gOod TimEs...

A couple weeks ago, I went up to my sister's house to work out with her and my mom. We went for a nice little 5 1/2 mile "stroll", with 4 of the kids strapped (for a while at least) in double strollers and one little trooper (Tracen) cruisin' on his bike. We made fairly good progress until about the last mile. Then there were more kiddo meltdowns than the sweat pouring off their mom's backs. (ok that was a bit lame-sorry) But... all said and done it was GREAT FUN!

Here is a picture of the kids "chillin'" with their popsicles afterward.

Melanie had to go be AWESOME and play a soccer game, so my mom and I took the troops to a nearby park and let them play till they dropped. I actually do mean that literally. Tyler fell flat on his back off of a swing and Tracen took a pretty good spill on his bike. We are still picking out the gravel.

The next few pics are Tate and Kevin. Can you tell that they are cousins?

Then there is this little mischievous two-some.

Madi and Tyler

What a cute bunch of little rascals!

*I promise Tyler was not "trying" to choke him. Sorry Kevi.*

Almost like Christmas...

A few weeks ago my sister and sis-in-law were over.
The kiddos were playing,

and we were making some Mother's Day gifts.

(aren't they cute)
They are homemade carmel popcorn balls and they "smelled soooo sweet".

The doorbell rang and a very nice UPS man handed me a very large box containing this....
I was so excited! My very own and very FIRST sewing machine had finally arrived!

Then about 30 minutes past and the doorbell rang again. That very same UPS man again handed me a box. A bit smaller this time and this is what was inside....

THE CAMERA!

Now I just have to figure out how to use the darn thing.

How lucky are we! Two packages in one day!!! WA-HOO!
I thought the day just couldn't possibly get any better until......

Another hour or so past and again the doorbell rang. Fed Ex greeted me this time and handed me a package containing this....

Our BLOG BOOK!

I thought I was excited about the previous two items, but I think this topped them both. Probably because I had been waiting for this one the very longest.

It is so AWESOME!
I made this book at http://www.scrapbookblogger.com/ .

It was fairly simple once I figured it out. (Takes me a while on things like this.) This book contains all of our blog posts for last year. I plan to make one of these every year. I do this because I DO NOT SCRAPBOOK! Never have. Never will. And our blog has become THE PLACE where I keep a record of all we do. It is our family journal.

In fact I am so proud of this book that I will gladly show it off to anyone who wants to view it.

Now if only I can find a little time to sit down and learn how to use these treasures properly....

What will they do/say next?....

I am always amazed at some of the things my little men come up with. So this post is to get some of those things on record.

TRACEN:
He has found his very own "super hero" to idolize. Introducing the amazing.... KESTIN!
Kestin is a boy in his class that he has become friends with lately. Some of Kestin's "SUPER" powers include:
"Mom, Kestin says he took out his dad last night AND did you know that he took out 11 cougars?"

"Kestin knows all the ninja moves and took out 5 bears when he went hunting with his dad..."

"You know what Kestin told me today? He says that when he does his homework, he doesn't even have to use scissors, he just slices the paper with the side of his hand like this..."

... it is all Kestin this and Kestin that... on and on and on...
So move over Chuck Norris... Kestin can do anything you can do and BETTER!

Tracen has also become a well rounded author and illustrator of many books lately. I am actually quite impressed with some of the stories he comes up with and left with a ????? with some of the others. I will have to get a video of him reading a few of them.

TYLER

Tyler has been and has always been quite interested in "working out". Some of his "work out" moves include:

*Pushing against a wall with all his might and grunting...

*Lifting random objects above his head.

*Running "ladders" outside from one side of the fence to the other as fast as his short little legs can take him.

*And of course he often has to show us how big his muscles have gotten in the last hour.*

But I really think Tyler has come up with a perfect "work out" plan for everyone.

The other day he came to me and said, "Mom, I have an idea. I think we need to order us some MUSCLES IN A BOX!

Then they could help us do our jobs like make our beds.... and clean up our toys, and mow the lawn..."

Tyler I think you are a GENIUS!

I really think everyone could benefit from a few MUSCLES IN A BOX, don't you?

TATE

Tate is really talking up a storm lately.

There really isn't much he can't say, repeat, or try to say. He really has been so fun to talk to. I love his little, actually his BIG personality. He gets cuter every day!

One moment I really enjoyed was...

Tate: "Mama, mama... MOM!" (this is usually how he addresses me)

Me: "Yes, Tate."

Tate: "Mon-e-mellow?" (as he looks me right in the eye and shakes his head up and down)

Me: "Do you NEED a marshmallow?"

Tate: "Uh-huh! Uh-huh!"

Me: "Well... hmmmm... a marshmallow?"

Tate: "Mon-e-mellow! Mon-e-mellow! Uh-huh! Uh-huh!

Me: "Well... Ok."

Tate: "O-K!"

And then as he did a little dance that involved a few kicks of his legs and a couple jumps, he exclaimed, "WHA- HOO!"

When Tate wants to be held, he will stand at my feet, raise his arms up high and say,

"I squish you? I squish you, mama?"

And with out fail, as soon as I pick him up he gives me a

GREAT BIG SQUISH!

Ready, Get Set, Go...

...on to the next BIG ADVENTURE!

I probably should have done a post about this when he first started but...

Dan has just completed his first class at the...

and got 95% in the class!

HOORAY!

As is with most people, it was a HUGE decision to go back for his Masters. It would require TIME, MONEY, DEDICATION, and quite a bit of SACRIFICE on everyone's part. All of which we did not have much of. BUT we felt it to be the best thing to do and really, no other time would be better. Life is just going to get crazier and he might as well do all he can to ensure a good job to carry us through whatever comes.

I am so proud of him for making this decision. He is an amazing student. He has always done well in school. Not because he studies his can off, mind you. Lucky for him (and me), he is just really good at soaking everything in and remembering it. (He can also BS a paper REALLY well. )

For those of you wondering if I am still talking about the very Dan Jacobs that cannot remember where he placed his wallet, keys, shoes, pajama pants (that's another story), etc... only to find them in the refridgerator, tool box, or front porch... YES I AM.

He is going to the UOP campus located in Clearfield.

He has class every Monday night from 6p-10p.
The great part... the entire program will only take him 14 months if he goes straight through. (which is THE PLAN)

So BEST WISHES my love! I am so proud of you!

This one's for YOU mom...

Thanks for always ENCOURAGING us to try new things...

And giving us the CONFIDENCE...
...to NEVER GIVE UP!

I love you mom.

Just like MAGIC!

So a few posts ago I posted pictures of Tate's cute little body plagued with EXZEMA (PLEASE SCROLL DOWN TO VIEW THOSE PICTURES)and stated that the ONLY thing we had found to work (according to our previous experience) was to slather Eucerin Cream on and wait for them to out-grow it. I also mentioned that it would be a waste of money to have your doctor prescribe a cortizone cream that would be a tiny tube costing $15-$20. Well....

I EAT MY WORDS!

His poor little skin got so bad, that I finally called the doctor and the doctor said....

"Yep, that is a pretty bad case of Exzema. Let me prescribe you some cortizone cream."

I thought, "Fine. I'll suck it up and try it again."

I ended up spending around $10 and got a JAR of the stuff instead of the SMALL TUBE I was expecting...

And look what happened in only 5 days!

Good thing I sucked it up and took him in.

THANK YOU MAGIC CREAMS!

Congratz Tyler!

Oh how we LOVE....

Tracen attended this preschool and now Tyler is attending and we absolutely think it is GREAT!

The reason I chose to have my boys go here is because it is close to our home, my grandma lives across the street and... I myself attended this very preschool about 28 years ago! I still have very fond memories of my time there. In fact, Miss Annice was my teacher and is still there and now running the school with her daughter. SO GREAT!

On Thursday last week, Tyler had his 3 year old graduation program. Of course I forgot the camera, but he sure was cute. His BIG PART in the program was to say the nursery rhyme of Humpty Dumpty. He was so excited and did a terrific job.

One of the things he got from his teacher was this cute little letter

This little note really warmed my heart. You can tell that Miss Melinda really loves her students AND Tyler really adored her too.

Here is his graduation certificate...

And a picture of his class...
In this picture are his teacher Miss Melinda (far left), her mother and "my teacher" Miss Annice and her other daughter Liseanne (far right). I'd just like to add how much I admire these three women and the wonderful job they are doing to help prepare our little ones.

THANK YOU!

And Tyler is pretty excited to come back next year!