“That is A LOT of kids!”

Since I have spent the last 2 Saturdays cleaning and organizing and because the weather is pretty great currently and because we didn’t have any volleyball games, I decided we needed to get out of the house and do something fun.

We decided to go to Calico Basin, which is a easy, easy little walk in Red Rock. On the way out, we drove through all of the developments on the outskirts of Red Rock that have popped up in the last few years. We found some model homes that were open and decided to stop and take a look. I have always loved going through model homes. Even if the house is too small or a ridiculous floor plan, you can help but love the effect a model home has on you.

This was the first time our kids have been through any model homes. They were in awe. Even Cassidy and Cooper loved it. Cassidy would ask which one was going to be her room. After a while I realized that the kids thought if you bought one of the homes that it came with all the fixing’s. No wonder they were so impressed! I think it lost some of the appeal when they found out that our less-than-model-home furniture and décor would be transferred over.

It was fun to see the models and it was interesting when we would walk into the sales offices. The sales reps would always comment along the lines of, “You must be looking for a big house.”

The funniest thing was when we were walking out of one of the models and a family of 4 was walking in. The family was 2 parents and 2 little girls. As I was corralling Coop and Kara out the door, the littlest girl walked by and turned to her family and said in a loud whisper, “That is a lot of kids!”

Yes, some days it really really really is a lot of kids.

But we had a very enjoyable Saturday. The unexpected model home tour was very fun because it was different and I love that it was free. It made for surprisingly fun entertainment.

After the real estate escapade, we continued on to Calico Basin.

Cooper was a bit leary of the walk way at first but soon set off with Cassidy.

I love these series of pictures.

So many great things about this.

-Check out the junk in Cass’s trunk!

-She and Cooper both dressed them selves that day, right on down to their sock and shoes. She got out some bloomers that are supposed to go over a diaper and under a dress. She was very proud of her self and loved that they were so big. She kept saying that she was wearing big underwear because she was a big girl!

-Cassidy is currently taller that Cooper, by a few inches. She has gotten so tall suddenly.

-Cooper has 3 pairs of socks on. And he is holding a bouncy ball and an extra pair of sunglasses in his hands. He always has plenty of backups of his stuff.

Coop had just had a small moment of annoyance and Cass went to his side and they walked away together.

I think she knew that he wasn’t in the mood to hold hands, so she just kept right by his side.

I don’t know what they were talking about, but perhaps it was words of comfort from a little sister.

I think she was able to break through finally.

He’s showing me his muscles.

I sure am glad that I have ‘a lot of kids’ and a really great family!

Nesting

My sister was about to have her baby (more on that soon ) and she was nesting.  Somehow it rubbed off on me and I suddenly felt the compelling need to de-junk and organize and clean.  (thankfully that is the only thing that rubbed off on me.  I am happy to be the aunt from here on out!)

So I started the daunting task.  We went through every drawer of the girls, all of the closet items and sorted through shoes.  We cleaned under beds and on top of dressers.  I went through Cooper and Cassidy’s closet and I cleaned out the play room, enlisting the girls help in some of the decision making.  And everything was clean.

For one day.

Walking into their bedroom or peaking into the playroom you would think, “Hmm.  This place needs to be picked up.”

I was irritated about it all week.  So when Saturday rolled around again, I decided enough was enough.

We have 3 rooms for the kids.  Allie and Kara and Coop and Cass each shared a room and we had one play room.  We did away with having a dedicated play room and we moved Kara into that room. C & C had  empty space in their room and A & K were busting at the seams. 

This time, we did a major toy sort.  If they didn’t LOVE it or if it was missing something, it was time to part with it.

We completely re-arranged Coop and Cass’s room and brought the remainder toys in there.

10 bags and 1 Saturday later,  I have CLEAN bedrooms!

It is much easier to keep things clean now.  Everything has a place to go.  If you were to look right now you’d see a few things out of place, I mean- they are kids, but there so much less stuff that its ok.  And it only takes 2 seconds to get it right back in shape.

Love it!

Dead Batteries and Pop Tarts

Apparently my car battery is trying to tell me something.  Either its telling me that we shouldn’t leave the lights on in the car anymore, or that its time to replace it.  In this case, its probably both things.

The battery was dead on the car again last week.  It was 3 pm and I was trying to leave to pick up the girls from school.  Luckily I called two people and I was able to arrange for the girls to get a ride home.  I wasn’t too worried because we have lots of experience with jumping cars and I knew that Paul would be getting home in a few hours. 

That night we jumped the car and Paul drove it to Albertsons to make sure it charged enough (and to get Klondike bars- curse him!).  I was grateful he was home and we could charge it because he was leaving to go out of town early the next morning.

So the next morning, Allie and I get in the car to go to early morning choir and what do you know- the battery was dead.  I ended up calling 6 people before my brother in law agreed to come help me.  (I talked to everyone else later and they were all willing to help to – but like I said, it was early and they didn’t hear their phones)

Allie missed choir but we were able to get the car going to get them to school before the tardy bell rang, so that was good.

I was worried about turning the car off because obviously it had issues.  Paul had just jumped it the night before and it was dead again in the morning.  So Cooper and Cassidy and I went straight to Sam’s Club.  They were able to take the car back right away. 

It had been such a hectic morning that I didn’t have time to feed Cooper and Cassidy breakfast.  Now that we were just sitting and waiting they were hungry.  So we had an impromptu breakfast out….right in the food court of Sam’s Club.  Our breakfast consisted of bananas and pop tarts and the kids loved it. 

I found this jump-your-own-battery-without-another-car thing and I bought it instantly.  And I got a new battery in the car, so I am all set!  I feel much better knowing I have options no matter what time of day!

Coop and Cass thought the new battery was just as cool as I did!

I’ve got mail!

These days it seems like all the mailbox is good for is receiving junk mail and bills.

I took a 2 minute by-myself-get-away yesterday to go to the mailbox. I opened the box and was surprised to see the key to the large mailbox sitting in our box. That meant that we had a package that didn’t fit in our basic slot. Its such a rare thing to find the key that it is actually kind of exciting. Since I was having this rare moment of solitude and no one was with me and because I figured it was just another work package for Paul, I decided to leave the key in the box for the kids to find the next time we all went to get the mail.

It is great weather today and I wanted to get outside with the kids. So Coop and Cass got on their bikes and set off to get the mail and to go around the neighborhood. Just as I thought they would be, Coop and Cass were very excited to find another key waiting for them inside our box. Cooper figured out where to put it and opened the big mailbox. Now it was my turn to be very excited. The package was addressed to me! And it was kind of big! And it was from my little sister, Tauna! This never happens!

I took it home and started to open it, my curiosity growing by the second. Why was she sending me a package? What was in the package? Then I noticed that it cost over $6.00 to mail to me. It kind of felt like my birthday or something.

The first thing I saw was this:

It is quite common in our family to use any available box when wrapping something. So I thought nothing of it. But then I saw a note from Tauna.

And something must got in my eye when I was opening it, because it started to tear a little. Weird, I know.

She got me a pair of boots!

I have been looking everywhere for a pair like these! And even though I love the boots, it was the thought that meant the most to me. It just made me feel like she took the time to know me and to pay attention to what I like. It was so thoughtful and so unexpected! I don’t even know what to say!

Taunie, THANK YOU!! This is so cool!

I was so excited about them I wanted to wear them right away. I had a Young Women’s activity so I quickly got dressed and put on my NEW BOOTS!!

Allie snapped a hurried picture of me posing right as I had to walk out the door.

Don’t they just make the outfit?!?!?

Thanks so much Tauna, it was such a surprise!

Love you!

Gone with the wind.

The wind in Las Vegas can be sooo annoying. And it seems like we’ve had a lot of it lately. The wind can really mess things up. A while ago I was driving down Craig Road when I saw someone from our development in the middle of the road trying to get their trampoline. They had one of those safety jump nets around their trampoline and the wind had just picked up the whole thing and blown it out of their backyard and into Craig Road.

I remember thinking how glad I was because our trampoline is in ground and while we have to worry about the trash can, BBQ, and the kids playhouse blowing over (which they all have) we never have to worry about the trampoline.

Well, we don’t have to worry about the trampoline but we should have done some prep work.

The wind has completely destroyed the bumper pad around the tramp. It is shredded to pieces.

The actual pad inside the blue material was blown out and broken to little piece all over the backyard. There are blue threads littered all through the grass.

I never paid much attention to the pad or ever thought that it would be a casualty of the Las Vegas wind but I have learned my lesson!

A small flashback.

In December of 1991 our house flooded.  It was a Sunday morning and we were just getting back from Church, and it was two days before Christmas.  I was 12 years old.  I clearly remember pulling into the garage and seeing water coming out of the walls and flowing into the garage.  You had to walk up 4 steps to get into the house because the house had a full basement.  I remember the total surprise and wonder about what I was seeing.  I tried to logically come up with an answer;  we had a plant by the back door, maybe someone watered it too much?  No that couldn’t be it.  I remember like it was yesterday opening the door to the house and see the ceiling collapsed on top of the counter and water running everywhere.  Our pipes had frozen during the night and then burst after we left for church.  There was so much damage that we had to move out while the house was repaired.

Today, we went out to the car to leave for school.  The kids piled in and I hoped in and started the car.  Except it was dead. 

Gratefully, Paul was actually home so we jumped into his car and took off for school.

15 minutes later, I returned home and pulled into the driveway.  I hit the garage door opener and as the garage door started to open, I gasped out loud.  Water was dripping off the door as it opened.  Water began rolling down the drive way and I could see puddles inside the garage.   I had a momentary flashback to when I was 12 years old.  However, I could tell it wasn’t the same degree of water and I knew that just 15 minutes ago things had been fine.

I stopped the car at the bottom of the driveway and ran inside.  I got Paul and we went to investigate.  We found the source….the hot water heater.  I’ve always heard people say that their hot water heater burst and I’ve imagined it actually blowing up.  Well the heater was still in tack but it was making an awful sound and water was gushing out of the top of it.  I don’t know if that means it burst or not but it was definitely broken.

Paul turned off the emergency shut off button and I began moving everything that was wet in the garage.  We contacted a few plumbing companies and quickly learned that this was not going to be cheap.  We found a company that could come out in less than an hour to fix the problem. 

Next we had to deal with the van.  We pushed it out of the garage and got Paul’s car to jump the battery. 

Once we were able to move the van, we had to drain the water heater.

This all proved to be very exciting for Coop and Cass.

They found some sponge paint brushes and so they had a blast ‘painting the driveway’.

The plumbing company showed up and got rid of the water heater and the extra water.

4 hours after the water works began, we were all done and we are now the owners of a brand new 50 gallon water heater.

I must say it was a very interesting morning.  From the car not starting to a water heater that ‘burst’, I did not suspect any of this today.

But, I am so grateful for several things today.

The car was dead but-

1. Paul was here.  And not just in-town, but actually home.  It would have been a lot more complicated to track someone down and jump the car.  And Allie has piano before school on Mondays.  She was waiting at piano to be picked up to go to school.  Right off the bat-really grateful that Paul was here.

Water was coming out of the garage-

1. Paul was here.  Simple enough.

2. It was a beautiful weather day.  So grateful it was not cold outside.  Coop and Cass could be out there playing and having fun.  And my hands were a bit cold because of the water so I can only imagine if it had been cold out.

3.  Grateful that I came right home after dropping the kids off at school.  Often times we head to the store or some other errand or maybe even a friend’s house before coming home.  We estimate that the water only ran for 30 ish minutes.

4.  So grateful that it happened on a day when we were available to take care of it and notice it right away.  We went out of town 2 weeks ago.  That would have been really awful had that gone on for the 4 days we were gone.

5.  Grateful that the company came out right away.  I was going about my day in the house and several times turned on the hot water with out realizing it.  We were only without  it for 4 hours.

6.  Grateful that nothing was damaged in the garage.  Most of the things that got wet were in plastic or it is something that can be dried out.  There is some damage to the drywall around the water heater area, but we think it is fairly minor.

I am sure there are a few things that I am forgetting.  But even though this was a more expensive day than I had planned,  it really could have been so much worse. 

And hey, I didn’t do laundry because I ‘couldn’t’ do it, so that’s an extra bonus too!

 

 

The Coolest Fing I Ever Seen!

I grew up on hand-me-downs.  We were always so excited when cousins would pass things down to us.  Luckily, my kids have the same fortune.  We have awesome cousins and friends who are so generous to us.  And like I did, the girls LOVE to go through bags of clothes and toys.  It doesn’t always matter if its brand new, just that it’s new to you.

One such hand-me-down item that we were fortunate to receive was a pair of Peg-Perego  four wheelers.  The Pearce's passed them down to us when they out grew them.  We are so excited and grateful to get to have them!

They kids LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them!

They ride them in the backyard, around the side of the house, across the drive way and up to the front door. Then they hop off, open the front door and yell,

“THIS IS THE COOLEST FING I EVER SEEN!”

And then they repeat the process to the backyard where they jump off open the back door and yell,

“THIS IS THE COOLEST FING I EVER SEEN!”

It is so funny to watch them ride around.  And Cooper is in heaven.  I’ve mentioned before that he longs to drive.  Just two days ago he again insisted that he be the one to drive my car.  We’ve had this discussion before so I have explained to him that he can’t drive until he is sixteen.  So again I told him no he couldn’t drive yet, he has to wait until he’s sixteen.  He was very irritated.  He had the keys to the van in his hand and he said, “I alweady sisteen. I wanna start the engine!”

At least he has the ‘freewheeler’ (as he calls it) to get him by for the next couple of years.

A lesson in how to do the Dishes.

Step One-

Put it off as long as possible.

Step Two-

Get really upset about the unfairness of dish washing.

Step Three-

Begin to get physically ill over food stuck on dishes.

Step Four-

Just for fun- Dry heave a little.

Step Five-

Though you can barely see from the tears streaming down your face, go and put on ‘proper face and eye protection’ .

-Allie Johnson

A guide to washing dishes