Happy Birthday to.......

Branon!

For his birthday he really wanted to go camping and since he doesn't work on Wednesdays we were suppose to go camping last night but with the weather I decided that we should hold off. I know he was disappointed but I tried to make it up to him. I let him sleep in and it helped that Jonas slept in too. Then we went up to Yankee Meadow(it's a place up the mountain) for lunch. We went for a little walk, built a campfire, roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Came home Jenna took a nap, then went to Cedar to have Chinese buffet, one of his favorites. All in all I thought Branon had a good birthday and if the weather is good we are going to go camping this weekend. Here are some pictures of the kids having fun!

Oh and we can't forget our new friend, Rascal. Yesterday I took the kids to the pet store thought it would be fun. They acted like it was a candy store! Ever since then Jonas has non-stop asked for a turtle. While we were at Yankee Meadows Jonas was able to catch Rascal and thought maybe he will stop harassing me for a turtle, but no such luck.

If you are wondering what is on his head, it's a grasshopper.

Summer Craziness

Summer has been a little crazy since school got out. I never did post Bella's preschool graduations. I had her in two preschools, one that I had to pay and the other was called joy school. That's were the moms take turn teaching. It's weird to me that she will be starting Kindergarten soon. I don't think she will have a problem going because she loves school where as the other one every morning tells me that he doesn't want to go to school.

This is the one that I paid for and I loved the teacher she does such a great job. She did a very good job with the preschool grad. It was funny to see Bella really get into the songs, and of course I don't have it on video. It was one of those days with the cameras. My lens was broken so I had to borrow a camera from a friend and her battery was dead so I only got to take a few. Then I couldn't fine our video camera so borrowed that from a friend and her battery wasn't working. I since have found the video camera and have a lens that works. Yes I know I look a little drunk, that was from the stress of the cameras.

(this is the joy school group)

I just love this picture of Jenna

Summer started out with swim lessons. After that was over was the busy week of June were we(me, Jonas, and Bella) all had our birthdays with father's day thrown in there. I turned 3o and still don't feel that old. Then the next week was the Johnson reunion and right after that we went to Lake Tahoe for a week. We took Branon's parents from Alaska. The drive threw Neveda was so long and boring. One of our stops was Rachel NV where their are more aliens then people.

After we got back from Lake Tahoe his parents stayed with us another 4 days. Then that Saturday(July 17) I ran my half marathon that I thankfully finished but haven't run like I would like since then. Last weekend my sister and her twin boys came to stay with us for a couple of days. It wasn't very enjoyable for her since she was sick. School starts in 3 weeks which I am ready to start since the kids haven't been able to get along the last couple of days. That's why when I am home we like to be at the pool so we can all get along.

The joys of siblings

Okay I know I'm not really good at blogging and I really hope one day that I can do at least a weekly post but I feel like there is nothing too exciting to share. With my memory I should be writing everyday so I can go back to something when my kids ask questions about their childhood.

For those that have more than two children maybe you can understand how I feel. Jonas was pretty easy child, Bella came along she was kind of a hard baby but when she turned one it got a lot easier. Jonas and Bella get along for the most part pretty well. Then came along Jenna and things changed drastically. Actually it was pretty easy at first, Jenna was probably the best baby but then it kind of changed when she started crawling. She would destroy Jonas and Bella's creations and that didn't go over so well. Jonas tells me that he doesn't want anymore siblings, and I am sure that has to do with having another kid to destroy his things, although he does that pretty well himself.

Jonas and Bella getting into trouble. Usually this is the influence of Jonas. Got into the Halloween make-up and got it on their entire face. They said "Look mom, we put on your make-up." I had to laugh or else I would ring their little necks.

This is a daily occurrence at our house, a lot of screaming. I would have to say my girls get along half the time, and I really wish it could be a little more. I do have hope though because my sister and I were probably the same way and now we are best friends. Funny story of these two little girls. A couple of weeks ago we were at Branon cousin's reception. It was in the backyard of his new wife's house and it was very very beautiful. When we got there I knew we were in trouble though because there was a swimming pool. Jenna has no fear of those and has no trouble just jumping in. They had the most amazing food and drinks, and we had just each gotten an Italian soda. I was talking to a friend, I look over and Jenna was standing next to the pool just watching it. I was trying to get her to come away a little, but she is like the other two and don't listen very well. Bella decided that she would take action and try to get Jenna herself. Of course that didn't go over so well. Bella was pulling on her cloths to move away from the pool, Jenna was screaming and pulling the other direction. Bella decides to let go of her, and there goes Jenna into the pool. I was right there so I got her out right away. She cried a little but got over it pretty fast. Then I have Bella who is screaming out of control. I thought wow she was really scared for Jenna and that is so nice that she is concern for Jenna, but I thought really she didn't need to scream out of control over here. Finally when I got her to talk and tell me what she is crying over, this is what she had to say, "Mom, you spilled my drink on purpose." Sorry I was running to go rescue Jenna who was drowning. Mine and Jenna's drink went in with her in the pool. We were able to replace those, and Bella's had to be replaced again after she spilled it on the table.

I just loved this picture of Bella. Yes I am a cool mom and we built a fort. It made a huge mess in the living room but it was a lot of fun.

What we have been up to

Bella had her dance pictures a few weeks ago. I got them back this week and she is going to take after her mom when it comes to taking pictures. If I can ever learn how to scan in pictures I'll show you what I mean. I do love this picture of her in her dance costume. She really has loved it and will be sad that it's almost over. She is so funny when it comes to girls and boys. When we are in the car she always ask for a girl songs, and can get up set if a boy is singing. I didn't realize how many more men sing over women. Also we are going to be out of town and she will miss the fire sation trip at preschool and asked if she was sad about it. "No mom, it's a boy thing." She doesn't want to play any sports yet because that too is a boy thing. Branon is really hoping that she will grow out of that.

Day before Easter we went and visited Branon's brother and his family in St. George. We had a Easter egg hunt at there house. They had such a blast! There was a moment when Jenna had a freak out as you can tell. My sister in law's Dad lives across the street from them so when he came over to watch the kids she was horrified of him. It took her a few minutes and once she figured that there was candy in the eggs she had fun.

Do I need to say anything more? I have a tote of Halloween costumes even of those in the past. He kept bugging me about the fireman one. I told him that it wouldn't fit so don't even try. Of course the kid does not listen to his mom. I just about died laughing when I saw him. He thought he was pretty cool and even went outside to play.

Our friend Gabe from Loa came down and visited for a few hours so we decided that was a good time to color eggs. In Loa it is a tradition that you go roll them down a hill, but since we were not there we tried to go a few days after Easter and found out that it didn't work on any of the hills around here. The kids still had a blast attempting to do it.

Poor Fishy

These pictures having nothing to do with the story I am about to tell but it shows how mischievous Jenna can look and things that she can do. And I have no idea why I'm blogging this story, probably because this is my only journaling. Last week I taught Bella's joy school and we did ocean animals. For some stupid reason I thought it would be cool to get some gold fish for demo even though they have nothing to do with ocean animals. I knew that the gold fish would not live for very long around here but how one died I could never imagine. We started out with 3 and we are now down to 1 as of tonight. The first one died the other day for who knows why and the other one died today because of Jenna. Today while I was vacuuming I found Jenna with her arm in the fish bowl and told her "NO". She seemed to listen so I went on with what I was doing. I come back and she had the fish in her hand. It must have only been a second or two. Put it back and the fish was fine. Well you would ask me why didn't you move the fish bowl so she can't put her arm in it. I ask myself that same question, didn't think about it at the time. I was gone tonight and when I came back Branon told me that Jenna got one of the fishes and it died. It was the same fish. I asked if Bella cried because that is what she usually does. Surprisingly no but he said she was sad. Jonas told me that Jenna squeezed it and that he was going to do the same to her. Sorry Jonas but it doesn't work that way. You can not leave that girl out of your sight or you know you are asking for trouble.

Nothing to do with the story but I took Jenna in last Friday for her 2 year check up. If you know my kids they are pretty tall. So when they gave me the paper with the precentile's I wasn't sure if it was a 95 or a 55 in length. The nurse told me 55 and I said are you sure. Bella has always been over 90 and Jonas over 100 so I was a little concern. They measured again and said she really hasn't grown since last September. Her length was 34" and her weight 29lbs. All three kids are 75% in their weight. If I am right I think Jonas was the length at 9 months I'll have to go back and check.

Yes I know I have tons of pictures of her and mostly blog about her but the other ones don't like to get there pictures taken. I guess she doesn't either.

Two years ago ....

Two years ago I lay in a hospital bed holding this bundle of joy. It makes me sad that she is already two. Time goes by way too fast. She was such a good baby, and things started to change when she started crawling. She gets into everything, so my eye's have to be on her every waking moment. Lucky for me she likes to sleep. The other day she asked to take a nap and she usually sleeps for at least 2 hours. As soon as she started sleeping through the night at 6 months I can probably count on one hand how many times she has waken up during the night.

Jenna loves food. When I go get her out of the crib she has to go to her chair and she ask for food. She is my most messy eater, so all her cloths are stain since she won't were a bib anymore.

One thing she has always been good at is screaming. I have a friend that said she was the loudest child that she has ever heard. Then I was talking with my sister and of course Jenna was screaming. She ask is that Jenna. Yes! She has twin boys so I ask her doesn't yours scream that loud. No, of course not. It's very embarrassing when you are at the store and she is not getting what she wants, yea everyone at the store is looking at me. She scares other kids with her scream. At least I have one that will hold her own. Jonas could care less if you took something from him. Bella cried, still does. Jenna, of course screams. When my girls are playing and Jenna starts to scream, I know Bella is taking something away from her.

When she is not screaming she is the happiest kid. She loves to dance. The other thing she loves is her blanket, that my friends mom made. Bella has one too and they both can't sleep with out it. Her favorite phrase is "Stop it" We tell her that all the time when she is screaming.

Hopefully I will start blogging a little more now that I finally have Internet on my laptop in my home. This is the only kind of journal I have for my kids.

A conversation with Bella

I have to post this so I won't forget. This is how the conversation went on my way to drop off Bella to pre-school.

Bella: "Mom why does Jesus keeping dying?"

Mom: "Jesus only died once, then he came back alive, and then went up to heaven and that's where he lives now."

Bella: "Where did he die?"

Mom: "Calvary"

Bella: "Is that where the bad guys are?"

Mom: "Yea, they did have some!"

Bella: "Does Dad have a gun?"

Mom: "Yes"

Bella: "So dad can shoot the bad guys, and save the family!"

Mom: "Yes, he can."

I love that girl, I have no idea where that came from.