Ice Cold Lemonade!!!

This weekend was HOT!!!

A little too soon to go from rainy and cold to 90 degrees.

Brynn and I had talked about having her do a lemonade stand so she

could earn some money, but since we don't get a ton of traffic on our street

I knew she'd get bored doing one at our house. 

While we were at her game Saturday morning I decided it was already too hot.

We still had B's game at 1 so we decided to do the lemonade stand there.

Within about 10 min we had sold out and a lot of people would have bought 

refills if we'd had any. The girls each made $4.25 and Hudson made $1.

He was the cutest little salesman.

The girls weren't sharing the table so he'd pour a cup and take it to the bleachers 

and collect his money.  He took a cup out to Tanner once, watched him drink the whole thing, 

asked him if he enjoyed it, then said "K, you owe me 50 cents."

We got lots of comments about how good our fresh-squeezed homegrown lemonade was

so now the boys want to earn some money of their own. 

The kids are all about more money/less work.

 Poor kid was so hot he didn't know what to do with himself!

I think this is my new favorite picture of him. He loved sitting on the bench in the dugout with all the big boys. Maybe because it was the only shade within a mile....

My First Wedding

I few weekends ago I shot my first wedding!

The sad thing is that the lighting was HORRIBLE! I knew it was going to be bad going into 

it but it was worse than I expected (or, my skills are less than what I thought).

It was at a Stake Center, in the foyer, at 8 pm on a stormy Saturday. 

Bad, bad, bad, and more bad. 

Fortunately it wasn't either of their first marriages so I hope they won't be too 

disappointed. It was soooo dark, and most of the pictures 

are super grainy.  I've never really cared about flash before but now I realize if

I'm going to ever do another wedding I better get a good one.

So you can see I didn't have much to work with. Brad and Tessa looked great; I don't mean they weren't good to work with. The surrounding area and light was tough. I took the bridals upstairs in the Primary room with blue walls and Happy Birthday banners, stacks of chairs, a few tables, and a piano in the room. To make it worse the foyer is two-story, so the already-too-dim-lights were just too far away. 

Aaaagh! Oh well, you gotta learn from all kinds of experiences. Next time I'll make sure I wear comfortable shoes and a skirt that I can actually move in.

St Patty's Day

I had to go all out this year for St. Patty's Day because last year I didn't and I've never heard the end of it. Luckily it was on a Saturday because there's no way I could have pulled this off before school. We had lots of baseball that day so it was busy. But we managed to squeak in treasure hunt left by Lucky the Leprechaun. I think I redeemed myself from last year with that one. And they're matching Lucky shirts helped a lot too.

The Mother of all Knowledge

I was thinking the other day - when my kids were getting mad at me because of something I'd forgotten to do - that I'm pretty sure I know why I have such a hard time remembering things. Aside from "mommy brain" (an actual condition for pregnant women - which I personally think extends well into the child's second year) here are a few things mothers are required/expected to know off the top of their heads, in relation to their children only, not other aspects of life:

*Friends - this includes, but is not limited to: their names, parent's names and phone numbers (if you're intelligent enough to decipher the code when the number they give you contains upwards of 16 digits, and contains all the local area codes within 400 miles), and where they live. This is one reason my kids never go to friends houses.

*Stuffed animals - all their names and where they got them from (especially the ones from Santa. If you forget and say that you bought them that animal when in fact it was Santa . . . you're screwed.) And if you're kids happen to sucker you into getting the more expensive animals with website codes . . . again, good luck! Which leads me to my next point . . .

*log-ins!!! - curse the stupid username and password for every. flippin'. kidsite!  Its hard enough to come up with different, non-hackable passwords for my own stuff but when I have to remember all the kids' crap its too much. Most of the time if they come across a new website I just say forget it, pick a different game site. The schools have websites that they track the kids with and each kid has a username and password for each site. . . . and they're never the same.

*Sizes - when kids are not in school yet its not so bad because they are usually with you when you do your shopping. As soon as kids get in school, moms take every advantage of shopping with one less child. You must, therefore, remember their shirt size, pant size, and shoe size. If you have more than 2 or 3 kids this is difficult, especially when they move up a size every 2 months, like mine.

*scars/marks/shots - Seems odd, but yes, my kids want to know where every single mark on their bodies came from and the story that goes with it. The same applies to myself or their dad. And then you occasionally have to remember their entire immunization history, especially when you show up at the doctor's office without their shot records.

*You must remember all their activities and school schedules. Enter the iPhone calendar, every mother's dream. Don't ever leave home without your phone. Ever!

*favorites - favorite color, favorite song, favorite person, favorite movie, etc. Its amazing how often this comes up in conversation. When you make mistakes you're met with sassy comments like "Mo-ooom! You know that's not my favorite! Gosh, you never remember ANYthing!"

*food - my boys are easy. 5 nights out of the week they'll sit down for dinner and say "Oooh, this is my favorite." Tanner is really good at remembering what everyone likes on their tacos or pizza, or who likes their rice on the side (with or without soy), etc. I dish everyone up the same because a.)I made it b.) I don't care what they feel like c.)they're eating it anyway. And then I get whining alllll through dinner. "You know I never have sour cream on my tacos!!!!" Bla, bla, bla ....  (guess who this usually comes from)

*school knowledge - you MUST remember everything you learned in school, way back to whatever grade your child is in at the moment. And you have to remember it the way teachers are teaching it today. Whilst helping your child with homework they will make you feel like an idiot, no matter what the subject, because they're 7 (or 8 or 9) and they know everything. Therefore, you must be a step ahead of them at all times.

*life history - this goes without saying and most moms do remember the milestones in their children's lives. But as the older ones get older, and younger ones pop out, moms tend to focus on the babies and forget things about the older kids. Like, when they went on their first plane ride, or lost their first tooth, or the name of their kindergarten teacher, or what team they played on in T-ball. Just when you've shuffled a bit of knowledge to the back shelf in their timeline they want you to pull it out again and hit refresh.

So it really isn't any wonder that occasionally moms forget to pick up their kids on early days, or take them to practice one day, or 3 years slips by before you write in their journal, or that we always have that feeling like we're forgetting something.  I feel really bad for mom's who work and have to remember a whole set of completely unrelated data. I don't think I have the brain capacity for that.

I know I had more on my mental list but I can't remember what they were . . .


Seriously though, I didn't just write that to be funny. I'll probably think of it when I wake up in the middle of the night to pee. But then I'll forget again by the time I wake up tomorrow morning.

My husband is a great dad and probably knows/remembers 10 times as much about his kids than most dads do. But still, I'm pretty certain if I died the family would fall apart. I always think about when kids go missing and you see posters "Last seen wearing ________". I would totally fail that test. I can't remember what I was wearing today 10 minutes after getting into my pajamas, let alone what each of my kids was wearing.

Carlson Kids

I had a chance to take some pictures of the Carlson kids a little while ago. The boys turned 3 yesterday and hadn't had pictures done for a long while. Believe it or not, these boys are not identical. I can't tell the difference, but I do know Walker is always in blue. Thank you Kira:)




 Poor little Braden wouldn't crack a smile. To his credit, they found out the next day he had bronchitis:(

 

 

Walker was a little more excited about the camera

These boys have the most amazing eyelashes. I tried to get them to hold still long enough that I could capture them
this is the best I got.

I like this one a lot.

Sweet little (little) Kinsey has perfect skin. I barely had to touch-up any of her pictures.

Wide awake the whole time:)

Sweet Sketty-18 Months!!!

Well our little Angel Baby is a big 18 months now. A little less of an angel but still pretty 

fun. He's definitely got his personality and it is really fun to see - most of

the time. He feels very independent so when his siblings try to do everything for him 

(which they do) he has no choice but to scream. It drives me nuts. 

Fortunately this is about his only quality that we dislike right now. When he's in a bad mood its

pretty comical and he has FABulous grumpy faces!

Most of the time he is happy though and his expressions are more and more animated.

When he gets really, REALLY excited he has an ear-piercing scream. Its awesome.

 (look at how solid he is. he's my little beef steak)

He went in for his first round of shots (actually my kids only get one shot at a time so it wasn't really a 'round') last week and he weighs 30.5 lbs (95%) and is 35" tall (98%). 

So basically, he's huge!

We call him our baby elephant. He's bigger than most of the 3 year olds in nursery. 

He's wearing 3T tops and 2T pants (but they are getting short and snug). His feet are ginormous and he wears a size 7 shoe. He is super solid and I have a good feeling he's 

gonna end up looking just like Tanner and Bryson. Hudson and Brynn have more similar

body shapes. We'll see how the next baby comes out. 

(some items of clothes just can't make it through 3 or more boys)

At 16 months he got four molars and I think he's just about to cut his canines.

He sleeps through the night most of the time - although he is quite a talker in his sleep.

Sometimes its really cute (like when he's giggling or yelling at the dog), other times its not.

He's very punctual with his naps and we love that we can just dump him and walk away. 

It's fantastic. I still get lots of time to snuggle him all day but I don't have to spend hours 

trying to get him to sleep. He loves to sleep! When he sees his bottle he gets super excited and runs to get his fuzzy, then meets me on the couch all giddy and silly. 

 He won't sit still for story-time yet but he can make a mean mess of the book shelf in 5 seconds or less

 The past couple of weekends we have been clearing out a bunch of weeds and junk in the back yard. He loves to wander around the yard with dog in tow and he'll spend almost the whole day out there. He is truly a boy that way.

 
 He is quite literally obsessed with the vacuum. ALL. DAY. LONG he gets it out of the closet and pushes it around the house, ramming it into anyone or anything in his path. Occasionally we have to hide it in the garage for our own sanity.

He loves his Maximus! 

Every morning after his bottle we go let Max out of his crate and run to the back door.  He always wants to let him in and wrestle with him and most of the time he's not too rough. There's just something about little boys and their little dogs. 

 

Hudson got this little table for his birthday but Sketty commandeered it for his stool.  He carries it all over the place and uses it to get into lots of stuff he's not supposed to. We'll be hiding this soon too.

 He has a fascination with Tanner's shoe rack. For some reason he cannot STAND having the shoes neatly put away. And I swear he has radar for when I've just organized them all. Once he dumps the shoes all over my closet he walks away and never goes back until I've picked them all up again. Its quite maddening, actually, for someone who loves order.

 Sketty has recently taken to coloring himself. I usually know if he's really quiet for a few minutes he's hiding somewhere doing something sneaky. It usually involves a pen. Or scissors. Fortunately he hasn't colored on the walls or carpet, or cut his hair . . . . . yet . . . .

 He loves movie night with the big kids. Popcorn is one of his all time faves. He doesn't last long but he likes being included with them, even for just a few minutes.

 Major shoe fetish over here. Major!!! It's no surprise given his father's rare love of shoes. Sketty will happily slip into any shoe, no matter the size or type, and take a spin around the house or yard. He especially loves boots. The bigger the better!

 I find little chubby guys in tight pajamas absolutely irresistible. I would have him in jammies all day if my husband would let me. I don't see the point of getting dressed in uncomfortable clothes if you have no plans to leave the house (wait, that's mostly for me, I don't think the kids care).  When this poor baby stretches out he is almost touching at each end.

Holy Whiteness!!! This kid needs some sun! I have no doubt he'll get a shade darker in the next few months with as much as he loves being outside. I just don't think it'll be much more than a shade, maybe two. Sadly, he has the lily white skin of my other boys.

Here's what Sketty can say now:

"No! NO! NO!" with waving hand. He is the dog nazi. Anywhere we go if we hear dogs barking he is yelling at them to stop.

"Nigh, Nigh" He likes to run around the kids rooms and tuck them in with us and tell them good night.

When he sees something exciting he yells "Whoa!" (usually when the Hunting Channel is on)

Changing his diaper, he usually says "Sick! Sick!" or "Stink-Y!"

Anytime someone walks in from the garage, even if it was just to go out for a second, he says "Hey, Dad!"

We live on one side of the freeway, Grandma lives on the other side. I have to cross over the freeway to go E-bound. Every. single. time. Stetson starts yelling "NO MOM!" He loves driving to Grandma's to see all the horses.

When I'm cooking or eating he'll come up to me and very animatedly say "Mmmmm, Mmmmm"

If he looks like he's doing his business and we ask him if he has caca he says "Um... nooo" and turns around so we can't see him/he can't see us.

When he's done eating he'll do one clean sweep and wipe everything from his high chair to the floor and then yell "I-nall-done". I'm trying to make him understand he doesn't have to wipe everything to the floor to signal he's done eating.

He can say Hudson and Sissa, Mom and Dad. Bryson and the dog get called Hudson as well.

My text alert sounds like a train whistle. Every time I get a text he'll get my phone for me and say "Choo, Choo, Choo!"

Many times during the day I hear him yelling "Uh ooh!" which is usually followed by something that sounds like "Oh, shoot!". He also likes to gasp really loud or go "Uggghhhh!" with his hands clenched.

He has great horse and cow sounds. His kitty sound is kind of a whiney voice accompanied by a strange expression. I haven't figured out his other animal noises.

He says "hot" and "ow". When something's cold its "brrrr!". If you sneeze or cough or choke he'll say "Hat-choo!" and if you blow your nose he says "ewwww". When he's not supposed to touch something he says "dan-GER".

There are a few more things that he does with the same inflection and tone each time. Its not really words but we all seem to know what he wants. He can understand us really well and is very good at following directions.

He's so much fun at this stage and we love seeing the new things he's learning everyday. I will say he'll probably be really happy when the baby comes and all the unwanted attention is diverted from him a little.

Realizations

As we get nearer to our transition from a family of 6 to a family of 7 there are a few things I've come to realize lately. (Sorry, I don't usually do long posts like this)

Realization #1: kids cost a lot of money! People always say that kids are expensive and I never understood it as a younger mom.  My two toddlers didn't go to an expensive preschool or play sports. I've nursed all my babies and never really bought too much formula. Their clothes were cheaper because they were teeny.
      Now the three older kids are playing sports year-round, which is ridiculously expensive even without having to buy near gear every season.  Even though we go to public school, there is always something to pay for - a list of school supplies every year, field trips, class parties, etc. They are still growing like crazy and always in need of new clothes and shoes. I've saved all my kids' clothes so Hudson and Stetson can at least wear B's old clothes. But Brynn and Bryson are constantly needing new things. They also want more expensive stuff - like an iTouch (or iAnything) as opposed to a box of Legos (actually Legos are pretty pricey so that wasn't a good comparison).

Realization #2: Kids eat a ton of Food!!!   I was forced into couponing a few years ago and it has totally saved us. I think I'll probably have to do it for the rest of my life. It really saves me a lot when I take the time to do it right. But even with all my couponing I've found that my $600 a month grocery budget doesn't cut it. We rarely eat fast food and I make almost all of our meals from scratch. No frozen dinners and processed meals in this house.
     When we were first married I was constantly having to modify all my mom's recipes (that had fed a family of 10) to feed just the two of us. For years there have been my go-to recipes that I either have to halve or we have leftovers. Recently I've discovered that those recipes no longer give us leftovers and pretty soon I'll have to start doubling some dinners.

Realization #3: My amount of busy-ness is changing. When I had 3 yound kids at home older moms would tell me that as kids get older the type of busiwork we do all day changes. When they're young its a constant chore: clean up messes, change diapers, pick up toys, clean up from meals, repeat. When kids get older they are gone half the day and then they all come home and have homework and after school sports and scouts and activity days, etc. I'm seeing this now. My mornings are downright boring some days. But when the big kids come home and each need help with their 45 minutes of homework and I'm trying to make dinner and entertain two other kids and get to activities on time, its BUSY!

Realization #4: My duties are multiplied at the same time as they are decreasing. I know, it doesn't make sense, but let me explain. There are so many more loads of laundry, more cooking, more cleaning, more kids to take care of, etc. But now the three older kids are old enough to put away their own laundry (after I fold it of course); they can shower/bathe themselves; Brynn is now helping with diaper changes and can't wait for a smaller, less mobile baby to change; they can feed themselves now (even Huddy likes to make his own sandwiches); they do their own chores.

Realization #5: Parenthood requires a Great Partnership! I've always known it but it becomes more apparent all the time: my. Husband. ROCKS!  It is difficult to run a family of 6 (and growing) smoothly. A mother's life is made sooooo much easier when the father steps up. I love that my husband will come home and take the kids out for a little bit just to give me a break. He almost always takes one--if not all--of the kids with him when he runs errands. Not only does he take the kids, he helps around the house too. Often when he comes home and I'm making dinner, he'll take over at the stove while we visit and I finish the rest of dinner. And when I'm putting Sketty to bed, he'll put the rest of them down. It's so wonderful having a husband who helps out as much as he does. I often hear other women say their husbands are great (and then complain about them later) and it makes me so grateful for mine.

Realization #6: I can't have the spotless house I want. This isn't really a new reality but every now and then I have to let another thing go. I love to vacuum (and so does Sketty) but I just can't do it every day anymore. I try to keep the rest of the house very clean and picked up, but it just doesn't seem to happen the way I want it to. And instead of stressing about it, I've had to learn to let it go. I am learning to let my kids do the chores (even if I have to go back and redo it when they're not looking) because eventually they'll do it the way I want and it will benefit me:)

Realization #7: Organization is key. For obvious reasons. Anything well organized runs smoother than something chaotic. But with a smaller home--less bedrooms and storage-- and more people coming and going, I have to be organized. We are getting to the point where we have multiple schedules and activities going on and we all need to know whats going on. And I have to always be on my A-game when it comes to putting things away so that I can find them quickly when everyone comes looking for their stuff.

Realization #8: Motherhood is all about adaptation: I'll admit it - I was a spaz my first and second round of motherhood (and possibly my 3rd). I think a lot of first time parents are. There were certain things we absolutely thought we knew the answer to. A lot of things, actually. I have learned to mellow out quite a bit and not let little things bother me (most of the time). Each child requires completely different parenting techniques. What worked great for one doesn't seem to work at all for the next. Learn to deal with it. I used to call Tanner in the afternoons when we had 2 kids and tell him he'd better be home in 20 min. if he wanted his kids alive. Now it's like "Oh, you're gonna be gone all week? We'll manage." Kids force you to change and adapt to life better than anything else I think.

Realization #9: My kids are Perfect:  I don't mean this in the sense that they never do wrong. I'm not one of those mom's who thinks her kids are angels when everyone else thinks they are Satan's spawn. My kids are perfect because they are normal! They have good days and bad days. Sometimes they want to kill each other, and sometimes they are BFF's. They have issues that I once thought were reserved for emotionally unstable kids from bad homes, which I now realize are merely developmental. My kids are polite, kind to their peers, comfortable with adults, independent, intelligent, talented and emotionally stable:) They are also occasionally loud and obnoxious, defiant, sassy, refuse to eat their food, in major need of time-outs or a spank on the butt, or just down-right crazy. But they are great kids and I wouldn't change anything about them. They are just as they should be.