The results are in

One day he's wearing only your

church boots with his undies,

the next day he's off to school...

Today I was informed that they had the lists posted of next years teachers and who would be in their classes. I feel a bit silly because ever since I heard it I've been wanting to just go look and see who Payton has for a teacher next year. It's a whole summer away but it reminded me of all those ball try-outs and the lists they post of who made the team. I actually got that anxiety feeling when we pulled up outside the school to see the list. I scrolled down the list of Kindergarten teachers expecting Payton to be in one of the afternoon classes and lo and behold.... Payton will be in Mrs. Nay's morning kindergarten class this August. I don't know Mrs. Nay (nor did I know they other Kindergarten teacher) but I'm so excited for Payton to start school! Too bad I didn't recognize any of the other names on the list so I don't have a clue who any of the other kids (or their parents) are. Yeah for strangers and making new friends!!

You know it's time when....

This morning I was sitting by Porter who was super anxious to get his shoes and socks on this morning because of the new neighbor boy next door (well, across the street). I hadn't showered yet and have been feeling a little low on energy the past few days so I was dragging my feet to get the kids going...although the kids weren't...dragging their feet that is. Well, I leaned over to tie Porter's shoe and his head was under my arm. Porter says, "Ewwwe. Your armpit stinks, mom". Ain't he a sweetie. That's when I knew it was time to get my rump in the shower and get going for the day. Didn't need much more encouragement.

Happy Birthday Tiff!

Tiffani is the one who got me started on this whole Blog trip so it just wouldn't be right (wright) not to give her a little shout out on her B-day.

But first, Payton would like to type a little something to his Aunt Tiff:

jijijhjihjgijjgijgjijgjtjgjigjjgjjgjhujihhu yuodjiuhy uhdiju huthryijityirjthrjjoe

payton dennis calico

(hmm must be that spanish he knows that I don't.)

Here's the translation he told me:

Happy Birthday to you. Just that you're the greatest aunt. I hope you have a great birthday. and that's all.


Alright, Tiff...my turn...HERE GOES!

My favorite things about Tiffani:
She's one of my go-to's for IDEAS! She's so creative and helps me when I second guess myself and actually comes up with something better.

She's a very patient mother. She can keep her cool better than anyone I know. She just doesn't sweat the small stuff.

She's a lot like Mary Poppins...Practically Perfect in Every Way. I think since we've moved I have more people ask if I'm Tiffani's sister...Even in the InstaCare the front desk lady asked. I'm going to take it as a compliment even if it's not.

She's so full of energy and is always playing with her kids in some way, shape or form. She even talked us sisters into running a 5k this year, which i think has turned into an annual event.

Tiff's got a great sense of humor and I think out of all us girls we may think the most alike...or at least we end up saying the same words together...A LOT OF THE TIME. It's crazy.

I loved growing up with Tiff and hearing about her dates, seeing her go to dances in her gorgeous dresses, watching her play ball (in every sport), sharing rides with her to H.S. pushing the "pumpkin" out of parking spots (it was her car she drove in H.S. and it had no reverse. how it passed inspections year after year I don't know).

Thanks for putting up with my kids and of course putting up with me all these years! We love living closer to you and being able to "play" with you all the time! Happy Birthday!!

As a side note...CONGRATS on the upcoming baby!!

(It's ok to tell now, right Tiff?)

Like Father Like Son

Check out my mini archer in training. He's been wanting to shoot his bow ever since his dad pulled it out to let him try it.

THE RULES:

(Todd made the boys repeat them to him)

..A bow is not a toy, it is a weapon!..

..I will never shoot my bow unless my dad is with me.. (this rule got changed to "if my mom or dad is with me")..

I will never shoot my bow if kids are outside playing..

I think he looks like a cute little archer and I love seeing Todd outside with him trying to help him. Here's the check list they go through..

..Knock (the arrow)

..Finger tabs

..Stance

..Draw ..Anchor

..Aim

..Release

This doesn't happen very often so when he hits the target, we have to take a picture!
With the practice lately it's been shortened to "Stance, Anchor, Aim, Release". Can't wait until his dad will take him with him to tournaments so they can shoot together. He's getting better at shooting his bow but he's not very accurate...YET! At least he's learning. I'll post some more video later when I make the time to choose the cutest one.

How Do They Do It?

Are you one of those people who can take pictures of themselves and actually get a good picture? HOW DO YOU DO IT? Today was my dad's b-day and we had a little get together/party for him and my sis-in-law, Valerie. After the party and after the boys were in bed I thought it would be fun to try take some pictures of Julia and I together....cuz she was being soooo cute. Well I know I'm not photogenic and I obviously don't know how to take pictures. I see pictures other people take holding the camera out in front of them and they come out fine and dandy. Maybe it's just a lack of practice?

Our first attempt...and probably the best?

Anyway, Happy Birthday Dad! we love you! (These were the best pictures I had of the night. I took the camera out when it was dark so they didn't all work. I posted the best ones)

All the grandkids that live around here...minus A'Lyssa

(we missed you!)

If my math is right, there are 28 of these rug rats (30 total w/Cheri's twins)
Yup, dad! That makes you REALLY OLD!!

(0: Yes, Kandice does have teeth under there :0)

It's Back, They're Back, I'm Back

I've been without our computer for that past week so I've been using our old one...which doesn't work like it should. I couldn't follow any links that I clicked on or print any coupons that I couldn't pull up--doesn't make sense? Doesn't matter-The computer is fixed and back! I can't believe how dependant I am on it. So that's the "It's Back" part.

My parent are finally home after serving their mission in Nauvoo for the past two years. I haven't seen them yet but talked on the phone with them and so happy they're home. I think I'm most excited for them to see Julia because they haven't seen her (well besides the pictures). So, there's the "They're Back" part.

I've had a few things happen that I wanted to blog about and I could have pulled out the journal and wrote them down but what about the fun pictures?? Where would they go? So I decided to wait until the computer came back to blog about life. Julia is getting so good at sitting up! She can't really roll over and hates being on her tummy but she loves sitting up if there are toys to play with. She doesn't want anything to do with food yet--unless it's a little piece of bread from mom's dinner plate.

Easter came and went and this is the best picture of the three Calico Kids together--couldn't get Julia to look up. We went to Todd's G-ma & G-pa Wittwer's on Sunday for a great dinner and egg hunt. Sunday morning was cute because Payton brought his Easter basket in the house and said, "How did Grandma Wittwer get here so fast?" He knows she's the Easter Bunny (at least at her house she is).

The boys had been fighting a bit last week and I got to the point that I needed to take action. I just hope the action I took isn't considered child abuse. I told them if they were going to fight again I was going to tie them together and give them a chore to complete and they would have to work together. It wasn't five minutes later that I took some drawstring from a pair of shorts (not sure what shorts they're from yet) and tied their arms together and sent them to get the mail. Porter was bawling! He didn't want to be tied together! They came back from the mail box laughing with each other and told me about the ant that tried to bite Porter on the way back. Seemed to work, right? Well, the next day I hear them fighting again and then I hear Payton say, "We better stop fighting or mom's going to tie us together again." The fighting stopped for a moment and then started again. If it hadn't been for Payton's comment I would have forgotten about my plan of "tying them together". So I got the "rope" and tied their ankles together (kinda like you do when you're going to run a three legged race--Brenda and I were the best together) then I told them to walk around the house together and they had to work together. They were both crying this time. Sad thing is that they didn't figure out they could have easily slipped it off their feet if they wanted to--or had thought about it. It wasn't tied that tight. I had to video tape them coming around the house because I thought it was so funny that something I loved to do as a kid is turning into punishment for my kids...how does that work?

One Last Thing...

Happy Birthday Brenda!!

I consider Brenda my best friend growing up because it seems like we did EVERYTHING together! Today is her b-day and I hope she enjoys every minute! If I had a scanner that worked I would have some awesome photo's to post of her but we'll save that for another post.

5K Fun Run

This year I ran my first 5K. You runners out there are probably thinking...ha! Piece of Cake! Well, you just go ahead and think that! The fun part of this race was that I ran with all four of my sisters. We usually do some kind of a girls weekend and Tiff got the brainy idea that we should run some kind of a race or do some kind of physical event together this year--of course not to take the place of girls weekend but to add to it.

They waited a month after Julia was born to start training--and unfortunaltley she's the only excuse I had for my performance. I didn't train like I should have and the furthest I ran was the week of the race and it was only 2. something miles, but I was pushing Julia in a jogging stroller so I thought I'd be just fine!

Come race morning, which was Easter Saturday (yup that rainy morning) I had to drag my bootey out of bed to be at the race by 7:30 to get our packets and stuff. Kandice made matching shirts with a saying that Cheri made up. You can't tell from the pictures so I'll tell you what they said:

Running Shoes....$70

Custom T-Shirt....$10

Running with your sisters...Priceless

and then on the front they had whatever number of sister we were (I'm #4 out of the 5)

It was a fun race and we all stayed together...until I hit the Mile 2 mark. I had to take a breather and walk a bit while Trudi, Kandice and Tiff kept going (thank goodness Cheri stuck with me). I won't give all the details of the race but that's pretty much how we finished. Trudi, Tiffani and Kandice came in under 30 minutes and Cheri and I finished 20 something seconds after. My time was 30:22--I figured that was alright for my first real race :)

They gave awards for the different age groups. Trudi, Cheri and Kandice all took one of the first three places in their age category so they won something. Tiffani and I...well, just won the fact that we ran a race together.