Kid Pics

Today I took some shots of the kiddos.  I figured what's the point of having a nice camera if I can't save a little money and take my own pictures of them.  I haven't had much time to edit them yet, but these are some of my favorite shots after just a little bit of work on them in Picasa.  This first one of Brandon and Ryan reminds me of 2 elders...not long til they'll be that old!

I just love Jakey's lips in this one!

My girly-girl.  :)

Brandon wanted to bring his guitar and take some cool guitar shots.  He looks way too old in this one!

Ryan the stud. :)

All four of them...lovin' the older boys' dressed-down ties look!

This next one is probably my favorite of all of them together.  Jake was just not in the mood for pictures this time around, so this is as good as we got!

This one here makes me laugh because of Syd's face.  She was cold and not very happy that I suggested they take their shoes and socks off for a couple shots.  Such a mean mommy I am...

I still have some work to do before I'll get any printed, but I'm pretty happy with the results.  Now I just need to find a time when Tim can join us and we can do the whole family...kinda hard when it's getting dark at 5pm.

Halloween!!!

 Dear Blogger,

Sometimes I really hate you.  This week I have wanted to try and catch up on blogging, but I don't really have all day to wait for my photos to upload...so now my family will only get to see these 3 pictures that would actually load...sorry family.

Moving on...Halloween was Monday, and the kids had so much fun dressing up.  These pictures are actually from Saturday when we had our ward Trunk-or-Treat.  I'm always too busy on Halloween to really take pictures...

This year, after quite a metamorphosis, Sydney finally settled on a cowgirl costume.  (For those who care, she initially wanted to be a wolf, but not just a wolf costume--she wanted Tim to shoot a wolf, then skin it for her to wear over her head like a cape...not my daughter...  Then she decided she wanted to be Captain Jack Sparrow, but I steered her away...I'm not a fan of my children cross-dressing.  Then she settled on Ninja, but after looking through the Halloween costume bucket she found Brandon's old chaps and vest (which were both too small, but what do I care??)).  We just bought a hat and bedazzled it to girlify it a little.

Jake recycled Ryan's Buzz Lightyear costume that I made 8 years ago.  I was glad to get another use out of that one, seeing as I spent more time on it than I'll be confessing here on my little blog...

Ryan recycled his Grim Reaper costume from last year...no cost yet again...perfect!

And Brandon decided to be "Up Dog."  What is Up Dog, you might ask?  When you find out, let me know!  Apparently it's a phrase that middle schoolers use..."That's really up-dog."  Whatever...  The best part was that his costume was also free...he used my Silhouette to cut out a dog shape w/ vinyl and stuck it on a black arrow and taped it on a t-shirt.

I was really pleased w/ my Halloween costume budget this year....$5 for a cowgirl hat.  They had fun and got plenty of candy.  And on Halloween night when I was watching Jake trick-or-treating w/ Sydney and Ryan and his little shoes would light up and he was just so excited, I took a mental picture and just smiled.  He's the perfect age this year.  He understands how it all works, but he's not yet snotty like my older ones, thinking, "Just give me the candy."  He's truly overjoyed w/ each little piece.  And it's sure made him want to do better w/ potty training since there's once again candy in the house that he can get as a reward.  Bonus.

Labor Day 2011

So I know I'm behind on blogging and you're all hoping for Halloween pictures, but I just realized that I never blogged about Labor Day, so let's get that out of the way first.

This year we were, as usual, up at our trailer for Labor Day weekend.  Which would have been perfect except for one thing...the opening game of the BSU football season.  We really didn't want to miss it, and thanks to my stud of a husband, no worries...he just rigged up an old dish to work out in the middle of nowhere...and he was pretty proud of himself, to say the least. :)  So was I.  He's pretty much amazing.

We made a lot of instant friends the night of the game.  Tim's brother and his wife, Tim's parents, my niece and her family, our family, and 2 other families that were camping there all sat around the t.v. and watched.  It was pretty fun!  And it was really great that BSU spanked Georgia!!  Go Broncos!

Jake was an awesome fan!  He cheered and cheered.  I had just gotten him this cool new BSU hat, which he wouldn't take off.  And every time someone said "Go...," he would reply, "Broncos."  And if you said, "Boise," he would say, "State."  Everyone was pretty impressed!  He's just so stinkin' cute!

Here's Jake trying out his cousin Hunter's pop gun.  He LOVED it!  He was pretty excited to get one for his birthday a few weeks later!

Our family went with my niece, Brittney's family and Tim's parents up to Dagger Falls.  I had never been before.  It was really pretty.  We all took picnics with us and spent a few hours there.

We found a place to walk down to the river, and let Molly fetch sticks.  She got worked really hard!  There was one time the stick went pretty far and she had to swim back against the current, and I think Tim was a little scared that she might not make it back, but I think she could have done that all day.

The kids had fun just being in nature--especially climbing up the steep hill.  Sydney was determined to make it back up the hard way, and she did.  Jake kept his sunglasses on pretty much the whole day. :)

Jakey is free!!!

I know this sounds cliche, but I can't believe my baby is three ("free" if he says it)!  His birthday was Monday, the same day we got to get Brandon stitches...if you don't know what I'm talking about...check here.  He wasn't up yet when Tim left for work in the morning, so I told him all day that we would open his presents once Tim was home from work and the boys were home from practice.  When it got close to time for everyone to come home, I put the gifts on the table, and reminded him that we needed to wait for Daddy.  Tim got home soon, and before I knew what he was doing, Jake was ripping open the first present.  He had, after all, waited for Daddy to come home.  :)

He got a new BSU shirt, new shoes, puzzles, books, a pop gun, and a "Big Mater" that talks.  He was pretty excited!  I love the picture of his chubby little hands opening a present.  And I realize that all too soon, he won't have chubby little hands anymore.  I've said this before, but I'll say it again.  I'm so glad we have him!  Today was Conference, and there was a talk about multiplying and replenishing the earth, and it reminded me about when I got that feeling that we should have another one before Jake, and how I just wanted that feeling to go away.  I'm so glad it didn't and that he's ours.  He's pretty much the best kid I could ask for and he makes me laugh every day.

 After the gifts, he had to change into his new shirt right away, before we did the cupcakes.  He kept tilting his head and giving a goofy smile every time he saw me with the camera.  Posing already.  he chose "green" ice cream to go with the cupcakes, and he tried to eat it straight out of the tub.  And I let him.  You only turn 3 once, after all.

Today I called him my sweet baby and he said, "No, I big. I free."  I kind of wanted to cry.

Football

Once again, Brandon is playing football.  It's his last year of middle school.  This year he has been playing defensive end.  For his game last week, I finally remembered to take my awesome new camera.  I have to say, it does take amazing pictures.  I was pretty far away, and the pics are still really good.  Here is a collage of some of the better shots I got of him.  He's number 33 in white.  Click on the picture to see it a lot bigger, Mom. :)

Stitches

My first-born is almost 14.  I have 4 children.  None of them has ever needed stitches or has broken a bone.  That's quite a track record, I think.  Crazy lucky, I know.  Brandon decided earlier this week that it was high time to change that.

Monday around noon, after running errands all morning long, and before I even got the groceries put away, my cell phone rang.  "Hi, Catherine (I love it when they call me that), this is Mrs. So-and-So, the nurse here at Sage Valley, and I have Brandon with me."  "Great," I thought...just what every mother wants to hear...  She went on to say that he had been playing basketball after lunch, and had somehow split his lip.  She said I needed to come look at it and decide if I thought we should go get stitches in it or not.

So I loaded Jake back into his car seat, left the groceries on the counter and headed for the school.  I had to ask where the nurse's office was...I had never been there.  When I saw him, I immediately knew we would be heading to get stitches.  I think I said something like, "Yeah, that's not good."  He was pretty bloody and had a chunk of his upper lip hanging down.  Awesome.  He said he had gone up for a rebound, and hit some kid's head with his jaw on the way down.  His tooth must have gone straight through his lip.

We stopped at home to put the cold things in the fridge and to get him some more ice, then headed to the Dr.  Tim had called Quick Care to see if they could do it so we could spare an ER bill.  They said they could, so that's where we went.  He ended up with 4 stitches total--one that will dissolve up inside his mouth and 3 normal ones.  I held his hand while they were shooting his mouth with the Lydocaine (sp??), but had to look away for the actual stitches.  I was not cut out for seeing blood.  I don't even look when I donate blood.  Outta sight, outta mind...  Nasty.

He is supposed to get the stitches out this Monday, so we'll see if they did their job and he looks better.  It has to look better without those black threads on his lip...

Here are a couple pics of the stitches for your viewing pleasure, haha.  I should've taken one of before when his lip was hanging, but we were in a little bit of a hurry.  And it was disgusting...

And pay no attention to that 'stache...we took care of that a few days ago.  My little boy has now officially shaved...guess that means I'm old...nah, it just means he's really hairy.

Holey Ears

I've always told Sydney that when she was ready, she could get her ears pierced.  I figure there's no law or commandment saying when you can do it, so it's up to her, as long as I thought she was old enough to handle it.  For the longest time, it's freaked her out, so I didn't worry about it too much.  Then a few weeks ago, she and I had a little girls night out and were looking at earrings and she started to get the idea that she might be ready to get her ears pierced.  So we talked it over with Tim and convinced him it wasn't the end of the world, and she and I went on a Saturday morning to Claire's for the big event.

Here she is before the pain was inflicted--all smiles...

Now the lady is marking where to make the holes.  Notice she is still all smiles.  Little does she know...

 And here is right after the first one has been done.  I had assumed that surely there would be 2 employees at Claire's so that they could each do an ear at the same time before Syd realized how much it hurt.  Never assume...only the one lady on this particular Saturday morning...  Right about now she's starting to cry and telling me that she doesn't want to do the 2nd ear.  And I'm calmly reminding her that this was, after all, her idea, and besides, only having the one ear pierced will look quite silly.

 Look how pretty that sparkly purple earring is!  It would be a shame to not give it a match!  I love that you can see the little tears in this picture!  Get ready for #2, Syd!

 Even more close-up of her sad little tears.  But she's done!  She did it!  I really was quite surprised she went through with it.  She's been so scared to do it for so long...and even though there were a few tears, she really was quite brave and only whimpered a little bit.

 One sure way to get her to smile after inflicting that amount of pain is to give her a mirror and tell her how beautiful she is...she gets her vanity from me...  She's done really well taking care of her earrings and reminding me to put the solution on them day and night.  And we marked on the calendar when she will be able to take out the studs and put in something else...right around Halloween.

Run, Forrest, Run!

My cute little 6th grader has a new interest. One or two days before practice was to start, he decided he wanted to run cross country. Really? You want to run and run and run on purpose, with no one chasing you? O. K. Sure. I fully believe in letting my kids follow their interests as far as sports go. And amazingly, this has been a good thing for him. It's something that his older brother doesn't do, something that is just him racing against himself, and something that has truly whipped him into shape. I've been so proud of him for trying something new and not giving up. A couple weeks ago was his first meet. This was my first time at a cross country meet, and I have to say, they are nice and quick. First, the girls raced. Then about 30 minutes later, the boys started. Ryan might have just been the smallest boy that was racing that day, but he did great. He beat his personal best by 2 or 3 minutes, I can't remember exactly.
Clearly, I'm not in the running for Mother-of-the-Year...  But I did go, and I did cheer, so that has to count for something, right??

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Manna

Manna--The dictionary defines it as something of value that comes unexpectedly.  True dat.

This summer has come with some challenges.  In May, our van was hit in an accident.  A couple of days later, Tim was informed that his position at SuperValu was being eliminated and he would eventually be out of a job.  A few weeks later, I lost our nice camera during my trip to Texas.  It was like Bam, Bam, Bam!!   To say that it's been a long few months is an understatement.

Things are turning around, though.

After months of wishing, and hoping, and worrying, and praying, and stressing, Tim has accepted a new position with Micron as the corporate internal audit manager and will be starting in September.  We had prepared ourselves for all sorts of things--a decrease in pay, a relocation, a period of unemployment.  None of those are going to happen now.  Manna from heaven.

It has been a humbling experience, but we have tried to keep the faith and put our trust in God, and He has not forgotten us.  I had to fight back the tears when I saw Micron on the caller I.D. and knew they were making him an offer over the phone...manna.

Other good news at our house is that Jake is finally being receptive to potty training and the kids have started back to school.  And I'm pretty sure I can start shopping for a new camera now that I'm not fearing unemployment in the near future.  It feels like I can finally breathe this week!  I'm sure there are more trials in our future, but I am glad to be done with some of these for now.  It was a great learning experience for our kids.  We told them in the beginning what was happening with their dad's job, and how we knew the Lord would provide in His own time and in His own way, and they would remember to pray for him in our family prayers.

We know of many others who have had similar struggles, some for much, much longer.  I know we are no better than they.  The Lord's time is a hard concept to grasp.  I can only be grateful for the tender mercies he has shown us now and throughout our lives.

It has been a joyous week full of thanksgiving at our house.  On to new adventures!!

Progress!!

It has finally happened!  Sunday night, Jake finally went poop in the potty!  There are no words to describe the pure joy felt by every single member of our little family at his accomplishment!  It has been a long time coming!  I seriously almost cried, lame I know...

I thought it was high time to post some pictures of his cute little underwear-wearing bum.  This is what he looks like all the time, because I have learned that he's much more likely to forget to tell me to go potty when he's wearing pants.  So he doesn't wear pants.  It means less laundry anyway, so I'm over it.  Whatever works to get this kid to do it!!!  What's cuter than a 2-year-old in Lightnin' McQueen underwear??

As I mentioned before, I told Jake he could have a new toy once he learned to do #2 in the potty.  I was sure he would want a big Mater, but he chose this Cars race track instead.  And he loves it.  And I have found that the threat of taking it back to the store if he has a poopy accident is helping to keep him in check.  Added bonus.

 It seriously makes him so happy!

 Gosh, I love this kid!  So happy that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel with this challenge!

School Days

Today was the day.  We got our routine back.  I've missed being on a regular schedule so much!  And the kids have been driving each other crazy the last week or two.  We were all ready for today.

Tim went in to work a little late so he could give the kids their Father's blessings once they woke up this morning.  Always my favorite part of the first day of school--pretty sweet!  Then we tracked their growth on our makeshift growth chart, also known as the inside molding of the pantry door.  Brandon is getting crazy tall...I only have about a half inch on him now.  He'll probably pass me up by the end of the year!

Sydney is now our lone elementary-schooler.  She doesn't seem too sad about that, either.  She picked out her own clothes for today, and I didn't even intervene and try to get her to wear something different.  Gotta let go a little, right??  She really wanted her hair in 2 pony tails, and although it's still probably a little too short for that, we made it work.  Dang, she's cute!  She was most excited to wear her new tennis shoes!

 Ryan starts middle school this year--6th grade!  That means he and Brandon are in the same school for this year and he gets to start wearing uniforms.  He has already started practicing for cross country--a new adventure.  I've been so proud of him for trying something different!  He seems to be really enjoying it, too.  A friend of mine with a cross country child said they had shirts last year that said,

"My sport is your sport's punishment." 

Haha!  Brandon would agree with that statement!

 Here's our almost-high-schooler.  I told you he was getting crazy big!  He was also super-stoked to finally be able to wear his cool new shoes, too.  And this is the last year he has to wear uniforms.  He has started football practice and is loving it as usual.  In less than three more months, he'll be 14...and going to dances...ugh!

I can't say I shed any tears when I dropped them all off this morning, but I think that's partly because I still have my little Jakey Bear here with me.  So thankful for that!

"Don't smell me!"

***WARNING***  In some people's minds this might contain a little TMI...read at your own risk.

So I started potty training Jake a couple of months ago.  He has done pretty well with the peeing.  I don't think he's wet his underwear in a month or so.  Pooping is another story.  I can't convince him to do it on the potty.  He seems to actually be scared of it or something.  I seriously don't know what to do.  It is making me crazy...

The funniest thing is that when you ask him if he's poopy, he gets this little sad face and says, "Don't smell me."  He knows that's how we know that he's pooped--by the smell.  It kind-of breaks the tension of me being so frustrated because he just says it so funny.  As if not smelling it will make it go away...

Hopefully he figures it out soon.  I've tried everything.  I even took him to Target and told him I'd buy him anything he wants if he'll learn to poop on the potty, and even that didn't work.  I thought for sure the promise of a great big talking Lightning McQueen or Mater would do the trick, but no luck so far.  Any tips would be appreciated.  I didn't have this problem w/ the other 3...

Bryson Reunion 2011

Last month was Tim's family reunion with all of his siblings.  Most of us get together all the time, but there are a couple that we don't see nearly as often, so it was nice to see them all together for the first time in quite a while.

Below:

Heidi, Randy, Tammy, Wally and Helen, Tim, Lane, Kip, Tina, and Shannon.  They're not anal like my family where we all have to be in age-order...

 On Friday we went to Roaring Springs, then played Minute to Win It that night.  On Saturday, we were told there would be a couple of water games, softball, and basketball.  I was thinking a few water balloons...I was wrong.  It ended up being Wally with a hose and free reign...yikes!

I had not brought towels or extra clothes or anything like that.  At one point about 30 minutes into the morning, Tim convinced me to play one of the games that seemed harmless enough.  Keep in mind that we had been at Roaring Springs the day before and I had embraced the wet hair/no make-up look all that day.  But this day, however, I looked pretty darn good--hair done, make-up nice, etc.  Long story short, Tim and Wally ended up dousing me.  No hair dryer or straightener in sight...and no desire to do my hair all over again anyway.  I wasn't really a good sport.  I think Tim has learned his lesson.  So there are no pics of me from that day...it's better that way. :)

Had I known just how wet we would get, I never would have let Sydney wear a white tee.  Good thing she's only 7 and not a teenager yet.

 Jake was happy to just throw balls and play catch with Dad.  That boy loves to throw!

Jake and his awesome daddy.  :)

 

Carpet Angels

I cleaned the carpet a couple of weeks ago.  I always do that after the kids go to bed, so it can dry overnight without being stepped on for 8-10 hours.  The kids woke up to an empty family room, and this is what they did right away.  I thought it was pretty funny.  Carpet angels, we called them. :)

 What's cuter than Buzz Lightyear jammies??

 Well, those Little Mermaid ones are pretty cute, too...

gettin our craft on!

While my momma was here, we played around with my vinyl cutter quite a bit.  Pretty sure I'm clean outta vinyl now, but that's a small price to pay for crafty time w/ my momma and all the cute things we made!  Here's what we did:

*I made Sydney her I am a child of God plaque with her name on it, but forgot to take a picture...

*I bought some simple glass canisters and made labels for them--love how they turned out!!!

*We made Mom a sign for her family room...she always tells the grand kids to "speak soft, kind, comforting words" so that's what her sign says...she likes it a lot!

*I made a sign to go above my pantry that says "simplify" to hopefully remind me to chill.

*We made my great-aunt Dottie a sign about dancing, since she's a dancin' queen and all.

It was so fun to craft and have fun and ignore the kids for the day while they harassed Poppa!



My momma and daddy :)

So like I said already, my parents came to visit  for about a week last month.  I only get to see them once or twice a year, and the kids haven't seen them in quite a while, since last time I flew to Texas all by myself.  It was such a great visit with them!  Sometimes I really miss just hanging out with them.  Thanks momma and daddy for coming to see us!!!!!

Since they were here, I used my dad's camera to get some good pictures of me and them to replace the ones on my lost camera from my trip back in June...that still makes me sad...but pictures with Mom and Dad make me happy.  And these turned out pretty great, I think!

Me and my daddy--I just love his huge smile!

Me and my momma--miss her already!

Discovery Center w/ G-ma and Poppa

While my parents were in town, we went to the Discovery Center. Sydney had gotten a free family pass on her field trip a few months ago, and they let us use it for all of us that day. We had so much fun. Tim even got to come since it was his Friday off. Then afterward, we went to the park for an impromptu picnic of fried chicken. Pretty great day!

I think my dad could have stayed there all day. Right up his alley!

Little Jake. :)

Ryan.

I love this pic of Jake on my mom's lap!

Sydney raising the nails as Ryan is lying on the bed of nails

Brandon and I made an arch!

Ryan's picture from the green screen room.

My pic from the same room...could my tongue be any bigger??

Brandon decided to go headless for his picture.

Sydney blowing bubbles in the giant bubble exhibit.

Silly faces--G-ma is on the other side.

I think she could stare at herself all day long.

Sydney's turn on the pulley chair.

Jake and my mom...you can't have too many grandma pictures!

Sydney's turn on the bed of nails...she thought she was pretty brave!

More Jake and G-ma.

Like I said, this was his kind of place...

Sydney and Brandon making a tornado.

More bubbles...this is to show that, yes, Tim was there. :)