Logan Is TWO!

Today my boy turned TWO YEARS OLD!!

Just tell me one thing?  When did he go from this..........

..........To THIS!

 

The time has flown!  When he was 5 months old I became pregnant with his little sister.  He didn't get the chance to be my baby very long and before I knew it, his crazy two's snuck right up on me.

Today we did just a little family thing.  We decided to take the kids to Cafe' Ole' in Downtown Boise.  Of course the kids were CRAAAAAZYY!  Especially Logan!  I always say I will never take them out to eat again, and I was reminded (again) why!  Anyway they did the free fried ice cream and sang to him with a sumbraro.  His face was priceless.  I did come equipped with a camera, but we were to busy keeping the kids under control while also trying to eat. There was no way that camera was coming out.

We came home and had a little Birthday Party.  It was SO SO fun!  He was really excited and loves his new toys!  Happy Birthday Logan!

Meet My Newest Nephew!

Meet Zackery!

(and can I say...wearing Logan's cute little hand-me-downs)

This kid has hair that would put the Beatles to shame, and the dark skin of a Polynesian.

Congratulations to my Sister Melissa and her family!

Kindergarten Graduation

Today, our little sweet Dejah graduated from Kindergarten!...again ;)

This repeat year for her has been the best decision for her.  She has done so well and is leaving this year able to do simple reading and simple math.

Here is her teacher Mrs. Hubbard.  She did a fantastic job! 

This year Dejah had a group of girlfriends that she ALWAYS talked about.
These two are Reese and Riley (twins)

And this is Libby and Alyssa

Alyssa again

In this last video she says that when she grows up she wants to teach people how to swim.  That is totally Dejah!  I am so proud of her.  I will really miss her when she goes to school full time.  They just grow too fast!

When The Boys Are Gone.......

We have "Little" Girls Night!

Complete with Pedicures, Dinner, and Frozen Yogurt!

Friday was Father's and Sons camp out and Alex decided to take Logan.  So Me and a couple friends decided to take our girls out for some pampering.  What a treat!  It was so cute to see the looks on their faces.  After their pedicures we went to Carino's for some yummy pasta then went to U-Swirl for a treat.  The girls had a blast!  Lexi did great.  I can't believe how much smoother things are without my two year old boy.  Anyway.  The next morning I took all the girls to the mall so I could get myself some cute jeans....(its seriously been since Mycah was a new baby and that was 4 years ago).  Again the girls were great.

The camp out was at a place called Sucker Creek.  I don't have any pictures, but Alex said it was ok.  There was a creek, and some trees and grass.   On their way up they got some burgers and fries.  At the camp site Logan pretty much lived on Oreo cookies and Doritos.  (Gotta love Dads)  Alex blew up the air mattress in the back of the van.  All the seats were down so they fit just perfect.  They had their sleeping bags, pillows, and flashlight.  No tent required.  And Alex said Logan slept pretty good until the morning when he got a little cold.  He snuggled up to Alex and went right back to sleep.  Anyway.  I'm glad they went.  We all had a good time.

Little Cave-Men

Its SUMMER!!! Yeah!!! (Will Someone PLEEEEASE give the message to Mother Nature??)  Ok I know its really Spring but the point is my husband is a teacher, his students were out for Summer break two weeks ago, his last day was last Friday, and it is HIS "official" summer break.  This year he got a job in industry working at Kenworth Truck three days a week. Which means I get to still have my sanity because Alex won't be pacing around the house everyday bored out of his mind.  This also means that he will be home Fridays through Mondays!  I could not be happier.  Now all we need is some good weather so we can have some good family fun.

So Monday Alex was off.  We came up with a meal plan and took the kids to the grocery store.  I was so glad to have Alex with me.  I was sure the kids would be better behaved and I could get more accomplished.
INSTEAD......they decided to give Alex a preview of how they behave when its just me!  Oh MY GOSH...I wanted to curl up and hide.  Logan was being a complete TERROR!  And OHHHHH the screaming!  If you haven't heard it, your ears are grateful.  He was mad about everything.  I ended up leaving Alex to finish off the shopping and took Logan to the car to finish his screaming there.  My ears were ringing for about 3 minutes after that.  I have been feeling pretty hopeless about my children and their fits.  I've tried cold showers, time outs, getting on their level and getting eye contact, spanking, slapping mouths, spraying water in their face with a water bottle, shutting them in their rooms, etc...  Nothing I do FIXES the problem, it only deals with the current tantrum.  They (as in Logan and Mycah) do it at home, at church, and in every pubic place they go.  I get embarrassed and I feel like a horrible Mom who can't control her kids.  I've been doing some research and almost cried with joy when I found this one.  Check it out......



Basically he sees children like little cave-men.  They are primitive in their communication abilities. But like adults they want to be validated/heard.  I know this is a fact for me.  When I am upset it just makes me more upset when Alex tells me how I should be feeling when all I want is for him to be understanding of how I'm feeling.  When this is done first, I respond better to suggestions.  Anyway, it seems really embarrassing and silly to talk to the kids that way.  He says to repeat back to the child at least three times in short words what they want.  For example, a child wants that cup.  They start throwing a big fit about it.  You say to the child (in their similar energy), "You want that cup, You want that cup, You want that cup", then you tell them.."No. That cup is dirty, that cup is dirty, that cup is dirty.  Here is another cup."  And this is supposed to fix the fit.  If it doesn't, he suggests doing it again.  I've been trying it this morning and WOW!  I will be checking out his book TODAY!
I will give updates on the results.  Wish me luck!

Growing Like Weeds

I can't believe it!  My little Lexi is now 9 months old!  A few weeks ago she FINALLY started sleeping through the night without a bottle.  Now my only thing with her is that dumb binki.  She actually does fine without it....UNLESS she wants to go to sleep.  So I'm a little torn because the only time I have a problem with it is when she wakes up at 5:30 in the morning and I have to get up and put it back in her mouth.  

She is doing pretty good on her tummy.   She'll kinda scoot around.  No crawling though.  She is also just starting to sit up without help, but I need to keep pillows behind her because she eventually falls over.  I've noticed she is definitely behind my other kids at this age.  My guess its because she is the youngest.  She gets carried and held quite a bit.  I was really late about putting her on the floor because Logan would run over her with his toys or trip over her while running around.  Anyway, I'm not too worried.  She's my baby, and I like it!  She is still the sweetest...low maintenance thing you'll ever meet.  Lover HER!

Logan is going to be TWO at the end of this month!  He is quite the handful.  I'm still trying to decide if its his personality or his age.  Either way, he wants to be entertained around the clock.  He used to be a GREAT eater, now...not so much.  He will usually take a couple bites and then decide he's done (unless its a sugary treat of course).  He still takes a good two hour nap in the day which SAVES me.  I try to make him and Lexi get one around the same time so that I can get some kind of a break in the day.  Logan LOVES LOVES LOVES the outdoors!  He loves bike rides.  The stroller.  All of it!  He will be a really fun buddy for Alex when he gets older because they are both really alike in that way.  He is ALL boy.  Anything that drives, flies, or goes choo choo he is completely fascinated with.  Its so funny!  And finally his newest accomplishment.....he will sit and watch some TV or part of a Movie!  Hallelujah!

Oh Mycah.  Where to begin.  This picture could pretty much sum it up.  EMOTIONAL! WRECK!  If this is a glimpse of how she will be as a teenager...I'm thinking I need to start saving up on Lexapro, Cymbalta, Xanax, Zoloft, Effexor, Prozac, Paxil, Celexa, Valium......etc.. etc...

She is Four years old.  Honestly, she has come out of her terrible two stage pretty well.  She is just very strong-willed.  When she doesn't get her way, she loses her cool.  I'm not quite sure how to fix her "reactions".

She is our cuddly one.  She also LOVES to have someone read to her.  She is slowly starting to become more social.  She still has her moments though when she will just want to sit around with the adults, or go play by herself.
At night she still has to wear a diaper.  I guess she's just not ready because she will wake up wet almost every morning.  So, only time will tell on that.  Dejah was never that way, so I'm not sure if there is something...I....can do, or if its something she just needs to grow out of.  Mycah is a homebody.  She is also the type who would prefer to lay by the pool rather than play in the pool.  Its kind of funny.

(on the left) Dejah my little social animal!  She will be Seven in a few months.  Her second round of Kindergarten will be over next week and she will be finally moving on to first grade.  She is my saving grace.  I couldn't do all these other kids without her help.  She is obedient.  She is kind.  And I have to be careful about yelling at her because she usually doesn't deserve it, and it really hurts her feelings.  She is so social, she would seriously choose to play with friends all day every day if she could.  She also LOVES the outdoors!  She loves to be active.  Also a great buddy for Alex.

A Redeeming Weekend

So Friday was bad.  I was determined to leave it there and have a great Mother's Day weekend.  I say weekend because Mother's Day always lands on a Sunday.  Not really a great day for pampering in my opinion.  I mean seriously.  Keep the Sabbath Day Holy means no shopping, no out to lunch, nothing.  I was still going to have to get up, get the kids fed, and everyone ready for church by 9.  And, if a Mom doesn't get away from the kids and the house, there is NO way she will escape those "mother duties" entirely. So Saturday was MY day. 

I really need new clothes.  So little by little I will fix that problem.  My goal on Saturday was to get a new church outfit.  Alex packed up the kids and a bunch of snacks and took them far away somewhere for a hike.  I had a hard time finding a friend that could go shopping with me that day, but Tiffany pulled through.  We went shopping and had a great time!  I got home just in time to get ready for a date with Alex.  I was really craving the Cheesecake Factory.  When we got there the line was HUGE, but I wasn't going to let that stop me.  We waited for an hour!  I was starving! We walked around the mall to kill some time. Dinner was really good and WAY worth the wait.

Sunday was the "real" Mother's Day.  Alex had this big plan to make me a fabulous breakfast and go to church late.  It wasn't really going to work out because there was a lot going on that day, so I told him not to worry about it.  While at church we got a new Relief Society presidency and a new Bishopric.  After church we decided to take our dinner to my Mom's.  We got all the stuff ready for Kabobs and headed over.  My Sister also brought food so we had tons!  It was nice to be doing something for my Mom for a change.  Anyway, it was a great weekend.  I think from now on I will make the Saturday before Mother's day....MY DAY.  It was perfect!

No Win

 No Win For Me :(

Here's the story:

So during this whole voting process I seriously stressed out my brain trying to figure out how in the world I could generate the most votes.  I mean, I seriously stressed myself into headaches and lack of sleep.  Someone I know, suggested I just make up a bunch of votes using different email addresses.  I thought it was a great idea.  So I went through my emails.  You know when you get a forward from someone and it comes with TONS of email addresses to other people?  Well I copied and pasted about 350 email addresses into a word document in hopes of using those to generate votes.  After some thought I realized this was not very honest.  Not to mention, each computer comes with and I.S.P. address.  If there were over 350 votes coming from one ISP then it would be a bit obvious.  However, you never know if the radio station was even looking at the ISP addresses of the voters.  Either way, it felt dishonest, so I opted Not to do that.  

My new plan was to use these 350 email addresses and send them and email, begging for their vote.  Kind of annoying, but I REALLY wanted the cash!  I sent TONS of emails.  I also sent a message to EVERY SINGLE PERSON on my Facebook Page.  Again annoying.  There was no way of knowing how many votes I was getting, so it was a big waiting game.  

Friday morning came.  The announcement was going to be made sometime between 5:30am and 10am.  Of course I was up at 5 and couldn't sleep.  I turned on the radio and listened to all the annoying music and commercials until about 7:15am.  I decided not to sit around and wait anymore and went to Zumba.  I got home and the announcement was not made yet.  The DJ said they were in the process of counting and that their Hot Mom site got over a half a million hits!  Anyway I was so nervous that I could hardly breathe.  Finally the announcement came, and it was Not me.  

I was sad of course.  I thought "oh, well, good try."  Then reality set in and I started to cry.  This was really annoying to me.  I swore I wouldn't cry over this dumb competition.  I guess the stress of it all just came to a crashing halt.  I could have cared less about being in the top 10 hot moms.  The title meant NOTHING.  I wanted the cash.  How long has it been since I got a paycheck?  Since 2004!  And I've been doing the hardest job of my life since.  During that time the only clothing I bought was something cheap to get me by till my next pregnancy.  Anyway, that money to me meant I could get some clothes, and a much needed bunk bed for my kids.  The loss made me realize all those possibilities were gone.  I bawled....and bawled...and bawled some more.  It was a bad day.  I had NOTHING to do that day to even help me get it off my mind, not even groceries or cleaning.  Not one person called me to see how I was doing.  All around, Friday was bad.  So that is my sob story.  I am doing MUCH better today.  I am over it.  Loss is part of life.  At least I have great kids who are strong and healthy and happy.

Having a Rough Day

You know those days that are kinda....not so good.  Well, I'm having a bit of one.  My two year old is in that annoying phase called SCREAM when:  you don't get your way..... you want attention.... you don't know how to say that word... play with me... feed me... me...me...me..  Anyway, its getting old, and today my ears hurt.  I say to him, "Logan, don't scream. What do you want?"  etc.  etc.       

Next there is my very emotional just barely four year old girl who could still count as age three.  For some reason beyond me, she has managed to pee her pants almost every day this week. Whats up with that???

My six year old girl is really a saint.  She is the one who keeps me in tact when I'm gonna lose it.....ya know...like today.  She has the 4 yr old and 2 yr old outside, so I can sit and vent on my blog for a minute.  Her biggest issue...she ALWAYS wants to be having some kind of adventure... like play with friends everyday.  However She is not contributing to my "rough day"..... much.  She changes her outfits a million times a day and I'm constantly reminding her that the proper place for those is NOT on the floor.

Now, if you've meet my little Lexi, you would probably think you met and Angel from above.  I will admit, she usually IS, but the past couple days have been stressful for me.  I'm pretty sure she is teething because she is SOOOOOO fussy!  And Lexi being this fussy is completely out of the norm.  This is really rocking my boat and stressing me out.  I tried meeting up with my sister at McDonald's the other day so that the kids could play.  After being there for five minutes, Lexi was SO fussy that I packed up my VERY upset kids and went home. 

Monday, I had to go grocery shopping.  Of course, I have the youngest three to tote around with me while Dejah is at Kindergarten.  Logan (being his very passionate/LOUD self), decided to show off his lungs to the entire store (Walmart) because he was mad that I wouldn't let him play on the Merry-go-round-thingy.  You should have seen some of the dirty looks I got!  Holy Crap people!  Lets see you try this.  When that tantrum was over, he decided it would be fun to pick on Mycah, who by the way, dishes it right back at him.  So my two and four year olds were duking it out in the shopping cart, creating even more screaming and crying.  Lets not forget the teething baby up in her seat.  I was SO embarrassed.  To top it all off, checkout was not quick.

Today....I just want to disappear.  I want my kids to disappear.  I need an entire day to myself.  I don't care where.  I don't care how.  I don't want to put a drop of food in anyone's mouth but my own.  I am SPENT!

There.  I said it.  I am not suffering with depression.  I am not comparing my trials to others.  If I did that I would have NOTHING to complain about.  Don't judge the blog....it is what it is.....MINE ;)

Final Vote! Hurry Before Your Time is UP!

I was driving down the road.  Probably coming home from a crazy grocery shopping trip with my four babies.  I say babies, because my youngest three ARE seriously......babies. My oldest is only 6...and that hardly counts as a big kid.  Anyway, I'm listening to the radio, and hear something about a Hot Mom contest to win $1000.  Hot Mom or not I thought....I need that thousand dollars. Other than my sister, I am FRUUUUGGAL.  I rarely buy anything for myself.  If I do, its out of complete necessity, and its usually the cheapest price I can get it at.  My body has been through so many changes since I got married 8 years ago.  Four of those years I was pregnant.  Then you can add on the months after each one that it takes to "shrink".  When it comes to clothes...my kids come first.  And I try really hard to get hand-me-downs.  So, I entered the contest.  I set up a tripod and put my camera on a timer so I could attempt to get some good shots to submit.  After all the applications, the radio station would pick their favorite 106 moms. Voting began, and they narrowed it down to 50, then again to 25, now I am in the top 10.  I seriously cannot believe it.  I have been bugging people that I don't even know to vote for me.  There is no way of knowing how many votes someone has.  Its a big waiting game.  I'm sure there are ways to cheat votes.  But, I'm hoping my honesty will get me there.  So I'm begging Everyone to Make my Mother's Day and help me win!  If its not too much of an inconvenience, forward this LINK to your friends and family and tell them how badly I want to win and get them to vote.  Either way, if I lose, thank you  for your efforts in my behalf.  Its been crazy fun.  Wish me luck.  Voting ends this Thursday.

Go HERE to Register and Vote for Mom #2 (Anna B)

Weekend In Twin Falls

This past weekend, almost the Entire Beal clan took a trip to Twin Falls Idaho.  We all checked into the Hotel then headed to Cafe' Rio.  Our kids did surprisingly well.  When we got back the kids wanted to swim.  So I put Lexi down for a nap then took my other three swimming. Most of the Adults headed to the temple.  Alex's Brother Keaton is going on a mission in June to Villahermosa Mexico and was going through the temple for the first time.

I stayed back with my Sister-in-law Katie.  After swimming, we headed to Katie's room.  We watched a total of 11 KIDS!  CRAZY!  Luckily I brought a little DVD player and the movie Tangled.  The problem was that the "new"/"fancy"/LCD TV did not have audio/video hook ups...just AUDIO...seriously?  So I played with the video one until I found something that would play it in black and white.  Whatever works right?  So that held off the craziness for a while.
When all the adults got back we went swimming again!  We were up till Midnight with the kids.  Which I usually NEVER do.  Anyway, getting Logan to sleep was a bit tricky, but the kids slept good.  ME however??  Lets just say I should have brought ear plugs and a sleeping pill!  I heard EVERY breath, fuss, whimper, you name it.  And I didn't sleep a wink!  Finally at 3:45 in the morning I went down to the lobby for a while, then came back up to the room and watched Grey's Anatomy on my Ipod all morning.  The kids were up around 6:30.  We had breakfast and went swimming again.

 

After that we packed up and checked out.  We grabbed lunch then headed to Shoshone Falls for a family picnic.  It was a good time.  We were all very tired.  I'm glad Alex was able to drive because we all slept the whole two hours home.