Birthday/Easter weekend part3

With all the hustle and bustle of the weekend we didn't get a chance to color eggs with the kids {GASP} I know it was so LAME of us, but ya know what the kids didn't even notice. They were thrilled when they saw what the Easter Bunny had brought, which is great cause I thought that getting socks and church clothes would make them  think that he was just as LAME as their parents, but it turns out they were absolutely thrilled with what they got! Kaleb's exact words were "{GASP} New church clothes for MEEEEE!?  Oh yeah I am going to wear them right NOW!"

Hunting for eggs.

 I know the pic below is blurry but I just love how the dogs are staring at Ellie, with her candy!

Ellie looked so cute in her sequined top "froo, froo" dress.

 I the Easter Bunny loved this dress when I he saw it! I thought it looked like Ryne and she looked so grown up in it. I do need to adjust the length of the straps, but overall it fits her well.

 Kaleb told us "just call me green man!"

 All 3 of my little turkeys, all ready for church!

After church we all took naps, then had dinner and birthday cake outside it was a wonderful Easter!

Birthday/Easter weekend part 2

After we got home Saturday night we loaded everyone up and went to the park to have dinner with our ward before we headed to the Mesa Temple for the Easter pageant. The kids got to run off some energy, Dane and I wished we had some energy, I swear we came back from our trip more tired then when we left! The kids settled down pretty good when the pageant started I was surprised at how well Ellie did, Kaleb fell asleep about half way through, and Ryne was on the verge.

          

Ok so I have a ton more pictures so this 2 parter is going to be a 3 parter! We had so much fun and I really enjoyed spending my birthday with my family celebrating what Easter is really about, can't get better than that!

Birthday/Easter weekend

 I didn't realize when I chose to go away on my birthday weekend it was Easter weekend as well, I blame the kids they lost my calendar! We I did all the Easter shopping (1 day)before we took off for Snow Flake. We stuffed all the eggs and had everything pretty much ready to go. I will break this post into 2 starting with my birthday weekend.

Dane had half day on Friday he decided to take the whole day off so we could get an early start to Snow Flake. We got Ryne on the bus at 8:30 then we took off. Freedom is such a grand thing!
Funny how having "freedom" means a completely different thing for me now than it did when I was a teenager. I mean growing up I always wanted freedom from my parents, I wanted to eat as much junk food as I wanted, stay up late, hang out with my friends. Now my idea of freedom is getting to eat a meal(and junk food) without sharing, and getting to bed by 9 so I can get a good night sleep even with interruptions, and hanging out with friends usually means a family picnic and a quick hello before the kids are off doin somethin they shouldn't be.

Ok back to my weekend, we decided to take the route that took us through Show Lo, Dane served his mission there and wanted to show me around. The 3 hr drive was complete and utter bliss, no "I need to go the bathroom", "I'm hungry", "she's lookin at me funny!", or the famous "ARE WE THERE YET!?", it was just my hubby and me having and actual adult conversation, I honestly can't remember that last real adult conversation that we have had that hasn't been about the kids, dogs , house, bills etc. It was nice and much needed. Dane showed me around Show Lo a bit then we headed to Snow Flake we go there around 2 and our check in time wasn't till 3 so we went to a Mexican Restaurant that was right across the street from the B&B. The first thing I noticed when we walked into this place was a sign that read...

"Prayers may not be aloud in public schools, 
but they are welcome at our tables."

I was impressed I never before have seen anything like this. After we were seated I began to notice pictures of Christ all over the place, and really I shouldn't have been surprised the town was found by members of the church and most of those that reside there are in turn LDS.  Anyway I just thought that it was pretty cool. After lunch we headed over to the B&B, such an AWESOME place we will definitely be going there again, and we will think and plan ahead and stay for more than just 1 night. On with the pictures

Heritage Inn

We had the Presidential Lincoln Suite. I LOVED the simplicity of this room, I also fell in love with the king size bed(I really need to get me on of them) & the jacuzzi bathtub it was heaven!

This chair was in the far right corner, it had a really high back and was surprisingly comfortable.

The Inn all lit up.

Even though we were on "vacation" we went to bed at 9:00 (we both decided we were LAME) and because we went to bed so early  we were up by 4!!! I enjoyed another (my 4th) bubble bath in the jacuzzi tub, them curled up with Dane on the bed to watch Saturday morning cartoons, it just felt weird not too! We had a WONDERFUL breakfast and then set out to the Snow Flake Temple.

We didn't go in because somebody (Ellie) took my temple recommend out of my wallet!

We enjoyed walking the beautiful Temple grounds even though it was very windy and quite chili. 

Go here to find out more about Snowflake. There were a lot of historical little houses (including the Inn we stayed in), so once we were done with the temple we toured a couple of the houses there. It was really neat to see these homes and to hear about the amazing people they gave up everything to settle the area. I have decided that the pioneer women are my heroes, a couple of the ones we learned about raised 20 & 25 kids can you imagine? I have trouble with just my 3!!!

This is one of the homes. 

We headed home around 12, got home about 4 loaded everyone up and went to the Easter Pageant, but I will save that for another post!!

Visitors

The in-laws are comin tomorrow and I actually feel ready this year, last year I stayed up all night putting together a bed and cleanin the house, not this year! We busted our butts this weekend to get our old sewing/office cleaned out so we don't have to kick Kaleb out of his room(he doesn't care for bunkin with the girls)! I have to admit I didn't think it was going to get done for one reason or another it kept getting put off, nothin like needing a room to make ya get off your bum and clean it right!? With everyone pitchin in we got it together . Once the in-laws are gone I will be workin on switching Kaleb to the old office and making up the guest/sewing room it's going to be a BIG project but for some reason I am really gun ho about it! I'm hoping while I have help here I will get my kitchen done, it really won't take long, and it's drivin me absolutely CRAZY with the peeling wallpaper and white walls I NEED color people!!

My birthday is this weekend, my hubby asked what I wanted and I told him a weekend with just the 2 of us, so he asked the in-laws if they could watch the kids for us, I booked a room in Snow Flake at a B&B, and our plans are set. Tensions have been high lately and I really feel like him and I need to reconnect. The kids were a little sad to here of our plans we told them we could celebrate my birthday on Saturday (since it really is my birthday that day) when we got home they liked that idea. Yesterday we found out our ward is havin a picnic on Saturday and are planning to see the Easter Pageant afterwards, and of course it's Easter weekend so HOLY CRAP it's goin to be a busy weekend. We were talkin about what are plans are goin to be and lettin the kids know were are goin to have to cut some stuff out, as much as we want to we can't do everything! Since we aren't cuttin Easter out and the kids really want to go to the picnic so I suggested that we not celebrate my birthday, cause Saturday would be to crazy and Sunday is Easter and I don't want to take from that, I really want Easter to be the focus and not the easter egg hunt, candy commercial Easter, but the Easter about the resurrection of our Savior and Redeemer. I got a good scolding from the hubbs about how the kids will feel really left out if we don't celebrate my birthday, but really I am goin to be preparing so much other crap for Easter I don't want to make my own cake I just don't. Ok I will stop complaining I'm sure we will figure somethin out so that everyone is happy, and fyi I have nothin against celebratin my birthday it's just goin to be a crazy!

On another note if you want to check out some of the crafty things I've been up to check out my craft blog.

Car update!

We finally got our Rendezvous back after a little adventure! Dane picked up the car on his way home from work, we loaded the younger kids and went to pick Ryne up from school. The car seemed to be working perfectly it was shifting just like it should, it wasn't squeakin any more and all the gages were working (gas, speedometer). We got Ryne then headed for the store for some much needed essentials, we were drivin along things were good then we heard a snap, bang, clank, clank the car immediately started overheating and the power steering was shot WAHOO more car problems seriously that's just what we needed! Dane and I got out to inspect the problem we could smell burning rubber which we figured was NOT a good sign, but other than the smell we couldn't see anything, Dane decided to turn the car on while I watched to see if I could see anything. I did take a couple steps back I really didn't want to get impaled by something! I quickly discovered that it was the brand new belt that they had just put in it was completely shredded, so we called our mechanic he told us to come on in and he would get us fixed and on our way.

We had to call a tow of course, the kids and I got to ride in the car on the big flat bed tow truck it was quite an experience and I have to say I was terrified, yes this from a girl who wants to jump out of an airplane! There was something about it that un-nerved me, it could have been that we were taller than all the other vehicles around us, or that fact that I could fill every little bump, or that we were on a slight slant and it felt like we were goin to fall off at any given time! I held my breath and gripped the OSH(oh shiz handle) and held on for dear life, all the while my kids were lookin out the windows thinking this was the coolest thing EVER! They also made up stories about how it was Joker kidnapping us because Kaleb was batman and ya know "joker is batmans enemies". Luckily we only had to go a little ways, once we got to Al's they went to work right away, and discovered it wasn't just a belt issue (of course it couldn't be just that), that there was some other part that honestly I can't remember the name of! Anyway Al the owner went to pick up the part for us cause the place he gets them from didn't have a driver that late in the day, once back with the part it only took about an hr to put it in. The kids did pretty good with waiting Kaleb was enthralled with the garage and all the cars on the lifts, he had so many questions and all the mechanics were really patient with him and showed him around, Ryne did her homework, and Ellie ran around outside like a little crazy person. Before long we were on our way and we quickly discovered that the A/C was working it hasn't been working for MONTHS and we thought we would have to shell out a few more $100 bucks to get it fixed but low and behold an added bonus with the part they fixed came AIR CONDITIONING!!!!!!!!

We still don't know what's wrong with Dane's car they haven't had a chance to take a look at it, hopefully we will know soon and hopefully it won't cost us our first born! I haven't gotten used to having the option of leavin the house and now that I don't have it any more I am feelin very claustrophobic and panicked, I just need to get out of HERE!!!! So one thing I am prayin for is a quick diagnosis and fix it job!

Car troubles and troubles!

A week ago yesterday I took our Buick Rendezvous into the mechanic, the transmission as been leaking (do to bolts), sometimes it wouldn't shift, the speedometer didn't work and the check engine light has been on and with all these things wrong we can't register it. The mechanic was backed up with work so it took him a couple of days before he could look at it once he did he let me know that the speed sensor will most likely fix all the other issues, and they put new bolts on the transmission so that should stop the leaking. They ordered the part on Wednesday and got it by Friday but quickly discovered it was the wrong part! They had to re-order the part on Friday, they received it yesterday evening so hopefully(keep your fingers crossed) we will have our car later today because....

Yesterday Dane called me from the freeway his car decided to crap out on him! YUP that's right both cars are in the shop, and it really sucks cause we are running out of groceries(we were gonna go yesterday once Dane was home from work). At the same time I can think of some blessings like:

1. Ryne and I didn't end of stranded on the freeway in the rain on Saturday

2. The expenses for the other car are really low so we will be able to afford to fix Dane's car.

3. Dane's car waited to crap out once Dane was safely pulled off the freeway, other wise he would have been in trouble.

4. We have GREAT neighbor that is willing to pick Ryne up from school today.

5. Dane has a friend at work that is willing to take him to and from work.

So even though this SUCKS all around good things are coming from it, and I think maybe we can learn a lesson in patience and also in not procrastinating that seems to be our down fall at times. Anyway today we take a deep breath, say a pray and have faith everything will work out(like getting at least 1 car back today).

Ok onto other issues not car related. We have been struggling with keepin the peace with the kids lately, it seems we have a hug yell fest every day, and yesterday I had had enough (and it was only 9a.m.)! I talked to Dane and we decided a huge thing that has brought contention into the the home is the Wii it's all Kaleb wants to do, in fact he has been waking up in the middle of the night just to play, which has been causing him to act poorly in school AND at home. When Ryne tries to play with Kaleb he yells at her and she yells back then Ellie gets into it cause she's too little to play and the kids scream that in her face! LOVELY right!? I know a lot of you are askin why didn't you take it away or limit the time? Trust me we have tried, limiting the time is what has cause Kaleb to get up in the night and play, we have tried disconnecting the wii and we have even hidden the remotes but Kaleb still manages to find them and he figured out very quickly how to connect everything again. So yesterday we made the decision to take the wii away and hide the entire thing, one child(Ryne) was elated that it was gone, the other 2 sat and cried (it was like someone had died there was some serious hyperventilation goin on.)

We sat down and had a family meeting and discussed all the issues EVERYONE was having (yes even the parents)and what we could all do to fix them. We talked about the wii and decided that everyone has to earn time to play it by completing all their chores without complaints. We also put locks on the toy boxes so that once the house is picked up for the evenings things can't be dragged back out and we can spend more time together as a family. We all decided mom and dad are going to have more patience and think before we yell and in return the kids are going to be better at listening and obeying, we figure if we all give a little the yelling will stop and we won't be so irritated all the time. Now the biggest question Ryne and Kaleb had was "what about Ellie", Ellie has been screaming like crazy lately and boy does that girl have a temper! We explained that she has learned that behavior from EVERYONE else and that if we change the way we act she will follow, but that it's not going to be easy and we are all going to need to be patient with Ellie and ourselves.

I'm also going to try other things to help easing the tension like playing more feel good church music, whenever I put a primary cd in it's like night and day moods all around change so we are going to use this method more when tension is high. One thing I told the kids that helps me a lot is before you react ask yourself if you want to be treated the way you are about to treat that person if the answer is no the re-think how you are going to react, they seemed to like this idea. I think the biggest thing that will help start with Dane and I if we can show the kids we are making a huge effort into bein better that they will all follow. So we shall see, wish us luck!

Home Based Business Expo Info

Ok so many of you have asked about the Expo I am doin this weekend. Here's the info

Saturday April 9, 2011

11 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Trinity Christian Fellowship

50 South McQueen Rd, Chandler Az 85225

( McQueen Rd between Chandler Blvd and Frye Rd)

It's for the 2011 Chandler Relay for Life so come check it out if you click on THIS link you can see what other vendors are going to be there. It's a great excuse to get out of the house, so come on over show some support.

Hope to see ya'll there!

Update

I have been really busy this week getting ready for a home based business Expo this weekend, I thought I had a lot of stuff but when I looked at everything I realized I don't have jack, so this week is my crunch time, I have been crocheting like crazy and neglecting other things like the laundry, floors, dishes, and blogging!

I don't have a lot to report I am finally starting to feel better, even though I am exhausted all the time. I had an appointment last week and there is still "product of pregnancy" left but this time it was barely visible on the ultra sound, and there is no sign of infection so they aren't worried about it, more medication was given to flush it out, apparently the exhaustion is normal even 2 months after, my body is still workin over time to get the rest out. Once it's gone I should be feelin better physically, emotionally I'm doin ok I have to admit when people that I know that are pregnant (which is just about everyone) announces progress, or excitement I get jealous and think that it's not fair. I'm not trying to make anyone feel bad, there are just same days I can't handle it I want to be happy for people but some days I just can't. Hopefully my friends understand that.

Ok enough drab talk. Yesterday after Kaleb got home from school he wanted a bowl of cereal I was busy doin something else when he asked me to help him with it, I told him to hold on a sec and I would help. A few minutes went by and I have to admit I forgot about it (I've been doin that a lot lately) he expressed his frustration with me, I told him I was sorry and that I would be right there, a few more minutes went by, as I was walking to the kitchen Kaleb met me in the hall with a bowl, the cereal and milk he handed them to me and said "here do your job!" SERIOUSLY!? Where the heck did he get that from? I wasn't very happy about it but instead of gettin mad, I just responded with "really?" then he timidly said "Well isn't that what moms do, they take care of their kids, and feedin me is takin care of me." then there was a pause as I was thinking about his response, then he reached over and gave me a hug sayin "Your the best mom ever, love you". My heart melted although I think the last bit he threw in there just to make sure I would get him his cereal!

5

So Thursday the 31st was Kaleb's birthday he turned 5!!! Normally I feature him on the o'l blog for his birthday but things got away from me and I didn't get a chance too. Kaleb wanted to have a party with his best friend Logan he wanted to have a sleep over but, Logan couldn't sleep over that weekend so, we went to plan B and took Kaleb to Chucky Cheese's we had a coupon and the kids had a BLAST!

I couldn't find my camera before we left the house so this is the only pic I got of Kaleb with my phone.

After we ran out of tokens we went home for dessert and presents. Some of you know I struggled with ideas for a "cake" Kaleb doesn't like cake and every time I asked what he wanted he just shrugged. I got some great suggestions via facebook, a lot of people mentioned fruit pizza, Kaleb like the idea "but kids are suppose to have sugar on theirs birthdays!" so I thought about it and decided to make a big cookie pizza and have toppings, I made some chocolate whipped cream for the sauce, and for the toppings we had mini Reese's pieces, white chocolate chips, chocolate chips, marshmallows, mini m&m's, Hershey syrup, strawberry syrup and Carmel syrup. The kids got to make there own and they LOVED it, it was such a big hit!Here's Kaleb's "sugar coma" (as I dubbed it) and I didn't get a pic of the chocolate drizzled on top!After Kaleb was done makin his dessert pizza, we whisked it away to put the finishing touches on it!He was so happy!Makin a wish!Opening presents, Dane got him this Optimus Prime snuggy, he's always complainin he's cold(when the rest of us are sweatin) so he was really happy about this.Ryne picked out this Thor Helmet and Hammer, it quickly became one of his favs.

One of the things that Kaleb really wanted was a Batman cape (no surprise there) so bein the good mom that I am I made him one at the last minute (I'm gonna do a tutorial on this on my craft blog so keep an eye out)and when I say last minute I mean the night before! Anyway he loved it

and so did Ellie!