Are you sure they all have the same daddy?

"Are you sure they all have the same daddy?" You would not believe how often I hear those words. I know......it sounds funny right? (but what is not funny is that where we live, our oh so ghetto apartment, that is not all that uncommon......sad, I know.)

It is true to say that each of our children are so very different in their looks. Here's the run down. Gabe has blond hair, green eyes and a yellowish skin tone (that produces a nice golden tan in the summer). Cael......like his mommy, has red hair, blue eyes and the pale-est, red-est skin tone ever (that produces no such tan in the summer). Isaac has dark brown hair, creamy brown eyes and olive, olive skin (we have yet to see what will happen in the summer but I can already say that if he were not my offspring....I would envy and covet and might actually dislike him for it).

So....you are going to have to judge for yourself. (If I had a picture of our former mailman I would post it for comparison....but sadly, I don't).

On another note.......putting these three in the bathtub together was quite a wild adventure. One that I may not repeat for quite some time, if ever (I just wanted to save time and hot water. Thanks goes to my father for teaching me to be so frugally minded).

Gabe and Cael could not control themselves (yeah right) and were splashing me to the point of sopping-wettedness (do you like my made up word). Isaac, who is just now sitting up on his own, has not quite mastered the skill of the slippery bath tub and was sliding all over the place. The fact that he was trying to grab anything he could reach (which included toys, wash rags, and yes....the older boys "little boy parts") didn't help that fact. Gabe and Cael thought all of this was a riot and...........you guessed it, splashed some more. So.....all in all, for the sake of a little extra time and money (and a really cute picture), I ended up with an extra bath myself, a lake on the floor, and a hoarse voice from all the yelling. Not fun......not fun at all.

Some days you gotta dance!

Some days you gotta dance- Dixie Chicks
Some days you gotta dance
Live it up when you get the chance
cause when the world doesn't make no sense
And you're feeling just a little to tense
Gotta loosen up those chains and dance

I once had a roommate (Stephanie) dub this as my "theme song." Little did she know that her statement would inspire me over and over again, oh so many years later.

I LOVE TO DANCE! It has to be one of the most fun and invigorating things I can think of. Just to let go of ones self and body and enjoy the movement.
Life can be soooooo stressful sometimes and I let it get to me far too often. I am a time bomb on the verge of going off at any given moment of the day. Unfortunately, my children usually receive the brunt of the explosion and I am left to clean up the mess. But........sometimes.........just sometimes I remember Stephanie's words ("this is totally your theme song") and I am moved to action.
My children love it! I have tried really hard to pass this love of mine on to my offspring and anyone who know Gabe knows that, at least in his case, it worked. The kid has moves no one can duplicate.

So......in times of stress, or depression, or when mom just needs to lighten up and remember there is more to life that dirty laundry(or clean that has to be folded and put away), toilet cleaning, diaper changing, and bills, we DANCE! We GROOVE! We "SHIMMY" to anything from ACE of BASE to BOB MARLEY and the world doesn't seem so bad anymore . It must be the only time my children see that mommy is more than the wicked witch of the west.
So.....Stephanie.....thanks for inspiring me to always remember to "loosen up......and dance."

Okay, so the picture stinks (I don't know the first thing about picture taking...and don't even claim to) but it was taken this morning while we jammed out to "Pop Goes the World" by Men without hats (from the 80's or early 90's...I don't know which but it is a fabulous song!). Even Isaac joined in.

Samuel the Lamanite

The other morning I got home from the "Y" (no, not BYU, the YMCA) after working out and was greeted at the door by Rob. He smiled at me, with a beam of pride and amusement in his eyes, and beckoned me to the kitchen where the children were playing. I rounded the corner only to see the children had built some towers with their blocks. I impatiently looked at Rob and said, oh so rudely, "So?" Rob completely ignoring my rudeness and said,"Gabe, why don't you tell Mommy what you have built." Gabe looked up, smiled and said, "Look Mom, it's Samuel the Lamanite."




It took me a second but I then understood what he meant. He had built the wall that Samuel the Lamanite had stood on while preaching to the Nephites. I was immediately repentant and thanked Rob for sharing that with me and we stood for a moment together, basking in pride that only a parent can feel when they realize their child is amazingly, amazing.

I later questioned Gabe on what he knew about Samuel the Lamanite. He told me that "Samuel went up on the wall and the bad guys threw things at him but they didn't hurt him because Heavenly Father helped him and then he ran away." It then dawned on me why he remembered the story so well.......Gabe loves bad guy/good guy stories. In fact, he is widely known, both at church and school, for his story telling capabilities. The other day he informed me that at circle time at school, he had shared the story of "when Jesus died on the cross" with his teachers and pupils (Gabe's favorite movie right now is The Testaments). At first I was a little embarrassed by it (especially because not too long ago he told his teacher, "Jesus told my mom that it's not good for me to ride the bus anymore," and I worry they will think we are part of some weird religious cult.......he, he, he) but now I realize that I have just been given the opportunity to see a glimpse of what an awesome missionary he will be. We are so proud of Gabe and his ability to open up and befriend people. He is not ashamed of who he is and what he has learned and we think he's great. Hopefully we won't mess him up and one day he will share his stories with people all over the world.

Adventures in COUPONING!

Okay, so I am not going to go off on this forever but I am just so darned excited over my most recent hobby. That is right, my most resent hobby is couponing! It may sound a little time consuming but I save a TON of money on my groceries and non-foods items. For example, I did, indeed, get 18 bottles of Aussie shampoo and conditioner for only .33 cents a bottle. Last week, I got 20 boxes of General Mills cereal at Albertsons for FREE. That's right, I said FREE! In total, I walked away from the store with $248 of food for only $56, and I did it all with three children in tow (bless the cashier at Albertson's, she was so patient with us). After the bag boy helped me out to my car he said, "WoW! I have never seen someone save so much money." I was beaming with pride. In fact, when Rob and I went back there the other day to just get a roast for Sunday dinner, we saw the same bag boy. He smiled at me and asked if I had brought any more money saving coupons with me. Rob thought it was hysterical (he is always teasing me about the strange looks I get from the other people who are checking out). To me....there was no greater compliment. Ahhhhh. How satisfying. It has actually become a fun family affair. Rob and I have done a bit of couponing after our dates and when I pick G-McBabe up from school I often get the question, "Mom, did our coupon's come today. Can we go to the store."

Seriously, I am not pro but the lady I learned it from is. She is amazing. She grocery shops, for a family of 8, for only $150-$200 a month and that includes her cleaning, hygiene, and other non-food items. CRAZY! I have her e-mail address if anyone wants to contact her and buy her $10 cd. It comes with the know how and 50 recipes that use commonly couponed items or store in the freezer well. It's great. So......if you are on the quest to save bucko-bucks, let me know.

I have the most brilliant children EVER!!!!!

Okay...so they may not be THE most brilliant but I am pretty dang proud of them. Here's the scoop. Yesterday, the kids and I took and trip to the library. We do this quite often but this time it was for a special occasion. It was Dr. Seuss's birthday. We went to go get some Dr. Seuss books so we could have a "birthday party" for him at home (since we could not make the one the school was having because Rob was at school, himself, and I was not about to drag three kids to it by myself). Anyway.....we picked up our books and headed home. We had picked up a couple of level 1 and 2 "reader" books as well. When we got home I decided to test Gabe's reading skills (so many people tell me that he can't be reading yet, he's just memorizing the books but.....hello! what is reading? The memorization of words. Duh!). So.....to get back to my story. I gave him a book that he had NEVER seen before and he began to read. Page after page after page (I did have to help him sound out a few words like "plunk, clunk and smack" but he did the rest. I WAS soooooo proud of him. It is times like these that I realize I must not be a COMPLETE failure as a mother and teacher. So.....I praised him for it and told him how proud I was of him and a miracle happened............he was so well behaved the rest of the night. Not one tantrum. Wow, it's amazing what a little positive encouragement can do. I will have to remember that!
Cael....what an amazing kid as well. He just turned two and can count to ten (loosely speaking. He always skips four and seven) and he loves to sing the ABC's. He is mommy's big helper. He is always trying to help me clean (which I forget to see it for what it is and appreciate it sometimes). He likes to sweep, pick up toys, and clean up Isaac's spit up. That's right, as disgusting as it is, he is always cleaning up Isaac's spit-up. He has crazy, fine, "floofy" hair and LOVES banana peppers and pickles.....just like his mamma!

Now Isaac, the little naughty boy is already trying to crawl and he hasn't even learned to sit up yet. We are working on it. Although it's a little difficult learning to sit up when you are constantly being bowled over by your overly affectionate older brother.

Isaac is so much fun and so smiley. He is one tough cookie too (he has to be.....again, Cael). We are so glad he is a part of our family.

(This is one of those faces Isaac makes that REALLY reminds me of Rob. Do you see it too?)

Rob continues to work very hard at work and school. ONLY THREE 1/2 semesters left (arrrrgggg). He has so much on his plate and he still makes time for us. I can tell that sometimes the load puts a lot of strain on him to the point he wants to pull his hair out (although he shouldn't, it is falling out quite nicely on it's own) but he just keeps trucking along doing his best. I appreciate him so much. Amazing......that's all I can say.

Meanwhile, I am STILL going crazy. Live is like a tornado, or a hurricane, or a whirlpool....whatever, I cant make up my mind. I am trying out new adventures in "COUPON"ing. It gives me a thrill I haven't had in a long time. In fact, this week, if all goes well, I will be getting bottles of shampoo (Aussie) and body wash (I cant remember what kind...some name brand somthing) for only 33 cents a bottle. If only my coupons would get here already............. Doesn't that sound exciting? Well it excites me to the point of nervous anxiety. I will let you know how it goes. In fact, I will write my next BLOG about it. HA HA! Blogging is great!