My Knott's Berry Farmer's Tan

When we went to Knott's Berry Farm, I sunblocked my face. I intended to sunblock my arms and legs in an hour or two so they could get a little color. I forgot.




OOPS!

The next day I tried to rectify the situation on the beach. I put SPF 50 on my sunburned arms and deliberately burned my shoulders, chest, and upper arms. Unfortunately, I wasn't very precise with the sunblock...



Yes, the Farmer's burn was nice, but not nearly as sexy as this stripe. Sweet!

Other than that, we had a great time. We left The Queen with Joy and my mom back at their beach house, where she decided to stage a 12 hour hunger strike. That's right she wouldn't drink one ounce of breast milk from a bottle. Stubborn kid.



But it was lovely not to have to deal with an infant.

Last year we did it without the husbands, and it was a nice change to have Wendell and Greg around to help out.

We got to split into different groups at different times, and everyone got to do the things they wanted. My favorite was hanging out with the older girls; Miss Rachael, Kinsey, and Kylee. Kinsey and Kylee are nice to me, and it started to rub off a little on Rach;) They made me feel a little like a teenager again. And they are dang cute girls.




Silly kids.

It is so fun to hang with cousins.



The kids were all a little more daring this year, thanks to a little cousin peer pressure, and had a lot of fun.


Brenley and Mitchell on a little plane.

Bren was happy the entire time. I was sorry that I had rented a stroller, because she didn't spend five minutes in it the whole day. She couldn't get enough.

(Brenley with Addie,Dax , and some random kid on a fun up and down ride.)

On the way out to the car Brenley was actually skipping. I have it on video, but I can't figure out how to post it. It was hilarious. I was contemplating the loss of my two pinky toe nails, my feet hurt so badly, and Brenley was skipping. That kid can be the Energizer Bunny when she is having fun.

More highlights of the beachhouse trip to come!

My Mother's Day Bling!

This is what I got from my kids for Mother's Day. Aren't they thoughtful? O.K, I picked them out and bought them. But they put them in baggies and brought them to me on the Happy Mother's Day morning.

I should have taken a Picture of the backs. On the back of my "M" is a word search with my kids' names highlighted. On the back of the "S" is a crown with crystals. This is nice, because it means Rachael can wear it too. Wait...is that really nice?...;)

The Diet Pepsi is self explanatory.

They are clips and can go on any necklace. I can wear the Diet Pepsi on a plain silver chain with red, or I can put the "M" on a different colored necklace. You get the picture. Versatility is key.

Did I get my clean house and my nice kids. Ummm...no.'Nuff said.




But my thoughtful husband gave me a gift certificate for Massage Envy. Smart guy. I am using it as a reward. For 5 consecutive days at the gym in one week, or three days at the gym a week for two consecutive weeks. If I work my booty hard enough, I will really need that massage. And it is motivation to work off that baby weight. Before I can no longer call it baby weight. Perfect.

Thanks Mom, I Can Feel the Love.

I hear this pretty often at my house from my first three kids. I am pretty sure # 1 coined the phrase, but # 3 uses it most often . He even gets more dramatic at times and says:

"Thanks Mom, I can feel ALL the love."

This usually comes after a pretty innocent comment from me such as,

"When was the last time you washed your hair?"

or

"Maybe you should get into the habit of changing your socks before AND after school"

or

"Go brush your teeth"

Number 1 might use it after something like:

Me:"Get off the computer"
Rach: "Why"
Me: "Because I'm pretty sure you haven't done your homework yet"

"Thanks Mom, I can feel the love."

This phrase usually catches me off guard and always makes me laugh. Usually because I just don't realize I am being rude! How sad is that? Leave it to the kids to put me in my place...

Kindyl's Talent Show

(Tangee and Kindyl)
Kindyl was in her school's talent show with her best friend Tangee and the other Kindal. The girls picked their own music, and outfits, and movements. I think they did a pretty good job.

Here is a little video of the girls. It was taken by Tangee's teenage brother so it isn't perfect. It won't give you a headache if you only watch it once though;)

(He may not be the best videographer, but he is a great big brother and sweet to my kids. So we love him anyway;)

We did videotape it ourselves, and someday I will learn how to post videos of my own. Someday....



(My Kindyl is on the left. Then the other Kindal, her nemesis. Then BFF Tangee)

A Hamster on a Cloud...And Other Random Thoughts

Brenley loves to sing, as many three year olds do. And, also like other three year olds, has absolutely no desire to sing the correct words. So I will explain the above title: Kindyl is singing "Castle on a Cloud" with two other girls in her choir concert. We have been treated to a little Les Miserables around here lately. My favorite. But miss Brenley has been enamoured of a little hamster belonging to Kindyl's BFF Tangee named Bubby. Thus, around our house, "There is a Hamster on a Cloud" Are you singing it to yourself yet? Now make sure you are singing like a three year old who happens to attend speech preschool. That's right, leave off the "r"sound, and make a "W" sound instead of a "L" sound. It ends up more like a "Hamstu on a cwoud". Welcome to my world.




Are you ready for another Brenley quirk? Bren has a horribly sensitive involuntary gag reflex. She is really my only hurler around here. And recently she has an issue with a few baby things.

As I was feeding Abigail some unassuming green bean baby food I was talking to her to keep her attention up and toward the food. I think I was saying something like, "Abigail, look! I have some yummy green beans for you!" I hear Brenley coming up behind me, trying to be helpfull. She says, "Look Abigail! Eat your yummy ...blech...(and more dry heaving to follow) Poor Brenley! The sight of that green gushy stuff was too much for her. Sometimes I have her bring me a tissue for the baby. But if she actually sees the green stuff come out of her nose, she looses it. Silly girl.

Also heard recently from Brenley? "Mom! It's Happy Mother's day!" Yes she was my only child who actually gave a darn about good old Mother's Day.(More ranting on that later). The Happy Mother's Day actually lasted all week. And she was very excited about it. My three year old loves me.



Mother's Day thoughts continued later in the week. I heard Brenley singing in the shower. She does this often . Then I listened to the words. Of course, she made up her own again, as every three year old has the right to do.(or Rebecca;). She was singing:" Rain rain go away come again on Mother's Day."

The kid cracks me up. She just does.

Josh's Journey

I went to Jr. High and High School with Josh, and I just found out what a hard time he is having.

Josh was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis when he was 6 months old, and now needs a double lung transplant. They need help with living expenses and bills.

He has two sweet little twin girls, and a beautiful wife who need him to be healthy.

Something I strongly believe in is the power of prayer, and they need yours now. To read his story and see what you can do, visit:

www.joshandjenwills.com

(you'll have to copy and paste. For some reason it is not letting me link)

She Really Meant It.

Do you know what I want for Mother's Day? What I really really want for Mother's Day?

A clean house. And for my kids to be nice to each other. Really truly and honestly that would be the best gift.

Whoa----Deja vu! Where have I heard that before? Oh ya. About 20 years ago. From my own mother.

Of course I didn't believe her. It was unfathomable to think she didn't want us to buy her anything. She was just being self sacrificing. As the mother of 11, she was definitely used to self sacrifice.

Now I know she meant it. And I wish I would have given it to her.

What do you really truly want for Mother's Day?

Fangs!

(nope, not talking about Edward. Sorry Twilight fans!)

Some of you may have wondered what I have decided about the nursing situation after reading this post


I am still nursing. Exclusively. Meaning no formula from a bottle. And she even refuses breast milk from a bottle.

We have recently learned that this stubborn eating habit is not limited to milk or milk related food. She also won't let other people feed her baby food or baby cereal. Lovely.

Does this mean I never go out without her? No. It means that I still go out pretty much whenever I want and she stages a hunger strike. She is very good at it. Last night it was a 6 hour hunger strike. The longest we have gone is seven hours.(sorry about that, Jannalee)

She is a stubborn tiny baby. What makes things worse is that she won't even nurse unless conditions are right. No noise! No talking! And she prefers the light a little muted. Is that too much to ask?

As a matter of fact, yes!

She is a tiny little munchkin any way and has decided that it is more important for her to get her own way than it is to eat.



That's fine. Have it your way, little queenie.


But now.She has. Fangs. I'm afraid I draw the line at little tiny vampire babies.




She got her two little bottom teeth last month. Which is usually fine. I have nursed all of my babies with teeth. They bite me, I flick them, they cry and learn not to do it again. The system worked well for me with the first three. Not Brenley. Her bottom teeth were O.K but when she got her top teeth she would draw blood and laugh. And that was the end of nursing miss Brenley at about 9 months old. She wasn't happy about it at first, but she eventually gave in and started drinking formula.

I am afraid Abigail is just too stubborn! Up until now, I wanted her to take a bottle, but I still wanted to nurse. Now I am over it! She jumps around and tries to do her acrobatics while she is nursing. I am covered in breast milk daily. It's disgusting. And now she is really hurting me. On purpose, i think, little stinker;)

She is 7 months old today and I am O.K with 7 months of nursing.



She is so stubborn I don't know how I will wean her! I am afraid I will have to leave her for a few days so she gives up waiting for me to come home and nurse her. But the only person I know that is willing to take my cranky starving baby for two or three days is Joy, who is in California for the next few weeks.

So what do I do? Wean her with me around, and just let her cry all the time wondering why I am right here and refuse to feed her? Give her to my husband and hide? That won't work because he has to go out and make a living. Someone has to keep us all in diapers and jewelry, after all.

We are going to the beach house on Wednesday. It would be so nice to have this taken care of by then...

Can I order a fully weaned baby for Mother's Day, please?