***OOOOOooooooOOOO AHHHAHHHHHHH***

I had the scariest experience last night....lol...around 2 am....laying in bed in a deep sleep I wake to the most frightening sound EVER!

oooooooOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooo

aaaaaAAAAHHHHHHHHHhhhhhh......what could it be..???? I sit there perfectly still......my ears perked for ANY sound..........................nothing...I slip out of bed and head towards the sound....as I reach the bathroom door I hear...

ooooooOOOOOOooooo OOOOOOooooooo

AAAaaahhhaahhhhh AAAAhhhhhhaaaaa!

I flick on the light and TADA what do I see........

Every parent knows the sound a toy makes when the batteries die! Well now, imagine how a Chimpanzee would sound once dropped into a tub of water and drying out in your very acoustic bathroom! Matthew had taken a bath earlier in the day and grabbed Mikey's life like chimp baby off my floor as he made a mad dash to the water and chucked it in. I Quickly rescued the poor toy and had it sitting in my sink to drip dry all day. 2am rolls around and batteries decided that RIGHT then would be a GREAT time to ooooooOOOOOOO OOOOOoooooo AAAAAAAAHHHH

AAHHHhhhhhaaahhhhhhh OOOOOoooooooooooooo! It sounded like a Sadistic gorilla slowed down! I was soooo scared!..

The chimp has been dealt with! Batteries removed, and is now hiding in Mikey's bed covers, as he is afraid if Mom See's it again she may chuck him out..lol....

some watch dog Jupiter is!..lol..he didn't even hear it!

The condemed was granted a pardon!

All real names have been changed to protect the not so innocent.....oh wait..no they haven't! As you can see from the photo's, Matthew decided that when Jon called would be the PERFECT opportunity to find a RANDOM red sharpie (and we don't even own one!!! where did it come from!!!) and color the walls down the hall, color his closet door, my bedroom door, the bathroom wall, the wood cabinetry in the bathroom, the counters, the sink it's self, the toilet seat, the top of the toilet tank, and the tub.......................... niceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! Once I realized what had happened, I went CCRRRARZZZY!..lol......but how can you spank a face like that!! I mean look at him hiding in the tent..reading...lol When I told Jon on the phone he said...does this remind you of something...WELL YES!! as you can see.. At 4 Cody also had a nice brain fart and used a stamping ink pad to color the walls, the floors and himself..lol.....THANK heavens for the Magic Eraser!!!! so far it has removed 90% of it and we will get the rest off some how! LITTLE MONKEY!!!

It's a good thing too or I would have sold him to the Gypsy's today!

Be Attitudes

Mikey had a great school performance yesterday where all the 2nd graders got to sing songs they had been practicing since the beginning of the school year on the different ways to be a good citizen, it was super cute and he has been SOOOOOOOOOOO excited. He had a special job jumping rope during one number (yeah, I didn't get it either until I realized the three jumping rope were the squirmiest of the bunch and the music teacher likely had them doing so to keep them busy) and in two other numbers played the (G) on the "boom whackers" to The Nutcracker....lol...yes I will explain what a boom whacker is, it's a long plastic tube cut down to size that when WHACKED makes a sound close to a musical note. He was soooooooo proud. The musical number below, Mikey is in the front row on the left, khaki es and red shirt with navy vest.
Afterward he also gave Jon a little shout out..lol..What a cutie! Unfortunately you can hear my in the back ground making comments, attempting to offer to video a fellow parents child as her battery died, and telling Jon little things so...sorry...lol

YO GABBA GABBA

Those of you with LITTLE ones at home are likely familiar with this show! Frankly I don't know how it made it to air! It's like teletubbies on acid! Some washed out tv exec, Shroomed out of his mind, sleeping in his Mother's basement thought....... "Hey I know! Lets make a show that little kids will be drawn too and parents will want to gnaw off a limb while watching it!"
It's like a bad car accident on the freeway, everyone slows to a roll and turns to watch.. drawn to the blood and gore and you can't pull yourself away even though it's hideous! THAT for me in a nutshell..is YO GABBA GABBA! And my Matthew LOVES IT!!!!! Everytime it comes on I cringe and melt into the couch trying to hide behind my laptop, praying for it's end and then hateing myself when at 4 am the next morning ... "There's a parttttyyy in my tummyyyy.....there's a party in my tummyyyy........there's a party in my tummyyy....yummy yummy!!!" runs through my head! Some one save me from Childrens programing hell! THOSE CARROTS REALLY SCARE ME!!!!!!!!!!! eek

My amazing Matty

This kid really is so funny! I blows my mind with how well behaved he is. He now takes naps when I tell him too, goes right to bed at night, is a huge snuggler! I love that throughout the day he runs up to me grinning and wraps his arms around my neck, presses his cheek to mine hard and giggles..."Myyyyyy Mommyyyyy...mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!" sooo cute! He helps clean his own room and loves to do whatever his big brothers do.

Mind you he is a typical 2 year old, so yes...he does do...some interesting things..lol..he has learned how to scale the cabinets to get what he wants...and silently too! It's like stealth mode baby!

As you can see from the pictues...lol..He was on the counter with his stuffed Monkey on his back trying to get the football I had placed in time out since no one was useing it nicely in the house. I just couldn't miss the oppurtunity to take a picture of it..lol.. The other pictures are of him at Blast off for Cousin Corey's birthday just an assortment of playing and eating cake, trying to get in the gear so he could try to rock climb...yeah fat chance, just some really cute pictures of him being...him! . It was a fun day and this little guy just really melts my heart!

My 8 year old!!!!!!!

Can you believe that he is *8*???????!?!?!?!?!!?!!? I can't! It blows my mind! He's such an amazing kid! Mikey turned 8 on the 21st. We had a little "family" party. I find them so much nicer than having a house full of 7-9 year olds going nuts. It was so fun. This year he kept changing his mind on what he wanted for his birthday, he couldn't really stick to what he was asking for, it changed every 2 minutes, so Jon and I thought a Walmart gift card would be fun, and He loved the idea! He got to carry it around the store while looking at toys and trying to add them up differently to get as close to his $30.00 limit. It was neat to see his brain working, picking out toys, prioritizing them, and putting other back until he got just the correct combination. He picked out a nerf gun that makes a hideous buzzsaw sound..goodie...lol...a giant bionicle that I helped him make, and a board game combo of Battle Ship and Connect Four. We then went to the bakery department and he could either A) pick a cake mix that I would make with him B) let Cody and Matthew and I pick one out to surprise him with and make or C) pick a premade cake from the bakery.....he saw Scoobey doo and went nuts! So he got a cake and then picked out Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream with hot fudge ..lol..what a combo! But it was pretty good. He is just such a sweetie! He was shooting his nerf gun around the house and one of the balls went astray and hit the cake....can you tell from the picture of his face "DOH!" and then I turned the cake to myself and took a picture of it. Mom took the ball off the cake the wash and and attacked Mikey with the bright blue and green frosting. He really got a giggle out of that. The first picture was after he went sledding that morning and was WORN out! A cup of hot Cocoa and some marshmallows fully rejuvenated him for his party later though.lol

I have an amazing boy in this one! He is so smart, and is very emotional, he loves everyone so much! He has a very gentle spirit. My Amazing 8 year old Mikey!!!!

Birthday Cake in a Jar

A good friend of mine named Dana turned me onto this, and it's a really fun idea, I use it to send homemade cakes to the Soldier's Jon serves with. It's important to use the WIDE STRAIGHT ( added pics of the difference between the ones you need and the ones that won't work.lol..cuase I know..I tried..lol, so use the one on the LEFT) mouth canning jars to ensure the cake can come straight out. Just preheat your oven to 350, grease the inside of the jar with crisco, not pam. Pour in appox. 1 cup cake mix. Some times you have to experiament with that. Some times a certian cake mix only takes 3/4 a cup others needs 1 cup and two tblsps. You want the cake to rise ALMOST to the top, not above the rings, so that it doesn't interfer with the lid sealing. I do four jars at a time, to ensure I get at least one or two good ones when I am fiddleing with how much mix I put in. Place them on a baking sheet to keep the level in the oven and bake for about 30 mins. I check mine around 25 with a toothpick.. if it's done on top use a butter knife all the way down into the bottom to see if thebottom half is done. If it's not, cover the top with foil loosely and bake another 5-10 minutes. While it's baking, boil the lids. As soon as you pull out the cakes set them on a rack to cool with out moving them too much and immdiatly place on the lids after you dry them completly. Let them seal and cool. It make sure they are sealed or by the time you send them to Iraq they will get moldy. Sealed it can last up to 6 months I am told, I only know for certian that 2 months works since thats the longest I have had one in the cabinet without my kids eating it..lol. Let me know how it goes! If you have questions give me a call! It's a fun surprise! I send a jar of frosting along with it, and a paper plate and silverware, a candle that when you twist the bottom plays happy birthday.

JUPITER my crazy great dane

I have decided to write a blog on each person of our family just for fun, sort of a get to know you thing, and I decided to start with our funny dog, Jupiter. YES he is a GREAT DANE. He's just in disguise! He's very confused and thinks he is a Dalmatian. He is a Harlequin Great Dane. They were breed with Dalmatians for their amazing color centuries ago . If you haven't noticed he has two different colored eyes one blue one brown.

He is just an awesome dog! Yes he is HUGE but that gives me a great deal of comfort sleeping alone every night knowing that my 150lbs dog is sleeping on the floor outside my bedroom door protecting us. He's a great watch dog and when strangers come to the door it's nice to see their faces when they look in past me and see my dog sitting nicely beside me, his head at my elbow. Gives me a great sense of safety. Some one will think twice before coming in.. he is a huge baby though! He sleeps most of the day away, or plays with his enormous puppy toys, he is such a good sport and great the kids, especially the baby! As you can see from the pictures he lets Matthew sit and hang on him and just sits there... he also takes orders well from the kids. We have taught him hand signals as well as verbal commands and Matthew loves to say "..PUTER....sit!" and then giggles nonstop when he does. I took some funny pictures of Jupiter running around in the back yard. for some reason he loves being outside late at night and running around in the snow like a race horse...lol..he's such fun!

New Years pictures

I know I am a little....late..lol..posting these, I've been busy making a second blog to help me unite the wives of Jon's team members. It's been fun but I noticed I was neglecting our family blog too.

New years was fun. I hadn't made any plans and to be honest I was planning on acting like it was just any other day and get the kids off to bed at a reasonable hour and catch up on my sleep after the wild holiday week. At the last minutes Amy called and told me I was to host the new years eve party at my house..so I wouldn't be alone. lol..It was sweet. I did however have to run out and get food for an all nighter for 8 people.

We munched, and the kids all took turns playing the xbox, while Mom, Amy, and David Lee and I played phase ten, and did a puzzle. At midnight we had some sparkleing cider for drinks, and went out and did streamers and poppers. Since it was so bitter cold we stood in my garage and shot them out the door..lol...but the kids loved it. ....I didn't so much love the mess the next morning but My Mom sweetly helped out. Amy and her boys all crashed on the air matress and couches my living room, Mom took Codys bottom bunk so she could have a "sleep over" with Mikey and Cody slept with me. Matthew was so tired when he went down he woke up over and over crying becuase he was so tired he didn't know what to do with himself...lol..it was so cute.

Well...that in a nutshell was our WILD new years! I didn't get a chance to talk to Jon on the phone an the boys were so dissappointed they couldn't share the day with him but we took pictures to show him!! So enjoy!.....

PS. WE LOVE YOU JON!!!!!!!