Yes, that's MY kid

Today I was meeting my visiting teachers at the park so that we can sit and visit while the kids played. As we were visiting; she looks over and sees Mila under the slide. She had to take a double take, and then gets my attention to look over at her. She had her pants down around her ankles and was POOPING!! I really didn't know what to do at that very moment! Luckily I made her put a pull-up on before we left... I just pulled up her pants and then picked up the poop with a doggie poop bag that a kid brought to me. All of the other kids that were at the park will not forget that moment anytime soon, I'm sure!

How EMBARRASSING!!!

Target Practice

Yesterday we went out to the desert with my brother Eric and brother-in-law Clayton to take the kids shooting.  Carter got a BB Gun for his birthday in October and has never been able to shoot it.  So he was really looking forward to going.

When Eric showed up with all of this guns Carter's BB gun pretty much stayed in the case the rest of the afternoon.

 Jason trying to sight in the scope of Carter's BB gun; which turned out to be a piece of junk and was removed.  :o)

 Carter shooting Eric's 22 revolver.

 Cody shooting Eric's 9mm.

Carter getting a lesson from Uncle Eric on how to launch the clay pigeons.

 Carter got to shoot Clayton's 20 gauge shotgun.

He shot it more than once and thought it was awesome.

Me shooting the 20 gauge.

(Only once.)  I didn't seem to "enjoy" it as much as the guys.  The kick was a little rough.

All of these guns made me really nervous, but we did have a fun day.

Perfect Attendance

Carter had perfect attendance for the first two quarters of school this year.

There weren't very many that received this award.

Way to go Carter!

I didn't pee my pants

Mila has been doing really well at potty training this past week.  We stayed home most of the week so that she could just be in her big girl panties and make it to the potty every time.  When it's just Mila and me she can do it, but as soon as the kids come home from school and she gets busy playing with them it's a different story...

This is how she looked when she came running in from outside.

She's yelling "mom I have to pee, I have to pee, but I didn't pee my pants."

No, I don't think she peed her pants either...

First Pinewood Derby

Now that Carter is in Cub Scouts he gets to participate in the annual Pinewood Derby. This was not only Carter's first year, it was Jason's first time too.  Jason turned to the internet for tips since he has never built a pinewood derby car.  He watched lots of videos and read lots of web pages to learn how to build a good car.  He was hoping that Carter would win a least one race.  Maybe it was all the research or just beginners luck, but Carter won ALL thirteen races he was in. He was the overall winner of his pack.

 Carter did get in on the building of his car.  Hopefully he learned a thing or two.

 The finished product.  "The Cartervette"

In the starting block.  (Check out the Jeep)

 Winning by two car lengths.

 This was his fastest time.  3.767 sec.  131.2 mph

There were a lot of really cool cars there.  We didn't get any pictures of the other cars, but they were all something for the boys to be proud of.

Will she EVER be potty trained?

That's the question I keep asking myself...

This girl is really getting the best of me lately.

Mila is two and a half.  She still has a bottle, sleeps with a pacifier, wears diapers, and begs for her daily three hour nap. (Which has to be in her own bed.)

And no, I'm not bragging.  I'm hoping someone will take care of all of the above, so I don't have to...

ANYONE???

Fishing Fun

Since moving here, the kids have begged to go fishing at the community lake.  A lot.  So last Saturday we decided to take them.  I don't know if the fish didn't like the rainbow power bait from 1993 or if they have been caught so many times that they now know better, but we didn't catch anything!

Jason spent a lot of time getting the lines ready for each kid, and then they didn't show an interest in it very long.

This is Jason on the other side of the Lake.

I'm sure he headed over there so he wouldn't have to fix another line and to finally be able to fish for himself.

This is a picture of Carter and his cousin Cody trying to get his fishing line out of the bushes.  They must have spent a good half hour trying to get it free...

Here he is coming back for dad to fix his line.  Again.

Mila and Leah mostly enjoyed feeding and chasing the ducks.

Carter is so protective of his sisters.  He kept following Mila really close, afraid that she was going to fall in. He kept telling me I wasn't watching her "good enough".

We love living in a community where a boring day can really be a fun day.  Maybe we should get some better bait before next time though.

I hate Krispy Kreme

Jason worked for Krispy Kreme for six years before leaving to go to his current job at Southwest Gas.  That was the biggest blessing to our family at the time!  Krispy Kreme here in AZ went bankrupt shortly after he left.  (I like to think it was because he left.)  All of the people that were still working there at the time were just locked out of the building with no explanation, and had to fight to even get their last paychecks.

We'll a few years after leaving Krispy Kreme I pulled our credit report and it had a credit card on there with a large balance left unpaid.  Neither of us recognized this card, so we looked into it further...  Come to find out, this was his company credit card that he made all of the purchases for the machines at Krispy Kreme on.  They opened up a credit card in his name, with his social security number, linked to HIS credit; without his knowledge.  When he accepted his company credit card, he thought it was just that; a company credit card.  When he left, he turned in the credit card, along with the balance on it.  Well, they never paid it.

Nobody has ever contacted us about this outstanding debt on our credit until NOW.  Six years later!!  They called a couple of days ago and gave Jason an option to pay the debt in full minus all the interest that had accrued or he could be sued and he would have to pay the debt plus all of the interest if he lost the case.  The whole thing was fraudulent anyways, so I think that we could have won if it went to court.  Also Arizona's statue of limitations is seven years.  Why couldn't they just wait another year to contact us?  The whole thing is so dumb!!

Jason being the man that he is, just says, "Pay the small amount now and end this or we'll have to pay the huge amount later."  So now we get to come up with a way to pay for purchases that we didn't even get to enjoy!

Needless to say...  As good as they are, we will NEVER eat a Krispy Kreme AGAIN!!

New Years Eve

This year for New Years Eve we just stayed home and watched movies as a family. I was trying to keep the kids awake long enough to ring in the new year, but they kept falling asleep on the couch.  Finally at about 10:00 I woke them all up and told them we could do fireworks early.  I made all of them to go get warm clothes on cause it was really cold outside and this is how Jason came out...

I couldn't stop laughing!  I still look at this picture and laugh...

He just got this jacket for work and he said that he needed to break it in because it's so stiff.  But what's with the shoes??  What a nerd.

Since AZ passed making fireworks legal, there were just as many fireworks stands as there were circle k's.  And every time Carter would see one, he would beg to go buy some.  We finally gave in and bought a bunch.

Leah wanted to see the fireworks, but she didn't want to hear them.  So she came out with the ear muffs they wear to the monster trucks.

I think we can thank Grandma Welker for all of the kids being scared of fireworks...

Carter and Jason also made vinegar and baking soda bombs.  One wasn't working, so Jason goes to pick it up to shake it and it exploded in his hand.  I don't think he'll be doing that again soon...

I love this picture of Mila and her chubby cheeks.

Carter had lots of fun.  Probably because it was the one time that we actually allowed him to play with matches.

The fireworks were very short lived, and when we were done, Carter says, "Well that wasn't worth it."  I thought it was.  The kids had fun, and it's something they'll remember doing...

Christmas 2010

I don't know why we never remember to get our camera out when we're at my mom's house...  But we had Christmas Eve with my side of the family at my mom's.  We had a yummy Mexican Potluck dinner, had a gift exchange with all of the kids, and then Grandma Welker's gift.  Last year she took us all to Disneyland for our Christmas present, so our hopes were high again this year...  It wasn't Disneyland, but the kids will love it just as much.

She gave EVERYONE a season pass to Golfland/Sunsplash to use ALL next summer.  The kids were really excited!  She took us there last year and the kids had so much fun, so they are all really looking forward to it.

After Grandma's house we all headed home to wait for Santa...  Our kids all climbed in their beds as soon as we walked in the door, they were so excited.

Jason put out Carter's reindeer food and glitter; put out the milk and cookies; and then off to bed we went...

The next morning the kids were awake at 5:30 checking out their stuff.

Mila got a Laptop.

Leah got Art Supplies.  (Paper, envelopes, scissors, stamps, glue, markers, stickers, tape, etc.)

She was in HEAVEN!

Carter got the Ripstick G that he asked for.  (Not just a ripstick...a ripstick G.  Whatever that means.)

And then the gifts from us...

They were very spoiled this year.

They got the trampoline they wanted, and lots of games, movies, and toys.

And then one last present...

We made them go on a treasure hunt for the last one...

And then they ended up in the garage to find...

The Golf Cart that they've been wanting since we moved here!

Mom loves it just as much as the kids do!

Mila already got into Leah's inkpad.  Can you tell?