Wedding

Okay, so I haven't posted....sue me. Sorry. Just like every other mother on the face of this global warming planet, I've been busy. One week, and it should be over. That is, pending we don't have to do surgery on Elle. We'll find out Tuesday. I'm going to let her post about her cast when she gets home today. She's been bugging me to, so, why not.

In the mean time...here is my brother Michael and his fiance Saundra. They're getting hitched in February. I LOVE Saundra. She totally fits into our family, well, minus the fact she is a University of Arizona graduate, and we all know my family is strong Arizona State fans. Oh well. Here is one of their engagement pictures that I LOVE!!

Funny

I found this picture on the web. Thought it was kinda funny.

Trauma

Somewhere in this X-ray it tells the muckity mucks and the brainiac doctors that my daughter has broken her growth plate. Joy. Little Miss Elle was playing on the monkey bars in our backyard when she was hanging upside down, slipped and fell on her wrist and head. I was at first more worried about her having a concussion since her face and lips had no color. It didn't even dawn on me to check her wrist. She finally complained that it hurt and when we took her to Urgent Care they confirmed the break. Joy. So, now we are waiting for a call from the Orthopedic specialist to make a decision on what the next step is. Possibly surgery. Joy.

Besides all this trauma, we had a pretty good Thanksgiving. Good Food. Good Company. What more could you ask for?!

Teeth

Did you know that Neonatal teeth are relatively uncommon, appearing in about one in every 2,000 to 3,000 births? I wish Abram was born with teeth. I'll take the pain. I'll take the blood shed. I'm just done with him teething! Please Mr. Tooth, pop through already and give the poor guy some relief.

p.s. I love Tylenol and teething tablets. They are a life saver!!

Smash

I have been organizing my pictures. I came across these two that I thought were cute. These are of Ashlee. Look how little she is. They were both taken in Texas. This one she is 7 months old:
This one she is two years old:
Since day one she has been little Mrs Photogenic. She loves having her picture taken and rarely has a bad photo. When we had family pictures done a few weeks ago, she was bossing my cousin on what poses needed to be done. She's totally going to be a diva one day!! Joy.

On a different note...Black Friday is next week....are you excited too?!

Vets Day

Last week I was just starting to take a nap when I got a text message from my auntie. She rarely texts me, so when she said to call, I was worried that something really bad had happened to a family member. When I called, she asked if I still had friends living on Fort Hood. I told her that I had one still there and that the rest have moved else where. She told me to turn it to CNN and check out the news.

My heart broke.

No, I don't know any of the shooting victims, but I know Fort Hood. I miss Fort Hood. Some of the happiest memories and probably one of the happiest times in my life was when we were stationed there.

Fort Hood is just the same as living in small town USA. No one locks there doors, well, at least they didn't. You came to know your neighbors upon arrival and you depended on each other to help you through the good and bad times. Everyone was in the same situation, no matter your rank or what your job was, we were all in it together. It was one big family.

When Aaron deployed to Iraq, several of my friends husbands deployed the same week. It was hard. We all cried. We all laughed. We became closer. After Aaron was gone a few months, I decided to move home to Arizona. I wish I could have stayed at Fort Hood. I felt so alone and out of place back home. No one understood my feelings. I had no one to talk to. I wanted my Army "family" so bad. It was a very difficult year for me.

Aaron was able to come home for 14 days just about half way during his tour. It was a welcomed visit, until he told me they had been attacked as they were leaving. I was scared. I hated it. The thought of sending him back to Iraq was hard. When it came time for him to leave, I wanted nothing more than to be back at Fort Hood with my neighbors, my "sisters", my friends so that I could cry and have them tell me it would be okay. It was hard.

Luckily, Aaron returned home with no other problems. I was glad to have him home. We had discussed him re-enlisting in the army. His answer was NO. Mine was YES. He won.

I miss the military.

I miss the tightness.

I miss the support.

I miss my friends.

I miss Fort Hood.

To those of our friends who are still serving. I miss you. I pray for you and your families, and I thank you for continuing to serve. For those of you who once served, I thank you, I am so proud of you, and I can't wait to see you again.

Happy Veterans Day.

Iraq

One of the vehicles that was in their convoy that was attacked.

Welcome Home!!

Grandpa Johnson

(he's holding Elle)

Meet Grandpa Johnson. Isn't he handsome? Not only does he have good looks, but he is an amazing man. He passed away a few days ago. It's been sad. I've cried. I keep reminding myself that he is finally home with his sweetie. I miss her too.

He lived an amazing life, and paved a path of love, kindness, devotion, determination, and faith for his family. I'm going to miss his big ol' bear hugs, and his loving eyes.

Ventage

I am in a funk.

I hate it.

I am trying my best to get out of it.

But I seem to fail.

I hate it.

I want problems to be solved now,

But they aren't.

I hate it.

My kidneys suck.

Stupid potassium levels.

I hate them too.

HOWEVER

I do have a wonderfull husband.

Three beautiful daughters.

and One handsome son.

(5 months old...already!!)

This funk will end soon.

Hopefully.

If not.

Be patient.

Please forgive me.

I'll be back eventually.

Family Pics

For a good time go {HERE}

(More Pictures Added....HURRAY!!!!!)

More Pictures

I would love to write, but spawn child number three got ahold of my laptop and pulled a vast majority of the keys off. Aaron is going tomorrow to the store to purchase the parts needed. I'll post when it gets fixed. Until then.....enjoy.

Pumpkin Patch:

Desert Botanical Gardens:

When I take a nap:

Mother Daughter activity with Elle:

Frohman

His shirt says it all...minus the fact that he actually has his first tooth. He's teething. Joy. Anything that he can shove in his mouth is free game for chewing. Another joy...fussy. Why must getting teeth be so painful? I use the teething tablets, I use washcloths, and all those other "mom" tricks to help with the process. Poor Guy. Poor Me.

He's also a chunky man. I don't know how much he weighs, because, well, basically I'm a bad mom who doesn't take their kid to the doctor every 3.5 weeks. I don't. I figure if he is not sick why expose him to the nasty germs that linger at a pediatricians office, plus I don't do immunizations until they are a year old, and I hate having the "talk" with the doctor. I'm not against immunizations, I just want their bodies to be a little bigger. That's just me.

Besides teething issues, life is good. I don't sleep. The two year old is still for sale. Work has been a tad crazy, and I'm patiently awaiting for fall to finally arrive. I love fall. The smell, the colors, the excitement of the upcoming holidays. I just want it to get here already. A friend posted on facebook today "Snow". I'm jealous.

Letters

Dear Jodi,

Back in 2006 you send a little letter to me for my birthday. It came at a time when I really needed it. I hung it on my fridge. It's been there ever since.

It's been a life saver to me again lately. Every time I read it, I think of you, and a fun memory from Texas comes into my brain. Your voice enters my mind, and I hear you say "Hey Sister". It make me smile. Thank you.

I love and miss you.

Sarah

P.S. The apron you made me for my birthday ions ago...still my favorite.

Addiction

Dear Amy,

I love reading your blog and all the fun things you do and make, however, why did you have to post this sinful concoction?

There goes my diet.

Love,

Sarah

P.S. I left out the coffee, but I'm sure it would be just as delicious with it. *sigh*

2 year old 4 sale.

For Sale:

Two year old child.

Has experience in Destruction, Demolition,

and Temper Tantrums.

Is able to down a hot dog in less than a minute and destroy a room in 15 seconds or less.

Looks innocent and cute, but looks can be deceiving.

Says, "Please, Thank-you, Mine, and No" on a regular basis.

$100 OBO (would be willing to trade for a box of Krispy Kremes, A Pedicure, or a large Coke Zero)

All sales final

No refunds. Manufacture not held liable for any defects or deformities.

busy weekend

So, it seems that life doesn't slow down, but at least things are getting accomplished. Remember the tree out front of my house that I hate? {click here} Well, I was sitting in my room one afternoon, it was the day after a so-so monsoon storm when I heard a crash. I knew it wasn't a car crash, but that something had happened. I figured that another stupid pigeon flew into my garage door (yes, that has happened more than once...the pigeon's are stupid in our neighborhood). So I looked out my window to see a branch had fallen off of the really ugly tree. Hurray! Sad part was that it missed my van by [...........] this much. Oh well. So I took a picture with my handy dandy cell phone and sent it to my parents and hubby. The following Saturday it was gone thanks to my dad, my hubby, and my semi-retarded brother Michael. Hurray!!

For you peeps who don't know already, the first Saturday of the month, Home Depot has a kids clinic where they get to build something for FREE... score that. I went along with Aaron and the girls and we invited our friends kiddos along for the fun. They build a bean bag toss thingy.

Elle hammering away.

The finished products. Such goofy kids!

Tiffany enjoyed the popcorn. She really isn't into the whole Bob the Builder thing yet.

This picture proves how crazy I've been. I'm too busy to even scan a wedding picture in, so I took a pic of one on my wall...how lame is that? Aaron and I have been hitched 12 years. HOLY MOLY!! Seriously?! I got him a $50 gift card to ManLand (Harbor Freight) and let him purchase some game online. He got me....(insert crickets chirping here)......

Anywho - we had a fun weekend. We took the girls to As You Wish on Monday and had a blast painting different items. We then spent the rest of the day being lazy and enjoying the day off. Oh well, back to the grind today. **sigh**

ahhh

I grew up with parents who loved musical theater. I was very lucky to also have parents who would take me to musicals. My first musical was Cats and soon after that was The Phantom of the Opera-a mystery never fully explained....sorry, didn't mean to start quoting it. Anywho - I have loved, loved, LOVED this musical. I am a nerd and know all the music, and when we were living in Texas, and it was my turn to drive, I would pop this CD in and listen to it and picture - the scenes in my head (this was before the movie was made). FYI - my CD was broke in half by Elle when she was 3. sadness. I am also lucky to have seen it with Micheal Crawford. Jealous? I know.

ANYWHO - back to my story thingy - so Phantom, it's coming to Tempe in October and November. HURRAY. I got tickets to go see it with Aaron. I think he's excited. Can't quite tell. The fun thing is that we are going with my parents, my auntie Liz, and my brothers and their dates. It's going to be a fun night, I can tell already.

So whats the point to this story?! Well, when Aaron found out how much dough I spent on these tickets, he assumed it would be our anniversary gifts to each other (12 years in a few weeks - YIKES). I am posting this to tell my sweet wonderful hubby that NO, these are not our anniversary gifts to each other. I'm sorry, you don't get off from getting me a gift. If you need some ideas here they are:

Now, traditionally, the 12th anniversary is Silk and Linen. Blah. Nice thought, but for me, I would rather have my my carpets cleaned. Yep, that's right, I would be a happy content wife if you would call up Scott Dial and get my carpets cleaned. Just the downstairs is fine. If you need another gift idea, I would also be happy with a clean, organized garage. Simple things really. Most women want bling, I want clean.

So thats all. I am now going to go see why my sweet red headed terror of a two year is screaming "MAMA" over and over. Joy.

I think its finally over

First, let me take care of some important business....guess who FINALLY lost a tooth?!?! HURRAY!! By this age Elle had lost 9 teeth already, which has really bummed out Ashlee, but I have to remind her that she only had two teeth until she was 2 years old. Then at that magical age of the terrible twos, she had two weeks of hell when all her teeth came in at once. So, since she got her teeth late, she would loose them late too. Don't stress, the dentist says all things are fine.
SOOO, Ashlee turned 7. When I telling a co-worker about all the things that Ashlee had "planned" for her birthday, my co-worker thought for sure that she was turning 16. Nope, just 7. Ashlee loves to party. She wanted everything. I had to remind her several times that this year she doesn't get a big party, next year she does. (Remember..I'm the mean mom that only lets them have a party every other year, and yep, I'm already saving money for next years party. *sigh* ) When I was asking her what she wanted for her birthday, it was originally the Jonas Brothers Concert. It then turned into having specific gifts, cake, and dinner. Joy. On her actual birthday, I made a Sushi dinner (her request) and we had some brownies. Last night we had a party for her and my dad at my parent's home. My dad's bday is the day after hers. Here are some of the highlights.


The Cake. She wanted Aunt Lizzie to make a 3 layered chocolate cake with pink frosting in the middle, chocolate frosting on the outside, and blue flowers. Aunt Lizzie delivered. Oh my gosh (0r for you texters OMG)...it was sooo yummy. Too yummy. Hence, I'm up in the wee hours of the morning blogging because I can't sleep due to a tummy ache. I just know Abram is going to be gassy and fussy tomorrow.
She also wanted this Bratz (also know as the deformed dolls) hair style thingy. Thanks Granny for getting her it. She also wanted a Barbie type doll called a LivGirl. Yep, got that too.

Okay, so this picture is the funniest part of the night. We put the candles on the cake, began to light them, and Tiffany covered her ears. I guess uncle Stephen has lit one too many fireworks that she assumed that was what we were doing.

I can't get this silly photo to rotate..sorry. Anywho...Miss Ashlee, I hope she had a happy birthday. I never thought that 7 years after having such a wild delivery, I would have a wild child. I love her so much. She has so much personality and such a love for life. She is an amazing helper and a great big sister. I am so happy she is a part of our family.

Okay, I'm off to drink some Sprite and take another tums. Dang Lizzie for making such a yummy cake.

Love Bug

Okay, why the screaming is still fresh in my mind...I'm going to blog about the concert. Where to start? Where to start? As I mentioned earlier I had purchased their CD (insert blood curdling scream) and then I downloaded their songs from earlier albums (I know..I know). Anywho- I loaded these gems of songs to my MP3 player so I could enjoy them while I was work. It wasn't too painful, actually found one song I liked...I know I know. Anywho - with some of their music under my belt, I was able to sing a verse here or there of their songs. So, Tuesday, as I was cleaning the house I would start singing what little I knew and would start dancing. Ashlee would give me this look. The look I use to give my mom. You know the look. The one that says..."Mom, you are an embarrassment, please don't acknowledge you know me". I would ask her what her issue was, and she told me that I was too old to dance and act that way, and that others may see me and I was embarrassing. HA! I then told her I was in our house and know one could see me. She didn't care. I was told to stop. Yeah right...I took the craziness to a whole new level. It was great.

Fast forward to driving to the concert.

They were playing their songs on Radio Disney, and as I was driving I would sing, honk, and dance behind the wheel. Poor Ashlee. She was mortified. I tried to convince her that I wasn't the only mom doing this. All moms do this to their children. I was told that I couldn't act like this at the concert or she would die. Mwaa haa haa...really?! Death?! That's harsh.

Fast forward to the concert.

I knew the first song Paranoid, I began to sing, and I was shot the look. The look of death. The look your mother gave you when you were misbehaving in church. The look of "you are going to be punished to the extreme when we are alone". It was the look that I needed to fold my arms and be good. whatever. I behaved...after all, this was her birthday gift, I needed to be good.

The concert was surprisingly good. It was loud. I mean LOUD. It was a different loud than any other concert I have been to. This concert had a high pitched scream that I'm sure the dogs in Flagstaff could hear. It was a nonstop, high pitched screech that broke the remaining hairs in my eardrum. Here it is 2 days later, and I still feel like there is a cup over my left ear. Insane.

They did sing my favorite song of theirs (okay, favorite as it, most tolerable and cute) it's called Love Bug. Now they made it rain on stage...it was way cool. I can't even describe it. So thanks to the power of You Tube I found a good video of it...you need to get half way into the video to see the rain. It was neat-o.



That's all. I'm off to play mom now.

Busy Busy Busy

We've been busy this summer. Nothing like having a baby the day before school gets out to add chaos!! Here are few pics of what we did. I have tons more to upload, however, blogger is currently being a stinker and not allowing me to upload them...whatever.

Enjoy.

Water party with some friends.

Someone turned two...and acts the part!!

Elle and Aaron went and did a ghost hunt at Monti's La Casa Vieja. Elle was in her element and had a BLAST!!

Little man got blessed...isn't he cute in his tux? Lady's Man!

Kevin Jonas (reminds me of Micky Dolenz of The Monkees)

Spent the evening with Jo Bros and hoards of screaming teenage girls.

Nick and Joe Jonas

All in all, it was a good summer.