Christmas Lights

I told my husband to hang the Christmas lights...I guess when you have a smart ass for a husband this is what I get ;)

OUCH!

I know...it's been a year...I'll get better at this blog thing!

Megan is 2 now and is running around at the same pace as her brothers...FULL SPEED AHEAD! Last night she and Jaxon were chasing eachother. She ran full force into Dallen's room, tripped over his leg, and hit the metal frame of Dallen's bed with her head! OUCH!!

I carried her downstairs to get ice on it. Ethan was sitting at the kitchen table and saw the big knot growing on Megan's head. He immediately looked concerned and said, "Is Megan's brain going to explode?" I told him, "Of course not." and continued to tend to Megan. After a few minutes John and I realized Ethan was just sitting at the kitchen table with his hands on his face looking quite distraught. We asked him what was wrong and he just burst into tears, shaking his head, saying "It's bothering me!" Poor little man was so sad and scared that Megan was hurt. We had to bring him over to show him that she was OK. I think that is so sweet he would feel that concern for his little sister...I wondered since he torments her daily! He really does love her :)

Megan Girl Turns 1!

How did this happen? I think I just had her yesterday! How did Megan turn 1 already? I thought it would make me seriously sad but I am really enjoying every stage she reaches! Her personality is really coming out and she is hilarious! She has been playing with the boy's toys (cars, snakes, transformers, etc.)and I thought it was time to get her "girly" stuff! She knew just what to do a with a doll. We walked through the doll aisle at Toys R Us and she about jumped out of my arms! She thought it was great! She had the biggest smile and immediately started loving on those babies! She does have her fiesty side too. She was sitting with me the other night and Dallen came and snuggled up next to us. She didn't like how close Dallen was so she just back handed him and pushed him out of the way. I guess they learn early! ha! I am hoping she will will walk soon but she has no interest. There are just too many people in the house willing to carry her! If all else fails she just walks on her knees! It's actually kind of cute! Happy Birthday, Megan!

Ethan Turns 4!

How is it possible that my baby boy turned 4? I still remember vividly the day he was born. It really does seem like yesterday. Even though he is getting so big and independent, I love that he still wants to cuddle and have his mom or dad by his side. He is such a sweet little boy! He started preschool this fall. He LOVES it! When I pick him up he is usually on the playground acting like some kind of animal chasing girls around the slide! I think that regardless of how old he gets, it will always be hard to say 'no' to those big brown eyes! Happy Birthday Ethan! We love you!

"Bring Your Wife To Work Day"

Every couple of years John's work has "SWAT Wife DAY". I was a little hesitant as I did not know what to expect. After all, they are all just a bunch of goof balls (I do mean that in a very kind and loving way)and I wasn't sure what they were going to have us to :)

We went to the NSCA to work out with the team and their trainers....oh, never mind...the wives worked out while the men watched...hee hee. We worked out on a TRX or they call it T-REX. It is cables that uses your body weight. We did a TON of exercises on it that works every part of your core, arms, legs, EVERYTHING you can imagine (2 days later I had "core" I never thought I had before! I LOVED it! I want one for my basement :)

Afterward we went to the shooting range. First we shot the handgun. That was okay, I've shot it before. Then we got to shoot the MP-5 (I think that's what it is called...see picture below). Shooting that was OK until they had us go full auto. I was really timid about doing that! I don't know why, maybe it was all the warnings John was giving me like "stay in control and don't shoot up to the roof" or "Keep leaning way forward, you'll know when your empty because you will start to fall forward and have to catch yourself" I was envisioning me face planting or something really embarrassing! I eventually did empty the gun. It was actually quite fun...I don't think I'll be as nervous if they ever do it again!

So, while we didn't actually get to go on any operations with them (not sure if I would really want to) we got to hang out with our husbands and play around a little bit. We did take a picture of all the wives with the stinky vests on (40 lbs) and the guns. I'll have to get a copy of that as well. I'm sure it's pretty funny!

Summer So Far...Part 2

Well, we were off to a slow start this summer. I guess it was bound to happen... chaos. I put the boys in swimming lessons every day. Dallen is always so much better after swimming so I wanted to take advantage it! Ethan is afraid of the water so I thought it would be good for him as well. Jaxon has been playing baseball for PAL (Police Athletic League) and John has been the assistant coach. That involves 2 practices a week plus 1 to 2 games a week! We haven't been able to really leave town yet as John in on a pager and has not been able to get off. You can only have 3 guys off the pager at a time. There are usually 2 guys on vacation and there is one guy who is out for medical reasons. So, unless you are on vacation you can pretty much bet getting of the pager is not going to happen. So, we are waiting to go on a big camping trip until John is on vacation. In the mean time we will be going somewhere close by. I say we save ourselves the trouble and pitch a tent in the backyard! I don't think the boys will go for that. Dallen wants to have a camp fire so bad he decided to try to build one on the side of our house! He stacked up some wood (quite well I might add) and proceeded to try to light a fire using a whole box of matches (from a big box). He was unsuccessful (THANK GOODNESS) but did manage to burn his finger. (see pictures below).







I have been taking the boys over to a splash pad/park not far from our house. Last week when we went I sprayed them all down with sunscreen. That night I was really curious as to how we were all sunburned! Yes, after spraying down with SPF ONE MILLION we were still sunburned...????!!!??? Dallen so kindly pointed out that Jaxon noticed the bottle was empty and refilled it with water and a little bit of soap. AHHH!!! Hence the sunburn! Wish I would have known that little bit of information before going out in the sun!

We had to take Dallen to the Urgent Care on Saturday night because he split his head open. It wasn't very big, maybe an inch, but it was pretty open and required some Dermabonding! I need to get some of that stuff for my medicine cabinet. It would save me a trip. The over-the-counter stuff doesn't work nearly as well...

Megan cut her finger open on a soda can that her brother, Ethan, so kindly gave her. A Band-Aide wasn't an option as she tried to eat the two we put on. I finally just gave her towel to hold. That seemed to work until the bleeding stopped.

Summer is moving so fast. The kids will be back in school before I know it! In a way, I am ready. They boys have been at each others throats all summer. Dallen has also really been a challenge this summer. I have been really bad at continuing his therapy at home since he has the summer off from OT. He has been having HUGE meltdowns triggered by seemingly little things. He goes into a rant that seems to last forever. I really have been at my wits end. I really have no idea what to do. I have scheduled some therapy time into our day. I am hoping that helps. If not, I am calling his therapist! Last night Dallen had another meltdown so I sent him to bed. He kept shouting mean things to me and getting out of his room. Yelling, time out, spanking, taking privileges away doesn't work for him. So, I grabbed him,gave him a big hug, told him I loved him, kissed him and put him back in bed. This lasted for at least a half an hour. I was getting tired of carrying him back to bed but I could see he was breaking! The intensity of his fit weakened significantly and you could see traces of a smile underneath the thumb he was sucking. I guess showing love is the strongest and most effective way of handling the situation. I was thinking the other day how would Jesus handle this child. I thought about Christ's life and thought came to me to just show love. I guess that's how I have to handle Dallen. It worked slowly yesterday, but I am hoping that it will work better each time. I have to trust that it will work. After all, Dallen is a Child of God too and the Lord knows him very well. Heaven knows I need all the help I can get in raising him.

Summer So Far...

I was just thinking that we haven't done anything exciting so far this summer when I started looking at the pictures we have taken. I guess it hasn't been so bad! Now, if I can just get the kids to quit fighting, whining, tattle telling, and complaining:)

I will say that Dallen has had some very funny comments in spite of him being a real trial this summer! First, on Mother's Day he came downstairs and announced to EVERYONE, "It's a known fact that I am not wearing any underwear!". Don't know where that came from. It turns out he didn't want Jaxon to give him a "wedgie" so he eliminated the necessary article of clothing!

Next,Jaxon did not have any clean long pants to go the Sky Sox game in. It was rainy and a bit chilly so he really needed to wear pants. I told him to wear a pair of Dallen's. That was that. Later, Ethan was playing with one of Dallen's new Star Wars men. They started to fight over it and I pleaded with Dallen to just SHARE!!! Dallen took the man away from Ethan and ran to the other room. A few minutes later I hear Dallen bargaining with Ethan, "I'll let you play with this man for $5.00." I couldn't believe Dallen was asking for payment to play with his toys! I started to laugh and tell Dallen that he couldn't "charge" to play with his toys. Jaxon then pipes in and says, "Dallen made me pay him 5 pennies to wear his pants!!"I tell you what...that kid drives me CRAZY but is so darn hilarious at the same time!

Here's some pictures of our summer so far:


Dallen has 5 loose teeth. He was so excited to lose his first tooth! The tooth fairy brought him a dollar which he was very proud of! Jaxon is 8 and has not lost a single tooth yet. Since Dallen has 5 loose teeth I think Jaxon was feeling a little jealous. One day, while in time out, Jaxon comes out of his room screaming. He had fallen off his bed and knocked a tooth loose, really loose! It just so happens to be the same tooth Dallen lost! A few days later the tooth fell out. I jokingly told him he did it on purpose so Dallen wouldn't be the only one with a loose tooth! Jaxon wasn't so impressed with is dollar from the tooth fairy...


Megan has been crawling for about a month now. She has also been standing and getting into everything. She even had her first tumble down the stairs :( She fell down our basement stairs (which are not finished). Luckily she was not hurt AT ALL!! I am so surprised and grateful! It scared me to death!




Sure,this looks innocent enough. Look closer. Dallen and his friend have rigged Ethan's ankle in a rope so they can string Ethan up by the ankle on the monkey bars. Dallen's friend is pulling with all his might!


Dallen turned 6! I can't believe it!! He had his first "friend" party at ArtSports. He had a blast!


For the last 2 months John has been helping my parents totally redo their landscaping. The boys loved to help! It was great for Dallen because all the shoveling and digging was great therapy for Dallen! Not only did Dallen love getting dirty but he found a new friend. He loved this garter snake! He carried it around for quite a while before I made him let it go! At least it wasn't a spider. I can handle the snake.


BUSTED! See, I am getting really good at grabbing the camera BEFORE I scold! Ethan was "just thirsty".