Yikes

I have somehow been able to avoid this type of situation for a full 6.5 years. But today.......it finally happened.

I took Parker to McDonald's for some pancakes. We call this our "secret" date. We don't tell Daddy and we don't tell Dallin about it. It is our special one on one time.

As I order the pancakes Parker says to the (rather large) woman ringing us up......"Wow.....you are a very BIG FAT lady."

One word......AWKWARD.

Perfect Little Family

A friend who reads my blog once told me, "You have such a perfect little family." She was right. My family is perfect. Here on this blog, that is.

I decided a long time ago that the main focus of my blog was not to write about ALL of the frustrations and disappointments that go along with parenting. Oh, I do let a few get into print...especially the ones that I know I will be able to look back on and laugh at. But for the most part, I like to "accentuate the positive" and keep my blog upbeat and hopeful. So, you probably won't see long posts about my Parker's lazy attitude about chores, or our fights with Dallin about his picky eating at the dinner table. And I'm not going to vent about the piles of toys I find scattered all over my house, or the fights we have over bedtime, or the stubborn inability of Dallin and Parker to sleep past 7am as of late. When I look at the BIG PICTURE, I see the good things outnumbering the bad by 100 to 1. So why focus on the negatives when they mean so little in our daily lives?

Even on my worst day, when I'm tired and the boys are talking back and I feel like I could scream...I really try to remember the good.

So, do I have the perfect little family? Of course not. But in my memory, and here on this blog, they come pretty close.

3 amigos

I just love these 3 boys. They are best friends worst enemies and everything in between. Yesterday they were just AT eachother ALL day so we went outside to play for a little while to burn up some energy. While we were there a big kid started to tease Dallin becuase he had his little stuffed bunny with him. (I know I know..the kid is in kindergarden...he really SHOULD know better) Dallin's feelings were hurt. Parker marched right up to that big kid who was 2 times bigger then him (with his big red Cars helmet on, and skateboard in tow) and said, "HEY KID....YOU better KNOCK IT OFF and be NICE to my brother!"

They may get after each other but they are always looking out for eachother. Makes me smile.

Unfortunately......

Have you heard of the "unfortunately..." meme? You do a Google search for the phrase "Unfortunately, (your name here)". Don't forget the quotation marks around the phrase. Here are some of mine:

Unfortunately, Staci wasn't in Hawaii to see this beautiful sunset. She is in, of all places...Antarctica, which has got to be the antithesis of Hawaii.

Unfortunately, Staci stares eerily at everyone. Eddie and Ginger are confused. So very confused.

Unfortunately, Staci, the manager in charge of the schedule, has taken it upon herself to schedule me wayyyy too much.

Unfortunately Staci was feeling a little "Travel Sick" ha ha, OK so she was hungover.

Unfortunately, Staci is an ugly baby. (Whoa...this one is a little harsh!)

Unfortunately Staci has some symptoms of this...mostly just headaches, but she tends to act more like she has Blepharospasm.

That was pretty entertaining! Give it a try...you know you want to!

A few funny lines......

(After spiking Dallin's hair up a little)..."I think you should do my hair like this for school mom....all of the girls are going to faint 'cause I am so handsome."

Parker: "Mom....I don't want to eat candy anymore. It could give me cavities so I think I will have an ice cream sandwich instead. Sandwiches don't give you cavities."

Parker: "Hey...there is that warm and toasty kid at the park!" When I asked him what he was talking about he said he had met a new friend at the park who had brown skin. Warm and toasty....nice.

The boys always BEG to go to McDonalds whenever we drive by one. The answer is usually no but Landon is picking up on this. Every time he wants something (no matter what it is) he says "Donalds" over and over.

Lets go fly a kite

We spent a very windy afternoon flying kites on Tuesday. My friend bought the boys these little tiny kites. They are only about 3-4 inches wide and they were able to fly just as well as our bigger ones. They looked like little bugs tied to strings...it was so hilarious.

Is spring right around the corner? It sure felt like it to us!

Addiction

My name is Staci.....and I am a coupon-a-holic.

And how on earth could I NOT be????? Especially when I get 28 boxes of cereal for $5.81??

I am so giddy right now I can't sleep. That is about .21 per box! Why have I never done this until recently??

Little Thief

If I am not wearing any MASCARA tomorrow it is becuase a little SOMEONE decided to BORROW mine without asking! Oh.... he knows he has been BUSTED.

Lovin the Zoo

Yesterday was a beautiful day. We spent the afternoon at good old Zoo Boise. It was time to renew the passes! You can't beat the $70 family pass...especially since that means we can get into a bunch of other zoos (including Hogle) for FREE this year!

The crane started making this OBNOXIOUS and not to mention LOUD squaking noise as we walked up to it. Poor Parker was scared half to death. I wish I had a picture of his terrified reaction...it just didn't seem like the right moment to pull out the camera though. We had to walk a completely different direction becuase Parker didn't want to get anywhere near that bird again.

As we walked off he said, "Mom...I think next time we come to the zoo I will bring my nerf gun and get that bird if he yells at me again."

First "I love yous"

Landon has been a little slow in the talking department. He is continuing to add words to his vocabulary but he is just a little slower compared to some of his little friends. He has been TRYING really hard to communicate the past month or so.

Right now he can say: Mama, Dada, Dal Dal, up, down, all done, socks, shoes, uh-oh, cereal (more like "eereal") owie, ba-ba (means drink), uh-huh, NO (all too often), Yay!, Yes, Bye-bye, all done.

He understands a whole lot more then he can say. If I tell him to go upstairs and find your blanket and your shoes he follows through no problem. Dallin was the same way and heaven knows he turned out JUST fine.

I took this video last week right after he said his very first "I love you." The one posted here is his 2nd or 3rd time saying it.

SO SWEET.

Valentines Wrap Up

*** Warning*** Very cheesy poem ahead:

Valentines is over

We had a lot of fun

We decorated cookies

and then we ate a ton!

We decked the house out

with hearts, flowers, and lights

We enjoyed having friends over

for a romantic Valentine night

We played games, had the men recite their poems,

and took pictures by our heart tree


Maybe we'll do it again next year....we'll just have to see!
(Thanks Janet for the great idea! It was a blast!)

To my Valentine

This LOVELY picture was from our 2nd official date (our first picture together ever). We went to a dance on the Heber Creeper around Valentines Day in 2000. I'm so skinny I look like I should blow away...and Nate's butt cut hairstyle is HOT!

Dear Mr. Super-Star(nes),

Rather than finding a card that best describes my feelings for you, I thought I would dedicate this blog to you instead.

This valentines will be the 9th we have spent together! Here are a few things that I LOVE about you:

-You get on the floor and play with the boys as soon as you get home from work

-You let me sleep in on Saturday mornings

-You are a hard and dedicated worker

-You teach our children to respect me

-You support me by giving me plenty of "girl" time.

-You don't complain about my time consuming calling.

-You make me laugh

-You set goals and accomplish them

-You value motherhood and womanhood

-You are passionate about getting healthy and fit (which is FANTASTIC....cause I want you around for a LONG time!)

-You put the Lord first

-You are my best friend

Happy Valentines Day! I love you!

-Your wifey

Learning new things

Isn't it an amazing experience to watch your children grow, learn, and develop new skills? Dallin loves to try to teach his brothers and friends learn how to write, read and do math problems. He gets SO excited when they can understand something that they didn't previously understand. (Future teacher maybe?? I don't know) Dallin has been working very hard on teaching Parker how to write his letters and some small words. Every day he pulls out the paper and crayons and tries to help him even though it frustrates Dallin to the MAX when Parker doesn't get it.

Well, yesterday Parker finally spelled his VERY first word all by himself. He came running up to me holding THIS piece of paper:

Gee...I'm just SO proud. Dallin thought it was the most awesome and hilarious thing ever when I showed it to him after he came home from school. Sigh.......boys.

A new Staci

I admit, I used to be one of those people who made fun of coupon clippers. When we first moved back to Boise I remember hanging out with some girls from my ward and all of them brought their ads and were comparing prices from store to store. I came home and told my husband I didn't think I would fit in well here at all. It was just too much work and too inconvenient to actually have to research and plan ahead so much.

Well, a couple of years have gone by since then and with the way the economy is (and with the encouragement of my friends) I decided that I need to do what I can to help my family and my husband out. I guess I have finally "come to the light" with this whole thing. And guess what...I actually really like it!

I have been easing into this process gradually. We went crazy at Albertsons diaper sale last month. The Pampers diapers came up to less than $5 a package. Last week's major steal was from Albertsons as well. I was able to get 4 bags of Goldfish crackers, a box of popcorn and a Healthy Choice Dinner for $1.96. It was kind of a rush getting a bag of groceries for next to nothing. I was also able to cut about $20 off of my usual grocery shopping bill just by planning my meals around what was on sale and using my coupons from online and in the newspaper. At night I have been dreaming about printing online coupons for the past week. Very strange...I know.

Nate thinks I have gone a little nuts but he's not complaining...its a new day baby!

P.S. Which way do you prefer to pronounce it “coo-pon” or “cue-pon”? Just wondering.

Much to "smile" about

First off.......ALL 3 of my boys went to the dentist and have all made it into the:(Cue the trumpets!) This is HUGE people. I almost wanted to tear up when the dentist told me that I was to be commended for having such well behaved, healthy toothed kids (not sure how to put that). I was thinking to myself....I wish you could see how "well behaved" these boys are as I chase them around the house BEGGING them to brush their teeth every night. I feel like such a NAG all the time but it seems all of the fighting and bribing has paid off. That, or they have just all been blessed with Nate's healthy and low maintenance pearly whites instead of my cavity prone, time consuming, thousands of dollars down the drain teeth. As I have said before...my teeth are evil and I hate them.
(And the only reason they were "well behaved" is because they were all mesmerized by the Sponge Bob Squarepants show playing from the flatscreen mounted into the ceiling.)

Another reason to smile....the SUN was out ALL day long today and the temperature made it up to 45 degrees or so. We played at the park for 3 full hours today soaking in as much vitamin D as we possible could!

O...and you can't help but SMILE when a cute little boy in a winter hat armed with a nerf gun chases you all around the house trying to shoot your with a sticky dart.