Retched Morning

As I was pulling out of the garage, the 60 year-old garage door fell and landed on the back window of our van, shattering it. The garage door was pulled off it's track and the frame is all broken.

At least it isn't a story of me pulling out of the garage, forgetting to open the garage door. That would be embarrassing. Sorry to those that have done that.

Bread-blah!

When you forget to add salt to the dough it makes the bread taste horrible!!! There goes 4 loaves and 2 hours of time. Grrr!
Smother it with enough butter and jam and the kids don't even notice.

Aunalee's lesson on Drugs

We were at Aunalee's soccer game one evening. The games are held next to an outdoor skate park. After the game the kids went over to watch the skaters. They were older teenage guys wearing low-cut jeans, boxers showing, and no shirt, skateboarding.
As the kids were watching, one of the guys started making "cool" facial expressions and saying phrases like "oh yeah!" or "I'm gonna do this!" every time he passed the kids.
As the kids and Preston were leaving the skate park Preston noticed that Aunalee had run back, across the ramp and over to that one guy. He saw a small conversations and then a wave goodbye. Aunalee came back over, laughing.
Preston inquired as to what that was all about.
Aunalee said the following:
"I went to say goodbye and so I said 'goodbye!' He said, 'Goodbye, be safe, don't drink drugs.' (as she is laughing) . . .That was so funny because I bet he does."

Katelyn's Daddy Off to Work

As Preston was leaving for work today he said, "Bye, I love you."
"I love you too," came the response from mom and Kate.
After he was gone Katelyn said, "I love daddy when he leaves. . .and I love daddy when he comes back!"

Aunalee, the Collector

Aunalee, our six-year old, loves to collect things. Everything! She collects marbles, containers of all shapes and sizes, sea shells, chestnuts, stuffed animals etc. Last summer Preston had a bad sunburn on his back. As Aunalee was peeling off the skin she asked, "Mom, can I keep this, please?" (puppy face, begging).
Sorry to gross anyone out, but that is how extreme it can get. She has learned to ask me because I will have her throw stuff out that is just too gross or not allowed in my house (ie. dead skin, frosty cups and boxelder bugs). No, she was not allowed to keep the skin.
So, she lost a tooth the other day. She asked me if she could keep it but still get money from the tooth fairy. Nope. I really did not want a tooth collection in her room too. That lies on the gross side. Aren't I such a mean mom?
Aunalee put her tooth in one of her special containers and put it under her pillow. Not wanting the tooth fairy to take the container she wrote a note for her.
When the tooth fairy came to make the exchange she read this:
Please leave container and lev my towth and mone there to.

To which the tooth fairy replied:
You are a special girl. I will leave a drawing of your tooth. Thank you for leaving it under your pillow for me. Baby teeth sure are special to me. I left you a special coin.

The tooth fairy left a drawing as well as a Susan B. Anthony coin. Lucky girl!

Here is the note (before Aunalee showed us the note the tooth fairy left, she erased the part about keeping the tooth because she was embarrassed and didn't want mom to know that she went behind her back and asked the tooth fairy if she could keep the tooth):

April Fools on us! Thanks mother nature.

This is what we awoke to on April 1st. Not only that, today we woke up to 8 inches of new snow. Will it never end?!!

Slime in the Ceiling

So, Dalan's birthday was this month. He got the coolest present ever! It was red slime that came in a blood donation bag. How awesomely gross!  9 year-old boys are easy to please; just give them something that grosses everyone else out and they love it.
All is well until he and his sister (who loves gross things too) are dissecting it at the kitchen table and mom steps out of the room for 1 minute. ONE minute!

I hear banging around in the kitchen and run back in. Low and behold, Dalan is attempting to mop the ceiling?! What?

"Aunalee threw her slime on the ceiling and I was trying to get it off." comes the half-story from Dalan.
"You did it too, Dalan!" comes the rebuttal from Aunalee, ensuring the blame is shared. She walks over to the stairway and points to the ceiling. "That is what Dalan did."
"Yeah, but mine came off, mostly."

I look and sure enough, there are some nice red rings on the ceiling where his slime had been splattered.
Aunalee's mess was much worse as Dalan's frightful attempt to clean it was actually smearing it everywhere.
In my jaw clenched, kind voice, "I don't know why when mom leaves the room you think all of the rules are void and that you can trash my house. . .lecture . . . lecture . . .lecture . . . "                     
Summary of the discipline, they are too short to clean up the mess and I am not patient enough to wait until they are tall enough. Slime goes in the garbage and they clean up what is on the floor and table. I have to attempt what is on the ceiling.

Sweet, creative Aunalee replies, "We could just paint the ceiling red. That would be cool."
This is a comment where my heart is laughing and my demeanor stays firm. This is extremely difficult to master, so I am told. I'm still working on it.

As for the ceiling, magic eraser only spreads the mess and turns everything pink. It would have worked if I had bought 4 more boxes. The scrub brush only made my arm hurt. Simple Green along with whatever other cleaners I had in the cupboard didn't do a thing either except make the area smell nice and chemically.

My super-heroin friend, Jen came to the rescue. She brought over a gallon of blue windshield washer fluid. This combined with the magic eraser worked, um, magic! It got the slime off without spreading the mess! Yea for super-heroes!

Katelyn's Dream (as told by Katelyn)

Mom, I had a scary dream last Tuesday and a snake came up to me and you smacked him!

I was on my way out the door to go to the grocery store tonight.
Kate called out a reminder, "Get me some juice."
"And look at the fishies."

If you have ever taken kids to Walmart, you will know why I was laughing out loud on my way out the door.

Quick! Mom's not looking!

This morning was going so well too. . .We had breakfast, reading time, got dressed, the kids were actually motivated to get their schooling done, it was great.
Since Aunalee was ready to start her Phonics course (shocker!) I did not clear the table after breakfast.
Big mistake!
Let me say that again. . .BIG mistake!
We had waffles with all the fixings (peanut butter and syrup, yum!) and yogurt. Apparently we had toast because the toaster was on the table. I didn't fix toast, did I? Lack of sleep getting to me here.

I went with Aunalee to my room (the place she chose to do her work today) and started on Phonics.
Dalan started reading, Kate (3) and Landon (16 mon.) were in the kitchen playing with the Fridge Phonics.

The sounds of the morning were pleasant. The kids were laughing and playing nicely while I was left with Aunalee to do work.
Moments later I hear the sounds of spoons and fingers scooping out yogurt and eating it (moms have this sense of knowing exactly who, what and how noises are created, oh, and no noise means mischief).
I called down the hall, "Kate, what are you and Landon doing?"
"Eating yogurt." comes the reply.
"Are you both ok?"
"Yes."

I trusted that, that cute little three-year-old! That was BIG mistake #2!
Five minutes later Kate comes waltzing into my room and asks me to open her bathroom door (child proofed).
From her finger tips, up her arms, to her mouth. . .peanut butter, yogurt, and something else sticky (syrup maybe)!
AHH! Kate!
"I need to wash my hands."
No kidding! Do I laugh? cry? yell?
None of the above is what I actually did.
I opened the bathroom door and had her wash herself up whilst I checked on the other goober.

Covered from head to toe, literally, in yougurt, peanut butter, and syrup, standing on the table, was Landon, smiling and hands straight up in the air as if to say, "I did it! Where is my praise?"
After stripping and hosing him down I decided to clear the table. Which I should have done in the first place!
The peanut butter. . . chucked it.
Yogurt. . .chucked it.  They were so mixed together I was not sure which was which.
As for the toaster. . .I put it in the sink and sprayed it down, inside and out. It may be broken after doing that, but how was I supposed to clean the yogurt/peanut butter concoction out?

This is not the end. . .(sorry, no "making a long story short")

As I was cleaning the toaster I heard noise (not the good kind) coming from the bathroom.

I ran into the bathroom and Kate and Landon had combs, a mirror, and the bottle of gel, doing  each others' hair.
Out you two!
I cleaned up that mess, now back to the toaster.
Oh, no! Where were those two now?!!!
I found them in my bathroom with the door closed getting into hair stuff again!
What a morning!
Too bad I'm out of duct tape! Nap time for the little ones. So what that it's only 9:30am.

Got to love em!

Aunalee and Preston got back from the USU girls basketball game yesterday. It was their daddy-daughter time. Aunalee came in, all excited to tell me about it.
"We got to sit in the very tippy front!"

Katelyn - A day of moods


Setting: Evening time. Grouchy 3-year-old, Kate, that refuses to take naps anymore, was playing at the fridge with her Word Whammer. No one dared go near because they knew of her current mood situation. Mom was making dinner at the stove.

Katelyn had the setting to "build your own word." She kept flicking the letters off the fridge, pushing the song button, and trying to get a reaction from mom or anyone that passed by.
Push red song button and a character sings alphabet song, "A, B, C," push again and it starts over, "A," push, "A," push, "A," "A,""A,""A,""A,"
"KATE. That's enough."
The noise ceases a moment. Big scowl on Kate's face.
Toy defaults to directing a child to build a word, "Put a letter in the spot with the blinking light."
Another moment of silence.
"Put a letter in the spot with the blinking light."
Response from the 3-year-old, "NO! I DON'T WANT TO!" 

Dalan- Oh, the great minds of children!

Last night Preston was doing fun quizzing games with the kids. He would start giving clues or telling about events and the kids had to guess which President of the U.S. he was talking about.

Clue #1: This was the first President to die in office.

Dalan: "He died in his office?!"

Favorite non-words we hear from our children:

Dalan: "Tadpoles envolve into frogs."

Auanlee: "Look at the patteren I made!"

Katelyn: "Look at my bellybutt. Let me see yours bellybutt." and "How did you do dat?"

Landon: Not really speaking in a comprehendible language. He shakes and nods his head at any question. Sometimes the jibberish he comes out with as a response to a question or comment actually fits perfectly!
"Here you go Landon."
"DaDoo"
"Oh! You're welcome!"

Five months later and much has happened. Our three children are growing fast!


Dalan finished kindergarten and lost two bottom teeth. His class had some chicken eggs that they watched hatch. We inherited two of the little orphans. Dalan has taken full responsibility of Fluffy and Yellow. He is a good "Daddy."
He also finished the semester of tumbling and his skills are improving.

Aunalee (aka. Rachel, Superwoman, and/or Princess Leah [depending on the day]) is growing into a young lady. She finished ballet and loved it and continues to practice at home. Her energy and excitement starts when she wakes up and does not stop until her head is on her pillow at night. Needless to say, she keeps us on our toes.

Katelyn is five months old! WOW! She started eating rice cereal and, from the first bite, loved it and opened for more. She loves to talk, twist her tongue, and play with her toes. She is getting pretty good at rolling around so we have to keep a close eye on her or she ends up stuck under the couch. She loves people, especially Dalan and Aunalee.

So far this summer we have gone on one road trip. The first week of June we met Preston's cousins in South Dakota on thier move from the east coast to the west coast. We toured Jewel Cave, Crazy Horse, and Mt. Rushmore. We then headed west and went through the Buffalo Bill Museum in Cody, WY and then spent two days in Yellowstone. It was a great trip! Our favorite parts were touring the cave and seeing all the animals with their new babies at Yellowstone (bears, elk, buffalo, coyotes). We highly recommend Yellowstone in the spring.

Preston, JaNiel, Dalan, Aunalee, and Katelyn

It is only fitting to begin our new family blog with pictures of our newest family member.

Here she is, Katelyn Parker, born on her due date January 27, 2007. Her name, like our other two children, ties into family, yet is their own, unique name. Kathryn is the name of JaNiel's sister who passed away, Kate is the name of JaNiel's Great-Great Grandmother, and Catherine is the name of Preston's Great-Great-Grandmother who is very famous in the Parker family.

You can click on the image to make it bigger:
Katelyn is only about 30 minutes old


First family visit
3 days old

Dalan and Aunale love their baby sister, Katelyn.