Ayres Insanity

  Happy New Year! It is officially 2012, in fact it's just after midnight and I'm sitting in bed listening to the fireworks outside grateful that I'm not out there freezing!   I can't believe another year has gone by, I'm excited for the next.   Christmas was great, my mom has been in town so it made it a little easier to deal with Russ working Christmas eve and Christmas day. We took about 30 min to do the Santa thing while he was home and waited until the 29th to really celebrate. It was actually kind of nice, it allowed the holiday to linger for a few more days.   Anyway, Taevin got a pogo stick and a snowboard (daddy's excited to show him the ropes), Ryler got a penguin race game and a little trampoline so he can bounce to his hearts content, and Zoey got a little four wheeler and a shopping cart. Russ got tools, and I got shoes (Santa knows me well!) and thanks to Grandpa and Uncle Dan, we all got a Wii, and since I'm a master at the original Mario

    What a weird year this has been, it's so hard to believe that so many storms can take place within one little family. So many trials, equally as many blessings, but as the year is coming to a close I can't help but hope for some calmer weather for the upcoming year.   Russ is still working 2 full time jobs but luckily that will be changing come January, this has been to say the least, challenging, but as I'll point out more than once throughout this post, with every trial comes a blessing. So with lots of work, comes lots of money. Is the money worth living without my husband? Definitely not, but I will admit, the financial flexibility has been nice.   Now speaking of money, we're lucky to have a little extra right now given that we've had a few expenses come up this month. The first being the expense of a court ordered name change. When we decided to change Zoey's name, we assumed the cost would be the same $20.00 we paid when we changed the spelling... n

  Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, for many reasons. I love the opportunity we have to reflect on our blessings and the things that we're thankful for. I love that it's a low pressure holiday, no stress about finances or the obligation to purchase crap we don't need. I love the family time, and last but definitely not least, I LOVE the feast.   On rare occasion I've met people who don't like thanksgiving food and I don't get it, it's shameful really. I mean what kind of person doesn't love turkey, stuffing and fresh baked rolls? To "those people" I say, come to my house, I'll convert you.   What's almost as fun as eating the meal is cooking it, I love spending the day cooking the amazing meal that I know everyone will enjoy. I especially enjoy the pies, so for the last few years, that has been my assignment.   This year I'll be making six pies, Pecan, Banana Cream, Coconut Cream, Cranberry, Lemon Meringue, and of cour

  I probably shouldn't admit to this random act of stupidity that I'm about to confess, but it's funny so here goes.   Yesterday a friend of mine had posted on Facebook that she'd been rear ended and gotten whiplash, so tonight I decided to take her some of the soup I had made for dinner. As I pulled up in front of her house I noticed that the bumper of her car was dented and scratched. I knocked on the door prepared to ask "what happened to your car?" and then it hit me... DUH!   Is there a treatment for chronic airhead syndrome?

  My mom always said that four was her favorite age, and in my experience with Taevin, I concur. I think most parents would agree that 2 and 3 year olds are tough, but 4 year olds are absolutely delightful and a welcome change from the world of daily tantrums .   Two days ago Ryler turned four and I'm so excited! I'm sure he will always be my little firecracker but I have noticed a few improvements. He is becoming slightly more compliant (ever so slightly) and a bit easier to communicate with, and I'm thrilled and looking forward to all of the cuteness that this age brings!   Yesterday we had a fun party for him, we went to the Living Planet Aquarium and saw lots of fun sea creatures and even penguins! After our fun with the fishes, we came back home and had pizza, cupcakes and presents, it was a great day!   We're so grateful for our little Ryler, he makes life interesting and I can't (and wouldn't want to) imagine life without him. 

  Yesterday I sent Russ off to work at about 1:00pm, he came home at 7:30 this morning, showered and was in bed by 8:00am. I took the kids to church and came home at noon, woke up Russ and sent him off to work at 1:00pm again. He'll do this again tomorrow and the next day.    While Russ was getting ready I overheard Taevin asking him why he doesn't come to church, he said "because I have to work", Taevin said "but all the other dad's are there". Just then, the knife in my heart started to twist. Russ just said "I know buddy, I wish I could be there", I could tell it was killing him too. Just as he was about to leave he kissed me and said "I hope you know that this isn't easy for me either", I managed to fight back the tears until he walked out the door.   Where the hell is an easy button when you need one?

    I HATE snoring! I cannot express the magnitude of my hatred toward that repulsive, horrific sound. I'll never understand how any person can do that all night long and not wake themselves up, or wake up with a completely raw throat.  In fact, I can see how it might even cause a divorce, so hats off to any spouse who can tolerate it without being resentful.   I like sleep... A LOT! In my opinion, there are few things better than 9 or 10 hours of uninterrupted sleep in a warm, plush, cozy bed. Mind you, I can't remember the last time I actually experienced this, but I fantasize about it often. Anyway, when I am sleep deprived something bad happens, I turn into an uncontrollable raging monster (no really, ask my husband).   I expect my sleep to be interrupted by my children, and as most mothers, have learned to deal with it, but when I am woken up to the sound of my husband snoring, there is a rage inside me (which is probably just a mild irritation for most people) that make

  Last week might have been the best week of my life. Russ took the week off of Skywest and only worked one job so we could spend some quality time as a family before the craziness with Delta started. We also started an experiment, we committed to not eating out for 30 days to see how much money it would save. I cooked dinner every night and we ate together as a family and it was amazing! I know these things aren't a big deal for most people but for our family, it is a privilege and the result of this togetherness was incredible! I was a great mom all week, more patient & loving and I even made dessert every night. On top of that, the house was cleaner, the kids behaved better and the overall stress level was down.    On Saturday we took a 4 mile hike up Alpine canyon, Russ carried Zoey, Taevin forged ahead, and I had the opportunity to spend most of the hike with Ryler, he is almost four but despite his young age he is so full of inspiration. As we fought through the tediou

  Have you ever made a mistake? One that maybe didn't seem like a mistake at the moment, but as time went on, you realized that the choice was the wrong one? Well, what can I do but swallow my pride and admit that I made a mistake when I named my daughter. There, I said it, I gave my only little girl the wrong name.   Callae was one of those names that I randomly just threw out there, and Russ happened to love it... and so did I until we started using it on a daily basis. She was only a few months old when I realized how difficult this name was, it just didn't roll off the tongue easily, in fact I even found myself having to practice it in my head before it came out. I mentioned it to Russ a few times but he just blew it off and I tried to deal with it. Finally when she was 8 months old I couldn't take it anymore. After much discussion my idea to change the name completely was shot down (due to the fact that Russ didn't want to take the ridicule), Russ did however agre

  These last few months have been so crazy busy and I'm afraid it's only going to get worse, so here's the latest events in our lives.   Ryler has now started preschool and is loving every minute! His teacher (Mrs. Leanne) is nothing short of AMAZING and he is learning so much. The social interaction has been so good for him and this has given him an outlet and change of scenery that has affected his behavior in so many wonderful ways. We're so happy to see him progressing and enjoying something so much!   Onto the next big thing... Russ has worked for Skywest airlines for 8 years now, at first it was his only job then about 6 years ago our prayers were answered and he got a "real job" with Union Pacific Railroad. He has kept Skywest as a part time job for the flight benefits and the extra income. A couple of months ago Skywest laid off over 100 people, Russ was safe but he felt at that point that the company wasn't as stable as he'd like so he appli

  It just occurred to me that I never wrote about Callae's first birthday, I mean really, what kind of mother forgets to blog about her only daughters first birthday? A frazzled one, that's who! Anyway, she turned one on August 10th and we did have a little party. It was a BBQ with family, girly balloons and a pink cake covered with pearls and topped with a sparkling singing candle (which might I add, was a big hit), and as most first birthdays, we enjoyed it more than she did.   I bought her her first baby doll, and she of course, got plenty of clothes and was spoiled by the grandparents.   She is now 13 months and started walking about 2 weeks ago, the time has flown and I can't believe my baby is becoming a toddler! I sure do love that beautiful little girl and can't picture my life without her.

  So for those who know what has been going on lately, it's no secret that we've been sporting one car lately.   About one very long month ago, Russ called in the morning and woke me up with the news of a broken down car (nice way to start the day eh?) so I packed up the kids and towed him to the repair shop. After fixing a broken radiator, the  piece of crap rice rocket 1998 Honda Civic hatchback revealed a hopelessly non repairable engine. Ummm seriously? I could swear that it was just barely over a year ago when the EXACT same thing happened to our Pathfinder. Who has this kind of luck???   Well, our mechanic quoted $2500.00 for the repair, (yeah right, we're still paying off last years $5000.00!) so after much prayer and contemplation, we decided that it simply wasn't going to happen. Russ decided to find a used motor on his own and with the help of his awesome brother, they would do the repair themselves. They spent several hours Friday night and literally all d

  I have been abundantly blessed in my life, but tonight I'm a little bit sad. I'm sad for a friend who is experiencing trials, for the trials that have been going on in my life recently, and for the challenges we face daily, simply because of the world we live in.   Something that I've realized about trials is that we all have them, and there is always someone out there that probably has it worse. Having said that, I believe that just because an others trial might be worse, we should not count ours as trivial or insignificant.  Our trials are ours, ours to dread, to fight through, and to learn from... and although perspective is important in order to cope, it is of equal importance that we take the time to cry for ourselves, wonder why, and plead for  divine help. And then we move on, hopefully better than when we started.   So with one of my favorite quotes in mind; "I never said it would be easy, I only said it would be worth it".  I'm planning on tomo

  Yesterday was the first day of school and I think I was more excited than Taevin. I had organized all of his school supplies perfectly in his backpack, laid out his clothes, and made sure he was bathed and in bed early so he'd be well rested for his first day.   We woke up on time, got ready, had breakfast and were at the bus stop promptly at 7:20 for the 7:23 pickup. Then we waited... and waited... and waited, until finally one of our neighbors decided to take the kids to school. Well, as it turns out, the pickup time had changed to 7:04, but despite our bus mishap Taevin seemed to have had a good day, he got off of the bus smiling and was ready for some play time.   We finished summer with Ryler's itty bitty soccer (which was super cute) so I guess the next step is preschool for him then onto my mile long to-do list. YAY!

  A couple of days ago we were driving somewhere and the boys were in the back seat of the car arguing about something (not an uncommon thing with them), so I asked them what the problem was, Taevin said that Ryler was calling the flowers on the side of the road "sunshine flowers" and that he was wrong because they were really called sunflowers. I explained to Taevin that he was correct, however Ryler could call them whatever he wanted.   Yesterday, we stopped on the side of the road and picked a few sunshine flowers to take home.   School is starting tomorrow and although I won't miss the constant bickering, I'll miss the time in the sun my kids and I have spent together, and to preserve the memory, perhaps tomorrow I'll go out and get me a huge bouquet of sunshine flowers.

  Not too long ago I had posted about the unexplainable rage of our little Boston Terrier, Annie. She's friendly and sweet to everyone except other small dogs and this has been a huge source of stress for me for quite a while.   Well, it happened again, the kids left the door open and she bolted out and attacked another dog, this time it was one of her own kind, another Boston. Upon hearing the commotion, I ran outside, grabbed her and threw her about ten feet into the house. As she was sliding across the floor like a bowling ball, I was surveying the damage caused to the other dog, A little blood, but nothing serious. Still, I had reached my breaking point, that dog's luck had run out.   The next day, we found the owner of Annie's victim, who was sweet and explained that her dog was probably at fault too, however I still felt that Annie was too much of a liability for us at this point. She told us that her in-laws had spent their lives raising and breeding Boston T

  May I just say that Russ is superdad, and not only that, but the most amazing husband ever. Having said that, I suppose he deserved the fancy gift he received for fathers day.   On Saturday I told Russ that I needed to stop by the Verizon store to have my phone fixed, when we arrived Russ wanted to stay in the car with the kids while I went in so I went in and talked to them about my options for Russ new phone. I texted him to come in, which he grudgingly did with a sleeping Ryler in his arms and an irritated look on his face at my insistence that he join me, but his demeanor quickly changed as soon as I told him to go pick out his new phone. He was thrilled as we headed home with his new iPhone.   Sunday was pleasant and easy going, we had my dad over for dinner and enjoyed a quiet evening.   I've expressed many times my feelings toward my husband, but I'd now like to share my feelings about my own father. My dad is one of the kindest and most generous people I know. Grow

  Today I'm going to write about something that I've come to feel quite strongly about. I am aware that not everyone will agree with me on this but this is my blog so I'll write what I want.   I'll start by saying that it has taken a while to get my little ones to sleep through the night. It seems that just as they get old enough to sleep without a feeding at night, they start to teeth and it throws everything off, and every time I've mentioned our sleep issues, there is always someone who is quick to say "just let them cry it out".   I'm sure the so called "professional" that came up with the idea of letting a baby cry it out was not a mother, but probably a man with little understanding of babies. I tried this method with both of my boys and found it not only cruel and neglectful, but ineffective and complete torture for me. There is no amount of schooling that can take the place of a mothers instinct, it is a gift given to mothers by Go

  School has been out for a few weeks and the time is flying. Because we spend our days outside, blogging has taken a back seat, but an update is in order.   So just before school got out, Taevin lost a tooth, to the best of my knowledge it wasn't even loose. He just came to me one evening after a routine wrestling match with his brother, tooth in hand and the cutest little toothless smile I've ever seen. Not sure of the going rate these days for lost teeth, the tooth fairy settled on 2$, that seemed to work.   And speaking of teeth, Callae now has 5, but not the ones you'd expect. Three on the bottom and the two upper "i teeth", she looks like a squishy little vampire, so stinkin cute! The little darling is ten months now and into everything, she crawles, climbs stairs, babbles and is obsessed with playing in the dog food.   The boys are enjoying the summer and I think I might even be getting a bit of a tan (shocking, I know). Russ is working like crazy but we

  Today is the first official day of summer vacation and the kids are thrilled!   Kindergarten was a fantastic success for Taevin, he had wonderful teachers and learned so much.   This morning we woke up and had pancakes for breakfast, the kids immediately wanted to play outside, but I had to set some rules in order to make summer as productive as possible. I told the boys that before we could head out to play we first needed to read two books, and second, make sure the house was for the most part, in order. I couldn't believe how fast Taevin worked to get things done! Why didn't I think of this sooner?   I'm excited for a lazy summer and some good quality time with my kids, let's just hope the weather cooperates.

  Here in our happy little community we have several great neighbors that we've become friends with, but one in particular are the Fairbanks. They live next door and our kids play, we have dinners together, hang out and so on.   The other day as I was getting home from the grocery store, the kids were all playing outside as usual and a few of them ran up to the car. Taevin quickly informed me that Taylor (the Fairbanks 5 year old daughter) was his "girlfriend", I looked at Taylor who nodded and grinned ever so innocently. I said "Really? So what do boyfriends and girlfriends do together?" He said "We kiss on the cheek". After a quick reminder that although cheeks are ok but kissing on the lips is not allowed, they assured me that they would not kiss on the lips until they were 17, I guess I can live with that.   Later Tasia told me that when they broke the news to her, she told Taevin to tell Justin, when he looked at him, Taevin got shy and ran aw

  I love quotes, I have them all over my house. I think that a good quote can inspire us, but as I sit here paying our miserable monthly bills, I am questioning the truthfulness of a certain quote.   That quote is "money doesn't buy happiness". I've always doubted this statement, in fact a few years ago Russ and I went to a finance seminar, the speaker, Dave Ramsey, said that whoever coined that phrase must not have ever had any money. It was meant to be funny, and it was, but in a way I agreed with him. There have been a few times in our lives when we've had a few extra dollars to spend (yay for tax returns!) and there is something exhilarating, an adrenaline rush, or natural high of sorts that comes from purchasing something you've been longing for (that is before the buyers remorse sets in).   Although on occasion I have caught myself designing my dream house in my head, or wondered what it might be like to wear designer jeans, I've never aspired t

  This year was indeed a happy mother's day! Russ helped me clean the house on Saturday so I wouldn't have to worry about it on Sunday. He had to work his usual graveyard shift on Saturday night so he went to bed Sunday morning after a hug and quick mother's day back rub.   When Russ woke up around two he was so excited to give me my present, it was a the food steamer I'd been coveting for a while, and after all you can never have too many small kitchen appliances. I love the look on his face when he knows he's nailed it! My mom got me a book called "confessions of a totally insane mother" Hmmm, I wonder what she was implying?    We finished the day with dinner with Russ' family and even had a few minutes alone before he left for work again. But I think my favorite part of the day was when I was putting Taevin to bed and I thanked him for the mother's day present, he replied "you're welcome, but I think there should be a moms and dads gi

  It's been almost a week but we Russ did a 5K last Saturday. I did go with him and had every intention to walk the whole thing, but it was cold, so myself and a few others whom I won't rat on, walked for awhile, then turned around and came back. I'm not a runner so it was never my intention to run it, but rather to support the wonderful friend that it was being ran for, so I can't say that I feel too guilty.    I am however, very proud of my husband who has been training for the last two months or so to run this race, I wish I had his ambition. Regardless, the experience was inspiring, so here's to hoping that next time I'll be able to keep up with Russ!

  My beautiful daughter is now 8 months old, and every time I've taken her to the doctors office, without fail the nurse comes out and calls for "Kaylee Ires" aaaaaaaah! Could anything be more annoying? As I'm sure I've mentioned before, KALEI is the traditional Hawaiian spelling of her name but since we don't live in Hawaii and white people won't take the time to figure it out, this has been extremely problematic. I could just picture every teacher she ever has doing exactly the same thing as the doctor's office. Now there's nothing I can do about the mispronunciation of our last name, but I'll not stand for it when it comes to her first name. About 2 weeks ago I was really feeling bothered about the situation so I went to Russ with my concern and expressed my desire to change the spelling of her name. At first he just assumed that I was having one of those premenstrual crazy moments and told me to get over it, but after a fair amount of per

  I enjoy most holidays, and Easter is no exception. On Saturday we went to the egg hunt at Thanksgiving Point, which by the way was total chaos, but for the most part, the kids enjoyed it.   On Sunday the "Easter Bunny" brought enormous eggs stuffed with toys rather than baskets, he had tied yarn to a couple of little Easter eggs and the boys had to follow the yarn all through the house to find their big eggs. Watching them try to figure it out was great! After that was over, we had our Easter morning "Jesus breakfast". I started this tradition a couple of years ago in an effort to teach my children that Easter isn't just about colorful eggs and giant rabbits. It usually consists of hard rolls or pita bread, with cheese, grapes and a few other miscellaneous items that Jesus might have eaten while he was on the earth. It's not the best tasting breakfast ever, but I guess that's not the point. Anyway, we talked about the Resurrection and then it w

  I love General Conference! We lovingly refer to it in our house as "pajama church". We stay in our pj's and eat cinnamon rolls while watching. This weekend however, I decided to paint the living room, so we had our cinnamon rolls, I turned on conference on the radio and got to work.   The painting took both days and it looks fabulous! The focal point of this post however, is not my painted living room, but my favorite conference talk. It came on as I was just finishing up my project on Sunday afternoon, I didn't recognize the speaker but his words caught my attention, so much that I stopped what I was doing and turned on the TV so that I could watch the remainder of the talk. The speaker was a member of the seventy, Elder Lynn G. Robbins and he spoke about parenting and what kind of parent to be. The quote that really grabbed me was when he was talking about challenging children being a blessing and a way to become more Godlike, and said "could it be possible

  Ryler is getting older now so I've started giving him a bit more freedom.     Yesterday afternoon I let him go outside to play with Taevin while I peeked out the window every few minutes to check on him. I had gone into the kitchen to start dinner when Taevin came running into the house yelling "MOM, RYLER TOOK HIS PANTS OFF!" I hurried outside to find that sure enough, Ryler had stripped off not just his pants, but his shirt, underwear, and shoes as well and was running around the playground laughing. Oh, and just a side note, it was only about 30 degrees yesterday. Shocked and appalled, I yelled at him to get inside as I grabbed his clothes and ran in after him hoping that nobody had seen this horrific act of lewdness. Needless to say, he was inside for the remainder of the day. You've got to be kidding me!

  Last night was Russ' night off so he got to sleep a normal night at home with me, since he works the graveyard shift we're always grateful for this, as it doesn't happen often. We put the kids to bed, watched a little TV and went to sleep... alone, but that's not how we woke up. We woke up surrounded.   A king size bed in theory, should be large enough for anyone, but I'm pretty sure there is not a bed out there large enough to comfortably accommodate two adults, three kids, a dog and a cat.   It's not my favorite way to wake up but I'll try to enjoy it because I'm sure that someday I'll miss it.

  Ever heard the saying "mean people suck"? Well, I concur.   Tonight we were out running errands, and while checking out at one store the boys were being a bit rowdy, not bad, just rowdy. So just as I was finishing up with the lady at the counter I turn around and see an old lady asking Taevin if he is an orphan, he says no and she says ever so sarcastically, "you mean you have parents, and they let you run around like this? THE NERVE! I stood there a little stunned and for a moment had an inner battle between the devil on my left shoulder urging me to give into my mother bear instinct and go off on the ornery old hag (which I've actually done before), and the angel on my right shoulder whispering "blow it off, don't stoop to her level". Well I'm happy to report, that against my natural red headed tendencies, I kept my mouth shut and didn't make a scene.   When I told Russ about the encounter he was less than pleased, but we agreed tha

  I turned 32 today and I'm not ashamed to admit it. I have accomplished a lot in the last 32 years and have the wrinkles to prove it, and dammit, I've earned those wrinkles!   Today was a great day, normal for the most part, but Russ took me to dinner tonight (thanks for the gift card mom). We went to a fantastic Italian place downtown called Biaggi's , which by the way, I would totally recommend, while my sweet sister in law Jenny watched our kids. Although reasonably priced, the ambiance was lovely, we sat by the fireplace and enjoyed an hour alone, just me, Russ and some great food. I had almost forgotten how nice it was just to be a couple.    Now don't get me wrong, I adore my children and not a day goes by that they don't make me smile, but raising children is hard and it's easy to get overwhelmed, so for a moment I was able to ignore the fact that I'm a scatter brained, frumpy mom, and just enjoy the company of my best friend. And when it was over

 A couple of weeks ago my sweet grandma was diagnosed with colon cancer. Because it hadn't spread, a surgery was performed to remove it by taking a piece of her colon. She is doing well and recovering nicely.   I went to the hospital today to pick her up and as they were preparing her discharge papers she brought it to my attention that 17 years ago today was the day my grandpa died. He had cancer too, and in my opinion, he died way too young. He was the love of her life.   I've never seen a couple so in love as they were, I remember as a child watching them stand in the kitchen together, both wearing aprons, canning peaches and he would put his arm around her and say "I want you kids to know that this is my sweetheart" as she looked at him with that adoring smile. How cute is that?   Russ and I are coming up on 8 years of marriage and I've always told him that when we "grow up" I want us to be like grandma and grandpa Whitney, they're the perfect

  Today is Valentines day and Russ and I have chosen not to celebrate. Not because we're opposed to tradition or hate romance, but for a few other reasons. 1- We can't justify spending $50 on a dozen roses when you can get them for $20 any other day of the year. 2-My birthday is at the end of this month so we wait until then to go out instead of having to fight everyone else for a babysitter and wait for two hours at a crowded restaurant on February 14th. And 3- We like show our love for each other every day of the year & I personally think that flowers and chocolates are more exciting when you're not expecting them.   Anyway, I will make some heart cookies for the kids and give them non expiring hug coupons like my mom did every Valentines Day, and I'm sure I'll make an extra effort to make my sweet Russ feel loved.    So to all you lovers out there, Happy Valentines Day!    PS. Here is a brief history of Valentines Day if you're interested.    http:

  The other day I was chatting with my mother-in-law, I told her that she should start a blog given that it was a fun and easy way to keep a journal. She told me that she didn't keep a journal because her mother's journal was "boring". Apparently all she wrote were things like "I mopped the floor today", or "I made bread today". So maybe the life of a mother is monotonous and mundane, but I'm making bread today and I'm going to write about it.   I started making bread a few years ago after attending an inspiring Relief Society activity. The recipe was quick and easy and very versatile, you could make anything from cinnamon rolls to pizza crust and I loved it, but when it came to a regular loaf of bread, although delicious fresh from the oven, it became crumbly after the first day. So then began my search for a great bread recipe. I tried several but there was always something that bothered me, some were to heavy, some too light, some too

  Recently a good friend of mine became a mommy for the first time, she had beautiful twin girls.   Last Sunday we attended the blessings of these babies, and as we pulled into the church parking lot I noticed that my friend Melissa and her husband had purchased a new car, an SUV to accommodate their growing family. When I complimented her new ride she said "now I'm a grown up", she also said that it wasn't the babies that made her feel like an adult, but the purchase of the family car.   This conversation reminded me of the day I realized that I had become an adult, and like her, it wasn't the day I had my first child or bought my first house. It was the day I bought a wonderful little kitchen machine called the Magic Bullet Blender ( http://www.buythebullet.com/ ). I'd been seeing the infomercial and coveting it for quite a while so I was ecstatic when I finally made the purchase. I was more excited about this than I would've been about a new outfit

  I love that classic Disney movie, maybe because I feel like Cinderella, but instead of having a wicked step mother and sisters, I have kids. Kids who spend their days bossing me around and making me clean up after them. I'm always amused by the "work song" from the movie, perhaps it's because it's so relatable. So in the words of the singing mice:                                    Cinderelly, Cinderelly                                 Night and day it's Cinderelly                               Make the fire, fix the breakfast                             Wash the dishes, do the moppin'                             And the sweepin' and the dustin'                               They always keep her hoppin'                                  She go around in circles                                   Till she very, very dizzy                                        Still they holler                                  Keep a-busy, Cinderelly

  I may have mentioned this before, but when I married Russ I said that we needed to have boys so the world could be graced with more good men like him. I am confident that Taevin will fulfill that need. He was a good baby, he is a good kid, I anticipate that he will be a good teenager, and eventually a great man.   My sweet Taevin turned six yesterday... SIX! Where has the time gone? Wasn't it just last week when we were going 30 mph on the freeway on our way home from the hospital with our new little bundle of joy? Yet I can't remember what life was like without him, funny how that works.   We had a great party with a magician ( http://www.utahmagic.com/ ) and tons of presents, food and friends, and seeing how happy he was made all of the planning and every penny we spent worth it.   All three of my children are so precious and wonderful in different ways, but Taevin is the one who has so patiently allowed himself to be the "guinea pig" as I learn how to be

  Christmas is over and it's back to life as usual. Part of me is happy to be back in our routine but the other part misses the excitement of the season.   Anyhow, Christmas was lovely, I made a turkey and a Christmas tree out of homemade chocolate balls and the best part of course, was watching the anticipation of our excited kids on Christmas morning.  It's funny how we don't usually remember the presents we got, but rather the feelings we had and the looks on our kids faces, and I suppose that's how it should be.   As for now, nothing new to report other than a nasty flu that has been working it's way through our family over the last few weeks. We're hoping that we'll all be alive and well for Taevin's birthday next weekend!