"Honey, did you hear that NOISE outside?

(Blog entry written by Geoff) About five minutes ago, Steph and I were sitting on the couch watching the news and we heard a *noise* outside...Steph naturally said, "Honey, did you hear that noise? Go check it out." So I turn off the lights, grab my super-powerful flashlight and a blunt instrument of destruction, and peek out the window. There IS something moving out there! I creep up to take a better look...and I find... A hungry racoon eating my cat's dinner. He didn't seem afraid, and only ran off when we kept taking pictures of him. Have you even seen a racoon eat? He was totally scooping up the cat food with his front paws, and bringing it up to his face like you or I might eat popcorn. I was sorry he left, although I'm sure my cat was relieved to see him go. I love nature. I guess I would love nature less, however, if he was eating MY food. Best wishes, readers! - Geoff  

I Don't Recognize Me Either

 

I was looking at some old pictures while Asher sat on my lap. When I came across the one above he only recognized his Dad. When I pointed to me in the picture and asked him "Who is that?" He said "Aunt Terra." I asked him three times and even had him look at me and then at the picture and his answer was the same. I said "It's okay - I don't recognize me either." I'm working on that. He also thought that the baby in the picture was Andyn (it's Aspen - we're with my grandma and grandpa). This made me feel good because of my belief that Andyn and Aspen look just alike. But in reality Andyn is the only baby that Asher sees on a regular basis so he would probably say that about any baby picture that I showed him. So for kicks I included the following pictures of Andyn and Aspen. You be the judge! 1. 2.

 

3.

 

4.

 

Solution: 1.Andyn 2.Aspen 3.Andyn 4.Aspen

Shout It From The Rooftop!!!

It has been 2 weeks and 2 days exactly since Asher began potty-training. !!WARNING - POOP TALK AHEAD!! I must have developed a LOAD more patience since potty-training the girls because I haven't lost it with him, yet. There have been times when I wanted to! Like 3 days ago when he pooped his pants 8 times IN ONE DAY! But I gritted my teeth each time and smiled and told him it was okay and that he would get it! He mastered the peeing within a day or 2 of starting but this poop thing was beyond his comprehension! And then it happened! About 10:30 this morning he said he had to go potty and took off. Now he does this all the time and just pees but as I was cleaning up in the kitchen I hear him shout from the bathroom: "I pooped, Mom!". I ran in there expecting the worst (i.e... poop in pants, on floor, on toilet). To my astonishment it was really poop and it was really in the toilet!! I started shouting 'hooray' and jumping up and down!!! The girls came running wondering what the heck was going on and then joined in the celebration!! He was SO HAPPY! He looked so proud of himself! I said "You're so awesome!". To which he replied "I know. I'm awesome!" You know what did it? Mario Kart. That's right a video game. Two days ago he asked to play his video game on the computer and usually I just let him but this time a light bulb went off in my head. I told him that he couldn't play it until he pooped in the potty. He spent the entire morning on the toilet. He was determined to poop! After a couple of hours he stood in the middle of the living room looking at me like 'oh my gosh, here it comes!' and told him to run to the potty! By the time he got there he had a little one dangling and when he got on the toilet it fell in and he shouted "I pooped in the potty!". Ugh! Not exactly the results I was trying to get. He sat there a little longer with no success! So, I had to let him play his game. He played most of the day with several visits to the bathroom and no successes. It's like he knew he needed to go but when he would get there he would chicken out. That night I spent a good 30 minutes reading him books while he sat on the toilet. I finally had to just send him to bed. Then... he pooped his pants! Yesterday absolutely no interest in the video game and a couple of accidents. Today - it worked!!

Flood of 2007... Still

This is a weak attempt to help you try to understand the amount of water that we've been getting. This picture is of the water coming out of one of our down spouts:

 

This is a video clip of the same thing (please excuse my daughter's language): The rain has been coming intermittently for almost two weeks. The weatherman showed the 7 day forecast today and every day there will be rain. I don't think stir crazy quite describes how we're all feeling!

Oh... REALLY!!

As a member of SparkPeople I receive various articles about improving your health. Today I received one titled 7 Hidden Ways to Get Better Sleep. I read this article after I was rudely awoken by my two year old who has returned to waking up at the crack of dawn and throwing huge tantrums! As I read some of the things in this article I thought... Oh... REALLY! Just an excerpt: Losing sleep is certainly not something to be taken lightly. An occasional night of tossing and turning is normal, but continued patterns of this behavior can cause real problems in your ability to function normally. Research shows that inadequate sleep can have disastrous effects on your weight loss efforts, impair your concentration, and even mimic the symptoms of impaired glucose tolerance (which can lead to diabetes and hypertension). Your mood also suffers when you don’t get enough shut-eye, causing you to become disoriented on the job, fatigued behind the wheel of a car, or irritated at home. But more importantly, these mood swings can affect your relationships with others, and even lead to depression. Oh... REALLY!

My New Addition

I added a tool that plays songs while you're at Gibson Grapevine! Isn't that neat?! For those of you are annoyed by this or don't like my choice in music feel free to push the pause button on the player or turn off your speakers! I won't be offended! I'll never know!

Alice in Wonderland

So, Aspen and Ainsley participated in the Oklahoma Shakespearean Festival this year. The Children's Theatre did Alice in Wonderland. They did a great job!! I'm confident that they enjoyed it because almost all of their free time was spent singing all the songs and saying all the lines from the play!!

 

Aspen was a flower named Ivy.

 

Ainsley was BeeSley the Bumblebee.

 

They were especially excited about getting to wear make-up! One of the performances actually turned out to be a real learning experience for Aspen. I guess for me also. Something terribly mortifying happened (actually 2 things) which she has asked me not to tell anyone about. (I think posting it here would qualify as telling someone). But, trust me, they were very embarrassing! I didn't think that my heart was capable of swelling so big. It felt like it was going to burst! I was mortified for her and just wanted it to be me so bad! But, the show must go on!!! I am so proud of her and envy her courage! She continued performing the remaining 3 performances (there were 5 in all) and she did them perfectly! Most of you know that Ainsley has always kind of been my shy one. She didn't want to do the play last year after I had already signed her up because she was afraid to be on stage. This year she conquered her fears and did a spectacular job!! I don't know about them but I'm tired! I'm glad it's over so maybe we can get back to our 'lazy days of summer'.

My Pretty Boy

All my children take after their daddy - a lot. I'm okay with this because I think he is incredibly handsome. One thing that I love about the resemblance is their long eyelashes. As Asher was waking up from his nap the other day, he was unusually cuddly and I took the opportunity to give him some love. I decided that I should capture his eyelashes on film so here ya go!

 

I Stand Corrected - part 2

Shelley you jinxed me!!!!! Shelley:"Oh my gosh, that's so funny. I think he should go ON the toilet, just once, just to mess with you. Of course, you'd be so happy that it wasn't in his pants that you wouldn't care anyway!" I just got through cleaning up pee from ALL OVER THE POTTY!!! He DID go pee ON the potty!! With his underwear ON!!! He said he was standing on top of it to reach his tooth brush and had an accident!!

I Stand Corrected

Believe it or not this potty-training thing has it's funny moments! I know they're ALL funny to YOU (the reader). But there is this one thing that makes me giggle every time it happens. I am constantly reminding Asher "We go poop on the potty not in our pants. Right,Asher?" to which he replies (most of the time annoyed) "Not ON the potty! IN the potty, Mom!".

The Bane of My Exsistence! - part 3

!!WARNING!! This post may contain talk of poop! Just a quick update on the potty-training thing - so far, so so. He hasn't had a single pee accident since last week (even on our trip) for which I am very proud and relieved that he seems to have gotten that part of it! The pooping is a different story! Exactly opposite actually!! He hasn't pooped once in the toilet! So far I haven't lost my cool but sometimes I think that I'm on the verge!! I find comfort in the fact that he won't be doing this when he's 16!

Hunt Family Reunion

We went to the Hunt Family Reunion this Saturday in Ada, OK. Everybody brings some kind of craft item and everybody's name gets drawn out of a cup and they get to choose something. This is what my husband chose:

 

Funny isn't he! This is what Ainsley chose: It's a little baby Jesus in a box that had a really cute saying about him being a gift (she's already lost that part). Anyway, I just wanted to post it because there was this little boy (maybe 6-7)that was playing with my kids that was there at the park for a different reunion and she said she was going to give it to him because he didn't get anything. I thought that was so sweet! Finally, we have my 2nd cousin 5 times removed (I have no idea!) - Chuck Allen Floyd. I'm including him because one day when he is REALLY famous you can all know someone related to him! He's living in Nashville and works as a songwriter for Clint Black. Sounds like he does quite a bit of singing of his own too and he sounds really good! I have to admit that I really can't stand country music but because he's family I'll make this one exception! You can check out his website here. This is him with his mom. (I don't think that he normally wears scarves in the middle of summer. It was his craft of choice!)

A Few Random Thoughts

There are a few things that I've been wanting to post about before I forget! First: The kids have been begging me to put on these fake fingernails that change colors in the sunlight. I always promise them that I will do it soon. Well, 'soon' never really came. Finally, they had waited long enough so they begged me the other night and I gave in! This is how they turned out:

 

 

They lasted less than 30 minutes! Next: Aren't they cute!! My cute little cowgirls! Last: I love having a reclining highchair! And so does Andyn. She loves that thing. She just chills!

Flood of 2007

That's what their calling it! About 2am Monday morning Asher came to bed with us because he was scared that was the first time that we realized that there was a massive thunderstorm coming through. We had all the windows open and fans on and about 4 or so we realized that the ceiling fan had stopped and figured out that the power had gone out. Also, the LITTLE window in the bathroom was open as well and the storm was so strong that it blew rain all the way into the hallway! The electricity was out ALL DAY! Normally not a problem except Monday I was watching 4 extra kids!! I had no access to media so I didn't understand the full extent of the damage from all the rain until last night when we were able to see the news. I had no idea! So far 5 people have died from this natural disaster. We're all safe and I've only lost a bit of my sanity with 8 kids stuck indoors and no electricity! Below are some pictures of a big branch that was broken off of our big tree in the backyard! And another branch that is still clinging to the tree!      

Another little thing I thought was funny: I made the comment to Autumn (one of the neighbor girls that I watched yesterday) that I wish I could do some laundry because it was really stacking up and this is what she said - "Just wash them like you used to in the old days!". I laughed out loud! How old does she think I am? I told her that since I was born there has always been washing machines!

New Look!

I got a little bored with the style of my blog so I switched it up a bit!! What do ya think? My friend Lolly says that the one fish that has jumped out is me! (Trying to get away from the craziness!!)

Father's Day!

 

Geoff got several cool gifts for Father's Day. This was one of them: a fishing hat. Not that he plans on doing a lot of fishing but he wanted one to help keep the sun off. The alternative was an 'old man' straw hat! He wouldn't care but I don't think that I'm ready for that!

 

I helped Aspen make keychains for all the 'dads' in our family. She was real proud and they turned out pretty cute!

The Bane of My Exsistence! - part 2

!!WARNING!! Another post about poop! (For anybody wondering - the main reason that I start out with the warning is for my mother-in-law. I just want her to be prepared if she decides to read the post!) Did I mention that I REALLY HATE potty-training? Well, I do. The inevitable happened. Yesterday, Asher let out a tiny poop on the floor in the girls' room. No big deal. Took him immediately to the bathroom, sat him on the potty, encouraged him to do the same thing on the potty that he did on his sisters' floor, and then cleaned up the mess. He sat there for a while and read books...nothing happened. He got off and several minutes later the girls start screaming that he had gone on their floor again. So I went to 'save them' - no big deal - we'll just do the same thing we just did. Repetition will help. I walk in and he had unloaded! He had held it in for 2 days and if you were in that room you knew it! I will say that I am totally proud of myself for not totally losing it! I calmly repeated the previous reaction. (Inside I was screaming!) He seemed really sad that he had had an accident but I just encouraged him and told him it was okay and that he would do better next time. Before I go any further I just want to say that at this point he has only had 2 pee accidents in the previous 3 days and only because I put underwear on him. I guess he thinks it's like a diaper and that it's safe. I decided to put underwear on him this morning and within 30 minutes he peed and pooped in them - on his sisters' bedroom floor (I see a pattern here)! It was a whole lot easier to clean up just the poop so I left his underwear off...not one accident the rest of the day! I'm just worried because we have to travel this weekend and I don't want to put diapers back on him. 'This too shall pass'?

The Bane of My Exsistence!

!!!WARNING!!! ANOTHER POST ABOUT POOP - NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH!

I absolutely HATE potty-training!! We're starting day 3 of this wonderful experience!

I had the worst time potty-training the girls and so I have not looked forward to it with Asher! I think I tried too hard with them and it turned out to be a disaster!! With Asher I've just let it come more naturally.

Several months ago he woke up one morning and said that he no longer wanted to wear diapers! This was something that I was not prepared for! But, I went with it. I told him that was great and let him just go naked for several days. In 4 days' time he had only one pee accident! I was so shocked and proud of him! But the poor boy was obviously holding in his poops! Anyone who REALLY knows my son knows that he is SUPER regular with at least 2 poops a day (huh, Sharol:)!

During this potty-training bout he held it til the 3rd day and then did it on my floor! (Ripping out ALL our carpet was the best thing that we EVER did!!) But on the 4th day he did it right in the potty!! I was so proud and I think he was too!! The next day...he got diarrhea!!! I had to put diapers back on him and by the time it was over he had totally lost interest and my life was really too hectic to spend the time with it!! So I didn't push it!

Well, my friend Amber has a son that is 1 month to the day younger than Asher and she just posted on her blog how wonderful Lincoln has been at potty-training! This plus the fact that he has to be potty-trained to start preschool in the fall prompted me to revisit the topic! Not to mention the fact that he is WAY too big for the biggest size diapers made AND we're about to run out of the latest package! I figured that now is probably the best time. It's warm enough for him to just run around half naked.

Well, so far it hasn't been too bad. I've been letting him get a couple of M&M's from the soccer ball dispenser whenever he pees, flushes, and washes his hands. He has only had two pee accidents and it was only when I put some underwear on him. But once again he's holding back on the poop thing! I don't understand it. It's day 3 and I KNOW he has got to poop! Maybe today is the magical day!! Can't wait (sarcastic)! He knows he'll get a BIG treat (mini size candy bar) if he poops and he seems really excited about it but I just think he's afraid to let it come out! He also picked out some special Scooby-doo underwear that he's carrying around in the container and I told him that he could wear it once he poops and pees with out any accidents....to be continued!

Hot Buns!

Shelley emailed me this pic a few months ago and I just came across it again. I had to post it!! I laugh out loud everytime I look at it! (Hope I didn't steal your thunder, Shel!)

My Husband

I have this picture on my Spark page and Shelley mentioned that I had never shown her this pic (I don't believe her). So I thought maybe some of you all might not have seen it either. Somebody at Geoff's work created it. Isn't it nice?

SparkPeople

My friend Cindi told me about this website that she is using to help with her weight loss. I checked it out and I LOVE it! I think it's just like Bob Green's that you have to pay a monthly fee for but this one is free!! Click here to see my 'spark'page!

Fun FHE!

Lolly & PJ were in charge of the activity for FHE last night and they brought Deal or No Deal (DVD version). They made it extra fun and exciting by offering different items at each 'banker offer'! It was really fun and everybody got a few cool things!

ALOHA!

Just a few pics of the Luau my Dad had at his house. Actually, he paid for it and everybody else did the work!

They smoked an enormous pig!! I wish that I would have thought to take a picture of it!!

Scarface

War wounds from his big sister Ainsley!

Ain't He Pretty!

Asher was cold the other day and Aspen helped him out by letting him wear her coat!

That's One Hug I Didn't Want

This morning I hear my husband scream like a girl and then in moments appear in the doorway to the living room where I was changing the baby. He is half naked and he says to me "Do you see any poop on me?". Asher is standing there in a 'spirit hands' pose (from Napoleon) with poop all over his hands. To be honest he is so hairy I couldn't see much of anything but hair. So I gave him a once over and still didn't see anything but the stench suggested that it was somewhere on him. A few moments later he spotted it on his chest. Mind you, he's totally freaking out this whole time!! Evidently, AFTER he got out of the shower he picked Asher up to hug him and Asher had just been playing with his new best friend (his penis) and happened to also have a poopy diaper! Geoff was loosing it! Even after he used a diaper wipe on his chest he could still smell it so I suggested he take another shower! I don't know what he was complaining about - I had to to give Asher a bath! Geoff said "That's one hug I didn't want!".

Girls' Night Out

In May we had a really fun girls' night out. There were 10 of us. We ate at Cheddar's where I'm sure they considered kicking us out at some point! The pic I have posted was taken there. Then we went to Books-A-Million and Target for a little light shopping. I'd tell you all the things that we laughed about but some things are better kept to one's self! Then we did a really Mormon thing - went to Braum's for ice cream! It was a lot of fun and I think we're going to try to do it once a month!

Summer Reading Tree

I wanted to do something fun for the kids over the summer that would help the girls to keep reading. So, in an effort to be Super Mom, I decided to do a reading tree that I had read about on FamilyFun.com. After each book they write their name and the name of the book onto a green leaf that I've cut out and then they tape it to the tree. I've included a picture of my tree trunk.

The girls were concerned that it didn't have more branches and I know that it looks a little... funny up top but hopefully they'll read like crazy and we can fill in that whole area with leaves and you'll never know the difference!! :)

Eureka!

Eight months old and I think she finally figured out that thing we call crawling!

Potty Mouth

2 Reasons to stop saying the word 'crap':

#1 - It sounds ugly

#2 - It sounds even uglier when your 2 year old says it!! (I showed him the YouTube video of the Baby Panda scaring the Mama Panda with her sneeze.)

If All Else Fails - Use Accelerant!

This is what Uncle Jeff told my kids when he was showing them how to build a fire on our camping trip!! We went camping for Memorial Day weekend but I'm just now getting around to posting about our experience. Mostly because I thought it might take me a while to organize my thoughts about it because it was kind of a crazy weekend!!

We got to Lake Tenkiller on Saturday morning and my sister and her husband had camped the night before. Everything went pretty smoothly getting set up. We had to set our tent on a little bit of a slope but didn't think that would be too big of a deal. After everything was set up we realized that we had forgotten the rutter and centerboard for the sailboat that we had brought so Geoff and Jeff (so me and Terra both married Geoffs (Jeffs)- what can I say!) took the kids fishing and left Terra and I with the babies. This was fine with me as I DID NOT want to go fishing! I was a little disappointed about the sailboat thing! It was a pretty lazy afternoon and the weather was perfect. Terra and I got camp set up perfectly how we wanted it! That night we made burritos and roasted smores. The kids went to bed with out much resistance and we stayed up till our eyes started to give in - about 10:30pm (we're old!). Then the real fun started! It came a monsoon! We thought that we were doing pretty good. We didn't see any leaks in the tent. But then started a consistent drip on Geoff's forehead. I told him it was Chinese Water Torture! We made it through the night, or at least I did, with some good sleep. When we woke the next morning we found out that poor Aspen was soaked! I don't know how she slept like that but she did and didn't seem to be super bothered by it. Remember that slope I mentioned, well, it served as great way to dam up some water right at the entrance to the tent. It was a nice touch. We decided that we would stick it out because surely it wouldn't rain all weekend. Well, we were partly wrong. Geoff and Jeff went fishing and this time left all the kids with me and Terra. Not 10 minutes after they left the monsoon returned! After 30 minutes of trying to stay dry under the holey tarp that Jeff rigged up and the kids being confined to the tent we decided that we had had enough! We called our husbands and said we were packing up and going to my dad's (about an hour away)! Now that was the life! Dry bed to sleep in, good food, and a swimming pool to boot! Oh, and it didn't rain a drop after we left!

PS Try not to be too critical of Asher's getup! I know he looks like a teletubby but it is all in the name of safety!!

Just a Quick Note

Someone recently posted a comment on my blog under the 'anonymous' setting. Well, I don't know who you are unless you sign your name - thus the description 'anonymous'. In my settings I allowed anonymous postings because I figured that not everybody in the world has a google account (shame). Now, unless you don't WANT me to know who you are (which is fine too), please sign your name! :)

NOW Summer Can Start!

We FINALLY got the swimming pool full of water!   The trampoline was Geoff's idea! I'm holding him personally responsible when someone breaks their arm!   Quote from Ainsley - "This is the best summer ever!" And it has just started!   Simultaneous Jump!