Put on list of things NOT to try.

Maria, "Daddy what is Raquel (our dog in case you are wondering) doing?"
Daddy, "She is licking her butt."
Maria, "We don't lick our butts."
Daddy, "No, we don't"
Maria, "That is disguthing."
"I will never like my butt like that." (glad she cleared that up for us.)

I'm in love.....

And this is the object of my affection. It's it beautiful? *sigh* ( the lawn you dork, not the truck)

I cannot express how happy I am that I have a lawn. It was alot of hard work but now that I see it all green, it was totally worth it.

getting dirty, but gettin' it DONE!

SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND.
it is a stump grinder and with it I was able to grind down five obnoxious stumps. don't feel bad for them, they had it comming.

This is what is left of the dead ponderosa we had in our front yard. it was the biggest stump i had to grind. about 30 inches in diameter.

all tilled, leveled, stump gone and ready for the sod to be put on the next day. whew.

it was HOT that day. Vertie and Barb ( the in-laws) and Katie (my right arm and sister in law) came over with the truck and hauled two HUGE loads off to the dump and then Barb helped me finish getting all the rocks out of the "yard" and i use that term loosely at this point.

and we all learned that a vinyl pool that has been left to sit all winter long behind a shed smells alot like a cow's butt. leaks like one too. ugh!

WHY?

Right now you are asking yourself......"What wild animal did that to that perfectly harmless screen?"




THESE WILD ANIMALS!! i don't know what they have against screens. for all i know it was mocking them during the night or even making faces. the point is mute because the screen is dead and cannot be brought back. i can only hope it did not suffer. but looking at it makes me think it was not a quick death. so i ask all of you to take a moment of silence for the screen. thank you.

Bored

I am bored. What I would really like to be doing at this moment is reading a good romantic (not trashy) novel. but alas I have none to read. (yes i have read the twilight series) so i am left with just the thoughts in my head.

1- being a mother is a hell of alot harder than i ever thought it would be.

2- i did not appreciate all that my mom did for me growing up. the fact that i am still alive says alot.

3- i am fat but i can honestly say i am okay with that. really, really okay. i am in good shape and work alot so i guess i should say i am sturdy instead of fat. =)

4- sometimes i get really lonely. it makes me sad. i wish i had a better relationship.

5- i have a wonderful husband who works very hard for our family so i can stay home and complain.

6- i wish i lived across the street from Regina. although i am sure the fine city of Springville is very happy that i don't.

7- if you kick the street lamps on campus in Rexburg ID. they will go out.

8- for some reason i am freakishly strong. i dunno why, but it has earned me the nickname "babe the big blue ox" thanks reg. =P

9- i would rather be working outside than doing housework anyday of the week. i like being dirty.

10- i cannot believe that 5 totally different kids could all come out of me.

11- i am not a mother that has my act together and my children know it and i am totally okay with that. i will leave it up to their husbands and wives to show them perfection.

12-riding in the back of a truck after swimming at 2am is really, really cold.

13- i have had so many friends move away it is almost a given that if you become a good friend of mine you will move away.

14- i hope they are not moving away just to get away from me. =)

15- i have no desire whatsoever to re-do highschool or relive those memories. h.s. sucked.

16- i can walk downtown at night without anyone bothering me. my friends feel safe going out with me because apparently i have a face that says " don't piss me off." wish my kids took it seriously.

17- i love camping with my kids. love, love, love it. it is an excuse for me to just goof off for a week.

18- don't like camping with hubby. he is a city boy through and through.

19- i am a free spirited artist that married a rocket scientist. still not sure how that happened. =)

20- at least my kids took after his brains and not mine.

21- i honestly don't care what people think of me. if they like me great! if not...piss off. i just don't care.

22- i have surrounded myself with great friends. i mean i have some of the best people for my friends. they are awesome.

23- i have never had a sip of alcohol. went to alot of frat parties though. =) never smoked either. just no desire to do either. watched too many people do stupid things. REALLY STUPID things.

24- have no desire to hang around drunk people anymore. no longer entertaining. just sad.

25- ever since anna came out of the hospital this last time and the dr said there is nothing more they can do for her i cannot sleep at night.

26- i hate shopping. i go clothes shopping for myself maybe, maybe once a year and only after my sister Lou has dragged me there.

okay, i could keep rambling on and on. but i better go.

The Best Laid Plans.....

Ike has a plan. Now this is usually a VERY BAD thing. But the boy has made out his life plan. First he want to join a section of the Armed Forces and do special ops. we are trying to lead him towards Air Force. Then he wants to buy a cabin in the a remote location in Montana. ( should not be too hard to find) Start a ranch and hunt off the land. Then he turn to his dad and asks, "Can I just buy a wife? I really don't want to go through the hassle of having to find one and spend money getting her to like me." Oh man. I think this may work out for the best because the less she knows about him the better.

Our House

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lqn5AIdd-9k

hope this link works. we have adopted this as "our" song. because our house is quite literally in the middle of the block and sadly it is quite loud and tends to always be hoppin' as many can attest to. but i love the fact that it is constantly full of kids. would not have it any other way.

What are the odds? SERIOUSLY?!!

When I took my girls to the park on friday we parked BigRed and headed off on our adventures. Surprise, Surprise. This is what was waiting for us when we came back. mine is the one facing left. it was so funny i had to take a picture of course, knowing it would be perfect for my blog.

Japanese Gardens in Manito Park

We are finally getting some warm weather here in the lovely Pacific Northwest so my friend, Brinn, and I thought we should take a walk in the park. The girls had so much fun in the sunshine and I was just happy to be out of the house.

I have never seen two cuter little buns. My friend, Brinn, was sure they were going to fall in.

They spotted one of the many Koi that live in the pond.

I cannot believe I got this shot. They never sit still long enough for actual poses.

This squirrel was actually really cute but he looks posessed in this photo. EVIL BE GONE!

Tired of getting soap in your eyes when you wash your hair?

So is Jakey. That is why he snuck his brother's paint ball mask into the tub with him this morning. I got quite a shock when I walked in a saw this mug looking back at me.

Our Front Yard (or as i like to call it The Shame of the Block)

our front yard was ugly. the lawn was taken over by,Jap Clover, as my lovely now deceased neighbor liked to call it. so we figured last fall lets just till it up and start over. I lovingly laid brick down and i think i did a dang fine job! then we cut down the dead tree that stood as a sentinal for 8 years. then winter came. winter went. spring arrived and we still have a dirt patch for our lawn with a stump in the middle. i am not happy at all with this. my dad has passed on to all his children a love of green grass. just because we grew up in the middle of nowhere and most people did not have grass much less a lawn did not stop him. he had california blood running through his veins. we had a huge lawn and every summer it would get bigger and we would moan and groan about having to mow and rake this lawn/forrest. we even had a little chant for him

our dad

the madmad, mower.

he's so mad 'cause he says he can't get the blade any damn lower.

i did not say it was a great chant, just a little chant.

so, i go to till the yard today. my sister in law, katie, was over to watch the little ones for me so this was going to work out SPLENDIDLY! half way through, the tiller DIES! just won't idle! ticked me off. totally through off my schedule of getting the finishing pavers laid this memorial day weekend so we can finally get some sod out there. i don't want my dad to see this mess. i know it would pain him greatly. I JUST WANT TO ACCOMPLISH SOMETHING!! is that too much to ask. seriously? i feel all the neighbors ( who i might add have lovely lawns taking care of by lovely lawn companies) look at my house in shame and judge me for it. sure my kids all went through the peeing in our yard/everyone else's yard stage but we are over that. really, i am a good person. i keep a clean house, clean kids and my backyard looks......well it looks okay for what it deals with on a daily basis. meaning 9 kids and two large dogs. i want my front to be my symbol of my having it all together. ARRGH!

okay, i am done ranting now.

You don't mess with a Girl's Gynocologist or her Hairstylist!

This is Traci she is a wonderful friend and a kickin' stylist. She has kept me looking fabulous for years. And that is no easy task! But now she is moving to Las Vegas. THE NERVE!

We took pictures of my last cut so the next stylist I find (and i have no idea how I am going to find one as good as her) will have some clue as to how I like my hair.

I am a tad bit un-conventional with my hair. I like it to be different just like ME!

And of course I HAVE to have my flip!

So if anyone knows a good hairstylist please let me know.

Drag Racing

This here is BigRed. he is my baby. You don't back baby in a corner!

Which is exactly what my friend (we will call him Paulino) when he said that is full size Ford Club Wagon was the original Big Red and mine is a wanna be. OH NO HE DIDN'!! (insert finger snapped Z here) He was actually crazy enough to challenge me to a drag race so he could school me! HA!

So we met up in the church parking lot (after church,sorta) of course and exchanged some pleasentries and then met up on 63rd. were I proceeded to kick is sorry butt. I felt a bit bad showing him up in front of his entire family but not bad enough to not challenge him again on Crestline. It was sad really. A complete blow out and it is now known by all that I have the one and only BIG RED!!

I do wonder what the people who were out watering their lawns and such thought when they saw two full size vans racing down the street with kids silloettes seen bouncing in the back. I am sure it was a peculiar sight.

Poor Jake. Youngest of Three Brothers.

Jakey, jakey, jakey. if any of our kids are gonna need therapy ( and to be quite honest, they will all need some sort of therapy after growing up in this house) he will need the most. In fact we will be setting up a saving account just for this if you are interested in donating. anyways, on with the story.....

i was woken up this saturday morning by his screams. not really all that unusual for him. but apparently it was fairly serious as isaac went to get help from daniel, no me because he knew he was gonna be in trouble. he had tied up jakey and locked him in the coat closet. for those of you new to our home we don't allow rope in it. no jump ropes, no string, shoelaces, NOTHING that resembles a rope. but sure enough the reason for the no rope rule found some rope and promptly tied up his younger brother. he has tied jakey to the back of a truck, the swingset, and the dog. the kid should be a houdini by now. but no, he just screams. and man that kid as got a set of lungs on him.

as if living on constant fear of being tied up is not enough he also has a 13 yr old brother who like to do the usual older brother stuff. he was bragging to his aunt one day that he can give himself a pretty tight wedgie but alas, it is weak compared to daniel's wedgies which apparently lift him of the ground. That so explains the underwear i find in the laundry. (shudder)

oh, and how can i forget the time when ike convinced him to climb on top of our van and then just left him. now we have a full size dodge ram 3500 15 passenger van. it is 7 ft. tall. (someday i will telll you how i learned it is exactly 7 ft tall) ike walked into the house, sat down next to me and was watching tv. then we heard the scream. ike did not even flinch! i go out to see jakey standing there. so i had to climb up on the bumper and because he WOULD not come to me i had to grab his ankle and give it a quick yank to make him fall and then drag him off the roof. when will he learn ike's ideas usually end in pain.

but this has been good for him in someways, he taught himself to ride a 2 wheeler when he was 5. just called us out and showed us one day. as for teeth being pulled. he also did it himself. i (being the negligent parent that i am) did not even know the kid has a loose tooth. all in all he is known as "smilin' jake" because he is always happy and very optimistic. it serves him well

9-1-WHAT!?

A year ago I left the kids with our regular babysitter so my friend Linda and I could go to the temple. This baby sitter just happens to be her oldest daughter Caty. Now Caty is the oldest of six so not a whole heck of alot gets past her. Therefore the boys don't like her. Seeing how this would be for only 3 hours during the middle of the day we I did not forsee any problems with this situtation.

Came home to complete madness. Daniel tried to pop up a bag of popcorn for approx. 15 minutes. Causing a small fire in the microwave. ( My BRAND NEW microwave) Ike tried to take off to the park but was reigned back in, because he is NOT allowed up there when we are not home. The girls were in the end stage of potty training and refusing to wear diapers for Caty so that way she did not have to play "potty tag" with them. As we walked in the door Jakey was laughing about calling 911. We did not take him seriously and started taking care of the other situations. Then the phone rang.......here is the transcript from the actual 911 call.

Me: "Hello, Brown's"

911: "Hello Mame, we just got a call from this number."

Me: "WHAT!"

911: "Yes, we received call from a Jacob Brown. Does he live there?

Me: "Yes" (inside my head, Not for long!)

911: "Is everything okay there?"

Me: "Yes" (IMH for the time being!)

911: "We were informed that the babysitter was running around cutting off the childrens heads."

Me: "No." (IMH, Heads are gonna roll when I get off this phone!)

911: "So there is no emergency?"

Me: "No" (IMH give me a few minutes and i will call you back with a more current answer.)

911: "Do we need to send out a patrol car to check on you?"

Me: "No, thank-you" (IMH, I don't need witnesses.)

911: "Please inform your child that 911 is not a toy."

Me. "Oh yes, I definatly will. I am very sorry for wasting your time." (IMH, I am gonna inform him so hard he won't be able to sit for a week!)

I have never had a kid call 911 until then. Which is kinda a shock considering what goes on inside this house. Poor Caty never babysat again. I did not go out for a very long time after that. Daniel is now old enough to babysit and the girls are easier to watch. Sorta. Even then he only babysits for a hour or so at a time. Gotta break him in slowly.

Too bizzare to title

Ike and the singing goats. (no animals were harmed in the filming of this video, we waited until the camaras were off.)

Caught

Just a short blurb of what happened yesterday. At the end of our block we have a huge wooded area the kids like to ride their bikes around. It has some great trails. They also like to build forts too.
Yesterday i walked up to get Ike for dinner only to catch him as he was heading back home and was halfway down the block.......with a HACKSAW looped on each handle of his bike! first words out of him mouth, "I'm in trouble aren't I?" DUH! what gave it away sherlock? the stunned look on my face or the color rising to my cheeks?

4 am wake up call!

The adorable little boy in this picture is our six yr old jakey. jakey is a very busy boy. usually spends most of his day getting into his brothers stuff and then running when they find out. another hobbie of his is climbing up into his brothers bunkbeds at night, beating the crap outta them, and then scurrying down to his bed before they know what hit them. chaos usually insuese and if i was a good mother i would step in but come on. he brought this upon himself, seriously. now if it get too bad he will break free and make a run for the t.v. room to tell me he woes and i send him back to bed with threats upon his brothers heads. it makes him happy.

anyways, other than making his older brothers dispise him he has other hobbies too. his best buddy Ray lives right across the street from us. in fact they can see eachothers bedroom windows. when he was 5 jakey was missing ray and could not wait to continue playing their exciting game from the day before so he got it in his little head that he would just go on across the street and wait for ray to wake up. the rest of us were still sound asleep and completely un-aware of his plans and being the considerate child that he is, he did not bother to wake us and tell us that he was leaving. when he arrived at ray's door he was quite happy to discover it was un-locked. he let himself in and headed off to ray's room. there is a little chair by ray's bed and jakey made himself comfortable, then waited for ray to wakeup. sally, ray's mom, looked across the hallway from her room and noticed an extra child. she said it took a few seconds to register that yes, indeed there was a extra child in the room. so she called us and then sent the little guy home. luckily all ended well. although i am pretty sure Sally locks her door every night now.

Ike's birthday list

I forgot to post the best thing about ike's birthday, his list. it cracked us up.

A leather jacket.......HA HA

A knife(blade six inches).......HA HA HA HA

A puppy(live)......it is the fact that he felt he had to add LIVE that cracks me up. he knows me too well.

A real whip........HA HA HA

DSi...........HA HA HA HA just washed the twerp's mp3 player for the 2nd time. NO DSi!

A boat, nothing too big. It does not have to have a motor........HA HA HA HA. love that he clarified for us on the motor thing. we were worried he might be asking too much.

A motor scooter.......HA HA HA HA

And of course MONEY!!..........not in your wildest dreams kid. you just broke the bank!

so needless to say, it was very hard to shop for him this year and sadly, he got NOTHING that was on his list. Well, papa and grandma did give him money. He is saving for the whip.

A DECADE IN THE MAKING!

Sometime during last week's craziness we had a birthday party for Isaac. He is now 10 yrs old! A shock to us all.

Ike LOVES his birthday and the pictures and video sure show it.

Isaac has not been an easy child and i can be perfectly honest now that looking back i did not think the child would make it this far. he is very bright and very, very stubborn. i also am very,very stubborn and therfore not always the best parent for him. he taught me that having absolute power over my children is not possible. if he is right,then in his mind the argument is over. needless to say this has led to endless trips to the principal's and school counselors office. even as i type there had to be a 20 minute break because he could not find the walkie talkies so MY life had to come to a complete HALT until they were found. which involved ike stomping around the house trying to tear the rooms all part and tip couches over. i know they are not behind the couch and i think HE knows they are not behind the couch or in the bottom of the laundry basket or in the closet. so i have to follow close behind trying to keep my finger on a grenade that someone has already pulled the pin from. once the walkie talkies are found all is well in the brown household. this happens 2-3 times a day and most of the time it is only him to blame. now granted he does have a little brother and two little sisters that would LOVE to get into all his stuff and devote most of their day trying to. But to make things saner for me we have *rule #3. If you leave it out after you are done then it is fair game for younger siblings. It has saved me lots of grief. anyways, i love the little twerp, he has changed me as a parent and as a person. definatly had to be more laid back and learn to let it go. i still have a hard time not taking each tyrade personally and holding a grudge. i just want isaac to know i love him. very, very much.

*i will post full rules at a later date.

Living with Chronic Lung Disease

So many of my internet friends out there have wondered what goes on in our home when Anna gets sick. Which happens every five weeks or so and lasts for about a week. We are equipped to care for alot of her needs at home which helps out because she gets better much faster here. Shocking huh?

Later on after this Anna was admitted in the the children's hospital. I always feel like such a failure as a mother when she does. like i lost this battle (i take each bout very personally) i try very hard to keep her home but her needs were too much for our set up. i don't have any photos or videos of her there. it is off limits in my book. she has been there three days so far. dunno when she will get out. she has not been this bad before but then again we say that each time she goes in. i swear the child is just trying to out do herself. =) (sorry if some of you find this humor offensive but it is how i cope) Aunt Pam I hope you notice your blanket. She loves it and it follows her everywhere. Luckily they wash well.

I hope this post is somewhat coherant. I have very little sleep and i am sure i will go back and read this wonder,"What the hell was I thinking?"

Okay, when you have me for a mom you HAVE to learn to have a good sense of humor and luckily my kids do.
I made my 13 yr old wear this to school after he missed 3 days of school due to illness. He had fallen behind in his school work and we had all worked so hard to get him on the honor roll we did not want to lose it. So I came up with this BRILLIANT idea. He did not think it so brilliant. In fact he was less than thrilled. No worries about him taking it off though and shoving it in his locker once he got to school because I sewed it to his shirt. Needless to say we got all his missing assignments in ONE day! I am thinking of marketing these shirts.