Lost and Found

I am very happy to say that with a little good luck and friends in the right places we found our turtle last night. I was at YW and someone asked me if we found our turtle yet...then another leader told me that one of my neighbors found a turtle in their backyard (this neighbor is 3 houses and a street away from our house). So when I got home I told Tayson the good news and we walked over to find out if it was his turtle.

**side note: he was only wearing his Shrek boxers when I got home so I told him to put on a shirt and shoes so we could go. Rather than get dressed he threw on a Superman pj top and his very colorful skater shoes (why not flip flops???). He looked hilarious and I should have taken a picture.

Back to the story. So then we walked over there and found out that she found the turtle eating her tomato plants and wasn't sure what to do with it so she gave it to another neighbor who would know how to take care of it. So we walked over there and they had him. I was so excited that we found him. The boys worked so hard to earn their money to buy him and I hated that we lost him after only a few months.

Hooray for good neighbors and a very tough turtle!

My Boy TJiddy

Seriously this guy is so hot. I think he gets better looking every year. I'm pretty sure that Todd is the best hubby ever.

He's a total go-getter and doesn't like to do things half way. It's all or nothing with this guy which makes me laugh all the time because he just cannot dabble. I love what a hard worker he is. How smart he is. How patient he is. How athletic he is. How funny he is. He brings out the best in me and truly is my other half. I can't believe that we have been together for 10 years.

He's been mixing it up this year and has actually gone running and biking with me a few times. He of course is faster than me which depresses me since I workout more often than him. But I love it when we go together. It isn't often since I'm a morning workout person and he doesn't do mornings.

I am one lucky girl to have this guy for all eternity.

Sophie

I am so in love with this little girl. She is such a good natured and sweet baby. She has started babbling non-stop so she'll probably end up chatty like Tayson and I which will drive Todd crazy. He thinks we talk too much! :)

I think she looks just like Todd and Tayson - but the cute girl version. She is a total spazz and is constantly moving and trying new things. I swear she never stops moving unless she is asleep. She loves her binky. She thinks it's hilarious to put the binky in my mouth backwards then she puts the soft part in her mouth...maybe it's freaky but I think it's funny so I play along.

I've been trying to do a little baby sign with her and now she says "more" or "more food" all the time except when she's hungry. Oh well it's still cute when she does it. Aside from babbling she says "baba" when I'm making her a bottle but I think that's about it.

I think she looks gorgeous in bright pink and has since the day she was born. It's her color with that light hair and skin.

Her toes still cross over each other unless she is standing up. She is a tiny little pip squeak (especially next to Glen). People are always amazed that she walks so well because she looks like she's about 9 months old. It's funny when she tries to run because she falls flat on her face after about 6 steps then gets right back and does it again. I'm not sure what the big hurry is but sometimes she is all about running.

We always joke about how neglected she is when she's just cruising around the house in a diaper doing whatever she feels like but it's just how she's rolls. She has the perfect laid back personality a 4th child needs. Man I love love love my sweet little Sophie bug.

Claire

My little girl is simply beautiful even with her frown. She is terribly shy and refuses to talk if anyone is in the room that she isn't comfortable with (this include almost everyone even people she knows). If she does need to communicate while other people are around for some reason she can't use words and just grunts. It's so annoying. Sometimes she'll eat good other times she will only eat if she is sitting on my lap or Timmy's lap. Once again rather annoying but when a kid is as small as she is you do what you have to in order to get them to eat. She is still obsessed with strawmilk with fiver (strawberry milk and fiber). We still keep her fiber intake on the high end and it helps with all her issues.

She doesn't like having her hair fixed because with all her curls it gets tangled and then it hurts her when I comb it. Most of the time her hair is falling in her face and if I tuck it behind her ear she grunts and pulls it back into her face. She gets food in her hair on a regular basis which adds to the difficulty in combing her hair. She hates going to bed with wet hair and won't lay down on her pillow when it's wet.

Bedtime is hilarious with her. She'll go to bed when we tell her almost always without tears. I have to sing her 2 songs (Child of God and Stories of Jesus), turn on her fan, turn off her light and lock her door. Then she plays happily in her room for at least an hour then puts herself to bed. If we don't lock her door she will open her door and lock it then go back in her room to play.

She tears everything to shreds (we call it "going hamster"). Books, papers, her pink curlers, etc. She is very particular about her toilet paper - it has to be 3 squares folded into a square or she gets mad at me and throws it away. She likes to pick out her own outfits and doesn't like to be told what to do. She wears her princess or Tinkerbell flip flops everywhere. She thinks that anything pink belongs to her no matter what it is. She corrects the way I say things if I don't put enough emphasis on the part of the word she thinks it should be on and she will say "mama say this...the say the word how she thinks it should be said".

She truly thinks her name is Claire Bear and gets mad when I shorten Sophie's name. Usually telling me her name is Sophie Jane. The girl is a total crack up. I sure hope she grows out of some of her shyness.

Luke

Oh how I love my bubba. His big brown eyes and his long curly hair just melt my heart. He is the sweetest kid ever and will do just about anything I ask him to do. He really is the easiest kid ever.

He is very excited that he gets to start Kindergarten on his 5th birthday. That is just so cool to him. I'm sure it will never be this exciting again. He wants to bring treats and have a party at school on his first day. A week ago he came upstairs crying in the morning saying that Tayson lied to him and told him that it was his birthday. He was so sad that he didn't get to go to school that day. He's a very smart little boy and reads and writes very well already.

He LOVES to play his Nintendo DS, the wii and the computer. He throws huge fits when we make him stop playing. We had to take the wii away for a few weeks because when we would ask him to turn it off he would throw the HUGEST fit ever. He's getting better when we tell him that we'll take it away for the rest of the day. I'm guessing he got his computer loving trait from his dad. He also got his calm sweet easy going personality and his gorgeous eyes from his daddy.

Luke is a bit OCD with things. When he makes his bed every corner has to be smoothed out and straight. If I make his bed he will go back and fix it. When we eat dinner he takes his napkin and puts it under his plate like a place mat then rearranges his plate, cup and fork until they are just right. The other night we were outside hanging out so Todd grabbed a blanket for us to sit on and after we were sitting he walked over and made us get up so he could straighten it. I think it's hilarious what a perfectionist he is.

He's a very good eater and likes pretty much everything. If you ask him he'll tell you he likes everything "except gray fish" and we have no idea where the gray fish came from. He is such a crack up.

I tried to teach him how to ride a bike last week and he said he can't learn until he turns 5. I don't get why kids think that on the day of your birthday everything changes. So silly.

Luke is still a cuddle bug and has bad dreams when he watches scary movies (like Coraline) so Tayson likes to turn on scary movies so Luke will leave the room. He and Tayson wrestle constantly and Luke is almost as big as Tayson so it's a pretty fair fight. Luke and Claire are the best of friends and I love watching them play together. The best word to describe Luke would be sweet.

Tayson

My boy is so grown up now. I can't believe that in a few weeks he will be 7. It's going by too fast and he's growing up too fast.

In the last few months he has gotten a lot more control of his emotions and has turned into such a great kid. He loves that he gets special treatment since he's the oldest. He gets to stay up a little later and we ask him to help a lot. He's been great about helping around the house and doing chores.

He loves to swim (although he looks like he's drowning sometimes but he can swim pretty far). He's getting to be a good reader and doesn't fight me as much as he used to when I ask him to read. I actually find him reading things all the time now and he doesn't get frustrated when he reads now.

Tayson and I started reading the Book of Mormon a few months ago so he can finish it before his 8th birthday. There isn't much that makes me happier and prouder as a mom than hearing him read the BoM. And last week at church he cuddled up next to me and tried singing along to the hymn too. I love it! He is very serious when he prays and says things like "we thank thee for the beautiful sabbath day".

In a few weeks he starts 2nd grade and hopefully he has matured enough that he will be able to sit still and not drive his teacher crazy. He seems to be able to control himself better so I'm hopeful.

Tayson is such a joy to have in our family. He's the silliest boy and always makes us laugh. He loves to play computer and watch movies. He loves to play with his friends. He still loves Star Wars. I'm pretty sure his favorite food is magic shell and he never wears a shirt.

Book Reviews

I just finished a book and I thought I would write up a quick review on the last few books I read.

The Glass Castle. I enjoyed reading this book. I'm not a huge fan of memoirs but occasionally they are fun to read. This particular one was a bit disturbing because the way she talked about how she was raised was pretty much neglect and child abuse. Her writing style was fun and she put everything into a positive spin instead of focusing on how bad her life really was.

Mrs. Kimble. This book was about a man and his 3 wives (not all at the same time). It was a good book and I read it pretty fast. It was all character development not a lot of plot or action but it was good.

House of Sand and Fog. This book had 4 main characters who all get involved in a house sale gone bad and the lengths each of them were willing to go to due to desperation and their pasts. I didn't love this book. I had a really hard time getting into this book and then even when I finished it I didn't have any love for any of the main characters.

Right now I'm reading Picture Perfect.