I Don't Have Teenagers

....but today in the car it sure sounded like I did! The ladies were sitting in the back of the van recalling a conversation they had earlier in morning. This is what I heard:

Jayden: Brays, remember when I was like, "Hey Braley, what are we doing today?" and you were like "I don't know."

Braley; No, Jayden, I was like "I don't know. Mom's in charge, not me", and you were like "oh."

Jayden: No I was like "oh, yeah" and you were like "hellloooo?"

Braley: Yeah that was pretty funny.

Jayden: Yeah it was.

Who talks like that at 6 and 4?

A Broken Heart And Ticked-Off Spirit

Its our favorite time of year...SUMMER! And that means it's swim lesson season for the Widing kids! Well 2 of the 3 Widing kids ~ more specifically, not Ansen, he's still too young. Little man is so broken heareted about not being in swim lessons that he just sat and quietly cried during lessons yesterday. Poor guy! Once the ladies got out of the pool his sorrow turned to anger. Why did they have so much fun without him? He LOVES the water and just can't understand why I won't let him swim. All heard all day was: "Mama, I swim too.", "Mama,I like swim, yes, I like.", "Mama, I swim lesson, Please?" Talk about guilt. So today when I said, "Go get your suits on, its time for lessons" Ansen went running to his bedroom, put his suit on all by himself, and went and found his coveted Diego towel and then proudly announced that he was "all ready!" I just couldn't say no. So off we went. At the pool the ladies went to their appointed areas of the pool while Ansen stood waiting fo someone to call him over. When he was the last one standing I decieded to take action. So where did we spend swim lessons? In the showers in the girls locker room in our suits with 4 showers pointed at Ansen while he wore Braley's goggles. He was "swimming." Yes, I know, what a strange kid, but he was HAPPY. And that's all that matters, right?

First Time

Today for the first time in my life I used the ultimate parent line, "If you are going to cry, I'm going to give you something to cry about." I said it! It took almost 7 years of parenting but finally that line escaped my lips. What is it about 5 year olds that can drive a person insane? Lucky for Miss Braley, she buttoned up rather quickly and is now sulking somewhere away from me. Smart girl!

5 Things We Have Accomplished The First Week Of Summer Vacation

1. A Broken Arm. Yes, Jayden broke her arm last week and I didn't believe her. Two days into the pain I took her to have it x-rayed and HOLY COW the girl broke it. Go ahead, say it, I am such a bad mom. In my sad little defence, I saw her fall and let me tell you--I've seen her fall alot harder and nothing broke then. So 4 weeks in a cast, yippeee. Oh, you can now go cast your vote for mother of the year.

2. Braley's Kindergarten Physical. Braley is now officially allowed to go to Kindergarten. Although after needing 4 shots she is currently mad at Kindergarten and is rethinking the elementary school thing. If they are going to make her get so many shots, what else are they going to make her do?

3. Ansen's 2 Year Physical. I have a confession. Ansen is short. And he doesn't weight anything. He is in the 3% for weight and 5% for height. The boy is the size of a 1 year old. This is due to the dangerous bout of RotaVirus he had right before his 1st birthday that literally almost killed him, and we knew he would take a while to catch up but now the doctors are a little worried. Because his body suffered from the virus so much we may have to do growth hormones. I sure hope not! He will grow.

4. I bathed the dog. I know this does sound big but it is. Barney and I had a run-in during the first bath I ever gave him and from then on its been Jason's job to clean Barn. I finally did it...he stunk, the girls covered him in gross kid perfume, and I had to. It was fine and Barney and I are closer then ever!

5. We had fun! Just in case you thought we had no fun this week~we also attended Uncle Mark's College Graduation, We to dinner with the Barkley's, celebrated Father's Day, Celebrated Grandpa Widing's birthday, went fishing, Ansen learned how to ride a big boy bike, spent umpteen hours at the park, and we of course never went to bed before 9:30 p.m. I am such a stickler about bedtime but I needed thet kids to sleep in past 6:30....I really need that!

Bring on summer vacation Week 2!

Who's Your Daddy?

MY daddy is a wonderful man and here are 5 reasons I love him...
1. He wears Aloha shirts all year long, even though he lives in New England. He may be responsible for bringing back the Hawaiian trend.
2. He swears he doesn't love our dogs, but how can you believe that when he makes the dog his own hamburger?
3. He has a very distinctive laugh. Dad, you know what I mean.
4. He always encouraging.
5. My dad is great because I know he loves me for me and I love him for him and thats good enough for both of us!

JAYDEN, BRALEY and ANSEN'S daddy is great because.....
Jayden..."because he is special to me. I love that he wrestles with me!"
Braley..."because he tickles me and wrestles with he!"
Ansen..."because he takes me FISHING and lets me sleep-in in the mornings with him, in his bed, without mommy, just us boys...no girls."
Mommy..."I love daddy because he is so much fun and always likes to have fun family trips"
Grandma Widing.. I love my son because he is always there for me and he was always a good kid"

JASON'S daddy is wonderful and here are 5 reasons why I love him...
1. He dreams BIG
2. He loves to fish, talk about fish, think about fish.....
3. He means what he says and says what he means
4. He eats my helping of beets for me
5. Dad is great because he loves his family and revels in all our successes

Happy Father's Day to You! I love You!

Dear Oma & Opa,

I just wanted to wish you a Happy Anniversary! You two lovebirds are so wonderful and I am grateful to call you mine. You have lived your lives in way that I hope to mirror as a parent, grandparent, great-grandparent, missionary, spouse, temple worker, member of the church...and dare I say tennis player? I am so thankful to you for raising such a terrific mom for me. If you haven't noticed, she's the best. She's your favorite of the 9 kids I'm sure, but don't worry it will be our little secret. So again, Happy Anniversary, you are wonderful, great, spectacular, fun, kind and the perfect pair. I love you!

Frogs take on First Grade Field Day

Today was Jayden's field day. Her class did an awesome job and played really hard. Mrs. Frutos is such a great teacher and her class was having the most fun! They all danced from one event to the next, and as a very observant Jayden noted at dinner tonight, "Mama, Mrs. Fruity Toes has some sweet MOVES!" ~I think we have let her watch Napoleon Dynamite one too many times~ Mrs. Fruity Toes is our family nickname for our favorite 1st grade teacher. I helped with field day and worked the obstacle event and Braley was my big helper. She is going to be such a great kindergartner next year! After all the events and booty shakin' today, Jayden has decided that for her end of the year gift for Mrs. Frutos she would like to get....Brooke, if you are reading this STOP NOW..... a CD of "sweet music"~again a reference to Napoleon Dynamite~ so Mrs. Frutos can dance her funky dances all summer. Jayden, you are too thoughtful!

Jason And The Popo

It is 12:43 AM. For those of you who don't know, I am NOT a night owl. At all. Tonight, I am awake and not thrilled about. At midnight there were two men out in our neighborhood making a horrible mess and illegally dumping their garbage. They were loud and their headlights were shining in my bedroom window. Rude. If you are going to do something illegal, at least be smart about and be quiet and discreet.
Jason decided to take matters into his own hands and go out and solve the problem HIMSELF. Absolute craziness in my opinion. I did the sane thing and just called the police. After letting 911 ring about 6 times~I'm so glad they are on the ball here in Portland~the police were able get here and catch the one of the guys. Jason then was able to i.d. him. So off to the slammer he went. Did you know you could be arrested for dumping your garbage on someone else's property? Well now we both know! You learn something new everyday. I would have thought you would just get a ticket, nope, cuffed and stuffed.
Jason spent some time with the Popo snapping photos of the culprits garbage and hobnobbing with Portland's finest. I would have taken a picture of them at work but I don't think they would have appreciated it. So now we wait for a call from the District Attorney so Jason can testify against this guy who was only trying to dump his junk. Good grief, I just wanted him to get his garbage and never come back. I didn't expect all the hoopla.
So there's my story for this early, early Monday morning. I'm awake because I don't want some crazy person knocking on our door because we got him in trouble....and I'm convinced we may need to enter the Witness Protection Program to keep us safe. What can I say? I am a worrier. Sleep tight, I'll contact you from our new location. Haha~just kidding, or am I?

A Picture Perfect Birthday

Today is my birthday. I am officially in my last year as a 20 something. Next year it's the big 3-0! The house stayed clean today, the kids were all really well behaved, Jayden's 1st grade class sang Happy Birthday to me, I found a great parking spot at Costco, and Jason threw me a birthday barbecue with friends and family. And the greatest thing of all was that Jayden, Braley and Ansen kept my birthday present a secret. Having three kids keep that secret is like a miracle at Christmas. What was the secret gift you ask? A new camera! So get ready for more vivid and stunning photos! Happy 29th Birthday to me!
p.s. sweetie, thanks for another wonderful birthday--you're the best...and the ice cream cake rocked!

My Three Clowns

So Long Preschool, Hellooo Kindergarten!

Braley has graduated! It's official, she is off to kindergarten. We are so excited that she has completed another year of preschool and is about to realize her lifelong dream of being a kindergartner. (She had everyone at the elementary school convinced was going to be a kindergartner last fall) Graduation was fun! Each student received a "Most Likely To..." award by their teachers. Jalen Amazing Jalen (see prior post titled "Wonder Twins") was awarded the Most Likely to be Prom King for his sweet attitude and great smile and Braley was awarded Most Likely to be a Teacher. She received this award for always being willing to lead the class in a song or help a friend learn something new. So Grandma Forsberg, make sure you keep a teaching position open for Braley at Make Way for Ducklings because she is going to follow in your footsteps! After Graduation Braley and Daddy went on a date to the Portland Zoo and celebrated her big day. She had a wonderful time with daddy. You are so BIG Braley, we love you and are proud of how well you have done in school this year, the sky is the limit!

Jayden's Busy Sunday

Jayden was a busy girl at church today. During sacrament meeting she was one of the first to stand and bare her testimoy. It was simple and sweet. It was very brave of her to get up without the help of mommy or daddy but she did it. She said that the Holy Ghost said she needed to. Next, Jayden spoke in Primary. Yesterday she worked to prepare her talk, and read and reread it so she was familure with the words. As she gave her talk on Baptism she spoke clearly and confidently. I am so impressed with her, her love of the gospel, and her love for public speaking. (She definatly gets that from her dad!) Good job today Kahau--we love you!