Picnic

I wanted to do something fun with the kids since we have been stuck in the house for a while. After picking up Gabbi from preschool, I asked her what she thought about doing a picnic. Her eyes went bright with excitement. She may have lit up because she thought that we were doing a picnic outside. She was still excited when I told her that we would be doing the picnic in her room. She jumped up and down.

Once it was time for the picnic I asked the kids to clean up. I have never seen them clean up so fast before. They then laid out there blankets and we started our picnic while watching Puss n' Boots. It was a lot of fun.

We didn't have the usual lunch stuff either. We had popcorn, nachos, of course a Pb&j sandwiches, and some sprite to drink. All things the kids don't get to eat very often.

2 days to go till we find out our fate for the future. I just hope congress makes the best choice for everyone.

Homework

I thought this was the cutest thing. 

Ben had some homework to do and Gabbi needed to practice her ABC's. She really didn't want to, so Ben made a contest out of it. They raced to see who could finish first. It was too cute to see them both at the table doing their homework.

Gabbi was a little disappointed that daddy finished before her, but she thought it was awesome that they were both doing homework.

Field trip

Gabbi had another field trip yesterday. We went to the Pizza Man again. The kids had so much fun last time, its one of their favorites.

We had more kids this time, which was a lot more fun for all the kids. They were shown how the dough is made, they got to make their own bread sticks, and they got to make their very own pizza. They all had so much fun. How ever, I think their favorite part was to taste the bread sticks they made. They all devoured them. I admit, they have the best bread sticks in the world. Us mom's had our fair share too.

Football

Another cute moment with the kids.

The other night while getting the kids ready for bed Ben and Owen were playing. He had received a football from Les Swab when we were there waiting for our tires to be replaced. He carried that ball with him every where that day. While waiting for Gabbi to finish going potty and brushing her teeth, Ben and Owen were playing football.

It was the cutest thing. Ben thought him how to hike the ball and go for a run pass. It was so cute to watch them. They played for a good while. Needless to say, we were a little late going to bed.

Rodeo 2nd night

We like to take advantage when the rodeo comes to town. Since Ben gets military tickets we like to go both nights. With the kids loving it just as much as we do, it makes it that much better and easier to go both nights. 

The second night was pretty similar to the first, with a few differences. The kids got to play and run around on the platform below the announcer. They each took turns running back and forth. They even got to take a special walk with Ben. Both of them really enjoyed their special time with daddy. 

When the rodeo got started, it was a great show and the kids had a blast. One funny tidbit from the second night was the clown. For some reason Gabbi wasn't afraid of the clown this time. She waved to him, shook his hand when he came by, etc. The clown was very nice to the kids and even stopped to let me take a picture.

Another funny side note was a joke that the clown said.

Joke: What's the difference between broccoli and boogers? 

Answer: You can't get kids to eat broccoli

I don't know why, but I thought that was the funniest joke I have heard in a long time. I must not hear jokes very often, but it was just hilarious to me. Not quite sure why.

The Drama continues

With the deadline inching its way forward, the reality of the crap blowing over may not be the case. The more and more that Ben and I talk about, the more it seems like we will be forced to make huge decisions. Ben and I were talking about it the other night and he informed me that I had my math wrong. If the furlough happens, we will be 800 dollars short a month not 400. The money that Ben brings in between his job and the Reserves doesn't bring in quite enough to cover the difference.

We have contemplated many things. We have talked about me getting a job again. When breaking it down, no job would pay enough to cover daycare costs with enough left over to help cover the difference. We have looked at what bills we could drop, the only ones that we could lose are the car or the house. We really don't want to lose either of them, but we're not sure what else to do.

Too many unknowns. It just makes me want to cry. I have spent many conversations with Ben crying. I hate change and I hate the unknown, even more so I hate not being able to control the situation. We have decided a few things and hope that we really won't have to use them, but with things looking the way they are, we just might.

Rodeo

As you may know we love the rodeo. They were in town this last weekend. Ben was able to get us some tickets. The kids were very excited to go. They love to go as much as we do. Owen ex specially loves to watch the bull riding.

When we got there our usual seats were already taken so we found some different ones, just as good. We sat down and played some games with the kids while we waited. When the rodeo got started it was easy to keep the kids entertained.

Friday night was really funny to watch Gabbi. For some strange reason she said she was scared. I wasn't sure why, but every time a gate opened she jumped. It was quite funny. She even cowered when the rodeo clown came close. That really didn't surprise me because she's always been afraid of the clown, but to jump at the most random noises was just weird.

Sledding

Gabbi has been wanting to play with some friends a lot lately. Its been a reward for her for going to the bathroom with no accidents. When a friend called and asked if she could go play, I decided to let her have some fun. They invited us to go sledding with them.

We went to Lomond View park, just down from our house. The kids had a lot of fun sledding and even playing on the playground.

The best part, I go to visit to. Mom to mom.

Frustration

Its a constant power struggle with Gabbi every day. There have been days that I have just wanted to cry not knowing how to handle my very forth coming 4 year old. Not only does that girl have attitude problems, but she back talks, she throws hurricane force temper tantrums, she has the physical outbursts as well, and on top of it all; she won't stop having accidents.

That child could care less that theirs a bathroom. They're not full blown accidents. She stops herself from going to the bathroom so she can continue playing. Needless to say after a full day of that she and her panties stink. We have tried everything we can think of. We have grounded her, which she hates. We have taken toys away because we thought they were the cause of her problem. Not wanting to stop playing with the toys to go potty. Sadly, she has no more toys to play with. We tried the cold showers again, it worked in the past and she of course hates that. None of these have helped.

We are now trying strictly reward. We have given her her toys back and have started the stickers chart again. We set the timer to remind her to go to the bathroom. Every time she goes to the bathroom she gets a sticker, every four stickers she gets a marble. Once she earns so many marbles she gets to take a trip to the store to pick out a prize. Hopefully this will turn things around. My biggest worry is that she doesn't break this habit and it becomes a huge problem once she starts kindergarten. We've got 6 months to get this under control. Wish us luck.

Besides that very huge hurdle, her back talking and attitude are getting the best of me. Gabbi has always been a very independent little girl. We are now seeing how that is becoming a problem. She thinks she is the boss, not only of her, but everyone. In the past couple of weeks we have had horrible back talking which then led to the hurricane force tantrums. Twice now we have been at Walmart and have put something in the cart as a reward or treat and then she throws her attitude and her mouth. Needless to say the item got returned and that brought on the screaming and crying. I always told myself that I would be the mother who would just leave the cart and take my kids out of the store and go home. Its hard enough to get to the store with two kids, I just want to get done and then go home. With her last tantrum a lady actually came up to Gabbi and asked her why she was screaming and crying. After Gabbi was done telling her she told Gabbi that she really needed to stop crying because it was hurting her ears. I couldn't believe the nerve of that lady, but at the same time, I didn't blame her.

I have spent many hours now just in tears trying to figure out how to handle her. It may seem that I hate my daughter, but that's not the case. I truly love my daughter, but if I can't figure out how to handle the power struggle, the next few years might be extremely complicated. My next step is to not give her the satisfaction. So far so good, but there are still many road bumps.

Ice cream

We had Taycina and Jeff over for dinner last night. They brought Ice Cream Popsicles for dessert. Our kids have never had those before and they loved them. Owen had so much fun with his and he had the mess to prove it. It was just to cute to see his face while eating his Ice Cream.

Car wash

Before heading home after many errand on Monday, Ben decided that the car needed to be cleaned. He was completely right, the car looked very black in some errands. When your car is silver, that's pretty dirty. They kids have never really sat through a car wash. They were mesmerized. It was awesome to see their faces when the sprayers came by the windows.

Owen

Here another cute moment from Owen.

We were at Costco doing some shopping on Monday. To make it a little more interesting for Owen, Ben was pretending that the shopping cart was a race car. He had so much fun, racing and chasing him down. His face says it all.

Daddy haircut

Owen has been needing a haircut for a while. It's so long it can't be styles at all. Ben has been wanted to do himself. Why pay someone when you can do it your self, right. We borrowed my dad's hair clippers and Monday morning Owen got his first Daddy haircut. He did pretty good.

Helicopter

At family dinner on Sunday the kids were having a lot of fun playing. Kayden has a small helicopter that can be flown in the house. He showed Owen how to control it. He had so much fun with that little helicopter. He would laugh so hard when it hit the ground. After the helicopter they played with Nerf guns. I have never heard that kids laugh so hard. He had so much fun.

Secret Date

I felt really bad on Saturday. Ben had made plans for us to have a secret date. Jenny had called me to tell me that yes they were still planning on watching the kids. I was a little confused because we were going to Cami's birthday party that night and had decided to skip out on the plans we had to go to the Stake Valentines activity. I then called Ben to see what was up so I could let Jenny know what the plans were. Ben then told me to let Jenny know that we were still planning on having them watch the kids and that I wasn't allowed to know what we were doing.

We went to Cami's party and had a lot of fun. We then left early to go drop the kids off with Jenny. After dropping the kids off Ben drove us to where we had planned for us to go. He planned to go to Steiny's sports bar for dinner. Its a really good place to eat. They have amazing french fries. We sat there and just talked. It was nice not to have kids screaming in the back ground.

After we were done eating he surprised me with a few games. They had a game room there. They had a pool table, darts, and even an arcade game. Ben and I played pool. I love to play pool. I used to play all the time in college and we even have our own pool table. Needless to say, I was very excited for the surprise. Sadly Ben won. The first game by default and he killed on the 2nd. After pool we played darts. Ben kicked my butt there too.

When we were done with Steiny's we headed for our last surprise. He took me to Walkers and bought us tickets to see Safe Haven. A complete chick flick, but I was grateful for his willingness to indulge me. It was a really good movie. Goes right along with all of the Nicholas Sparks movies.

It was a perfect night, we both needed a break. The best part, a complete surprise. He made my night.

Cami turns 1

I can't believe a year has come and gone so quickly. It seems like cute Cami Sue was born yesterday. She is such a cute ball of energy. I was really excited to go to her party. The kids had a lot of fun picking out her present and we hoped that she would enjoy it.

When we got there we played with Cami while waiting for everyone else to arrive. I pulled out my phone and her and I were playing bubbles. The look on her face when the bubbles popped, was too cute.

When everyone else arrived she began to open her presents. Ellie had a lot of fun helping her while she played with her new toys. When it was time for the cake, it was awesome. She was very much a lady and eat her cake daintily. It was funny, Karen helped her get into the cake by putting her hand in the cake and Cami freaked out. She did not want to be dirty. It was soooo cute.

The only bad part about it was Gabbi bawling when we had to go. She really wanted to stay and play with Ellie.

Eating out

Ben has been working so hard lately with overtime at work. He needed to be able to relax. I have always liked a break from cooking dinner as well. We decided to go out to eat at Buffalo Wild Wings. A lot of buddies from work have talked about it and Ben mentioned that he wanted to give it a try. I had spent some time with Taycina and asked her if they would be interested in going out to dinner. They were happy to oblige us. When Ben got off work we bundled up the kids and headed to meet Jeff and Taycina.

They got there before us and were able to get us a seat. I have heard that it was a very popular place, I was afraid that we would have to wait a long time. Luckily when we got there, Taycina and Jeff were already seated and waiting for us.

We have never been there before so we sat there and just looked at the menu, not sure what to order. They didn't have any pictures, which made it a little harder to decided, but they sent over a sauce sampler and we finally decided what we wanted.

While waiting for our food to come, its a little hard sometimes to keep the kids entertained. Owen was proving very difficult. He and I finally ended up playing with a napkin. We would put it on his head, in his shirt, hidden behind his back. It was entertaining for me as well. Gabbi on the the other hand kept herself entertained by cleaning the table with the wet wipes that were provided. It was pretty funny. She at least had a clean place to eat her dinner.

 When dinner finally came, they both ate it up like crazy and had a lot of fun with it as well. Normally you don't like kids playing with their food, but I didn't mind so much, they were after all, eating.

Job update

After work yesterday, I asked Ben if he had found out anything else about the reformation to the Military. He told me that after talking to many people, they assured him that he should not worry about it. He is the kind a solider that they would want to keep around. Everyone has pretty much told him that. So for now we will just wait and see what happens.

I agree with him, he has an outstanding work ethic and the important people notice that. But only time will tell.

Cupid

Along with the Valentines Heart party we had, Cupid came to visit. When we all sat down to dinner, Cupid had left some fun items for the kids and ourselves.

Owen got a fun pair of Nerf guns. He was extremely excited about those. He tried to rip them out of the box before we even got a chance to help him get them out. He also got a Cars hide and seek book. Both of the kids love books, so he likewise loved this book.

Gabbi was lucky enough to get two books. One was a princess hide and seek and the other was a princess play story book. Princess figurines came with the book so you could really make the stories come to life. She , like her brother, wanted to rip it open before us helping her.

Ben got some chocolates and I got movie tickets. Which Ben and I used to go see Beautiful Creatures, once we were done with our Valentines festivities. A very interesting movie. Interesting enough to make me want to read the books.

Valentines Day

Valentines Day isn't a holiday that we really celebrate all that much. We do try to have some fun with it, but nothing to extravagant.

When we got home from Nana and Papa's we had some visitors. The kids stayed outside and played in the snow while us moms visited. Its fun to have adult interaction every once in a while. After they left we went inside to get ready for our Heart party.

We had a heat breaker cheese pizza with bread sticks and salad for dinner. The kids enjoyed their heart churros for dessert. Once we were all done with dinner, we cleaned up and got ready for a heart activity.

I had made cookie dough the night before and we had planned to make heart cookies. The type of cookies we made didn't work all to well to use cookie cutters. So we made them with their intended purpose. They were chocolate crinkle cookies. If you've ever had them you would know that they have powdered sugar on them. We let the kids help put the powder sugar on the balls of cookie dough. The had a lot of fun with that. By the time we were done covering all the balls of cookie dough, it was amazing to see the mess. I was surprised that any of the balls of cookie dough had any powdered sugar on them at all. At least they enjoyed themselves.

Owen enjoyed it so much that eventually he was just eating the powdered sugar. Needless to say when that happened, he was done helping.

Once all the cookies had been cooked it was time to clean up. Owen was covered from head to toe with powdered sugar and the counter and floor as well. While Ben cleaned up the kids I cleaned up the kitchen. Even though there was such a big mess, it was still so much fun.