all three were still up playing.  Oh my goodness, it's embarassing to admit that this happens way too often at my house.

Five Fun Things about Robby include:

1. His favorite color is hands down RED.  He must have red plates, cups, spoons, and bowls in the kitchen.  This cracks me up because for years my favorite color was also red.  We just bought him one of my favorite books as a child called "Red is Best" that my mother also bought me because I loved that color so zealously :)

2. He is seriously so smart, he amazes me at times what he naturally learns (not from my wonderful parenting).  He has learned simple addition and subtraction from the older (not bigger) sister.  The other day I heard them practicing together while driving.  He knows 2+2, 3+2, 4+3, 2+0, etc.  He also can do very simple subtraction with using his fingers.  He has also really improved on his phonics and loves to tell me what words rhyme, what letter different words start with, can simple spell words based on the phonetical way they sound.  In fact, one of our favorite games we play is "Tell me what words start with the letter "T" or "R" or "S"..... This game can keep my older two entertained for a good 10 minute car ride and they get progressively louder as they grow more excited about what words they can come up with.

3. He is a total stuffed animal lover.  He has two different puppies on his bed "Raja" and "Maggie" that he loves to drag nearly everywhere he goes.  I have to admit, it makes my heart melt a little bit when I see him stroking them while he watches tv or as he falls asleep at night. 

4. Robby loves anything that includes races.  He will spend hours a day setting up and practicing having his monster trucks, cars, trains, planes, etc race each other.  He is very specific on who is going to win and who will crash during the said race.  He also likes to personally participate in races with his siblings, particularly when he wins.  He still isn't the greatest at good sportsmanship when he loses but loves to help others develop this attribute by trying to calm them down when they're not the winners. This is hilarious to watch!

5. Loves to play "Connect Four: Launchers". He makes up his own rules depending on who he's playing with and frequently ends up with way more turns than me----or maybe I am just a sore loser about always losing to Rubba's :)

A semi-ugly picture of part of the Bday dinner---I was mostly proud of myself for finding a recipe and making the homemade meatballs on the right of the plate.  This was a brand new recipe for me :)

Robby was so excited when it was finally time to open presents that evening on his Birthday!

I absolutely love how Maddie made him this picture for his birthday.  I loved how much time Maddie spend on this project, and how excited she was to give it to him.

Rubba in his brand new Fox Hat (that has now become E's because he is in love with that thing and Robby's semi-indifferent about it)