Porter's First Lost Tooth

It shouldn't take me so long to get updated, but for some reason it does. Porter lost his first tooth last month and it seems like it's taken me all day (or at least all afternoon with a few interruptions) to get a page for his book done. When I get so far behind on the kids pages it makes me not even want to get started again.

Porter's almost seven (at least he will be in September) so he's a little late for losing his first tooth. The worst part of it is that the baby tooth just next to it will probably never get loose--unless he bumps it really good. There is no permanent tooth underneath it. I guess we'll be looking at an implant down the road at some point. bummer. I know. It's fun to see him growing up though.

Todd's been gone on a fire for three days and I haven't heard from him since he left so this was a great way to pass the afternoon.

I like to Move it Move it

It came time to say goodbye to Fox Cove and hello to a new home for this Calico Family. We moved {almost} everything on June 28 and spent our first night in our new home that night. Saturday I went back to our Fox Cove home (aka 'the Bowling Alley' because of the long stretch/hallway into the kitchen) to clean. My sisters, Kandice and Tiffani, came along to help. It made the job go sooo much faster. Of course it helped not having the kids there as well. My parents helped out a ton with the kids during the move/cleaning of both houses. It feels so good to finally call someplace home and really mean it. It was hard for me to be living in 'limbo' while we were searching for the right house for us. I'm so excited to begin this next chapter in our lives.
The kids will be able to ride their bikes or walk to school again because we're only 2 blocks away from their elementary school. I'm not going to miss trying to catch their bus that shipped them all the way out into Washington Fields for school. I don't know what we'll do with that extra time not spent on the bus, but I'm sure we can think of something.

So far this is a really quiet neighborhood. We attended our new ward yesterday and I'm so excited for the new people I'm already meeting. Porter is ready to go meet and greet all the new neighbors...again. I wish there had been someone in his primary class that really peeked his interest because that would have solved his desire to meet new people. I hope that means he's going to make a great missionary someday!
This house is great for us because it's got more space for all of us along with a fenced in back yard.
We currently have a hole in the back yard while we patiently wait for a trampoline to fill it with. With a new house comes a 'to do' list, which I'm trying to figure out some kind of coverings for some of the windows. No one can see in during the day but EVERYONE can see in during the night. Maybe when I get ambitious and do some of those Pinterest ideas we won't show everyone so much of our night time life.

Bike + Ball = a good giggle

This was on my Face Book wall from one of the friends/neighbors (Megan Snyder) that lives in Fox Cove with us--or we live in Fox Cove with them...I'm not sure which:

"you know what made my day today? Your little Julia, riding her bike up to the park, with a basketball stuck up her shirt...and the ball kept squirting out, and bouncing off, and she would get off her bike go fetch it, and stick it back up there, hop on the bike, go about 10 feet, and out came the ball again. I helped her once, but she didn't seem too bothered by the whole thing. She just kept on truckin'. Seriously, so cute!"

 

She loves her bike and rides it everywhere. I'm glad G-pa Blair got it from his work so we could have it! And to think that I was complaining slightly that we got that bike. The first day she couldn't get on or off by herself. But the next day she could, thanks to a little help from dad.

While You Were Sleeping... I mean Working

You remember the movie? I've always liked it but it doesn't have much to do with my post...except for the fact that a lot has happened while Todd's been gone working. Here's the jest of it;

We bought a van. Todd got to test drive it before he left so he knew we were getting it, but I had to deal with getting the $ from the bank, paying the couple we bought it from, and registering at the DMV with THREE kids! Needless to say, I am LOVING the van. It's the nicest vehicle we've ever purchased (and most expensive--but worth it...so far). I hope the kids will help in keeping it looking nice. So far, so good. Check that off the list of things to do before we can go on a family vacation in California.

 

Payton had his last baseball game. He's had a good season and their team did pretty well. I'm not sure I'm looking forward to the minor leagues next year. Machine pitch is nice because all the pitches are generally in the right area...most of the time. He had a good coach and enjoyed the season. That's what matters, right?
 

Jess took her first steps. I still have yet to catch it on film but I do have a couple pictures of her standing by herself. Her first steps happened while I was talking on the phone to Kandice. She was hanging on to my legs and took two steps to get to the wall. Shocked me! She's really not that steady, but apparently she's steady enough.

I took the kids to church TWICE by myself. This is huge. I could have easily stayed home but what would that have proven to the kids (and to myself and the Lord). Luckily Todd will be home this weekend so I don't have to go-it-alone. I'm not sure how those military wives do it for so long. {no picture to show you but just imagine what I might have looked like}


Porter graduated from Kindergarten. It was a tricky transition to move in the middle of the school year but we all survived. Porter went from an all day kindergarten in La Verkin to afternoon kindergarten at Horizon Elementary. I'm so glad we got Mrs. Key because she was so easy to work with and Porter loved her as a teacher. He even got a little embarrassed when I read the comment on his report card that said, "Porter is so cute." He's so excited to be big enough for 1st grade!

 
I sold our car. When we first bought the van I was sad about selling the car because I loved it so much. The gas mileage was great, parking wasn't a problem, and after we fixed the transmission it was a great little cruiser. The more I drive the van, though, the more I was ok with saying goodbye. The best part is that I was able to sell it for $500 more than I expected. $4500.00 later I watched it pull out of the drive way for the last time.

We had a visitor. It's weird how this one happened, and it's really not that big of a deal, but I had a cute picture to post with this one. We were on our way to put our 'car money' in the bank when I saw a car that looked like Todd's G-pa Roy. It turned around behind us and followed us to the main road and then turned back around up the street. I decided I better turn around too, just in case it really was G-pa Roy and he was looking for us. It's a good thing I did because it was him. He's never been to our house and he was lost. He was just bringing me a history of his Grandfather that I had asked about a few weeks ago. He's such a good guy! I had to help lead him out because he was a little turned around but it was fun to have him visit for a minute.

Busy week and a half...kinda...not really...but I tried to make it sound like I did A TON of things without the man of the house around. We'll be so happy to have our dad home again! 

Foot Napkin

Just a quick one tonight: PAYTON {he thinks he's so funny}

The other night we had eaten pasta for dinner. Of course we can't seem to keep things on our plates and at least some of it has to {JUST HAS TO!} hit the floor--and it's not just Jess that has this habit. Payton got up from the table and walked past the high chair when he hit a noodle with his foot. Instead of picking up his foot and wiping it off, he had to DRAG his foot across the floor-smearing it everywhere his foot went. I couldn't let it go. I had to get after him. He then walked over to the kitchen rug and continued wiping off his foot. That was almost worse! His excuse? "What? I thought the rug was like a foot napkin!" Son, son, son. Since when do we use ANY kind of napkins around this house?!

Maybe someday, somehow, someone will teach this boy some manners...Maybe!

Happy Mother's Day

Some years I don't really enjoy Mother's Day because I have to 'share' my {birthday} with my day to celebrate being a {mom}. Not this year! I enjoyed Saturday night in Vegas for one of my niece's baptism. I took Porter, Julia and Jess with me and left Payton home with daddy. Todd called me while we were there and let me know he had been called out on a fire and he'd be leaving at 4 in the morning. We didn't leave Vegas until really late so we weren't home until about 1am. I honestly don't remember Todd leaving that morning but I know he kissed me goodbye.

Sunday morning was not much different than I expected. I had four tired kids, two of which were very whiney (can you guess which ones?--yup, the ones who had been up too late with me the night before). Payton was complaining about his legs being too itchy {he got swimmers itch from his fishing extravaganza with his dad the day before} AND his pants {that we just bought less than six months ago} are too tight. Hmmm. Imagine that! I still remember walking out the door to get something out of the car and hearing my kids crying in the house. I literally laughed out loud because it always seems funnier when it's Mother's Day. It was tricky getting everyone ready for church and out the door on time but we made it close to the right time. It made me feel better when three other families had to stand in the foyer until the opening prayer ended.

This was our first Mother's Day in this ward and I loved it! They made preparations for all {Yes! ALL} the sisters to be in Relief Society. The men had to step in and teach Primary and Young Women lessons. Then when we were all in the Relief Society room we got to munch on cream puffs covered in chocolate sauce, fresh strawberries, grapes and pineapple, and topped it off with a cucumber sprite drink. We ate, visited, and then listened to a refreshing, honest, and inspiring lesson given by the R.S. President. It was awesome!

We had dinner with Todd's family so at least I didn't have to cook my own mother's day meal. We missed having our dad around but we're glad he made it safely to his destination in Mesa.

I still don't know how long Todd will be gone. There are times when I'm completely overwhelmed and can't wait for the kids to shut their yappers and get into bed. But for the most part, we're getting along ok. I haven't 'cooked' a meal for my family for a week and a half now. I might get used to that. Or I might just have to change my bad habits when Todd gets home and he doesn't feel like eating frozen burritos, chicken nuggets or hot dogs. Imagine that.

Sucking all the fun - Birthday Week

This last week has been a good, crazy, fun week. I celebrated another birthday on the 9th and I feel like I got spoiled for more than just that day. My sisters, Tiffani and Kandice, took me out to lunch at the water park on main street. Of course we had to go to a kid friendly place because we all had to bring a couple along. It was a delicious salad from wingers and the kids got pizza. After playing for a while it was time to get home because I had two boys coming home from school. The boys beat me home and were a little upset that I wasn't home when they got there. They were even more upset that we had gone and done something FUN without them!

That night Todd took us all to dinner which was perfect! I get tired of cooking and then cleaning it all up everyday. After the kids were in bed Todd and I watched "The Vow" ...well at least I watched it. Todd struggled staying awake but it was a good birthday!

The next day I had kept Kandice's kids for the morning while she was working. I met her over at my mom's that afternoon with the kids and hung out until it was time for the boys to be home from school again. Well, no surprise when I came home and the boys were already there...again. They let me know that it was two days in a row now that they were home before me. I tried to use, "I had to take care of Kandice's kids" as an excuse but I could tell I was not making it on the 'perfect mom' list.

Friday was Tiff's birthday so I got to go to Hurricane for her birthday lunch. It was fun to see girls that I used to see when I lived over there. Of course I wanted to stay and visit longer but the kids got out early on Friday and I knew I was going to be late...again. When I walked in the door Porter turned on the water works and said, "This is THREE days in a row that you've left us!!" Then Payton piped in, "You are always leaving us and going and having fun while we're in school!!" I should have been more sympathetic but I wasn't.

Later that afternoon Todd and I went and test drove a van and Tiff offered to take the kids to my mom's for a bit. We LOVED the van...and have since made the purchase (post to come) but rushed back to my mom's to get the kids and take them to G-ma Julie's so Todd and I could go out on a date--alone--with each other--ahhh! (see how spoiled I've been). While Tiff had my kids in the car they vented to her about their mom always being gone. Payton said, "My mom is just sucking all the fun out of everything" (or something like that). Tiff tried to defend me by saying it was my B-day week and I should get spoiled but I don't think Payton took that as an excuse.

I loved sucking all the fun out of the week. Makes getting older not so bad!