AHHH

Most of you know that I HATE spiders! I have a real phobia of them. In fact it is so extreme that sometimes I hyperventilate when I see them, (no exaggeration.) I have a hard time killing even the littlest of spiders and make Bret or even one of the kids do it for me. Before we had kids I would put a cup on top of a spider and wait for Bret to get home so he could kill it. So having this fear does not bode well for me living here in Texas.

When we first moved here we had a ton of wolf spiders in our back yard. They are creeping looking and I hate them. I've done my research and they are poisonous, but non aggressive. (As if that is supposed to bring me any comfort) We've also found 4 black widows, yes 4! One was in our garage and the other three were in our back yard. When I found the one in the garage I would not let anyone in the garage until Bret killed it that night. I parked in the driveway and we came in the house through the back door. And all day until Bret got home I was uptight and anxious. But we haven't seen any of these for several months now, and I've been feeling better.

And yes, we DO have pest control!

Well today I found TWO BROWN RECLUSE spiders in our garage, actually on the bottom of the garage door. AHHHHHH!!!! Not only are these extremely poisonous spiders but they are aggressive as well. (found that out in my research of the wolf spiders.) Definitely not happy today. To top it all off Bret is out of town! I couldn't even wait for him to get home to kill them. But I had to be a good mama and protect my youngin's. I kept all the kids inside. They were not allowed to come out and watch even from a distance. I got out some pest spray we have and killed them. And yes, I screamed as they fell from the garage door. Brets words of comfort to me were, "at least they weren't inside the house." Yah that's a good thing, but not bringing much comfort. I know spiders serve a purpose, but I really would have been happy if Heavenly Father had made this world "spider-free!"

It took major guts on my part to get underneath it to take a picture. Even looking at it my heart is racing!













This is the spider all dead in a pool of pesticide.


Thank you Home Defense Max! My first call tomorrow....the real bug killers. Pest Control will be here before the week is out!

Feed Me!

I think somebody is a little hungry! Last night at dinner Gavin was sitting on Bret's lap and started going crazy for the food. He was leaning towards the plate, trying to grab it with his hands, and obviously, get his mouth as close to it as possible. He is getting so big I can't believe it. This was the first time he has shown real interest in what we were eating, and boy there was no easing into it. He just decided to go for it all the way! How did that plate taste buddy? I love the longing look in his eyes as he is so focused on the food.

Good for a Laugh

If you're ever in need to a good little chuckle, just listen to Zachary talk for a few minutes and he is sure to deliver. This kid cracks me up! First of all he is a non stop talker. I hear all day long, "Hey mom, I need to tell you something." Or to his sisters, "Hey guys...hey guys...hey guys...hey guys (until they respond) I need to tell you something."

During his prayer at lunch he prayed that President Hinckley would come alive again some day. He then turns to me this is what proceeded out of his little mouth...

Mom, did you know that President Hinckley was a real prophet.
Ya, well he's dead now.
Ya Mom. In real life.
Spidy is dead too.
Maybe Spidy can be President Hinckley's hermit crab in heaven.
Mom, does President Hinckley like Spidy?
Mom, I miss Spidy....
Mom, I miss President Hinckley too....
Mom...I love you.

I love the many little conversations we have throughout the day. But this one in particular made me smile.

A cure for the munchies!

I recently received a large food storage order that I placed which contained 100 pounds of wheat berries among other things. Now, I may not have a wheat grinder, and I may not make bread, but not to worry, we're still using that wheat! I love to munch on plain old wheat. Crazy I know, but try it, it's really not bad. And a healthy alternative to most other munchies. The kids like it to. Bret even tried some yesterday, and yes, went back for seconds! This container was full to the top a week ago today. So if the time ever came where we did have to "live" off our food storage...we'll just all pull out a spoon and crunch away!

Chocolate Chip Cookies in Heaven

I had big plans for today, I was going to be so productive and get so much done. Here is my list that I set out to do today...

laundry

mop my kitchen floors

vacuum

more laundry

dust

organize my pantry

organize hall closet

more laundry

clean kids bathroom

go to the bank

yes...more laundry

change kids sheets

Now ask me if I've done one thing on that list and the answer would be a big NO! Instead this is how the day has gone. I took a nap, checked my email, made chocolate chip cookies with Zachary, got in a flour fight with Zachary, (it's a good thing I didn't mop that floor after all!) Zachary and I are still in our PJ's, and now instead of trying to do at least a few things on that list, I'm putting it all down on my blog! And I couldn't be happier!

Now here is a little background on the cookies. Bret LOVES warm chocolate cookies right out of the oven. My recipe makes a ton of dough so we have some in the freezer and fridge for a while after I make it. The last time I did Bret said, "I hope there is chocolate chip cookies in heaven." So cute! If I were a better wife I'd always have dough on hand for him to make those warm cookies right out of the oven...the problem is that I love to eat the dough.

Two Favorite Things

Two of my most favorite things in the whole world are fall and children's laughter. And an afternoon that intertwines two couldn't bring a bigger smile to my face. The weather has been gorgeous lately. I've had the windows open all day, a nice breeze flowing through my house, the sun is shinning and the sky is blue. Ahh, that in itself makes me happy. So to hear my children's laughter coming through those open windows this afternoon is heaven. I looked out to see them on their backs looking up at the clouds and giggling. It made me giggle right along with them.

Zachary must have gotten all his giggles out before the I took the picture.

Little Visit to the Hospital...

I am so grateful for inspiration and the promptings that come threw the spirit, especially regarding my children. Abby woke me up yesterday morning at 4:00 a.m. with crying saying she didn't feel well and her head hurt. I touched her arm and immediately got the thermometer. Her temp. read 104.7. I gave her some medicine which she threw up shortly after. We did get her temperature down with cool baths and Bret made a run to Walmart to get dissolvable tablets to help her fever. My thoughts were along the line of Meningitis with that high of a fever and her head hurting, but when she woke up later at 7:00 she said her head didn't hurt anymore, but still had a fever.

Now here is a little history regarding our family...number one, my kids do have a tendency to fever high, so me seeing 104 temperature isn't terribly out of the norm. Number two, I have inherited a significant "worry gene" from my father. I am pron to worry, think the worst and I know it.

So this was my dilemma all morning yesterday....feeling like something was wrong, not just the average little bug, with Abby, trying to balance that with my overprotective worry gene, and knowing that my kids do fever high. I am so grateful for the promptings of the Spirit that kept coming that something just wasn't right.

I took her to the doctor after lunch...and he sent us over to the hospital for chest xrays. (He did rule out meningitis because she had good head and neck mobility.) Well guess what...she has pneumonia. Honestly, I was shocked. She has been feeling great! She had been having a little night time cough for the past week (which I guess ended up being a little more than a "little") but not a big deal and no other symptoms. When I spoke with the doctor he said it was a good thing we caught this early, because more then likely if I had waited till Monday or even Sunday to bring her in she would have needed to have been hospitalized.

Again, I'm so grateful for the companionship of the Holy Ghost. It was a tender mercy that we caught it this early. She had a horrible day yesterday, throwing up all the medicine, high fever all day, until we got her some dissolvable Zofran about 9:30 p.m. She probably said about 5 words all day she was so sick. Today she's getting better and enjoying the movie marathon she gets to watch.

Happy Birthday Abby

Yesterday was Abby's birthday and she a wonderful day. I can't believe she's seven years old! She said our family prayer last night and in her prayer asked Heavenly Father to help her prepare to be baptized. My kids are growing up way to fast. Each new phase of life is so much fun, but I really have the desire lately to freeze time. My kids are not happy with my idea when I tell them they are not allowed to have any more birthdays.

One of Abby's favorite parts of the whole day was wearing this birthday hat all day at school.

Who knew an alarm could bring so much excitement? Simplicity...I love it.

Watch out...Diva in the making. Abby loves singing so we got her this microphone. And no, I did not tell her to pose like that. That came out all on her own!

Bret even got into it when he hooked up the microphone to his ipod.

I thought she was going to burst out into song "I feel pretty, oh so pretty" with this outfit from Grandma and Grandpa. But what girl doesn't love a pretty dress?

A girl after my own heart! She wanted Bavarian Apple Torte for her birthday, or as she calls it, "Apple Cheesecake." YUMMY!!! It was excellent for breakfast today too.

Happy Birthday Abby!

Who needs Dolls?

Who needs dolls when you have a real live baby? The girls dressed Gavin up yesterday calling him "the princess of our home." Poor Gavin is going to go through a lot with his two older sisters. Luckily he has Zachary to do all the boy things with.

McKenna's First Soccer Game

McKenna had her first soccer game today. Her team is named Ladybugs. I was doing her hair before the game and she said, "Mom, I love ponytails with red ribbons." I glad she felt cute while playing soccer!

She had such a great game! She made several great stops and even scored a goal! All of Bret's athletic hopes for our children are wrapped up within this little girl (and possible Gavin.)

Sad News

Spidy is dead.

Day in the life...

Here is a day in the life of our hermit crabs...

The kids trying to give them a bath at 7:00 this morning.

Breakfast

Zachary racing them on the kitchen floor

Spidy loosing a leg

Zachary playing with Clark in the family room

Spidy in his shell all day

Bringing them with us on errands.

Eating lunch with Zachary

Zachary taking them with him while he goes to the bathroom

Zachary putting Clark in a time out because he tried to crawl underneath the TV

Zachary bringing them upstairs to watch him clean the play room

Zachary bringing them outside to watch him play better batter baseball

Zachary laying on the floor, looking at them, picking them up and putting them back

Mom finally putting them up out of reach

The girls coming home from school to check on them, very sad about the leg (McKenna in tears)

Picking Spidy up to check on him and his big major front claw fell off...
no pun intended but I think he's on his last leg.

Putting them out of reach again....

And it's only 3:30!!!

Happy Birthday Zachary

Happy Birthday Zachary!

Zachary turned 4 years old today.

He started out the day with his breakfast of choice...Monkey Bread. Here are the kids doing their best monkey impressions before they can get a piece.

The fire truck cake was a little lopsided, but Zachary didn't care, he still thought it was the coolest cake ever.

When Bret got home from work we opened presents. Zachary loves sweat bands and can always be found wearing one except at church. Bret picked out this sweat band with a watch in it. Zachary

Grandma and Grandpa Daines sent Zachary Better Batter Baseball.

Zachary's final present was 2 hermit crabs painted as Superman and Spiderman. Zachary was SO excited to have his own pets.

The girls first response was "No fair, I want a pet." Everyone loves the new addition to our home. McKenna was kissing them and Zachary even sang them good night songs.

Here is Spidy. He is the bigger of the two and the shyest.

Clark is smaller, friendly (as far as hermit crabs go that is) and very active.

It's a swing and a miss on his first attempt at Better Batter Baseball.
With concentration and the proper stance, it was no time before he was hitting the ball spot on. When Bret stepped up to the plate he hit a home run, out of our yard and into the yard of our back door neighbors. Zachary turned to him and said, "DAD!! Now I'm SO frustrated!!!"
After a great game of baseball in the back we came in to enjoy the firetruck birthday cake. We missed having Paul, Tina and their kids close by to celebrate with us.

First Day of Preschool

Zachary was so excited for his first day of Preschool. He is going 2 days a week from 9:00-2:00. This is the first time in almost 7 years where I have just had one baby and have not been sick and pregnant with another one! I wish I could say I've been supper productive and gotten so much accomplished. I had great plans but somehow the time has gotten away from me and I haven't been able to do what I intended. Isn't that how it always happens. I got one load of laundry started does that count? Breakfast dishes are at least in the sink and Zachary's birthday cupcakes are made ready to take to him at school. I did try to make his birthday cake for tonight, but it would help if you added the oil before baking. We'll start over later after I make another run to the store to get another cake mix and eggs.

Finally it's Zachary's turn to go to school. He was all set with his Thomas backpack and spider man lunch box. Although he's not happy about his backpack (which he got a year ago) because apparently it's not "cool." And he likes "cool stuff like spider man and batman." He's 4, where does he come up with stuff like that?

Zachary loves all the trucks painted on the walls of his school. While walking to his classroom he was pointing them all out to me and calling them by name. He is such a boy, I love it!

Gavin's First Baby Cereal

Gavin had his four month check up last week. He's doing great and getting SO big, which really is no great surprise. He weighed 15 pounds 13 ounces which put him in the 75%, and was 26 and a half inches long, which put him in the 97%. The doctor said because he is so big and I've noticed his appetite has really increased, that he probably needs to be started on cereal. I hate feeding babies. It just takes so long and they get it all over their face and hands. But Bret has been saying, "Give the boy some cereal. He's a growing boy!" So this weekend I did it and started him on baby cereal. He did great and really loved it.

We all gathered round to watch Gavin as he had his first bite of cereal. The kids were so excited for him and kept telling him we was such a big boy.

Gavin loved it! He kept kicking his legs and I couldn't get it to him fast enough. In between bites he'd eat his fingers.

What is it with my boys and their thumbs? Bret, Zachary and now Gavin have all sucked their thumbs. Gavin still loves his Binky, and the thumb helps him sleep great!

Labor Day

I love long weekends! We had a fun and relaxing Labor Day. Bret and Zachary went golfing in the morning, we went to a picnic in the afternoon, and watched Star Wars with the kids later that evening at home.

The park we went to was beautiful with flags all around.

McKenna cooling herself off after playing a game of football.

Look at that red face! Zachary was so hot after playing on the playground.

Go Cougars!

We had so much fun welcoming in the football season by decorating the yard of some friends. These guys recently moved to Texas from Provo and are HUGE BYU fans. David would mow a Y in his front yard and spray paint it and wear a big blue wig to all the games. So we thought we'd help get them in the spirit even though they're far from home. We used 500 feet of blue crepe paper, 250 feet of white crepe paper, 6 rolls of toilet paper, sidewalk chalk, a blue sparkle banner, 2 blue sparkle rope things, 2 signs, 72 blue balloons (which the girls completely blew up on their own), and a basket full of game time munchies. The mission began at 12:30 a.m. when we woke our kids up and headed out. Shortly after our decorating began the real adventure took place. I was up at the house wrapping the posts when Bret comes running up the drive way yelling, "run!" Seconds later a cop drives by. I turned to him and said, "Honey, where are the girls?" His reply was "I told them to run." So I told him that if he was going to run away from a policeman, be sure to take the girls with you! Can't you just see it, Abby and McKenna standing on the sidewalk in their Disney princess PJ's completely oblivious to the command of "RUN." We got a good laugh out of this and on the way home taught our kids a valuable lesson, if you're out toilet papering someones house, run when you see a cop. The policeman drove by 3 times and never stopped. (Bret only abanded out children by running away the first time.)

Sense they didn't have enough grass to mow a Y into it, sidewalk chalk had to do.

Even though Zachary was so excited during the day about our plans, he just couldn't wake up enough to help out.

Poor Gavin. He was not happy to be woken up and then left in the car while we decorated.

Abby and McKenna thought it looked very beautiful when we were finished.