Messy House?

Mine Too!!
I thought this poem was funny.

I asked the Lord to tell me
Why my house is such a mess.
He asked if I'd been 'computering',
And I had to answer 'yes.'
He told me to get off my fanny
And tidy up the house.

And so I started cleaning up...
The smudges off my mouse.
I wiped and shined the topside.
That really did the trick...
I was just admiring my work.
I didn't mean to 'click.'

But click, I did, and oops I found
A real absorbing site.
That I got SO way into it
I was into it all night.
Nothing's changed except my mouse
It's very, very shiny.
I guess my house will stay a mess...
While I sit here on my hiney!

Maybe this is why I can't seem to get my house clean lately...

Dentist??

What kid likes to go to the Dentist? That would be mine... Leah loves to have clean teeth and breath to point where I think she's obsessed with it. She brushes her teeth sometimes four times before she thinks they're clean. Then when she's done she always makes you smell her breath to see if it still stinks or smells "minty fresh". This was the conversation I had with her this morning:

Leah: Mom can we go to the Dentist?

Me: Why?

Leah: Cause they clean my teeth and they're really yellow.

She has a long wait...her next appointment isn't until June.

Easter Fun

Friday we went with Stacey, Elli, Robin, and all the kids to the Golfland/Sunsplash free Easter egg hunt. Bad idea. The line to get in was wrapped around the whole parking lot. There was a girl at the end of the line telling us that we might not get in to hunt eggs. We stayed in line anyway and took our chances. Long story short, we did get in to hunt eggs and the kids had fun. After that, we went to Jakes Pizza for lunch. We didn't stay to play because Mila was being such a crab.

Saturday the Welker clan all got together for Easter. There was lots of food, lots of kids, and lots of fun. We hid eggs for the kids in my moms backyard. Then they played "I spy" for some fabulous dollar store prizes. Somehow Carter ended up with a lot of those prizes. Of course the bike lock is his favorite.

Sunday the Easter Bunny came and brought baskets for the kids. He left Carter a fishing pole and a crossbow that shoots darts. Leah got some pajamas and swim suits. Mila got a swim suit and a cover up. The kids loved it.

All of the Welker grandkids.

Carter going through his loot.

Mila found someones candy.

The kids playing "I Spy".

(Notice they all have their mouths taped shut.)

The kids before church.

We survived 2 weeks of Spring Break

Two weeks is a long time to keep kids busy...but we survived. We actually did something fun every day which made things MUCH EASIER!! These are some of the things we did for the second week of Spring Break...we flew kites, played and ate at Peter Piper Pizza a couple of times with our cousins, we went to the mall to play in the play area and to see the puppies, we visited the AZ Museum of Natural History, we went to the Temple Visitors Center, we went on bike rides, went to Jeepers for lunch and a FULL day of fun and games (especially the roller coaster), we went to the Dollar Store to get some "treasures", played a lot of Guitar Hero, and even had a visit from the tooth fairy.

Before Spring Break I had Carter make a list of the things that he wanted to do while he was out of school. On his list he had:

1. Go to the zoo. Check.

2. Go to Safford. - We didn't make it to Safford, but they all came here to visit us, so kinda...check.

3. Buy a dog. - We're not ready for a dog yet, so we went and saw them at the mall, so kinda...check.

4. Ride on a fast train. - I don't know what he meant by that, but the roller coaster at Jeepers was way fast and seemed to be just as good as a fast train for him, so...check.

I think we did a pretty good job at accomplishing Carter's to do list.

Here are some pictures of our week...

Mila loved this ride at Peter Piper.

Flying kites. I don't recommend $1 kites, but the kids loved it.


I think the AZ Museum of Natural History is mostly known for their dinosaur displays, but my kids don't know much about dinosaurs, so I'm sure what they'll remember most is the jail cells. They had an old jail in their basement that was used a long time ago, so of course this was Carter's favorite part.

They were also able to pan for gold.

The Temple

This was Carter's face when the roller coaster stopped. I could not stop laughing at his face the whole time he was on it! Priceless!

He didn't see the roller coaster moving before he actually got on it and once it started, he wasn't so sure about it. It goes SOOO fast. I think it was just long enough for him when it started to slow down to stop, but then once it stopped they say "Now were gonna go backwards". Well that was even funnier to watch...but by the end of the day he must have rode it at least 6 times, so I guess it really was fun.

Carter "Rocking Out" as he calls it.

Fun Times!!!

First Week of Spring Break

One week down and one more to go...

This past week we have had such great weather here, so we tried to spend as much time outside as we could. We played in the squirt pad at Power Ranch and then went swimming with lots of cousins at my brother's house. The water was pretty cold but the kids didn't seem to mind at all.

One day we went to the Phoenix Zoo with my friend from High School and her six kids. It was one of the hottest days this year, but it was still lots of fun.

This is a picture of the squirt pad at the zoo. There were so many kids there! It seemed like there wasn't enough water to go around...it was kinda funny to watch.

Leah stopping for a pose on the pirate ship slide.

We've spent the rest of the week riding our bikes, playing in the backyard pool and slip n' slide, and spending time with Jason's family. They all came to spend the weekend with us, and even though we didn't do anything exciting it was still fun to have them here.

Only one more week to entertain and keep em' busy....(Otherwise I get to hear the complaining and fighting all day.)

Wish me luck.

Sleep Walker

This is a post from Jason...

Every night it's the same routine. We say it's bedtime and the kids beg to sleep in our bed. Of course we give in since we usually go to bed later than they do. When it comes time for us to go to bed we have to move Carter and Leah into their own beds. Leah is a breeze, just pick her up and carry her to bed. Carter, on the other hand is a different story. It's not so easy moving a 90 pound six year old to his bed. You have to drag him out of the bed by his arms and walk him to bed. He stays asleep the whole time, but you can talk to him and he will talk back. He usually crawls into bed backwards or half on the bed and half on the floor. Saturday night was the same old story, but this time I made him go pee first. I walked him to the toilet and this is how our conversation went:

Jason: Carter you need to go pee.
Carter: I am.
J: You need to pull your shorts down first.
C: Blank stare and goes to flush the toilet.
J: Carter you need to go pee first.
C: I will but you have to leave.
J: O.K. but don't pee all over the floor.
C: heh, I know.

So I go out and shut the door. Once the toilet flushed I opened the door and said, "O.K. Carter lets go get in bed". Carter is standing in the bathtub with his head down asleep. I just started laughing and said "Carter, what are you doing?" He says, "What?" I say, "It's time for bed." So he lays down in the bathtub and goes to sleep. I was laughing so hard that I could hardly breath. Kris Ann had to come get him because I couldn't stop laughing. Maybe you had to be there, but I still laugh when I think of it.

Where O Where Have All of the Pacifiers Gone?

I cannot find a pacifier for the life of me today! Mila cannot go to sleep without one, so we're way behind on naps today! She finally cried herself to sleep after about an hour of being tired.

We had like six of them less than a month ago and now I can't even find ONE! I guess I need to make a Wal-mart run today so the baby can get some sleep.

Mila's First Cupcake

Last Saturday we were at my mom's house for a birthday party and someone left a whole cupcake in the toy room. Well...Mila found it. She had almost the whole thing eaten by the time I found her with it.

This picture looks like "Oh, no. I've been caught."

"I found something to eat and it's REALLY GOOD!"

I guess she's going to love her 1st Birthday when she gets to have her own cake!

Valentine's Weekend

What a fun weekend we had! On Saturday night my mom decided that she would babysit all of the grandkids while the adults went out on their hot dates....WHAT was she THINKING??? That's 15 kids all eight and younger, in one house, and only one adult! Jason was on call for work so we decided to hold off on our date until next weekend so we didn't have to worry if he would be called out or not and so we decided to stay and help with crowd control. Lucky for my mom too, cause it was a little CRAZY!! She really went all out for the kids to have a fun night too. They ordered pizza for dinner, played games in the dark with glow sticks and then went on a walk down the street with them, blew bubbles in the house, decorated sugar cookies, and made Valentines. (She had also planned to have sundaes with all of the toppings, but we ran out of time, which was OK because the kids were on quite a sugar high from all of the cookies with LOADS of frosting and sprinkles. The kids had so much fun and I think the adults did too. I know I'm excited about my upcoming date...

Here are only a few pictures from that night...

Here's Mila trying to get grandma's bird. She gets so excited once she spots it.

Here's where the chaos begins with the glow sticks... They LOVED it!!

These are our pictures from President's Day...

I decided to call my sister early Monday morning to see what they had planned for the day. Her and her friend were taking their kids to Freestone Park to spend the day, so we invited ourselves to join them. We had such a good time. We had a picnic lunch and then bought the kids each a wrist band to ride all of the kiddie rides until their heart was content. They LOVED it! We also took a couple of train rides around the park, and then rode our bikes, fed the ducks, and played on the playground. The weather was so nice and Jason was even able to spend the day with us even though he was still on call.

These rides were more for the little kids, but Carter still had fun.

Here's Leah on the Merry Go Round. She was so excited to finally get to ride it and then when it was her turn to get on, she ran towards the BENCH! Mckenzie and Carter decided to join her.

Mila seemed to have a good time too.

Here Jason finally convinced Leah to ride on a horse and she was TERRIFIED! She had a death grip on the pole and her face looked like she had seen a ghost. She did not enjoy that RIDE!

The kids had some random father pushing them on the tire swing. I don't know who he was, but he was their hero for a LONG TIME!

Here's Leah on her bench AGAIN!!

By the end of the day everyone was SO TIRED!

Thanks Stacey and Amber for letting us crash your party! We had tons of fun!

Parent/Teacher Conference

Last night we had parent/teacher conference with Carter's kindergarten teacher. I was a little worried going in just knowing how Carter is at home...Lately he thinks he rules the world and everything must be done his way and on his time. He has been a pretty difficult kid lately. Well I guess that's not the case at school. His teacher had nothing but nice things to say about him and even said that he is in the top group in his reading and writing. That's funny to me 'cause at home when it's time to do homework he comes across as being lazy and doesn't want to do it. Every night by the time our homework session is over I wonder just how the kid is going to make it to 1st grade. She even said that he is her biggest helper around the classroom and is always looking for things to clean, organize, or straighten up. What a shocker!!! Who is this kid I drop off at school each day 'cause it's not the one I seem to be picking up???...

Papa Welker...We miss you!!

This week has really been a rough week for me...Today marks two years since my dad passed away and no matter how much time seems to go by it seems like the feeling of missing him still doesn't get any easier. There is not a day that goes bye that I don't think of him at least once every hour. He was the best dad that anyone could ever ask for. He loved and adored each of his grand kids and I just wish that they could have been able to know him a little longer...

My dad was only 53 when he passed away.

We found out that he had kidney cancer in October 2006 and he died February 8th, 2007.

This poem says it all...

God's Garden

God looked around his garden,

And found an empty place.

He then looked down upon the earth,

And saw your tired face.

He put his arms around you,

And lifted you to rest.

God's garden must be beautiful,

He always takes the best.

He knew you were in pain.

He knew that you were suffering.

He knew that you would never

get well on this earth again.

He saw the road was getting rough,

And the hills were hard to climb.

So he closed your weary eyelids,

And whispered, "Peace be thine."

It broke our hearts to lose you,

But you didn't go alone.

For part of us went with you,

The day God called you home.

I so look forward to being reunited with him again!

Happy Birthday Eric!

Today is my brother Eric's birthday .

Happy Birthday Eric!

We LOVE YOU!!!