Happy New Year
What are you all doing tonight.. i think the boys have forgotten about staying up (THANK GOODNESS) Ben's planning on staying up playing his video game (he only gets to play it when the kids aren't home or are in bed.. tells you what kind of game hua!) i'm sure i'll probably fall asleep before 12 but if Ben's up he'll wake me up to say "Happy New Year" He's off for the next 2 days and we've decided we are doing major clean out and pack! thankfully we kept the majority of moving boxes and packing paper when we moved here.. so we are a little ahead of the game...
I can't really complain one bit with 2007, we are in such a good place in pretty much all areas of our life! and it sure is going out with a bang with us finally getting the house deal taken care of (we sign the "new deal" paperwork wednesday so really i'm not going to do the "happy dance" until then!). i really HATE new years resolutions and have vowed not to make them ever again (can't really remember making any with true intent anyway).. when i want to make goals i just make the goal.. But the new year does make it kind of nice to reflect on what i've done well and what i can improve on for the new year (ok so i admit it sounds like resolutions hua!..).. Anyway i wish everyone a Very happy New Year and hope 2008 Brings great things for all of our Friends and Family who we love so much!
ta ta

reserection
so the previously dead house deal may be rising from the grave! don't ask me how but they have bitten at our hail mary last ditch effort to salvage this deal.. we still have very few minor things to work out but if we do we are getting an AWESOME deal for ALL the land!!! not doing the happy dance yet but it's looking promissing.. please keep us in your prayers that what ever happens is what we are suppose to do.. we'll be doing allot of praying also!!!
ta ta

Merry Christmas

We had a great day!!! the kids were told not to come down stairs until 7:00 and at about 6:15 we heard the boys were up.. i went up stairs to tell them they couldn't wake KayLea up but if she woke up on her own before 7 they could come down stairs.. and as soon as i came down stairs i hear KayLea running to the boys room.. i guess my footsteps up and down the stairs woke her up.. (she must not have been that asleep)... anyway we did our usual tradition from when i was a kid.. all the kids have to come to our room and get into bed and wait until Ben has seen if Santa has come (he turns on the tree lights etc).. then they line up youngest to oldest (we had to switch that up a little when i was younger when the youngest's became taller than the oldest's.. that hasn't happened here YET!) and off to the presants.. the kids had a great time

Brad's "big" thing was a cell phone.. Hunter's was a digital camera and

KayLea's was a "My Generation"

doll (American girl knock off) the "boys" (all 3) also got a x-box 360.. they were all very excited and kept ammused ALL DAY a feat in of it self GREAT!!! KayLea LOVED the doll clothes Both Grandma's sent (thanks!) and the boys are already planning on where and what to sepend their money and gift cards on (thanks too!)... we are thinking of some ideas to make room for the table hockey game Grandma and Grandpa Fox sent, and hope to be able to set it up very soon...

Since Ben "missed" Thanksgiving he wanted all the works so we did Turkey, Christmas Potatoes, Mashed potatoes (ok i've just come to decide we as a WHOLE family are obsessed with potato's of every form!) stuffing, and 8 different kinds of sparkling juice (we only finished 4 over the whole day!)

Hope everyone had a great Christmas.. Merry Christmas from us to YOU!!

Merry Christmas Eve!
Well the Kids are in Bed (have been since 8:00 SHARP!) the stockings are hung (actually draped over the couch.. to heavy to hang).. and the last presant is FINALLY wrapped.. i don't know why i wait until christmas eve to wrap.. actually i do know why.. i use to wrap as i got then i would forget what i got and would get into my OCD faze and un wrap everything and obsessively count to make sure everyone was even.. we've kind of gotten away from that because well the older boys usually get more expensive which means usually smaller but "better" presants.. where KayLea is still getting more for the buck although this year she's getting a few bigger vs. more little etc. etc.. i think i'm too tired to post tonight.. hopefully this makes some kind of since.. of coarse i'll post pictures probably day after tomorrow.. we have 3 appointments to see houses on Wednesday.. everyone wish us luck and pray for us that what ever happens it will go smoother! (fyi, all the houses on wed are OUT of our school dist.. we are scheduling the 2 houses in the dist. for next week sometime)...
anyway lots goin on i better get to bed.. we've told the kids they can't come down stairs until 7am but it NEVER works!
ta ta and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

a slow and miserable death!
Well, we found out today that the house deal is dead.. i guess there is "one last hail mary everything out on the table take it or leave it" offer but i have to say i'm not holding my breath... so we are on the hunt for another house.. i have come to terms with this and really feel now that there must be something better (or at least equal) for us!!! it kinda sad bit is that we are going to start looking outside the kids school district.. we love the schools but we have reasearched the school dist. we are going to look into and some good friends of ours live in that town and love the schools so we feel pretty good that if we had to move outside the school dist this is where we would move (wanna hear a funny the town's name is Weare)...
anyway we'll keep everyone updated.. we probably made some mistakes, getting too excited too soon (although there was no reason not to the sellers kind of blew it on this one)...
so another knotch in our learning curve of house hunting..
wish us luck
ta ta

Snow Day

Well we cancelled Cub Scout Pack meeting last night and i felt we were probably being overly cautious the forcast showed it would snow about 1-3 inches but be done by morning.. so we figured worst case we'd have a 2 hour delay.. when we woke up this morning and it had only snowed a few inches and school was CANCELLED i was ticked to say the least.. i had to remember we live in a regional school district and it covered 8 towns so just because we didn't get much other outlining towns may have gotten more.. to add insult to injury Ben took the day off so we could get the rest of our christmas shopping done.. well we decided to brave the outdoors we figured Concord would have hardly anything... we were VERY WRONG.. it kept snowing.. the front had gone out then came back in we probably got around 10 inches but since we were already out we stayed out all day hoping it would die down before we came came home.. we had a great lunch, then did Sam's club and walmart.. then hit the mall and just as we drove into our un plowed driveway (that was interesting.. thank goodness for all wheel drive.. and even that was barly tolerable).. it stopped snowing.. the plow guy came so we should be all set for the morning.. and school.. (fingers crossed)... so that i can go and get some last minute stuff.. but while we were at the mall we got all 3 kids with Santa.. there was absolutely no line what so ever (probably because we were one of very few people STUPID enough to be out).. the boys barly tolerated the experience but KayLea loved talking with Santa.. he asked her what she wanted and she said "i could only remember a big girl doll" (aka, American Girl,ahhh Target knock off) but it was very cute and because there wasn't a line he really took his time with her it was fun to see..

here's the pic.. it isn't the best one (we really wern't planning on having a picture taken haha)

How was YOUR morning??
Mine started out ok, i was kind of hoping for a Snow day today because we got about 7 inches last night but it stopped in plenty of time for roads to be cleared so i had to wake up at 4am to make Bradley a Coffee Cake to take to school today for his home room holiday breakfast.. i even went yesterday and got a 1/2 sheet disposable pan so he wouldn't have to worry about bringing anything home (great mom right??!) so i get it done then he also has video game club today which he has to bring the x-box so he's pretty loaded down so he asked if i could drive him into school and i was in a "good mom" mood so instead of saying he'd have to skip video game club i said "of coarse i'll drive you in" i went out about 20 minutes before we needed to leave to brush off the snow from my car and start it up so it would be nice and warm (and windows difrosted etc).. the snow was so light and fluffy i even shovled the walk i'm feeling pretty good about my mothering at this moment, i go inside makd sure everyone hasn't forgotten bookreports or math homework (because i have to drive Hunter in now too i can't make it home intime to get him off to the bus and i can make his school on the way back home) we all are set, i actually had the thought that perhaps i should carry the coffee cake out to the car but Brad insists he's got it just fine.. and 2 steps down to the walk he slips and the lid to the coffee cake flies off and the coffee cake is in chunks in the snow.. you gotta laugh right! he was so sorry and felt terrable but it really wasn't his fault.. so we stopped on the way to school and bought a coffee cake that was 1/3 the size and it had walnuts (Brad doesn't particularly like walnuts and asked for no nuts on the cake)...
one of those days i guess! but it can only get better right??
still no word on whats going on with our house deal.. i don't have a good feeling about it though!
ta ta

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree!

Well last night we finally decorated the Christmas tree that we actually brought home last Saturday.. there has been a few snow storms that Ben has worked a few days at a time so this was the first opportunity we had to do it.. it's nice.. only mis hap, while KayLea, Hunter and I were at Cub Scouts (Brad's scouts was cancelled last night) it tipped over, Brad was laying down on the couch with his back to it and Ben only heard the "crash!" so we don't exactly know how or why it did it but we lost a ton of glass balls (i knew there was a reason i never wanted glass balls on my tree!) so after putting everything that fell back on this morning and cleaning up the huge mess it made, it looks pretty good..
another sad note.. it looks like our home deal is tanking big time.. we'll see.. it has to do with the subdivision of the land and the timeline.. just keep us in your prayers that what ever is suppose to happen does QUICKLY!!!
ta ta

Oh Boy!!
we have a 2 hour delay today because of Ice, it rained pretty much all night last night and of coarse that rain froze.. so normally i don't mind having a 2 hour delay it makes it an easy morning to get things done etc.. but this morning it SUCKS EGGS!!! everyone is fighting and no one wants to move AT ALL!!! URGGGGG i'd take them myself if anyone would be at the school!!! only about 40 min's left until Brad goes out to the bus.. i'm beginning to count down the seconds!!! and we are only at the beginning of Winter!!! ok thats just my rant for today...
All will be well when Hunter goes to the Bus at 9:30...
tata

i'm afraid i'm going to jinx it..
ok so every year i say i'm not going to stress over christmas and every year i kind of get myself way too overworked with all the stuff etc.. this year SO FAR i'm doing pretty good.. i'm 75% done with the kids stuff and tomorrow i should be shipping out everything that needs shipped.. and this year we are staying home for the first time in i don't know how long.. although its a little sad i'm actually really looking forward to just lounging around and doing NOTHING!!! Ben has a few days off so that will be SOOOO nice.. he's actually at work all night and into tomorrow because we have a pretty good snow storm coming in... we might have another snow day tomorrow or we might just have a delay it depends on what we get, ice or snow.. AND a real fun thing i found out today the ski resort has FREE lessons AND rentals this and next weekend... its a teaser to get people to want to come to the Mountain.. so i think i'm going to take the kids some friends of ours are going to meet us up there and i'm going to watch their youngest son (KayLea's age) and the'll take the boys it shoud be a blast. do we live in a great place or what!!!
tata for now!!

Mommy Guilt's
So the kids are all in bed.. and i am now confronted with my regular degree of the "Mommy guilt's" am I the only one who gets these?? the overwhelming feeling that I am barely muddling and my kiddo's are suffering.. now I'm not trying to be dramatic i know my kids kind of suffering most would beg for so I do know I bring allot of these feelings onto myself..
today Brad brought home his report card.. he was hesitant to give it to me and it was a LOVELY report card he got 2 P's (pass/fail class) 5 A's, 2 B+'s, and 1 C+... now i did congratulate him on a GREAT report card i did do that first.. but i have to say i really called him on his c+.. only because it's in READING!!! now what is bringing his grade down is his vocabulary/spelling, he aces his book reports and his class participation is great but this kid doesn't really feel learning how to spell is really all that interesting.. he'd rather speed right through spelling and go right onto science and math (he got A's in those).. and as he says (that's what spell check is for)..
here's where the guilt comes in.. my parents would have thrown a huge party, shouted from the hill tops etc. etc. etc. if i had brought home a 6th grade report card of this stature.. it was 6th grade that someone FINALLY realized things weren't going so great in the learning dept for me.. (but that's a story for another time)...
So Brad got upset that i was so hard on him.. i got upset that he wasn't taking my seemingly constructive criticism and suggestions for making things better (doing 15 minutes of Vocabulary EVERY night regardless of what the assignment was)... so i had to just let it go for tonight.. don't get me wrong he WILL practice his words EVERY night regardless of his homework.. but really a C+ isn't horrible.. but here's the difference, i KNOW he can do better..
so there's my VENT... I'm thinking of some incentives for him.. but i can't really do it for A's because he's satisfied with what he's got.. and is equally satisfied with "getting by" with a c+ so I've got some thinkin to do.. i also have a parent teacher conf with this teacher next week (along with all his other's).. so hopefully that will give me some insight.. and Frankly, i can't spell.. (as I'm sure you've all noticed on this BLOG)...
anyway that's it for now
ta ta

WooHoo!!
school today.. it stopped snowing enough to clear all the roads.. YEA! now off to take Ben to the Dentist to get some teeth pulled YUCK!

Ok so it's STILL snowing!!! i'm afraid to even go measure how much of the white stuff we've gotten.. the boys were mis behaving (fighting like crazy!) so we havn't made the cookies but i really think tomorrow will probably bring a 2nd snow day so at least we'll have something else to do..

anyway i almost forgot to post great news.. my littlest sister (im sure she'll really apreciate that) got engaged over the weekend!!! no date or place yet but that will come.. i'm glad she's found someone who will make her happy!!!

Ashley Lane and Andrew Ado

1st snow day of the season!

Well, while we were in HOT Arkansas it did snow but it was all gone by the time we got home.. so it isn't technically the first snow of the season BUT it's the first snow day.. lucky us, i am prepared with games, and cookie fix-ins.. the kids havn't driven me too nuts yet but KayLea is her usual whiney self when she gets cold.. (tried to tell her she'd get cold OUTSIDE!)..

anyway here are some pic's of my crazy kids!

Here's KayLea licking the snow (don't ask!)

Hunter dodging snow balls

the 3 kids.. ok you have to admit it's a cute picture!

Ok i'm getting excited can you tell!
So, i'm getting more and more excited about our pending move and i have to say i'm getting VERY impatient BUT, the last 2 days it looks like the engineer has been at the house with his clip board (we are assuming he's the engineer)... so thats good it means we are well on our way to having the last contengency taken care of!

the biggest thing i think i'm totally estatic for.. this house doesn't have ONE LICK of wall paper in the place!!! we were going to prime and paint over the hidous wall paper in this house we are in now (i'm sure you all have noticed it in some pic's of the kids YUCK-O)... i do not enjoy the many examples of grindrs nor do i like the aray of floral in the down stairs bedrooms & living room... so i'm currently eagerly deciding on colors of paint and i think i'm actually on the war path for new furniture for the new house but that will depend on the timing of the move...

i have tried to keep not excited because our luck is that something horrable will go wrong with the land thing and the whole deal will be off but it looks like maybe this will work out! we'll see!
ta ta

The Mystery of the missing Freckles

so KayLea has adorable freckles.. i'm sure she will probably loath them when she is older but they are just a sprinkling on her little face.. she is very fair skined so we are oh so careful and slather her with the heaviest duty sun screen but they still come through and we her whole life have called them Fairy Kisses.. we count them at the beginning of the summer until there are too many to count and then notice when they have all gone in the winter... KayLea will tell you her freckles fade in the winter because Fairy's don't like the cold but this year something kind of interesting has happened.. only half of her freckles have faded so far... my Mom seems to think it's probably because of what way she sleeps (although she's no wear near a window and even if she was she has curtains up) or where the sun hits her from where she sits in the car (again she sits in the middle so this theory doesn't really make much since either).. for what ever reason only half of her freckles have faded so far and here's KayLea's theory for now...

Our house!

Ok i promised better pictures when we could get them.. while the kids and i were away Ben had to get the home inspection done and so he was able to take a few hours and take some pictures.. here are some random ones i chose.. and YES there are FAR more pictures of the Creek running out back than anything else.. wonder what Ben likes about the house??

the creek out back of the house.. and then below some of the inside and back of the house..

Were Back!!!
Well Thanksgiving is done and we are home no worse for ware... we ended up getting bumped a few times and instead of getting home around 4:30 we didn't get home until 9:30 and to top it off i broke my cell phone so getting info to Ben was totally hard.. dallas airport got rid of all of their pay phones.. frankley they probably did it years ago and no one even noticed UNTIL YOUR CELL PHONE BREAKS AND YOU HAVE TO USE A STUPID CALLING CARD!!! frankley it just told me i am way too attached to my cell phone and i felt i don't even use it that much!!! i'm just glad i could buy a calling card in Little Rock.. at least i was able to let Ben know there was major changes to the travel plan.. and my car was already at the airport so it really wasn't that much of a biggie..
so i think everyone is going to be cranky and tired.. and we also have to go grocery shopping.. AND do a little shopping for Bradley's Natures classroom that starts monday and goes to friday..

Our Thanksgiving was great.. My Aunt and Cousin came from California and KayLea was Lindsey's (my cousin age 13) shadow the whole time.. Lindsey was so gracious and didn't seem too annoyed with her... then Livingston Grandparents, Aunt Carol, Uncle Jon Plummer (have to specify that since we have a TON of jon's) and Derrick all came to finish it all out.. along with the "guests" Grandma Merry, Jon, Lynee and their 5 kiddo's (yes i said 5) including a brand new 3 day old baby boy that KayLea thought was just about the best thing ever.. so it was deffenately a full house but lots of fun! now since we took the kids out of school etc.. we probably won't make it to AR for Christmas so this was a fun week with grandma and grandpa and the rest...
i do have some pictures but i havn't even begun to un pack my camera.. i'll post some later.

off to Arkansas..
may not be able to post until back.. internet is sketchy dial up at best..
have a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!
ta ta

Happy 5th Birthday KayLea!!

KayLea turned 5 today.. she was excited ALL day, daddy made her spaghetti for lunch and she was eagerly anticipating opening her presants.. only snafoo of the day... her "main" presant didn't come in time!!! i'm REALLY hoping it comes tomorrow so she opened a picture of a kids digital camera.. she has wanted one since she saw her cousin Annie with it last year so she is excited for the mail to come tomorrow (i don't know what i'm going to do if it doesn't come tomorrow.. DARN E-BAY!!)

the "blog-a-sphere" just got smaller!
Well, I really havn't kept up with too many of my high school friends.. Angie Davis (formerlly Hernandez) and i "re-connected" a few years ago and have e-mailed back and forth quite a bit but thats pretty much the extent of it.. well, through some odd connections i found a good old friend CYNTHIA! Winward (formally Harrington) i'm posting about this because i mentioned this to the kids and they had the odd look on their faces like "you had a life BEFORE we were born??" so i went digging through my make-shift high school scrapbook (it's a 3 ring binder with pictures TAPED in with masking tape.. i know HORROR!)

This picture (on left) is of the Young women of the Chino 1st ward if you can pick me out, Cynthia is right next to me on the right (white shirt and blue pattern dress) and Angie is just below me in the red sweater.. of coarse Stephanie is also in the picture (3rd from the left in the black dress).. funny thing i remember about this picture.. Cynthia and I were both sick.. and i actually threw up in the temple!!! funny things you remember! i would be fearful to even guess what year this was.. but our ward was split in 1990 i think and i think this was right before the split


This one (pic to right) is of Cynthia and I at our Jr Prom (1991) it was a fun night.. the picture actually has both our dates in the picture (yea Ben was my date but it seemed weird to cut out her date and not mine) anyway fun times


Cynthia and i also did 4 years of seminary together, and hung out before school because both of our parents wouldn't take us home THEN take us to school... so we always got to school way early.. (at least before we all drove ourselves)..

another funny we actually got married on the same DAY!!! it was way back in the dark ages when all the Temples took the same holiday breaks and were open ONE day for people like us to get married.. so i'm sure several people were married on 12/27/94...

so why did we "drift" apart, i'm not so sure it was anything in particular.. i got a boyfriend and unfortunately i was a typical girl... my girlfriends kind of were secondary (not all together proud of that but it's what happened) and then she went off to byu and we both got married had kids and life happens! all good stuff for sure!!


Anyway it's been fun seeing her blog with her 3 kids.. very fun indeed. and see kids i did live before you!!!
ta ta

Maybe i'll get some sleep now!
Ok, so i think we celebrated a bit too soon.. we accepted their counter offer, then i guess we had some little nit-picky tiny details that we had to work out mostly about when they wanted inspections and deposits done etc.. so FINALLY TODAY WE HAVE A SIGNED CONTRACT FOR SALE!!! of coarse it's still contengent on, aprasal's inspections and the land being sub-divided but finally today i'm not feeilng like i want to throw up...
off to AR on friday!!!
YIPPEE life is good!
ta ta

YEA!!!
Ok first step over, our offer was accepted.. with out getting into the nitty gritty we placed a low ball offer, they countered and offered to pay some closing cost's so it came in RIGHT where we wanted!!! so it's now only contengent upon a couple of things.. and the only bummer is they requested a 90 day closing.. because they are subdividing the property it can take up to 90 days for the town to put the stamp of approval etc..etc.. so we are hoping it won't take that long but you never know with these things..
so we are very excited.. talk about a week with a Nervous stomach!!! but we have quite a while to get packed up, our tenative close date is February 9th.. (which now i'm looking at my calendar and thats a sat.. weird hua!)
anyway it has seemed like the longest dang week ever...
so thats our good news. now i need to go to sleep.. i havn't been sleeping to well stressing over this whole thing.. i guess now i just need to come to terms we are the Bank's for the next 30 years.. it's scary but exciting at the same time!!! We are truly being guided in all of this..
ta ta for now!

Fun times!


this morning i'm filled with gratitude and just sheer enjoyment at all the fun stuff going on.. it is a fun time for sure so i thought i'd share some stuff... (in no particular order)

1. * This afternoon, we will be putting in a written offer on our first home!!! (wish us lots of luck!), here is a pic of the house, it's the tiny listing picture so if all goes well i'll take some better one's if our offer is accepted!!! warning, it's not a very good picture.. thank goodness it looks better in person.. also it's on 3 acres and has a gordious brook running down the property that they stock fish in during trout season.. anyway i'll tell more about it if things go well..
2. * Both of our Brothers (Jack and Matt) are expecting their first baby (ok so their wives are actually expecting but you know what i mean)...
3. * KayLea turnes 5 on the 13th she is so excited i actually think she's going to jump out of her skin at any monent
4. * We are going to go to AR for Thanksgiving, where my 2 Aunts and my Livingston Grandparents will be, it will be fun because i don't think my kids really remember who their "far away great grandparents" are... (although really ALL the grandparents are "far away" grandparents now)...
5. * Ben's schedule finally changed to having Sunday and MOnday's off, he's been having to work sunday's for the past few months and church has been hard with 3 kids by myself..
6. *Ben is doing great with his diet, his blood sugar is averaging in the low numbers for what is acceptable and he's lost enough weight that he can wear his wedding ring again!!! now i just have to get mine reset AGAIN so i don't fear loosing the diamond out of it every time i look at it!!!

Well, thats what i can think of at this monent, i know there are many more things to be thankful for and we are just so blessed!!! it will be exciting to see how this house thing works out...

ta ta for now!

Dejavu!!!
Last night i had such flashbacks from being in Middle School.. i was a chaperone at Bradley's activity night. Bradley was slightly mortified at the prospect of this kept asking "do i have to stay around you?" of coarse not was my response and lucky for him i was assigned where he didn't go all night.. First let me say that this i do like the middle school and the administration..

They do these Activity nights where they do carnival type games in some of the classrooms for the first 90 minutes then they have a dance for the last hour.. well it's become evedent that we had to come up with some family policy regarding school dances and we decided 11 was just too young so Brad (and the rest of the kids) won't be attending school dances until they are 14 it made since due to thats when they can go to Church dances so, its actually a little stricter than my parents were (i know shock hua!) i was allowed in 7th grade.. but this feels right.. so that whole long explination was that our compromise was Brad can go to the game portion of activity night and we will pick him up before the dance starts.. this worked out beautifully since i was chaperoning just the activity portion of the night..

back to the dejavu portion of my evening.. i was assigned to the Gym, where they had basketball and volleyball during the rest of the carnival type games.. my job was to 1 make sure no food or drink came into the gym (the floor was just re-done for the new tenant that will be moving in when we switch to our new school in March).. and 2 to make sure no one killed each other while they played basketball on 3 different courts.. (ok i didn't have to watch 3 courts, there were other parents, i was mostly a hall monitor making sure everyone played nice).. but my "i've been here before" moment was i saw this very cute blonde girl playing with the boys.. seems that was the story of my life in middle school.. i played basketball, tried to play basketball but never made the team so i kept score but hanging with the girls never really intersted me.. i mean i had girlfriends but i seemed to always gravitate to the boys playing volleyball or basketball.. now this girl was far more with it than i ever was in middle school if i had to guess she was an 8th grader with her hip-hugger jeans i didn't really find my clothing style until long after i was married..
Now of coarse i would never mention to this cute girl that she was me 20+ years ago she would be mortified but i just had to grin a little and know times really havn't changed so much..
as for Bradley he was in the library playing video games all night.. he wasn't particularly upset about leaving before the dance so thats good i guess..
so how did i get to this place where i'm a chaperone for my middle school son's activity night... thats for old fogie's... lump me in now i guess!!!
ta ta for now

Happy Halloween,

well it was a fun festive day, we started out with KayLea and i going to our weekly visit to the preschool story time at the Library and decorating fun halloween cookies, then we came home i made a fruit salad quickly then we jetted off to Hunter's school to see the Halloween parade and go to his party.. Hunter's parade and party is always fun, we got to see everyone's costumes and our principal always dresses up.. and KayLea got to feel like a big girl cuz she got to sit up to an empty desk and be like one of the students.. Hunter's friends are always so nice to her and it makes her feel so good! then last night we went to a friends house (who actually lives in a REAL neighborhood) and went trick or treating.. we didn't go last year because the kids had trunk or treat at church but this year they cancelled it so we really had to scramble to find something for them to do.. luckely a friend from church came through YEA!

this is KayLea at the Library after her cookie was done

KayLea waiting for the parade to start and Hunter in the Parade & Hunter's Party the big green super hero is Mr. Spadero his principal, and Hunter doing the limbo, can't say he's the most flexable of kids haha.. can you believe KayLea will be able to be in the parade NEXT YEAR!!! fun stuff!

then the whole brood that went Trick or Treating.. unfortunately this is the only picture we have of Brad.. he's too old and cool to have Halloween parade's and parties at school, so this is the only shot we have of him.. He was a "hobo" although it's very UN PC to say that now but oh well who says we are PC ever! Hunter was Harry potter and KayLea was a kitty witch for the morning and then just a kitty in the evening (we had great battles with the head wear) so so another Halloween is done..

i guess this means i really have to start thinking about CHRISTMAS! EEEK!

anyway we are all good and had a fun time...

ta ta

ps click on the picture to see them better/bigger

Ok so I totally missed the boat on this one..

ok i said i was going to go down to our little harbor and the prety fall colored trees were framing our little light house so nicely well i waited one day too late.. we have had some super winds and well all of the pretty leaves were well on the ground.. i was so bummed but since i actually made the effort to go down and shoot it i just carried on and took some pic's of this beautiful landscape right down my street..

this is of the lake patrol boat at the docks..

the next one is of our sweet light house.. it's a minature model of coarse but it's still cute

and of coarse our caboose, this town was a major rail way stop, the kids would actually take the train to go to school in Newport or Warner (a few towns in either direction)... and it was a major tourist stop for all the folks from Boston.. we've never actually been able to go inside the caboose the almost 2 years we've lived here, we've never been able to stop when it's been open (only a few times a year)..and this is the view from the Lake, you can see i'm telling the truth about all the pretty colors finally coming out..

Ok now's the time where i spill on why are all these pic's cute but look funny.. i decided to use one of my new lenses (the wide angle i think) and well i obviously need to practice a bit more with them but i'm having fun doing it!!! i think Ben's a little sorry he got my camera for me for my birthday it's created a monster forsure!!!

anyway i know i'm late posting that but this where we live.. and why we LOVE it!!

Fall has finally arrived!!

well even though it has been pretty warm here in the afternoons.. Fall seems to have finally peeked up around here.. it's helped that we have had some rain (thankgoodness!)

Here are some pictures of my back yard trees.. as you can see my lawn nearly died with out any rain (remeber we have a VERY in-effecent well so we NEVER water the lawn).. we have a great little light house (minature model) at our harbor and i've got to find some time to go take come pic's down there.. the colors REALLY have come out by the water...

so there's my FALL Foleage post...

in other news, SOCCER IS FINALLY DONE!!! Hunter had his last tournament last saturday.. they kind of got beat pretty bad the first few games but they came around and tied their last game so the day ended happy!!! Hunter also tried out for his school musical which this year they are doing "susical" which is good because in years past they have kind of done "their own verson" of various musicals more like a review, BUT this year they finally bit the bullet and purchased the rights to a REAL PLAY! so Hunter is a "who" as in the "who from whoosville", so there are about 10 who's so he's happy, and will have practices only once a week for the next few months so I"M HAPPY! KayLea had a few cavety's and we had our 2nd of 4 visits last Thursday it was a filling in your upper back molar so her cheek was very chipmonkey and she didn't like it at all!! we stopped at the grocery store to get some yogurt and pudding and she didn't want to come in "because people will see".. how did i raise such a looks concious kid!!! i finally told her she couldn't be in the car by her self but she could lay her head on my fromthe cart the whole time.. she didn't end up doing that but she was one tired cookie and napped most of the afternoon.. she tried milking it the rest of the day on friday but i knew it probably just felt funny.. she gave me grief brushing her teeth but that too shall pass.. but i'm super worried about her next visit.. she has to get a filling in between her upper front teeth.. so we'll see how good she is then... it's not until the 5th.. so hopefully she will forget! (not likely).. then the last one is just a cleaning.. and she's been begging for a new tooth brush like the dentist office and i keep telling her that comes when you get a cleaning... Brad is doing great also, he's in Guitar club, Newspaper and today goes to student council for the first time, not to mention Band during the school day etc.... i can't complain about a kid that wants to get involved... i'm pretty lucky!!!

so thats all thats going on for now.. we are still planning on trying to make it to Mom and Dad's for Thanksgiving... should be fun!

ta ta

Ok so how long have i been a mom.. Bradley is 11 so i guess thats how long.. and this morning KayLea is sleeping in.. it's almost 9 and i've checked on her twice.. checking to see the blanket go up and down "sheeewww she's breathing" my head knows she must be she just had a long day yesterday.. she went to the Dentist for the first time (no judgements i know she's almost 5) she has a couple of cavety's, i was so worried because it's one of those pediatric dentists who take the kids back with out the parents.. she thought it was Disneyland!!! the first visit they let me stay but we talked about "next time" she'll be the big girl she is and go with out mom.. next time is today.. they had a cancellation and so i took it, i'm thinking now maybe it was a bad idea but we'll see i'm hoping to just ride the coat tails of her good experience yesterday.. but today they do the back filling and we'll come back to do the front.. i'd hope they'd just do it all but this is peds y'know tiny steps.. but she was such a good girl..
but after we didn't have but a few minutes to have lunch and her treat (ice cream) and then pick up Hunter from hiking coub and dash to Soccer practice then of coarse scouts she didn't even fall asleep in the car on the way home from the Dentist, so yea long day.. she needs this sleeping in.. I'm feeling like life has gotten a little too busy.. this last couple of weeks, but after this week all we'll have is Hunter's play practice and Bradley's 2 after school activities.. YEA!!!
anyway i'm rambling.. i don't even know if this all makes since.. i hear KayLea sturing there she is!!!
ta ta for now!

Ok so i was TRICKED!!!
as i said yesterday was well BUSY!!! i survived and the boys had fun.. Bradley came in 4th in the tournament.. he and the boys on his team were some of the saddest kids i've ever seen.. but they all played great and really held their own to way bigger teams... Hunter's game they lost but only by one (a great improvement) BUT BUT BUT, i was tricked.. i went through this whole day yesterday thinking by the end of the day we would be done with soccer.. well i was tricked.. Hunter has a tournament next saturday!!! and a practice on wednesday URRGGG!!!! i guess i'll grin and bare it!!! another week of soccer i feel so defeated.. why?? who knows.. but i'll write my happy dance next week when it is ALL said and done!!!
ta ta for now

Being pulled 4 ways!
Ok so today is like the busiest saturday i think i've had yet as a Mom... today Brad has his last soccer games/ it's a tournament, they are placed 1st going into it BUT, they are playing only one team that they know the rest are the top teams of their perspective leagues.. and the ONE team we know, they are the only team that beat us (1-0.. so it wasn't a slaughter but still!) just to add to the hustle and bustle.. today is also Relief Society Super Saturday, of which i was asked a while back (before we knew Brad's tournament schedule) to be on the Committee and do a mini-class (it's an easy one though, teach to make Grandma Mockridge's triffel).. And to add to my prep the soccer team has asked that each family bake some stuff for a bake sale going on during the tournament.. not to mention that Hunter has his last game at 3 (thank goodness, Brad's tournament will be done at 1)..
So i've been up since 4 but out of bed at 5, i'm making muffins (i made cookies and half the triffel last night) and oh yea i have to shower and look half way presentable.. not to mention that at least it's not suppose to rain BUT it's going to be pretty cold and windy all day so i'm having to find the boy's hooded sweatshirts and sweats to go over their uniforms (have only found 1 sweatshirt as of now.. URRRGGGG!).. i know, i know i really should make the boys find them but then what.. the'll usually have to be washed and we just aren't there yet so it's just as well that i find everything.. Ben has boy duty this morning i'm going to teach my class, do my tiny craft then hit the road to try to catch the last hour or so of Brad's tournament along with fufill my duty in the snack shack for half of that (oh the joy!)
But BUt wait,, as busy as i am today also marks THE END OF SOCCER SEASON!!! as good as season it was and we all had so much fun... i'm ready!!! it seems as though my family has consumed more than their fair share of fast food/pizza /mac-n-cheese to last them a life time.. Next year KayLea will play and Brad will be on the Middle School team, so the Bus will take them etc. etc.. and KayLea won't play "real" games until she's in 1st grade so i think it shouldn't be as hectic (what am i thinking with 3 active kids it's ALWAYS hectic)...
anyway there's my rant for today.. now i've GOT to get in the shower, take the muffins out of the oven and put another batch in!!!
have a great day!
ta ta

Wake up call!!!

Ben had a dr's appt yesterday, he came home while i was on the phone with a friend from Texas and he handed me 3 prescriptions.. the first one was for glocslophase (i know i butchered the spelling but i don't have it in front of me).. i instantelly knew and i said on the phone to my friend "Ben has diabetes!!" she was shocked! i was shocked! and yes Ben confirmed it he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes yesterday. the other prescriptions were for this fun new little toy he now has to have on him at all times and test his blood sugar at least twice a day, and another drug to somehow help with his kidney function (that wasn't so good either according to the same lab tests)... we have known for a while that a change needed to happen in our family's eating habits and with Ben's VERY strong family perpensity to diabetes this has just nailed the last nail into that coffin... We are going to de sugar the house, the Dr didn't want to start him on inselin right away (which he is very thankful for) and so now Ben has a few months to make his diet and the new oral meds do the trick (he is VERY motivated!).. so i am getting on the band wagon as well.. I"m sure he'll start loosing way quicker than me (he lost 100 lbs in less than 6 months when i only lost about 20 in the same amt of time) but i'm going to TRY very hard to not compare us! we are getting healthy, the weight is just going to be a secondary benefit!!!

This a pic of his monitor (he's got the actual one on him, as he should, so i couldn't get a pic of the actual one)... but he has gotten online and get a ton of info and ideas and so we are off and running.. we will probably start the lo carb diet this weekend as Ben always needs a day or so to "come down" from sugar and he feels lousey for the first couple of days, and doesn't want to harm anyone at work haha! anyway thats whats going on at our house!

ta ta for now!

Smells like HOME!!

i think i have very few smells that trigger memories or feelings.. Lucky Charms breakfast cereal totally makes me think of my Nanny (great Grandma Lane) we never had sugared cereal when we were younger, and Nanny would always just ask us what we wanted when we spent the night and lucky charms was totally it (not the store brand the REAL stuff).. and this Cowboy Coffee Cake.. I don't think Mom made it super often but when she did it was a special day... and the smell feels like home.. it's columbus day holiday from school today and we woke up to a cold rainy day so i made it for the kids this morning.. KayLea became VERY impatient and said she'd eat it soupy she didn't care she just wanted coffee cake "NOW!" all the kids get excited when they smell it (KayLea was very confused at why it smells done when it isn't yet).. i guess i don't make it too too often either!!.. i thought about posting the recipe but if you want it just google "cowboy coffee cake recipe" thats how i found it.. it's also in the Big betty crocker cook book (or at least an edition a while back and in a current edition listed as Buttermilk Breakfast cake or something like that).. the one i got for a wedding presant didn't have it in it so i found it on google (isn't google great.. how did we ever survive with out it??)
anyway this is my attempt at a foodie blog...
i was going to post some pic's of the boy's camping adventure but Ben still has the little digital camera in his car.. so when he gets home today but the boys said "he only took pic's of the fire".. so we'll see...
ta ta for now!

Fancy KayLea
who would have thought a book given to KayLea as a christmas presant from Grandma Cathy would become her guide book for life.. "Fancy Nancy" is all about a very Fancy girl who was born to family who wasn't fancy at all, she uses very fancy words like, Fuchsa, Stupendous & parfaits, & she can't wait to learn French "because everything french is fancy".. she decided to offer her family "fancy lessons" and they took her up on it, she accessorized them and took them to dinner at the "kings Crown" where they all were dressed very fancy.. it's a very cute book that concludes Nancy saying..and my favorite line in the book " I love you, mom says... I love you, dad says... and all i say back is I love you.. because there isn't a fancy--or better-- way of saying that" anyway KayLea has wanted ever since she got this book to "fancy up" her room just like Fancy Nancy's room.. trust me when i say we had to do some heavy negotigating for her to not do EVERYTHING Nancy had in her fancy room but, the boys went camping last night so we girls went to Joanne's fabric to see if we could find some stuff to make a canopy for her poster bed.. we were successful..

This is a picture of Fancy Nancy's room before she made it fancy, next to a pic of KayLea's room before she made it fancy...

and These pic's are of Fancy Nancy's Fancy room alongside KayLea's new Fancy Bed!

and Here's KayLea reading Fancy Nancy on her new Fancy Bed...

Who would have thought 10 yards of bright pink toole wouldn't be enough.. i'll probably need to get another 15 yards to do curtains and the other side of the bed.. AND not to forget fancing up her Doll crib (yes it was part of the negotiation) but she's happy for now .. you can't really tell in the pictures but the piece that's inside where she will see up is VERY sparkley.. she wanted to make sure i pointed that out.. and you can click on the pic's to see better/larger pic's..

ta ta for now!

I know i've been MIA
Well what i thought was Sucky Fall allergies was actually a full blown cold/flu... Ben has been sick so much so he missed work monday through friday last week.. he just went back to work today.. he still feel's lousey but we both are finally on the mend! At least the yucky stuff that was stuffing our ears and noses has started to move (ok i know way too much info but really it's quite an improvement!!!) SOO bottom line, maybe i don't think Fall SUcks anymore.. that remains to be seen the colors are comming but i'm not so sure it's going to be that great of "leaf season", we are in near drout conditions, we havn't had nearly the rain that we are suppose to so everything is going directly to brown, including my GRASS that i have pain-stakingly have been trying to get to grow in my shady back yard!!!
Anyway Kids are still busier than ever, Soccer is winding down, Brad only has 2 more games then the playoffs, his team is in FIRST place in their division but because of this will play WAY hard teams in the playoffs, Brad has had his BEST soccer season yet, it just seems like it has all clicked for him, i'm so happy/proud of him because last year i think things got a little discouraging for him he felt frustrated on a regular basis but this year he's just really doing an awesome job and the even better part is it's not just his proud mom who thinks so... he's getting allot of recognition from allot of people!!!.
Hunter starts Hiking club this week and also has the State Standardized tests this week...
Columbus day is monday which means a long weekend, i origionally thought of suprising Jack, Sarah and my kiddo's by going to their Corn Maze but its only a 3 day not a 4 day weekend like i had origionally thought, and i just don't think there's any way we can make it to KY and back in 3 days even flying...
so thats whats going in the Fox house these days...
happy fall!!!
ta ta

did everyone see Jack this morning did ya.. did ya??
well if your like me and a complete act of fate happened and we actually got a thunderstorm right at the moment he was on and my internet wasn't working not to mention that we just got a new modem and it decided at that exact moment to expire my password (that by the way i had no clue would expire at all!!) so i was frantic on the phone with verizon tech service and when i finally got it done it was 7:00 i had it in my mind that i had until 9 but DUAH! today show starts at 7 so obviously there local stuff had to be done by then.. well i did some more hunting and i found the clips of him... he did a great job!!! here's the link but there are some instructions..

http://tinyurl.com/34efwt

go to the 5:00 hour and then click on the low quality/free preview clips then when it comes up put in minutes 55-58 for his first interview.. (it will only show 4 minutes at a time)
then go to the 6:00 hour and put in minutes 19-21 and do it again for 54-58.. looks like it's going to be a huge success... and yes i think Jack is going to get some grief from his friends and family about his mad geniess comments.. (although we all know he REALLY IS!!) only bummer is Sarah was actually WORKING and covering something very imortant like a robery or something.. *tisk* but if you want to see her you can click on various news stories and she is GOOD!!!

thats all for now!!!
ta ta

OK I'm saying it... FALL SUCKS!!!
Fall is usually my most favorite season of them all!!! but yesturday the first day of fall brought with it a pretty windy day, a layer of polen on my newly washed car and with that ALLERGIES!!! i did fine through the spring but i think because everything is so dry the wind just brought everything up and my head feels like it's going to explode!!! not to mention the oh so pretty RED RAW nose i am displaying or the roll of toilet paper i must have on my person at all times...
i did see some pretty red leaf's on the way to church yesturday so ghats good.. but if we don't get some rain everything is just going to die with out any pretty colors.. we were at a high fire warning yesturday, don't think i've ever seen that before but we just need some rain pronto...
everyone is speculating on "what this means" for winter.. i dont know if i buy into any of the mombo-jumbo but i just need som rain or the wind to stop or something so these darn pollen things GO AWAY!!!
ok i'm obviously cranky and dulled due to sinus/allergy meds.. hopefully i'll post again this week with pretty fall pictures.. we'll see!!!
ta ta for now
Ky

Our life as we know it..

Well, Soccer is in full blow, Brad and Hunter both had great games today... Hunter's team got a butt whippin pretty fierce; he's got a pretty young team and allot of them have never played before so i think he's a little frustrated but we keep telling him it's important for him to be a good example to the younger boys.. but we lost count at 8-0.. Brad's team won and Brad got his 2nd goal EVER! (he got his 1st goal ever last year) he did an awesome job and really shined in the 2nd half.. he's kind of new at playing forward and he is shinning!!!

KayLea isn't playing quite yet, but she has a blast with this little boy Malcum (he's the cute blonde boy in the pic with all the kids) they have so much fun at Brad's practices (he's got a brother on Brad's team).. they are great friends!! it's very cute!

now for the weather.. Brad's game (which is not pictured today.. Brad's picture is from last week's game) it was cloudy and rainey and VERY COLD at Brad's game at Noon, come 3:00 for Hunter's game the sun came out so all of us who were sweatered down were roasting.. it's suppose to get down to 30 degrees tonight!!! Time to fill the Oil tank!!! Not looking forward to that but i'm kind of looking forward to the cooler weather!!!

ta ta for now!!!