This little piggy...

Cha Cha. What is something positive that I can say about this dog? She had her 8th Birthday in March and we didn't do a darn thing to celebrate it. She's one year closer to death.
Oh, okay that's harsh.
I'll apologize to her later.
Here's the thing, I have been trying to tap into why I have so many issues with this dog. She is not a bad dog. She is potty trained and doesn't chew on stuff and...well that's it really. Yeah, she's cranky. But she is the smallest and stinkiest one in the house so that naturally means we pick on her more than anyone else. And us picking on her probably contributes a great deal to her crankiness. I don't know if it's a pug thing or if it's a HER thing but she is probably the moodiest dog I've ever met. Moodiness just radiates from her eyeballs. And she farts. A lot. When she isn't farting in her sleep, she's snorting at us or chewing on herself. Are these normal pug traits? If so, a pug is NOT the breed for me. But I can't get rid of her because the kids love her. They LOVE to torture her. They squeeze her and kiss her until she snaps at them and they pull her tail until she barks. They love to overfeed her until she pukes and they baby talk her until I want to puke.

I don't think I will ever write a post about how blessed I feel to have Cha Cha in my life, but I did think I should post some pictures and videos of her. Someday, when she's gone, I will need proof that I survived having this dog in my life. I sometimes wish I had taken more pictures of the kitties to prove that I lived through having them. Sometimes I forget about them. And then I see a cat and I realize that cats are the devil's pet of choice and I remember why I never want to own another cat again. Anyway, I feel the same way about Cha Cha-she is a devil dog. And in my book, pugs rank right up there with cats: they should all live on their own island so that no human ever has to deal with their crap (both literal and psychological).

Please ignore my voice in both these videos. It is so deadpan and bleh. Also, you will hear that I let my kids use the word "stupid". I realize that in many people's eyes that makes me a failure as a mother. Oh well. If it turns out that they don't get accepted to college because their mother let them use words like "poop", "fart" and "stupid" when they were young than I am sure I will feel great remorse for it. As of now, I don't lose any sleep over it.


Unless you put her outside, THIS is what you will hear while you eat...

This is a DAILY occurrence. I am sure Zoey lays in bed and wonders what she did wrong to deserve having to share us with Cha Cha.

The moves like...

If you've never met Tay in person, you probably don't realize that she has a flair for the dramatic. She LOOKS like a quiet, mild mannered child on the outside. But inside she has a mini Mic Jagger just waiting to get out...

Or should we say a mini Magic Mike? (I've never seen the movie, so I don't know.)

TEN years!

Kendrick and I celebrate 10 years of marriage on Monday!!! I am writing this now though because we will be on vacation on Monday.  So TEN YEARS...
A whole decade is how long we've been married now. I almost can't believe it. It's crazy to me how time flies. I am treating this anniversary as a big deal because Kendrick and I have been through a lot of tough stuff in the past few years. Life has put us through the ringer and our relationship has definitely been tested. It feels like Satan has been working overtime on us ever since Easton was born...

But I still think our marriage is so good. I honestly feel like I hit the jackpot when it comes to supportive, kind and affectionate husbands. Kendrick is my very best friend. And I'm not just saying that to point out that of all the friends I have right now, he's my favorite. I mean, of all the friends I have ever had in my life, he is the best one I've ever had. Because he is loyal, he doesn't judge, he makes me laugh, he puts up with all of my emotional crap, he is patient with me, and he tries to build me up and help me see myself in a better light. No other friend has ever been able to, or has even attempted to do all those things for me.

I am grateful every day to wake up next to Kendrick.
I am grateful to have someone love me as much as he does. Despite all the tough stuff we have been through, I still feel lucky to be married to such a great guy and I still look forward to spending eternity with him. I am excited that we are happily celebrating our 10th Wedding Anniversary on Monday.

I first heard this song a few weeks ago on The Billboard Music Awards. LOVE it! This song perfectly sums up my obsessive love for my husband;) This one is for you babe...

The Kindergarten Program

On Friday the twins had their Kindergarten program. Each child in the Kindergarten class was given a nursery rhyme to recite and was invited to dress up as their nursery rhyme character or bring a prop that went along with their rhyme. Jack was given the nursery rhyme, When Jack is a very good boy and Myles was given the nursery rhyme, Little Boy Blue. Both the boys had their parts memorized before they even brought them home to me so everyday for the 2 weeks leading up to the program I heard these nursery rhymes,

When Jack is a very good boy he shall have cakes and custard. But when he does nothing but cry, he shall have nothing but mustard.
and
Little Boy Blue come blow your horn. The sheep's in the meadow, the cows in the corn. But where's the little boy who looks after the sheep? He's under a haystack, fast asleep.

I heard them a lot! Like I would rap them in my head while I cleaned. Or find myself chanting them while I worked out or sing them in an Opera voice back to the boys. I am so glad I won't be hearing them again for a long time! Cute as they were, they got obnoxious real fast.

Kendrick went to the early morning performance so he could make it to work somewhat on time and I went to the mid morning performance with my mom, Easton and Dex. Dex LOVED the program! He was dancing to the songs and bouncing on my mom's lap. Then we gave him a sour apple sucker and he was stealing the show. He was making the funniest faces! We were sitting in the front row so Jack and Myles got a good view of Dex's sour apple face and they were just as entertained watching us as we were watching them! They did so good on their parts and I was very proud of them. I can't believe Kindergarten is almost over. I have really enjoyed their Kindergarten experience. And I think they have too.

I want to bottle him up

Easton is at such a fun age. Because he is my youngest, it seems like every age has been extra cute and so much more fun. Right now Easton is at the age where we have super "interesting" conversations. The kind of conversations that make you wish you could freeze time. I want to bottle this boy and all of his 3 1/2 year old personality up and save it. His voice is kind of hoarse right now and it is too cute for words. And because I am a mean mom, I torture his poor throat by making him talk more than he probably should. But I can't help it!!! Especially when he talks about jumping over muddles. I'm glad that that's what stands out to him about his brother's Kindergarten experience: that they get to jump over muddles:)

A dog, a boy and a pretzel

The title of this post says it all. This is the result of those 3 things...

 

We're still here

I haven't blogged in over a week! And I haven't taken a single picture worth posting in two, maybe three weeks. I'd love to write that I have been so busy planning our spring vacation and losing weight and reorganizing my house that I just haven't had any time to blog. But that would be a lie. We probably won't be going on any vacations this spring because we are aiming to be completely debt free by Spring. But little surprises always seem to pop up so we'll see if that actually happens...
I have slowed down a little on the weight loss front. And I decided to take down the 17 Day Diet post because I don't want this blog to be about those kinds of things. This blog is about our family and what we are up to. Not my ever changing eating habits and my workout routines. I loved all your comments and support though, so thank you!
And while I did  manage to clean out both my pantries, our bedroom junk drawer and the hall closet, the rest of the house will just have to wait for Spring. It's been a cold, lazy, sickness infested winter. We've had lots of colds in our house this winter. I'm not sure if that's because we currently aren't drinking green smoothies or if it's because I now have a baby, a 3 year old and 3 school age children in my house...probably a mixture of both. Whatever the reason, each sniffle and cough just about gives me an anxiety attack. I hate not having health insurance right now!
I haven't been taking tons of pictures because it seems there hasn't been many photo ops lately. We are all just happily going about our daily routines and dreaming of Summer. But here is just a taste of our exciting lives:

• My friend, Debbie gave me a black armoir style desk and I am going to take out the desk part of it and rearrange the shelves in it so that it will be our new quilt cupboard. I have so many nice quilts and I hate seeing them all piled up in my laundry room when they should be stored away nicely and displayed. I want to paint it Gun Metal grey or a deep shade of red. Depends on where I decide to put it....

• Kendrick's Uncle Jess and Aunt Linda are coming to see us from Florida in a few weeks!

• Kendrick finally started his job on Tuesday!! I wanted to take a picture of him with his work bag and nice clothes on and do a "back to work" post, kind of like a cutesy "back to school" post, but I didn't have the motivation to find batteries for my camera. So I'll let you just imagine how cute it would have been...

• My back hurts like a mother! I've figured out that most back bending (cobra pose, table top, reverse plank) Yoga positions, "flying" with the kids, and my recliner are all things that aggravate my back. I think I may have a herniated disc. And this cold weather doesn't help. I wake up stiff every single day. My back pain is giving me greater compassion for Kendrick's back pain though and has encouraged some pretty high spirited debates between the two of us as to who tolerates pain better. I still think I do. 

• Taylor got to go on a field trip to the Opera this week. She was so excited! Again, I should have taken a picture since she was all dressed up for it...

• The twins took their Kindergarten assessments last week and kicked butt! Those boys are so smart. I love that my kids love to learn. 

• I decided I would like to go back to school in the fall and take some online classes. I want to study nutrition and human development. 

• Oh, and speaking of school! I got roped into teaching a Junior Achievement course for Taylor's class. And it's not the fluff stuff like: deciphering fairy tales, learning the color wheel or 'why are we special'? But the grown up stuff like: city planning, reading a menu, balancing a checkbook and reading blueprints!! I am still in shock that I agreed to do it! Wish me luck on that one.

• I ripped off my nails. The last lady that did them wasn't the normal lady that does them and I hated them. I've been living with them since before Christmas but finally I just couldn't take their ugliness anymore so I ripped them off. I don't currently have the funds to get them redone. My hair takes precedence over my nails any day, so now I have stubby boy hands again until we start rollin' in the dough. However, I am typing faster than ever right now...

• Kendrick's new job is in Bountiful for the first few months. If something changes and he ends up still needing to work in Bountiful when our lease is up here (July) then you'd better believe that Bountiful is where we will be house hunting. I don't like that he has to commute that far. Especially on these icy roads.

• We've only gotten two of the three W2's we need so far to do our taxes.  Have you all gotten yours yet? This is the longest we've ever had to wait for ours. It's weird to think that Kendrick was working for 3 different companies last year. I sincerely hope we never have to do that again. Kendrick's old company won't be mailing out W2's until next Thursday! I could just kick someone there in the pants! I want our tax return as soon as possible, dang it!

•  It's colder than a frozen farm crap here. This is the coldest January I have ever experienced in Utah. And our air quality is HORRIBLE. Most days we can't even see the mountains, and I live by the mountains! I heard on the radio this morning that this air can be harmful to women who are pregnant and that prolonged exposure to it can contribute to miscarriages! I don't know if that is a bunch of baloney, but I do know that every time I get home from taking and picking up the kids from school I feel like I need to suck on a pipe of fresh air to clean out my throat and lungs. Anyone know where I can get a pipe of fresh air?;)

• I am on a mission to find some cute knee highs to wear with my boots and some leggings. But the only place online that I have been able to find some is Amazon, and I wasn't in love with what I found there. Also, it's almost too cold for leggings. I wore some to church on Sunday and my butt shivered so badly the whole day that by Monday I felt like I had done 10,000 squats-I was sore! But on the other side of that, yay for getting in a rear end workout at church of all places, right? So where do you ladies out there find cute, thick knee highs?

• Oh! And I am going to hop back on the gratitude wagon for as long and as often as I can. I miss it. And certain little things lately have reminded me that having an attitude of gratitude makes every trial more bearable. 

Now, because this post is already as boring as last season's The Bachelor, here are some recent phone pics and videos to liven things up...

The dog caught stealing some popcorn

The Dexican caught stealing a sip of soy milk

 

 

 

 

 We are going to start calling him Easton Van Halen. It's the first 10 seconds that make this video. I love his rocker face and that he is finally getting what it means to lip sync. Maybe he'll become good enough at that that he can lip sync for the President someday, eh?

Baby teeth are droppin' like flies!

Myles lost ANOTHER tooth today. It's been loose since before Christmas and Kendrick has been making me crazy by trying to pull it before it was ready. But today poor Myles got knocked in the mouth at school and that helped encourage the tooth out. So when he got home from school Kendrick pulled it. His face in this video is PRICELESS! I am so glad I was able to capture it!!

Interesting side note-
Jack lost his top front left baby tooth almost exactly a month to the day before Myles lost his top right tooth! They make quite the pair, my toothless wonders!

The band with no name

Our kids have started a band. Right now they play locally, just in our living room, and they are still new enough that they accept chocolate for most of their gigs. I would describe their music as young, wanna be punk rock cartoon jams. Their biggest hit thus far is a cover of the theme song to Fireman Sam.

They recently expanded their band from just 3 members, to 4. They now have a keyboard player.
Easton is the lead singer. He originally was a vacuum player but somewhere along the line discovered his passion for singing. He is temperamental and overly dramatic and loves to be the center of attention...basically your typical lead singer.
Jack is a guitarist. He is shy and on the quiet side. He doesn't like to over perform or outshine his band mates.
Myles is also a guitarist. He is a little more flamboyant as he likes to sport costumes when he performs. Taylor plays the keyboard. She gives the band's music a good tempo and is patiently waiting for the lead singer's inevitable downfall into pure selfishness and attention hogging so that she can take over as lead singer.

Even with as new as this band is, I still see big possibilities in their future. Now all they need is a name...

Here are the options:

The Dramatics

Mexican Firefighters

The Little Brother band

The Out-of-tuners

and lastly

Fart Machines

Can you guess which name the kids liked the best?

Here are the lyrics in case you have a hard time understanding them...

"Wee Ooo! Wee Ooo! When you hear that fire alarm: Sam is always cool and calm. Wee Ooo! Wee Ooo! Give him a shout! He'll be there to help you out. So...move aside, make way, Fireman Sam is ha da da blah save the day! Sam is the hero next dooor!"

In the second video, Easton forgot which song they were performing and started to perform, "I'm glad you came" by The Wanted before he remember that they were doing Fireman Sam.