Welcome, Sandy!

Sandy checks out her new cage.

This is as close as Sophie will get to Sandy before screaming and pulling away. Let's hope she stays a little afraid for Sandy's sake.

So I ran out of reasons to take rocks out of the gerbil jar, and the boys finally earned their pet. Meet our new gerbil, "Sandy". She has been constant entertainment since her arrival. We chose a gerbil because they apparently bite and pee less than hamsters and are less nocturnal, thus more entertaining during the day. We have resisted getting a pet of any kind since Frannie, our Cocker Spaniel died three years ago. I just have had enough dependents to care for, but I have to say that I underestimated the value of a pet for the kids. Dylan said tonight, "Finally..we have a pet." -as if he had endured terrible abuse until now. He, of all the kids, has a soft spot for animals. We got a white female gerbil and Cheryl has a black male gerbil. It is tempting to mate them just to see what the babies look like. We probably won't do that since I learned from my childhood gerbils how you can go from two to twenty in the blink of an eye. One other observation: those exercise wheels are much quieter than they were when I was a kid.

Congrats Grads!

We have two "graduates" today: DB from Mrs. Camille's preschool and Jake from Kindergarten. Way to go, boys! We are so proud of you! (The cap and gown are a little over the top for completing nine months of Kindergarten, but those geniuses at the photo company know full well that the parents are not not going to buy that photo.)

We were fortunate to have outstanding teachers for both Jake and Dylan this school year. We are sad to say goodbye to them. If all goes as planned, DB will get Jake's teacher this year, Mrs. Dyer for his Kindergarten year. We are rolling the dice for Jake next year. Hopefully it will be a kind soul of a teacher who will appreciate Jake's "ring leader" personality. Bless their hearts for choosing teaching as a profession. I wouldn't last one day in a classroom of 25 five year olds!

Good Fun, But Where's the Good Food?

We had our end of little league season party at Peter Piper Pizza last night. I am just wondering if anyone can tell me why it is seemingly so impossible to combine decent pizza with a fun kid's place. Despite their slogan of "good food, good fun", Peter Piper Pizza has barely edible food. You would think that with all the money they make off those games, they could splurge for a good food product. After all we spent about 40 bucks on tokens, which yielded a whoopy cushion, a fuzzy ball, and some fake dracula teeth at the redemption counter.

We ended the night by rushing Dylan to Urgent Care. He woke up at 11pm coughing and struggling to breath. I don't recall ever being quite so scared for one of my kids. He had a severe case of croup that was compressing his airway. He responded well to the steroids they gave him. He woke up a bit tired this morning, but is feeling fine otherwise. We are grateful for his quick recovery. Thank you, Cheryl for staying with Jake and Sophie. I owe you a nap and an apology for the temporary panic I caused by the late night phone call.

Jake's explanation of why he does not drink the milk they have at his school: "It's so disgusting, Mom. Did you know that their milk comes from COWS!?"

Congratulations to Kristen and Rob on the birth of another beautiful baby boy! Welcome, Clark Robert Gartner!

Sophie Speaks

I kept Sophie with me in Relief Society Sunday because she had a bit of a fever and I didn't want to the infect the whole nursery with her mystery illness. It turns out there is a reason they send the kids away at 18 months- they can talk. Sophie in her loudest voice, while I was sitting in front of course, grabbed my keys and said,"C'mon Mom. Let's go!!" Ignoring Sophie means she repeats and repeats in a progrssively louder voice to make sure I am getting it. After about the tenth request, she got her wish.

D-Backs Win!

We were offered four lower level Diamondbacks baseball tickets for Friday night. They were free, which as luck would have it, are our favorite kind of tickets. Since the Suns are laying on a beach somewhere right now, we are glad to have another team to cheer for. We asked the boys if they would rather go to the baseball game or the fathers and sons outing. It was a unanimous vote, and we all enjoyed the game together. It was an exciting game against the Detroit Tigers that the D-Backs came from behind to win 4-3. Chase Field has a mini baseball field and a huge playground area for kids. This entertained the boys for at least three innings. They also spent about two straight innings watching the cotton candy man move closer and closer to our section. The problem was that he was very popular. By the time he made to our section, he had one bag of cotton candy left. It was a close one but we got it and it was enough for all of us to get sugared up pretty good. The boys lasted longer than I thought they would, and actually made it to the end and even watched the fireworks show after the game. It was nice to have a chance to see a fireworks display when it was not 115 degrees, like it usually is on the 4th. The boys came off their cotton candy high about two seconds after getting in the car and Wes and I had a rare chance at a conversation on the way home. It is nice that the boys are getting old enough to be able attempt outings like this. Note: Sophie was not and will not be invited to any event that requires prolonged sitting in the near future.

Sponge Bob Trauma

Quiz: How do you know that your four-year old watches too much Sponge Bob? Answer: When he doesn't want to go to his preschool party on the fake sand beach because he is afraid of getting stung by a jelly fish.

Jake played his last little league game last night. What will we do with all our spare time?

Gerbil jar update: In a fit of rage last night, I emptied the almost full jar of pebbles out after Dylan poured an entire 44 ounce cup of water from his bath onto the carpet when I didn't repond quickly enough to his request for a towel. In his defense, as the middle child he does sometimes have to work a bit harder to get my attention, a skill he has clearly mastered.

Wes and I celebrated nine years of marriage yesterday. I recall learning in one of my college marriage and family classes that the most common years for divorce are 1, 3, 7, 20 and 30, so I guess we are out of the woods until the kids are grown. Love ya, Wes!

RIP Stinky Camera

Well, Wood Badge weekend mercifully came to an end just in time for Mother's Day. Those folks at Boy Scouts do have a heart! Actually, I told Wes that he should leave town more often due to the sympathy I get from my fabulous family. Both Karla and Paul and Ruth took shifts watching the kids while I did my part to get this economy moving again. Thanks Dad and Moms!

I got the best Mother's Day present of all this year. After being informed a few weeks ago that Jake was..and this is a direct quote, "the ringleader of the wildest class in primary", he was unofficially awarded the most reverent designation on Sunday. Before I had kids, I was quick to blame the parents of kids with that description. I am much less judgemental these days. Motherhood has humbled me. I actually wouldn't change Jake's leadership qualities and his spirited nature. It will come in handy later in life- not so much during three hours of church though.

There have been no recent photo posts because Sophie's milk "baba" leaked right into my camera last week. Even if it makes a miraculous recovery, somehow I don't think it will ever smell the same. We did manage to get a professional family photo for Mother's Day. We were optimistic at first of getting that perfect pose with adorable smiles. Our expectations were quickly lowered, and our new goal became to just take it as soon as no one was crying.

Sophie's potty training update: She has decided it is much easier to just stand and pee at the potty like she sees the boys do. She bows her back and just goes. I find puddles by the toilet, not so much in it. I am not sure if this is considered progress or not.

Gerbil Jars, Bad Movies, & "Wood Badge"

I have resorted to bribery to encourage good behavior by my boys. We now have a former pickle jar that has been renamed, "The Gerbil Jar". When the jar has been filled with pebbles (which are earned for good behavior and taken away for bad) the boys can go pick out their new gerbil. (Thank you, Cheryl for putting the pet idea in their heads!) So far, I have to say that it has gone a long way in improving behavior, but I sure pity the poor rodent who becomes our pet.

I went to go see "Made of Honor" this weekend. I did not drag Wes to this excuse for a movie, instead seeing it for a girl's night out. I am perplexed at how Hollywood can continue to make movies with the exact same predictable plots and we suckers continue to plunk down $9.50 to see them. Shame on them but mostly shame on us. Even McDreamy couldn't save this one.

Just by way of public information, if anyone thought that once you were 18 you could wash your hands of scouting forever, you would be sorely mistaken. There is the program for adult scout leaders called Wood Badge and it is a 18 month program that gets kicked off with two three day retreats in the woods. Yes, that's six days total, including four work days. Now the time away is just the beginning you see. That just introduces the program wherein you will select goals in five areas, and track your progress for a year and a half. Now by all accounts this is a fantastic, well-run and invaluable training program ...for someone who doesn't have a new business, a young family, a little league team to coach, and young men's program to run. I fully admit that I need an attitude adjustment on this scouting issue preferably before my boys are old enough to sense it, but c'mon people. I'm not bitter!

I'm rich!

I have had a tough time keeping Sophie from taking off her diaper lately, so I put out the little potty just to get her used to it. Tonight before the bath she took off her diaper, sat down, and did her business. I was already counting all the money I will save on diapers and wipes, until I remembered that DB did this same thing when he was one. Unfortunately, it was a fluke and it was a good year until he was truly potty trained. They (whoever that is) say girls are easier to train than boys, so I won't give up hope just yet. I am not however, excited about finding public toilet seats for her to sit on. Advantage: boys. Plus my kids have the world's smallest bladders.

You didn't!?!

So we live in a fantastic neighborhood. We have the privilige of living by great people, with very few exceptions. We had an ice cream social block party Saturday, just because we like each other. Because this is such a great place to live, we have recently discussed how it would be fun to have Grandma Karla buy the house two doors down from us. So I looked up the lock box code and took her over to tour it. Jake had just gotten home from school, so he walked over with us. I was completely oblivious to the fact that the lock box is at Jake'e eye level and he apparently took careful note of the combination. The next day he thought it would be fun to show off to his neighborhood friends at the block party how he can go in that house if he wants. I was visiting with neighbors and did not notice the crowd of kids wandering over to the neighbor's door. So he proceeds to tell them all of the three digit code that opens up to the get key to the house. To make matters worse, the house is occupied by a person and several animals. So I got to make the fun trip over to the guy's house (who made a special point to inform me that he was in law enforcement and heavily armed if anyone tries to break into his house). I explained the situation and left the even more fun message to the realtor that he has to come change the lock box unless he wants all the neighbor kids breaking into the house now. Somehow I think my chance of doing a deal on this house has diminished now, which is hard to do in this buyer's market. I guess if there a "glass is half full" aspect to this situation - I should count my blessings that they didn't manage to release all the pets from the house. I need to end this post now in order to go study up on my parenting books. AHHHHHHH!

Classic DB Quote

In response to tickling his feet: "Mom, you really shouldn't do that, because I will laugh and then get crazy and then I will pee like a little puppy."