Flowers and haircuts

 We went for a drive today to get out of the house for a while, and found this hill covered in sunflowers, I HAD to take a picture, so I sent all my kids up the hill and this is what I got!! I thought it was pretty cute!

 Don't know what it is lately but my big boys insist on wearing camo ALL THE TIME, so of course I find a great place for pics and my boys are in camo..... oh well what do you do huh.

 They still look pretty good!

 Alli LOVED the big flowers! she was having the most fun.

 Abby with her little flower. She was having so much fun running around.

 Jason had a hard time looking at the camera because of the sun. but I love this pic anyway because it just showes off his expressive eyebrows :)

Haircuts finally!! they are hard to see because Jason is obsessed with rubbing his own, and daddys (and now joeys) head!! He loves that fuzzy feeling.

swim meet and summer reading program!!!!

 Joey had another swim meet this weekend, He did pretty good!!! And finally I was able to get close enough to get some decent pictures!! Here he is doing his least favorite stroke, the breast stroke, but he is improving at it all the time!

 And his all time favorite the freestyle! he barely comes up to breath!

 My favorite to watch because I can't do it without drowning myself, the butterfly! He looks so awsome doing it And check out his wingspan!! His arms are so long! He was so good at this one.

 And here is the little thief who kept taking my sunglasses all day! at least he was so cute, I couldn't get mad!

And our little setup to watch the meet, here are salt and pepper comparing drinks, who's was the most full! they were having a blast!

 pics were a little out of order here, but just to show how wore out the kids were! yea it was a long day!

 This is a pic of the sun I took, kinda sweet huh! it has a rainbow around it! It was amazing, maybe you fellow idahoans will see it on the news soon, I submitted it :)

 So, I started this summer reading program, and it has really taken off in my family, I got the idea from a friends blog, so thanks emily! So for every 10 pages my kids read, they get a sticker,, and for every 10 stickers they get a treat! they have been reading like CRAZY!!! its amazing I should have done it during school, lol.

 look joey is acutally reading a book, not my first choice in books, but a book!!!

Here are our reading charts, and our prize jars, fun, fun, fun, the kids are so going to be ready for school next year!!!

so out of the blogging mode but I'm trying!!!

So I am a little bit late, but I am trying to get better! I haven't been in to mood to blog lately, in fact I haven't taken many pics at all lately, I am in a big funk! I am trying to pull myself out of it, we will see! but anyway, Here are my adorable kiddos at their kindergarten graduation, they made it!!! Jason giving his part..... 

 Abby getting her diploma....she looks nervous, but I'm sure deep down she was excited.

 Jason just wanted to get his cookie and go home. ...

 Here are the graduates, they are looking happy now :)

 Here are the graduates with their kindergarten teacher! proud moment! I am so proud of them, it was a rough year, Abby struggled with her routine, she loves having a routine, and when it changes, she has a hard time, and school does not always stay the same, so she has had to learn to adjust a bit, but she did quite well, she is reading,and loving it! Jason, is also reading, however his problem was with being silly too much, and not wanting to come in from recess! goofball, I think he learned that from his brothers, but he is being sent to first grade!!!! good luck first grade teachers ;)

 And then on to some crazy stuff, we decided to make homeade popcorn, in a pan, well I wasn't checking over the boys as they started it, and they put A LOT of kernals in the pan so when it started poping they had to be ready with bowls for when it started poping over!!!! but all in all it was fun, and a learning experience.

 Jason didn't want to get too close! he found the perfect place to watch.

 Now please don't judge my cleaning skills, this room is down in the basement, I don't even go downt there then entire winter because its too cold, but the kids love it because thats where they watch movies, year round, they take sleeping bags, and hang out there, cold or not, this was before I cleaned it, so sorry about the HUGE mess!!! Alli and her cute friend Morgan had been practicing for a show to put on for us, it was adorable!!! They worked so hard it was so much fun!

 And their outfits were adorable, they danced to justin beiber, ymca, chicken dance, all the goodies, we were so entertained!!! so much fun.

And to wrap up this crazy post, here are our 3 kittens jason is so in love with them. They reside under our shed. and only come out once in a while. but they are so much fun!
 Well as for everything else, we are all hanging in there, we have put our house up for sale, Brian has been in and out of work for most of this year, and we have decided that we need to go where work is more steady, and where brian can be home every night! hard decision, but we feel its the right one. So crazy life changes, but I guess thats what we all go through. Its been rough, and I am sure it will get harder before it gets easier. I just am looking forward to that silver lining around the black cloud!!!

hold on for the ride!

My little girl has turned 11! What a little sweetheart! And let me tell you her birthday was a whirwind. We asked her if we could celebrate a few days later, but nope, she wanted it on her birthday. So after t-ball, and dance, and scouts, and mutual, at 9:30 we finally celebrated her birthday, but it was ok, she was so happy!

 She fianlly got her big hoop earings :) yea!

 And a skipper jump rope thingy, which she is really good at, (I will practice when nobody is around so I can get good and show off to everybody later)

 And this fun big volleyball game which if it ever stops raining she will really enjoy playing!

 Happy birthday birthday my beatiful princess.

 and a new shirt from grandma and grandpa carroll!

 Then on to zach's middle school graduation, BBQ and minute to win it fun!! He had a blast. here he is having fun playing the games.

 Zach seems pretty fleible leaning all the way over to pick up the sacks for this game.

 Stacking up the bolts, he seems pretty steady.

 AND THEN.........on to lagoon (or as jj calls it the goon) the girls had a dance competiton so off we were to lagoon to dance and play! first of all, allis team took first, yea, and abbys team took second, yea!! here are the kids and brian playing!!

 playing on the log ride!

 I tried to get jason's face, but he kept it down the whole time, funny kid!

Me and the crazy kids , we all had a BLAST!! a little too much sun, a little too much fun. great family day! my kids amaze me, they all went on roller coasters, Abby was a little short to go on some, but she wanted to, but the rest of them went on crazy roller coasters that blew me away! my kids are fearless! I love them.

my mothers day

 These are the adorable "breakfast in bed" sacks that salt and pepper made for me in school to give me on mothers day. they were so excited they had a hard time waiting! and how cute are those pics of me on the front.

 These are the goods. a little apple juice, granola bar,a fig bar, and a napkin, then on mothers day, jason came running in, and threw the sack on my bed, and said happy mothers day! and ran off, It was pretty cute. unfortunatley abby was sick so ,I got my sack from her later.

 This is the poem on the front of the sack, I thought it was adorable.

Being a mom means everything to me! I love my kids more than anything, they teach me so much every day. I am hopefully growing as a mom all the time and getting better at it! I love my kids so much!

my baby is 14!!!!

 I find it so hard to believe that my baby boy is now 14, it went so fast, Zach is such a fun kid. He has such a unique sense of humor, he keeps us laughing all the time. We all just love him so much!

 Can you believe we got all those candles on one cake!

 Zach is the ultimate gamer. He would play games 24/7 if we let him, so of course every holiday or b-day he asks for a new game, and this is the one he got this time :)

one happy teenager! love you buddy!

decisions, decisions , decisions

Sometimes I really don't like being the grown up. I close my eyes and go back in time to when I was a little kid running around the circle I grew up on, in my mismatched hand-me-down outfit, with my hair not combed, eating a popsicle as fast as I could before I melted. Staying out till dark, laughing with my friends, riding my bike or jumproping, or playing tetherball. Now here I sit, with my 5 darling children trying to make the very best decisions for them. Not sure at all what to do. I am sure my parents anguished over the decisions they made, and they were great, because it seemed to me that they made the decicions so easily! My problems seem so HUGE! Do I try to change the kids schools, do I try to home school, do we move, do we stay, if we move do we go to north dakota, or salt lake, And it seems like all these decisions need to be made RIGHT NOW! I have prayed, I have pondered, I have done what I feel I should do to get answers, but I still don't know what to do. I have sent the kids to school and waited till it was absolutley quiet, and just layed on the living room floor, and waited for divine inspiration to flow into me!! yet there is none. I am still clueless as to what to do, what is best for me and my kids, I have a daughter who has no friends, who wants to go to a different school, I have twins, (kinda) who probably should be in 2 different classes, I think it would be better for them, but my boys are pretty happy where they are, as for me..... I guess all in all, it doesn't much matter, I sit in my house all day, alone, so I am pretty portable. I can be alone here or alone somewhere else. You know what, being a grown up kinda stinks sometimes, I am not trying to make you all feel bad for me, I am truly not, I am just so confused, I know we all as adults come across things in our lives that we struggle with, and usually I am so great with snap decisions, even big ones, but this one has me stumped. oh well, I will keep up with my praying and pondering! thanks for the sounding board! Maybe I will go outside and eat a popsicle and relive my youth, and feel better :)
p.s. update on my thumb. I went to the dr. today, after wearing my oh so sexy thumb brace which I totally blinged out, it so did not do anything to help me, so we are back to thinking it is RA so I had a shot of cortisone today, the shot was not so bad, but as the day is wearing on, the pain is increasing. so I have upped my pain pills for now hopefully by tomorrow or so it will feel better, he said the shot should make me feel better for 8 months to a year, if it works at all, I don't know if that makes me feel better or not!

she got me good!

Ok so another addition to the funny things kids say! We were at church yesterday, and I went to pick up salt and pepper from their class, Their teachers just gave me the craziest look when I got there, then they busted up laughing! They said their lesson was on the word of wisdom and what they should and shouldn't do, and my little pepper shouts out "my mom drinks and drives all the time" so now, they are going to turn me into the bishop. I guess I need to get it under control. NO MORE DIET DR. PEPPER WHILE DRIVING! Thank  goodness they explaind the difference after they stopped laughing their heads off. so I think for the most part I am ok to go on with life as I always have. Pepper has ok'd my drinking. so we are good! What a goofball.

april dance comps!

 Alli and Abby have done a couple of competitons and have a couple more to do! April and May are competition months. Then we are off for the summer. Here are the girls all dolled up. They are having so much fun, and doing so great. The last one we went to, Alli's group took first place, and abby's group took second! great job girls!

 Abby and her friend Lexis. getting ready to dance!

the funny thing kids say.........

I could follow my kids around with a notebook and just jot down the thing they say all day, and at times like now when I want to share how funny my kids are I wish I did because I am forgetting what they said! oh well I remember a few. yes all my kids are funny, but the lttler (is that a word, and if it is I know its spelled wrong) ones say the goofiest things. Jason comes up with great ones. Abby is like a 15 year old stuck in a 5 yerar old body, but she hears me say things wrong and asks for things later the way she heard them. Like the other day I was cooking carrotts and I told her I would let her have raw carrots the next day as a snack. Well the next day she asked me if she was going to have rotton carrots for her snack! eeewww. then this weekend I had given her some medicine for her sneezing, a few days later she asked for an energy pill, I looker at her like she was crazy! then realized she was asking for an allergy pill, I am thinking of maybe getting her hearing checked. Jason on the other hand is just a class clown. He asked me the other day if he had 2 faces, I said no he only had 1 face, why, he said his one mouth is talking, but so is his tummy so he must have 2 faces! then he told me the other day that he knew who the easter bunny was, I was a little nervous to ask who he thought the easter bunny was: not exactly sure what he was going to come up with, well, I should have known, he told me of course mom, its hop!!! Haven't you seen the commercials? I love my kids they keep me on my toes every single day!
And on to less fun stuff, to keep you all up on my thumb drama, I wemt to the rheumatologist last week, because a blood test I had taken had come back with elevated RA levels, and although they are still elvated, he is not convinced I have rheumatoid arthritis. Simply because it generally shows up on both sides of the body, if it is on one hand it is on the other also. Since it is only in one thumb, he is not so sure, but I don't feel so great when you are sitting there and all you hear are hmmm, well this is different, I'm not sure. I have lost my faith in dr.s. It is frustrating. Or as jason says fruchfrating!!!! So his best guess is I have somehow injured it without my knowledge, he has put me on a week of steroids, and a month of antinflamitories, and a brace. If in a month it is not better then I have a thumb MRI. I am thinking my thumb is a big pain!! So I guess I go with it for the month and see where we are then. I will let you know how it goes!