No jews

Last night for dinner we were having pizza and Sierra Mist. Landon has been quite the reader, and is starting to read all of the labels on food. He was reading the pop and it said no juice on it. So he was asking us if it had any juice. We said no, there was no juice in the pop. Kylie then asked if there was any jews in it. For some reason it really cracked us up. We told her there wasn't jews in the pop either. Marcus and I took a little bit to stop laughing, and the kids just had no clue why we thought it was so funny.

Goodbye School

Landon and Mrs. R.


Ashley and Landon

Landon has loved he Kindergarten teacher. I have been very pleased with her too. I think I am just as sad to say goodbye to her as Landon. He had his Christmas party yesterday, which he had a great time at. I took a couple of pictures. One of his best friend - the little red headed girl, and of Landon and his teacher. We will miss them tons!!

Landon also received the Triple "E" Award at school on his last day. It is for Excellence, Effort, and Enthusiasm. He was pretty excited and got a ticket for a free burger at Burger King. Which of course we went to after school. But I think he like playing in their play area more than getting a burger.

Goodbye Idaho

Marcus finally got a job offer a couple of weeks ago. We have decided to take it and will have to leave the state. Pretty sad, we had really gotten attached over here, after almost 8 years. But I suppose it is time to move on. Besides you gotta have a job to survive. We will be moving in a week. The day after Christmas. It has been very stressful trying to get everything ready. We had to paint the kids' bedrooms, which was really sad for them. They are now white.

There is a lot of little things to do to get our house ready to sell. I am sure we can get everything ready and packed. Marcus is wonderful to work so darn hard on it. I have been trying to do all of the 'bookish' stuff, find an apartment, get a moving truck, cancel phone service, find a new doctor etc. I am doing pretty good. I think I do fine letting go, and looking forward to a new adventure. But sometimes the kids pull my heartstrings because they are having a very difficult time. We had to go to the dump and get rid our our crap. We also replaced the closet doors and Landon saw his orange doors get put in the dump, and totally lost it.

I love my Toilet

Having something taken from you really makes you appreciate what you had in the first place.

On Saturday Marcus ripped up the linoleum out of our bathroom to replace. Right by the bath and toilet it was coming up anyways, and we were getting black mold. So we figured it was time to replace it. We got it all ripped up, and I scrubed the mold with bleach and got it removed. We let it dry all evening Saturday, and all day Sunday. Then Monday morning we got Landon to school and went out to buy the new linoleum. Marcus had to remove the toilet to lay down the new linoleum. So he let me and Kylie have our last chance and then he took it out. I don't know if it is because I am pregnant, or what, but it seems that just because you know you can't go to the bathroom really makes you need to go to the bathroom. Marcus did awesome, and needless to say two trips to Albertson to pee, and one Landon peeing in the backyard, Marcus got the toilet put back on in a couple of hours. I am so happy to have my toilet back. I can't imagine being pregnant way back when, and have to walk thru the cold every hour to get to the outhouse. And in the middle of the night a few times too.

Poor Kitty

Yesterday I took our kitty in to get spayed and get her shots. I took her in the morning, and picked her up that evening. I just put her in my room and didn't let anyone bug her for a couple of hours. She came out and was fine with me petting her. She sounds like she still has a really sore throat. Everytime she cries it makes me feel bad. We let her sleep in the house last night, and she started out on Landon's bed, unknown to him (he was asleep), and ended up on Kylie's bed in the morning. I think they loved it. I feel pretty bad about it because she sounds so sad. Surgery has to be crappy if you are a person or animal. But I am glad that we got her spayed, and that she got her shots.

Trying to be Sneaky

Last week Landon was getting ready for school. He's bedroom door was shut, and so I opened it to check up on him. He loves to dawdle in the morning, so I am constantly reminding him to get ready. Anyways I caught him trying to fit the cat in his backpack. He was pretty upset that I opened his door and discovered him. I can't imagine how long he thought he was going to get away with it. It's not like I wouldn't have notice a moving meowing backpack. Thought it was funny, and a such classic kid thing. Sneak the cat to school move.

My Little Rock Star

Close up playing a guitar





My little dancer

My little Kylie loves to dance to music. It doesn't matter if it is church music, or pop, or anything else we end up listening to. Have you ever been to Texas Roadhouse when the servers do their line dancing? Kylie will get up out of her seat and dance right by our table. She is pretty darn cute too. She love to shake her head, butt, and close her eyes and play a guitar. But her new recent favorite song is So What by Pink. So I have it on my playlist in honor of my little girl. Stay and listen to it. Her favorite part is she's a rock star, and she's got her rock moves. She will occasionally make Marcus sing the song at random parts of the day. I love my little rock star.

So we got our kitten this summer, and I was planning on spaying her in October, and then we bought our boat, so I was just going to wait until November, thinking she would just be six months old. But now I think she is pregnant. But I am not sure. She is so much and inside/outside cat that we are having a hard time keeping her inside to see and wait if she gets fat in a couple of weeks. My first thought that she was pregnant was coming back after being gone for a few days this weekend, and she felt heavier. Now I think she has some of the signs, but I still don't know. I don't want to abort the kittens, and I would just let her have them if she is, but if she isn't I would just get her spayed. I know I am silly, I just don't want to pay to have a Vet tell me she is pregnant. Oh well, I suppose time will tell.

Impressions

I have had a lot to think about the past week. On Halloween Marcus was laid off from Sunrise. No work to do. It came as a shock to me. I had a hard time at first. It took me that first day to get over the shock, and half way through the second to stop dwelling on how upset I was. I just needed to look towards the future. I love to plan and planning helped me to feel a lot better. I was able to look at the good side of things, and occupy my thoughts with what are we going to do now. Marcus and I had many long conversations that were very insightful, and soothing to me.

I love how if one or both of us is going through a hard time we always have each other to pull us through and talk it over. I can't even express how wonderful, and grateful I am for my Marcus. I am also very grateful for the church, and other wise people (especially my dad) in my life. I will always glad I listened to the advice, and guidance they gave me to live my life. I always felt like we lived within our means, and tried to make wise decisions. I am a compulsive saver, and very obsessive about money. But now it will take care of us. It is not always easy to save money and live small, but I am finding again that it sure is worth it.

I have also thought a lot on the measure of happiness. When Marcus was in school for so many years of our married lives we were always poor, and never had a whole lot. We were always taken care of, but never had more. But I was always happy. I remember thinking when he is done will school and maybe if I get a bigger house I will be happier. But as time went by, and we never got our bigger house, and had a little more money, and more time together I was still just as happy as when we were dirt poor. And now that he does not have a job, I am still happy. Happiness does not matter where you are in life, and what you have, it comes from within. You can choose to be a happy person, or not. You always hear money doesn't buy happiness, and I have really seen how true that is. I am happy that we have a savings, that we will have three kids. I am looking around my world and seeing and enjoying all the small luxuries that I have.

Trunk or Treat

Our Ward had an early Trunk or treat this year. It was on Wednesday, and there was lots of candy, hot dogs, hot cocco, face painting, cookie walk, ghost sucker making, and spook alley. The Elders Quorum always put it on, but this year the young men and women helped out too. It was lots of fun. We went through all the trunk or treating first, and then when in the church for the other activities. Landon and Kylie did not want face painting, but we did the cookie walk, and they both won a cookie. Then they made fun little ghost suckers. Finally we checked out the spook alley. Landon liked it, and said it was scary, but Kylie was way to scared to go in. So I hung out with her and we waited for Landon to come out. Marcus stayed by the trunk and handed out the candy. I think he had fun looking at all the costumes, and bugging some of the kids. We all had a great night.


Kylie made the cutest black kitty there. I had fun being a witch with one cookin' in the oven, and Landon was our super hero.



Cute little poser



Superman to the rescue



My beautiful kids all ready for a night of fun.

Crazy

So I had my OB appointment yesterday. Would you believe it that in 6 weeks from my last appointment I lost two pounds. I thought it was pretty crazy. But I am sure I will be gaining it back soon. To be fair I gained 10 pounds in five weeks for the appointment before that. I thought that was also pretty crazy too. My scale is broken too, so I can only check in when I go in for my OB appointments. Baby is doing great, and measuring just fine. I love hearing the heart beat.

Snuggle Bug

So both my kids love to snuggle. But Kylie must be more like her mom, because she loves to bug you and snuggle. I was getting a movie ready for my kids to watch, and Kylie insisted on Landon snuggling her. So she pounced, and hugged on him. He is a good sport (just like Marcus) and let her snuggle up to him. I thought it was so cute, I had to take a picture.

Kylie's HairCut

So Kylie has been bugging me forever to cut her hair. She wants short hair. I think she hates it when I brush her hair. I was trying to wait until the spring so she could have a fun summer cut, but decided to just go ahead and to it. She was really good, and I love her new haircut. So does Kylie and Daddy. I don't think Landon really cares. I think it looks less straggly because there is just less hair to see.

Landon's School Picture

Here is Landon's Kindergarten picture. I was pretty happy with it. He can give some really cheesy smiles, and this one turned out great.

Eight Years

Yesterday was our eight year anniversary. We had a great evening last night. We had a pizza party with the kids, and got the new Indiana Jones movie. We also got a slice of brownie fudge cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory, to take home and share after the kids went to bed. I think they have the best cheesecake that I have ever tasted. And it was so good. The movie was pretty fun too.

Then since my mom is coming today, and staying for a couple of days I thought that I would wait to go on a date till tomorrow and have her watch my kids. We are planning on going out to eat, and then going shooting. I am pretty excited because I don't think Marcus and I get out of the house on dates very often. We usually do an in house date like we did last night.

New Haircut

I got a hair cut today. I just got one two months ago but my hair has been growing like crazy. So I decided to cut it even shorter. Here is also a profile shot of my belly at 22 weeks.

First Snow

Today was the first snow of the season. It started as rain and then turned into snow. The kids thought it was so neat, so they had to run out and play in it. They had a great time, and got very wet.

It was the perfect day for soup, so I cooked Meatball Stew for dinner. It was delicious. I also was in the kitchen all day cooking Salsa. I got 18 pints today. I have just about 40 tomatoes left from my garden that are just a little orange. I am waiting for them to turn red and then I will either make Spaghetti Sauce out of them, or Stewed Tomatoes. Hopefully I can get that done next week. Then I will be done bottling for the season. I really only ended up keeping up with the tomatoes this year and not canning anything else.

At Home Sledding

Yesterday my kids were dragging each other on blankets and calling it sledding. They were also trying to water ski while standing up, and Landon would tell Kylie she needed to say "Hit It" before he would go. I thought it was pretty cute so I got some pictures and video coverage. It sure makes having no carpet pretty fun in the house.

Landon And Kylie Sledding

For the past couple of weeks I have been trying to get the kids to feel the baby move. It seems whenever they get their hands on my stomach that he stops moving. But today they were finally able to feel him. It was pretty fun.

Our Maiden Voyage

We took our boat out for the first time today. We all had a very good time. I got to learn how to drive a boat. I was pretty nervous, but Marcus kept telling me it was easy. I am starting to get the hang of it, but I still don't want to pull it in and out of the dock. The kids got to each go tubing. I think they both loved it, but Kylie got tired of it faster than Landon. Marcus pulled me in the tube going pretty slow. I had a good time, but am excited to have this baby, and then hopefully next year I can learn how to wake board.

We got Marcus to hop in the tube with Kylie after she was getting a little tired of it, and I ended up dumping them by driving too slow. Who would've thought? Marcus was also able to wake board. He had me do a couple of practice runs on how to drive pulling a wake boarder. The only thing I thought was tricky was how sensitive the knob is when giving it gas to speed up, or pulling it back to slow down. I will have to practice more. At least I got to practice on Marcus, who of course got up on the first try, and never fell off. Over all it was a very fun day.

Boat Crazy!!!

So Marcus and I are crazy and just bought a boat today. He has been looking for the last 4 months, and finally decided what he really wanted and found it on craigslist. The boats have gone down in price a lot for end of the season. Even though we won't be able to take it out much this year, we got a great deal. It is a used '98 Ski Centurion, 21 ft. jet boat. We will be using it for tubing, water skiing and wake boarding. It sits 10 people in it. I will get some pictures posted too. We are crazy, but we always knew we wanted a boat. I think as soon as we signed the papers and drove it home we both had perm-a-grins on our faces. We are very excited to have this for our vacations in the summer, and hopefully get us some great family memories on it.

I guess we will stay in our house a couple more years before we get a bigger one. I think we should be fine with three kids in here. Amazing what a motivation getting a boat for Marcus is. I think he will get rid of just about anything I ask him too; for me to be comfortable in the house for the next two years; and for him to have a boat. I have been nesting really bad, and we have been dejunking the house, and garage.

So Marcus and I took our kids to the ultrasound today. Landon was predicting a boy, and Kylie really wanted a girl. She drew a picture today in her notebook of a baby girl. I told them not to be disappointed if it wasn't what they wanted. Kylie was the hardest one to convince. She said she can't draw baby boys, only girls.

We have decided to defy all odds in this family and have more boys than girls. In my family, all my siblings have more girls than boys, and only one of them have the same number. My mom has 11 granddaughters, and this will be 7 grandsons. I have four sisters, and only one brother, and that was about how it was with all of my cousins on both sides of the family. I guess it helps to marry someone with 4 brothers and 2 sisters.

Kylie was pouty at first, I was worried she was going to cry, but she didn't. Landon was excited to be right. Marcus offered to go out and celebrate with ice cream, so that cheered Kylie up. We are really excited. I was leaning more towards a boy. I haven't really liked sweets this pregnancy. But now we get to try and tackle out boy names. I haven't got a clue really. At least we still have 4 1/2 months.

Just a quick update. Today was the first time Marcus was able to feel the baby move.

Love Bird Tag

I thought this was a pretty cute one.

1. What is his name? Marcus Simons

2.Who eats more? I think we normally eat about the same amount.

3. Who said I love you first? Me - the little turkey. Now that I really get thinking about it, I think he was chicken, and in the conversation he was just drawing it out of me.

4. Who is taller? Marcus

5. Who is smarter? I think we are very well matched intellectually. I am smarter about some things, and he is smarter about other things.

6. Who is more sensitive? I am sure I am. I think he is a sensitive guy, he just shows it in a different way than me.

7. Who does the laundry? Me all the time. But we used to do it together "before kids". He actually taught me how to do laundry when we were first married. I think for the longest time I did it like a bachelor, but I have gotten better at it.

8. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Laying down he is on my right.

9. Who pays the bills? Always me.

10. Who cooks more? I do, but every once in a while Marcus will cook for me. He was especially good thru this pregnancy taking care of dinner. We ate out a lot, but he still took care of us.

10B. Who cleans up after cooking more? Always me. We got into a routine that he would distract the kids when they were little from climbing in the dishwasher while I was loading, and now I just always do it out of habit.

11. Who is more stubborn? Not sure, maybe me, he lets me have my way most of the time.

12. Who is the first to admit they are wrong? Don't know, I can't remember either of us being wrong about something.

13. Who has more siblings? Marcus by one.

14. Who wears the pants in the relationship? I think we squeeze into the same pair. But others may think I do. I will have to ask him.

15. What do you like to do together? I usually don't care as long as we are together. Mainly we go on drives, watch movies on the couch, and entertain kids.

16. Who eats more sweets? I am sure I do, except right now they don't sounds as good anymore.

17. Guilty Pleasures? Nothing I feel guilty about.

18. How did you meet? Classic Institute activity. He was in my ward, and I didn't know it until we met at this huge activity. Then there was a dance afterwards and he kept asking me to dance. He is such a good dancer (sigh).

19. Who asked whom out first? He always asked me out. But I remember that was the only time I was faithful in going to institute activities hoping I would just 'bump' into him.

20. Who kissed whom first? Marcus all the way. I was mid sentence when he kissed me. But then he waited a week to kiss me again. I was dieing just waiting for it. Him and his roommate's crazy theory.

21. Who proposed? Marcus up at Ross Park. He was pretty sneaky, but I had been waiting for it.

22. His best features and qualities? I love his smile and his eyes. But I gotta say I am crazy about he butt. He is a wonderful husband, and totally spoils me in his way. He is smart and a hard worker, and will do anything for our family.

My Kylie

So I have a funny story on Kylie, and couldn't decided if I should post it or not. It really cracked me up though so here it is.

I was on the computer and Kylie was hanging on my chair wanting to play. I was finishing up, and she accidentally bumped right below her tummy. She leans over and starts whimpering and said "ouch, I just hit my penis". I smiled and said "honey your a girl, you don't have a penis, did you hurt right below your tummy?"

My Little Reader

So Landon got to bring home his first book from the library at school. He was so excited. I helped him read it the first time. There were a few words he didn't know, and then he was off on his own reading it to himself. Kylie loves to have a story read to her, and Landon loves to act like the parent. I caught them sitting on my rocker with Landon reading to her. It was so cute. I love moments like that.

School Finally Started

Landon has been counting down and waiting to go to school for the past eight months. It finally came and he was so excited to go. He had a really good day and really likes his teacher. We woke up at 8:00 to get him ready for school that starts at 9:00. He was pretty worried that he would be late and wanted something fast for breakfast like toast. I told him there was plenty of time to have cereal. But then he sat and bugged his sister and ended up taking 30 minutes to eat a bowl of cereal (sigh).

He got dressed fast, and pack his little snack (a cheese stick). We took pictures, and then I made sure that Kylie was all ready. She was pretty upset that she wasn't able to go to school. After explaining to her that Landon has waited five years to go, and she has a couple of more years until she is old enough. Then she was okay with it.

We walked to school which is so close we can here the bells from our house. It took about two minutes. He was to meet his teacher out by the play area. There was tons of kids just crawling all over the toys, and Landon and Kylie joined in the chaos. The bell rang and all the kids disappeared to line up for school. His teacher was there. We gave hugs and he lined up with the rest of the kids. He had the biggest smile on his face, so how could I not be excited for him. He waved and off he when to his classroom.

I got to pick him up at 11:55 and when I asked what he did at school, all I got was he had a snack (which I knew already) and that he had recess. That kid is so silly sometimes. He can talk non stop all day long it seems, and then when I want to hear all about his day at school I have to try and drag it all out of him. He must be just like his Dad, except he never talks non stop.

My Two Little Girls

So the last two weeks Landon and Kylie have been playing dress up. They have been having a wonderful time, and can spend hours playing together. The only thing is Landon turns into "Karlie" and like to wear Kylie's clothes. I had to draw the line when I was ending up washing twice as much clothes. So now they can play in Kylie's dress up clothes, but can't run around and play in her regular clothes.

Baby

In the last week I have started to feel the baby move. I can lay on my tummy still, or on my back and if I pay attention I can feel little flutters. I love the beginnings of feeling the baby. It just makes it more real. Plus it is one of my favorite things about being pregnant. I am so excited that in four more weeks I will hopefully be able to find out the gender!!!!

My beautiful kids enjoying a hot day and a popsicle. Life just doesn't get better than this.

We got a stray kitty a few weeks ago while visiting Marcus' parents. I had to do some sweet talking to get her, but Marcus finally agreed. Landon already had her named before we told him we could bring her home. She is Purry and is a cute sweet little kitten. She is very well named because she is constantly purring. She sees me and starts to purr before I pick her up. I think she is a social thing, and really like people. Sometimes she reminds me of a dog, because she seems to be looking for me, or comes out when she hears my voice. But then am reminded that she is a cat, because she doesn't do it constantly.

I finally did it!!!

Well after much brainwashing, and peer pressure from friends and family I finally decided to start a blog. I hope I end up posting things, and figure out how this all works. I am sure it will be fun. I am looking forward to reading all of your blogs than writing my own.