Mexi Bean Tacos

For all those who have requested it....here is the recipie I tried last night and LOVED!

2 cans beans of your choice drained and rinsed
1/2 cup water
1 cup corn
1 small onion chopped or use dehydrated onion flakes (what I used)
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
taco seasoning, chili, cumin, etc...make it the flavor you enjoy most!

Spray pan with non-stick spray. Add onions, beans, water and corn. Stir well and add seasoning of your choice. Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes. Add peppers, reduce heat and cook for another 5-10 minutes or until heated through.

Serve as a side dish or use for tacos!

Tacos:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Place taco shells on cookie sheet. Scoop 1/2 cup of Mexi beans onto each shell. sprinkle shredded cheese over mexi beans. Bake until cheese is melted and shells are crispy on the edges (3-5 mins). Top with lettuce, sour cream...all your favorite taco toppings! Wrap and enjoy!

Rhett turned 4!!!!

So Rhett turned 4 on May 4th and I've been neglecting my blog and now need to do some catching up!

Of course if you read my blog you know that birthdays tend to be an all week event around here...and we didn't change that this time around! Falling on a Tuesday meant we couldn't do much with Cliff because he has YMs and floor hockey so me and the kids made it a good day. Rhett got to watch whatever he wanted, chose the games they played and supper. He chose pancakes! He also kept telling Zane that he got to be first, or the leader or whatever because it was his birthday! The boys gave him a couple of Hot Wheel monster trucks which he was thrilled with and we called it a day.
The weekend brought about the rest of the festivities. Friday afternoon we went bowling with him and some friends. I know now that kids that young are good with one game, not two...but everyone still had fun. A quick trip back to our house for oreo ice cream cake, presents, and the kids were gone and were on to round 3. (side note: birthday boy did not eat his cake. I wasn't surprised. He isn't a cake kid and likes his ice cream plain.) Friday night we had Paynes over and my parents and Auntie Kizzy made it as well. I made pizzas, we laughed and talked and played and opened some more gifts and called it good.

Saturday Grandpa stayed home with the two big boys and made a lego ship and a bunch of other stuff while mom, Kinsey and I took Brock and went shopping for a bit. We played for a bit in the afternoon that night Cliff and I went to the high school play Grease with Jazz and Beck and Kinsey, mom and dad took the boys to DQ for birthday supper. (Auntie Kizzy always takes the birthday boy and usually the brother out for lunch or supper of their choice). The play - 50s diner supper included - was great and the kids were asleep when we got home!

Sunday morning we did breakfast waffles complete with whip cream, syrup, raspberry syrup, chocolate sauce, carmel sauce....well you get the idea. Oh so yummy ! It was Mother's Day so we were celebrating that as well and Grammie loved her gifts from the boys. I painted their hands and did hand prints of each boy and framed them. Grammie has a wall in her craft room that has all 3 of us girls' hand prints from grade one and she's been wanting to add the boys' to her collection. I even used blue paint to match ours! I also finally got the label made for my mom's Christmas quilt and gave that to her as well.

So all in all a good birthday week!

Standing Tall and not even Knowing It!

Zane came home today from school with Mother's Day goodies. A wonderful potted plant in full bloom, a cute craft and treats! Yum. On further inspection the craft was a tea pot that opened up and had this poem copied down:

You are there for me in every way
So here's a gift for Mother's Day
You always do so much for me
So relax and have a cup of ___.

Now we all know that the last word should be tea to rhyme with me. However, mine said Hot Chocolate and had a package of hot chocolate included. Zane told me that he told his teacher, Ms Diachuk, that we belong to the Church of Jesus Christ and we don't drink tea. So, she took him to a different room and got him some hot chocolate.

I am so proud of him for standing up for his standards....and not even knowing it. It wasn't a big deal for him. It's just what we do, or don't do in this case.

He is the ONLY kid in his school who belongs to our church. It's never been an issue and I think it's because of his quiet strength and testimony.

I love you Zane! Thanks for being such a great example to me!

Gift

Being the first Sunday of the month, today was fast Sunday. And we had many reasons to fast. Family members on both sides had requested a family fast either for themselves or on the behalf of others, and I was fasting for strength and resolve in my struggle with food.

And today was HARD! Not that fasting is ever easy. I don't know many people who enjoy being hungry. Who look forward to feeding their children tasty meals or preparing something tasty for the potluck after church while their stomach is growling and moaning. And I was VERY tempted to quit, to give up and give in. But when we began our fast last night we included the kids in our prayer. We explained before about our family members who had requested that we fast and a little about why Heavenly Father asks us to fast. And every time I thought about quitting I would think about these loved ones and would know that they were WORTH my sacrifice and my being hungry and uncomfortable for a few more hours to show that faith and diligence that the Lord has asked for. And as I pondered through the day I also came to realize that I am worth that choice as well. I choose the food that goes in my mouth and how much of it I eat. If I can make the choice to do something hard for those that I love, I can make the choice to do something hard for me. And when I had that small epiphany, it was like the missing puzzle piece fell into place. That obscure thing that I've been trying to figure out was there - being given to me. A gift. And suddenly, fasting wasn't so hard.

I was blessed with another precious gift as well today. During testimony meeting today Zane went up to bear his testimony. It's the first time that he has done that. I had just been out with Brock and as I walked back into the chapel there he was walking up to the front. He waited his turn, got up to the pulpit, and bore a simple and sweet testimony of the gospel truth. And my heart felt pure joy. That was truly one of the best moments I've had since becoming a mom. There is something so sacred and sweet to hear your child, whom you have loved, nurtured, and taught, to express his faith and understanding and knowledge of something you hold so dear. His face shone and I was so proud of him. For his courage and for his strength. How blessed I am to have such fine sons!

We ended the day with a wonderful potluck break the fast held at a dear friend's house. As we were surrounded by friends who love and support us and as we all revelled in the nice weather, the company, and the chaos that comes with a gathering that large (I don't even know how many people were there!) I thought that today was truly a wonderful day that I wanted to remember for a long time.

Please and Thank You

Our house has been hit with an epidemic of no please and thank yous being used. And it wasn't just the boys. Mom and Dad have been guilty of it as well. So we had a family home evening on it. First we watched a Backyardigans movie on it - the episode is called The Key to the Nile. I tried to find a video link but found nothing in my 2 minute search...sorry.
Anyways, we told the boys that we were going to watch a movie that was all about our lesson topic and they had to guess what it was. Zane knew it within the first 30 seconds but was good about keeping it a secret and Rhett caught on pretty quick too. In the movie Please and Thank You are paired together in the main song in a very catchy way and we've all been singing or humming it all week! BUT it has made an improvement in all of us using Please and Thank You.

And now for the point of my little story. Rhett has been very diligent in using please and thank you all week. And I appreciate his effort. However, when he asks for something he will say something like this

"please and thank you can I have some lemonade?" or "please and thank you a peanut butter sandwich".

I've tried explaining that you say please first and thank you after your request is filled but he continues to say please and thank you all together. I blame the song. But I'm glad he's saying his please and thank yous!

Replay!

If you know our family at all you know that a LOT of sports get watched around here. Especially in the form of hockey and basketball. And having 3 little boys means a LOT of sports action happens around here, primarily in my hallway. Countless numbers of hockey and basketball games have taken place in this long, skinny arena and frequently I hear these words, "Let's watch the replay on that..." and then they proceed to re-enact the sequence of game play that just took place. I'm not kidding. I'm often invited to witness these replays and must express my admiration or occasionally a ruling before the game can continue. It's very intense. And it CRACKS me up! Really, could kids be any cuter?

Also, Zane has recently informed me that he thinks he could "take" me in a game of basketball. And then continues with "have you ever even played basketball mom?" Apparently he is starting to pick up on my sport ineptness. In this same conversation he also stated that if we were to play hockey against each other he would definitely win because he has some serious skills. And I'm left shaking my head and wondering why it's all of a sudden a need to prove that he's better than mom at things. Should I just concede now and admit that he's better at sports than I am....or try to give him some competition?

NO kidlets

for a couple of days was great! Thanks again to Rebecca and Jazz for taking them so we could go!

We escaped to Fairmont for a couple of days and this is what we did: movies, one round of golf, driving range, hot springs and sleep. It was great. We didn't have to hurry anything, we didn't watch the clock and we just enjoyed ourselves.

And we discovered that me and mountain travelling don't mix no matter where I am in the vehicle. I HATE motion sickness and poor Rhett shares my plight. Thank goodness for gravol. Unfortunately it makes me a very poor conversationalist for hours at a time. Poor Cliff. Good thing he loves me. Oh, and we also learned to make sure you take grown-up music with you just in case you can't find a radio signal in the mountains for oh, over an hour! The only thing I had that wasn't fisher price was Josh Groban or the yearly primary CD. Cliff finally succumbed to the silence after 1/2 an hour and put Josh Groban in. I quite enjoyed it but he was suffering. Hee Hee Hee.

And although we had a great time...the next vacation we take is going to be non-mountainous. I'm thinking warm and beaches and oceans. And longer. The kids will be older so we can leave them longer than we did this time!

Back to regular life...wrapping up piano lessons, planning for next fall's lessons, soccer starting and one more month of seminary! Yeah!!!!!

Planning and Organizing

So I am currently working on trying to plan and organize two things. The first is our trip to Fairmont without kids and the second is piano for the fall.
Going without the kids is great but I'm stressing about packing because they aren't going to be here so I have to pack them and us separately. I'm good at packing all of us but the bags usually tend to overlap. Could be a little interesting. Also trying to foresee and think of anything that they might need and things to write down for Rebecca...it's a good thing that we spend so much time together. She already knows my kids so well already and over the past couple of weeks I've thought of random things she should know and have told her and she called today with a list of questions...definitely leaving them in good hands. And I know that we will come back...but just in case we don't the kids are going to Kinsey.

And piano....this year I started out with 11 students and I'm down to 8 because one family pulled out. This fall my goal is to teach 25. I will have most if not all of my current kids and I'm working on filling in the other spots. I've worked out pricing, hired a babysitter to be here while I teach and am thinking and planning to make this work. I called my former teacher and picked her brain on how she did it while raising her kids - especially while they were small. And her two tips were to be super organized and get a babysitter. I can do that! I'm excited and feel good about this decision and am very grateful that I have this skill that I can use to make some income for our family. What a blessing.

Randomness....

So we are home once again in our own little 4 walls. We were starting to think it might not happen - one of Jas and Bec's connecting flights was delayed by 4 hours and at one point they were told they wouldn't be able to come home until Wednesday! Fortunately, things worked out and they were home Monday evening....but it was a little stressful for awhile rearranging a few things and getting three kids off to school!
It's nice to be home. And quiet...mostly.

The days passed very quickly with our little adventure at the Payne's and I can't believe it's already the middle of the month!

I also can't believe that we are all STILL sick! The kids are all coughing...Cliff is still coughing...and I can feel it trying to get a hold on me again. Ugh. Doctor appointments have been made but we can't get in until Friday...and he'll probably just tell me it's viral....

I'm feeling rather random today....might be the cold drugs....might be the exhaustion. But I am also feeling very grateful as well that we didn't get the snow storm that my family and friends did in southern Alberta. Tons of heavy wet snow has knocked out the power in Raymond and Lethbridge...not sure about Taber...haven't heard from anyone there yet. And very thankful for cell phones so family members can call even when there is no power.

And to complete the randomness...here are some pics from Easter and our time with the Paynes!

Our very own Easter bunny! He really wasn't impressed that I put these on him...but I just couldn't resist when I saw them!We dyed Easter eggs....quite the experience with 6....I thought they'd spend a good chunk of time at it....but I think it took them all of 10 minutes and then they were gone again! Ha Ha! But they did turn out pretty nice I think.The kids loved that I put their eggs on display and would take them out and look at them...That crazy Easter bunny hid 18 eggs per kid! Saturday night we gave each kid one colored plastic egg and left the rest for the bunny to fill. In the morning they had to find the eggs that were their color - it worked great and they had a blast finding their eggs and dumping the candy into the bowl. Everyone shared the loot!

Our crew showing off their spoils with Cliff! Left to Right: Jonny, Brock, Cliff, Rhett, Jake, Zane and Mia in the back!

I forgot to add that Zane caught the Easter bunny filling the eggs...I thought everyone was asleep! He just had this "oops!" Look on his face - but then he said "Don't worry mom...I won't tell anyone!" And that's the only reaction he's had. It didn't seem to dampen his enjoyment the next morning...but it does put us into a new stage of life. Sigh.

A Trial and a Blessing

So here we are on day 7 with 6 kids.....
I think there has been one moment every single day that I think - this is the worst it has been - and then it gets better. The kids have adjusted to each other amazingly well and now that they've been together for so long they don't feel the need to constantly be together and so have started scattering themselves around the house and yard - which makes it easier but harder as well. For the most part though things have gone smoothly.

And then yesterday the kiddos started dropping like flies. Our family has been fighting a cold bug for almost the past two weeks and I was just soooo delighted (insert big sarcasm here) to be hit with it 2 days before we started this journey. Zane has had a bit of a cough but nothing serious....and then it spread. At one point yesterday between the "my head hurts", "my stomach hurts", "my throat hurts", "cough - cough - hack", I looked heaven ward and thought "This wasn't hard enough? Now I have to do it with sick kids?"

But, it's been a blessing as well because it's really mellowed out some of the kidlets. We had a really lazy day around here today and for the most part I think it's been our best so far for fights and tantrums. I am so grateful for the Priesthood in our home. Cliff and Trent Allred gave Zane, Jonny and Brock all blessings last night and if things keep going the way they are the other three might need one as well. However, it was a wonderful thing to witness all the kids reverent and listening to the healing blessings that were promised to the kids who needed them. A great moment. And those three have improved a small bit.

Tomorrow is Jonny's birthday. We haven't solidified how we are going to celebrate because we're not sure on the health status yet. We're thinking maybe bowling or movie....we'll see. His parents threw a great party for him before they left so we can just do something small and call it good. Maybe an ice cream cake from DQ....hmmmm.....ice cream.

So, I'm still here. Still alive. And yes, I would do this again.

And I'm really looking forward to our 4 days away in 2 more weeks.

Thoughts so far....

On mothering 6 kids.

I've learned that planning ahead is ESSENTIAL! If I have a plan of what I'm feeding them it's much better than asking what the want to eat.

I've learned to ignore a lot of squabbling.

I've learned that tattling gets OLD really really fast!

I've learned that it's not as hard as I thought it would be...but I'm glad that only 3 of them are really mine.

I've learned that it's a lot easier if I consider them all mine for now.

Things I've done all by myself with 6 kids:

Prepared, served, and cleaned up 10 meals.

Gone to the park twice.

Gone to the grocery store...yep...you read that right.

Done about 10 loads of laundry.

Filled 18x6 plastic eggs full of Easter candy. Cliff helped me hide them all.


I am enjoying myself...there are moments that are hard, but for the most part we're doing great. The kids are getting along like siblings...some squabbles...some bickering...but it's all good. We're working on the sleep deprivation thing - our kids have been staying up a little later than they usually do and that's taking a toll. And I'm learning that with 6 from 11 to 1 years old you don't have any time to yourself until they are all in bed! But, it's only till Sunday.

Off to an Adventure

So tomorrow morning we are adopting 3 kids.


Yes, it's true.


But it's only for 10 days! And then we're giving them back. Our dear friends Jas and Rebecca Payne are going on a cruise and we're moving in with their kids - their house is much better for 6 kids than ours is! So we will have an 11 year old, 7 1/2, 7, 4 1/2, almost 4 and 1. It's going to be chaos. I realize this. But it's also going to be a lot of fun. Our kids adore each other. They get along like cousins and have all been counting down sleeps for this adventure to begin. We're going to dye Easter eggs, have the Easter bunny come, watch conference, play basketball, hopefully play at the park, have a pizza and movie night....and hopefully all be sane when Jas and Rebecca get home.


And then 10 days later Cliff and I are leaving for 4 days and 3 nights and our kids are moving back in with Paynes. It feels like April is already gone!

So, not sure if I'll be posting much in the next week and a half or not....

Wish me luck!

Other stuff

Some things that I've been meaning to write down so I remember them!

* Rhett saying "excuse me mom" when I'm talking or doing something and then when I acknowledge him the first thing he says is "I said excuse me mom...." and then continues on with what he needs or wants. Melts me every time.
* Both kids can beat me in Mario Cart without me letting them
* Brock can turn the TV on and off - it is driving his sibs crazy!
* Brock has recently discovered the garbage - putting things in and taking things out and apparently he sent home half a pig magnet with Auntie Lishie when she was here visiting
* We moved Rhett into a bigger booster chair to help with the whole big kid thing - he loves the new chair and still refuses to tell me when he needs to pee unless we're out in public
* Rhett gave Auntie Lishie a new name : Auntie (fill in the color) shirt - he called her Auntie Pink Shirt etc and it stuck for the weekend. Pretty funny.
* Went swimming with the kids : Zane loved it, Rhett braved the water and waded even though he informed me he was only going to sit and watch and Brock screamed like I was torturing him when I dipped his toes in. He clung to me the whole hour and cried for almost the whole time.
* I think Brock has enough shoes right now to wear a different pair every day for 10 days
* Brock can get down off the couch and big chair by himself....won't be long until he can get himself up too
* Zane came out wearing his sweat pants the other day and announced that wearing them made him feel lazy and that he was just going to be lazy all day. I thought that was a good idea so we all wore sweats all day and it was a good lazy day.

I think that's all for now....

Picture Catch Up

So we're going from newest to oldest pictures because there's a lot and I'm too sick right now to take the time to move them all around.
Hope you enjoy!


Zane blowing the candles out a the end of his weekend celebration. I've said it before and I'm saying it again - birthdays around here kind of turn into an event between friend parties, grandparents and aunties and the actual day! This cake was on his actual birthday and we had the Paynes and the Pratts come over to celebrate. It was a blast! We made homemade pizza with Payne's and after the Pratts showed up we had Oreo ice cream cake with lots of toppings. Yum!

I just love this kid! Can't believe he's 7!

Brock saw the basket ball Zane got for his birthday, picked it up and took off with it. I was impressed that he could handle it!

Silly ball is getting away from him! He was determined though and walked around with it for quite awhile.

The triumphant reveal. He has been bugging me ever since to go and shoot some hoops...hopefully the weather holds and we can do that over Easter break.


Examining his new hockey card collection from us. And Rhett being excited for him and explaining to Papa what it is.

Blowing candles out at his friend party. I did Oreo cake again but I froze it in the silicone cupcake sheets - brilliant! The kids LOVED them - some even ate 2. I'm never going back to real cake again for a kid's party - so tired of throwing it away. Anyways, he was thrilled that we managed to get all 7 candles into the little cup cake and did a great job at blowing them!

I totally stole this idea from Rhonda. And it worked...mostly. Some of the kids were more interested in eating the marsh mellows than actually building with them but we did end up with some fun structures.

Home made lava lamps. I googled kids easy science experiments and found tons of fun stuff. These are water, food coloring, vegetable oil and salt. When you pour salt in it forms globs with the oil and falls and moves like a lava lamp. The kids LOVED this one and they all got to take theirs home with them. I found the pitchers at Dollar-rama. One mom wrinkled her nose but the rest thought they were great.
My Rhett-man showing off his balloon blown up by a pop bottle. He just melts my heart!

Zane and a couple of his school friends showing off their pop bottle balloons. Another hit!

We made volcano lava in my big bread bowl but I was too busy keeping that one under control to get pictures. I think that was probably their favorite one!

A recent family home evening : a bowling tournament on the WII. And I don't remember why Brock doesn't have any clothes on but he was happy as long as one of us had him!


Zane showing off his mad curve skills. He learned them from Cliff - I can't make it curve to save my life.

Rhett's a great bowler - even when daddy is trying to psyche him out!

One of my absolute faves of this little boy!

And another. Watch out girls....he's a heart breaker. I can see I'm going to have to get a big stick to beat them off. Sigh. Why do they grow so fast?

I caught Rhett and Jake Payne making an awesome train track during piano lessons one day. They were being quiet so I went to investigate!

Brock showing off his faux hawk doo before heading to church in Barnwell at the end of February when we went to visit our new nephew.... and everyone else of course!

Nephew Cohen. I need to steal some pictures from Rikki 'cause every time they were around I was busy trying to keep Brock from mauling him!

Cliff and Brock hangin' with cousin Paxton. We managed a quick stop in at Lishie and Jay's...long enough for a quick hold and hi and bye!

Ready to leave for Taber...and trying to get Brock to leave his hat on. It was a losing battle! But he's so stinkin' cute in it! And of course since the Olympics were on at the time Cliff had to wear his team Canada jersey on the drive home!

Brock playing peek-a-boo under his high chair. I thought he was stuck but he was having a great time!

Alone in the chair with the TV remote. Life is good. And yes his shirt says DUDE.

I LOVE this killer little smile. He definitely lives up to his shirt!

So that's it for pictures right now!

March in a nutshell....or bigger

This blog may be long...and it's going to be picture-less. Pictures are on my list for tomorrow....

So let's see. It seems like the month has been filled with teases of spring...lots of mud, lots of puddles, lots of dead grass dragged into my house - but also lots of sunshine and promises of longer days. Brock is DYING to be outside with the big boys but can't seem to walk in anything but his Robeez shoes. We're working on that.

Brock is getting more and more independent every day. He loves to pull pop bottles out of the boxes in the hallway and walks around with them until his mean mommy snags them and puts them back in the fridge. Thinks wrestling with the big boys and daddy is great. Is very vocal. Has cut 2 molars and is taking FOREVER to cut the next two. His mobility has increased tons and he can navigate our little step pretty good now. He's usually bright and sunshiny and keeps me hopping all day!

Rhett is a big kid. That's been our mission this month - to convince him of that. And it's working - sort of. We're still having potty issues and after talking with some great friends I felt that part of the problem was that he viewed himself as a little kid instead of a big kid. So we've been working on pointing out all the big kid things that he does and can do. We're slowly seeing a trickle effect and I'm hoping that one day he'll decide that being potty trained is a good thing. The poor child has huge feet and is forever tripping over them - it breaks my heart. But he just keeps getting up and goes. He loves to play with Zane, but is just as happy to see him leave in the morning so he can do what he wants! My Rhett-man makes me smile and laugh every day.

Zane turned 7 on the 22nd! How in the world did that happen? As I watch him grow up I'm getting glimpses of the man he'll be one day and it makes me happy and sad all at the same time. Zane loves school and his kind heart and fun personality has helped him make lots of great friends. He has read 100 books this year and got to choose a book to bring home and keep. He chose a story that we've checked out of the library before because he knew it was one of Rhett's favorites. Seriously, can a son melt a mom's heart any quicker? He's getting soooo tall, and loves so many different things - sports, reading, playing, video games....he's always busy doing something. We had a great birthday weekend for him....Friday we had his friend's party and did some science experiments and building and cake and presents and outside play. It was a hit and he was thrilled! My mom was able to come up on the Tuesday before his birthday and then dad and Kinsey and Alisha and cousin Paxton showed up Friday night. It was a packed house filled with lots of laughs and fun. Sunday morning we did Birthday Waffles - whip cream, strawberries, carmel sauce, chocolate sauce, raspberry syrup....yes, it was a diabetic coma waiting to happen. I've got lots of pictures and will try to get them up soon!
I can't believe that he's already 7! He's such a joy and treasure to us and I can't wait to see what this year brings for him!

And as for us...we've managed to sneak in a couple of nights off by ourselves with our friends and even a couple of dates. As well as birthday parties for friends, parent teacher interviews, YM's, seminary experiences....etc. It's been an action packed month and I can't believe it's drawing to a close already. We're gearing up a for a great and busy spring break as we become parents to 6 for 10 days. Yep, 6. Our wonderful friends Jas and Rebecca Payne are like family to us and are leaving on a cruise. We're moving into their house with their 3 kids 11, 7 and 4 for 10 days. It's going to be busy, hectic, and probably stressful but really fun. Our kids get along great and it's just one big party when we're all together. I'm trying to do some planning of things like conference activities and Easter - Rebecca and I have had our heads together planning and I think it's going to be great. I'm praying for lots of sunshine! I'll try to keep you posted on the chaos of life with 6!

Kitchen update...

So remember way back at the beginning of the month when our dishwasher flooded the kitchen? We're not under water or construction anymore! We were pretty sure that the floor was going to have to come out and Cliff wanted to put tile in and I was not happy or budging on that. Thankfully, after a couple of days of drying out, our wood settled back in and is almost perfectly smooth again. For the few imperfections left it's not worth fixing. And after a few different parts, a couple of holes drilled in the back of my cabinet, and some frustrating moments, the dishwasher is working again, the mess is cleaned up, and I'm happy to say that I am spoiled again.

It's a good thing.

It's been awhile....

since I've blogged. Mostly I've just been too tired, too busy or too something.

BUT

I just lived through a whole week without my computer - and not by choice - ahhhh - I felt so disconnected and lost. But I'm back and I've got some great stuff to share....but not tonight.

I just wanted you all to know that I didn't leave blogger land forever and ever.

You know it's going to be a long morning when...

You walk into your kitchen at 6:50 am and find it submerged in water. Yep. Sometime between 4:45 and then a hose burst on our dishwasher and flooded my kitchen....and seeped through to our bedroom closet. (Our room shares the back wall of the kitchen.)

Almost every towel in the house, 2 1/2 rolls of paper towel, 2 rounds with the shop vac (our closet floor), one box of salt (again our closet) and 4 hours later the mess is mostly taken care of. I say mostly because our room is still destroyed - everything that was in the closet is either on our bed or strewn around and we have 2 fans drying out the carpet. The salt helps to draw the water out and will have to be vacuumed up soon. And the jury is still out on the kitchen floor. It's a hardwood laminate if that makes sense and we're not sure yet if we're going to have to rip it out or if we got it cleaned up in time. Sigh.

And I have laundry EVERYWHERE that is ready to be folded....and I usually do that on my bed. Big flat service that Brock can't reach. Feeling a tad disorganized and behind as that was not what I had planned to do with my morning.

So back to hand washing for now. Cliff thinks he can fix the problem fairly easily - just needs the time to do it. This coming weekend is Red Deer's Home and Garden Show and Cliff is in charge of Trail's booth and display and all that good stuff so it is a busy week for him during and after work and all weekend.

It could have been a lot worse....had it been leaking all night our entire bedroom floor would have been soaked and some stuff seriously damaged or destroyed! I'll take 4 hours of clean up over the mess that any day!

Angel for me

I need a quick minute to thank my Heavenly Father for sending me my friend Rebecca. There are so many things about this friend that I LOVE. But last night she topped them all.
Knowing how sleep deprived I am - really it's getting a little scary - and having been there before herself - my WONDERFUL friend pulled me aside last night and told me she wanted to take my kids one afternoon a week so that I could sleep for 3 HOURS with no interruptions. And this isn't just a one time deal. She wants to do it EVERY week.

Right now there aren't many things that could top that gift. And I have to be honest....for the smallest part of a second I considered refusing her....telling her not to put herself out for my benefit and that I would continue to manage somehow. And then I told my stupid self to shut up and let the smart self recognize the gift that my Heavenly Father was giving me : An answer to my prayers. Not in a way that I envisioned - Brock sleeping through the night - but in a way that will allow someone close to me to serve me and give me a way to cope better with the stresses of my life. So I burst into tears, gave her a huge hug and started counting the days until Thursday afternoon!

Living away from our families is hard. But the Lord has blessed us with friends who can fill those roles our family would if they were close. We are truly blessed and thankful for that. Thank you to all of you that fit that role.

Some of this....some of that....

So I haven't really been in the writing mood the past couple of weeks. You might have noticed. Partly because I've been T I R E D. Partly because we've been busy. But I thought I should try and get a little caught up because we have had some exciting things happen in our family.

Babies Born!

Nephew and Cousin Cohen John Russel was born February 9th to Cliff's sister Rikki and boyfriend Cory! 8lbs 1 0z and 20 inches long. He and Brock are a year and a day apart and he was only 1 ounce bigger than Brock. He has TONS of black hair that goes everywhere and is just soooooo sweet. We took a trip down to Taber over the teacher's convention weekend to meet him and hang out with family. It was a terrific trip and we had lots time to just hang out and relax with everyone. Didn't get to see Uncle Jamie and Amber because he was flying home and his flight was re-routed, cancelled and all that jazz...but hopefully next time. The boys thought Cohen was pretty neat. Brock always wanted to be with me or Grandma if we were holding him - maybe a little worried about his spot? And Brock kept us VERY busy going up and down the stairs. He's great at going up....and still gave me a heart attack every time he attempted down.

Cousin Caley Jackson had a baby girl yesterday February 26th. Finally a girl in the family! She and her boyfriend Cathal named her Harper Nally and she was 6 lbs 10 or 11 oz....can't remember! Have seen a few pictures and she looks like a little doll! So fun to have a little pink person in the family!

Because of the new babies I spent the week before we left hemming and sewing blankets and burp rags...the boys loved it because they got lots of picnics in the living room. I'm now trying to accomplish Zane's quilt for his birthday without him knowing I'm working on it.

Dog Update

For those that don't know, I let Cliff talk me into a getting a dog in October....and not just a dog but a 10 month old puppy. After 4 long months I finally convinced HIM that we were not ready for a dog right now. And so the search for a new home for Vato commenced. After a couple of weeks we finally found a family who fell in love with him and he seemed very taken with them, so Vato no longer resides here. Cliff is the saddest of us all, the boys don't seem to be phased at all - when I told them Vato was going to live somewhere else all I got was "oh, OK". And I'm mostly relieved. Vato was a big amount of stress in my life and it's been nice not to worry about him, or feel guilty about him etc. It's hard to admit defeat and give up on something. Neither one of us likes to do that. But we weren't giving him the love and attention and time that a puppy needs and deserves, so it was better for him to go live somewhere else.

Other Happenings...

We finally made it to the temple on the 12th. It's been a very long time since we had been and it felt so good to be back. We did a session and ended up meeting some friends from our ward there. We all went out to the Olive Garden afterwards and called that our Valentine's Day date.

On Valentine's day I made the boys pink pancakes. They were very worried about them until they tasted them. Then they decided that colored pancakes were just fine with them and Zane suggested that maybe we should have blue pancakes one day! I took a picture but you can't really tell that they were pink after they were cooked...more food coloring next time I guess!

The elders in our ward held a family tobogganing day on Family Day. It was the perfect weather - just below zero, no wind, nice and sunny and had snowed about 2 inches the night before. Cliff had to work but it was here in Sylvan so I took the kids and went. Zane LOVED it, Rhett was whiny and wanted to go home after 5 minutes and Brock was tired and cranky. Zane convinced Rhett to go down the hill with him once but that was it. He would go about half way up the hill and then run or walk down and just hung out with Zane and a bunch of kids. He is so my son - not a winter sports kind of kid. After much fussing Brock finally gave up and went to sleep and slept almost the whole time. It was a lot of fun for most everyone - a couple of little kids got ran over and one ended up with a bloody nose and cheek - but all in all a great day.

The Winter Olympics are being held in Vancouver this year. Zane's really been into the Olympics because of school and it's sports - do I need to say more? We watched the opening ceremonies as a family and it was fun and really cool. Rhett crashed an hour in and Brock about half an hour later. Zane was determined to make it to see the torch lit at the very end and although he struggled he made it. I thought it was really cool that we have such great technology available that he could witness that. Wayne Gretzky lit the torch and Zane declared that he was going to bed. I think he was asleep before his head settled on the pillow!
Of course with the Olympics on we've been watching a lot of sports - I mean more sports than is usual in this house -and a lot of hockey. Zane has learned the guy "I'm zoned in on the game and block everything else out" look and has really been into the games. Rhett gets excited when they score and they both just don't understand how mom isn't quite as pumped about this sport as they are. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy watching the play off games, I just don't get really emotionally invested into them.

The boys have also learned with Brock being super mobile these days that they have to do some things behind closed bedroom door. I've nicknamed him Babyzilla because he likes to destroy their train tracks and poor Rhett gets so upset and takes it very personally. He doesn't understand why Brock would do that to him. Poor kiddo. Maybe I should show him pics of when he did the same to Zane?!

Life is just thundering along and blasting through days and weeks. I can't believe that tomorrow is the last day of February. One day closer to spring!