Birthdays and The Phantom Pooper

My baby turned 3 last week. He's doing so great, although he does suffer from a little Alzheimer's.

Justin - "I want a hot dog."
Me - "Okay"
Justin - "Mom, what are you doing?"
Me - "Cooking you a hot dog."
Justin - "Oh. Hey mom, what are you doing?"
Me - "Still cooking you a hot dog."
Justin - "Oh. Hey mom what are you doing over there?"
Me - "Still working on that hot dog."

He also has what could be an unhealthy obsession with vehicles. I fully expect him to start naming Toyota's and BMW's and Honda's soon. For now he is obsessed with "gardridge" trucks, fire trucks, ambulances, mail trucks, big big mail trucks (Fedex, UPS), tractors and the good old yellow school bus. I can't distract him with any of his music when we're driving either because "someone" put a penny in my CD player. So I get to hear all about every vehicle that we pass...yay. Seriously, I love how excited he gets. He was practically drooling yesterday when we drove next to a fire truck for a couple of miles.

He's such a fun kid. We love him to pieces.


Sadie turned 11 yesterday and is about to graduate from Elementary school. :(
She still loves to write stories sometimes and that makes me happy. I hope she never stops because she does it so well. She received a nice selection of gift cards on her requested Oreo ice-cream cake, which tasted prettier than it looked.

She's a big dreamer with big plans for her future, although these plans change from time to time. I think she's going to be a little like me and be interested in a lot of things and do her darndest to learn how to do it all. Hopefully she will channel all her feistiness in the right direction and share her huge giving heart with the world. Lots of potential that girl has.


Moving on.

Steve roomed with like 11 other guys for a couple years when he was in college and they had a problem with what they called a "Phantom Crapper" in the house. I know, too funny, right? ☺

Not really.

Fast forward to present day and present dwelling. We have what we call, for the benefit of small children, a "Phantom Pooper". Much like the Phantom Crapper, the Phantom Pooper leaves the toilet unflushed for (usually) me to discover at a later point in time.

There are several suspects, but my bets are all on this one:


Yes, she looks innocent and sweet and all, but this little neighbor, who shall remain nameless, has always chosen our house as the place to do her "business" on a daily basis.

Seriously. Every day. As if we don't have enough people in this house doing "business". Anyway, I don't plan to call her out on it, but I'll just be very vigilant in keeping track of who's using the bathroom and when they're using it.

I'll keep you posted.....

Not really. No more potty talk from me. I was just venting.

Top Twenty

Man, I used to be a dedicated blogger. I still want to be, it's just that there's nothing really very exciting going on that didn't happen at this same time last year. Or the year before. For my posterity....and all 3 of you that read my blog...that's kind of boring.

Maybe the new baby will trigger some creative blog posts. Maybe. If not, then I'll start making up stuff.

Until then, in no particular order, the top twenty most recent events:

1. Justin's new wheels.


2. April Fools Day. We were actually traveling so I could only paint Jackson's toes and draw on the girls' faces the night before. The pink toenails on my 12-year-old boy was enough to make me chuckle for a couple of days.

3. Watching my older sister hug her son at the airport after he returned from a 2 year church mission to Chicago.

(The worn out shoes of a returned missionary)

4. Another nephew receiving a mission call to report to Washington state in July.

5. Springtime in Florida. It was wonderful. For those that live here, no elaboration is necessary. For those that don't live here, most of you are visiting at the wrong time of the year. April vs July - there's no comparison.

6. General Conference. Well, you'll just have to watch for yourself if you missed it.

7. Girls Camp. About 6 months ago I became the 1st counselor to the president of the Young Women of our church, ages 12-18, who live within a large radius of our county. So like a hundred girls or so I think. It's been so fun and very rewarding. One of the highlights of my new position so far was going to girls camp with them back in March. The girls are awesome.

8. Rodeo. More specifically, the blur of the Pig Scramble at the Rodeo. The kids have never caught one yet. Someday.


9. Favorite Things GNO. Here's how it works. For a Girls Night Out, invite your coolest friends and go out to eat. Everyone decides ahead of time on one of their favorite things and brings 3 of that same thing to be given away. Everyone puts their name into a pot 3 times to be drawn so that you go home with 3 different things. It's way fun and you never know what you're going to get. For example, I gave away 3 subscriptions to Family Fun magazine. You could go home with anything from nail polish to fresh flowers to cookbooks to really embarrassing things that I can't mention on this here family blog. :)

10. Audrey's super cute new haircut.


11. Ice-cream. Can't get enough this pregnancy.

12. Spring Break. aka Spriiiiiiiing Breaaaaaaaak!

13. Easter.






14. Sweet Tomatoes. A family favorite restaurant. This is a big deal because we have to drive a bit of a distance to get there.

15. 9 1/2 weeks left until I go under the knife.


Need a close-up?

16. Taking Sadie to Girls Night at school to watch the "changing" movie and her very serious admonition afterwards "Mom, you CANNOT tell Dad what that movie was about."

17. Purchasing season passes to the local water park. This is going to save me a lot of energy trying to entertain kids this summer. I'll be parking myself like a beached whale by the kiddie pool every day while I wait for this baby to arrive.

18. Super cool next door neighbors. Who go to our church. Who have a boy Justin's age. Who have a pool. What more could we ask for in a next door neighbor?

19. Silly Bands. I think they're fun for the kids to collect. They are also frustrating to buy because they are everywhere and they are nowhere. If I recieve a tip that CVS down the road has them, they have probably been sold out since yesterday.

20. The 2nd annual Parents Choice Awards. Some new awards this year: Doesn't Clog The Toilet Award (Justin - since he's the only one who doesn't use the toilet). Best Assistant Bread Baker Award (Audrey). Makes The Best of a Situation Award (Sadie). Does The Best Flips on the Trampoline Award (Jackson).