Texas outLAWS

conversations with a four year old

It went something like this...

LUKE:      What post office did I go to?

ME:          What do you mean Luke?

LUKE:      When I was born...which one did Heavenly Father send me to cause I was so big?

ME:          Heavenly put you in my tummy to grow when it was time to come down to be in our family. 

LUKE:      Oh.  But when you have another baby, you should have a boy cause there are four girls and only three boys in our family...just Me, Dad, and Uncle Adam.  ( I guess Uncle Adam is now officially in our family.)

ME:          What makes you think I'm going to have another baby?

LUKE:      Cause you got those two brown round things at the top...kinda like thorny things.  (Pretty good description if you ask me.)

ME:          Oh yes, and those are just to feed the baby.  That's right Bear.

LUKE:      When will Jesus come down cause I really miss him.

ME:          Pretty soon.

LUKE:      When?  Like in 6 or 7 days?

ME:          Maybe a little longer than that.

        ...and it carried on and on.

FOUR

He's four.  The boy turned four.  He is more darling, gentle, and lovable each year.  He recently did a photo shoot for some charming bowtie's.  How he comes up with all these poses, I'll never know.  Handsome boy.  This one reminds me of his Dad.

Outside of pulling faces in front of the camera, he loves wearing his "sports" clothes, dribbling the basketball, lifting heavy things, and making his bed. 

Love you my BEAR.

Walsh Ranch ward Christmas party

Scott has proclaimed to the world that this party trumped any other ward party out there..  Why?  Because it was efficient, fun, and well-planned.  Scott's perfect world.  

Recipes were provided for great breakfast foods that everyone in the ward gladly helped with.  Imagine that!   I find that it's kind of a crap shoot as to what ends up on your plate at ward functions and giving out the recipes prevented any interesting mystery food choices. Superb.

Kids craft tables were set up and monitored by happy and willing Youth to keep things under control.

The entertainment was simply wonderful. Tasteful and memorable musical numbers, and a showing of the most recent beautiful Nativity movie.  Perfect.  Thanks Mindy.

And best of all?  Santa made his appearance while we ate, getting him out of the way early on.  Exciting for the kids and entertaining for the adults.  This Santa was high-tech too.  He wore an earpiece that allowed Mrs. Clause to communicate to him from the parents.  You can only imagine how helpful this line of communication became when the children were able to be called by name and also allowed Santa to steer them in the right direction for what they might want for Christmas.  Genius.

 

All and all, a wonderful time with a wonderful ward family.  And best of all, I didn't have anything to do with it except to learn a new fantastic recipe for French Toast casserole.  Ask me about it sometime...it involves cream cheese.  Delish!

playing catchup...Luke's preschool program

It's time for me to officially start the arduous game of blogging catchup.  Anyone want to join me?  

I am always so pleasantly surprised at what a wonderful Christmas program the preschools are able to put together with so many little ones.  Well, I should say so many little ones and one BIG one.  You can easily pick Luke out of the crowd of 4 years olds with his abnormally large size.  He's just about a head taller than the rest. (Minus the six 6 year old on the other end...what is he doing here?!)  But Luke's very cute if you ask me.  

He loves his two teacher's at St. Phillips this year, Kathy and Kathy.  Pictured is one of them.  He sang out and performed his hand actions superbly.  Good enough that his Dad suggested we skip out early after he finished his class presentation to enjoy some tasty Texas Barbecue together.  (Certainly not to miss the crowds.)  

What a boy!  Well done son.

redemption

The new year usually bring with it an incredible willpower be better.  Be better at working out, eating, scripture reading, multitasking,  temple attendance, parenting, wife(ing), blogging, organization... you name it, I've got it on the list this year.

I am slow to start 2010, but have big plans to play some serious catch-up in all the areas above.  We visited my family in Utah for the holidays and there is much to share.  Oh how I love going away for the holidays, but Oh how I love getting back home so much more.

Until I get to the blogging part of my catch-up, here are a few group pics we shot while visiting my beautiful, fabulous family.

Our photography was done by Angie Monson.  Her work is breathtaking.

 

G & G with the grandkids.

 

This one turned out a little better.

 

The best we could get with Elsie pulling Diva attitude the ENTIRE shoot.  Of course it had to be my child who was out to destroy a perfectly good opportunity to photograph the whole family together.

 

My eldest brother Quinn and his stunning family.  Delicious Dawn and the squishable Cam man.

 

My sis Jana, Nate, and their active and endearing Noah.

 

Handsome, isnt he Ladies?  This is my single 25 year old baby brother, Adam.  He actually just moved in with us and is on the job hunt.  We love having him around.

 

My folks...looking younger than ever might I add.

 

Just the girls.  And yes, the photographer got way too carried away with the fan here.  Still love this shot though.

 

Da boyz.  Strapping gents.

 

Scott's pic for the CTO website.  He doesn't like it, I do.

 

The promotional braces shot...ugh.

The title of this post was redemption.  This shot shows me we ARE capable of a pleasant family photo.  Hooray for second chances!

family picture attempt '09

Last Saturday we set out to take the annuals family pics.  We tried and gave it our best effort this year.  Hoping to find one shot of the whole family at least looking towards the camera is just too much to ask for I guess.  However my girlfriend and volleyball teammate, Kam, captured a few individuals shots that turned out just fine.  Visit kamlingphotography.com to see some more of her fabulous work.

 

 

We'll have to give it another go next year with the 'one-big-happy-family' shot.  Until then, this tickle fest will have to do.

Dear diary...help me through this day.

6:45 am:  alarm rings

• Half awake, I wander into the family room to find my phone I left on the love sac the night before to turn off the alarm.
• I check my emails and find I need to respond to a million messages and begin the process as Mimi walks down from bed to get ready for the day.  She is pleasant.

7:00 am:  mad rush

• I braid and as fast as my hands will braid hair to get the two older girls off to school in time.  I scramble to find shoes, jackets, etc...to complete their looks.  Their "looks" look disheveled.

7:15 am:  breakfast is served

• Mimi serves the three oldest kids cheerios and milk.  She pours herself a heaping bowl causing the other two to whine and complain.
• I give them 4 minutes to finish their cereal and insist that they musn't be tardy for school two days in a row.

7:20 am:  the discovery

• Luke cries out from the other room that Elsie is awake and has removed her diaper and pooped all over her bedroom floor.  Just then I realized I had forgotten to tape Elsie's diaper on the night before!
• I quickly rush in to assess the damage.  Not as bad as I thought--the entire mess is limited to a 4 ft area.  I have seen much worse...
• I grab the naked baby playing in her feces and throw her in my shower.

7:25 am: the second discovery

• I come out of my room only to find little poopy footsteps leading out of Elsie's room all over my tiled floor. 
• Upon this discovery, I tell the girls to just go ahead on their own this morning and that I won't be able to see them off on their bicycles around the corner.  "I love you girlies!"  I call out as sadness overtakes me realizing that this is the first morning I have NOT been able to see them off.  After all, they are only in 1st and 2nd grade, but I'm comforted knowing they are more familiar with their 1/4 mile route to school than even I am.
• I pin Lukee on the poopy foot steps and direct him to take his shoes off immediately.  The small controlled mess it once was, is now more than I can handle this morning.

7:30 am:  cleanup time

• While the baby remains in my shower, I begin to scrub and rinse and scrub and rinse my floors.  Lukee senses my disappointment in him as well, and begins to predict his future standings with me. 
  

"Mom, when I have to go live with the Bullocks, can my name be Coleson?" 

Completely taken off guard I ask, "Now why on earth would you go live with the Bullocks?"

With is face looking down and away he mumbled, "I dunno, they just need another brother I guess." ( I'm guessing he anticipated his actions were grounds for kicking him out of the family.)

"And why the name Coleson?"  I asked.

"I  just like that name I guess."

• I reassured Luke he'd never be sent away and finished the cleanup.  The one highlight is that I did get it all taken care of before the smell had a chance to set in.  Based on previous experience, I knew it had to be delt with asap or that would be the case.
• Ran back in to bath and collect Elsie from the shower.

9:00 am:  carpool

• Get Luke and Carter to school, ON TIME might I add, and head back home

9:15 am:  early nap

• No, not for me...for Elsie.  She was happy to lay down and I was happy to say goodbye to her for an hour or so.

9:30 am:  blogging to vent my feelings

Oh help me through this day...

piled high

I now understand why my Mother got after us so much as kids regarding the dirty laundry.  She would just scream in agony when she discovered the laundry basket overflowing again the day after it had all been completed.  I think the trouble was that she did all the washing and folding, then in good faith, handed it off to us kiddos to "put it away" in the assigned dresser drawers.  Somehow the final part of the three-step process was neglected. 

I can remember numerous times thinking to myself it would just be faster to put it all back in the now empty laundry basket in my closet and my Mother would NEVER KNOW.  Right.  As if she didn't pick up on the fact that my faded blue swimsuit wasn't worn that particular week of January, or that my Halloween costume didn't make an appearance either, or best of all--believed the fact that I went through the effort of folding them nice and tidy in a pile before putting them in?  I was a sly one that's for sure! 

I officially decided today that I would wash my girls CLEAN clothes one more time for good measure...then never again!  I will put a stop to this viscous cycle one way or another.  (I wonder how many generations this has gone on for?)  Even if I have to allow my child to be the "stinky kid" at school.  I refuse to put my Maytag Neptune washer and dryer through it over and over again.  Quite frankly, can't believe their still hangin' in.  Can't believe I'm still hangin' in after 8 years of being a parent!?

Any suggestions or remedy's all you superstar Moms out there?

Bear's 1st soccer season

I think I was a little ambitious to think I could coach Luke's 3 year old soccer team this fall.  Alot ambitious.  The majority of the season I had my four kids with me trying to pull off practices and games with 11 little future all stars.  I quickly learned that Scott herding the kids on the field during the game and me on the bench with the others was the way to go.  

Poor Luke.  I felt bad all season...

...cause he ROCKED!!  No one could touch him.  I ended up having to sit him for three-quarters of most of the games to give the other kids on the field a chance at even touching the ball.  I don't feel it was fair to him, but all the parents began to complain and question his age.  As if I really had a FIVE YEAR OLD out on the field to woop the other little guys!  Really people?  At the close of the season I did finally convince the YMCA to move him up a level all though it was against their policy to do so.  They could see the awkward dilemma I was in.  

For such a big guy, he is fast and agile.  He would tell you that his favorite part of the the game wasn't scoring the goals, but keeping the other team from scoring.  Very ahead of his time if I do say so myself.  We do have big plans for our only boy.

Why is Spiderman a part of our team picture?  He became the team mascot.  In a quick stroke of genius, I made the decision to strap him to our goal each game so my team would know which goal was ours.  I learned that THAT and "NO HANDS" was the biggest obstacle my three year old's had to face as first-timers.  So appropriately we named our team the SPIDERS.  "Gooooooo spiders!  We're all legs!"  Can I be any more clever?  Well it stuck, and we destroyed every team we played simply because we followed those two rules.  Now that is how I like to start Luke's athletic career!

PS - Oddly at the end of the season I was graded a "poor" score as an overall coach.  Not even marked as "good", but "poor".  I don't know what I could have done any better, but you can't please em' all I guess.

a good moment

I was scanning in a few shots my MIL needed for a project and came across this one.  Hmmm...I remember that moment like it was yesterday. 

Scott and I have been thinking a lot about our journey of 11 years together.  Sometimes it's good to take a look at these small moments when life gets more than I can handle.  Holding a sleeping newborn baby on my chest is the only thing I can think of that gives me the same feeling of peace and truth.