Kay-olee Bean

Today is Oaklee's 2nd birthday!! (I seriously cannot believe that she is that old already). She pretty much has no idea what a birthday is even about - and with all the kids at school and Dad at work, me and the 3 littles (Dayton, Oaklee, Kyndi) went and got Oaks a dozen balloons, because she loves balloons - and I also treated the two girls to a tiny Ben&Jerry's of their very own. (Which Oaklee downed in roughly 4.6 seconds flat)

I blog about Oaklee so often that it is difficult to find new things to tell you today but here we go...

First off, None of my kids have ever been a terrible two... Kyndi was a bit of a crier, but nothing bad and no attitude to it - she was just a total mama's girl... Oaklee however stole all the attitude that the others never had and hoarded it all for herself. She is horrible!! She's got the words "no" and "mine" mixed with the ornery attitude voice, down to a science. She does have a HUGE attitude but she way stinkin cute too so sometimes that makes it okay!!

Oaklee has never been much for words. She used to pretty much just say "uh" no matter what word she was trying to say... then her words all started with D (DilDue (Little Dude=Dayton, Doh=Oaklee, Deedee=Kyndi, Dee=drink, dye=light, etc.) Suddenly in the past week, she can talk!! We're even up to two word sentences and double-syllable words!! Monkey, "dafftub" "Pretty" "chupchup" (ketchup) "O-lee" (Oaklee) and her other words like milk, which used to be 'muh' is now 'mill' I've gotta say, I'm pretty proud of her.

If ever I ask her, "where's daddy?" or "Where's Kyndi?" "Where's grandma?" Her answer is almost always "Uh Wur" (At work)

Oaklee is scared of bugs. Kyndi loves bugs, Okalee hates them. Her biggest bug fear? Ants. Kyndi "collects" ants almost every morning, and Oaklee refuses to go anywhere near her until she knows the ants are 100% gone. She has learned the concept of the fly swatter (Or flies-water if you're talking to Kyndi) and quite enjoys smacking it all around...

Oaklee's other fear in life: vacuums. Don't turn one on, you'll have a crier hanging onto you for the next 6 hours. I'm not sure what it is about loud noises, she is terrified of them. The blender too. It's loud and she hates it.

She loves playing outside. Her favorite activity is the trampoline I think. She always begs to go out there. In fact once she's outside there are only 2 things that will ever convince her to come back inside: 1 - food, she'll do anything for food and 2 - a bug. If she sees one, she's pretty much done with outside. Side note: the two little girls just walked in from outside with a toy pan full of potato bugs, apparently she isn't terrified of that type, but she still won't hold them or anything...Oh! Nevermind, they are suddenly moving in there and now she's freakin out!!

Oaklee loves to watch Blues Clues. She asks for it every morning, and she sings along with everything they sing. CUTE!!

When the radio is on she sings along to the music no matter what song it is, and many times she starts an all out boogie!

She's just so stinkin cute and she's growing up way too fast.

Happy Birthday Oaklee, we love you!!!

What the kids have learned...

*If you give your best smile, you might get what you want

*If you give Dayton too many cheerios, he'll throw them on the floor and then you can eat them. ~Oaklee

*If you give him WAY too many cheerios, it's just a disaster!! ~Kyndi

*Sometimes it helps to see things through someone else's eyes. ~Tyson

*Everything is better with Ketchup (even fruit) ~Oaklee

*There's a whole other world behind the curtains ~Dayton

*While coloring on the walls with poop during naptime may appear fun, mom is gonna be mad
when she finds it!! ~Oaklee

*Clothes hampers have more than one use. (and if it's already full of clothes, just dump it on the

floor) ~Oaklee (and Kyndi)

*It's okay to sneak into the cupcakes if you brush your teeth while you're at it ~Oaklee

*If you spend all of your money, you'll just get more later. ~Tate

*Putting on mom's mascara isn't as easy as it looks. ~Oaklee

*If your little sister eats your zit-wash-cloth, hurry and call your mom! (That's an emergency, right?) ~Morrissa

*The best place in the cart is underneath. ~Kyndi

*Your sister and your brother can be your very best friends ~Oaklee

Mr. Salt

Familiar with Mr Salt from Blues Clues? Kyndi is. The first picture is the actual Mr Salt from the show, the 2nd is Kyndi's rendition. Pretty good for a 4 year old if you ask me.

Now Dayton thinks he needs a turn... (The Magna-doodle is actually the most fought over toy at our house...

Einstein???

Kyndi + Trampoline =

Oh whoops!! That last one wasn't her....

View From My Window

I have the cutest family. I just returned home from work to an empty quiet house. I looked out the back window to find that Kamron and all the kids are out playing baseball at the park behind our house. Oaklee is out there running around with the kids and they have Dayton all set up in his stroller watching the action. They have no clue I can see them or that I am even home, but I'm enjoying every minute of watching them. The best is Kyndi who gets up to bat with a bat that is as big as her and she hits it pretty good! Kamron's pretty fun to watch too as he hits and runs the bases. I love that he is the type of dad that will get out and play with all the kids. And I'm pretty sure they all love it too.

I'd go out and join them but I have so much homework to do that I've gotta take advantage of the quietness and get it done. I just had to post first and tell everyone how cute they all are. Its one of those warm your heart "Aw" moments.

American Idol and All That Jazz

For those of you who don't know (and also for those that do) I am an avid American Idol follower. I even auditioned in Seattle in '06. (By far, one of the very best experiences of my entire existence)

Sadly I work nights, which happens to be the time of day that the show airs, thus causing me to possibly miss episodes...but this was remedied a few weeks by the addition of a DVR to our house...

Here are my current contestant views:

Scott, I am so glad they ridded us of him last week. Nice guy and all, but he was merely a sympathy vote and never succeeded in wowing me.

Lil, I hope she's the next to go. She just bugs me for reasons unknown.

Next person that needs to leave the show: Anoop. Just not my style at all. Enough on that.

Kris, he's a no-name to me. Every time he comes on screen i make a comment such as "oh, I forgot he was on this show" (Sorry Brooke Stone, I know you have a secret crush) to me, he doesn't scream "star quality".

Then there's the other guy, I can't remember his name. (According to the American Idol website, his name is Matt)To me he is in a similar category with Kris. Nice guy, nice voice, just not good enough or rememberable (the term Simon often uses)

Danny, nerdy guy, but has that good-guy super-cute-super-nice vibe and he's a really good singer, I just don't think he has winning potential because he's up against two others who will out perform him every time. He is Kamron's favorite by far. I like Danny alot. Mostly as a person and for what he has recently gone through (his wife died). I don't think he has the voice to win, cuz there are 2 others far better at performing than he, but he is my favorite as a person by far (just don't tell Kamron this, as he is of the opinion that I cannot stand him and I would like it to stay this way... sort of a rivalry thing) Kamron is certain he will win, but I am not in agreeance with this. I have determined he will place third.

Second place will be awarded to Allison. She is 16 and man oh man she's got a voice. I am very entertained by her, and cannot believe she is 16. She's been in the bottom 3 twice, but that was America's mistake and I am certain it will not happen again.

Winner would have to be Adam. He just so artistic. He's not so pleasing to the eye (as Danny may be) and he seems pretty wild and crazy, but I really like his style and his ability to take a well known song and knock the socks off of it with his own version. Kamron believes this to be maniacal screaming of sorts. But since when did he know what he was ever talking about?? (I love you Kam). (See here again comes the spousal rivalry that is alive and well in our home) Anyways, in my humble and most expert opinion, Adam will take the Cake (and the money too).

With that said, last night's performances shocked me. They did songs from movies. Wow. It was an emotional night for me. (And it did total crazy-bizarre stuff to my brainwaves too... more on that momentarily)

Anoop sang "Everything I do" by Bryan Adams. This song bores me, I've heard it far too much. But somehow in the course of him singing this song I was totally emotionally overtaken. Wow. I loved it. Never seen such a good performance out of him... perhaps they can keep him a bit longer...

Then Danny performed. He sang "Endless Love" The song itself bored me, but somehow the message in it and the idea he was singing it for his late wife absolutely moved me to tears. Seriously. I watched it twice and both times tears fell. (If Kamron asks, they were tears of boredom)

... Now here's where it gets really strange: In some crazy-bizarre moment of over emotion, I waited for Kamron to go to sleep and then wrote him this super-sappy love letter. Don't know what brought it on, but I did it, left it with his keys and went to bed.

What a weird night. But enjoyable none-the-less. Here's hoping Lil leaves the show tonight. It better not be Danny, Adam or Allison. (remember I work nights and hafta watch it later, so don't anybody go spoiling it for me before I get to watch it.)

Kyndi Cures All

So I've had a rough week lately. Nothing really to report on, just emotionally rough for really no reason. So Monday I reached the breaking point. Kamron was at a Jazz game with the boys, and I was feeling alone or something equally crazy to that. Now before I continue, let me explain the bit about my home... In order to get to the walk in closet in my bedroom, you hafta go through the bathroom. Okay, that should be enough explanation, on with the story...
So I went in to my closet, closed the bathroom door behind me, and curled up on the floor in tears. I chose this spot because if I simply close my bedroom door the kids will just barge in and interrupt my tear festival. The bathroom however fools them and they'll never barge in once the door is closed.
After about a minute Kyndi knocks on the door. I choose to ignore her and continue my festivities. She leaves. Roughly 5 minutes later she returns and knocks again, this time making the following statement: "Mom, you've been in there forever. Are you having a hard time pooping or something?" That statement brought an immediate end to my festivities as I was now busting a gut with total laughter.

Moe

Morrissa turned 11 last friday (the 10th). Wow. Thats old, just ask her dad. Poor girl had to spend her birthday at Tyson's baseball tournaments in the freezing cold rain. (I don't think she was very fond of this)

*Morrissa loves all things Hannah Montana and Highschool Musical (She thinks Zach is cute)

*She loves dancing. She makes up dances to just about everything. And she's good at it. She's pretty good at cheerleading too.

*She takes good care of the 3 youngest. Sometimes I think Oaklee thinks Morrissa is the mom.

*She loves pink and purple

*I think she spends more time at her friend Jessi's house than ours.

*She likes to play 'house' and 'teacher' with Kyndi

*She is the cutest 'blonde' around.

I'm limited on the pictures I have of her... but lets see what I can find...

2006

2007

Halloween 20071962

2008

Happy Birthday Morrissa!! We love you!!

Goal!!

Tate has wanted to play Soccer for quite some time. I finally signed him up and lastTuesday was his first game. I remember when I was little and my little brother played soccer, he cried his first time on the field. Of course he was 4, but still, that is what I remember of first soccer games. I played soccer when I was little and my memories of that were playing goalie, just wating for the dang ball to come my way so I could actually be part of the game. Our team was the Purple People Eaters (we were purple).

I was excited that he had his first game, but I somewhat dreaded watching a bunch of little kids circling the ball, kicking eachother's shins, unable to figure out why the ball won't go anywhere... This game was totally different! I loved every minute of it!

As we arrived at the ball field, tate kept telling me things like "mom, its not whther you win or lose, it's how you play the game" I said, "but you wanna win!" "It's okay if we don't mom, as long as we're having fun!" Where did this kid get this stuff??

Tate started as a full-back (this position stands a little ways in front of the goal and helps to protect the goal) Except for the occasional trip to the other side of the field, Tate did an awesome job protecting the goal. Anytime the ball was anywhere near him, he was after it and kicked it away.

Next, he played goalie. Oh no, here we go with total boredom...Nope! Tate was so good at goalie. He stopped every ball that came to the goal (like 6 or 7) and when his team-mates were at the other end of the field you'd hear Tate shouting things like "Come on guys, we can do this!" and "Kick that ball!" So stinkin cute! After half time he wanted to stay goalie but they put him in as a forward. Here is where he struggled just a bit. He'd be kicking the ball down field ready to score and then see one of his teamates close by and he'd back off so they could take the ball. He got an assist on one goal!

His team won, and we heard about it for hours afterward. For a kid who struggles to focus on things, this game kept his focus very well!!

Kamron and I did find it comical that the 2 fullbacks on the other team were climbing the goal posts that whole time, and the goalie was lying on the ground singing to himself...

Dang it - my internet connection is having serious difficulty in loading the pictures onto here. I will add them to this post as soon as it will allow me. (Thank you for your patience in this matter)

Tater-Bacon

Today my Tate turns 7. Wow, where has the time gone?? 7 years already, really? Wow.

Let's see what I can tell you about Tate that you may not already know.

*On Sunday we had a birthday party with family and he told my brother that he has like 30 girlfriends (yes, I am a wee bit concerned)...

*So far he has lost two teeth (the two bottom ones) and swear 3 others are loose, but I can't seem to locate the loose ones.

*He has a crazy obsession with all things Pokemon. He knows all their types, their families, what

they morph into, what weapons they use. He has every detail memorized, and there are like

500 of them!!

*He is the most compasionate kid I have. If anyone gets hurt he feel so bad for them. Especially

if it's his fault. He makes sure they are okay. He loves to be the 'big brother' to the younger

kids.

*He has a hard time losing at anything. This is tricky because he has a 12 year old brother, so

Tate loses rather often, and when he does, the whole house hears him freaking out over it.

(Right now, not so funny, but perhaos it'll be something we can laugh at when he's older)

*You should see his salesman abilities!! Tyson has fundraisers for baseball, and he takes Tate

with him, cuz Tate's talking always convinces them!

*He does crazy impressions of tv characters and it cracks me up.

*He is by far the silliest kid at this house. He loves to just be silly and obnoxious at times.

Anything to get a laugh.

*He flat out refuses to wear a pink tie for my sister's wedding (but we're getting him talked into

this one)

*He's got mad reading skills. He's on a level M in his class, but he can read even higher than that,

they just don't want to advance him too far ahead of everyone else (Average in his class is H

& I)

*Along with these made reading skills of his, he LOVES to read. He has about a bazillion books

and reading is one thing that can really hold his attention.

*Another thing that holds Tate's attention: Nintendo DS. Wow, when this kid is playing, a train

could run him over and he wouldn't even notice. Same thing if he's watching TV.

*When Tate grows up he wants to play for the Utah Jazz.

*Tate LOVES soccer (had his first game yesterday...more on that later)

Tate's so stinkin cute!! Here are some pictures of him through the ages:

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

Happy Birthday Tate! We love you!