Easter

Ahhh, Easter. I love Easter. Easter means it is officially spring and summer is on it's way. I love Easter dresses and Easter egg hunts. I love Easter chocolate and Easter dinner. I love following the Saviors life through the week leading up to Easter Sunday and trying to keep the focus on him. Every year this seems to get a little harder.

This year I thought I would try to do without the candy, except for what the kids find in the easter egg hunt. Somehow Gavin still ended up with a HUGE basket of candy (from the church egg hunt, teachers, etc.) and all Kesley keeps asking me is why the Easter bunny didn't come to our house.... Ooops, I've never been a fan of the Easter bunny. We use our Easter baskets to collect eggs and haven't really expanded things from there. She came home from church and was so confused as to why the bunny had brought her friend presents and candy and hadn't brought anything to her. Why has Easter become another Christmas? I can see an Easter basket with a little chocolate or whatever, but why gifts? I just don't understand it. Now I feel like a mean mom who has sucked all the magic out of Easter...I just can't win.

They did, however, get beautiful new dresses and Kesley never felt more like a princess. She got to wear her hat and some new little heal shoes to church. Gavin and Jenna were not very cooperative in letting me capture their Easter cuteness, but Kesley was more than willing to pose and pose and....Jenna was just in awww of Kesley. Was it the hat or the dress? Kesley was loving the admiration--she was the princess among the paupers. I call this shot, "The Condescension of Kesley"
Jenna wouldn't really pose, but this one turned out cute.We did have a great day and a yummy dinner up at Gram & Grandpa Smiths. Next year, I will continue in my quest to celebrate the true meaning in Easter, but I think I will add a tiny amount of pizazz to the basket...just so my kids aren't traumatized.

My first blog tag ever...thank you, Mary!

HUSBAND TAG: Can't start this without saying I love you, Brent! Here is a picture of my husband in HEAVEN--he has his dog, his family and the Oregon Coast!
1. Where did you meet your husband? The first week of summer after we gratuated from highshool. This was back in the ugly, *I want to be a hippy* days, so I'm sure it was somewhere up the canyon, I just don't rememer where...
2. How long did you date before you got married? We never dated. We were just friends for 10 years and he would pop into my work for lunch every once in a while. Once we finally decided to "date" we were married 7 months later.
3. How long have you been married? It will be 8 years on June 1st!
4. What does he do that surprises you? He always surprises me. Some good and some not so good! The latest surprise was his goal to volunteer for EVERYTHING they needed volunteers for in Priesthood meeting. Setting up chairs, moving people, cannery projects.....he's there!
5. What is your favorite feature of his? His smile...and his eyelashes!
6. What is his best quality? He has a very big heart. He loves his kids more than anything and will stop everything to play with them.
7. Does he have a nickname for you? Not really...except when he is mad--only kidding.
8. What is his favorite food? If I am cooking: Manacotti & garlic bread. If we are going out: Sizzler Steak and Malibu Chicken.
9. What is his favorite sport? Ha Ha--Oh that is not a joke. I love that he doesn't watch any sports on T.V. SO GREAT! He played football in high school, but now only plays catch with G.
10. When and where did you first kiss? Ok, this is funny. He always had a crush on me--back in the day--and we actually kissed twice during those 10 years of friendship--both times I dropped him off at home and never mentioned the kiss again! How rude am I? When we finally started hanging out regularly, he kissed me and I stopped him and told him he was more like a brother, which about killed him. About 2 weeks later I realized I really did like him more than...my brother, and I kissed him--on a hill at a park where he was playing the guitar. Ahhh those were the days...
11. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? Camp along the Oregon Coast!
12. Do you have any children? Three great kids: Gavin is 6, Kesley is 5 and Jenna is 2.
13. Does he have any hidden talents? He has MANY talents: He can fix just about anything from cars to plumbing. He is an AMAZING carpenter. He is great with kids. One hidden talent is that he is very good at throwing pots. He has a pottery wheel, but no time to use it.
14. How old is he? Thirty-five
15. Who said 'I love you' first? Sad to say that I don't remember. But happy to say that he tells me he loves me just about everyday.
16. What is his favorite music? I'd have to say John Denver. He loves singing Denver songs to the kids before bed.
17. What do you admire most about him? That he is a hard worker. He will do anything to provide for his family.
18. What is his favorite color? I don't think he really cares.
19. Will he read this? Not a chance.
20. Who do you tag? I don't know who actually reads my ramblings and those who do never comment and most don't have a blog...So hmmmm...Emily Gillespie--I tag you...if you are out there...and want to update your blog!

How sweet it is!

I really want to start this post by screaming, "Neener, neener, neener!" like a 6 year old taunting another kid, but I am trying to take the high road... Some may know of the battle we have been fighting for the last 3 years. The Dr. Office next door has limited parking and found a solution in renting a parking lot 1 block away and asking their employees to park there. The problem was the employees thought walking one block was too much to ask and decided our street was a better solution. As a result, our street was bumper to bumper parked cars from 8:00a.m. to 7:00p.m everyday. For obvious reasons we were upset.

We tried asking them politely to use their own parking lot instead of our street and were met with a very rude, "It's a public street and we can legally park here." We tried talking to the Dr's and were met with the same response. For a year things got steadily worse. Dirty, smirky looks from these nurses as they would park and walk by LAUGHING! They would park as close to the driveways as possible to make more space for all the employees, making it almost impossible to drive out of our own driveway and leaving no where to put your own garbage can on garbage day. I have to admit I hated these ladies. I would just ignore them, but I really wanted to rip their eyes out. The last straw for me was a knock on the door last spring. I opened the door to find a Police Officer--not fun. Apparently someone had put a large bag of garbage in the back of one of the employees truck....hmmmm...wish I hadn't known the culprit to that one right away... I yelled, "BRENT! Someone is here who needs to speak to you!" :) I guess there had been a few things going on that I was not aware of. I realized at that moment that I needed to take matters into my own hands and find a solution or my husband was going to end up in jail! :)

Well, after 5 city council meetings, a post in the city newsletter and collaborating with another neighborhood having similar issues, we got the city to pass a new...law? bill? I don't even know what to call it! Anyway, as a neighborhood, we could PAY FOR signs of our choice (no parking, limited hours, etc.) We chose these, and after MONTHS of waiting, yesterday they were finally installed!!! I wasted no time calling the police station to have the parking enforcement officer come give them all warnings. I then hid behind the blinds of my front window to watch the show. The first nurse who came out took the large, orange ticket off her window, read it, jumped into her car, flipped a fast u-turn and sped back into the Dr's Office parking lot! I watched her jump out of her car and storm in the front doors.....You know I was smiling and I think I may have said something like, "WHO'S LAUGHING NOW, LADIES!!!"

Sound Jr High-ish? COMPLETELY! And I do have better things to focus on, but this has been a LONG, HARD fight. I will take the high road and not return any of the sneers I have received in the past, but I have to take this moment on my blog to say, "NEENER, NEENER, NEENER!"

Miracles have not ceased!

Check out this view from the "Y". This is a miracle. Everyday I am amazed at something new I am seeing in Gavin. I have to make a list before I forget how things used to be. I never want to forget what a miracle we have been blessed with in our family.

1. Gavin hiked all the way to the "Y"! Gavin has always loved to go hiking, but he is usually clinging to the side of any hill going up and then sliding down on his bum. Of course he would be, because the poor kid had terrible balance issues! The last couple of weeks Brent has been taking G out hiking. Every time he calls me just to say, "HOOORRRAAAYYY!" Gavin is all over the hills, running, jumping, LOVING the experience. He is a whole new hiking kid!
2. Gavins sleep apnea is completely GONE. Many nights I will lay there and just listen to him breathe. No pauses. No painful choking noises. No snoring. Just quiet breathing. Ahhhh.


3. Liz brought James over to play last week. They built this slide that required running through the house to get back up to the top of the slide. Around and around and around they ran. Gavin did not stop running for at least 1/2 hour! Before the surgery he would have been very breathless after one round and would have sat down for a breather. Not anymore.


4. He came out of his Kindergarten class the other day and I was still waiting at the car which was about a 100 yards away. He saw me and started running and ran all the way to the car. I stood there amazed. He didn't fall over! He usually would have fallen over after a couple of steps. Wow!


5. He can jump on a trampoline! This was a very awkward thing to watch in the past. No balance=you should not jump on a trampoline. We just bought one a couple of days ago and he is loving it!


6. He can breathe on the freeway. He is still scared, but he is not panicking because his "tongue is too big"--which in the past probably meant the panicking was making the small breathing space in his throat too small to breathe! No wonder he was so scared!


7. He can do the monkey bars! I know they said lack of arm strength was a symptom, and I don't know how the surgery changed things so quickly, but HE CAN DO THE MONKEY BARS NOW! Maybe it had something to do with how tight things were at the base of his neck? I don't care, it's fixed!


8. His posture has changed. Even my mom noticed right away that he just holds himself differently. Things are not so tight and he is not hunched up!


9. There is no more breathless talking. The poor kid could not even talk without being winded. Now he can go on and on and on....:)


10. He can cry, really cry without his mouth turning blue and he is almost passing out because he cannot breathe. This is good news for me as I have had to really hold back my anger in the past so that he would not get too upset and pass out....NO MORE! :)


11. NO MORE HEADACHES, LEG ACHES, or ARMS FEELING FUNNY (because they were tingling from lack of oxygen!) HOOOOOOOOORRRAAAAAYY!

There are more everyday. I am so thankful and feel so incredibly blessed that we were able to fix this now and not 10 years from now. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!

Ahhhhh, I love my beaner!

This lady is crackin me up lately. I've never seen a 2 year old eat as much as she can. The other night at dinner, she ate 2 huge helpings of spaghetti and string beans and drank a whole glass of milk. I had taken her shirt off so she wouldn't stain it with sauce and just had to laugh when I went to wash her off. Her tummy was so full, it was sticking way out and was as round as a basketball! She could barely move she was so full. About 1/2 hour later I put some pj's on her and told her it was almost time for bed. She starts crying and says in the saddest voice, "But I'm STARB-ING! I'm STARB-ING, mom!" Ya--look at that belly and tell me I am starving my daughter.

She also has been branching out and using some pretty interesting sentences lately. I swear this girl talks like my 5 & 6 year olds. We went for a little hike on Saturday and I am holding her hand, walking along and she blurts out, "My butt hurts! My freaking butt hurts!" I about DIED laughing. I didn't think I said that word that much--guess I need to be a little more aware of whats coming out of my mouth!

Kesley turns *5*

This is Kesley waking up on her big day. I can't believe she is already 5! This little lady is such a blessing. She just has the best personality--very easy going, but full of excitement. I have never met a girl who can keep a sentence going as long as she can! She makes instant friends with everyone she meets, but her best friend is definitely her brother. I love that. She is the middle child of 3 kids who are all a little too close in age...I was the middle child and know how it feels to always be "not old enough" or "too old to be doing that". Kesley just rolls with it. I have to force myself to stop and make sure she doesn't get overlooked. I sure love this little lady and wish she could stay this sweet forever.

I wanted to make her birthday special, so I got an early start last night. My kids love to walk out of their room in the morning to the "streamer special" mom has done the night before...usually at midnight, in a panic because I almost forgot! I always wonder why, WHY did I start this tradition? But then they come out and love it and I am so happy I did. I did, however, cut the balloons...we are a streamer only family now.

This looks like Kesley head is twisted backwards, but I think she is still a little groggy and wondering what is going on! As soon as she was up, Gavin immediately had her pinned against the wall, pencil in hand, measuring her height! He is very into this after hearing me talk about how he may have a growth spurt now that his sleep apnea is fixed...we pretty much measure our heights twice a day.

Birthday breakfast! Brent makes the BEST pancakes and waffles. They are everyone's favorite. Kesley can't get enough, especially if they have boysenberry syrup...and a lot of butter....yummy.

After we dropped G at school, I took Kesley to Toys R Us and she used her birthday money from Grandma and Grandpa Smith to buy the Wedding Barbie she has wanted forever. I wanted to get her all cutsied up to go, but she said, "Since it's my birthday I get to choose what I wear and I DON'T want you to do my hair!" .....hmmmm....OK! I wish I had taken my camera. She chose her favorite floor length black skirt (a hand-me-down from cousin Sydnee that is WAY to big for her, and is usually in hiding...hee hee), a brown long sleeved shirt and pink shoes. And I did mention that the hair was not done. Luckily we got there when the doors opened and it was not crowded!

I asked Kesley what she wanted for her birthday dinner. Of course she wanted Mac-O-Cheese and peas. I know, I know--that says way too much about my cooking habits. I couldn't talk her into something a little more "special", so I finally decided to let her have it but thought I would make homemade Mac-o-cheese, the kind you bake and is super good. I decided to make some Parmesan chicken to go with it. It may not seem like much, but this plan took me most of the afternoon. I HATE to cook. My parents were coming out to bring Kesley a present so I invited them to stay for dinner (because I was very proud of the YUMMY dinner I had made from scratch and wanted to show it off...) Well, it was yummy but my kids hated it. So much for slaving over a hot stove all afternoon.

Here is Kesley eating her birthday dinner--ALONE, because everyone else was done. You think just because it was her birthday I wasn't going to MAKE HER GAG THAT STUFF DOWN? She's lucky Grandma Trude stayed with her and helped her eat "enough bites" so that she could have cake and open her presents....I'm such a mean mom.

Here is a cute shot of Gavin showing Grandpa how he can read! Grandpa Smith wasn't so lucky. I hear when he came by last night he got stuck seeing the 204 cars in G's car collection ONE by ONE!And finally, Kesley with all her loot. Yes, that is a jar of pickles! Kesley loves pickles and I remembered my sister, Emily getting a jar of pickles for her birthday every year. Now I understand the reasoning....it's all about QUANTITY! It is what you a "filler" present.Kesley, we love you! We couldn't do it without you. I hope you had a wonderful day!...and I am sorry I made you eat that horrible mac-o-cheese.

From the mouth of--my babes

I keep wishing I had been diligent in writing down the funny things my kids say. I've had a couple good belly laughs the last couple days and thought if I don't start now I will never start. This blog has saved me in the scrap booking (well the LACK of) so I think I will start here.

Gavin has never played a video game in his life. Neither Brent or I have ever been into them, so when Amber gave him a little Spider Man video game set I wasn't sure if he would ever play it. I had a good laugh watching him try to figure it out on his own. It would have been easy if he would let someone show him how to do it, but this kid WILL NOT let you show him how to do anything....very annoying at times. Yesterday I came into the living room where Gavin was "playing" his game. He is very excited and says, "Look mom, I'm whoppin butt--no, TWO butts!" I'm not sure if he knows what he is doing, but at least he is having fun!

Gavin does know how to maneuver his way through websites. It never ceases to amaze me. His favorite is PBSkids.org. What cracks me up is that he always asks for it just that way, "Mom, can I play PBS kids dot org?" The other day he asked me, "Mom, what is your favorite "org?" What a cute kid and what a different world he is growing up in!

This is a story Shannon told me on Saturday. She was driving all the little girl cousins home from Naomi's birthday party and getting a kick out of the conversation going on between them. Kids are so honest, and the stuff they feel comfortable talking about is very refreshing. Shannon said that out of nowhere Kesley says, "Sometimes my mom asks me to change Jennas diapers, but she's just kidding because I am only 5!" (Funny, because we all know I haven't ever asked her to change a diaper.) Melissa says, "Jacob and Allison are old enough to change diapers!" Shannon joins in, and for a little shock effect says, "Well they are lucky because when I was little we didn't have diapers that you can just throw away, ours were made out of material and I had to rinse my little brothers diapers out in the toilet before my mom could wash them." Of course they were all disgusted, but true to the honest nature of children, Megan says, "Hey, my mom does that to my underwear if I ever have an accident!" Melissa, not to be outdone, says, "My mom does that to my underwear too if I ever have an accident!" Kesley, very sad and dramatic says, "My mom just throws them away. If I ever make a wish or say a prayer, I just wish that I won't poop in my pretty pants." Hmmmm....maybe I am a little harsh, but I don't think she has ever had an accident!

We just went to see the movie, "Hotel For Dogs"--very cute and the kids loved it. In one dramatic moment, all the stray dogs, including her favorite poodle are picked up and hauled to the pound. Kesley was very worried. She doesn't realize she is talking out loud and says, "Ohhhh, I really like'ted the white pluto!"