Contrary to Popular Belief...

Preston does have his quiet moments.  Although when he's quiet, we never know whether to be apprehensive about it, or thrilled.  Tonight we were thrilled.  I found him lying on his tummy in the kitchen, coloring away.  And as a double bonus, he was even coloring on paper and not on the furniture, floors, or walls. (Which happens frequently... Why did I just spend all that money to have my house repainted?)  Quiet + no destruction = happy me!

He worked on that picture for quite a while.

He finally noticed that I was taking pictures of him.

 

I can't get over how cute this kid is.  Love him to pieces!

And He Still Gets to Keep His Man License

Today I introduced Trent to one of life's simple pleasures... a pedicure.  And yes, he thoroughly enjoyed it, sans nail polish of course.

I'm a Mean Old Witch...

Vivi had her Halloween party at school today.  Seriously, so cute!  I've said it before, but we just adore Miss Jen.  Vivi has had such a great preschool experience thanks to such a wonderful teacher.  Anyway, so the parents got to go in at the end of class to watch a costume parade, listen to some songs the kids have been practicing (my favorite was the Mean Old Witch song), and have yummy treats.  Vivi of course dressed up as a princess.  She only has about 30 princess dresses in her costume box in the basement.

Here they all are.  What a cute bunch of kids!

Anna, Claire, and Vivi.  They all look like they could be sisters with their blond hair and blue eyes.

I tried to get a picture of Vivi with one of her best buds, Joseph, but he wasn't in a picture taking mood today.  Ah well, we'll get him next time.

They made these witches today for their Halloween craft.  Miss Jen always comes up with something fun for them to do.  I just love this little Princess.  Don't know what I'd do without her.

Look Mom!

Preston is 100% completely in love and obsessed with tractors. It is not a good car ride if we don't see at least one tractor when we go out to run errands. This is typical of our conversations when we are in the car.

Preston: Where da tractor mommy? Where?

Me: I don't know buds, just keep your eyes peeled.

Preston: Where da tractor go mom?

Me: There's bound to be one around here somewhere. Just keep looking buds.

Preston: I want da tractor! Where da tractor?

Me: No Comment

Preston: WHERE?!!! DA?!!! TRACTOR?!!!!!

Me: I DON'T KNOW.

Preston: Mommy! A TRACTOR! I see it! A Tractor mommy! Yea! A TRACTOR! Mommy, I drive da tractor. I DRIVE IT DA TRACTOR!

Me: Preston, mommy doesn't have keys to drive the tractor, and if she did, she wouldn't know the first thing to do to get it moving.

Preston: Mommy, I drive da tractor right now!

Me: Whatever...

Needless to say, if he actually got to sit in a tractor while it was moving, it would probably be the highlight of his life, up until now anyway. Does anyone know where one would go for a ride on a tractor? If you did, I would be forever grateful. Although, who knows, that might just be fueling the fire.

Get to Work!

We had a fun time tonight over at grandma and grandpa Stock's. They had invited us over for Sunday dinner, which I am always up for because it not only means we get to spend some quality time with the grandparents, but it also means that I don't have to cook. We arrived a little early, so I headed to the kitchen to help out with any last minute things that needed to be done. Trenton, who has recently found that he loves cooking and helping out in the kitchen, promptly volunteered his services as well. Grandma put him to work making some muffins, and after several minutes of measuring and mixing, he looked down into the family room and noticed grandpa sitting in the chair watching football. Apparently, this was not acceptable to Trenton because next thing you know, we hear, "Grandpa! Stop being such a couch potato!" Now if there is anything that Trent's dad is not, it's a couch potato. Plus there was also the fact that grandpa had just barely sat down not two minutes before Trenton's snappy little comment.

Grandpa continued to stare fixedly at the TV screen, apparently unaware of his grandson's insolence. Well, in Trenton's mind, this just would not do, so he started in again with, "Geez grandpa, can't you at least set the table?" Poor, poor grandpa. All he wanted was a few minutes of R&R, and do you think he could get any? Thank goodness he has such a good sense of humor. He got some jabs in at Trenton though, don't you worry.

As Trenton put oven mitts on his hands to pull the muffins out of the oven, grandpa said, "Oh look, we've got Mrs. Trenton helping out in the kitchen tonight."

They affectionately became known as "Couch Potato" and "Mrs. Trenton" to each other for the rest of the night. All I know is, Trenton better watch out because I've never known anyone to come up with better nicknames than grandpa Stock. :)

Positively Wicked!

Trent and I got to have a night out on the town the other night. We headed downtown to go to dinner and to see "Wicked", along with our good friends Mike and Ginny. After having sick kids for two weeks, it was so nice get out!

We got the tickets for "Wicked" this past April, and I have been waiting on pins and needles to go see it again. It was phenomenal! I loved it just as much this time as the last time I saw it.

While we were waiting for the show to begin, Trent happened to glance over and noticed a guy doing push ups against one of the half walls. We thought this was a little funny, and then looked again and he was doing calf raises. Did the guy not have time to get his workout in earlier, so he figured he might as well get it in while he was waiting? Or does he have a goal to do so many push ups and calf raises by the end of the year? Or did he simply have some major ants in is pants and just couldn't stand sitting (isn't that an oxymoron?) still for that long? We'll never know. I just kept waiting for him to break into a run, cruising up and down all the aisles. If that wasn't enough, he went through the whole thing again during intermission. Needless to say, we got a really good laugh in that night, which I am very grateful to that guy for because I needed some laughing.


We had a great night out with the Jeppesen's, and can't wait until we can do it again!

Go Rockies!

There are many different activities we used to do as a family that we haven't done for a while due to a troublesome little boy, affectionately known by his grandfather as Mr. P. In our house these activities are well known as the "Maybe Next Year" activities. Every now and again we'll try one out, hoping, wishing that all will go well, only to put it back in the "Maybe Next Year" category. Well, we loaded up some backpacks with about a gazillion different snacks and water bottles, made sure we had plenty of adults (eight to be exact), grabbed three older and typically well behaved children, and one wild thing of a two year old (whom we absolutely love and adore) and headed out to a Rockies game. Happily it has been removed from the "MNY" list of things to do. (Although honestly, I have a feeling that things would not have gone nearly so swimmingly if it weren't for the extra 6 adults there, besides Trent and myself. And those backpacks full of snacks.)

Here are all the lovely folks who helped to keep Preston entertained. From left to right, Sherril, Janet, Vivo, Steve, and my personal favorite, Trenteroo.

On the other side we've got Preston, Me, Colson and Trenton.
Colson (who was a little excited about his beef jerky), Trenton, Sean, and Derek.
Roger and Sherril.
And here is Daddy and his little Princess. Talk about a daddy's girl. It wasn't until Vivi was about 3 1/2 that she would finally let me do things for her without yelling, "No! Daddy do it!" I kid you not. She used to wouldn't even let me change her diapers, although I'm not complaining about that one. Trent sure was happy she potty trained early.
And poor grandpa Stock. He had a child on his lap pretty much the entire game. If it wasn't Vivi then it was Preston, and if it wasn't Preston it was Colson, who we lovingly refer to as our "Great Dane that thinks he's a lap dog". Grandpa sure is a good sport.

So do you want to know who won the game? The Rockies!!! Wahoo! They won in the last inning. While Preston did marvelously at the game, I didn't want to have to push his limits by it going into overtime. The real reason we went to the Rockies game though, (not that we aren't loyal or devoted fans) was for the fireworks display after the game. I love fireworks at the Rockies games. They are truly amazing! Here is but a small sampling of the fireworks we saw.
This is the closest I have ever been to these kind of fireworks. They were right above us.
I've never seen Preston sit so still. And not because he was in awe or anything. He actually was a little terrified. He sat on grandpa's lap with a his head buried in grandpa's chest and a blanket covering him. Every now and again you would see his eyes peaking over the edge of the blanket, but not very often. Vivi would only watch them with one eye open. What that did to lessen the effect I have no idea. What ever makes them feel better, right?
These ones are my personal favorite. They seem to have the loudest BOOM and I love how they sparkle. We had so much fun at the Rockies game! We always look forward to any amount of time we get to spend together as a family.

Decisions...

Wow, it's been a while. I usually don't go this long in between posts, but sometimes life just gets in the way.

So I have made a major decision recently. It has taken me a couple of months to finally come to this decision, but I have chosen for the time being to put my little bag business on hold. It was not an easy decision to make, nor was it one that was made lightly, but one that I feel is necessary for right now. It has been a fun almost two years making bags, but there are other more important things vying for my attention.

I had been going back and forth on this decision for quite a while and prayed a lot about what would be the best for my family, but the day I actually decided, I had an overwhelming feeling of relief come over me. That was answer enough for me. While part of me feels like a major quitter, the other part of me is ready to get back to just being able to take care of my family, cleaning my house on a regular basis, doing a better job at my calling, being able to get to the 10+ projects that are lying around in my garage and sewing room half done, being able to have time clipping coupons again, and getting back to actually doing a good job again at managing our finances. My wonderful hubby has been so supportive through the whole bag making business thing, and when I told him I needed to put it on hold for a while, he was nothing other than understanding.

While running a business from home is not in the cards for me right now, I am hoping that maybe when all my kids are in school, I can get it going again. I am just so grateful for wonderful friends who were so supportive through the whole thing, and were always there to bounce ideas off of. This is Lucy Mae Locket, signing off. For the time being at least.

Birthday Girl!

Can I just tell you how much I love this girl? Honestly, in this house full of boys, I don't know what I would do without her. She is such a sweetheart and has brought so much joy into our home.
I am so grateful that Heavenly Father sent her to us.
When she woke up the morning of her birthday, I asked her how it felt to finally be five (she's been wanting to be five for months now), and she said "I'm not 5! I'm only 4!" She honestly didn't believe that she was five yet. She thought I was trying to trick her. Trent and I finally convinced her that, yes, she really was five.
We spent the day in celebration, of course. She got to go to grandma's for a little bit in the morning.
Then we went bike shopping. She picked out the girliest bike there was to be found. Then we went and had lunch at her favorite, Chick-A-Lay, as she calls it. She asks for it almost every day, so I thought it being her birthday and all, it was a good excuse to go. After lunch, she went to school, where her classmates sang her happy birthday at least five times, according to Miss Jen.
And yes, the beloved balloon launch.
Where will these balloons end up, I wonder?
We have been so lucky to have Grandma Great, as my kids call her, here to celebrate all of the birthdays with us.
We love when she comes into town.

We will be continuing the birthday celebrations today by going out to lunch with the grandmas and getting pedicures. It's a running joke with the men in our family that the women like to drag their birthdays out for at least a week. I proudly state that, yes we do, and we are not ashamed of it!

Something to Celebrate

My mom turned 51 this last week, and was very happy about it I might add. My mom is all about embracing age. She loves that with each passing birthday she can say she is another year older.  She is such an amazing and wonderful woman.  I am so grateful for the example my mom has been in my life.  She has so many wonderful talents, and uses them a lot to serve others.  Some things that come immediately to mind when I think of my mom:  *World's greatest grandma... My kids always look so forward to spending time with their grandma.  They love her to pieces.  *She's an amazing cook... Everything she makes comes out just delish.  *She is a pillar of strength... My mom has gone through so much and has had so many trials, but she never lets things get her down.  She always chooses to look on the bright side of life.  *My mom is incredibly independent...  If she has a plumbing problem, or her vacuum is on the fritz, she just goes and fixes it.  Very rarely does she call anyone to get minor things fixed.  *Most of all, she is just a wonderful mother.  I love her so much and am so grateful that she is my mom! 

To celebrate her birthday, she took Vivi out on a date for Viv's birthday, which is the day after my mom's. What a nice grandma. When they got back, we had homemade chicken pot pie for dinner. Yummy.

For dessert, an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen, mom's favorite.
Poor mom, she never gets to blow out her own candles. She's so nice to always let the kids do it.
Don't worry though, she got another wish opportunity when we did the balloon launch.
I've said it before, this is my favorite birthday tradition. We all love watching the balloons fly ever higher into the sky and speculate on where they will eventually land.
After the balloon launch, Mom, Vivi, and Preston had a rousing few games of Ring Around the Rosie.
Ashes, ashes...
They all fall down!
Happy birthday mom! We love you!
Okay, so this has nothing to do with my mom's birthday, other than it was taken on that day, but I have to say, Trenton is such a goofball. It is hard to get a regular picture of him. You know, one where he is just smiling. He is always doing some crazy pose or another. You pull the camera out, and something just comes over him. "Mom, take one of me doing this!" Doing family pictures gets a little interesting. I'm convinced he doesn't know how to just act natural when there is a camera around. I guess maybe that's when his "true" personality comes out.