What is up with that?

Today I am just a little miffed. I am wondering why so many people feel like crap (sorry for the word mom - for you, substitute something else like messy)... I don't know why, but it seems that there is definately (I am sure I spelled that wrong) something in the water. I have just noticed that there are a lot of AMAZING women out there who are feeling pretty down on themselves. And why? What is it? Is it just us feeling bad about ourselves, or are there really some legitimate (again spelling?) reasons out there?

Maybe it goes back to one of my brother-in-law's postulates that deep down all women hate each other. You know, maybe we make up some of the bad vibes we get from others. However, and this may be the sceptic in me, maybe some of those vibes are actually out there. Perhaps people really don't like us. Yet then again, maybe they do, maybe they are shy and don't get to know us. Or maybe people think that we are the stuck up ones. That we are unapproachable, that we think that they aren't good enough.

I just see that there are some pretty amazing people around who are getting passed up on a whole lot of great opportunities just because they aren't hip and with it. I am not sure that this is making a whole lot of sence (again, is that the right spelling for the usage?) but I am trying to be somewhat vague to spare others feelings. However, let me tell you this, I know that I need to be a better person as far as letting others know I appreciate them.

So, for the record, I think you are amazing and there is a lot of great things that you all do.

"Mom, I'm bored..."

It is the 24th of July, which is somewhat of a holiday today and we are bored. The kids have been sick, so we can't make any plans. So, we are sitting around do nothing.

"Mom, I'm bored..."

"Mom, I'm bored..."
"Mom, I'm bored..."
"Mom, I'm bored..."

Did I say...

"Mom,

I'm

Bored..."?

Just kidding...(about the picking the nose part,

we really are bored!)

Words you dread to hear...

Steve's voice from the kitchen:





"Andrea! Come quick! And bring the camera!"

Low and behold, there was Jayden up on the counter eating a box of Hot Tamales. Hot Tamales! What person in there right mind would even try one of those things once they smelled the box?

I guess Jayden would. He loves treats! His face was stained for the rest of the day. I couldn't get it clean. By the next day it was pretty good though.

My attempt at video!

Spencer has been saving his money for quite awhile. He decided he wanted two Transformers: an autobot and a decepticon. That way, he can playfight with them.

The next door neighbors...

One of my favorite things growing up was spending time with our cousins the Fishbein's. We were so lucky to have it where each of the kids in our family had a cousin counterpart in their family. Lucky for us, we have that in our neighbors next door to us. There is one kid for each of our kids. And even more rare than that is the fact that they get along so well. Above is Spencer and Jacob, they are both into video games and electronics. Both play soccer, but it isn't their favorite thing.
This is Jenna and Grace, they are in the same dance class, and play together all the time. They like playing Barbies, Polly Pockets and Dress-ups.
Here's Melissa and Erin. They can be quite goofy sometimes. They also are in the same dance class. They mostly like to do crafts and bake things together. They have this thing where they like to make up recipes. Some have been great, but most...well...
They got carried away playing with pipe cleaners one day.
Doing the 4th of July Bike Parade.
Melissa and Erin
Jenna and Grace
Jacob and Spencer
They even have a little boy Luke for Jayden although they are not old enough to play together yet. Jayden is a year older, but they most likely will be buddies since all the others play together so much.
The really great thing is they live right next door. It is so convenient for our kids to play together. Let's just hope one of us never moves!

4th of July Bike Parade

On the 4th of July last year, our Home Owners Association started doing a pancake breakfast and bike parade. They have a pretty good turn out for the occassion and our kids really like decorating their bikes for the parade. The kids each decorated their own bike except I did the crepe paper in the wheels.
The highlight of the breakfast is the chocolate chip pancakes with vanilla syrup. They also have a rootbeer syrup, but I don't want to give up the vanilla syrup to try it. They have each family bring either a side dish or drink to share and bring your own plates, forks, etc. Last year it seemed like their were a lot of sides and not enough drink and so this year I brought OJ, and I guess everyone had the same thought. We had a ton of drinks and not much sides. Oh, well though the pancakes were great enough!
As you can see, the kids had a great time riding around the commons area in the parade. There are actually a lot of kids in our neighborhood and everyone seemed to have decorated a bike. Surprisingly though, there aren't usually many injuries. Especially with the pack of kids that they have.
Jayden thought he would get in on the action. He started off by walking around with the bikers, but then Melissa put him in the stroller and walked him around.

Melissa's Birthday

The kids and I were just looking back at past blogs and I realized that in my busy March month I didn't blog Melissa's birthday. This is one of my more prouder moments as a parent and it needs to be documented. Kind of silly, but being able to pull off Melissa's birthday was a momentous occasion. We did a surprise party for her... In our family we have set the rule that they get a friend party on their odd birthdays and a family party on their even birthdays. This year Melissa was turning ten which meant family party. Michelle and Brett were supposed to come to Utah for General Conference and I can't quite remember why they didn't, but we were planning on doing something for Melissa when they were here so that Rebecca could be there.

Anyway, when we found out they weren't coming and realized that fitting a birthday party in would be tricky, I came up with the idea to surprise her. So, we told Melissa that since Rebecca wasn't coming we would just do a family party on Saturday after the Priesthood session of conference. Melissa's actual birthday was the Sunday before conference. So, I decided to do it on the day after her birthday after her dance class. I had made her an icecream cake while she was at school and so it was in the freezer out of sight. We did have a close call though when she asked me after school if she could have something out of the freezer, but I told her no because there wasn't enough for Jenna and Spencer to have some too. Whew...

We told everyone to come at about ten to seven so that they would all be here before she got home from dance. Everyone was very nice to park down the street and hoof it to our house. We carpool with our next door neighbor, so when they dropped her off at home, we were all there waiting to surprise her! And boy was she surprised! I didn't get a picture of her actually coming in the door, I was doing the video camera at the time, but she had a look of complete surprise. She was a little embarassed to be in her dance clothes, so went and changed before she opened presents and ate cake.

I don't think she stopped smiling the entire party...
I didn't have enough candles for ten, so we improvised and put a four and a six on the cake and you can kind of see the plus sign we fashioned between them out of toothpicks. What can I say, I'm a math freak! It was a very fun party and everyone was so nice to come and make the evening special for Melissa.