Tuesday Rain

Well, today it rained and rained with thunder and lightning. It was really fun. Things were pretty normal today. I hit the gym early this morning, then picked some things up at walmart that we needed. I was going to get paint at home depot, but it was raining so hard we opted not.

I am pretty tired though. I need to stir up some energy to do some more productive things with the kids. We got our computer fixed over the weekend and they have been overly enjoying their computer games again. :) :) Any good ideas of summer fun to stay busy and productive?

too tired to eat!

L hasn't been sleeping very well at night because he is getting his 2 year molars. ALSO, we have stopped naps with him. . . so apparently he was REALLY tired today! :)

Summer is official!

Well, summer is here. It was a beautiful day today. For FHE, we all ran through the spinklers. Soon, all the neighbors had joined us for the fun. J and L had a blast. I think the sprinklers will be a staple this summer. We would go to the pool, but it's harder with a newborn. :)


Anywho, summer FUN!!!

marble funny

Funny story:

This morning J and L got a marble taken away for fighting. Later, J told me she was able to earn back the marble. I praised her. L came up to me and asked if he could earn back his marble. I asked him if he had done anything kind. He came up to me and kissed me on my arm, looked up at me and said, "Now I can get a marmol???" I laughed soooo hard and said, "YES!!"

funny boy!

posative reinforcement and marbles

I havenoticed lately that J and L were fighting more and more. Not only were they not happy, but it made the day as a mom really hard as well. WELL, I tried the time out approach and it didn't quite sink in that they need to do nice things.. . not just stop fighting. SOOO we bought some marbles and have been putting them in a jar for the "kind" things they do. If they fight, I have to take one away. After they both get the jars filled up, we are going to go to chuck E Cheese as a family. (the kids and I have never been). They are super excited.

WELL, I've discovered that not only has the fighting been MASSIVELY decreased, but I am noticing and recognizing ALOT more of the good things they do. I think anyone acts better when they are praised for the good they do. So, the marbles have helped me be a better mom as well. :) yippe for marble jars. :) :)

L needs a bit of help knowing when he can put a marble in (although he is getting better at letting us know when HE knows he did something kind). But we are having J decide on her own when she does something nice. We are trying to help her think and make decisons for herself. She is a lot like me and needs the approval from athority if it's o.k. to do--or if it's a good decision. I had to learn how to think for myself and learn to listen to the spirit and make decisions and then be o.k. with the decision "I" made. We want to help her understand that while the decisions are still small. She is such a sweetheart.


J is super excited that it is June--her b-day month. L is getting molars and not so happy at night. Hopefully they will come in soon. Z has slept 8 hours at night 2 out of the last 3 nights. :) D is hoping his home sells soon. He has had lots of inquiries, but mostly wanting to do lease options. And I am excited to start some projects at home--painting, planting, etc. :)

HAPPY JUNE!

Spitting is SOOO hard when you are numb

Sooo, I finally went to the dentist today to get my teeth fixed. I hadn't been to a dentist in 4 years. I had part of a tooth gone and 3 cavities. YUCK. I guess that's what I get. So, there is a GREAT lady in our ward that is a dentist and I went to her. She was great. She is fast and efficient. :) So refreshing to go to a dentist that I like. :)

Well, she told me to take Motrin and rinse with warm salt water. . . . I would like to remind everyone that spitting with a numb mouth is nearly impossable. I got the giggles just trying. :) I think I'll wait to gargle again once my mouth is back to normal. It's nice to have my teeth fixed. . . .

One of the cavities was sooo deep it was borderline root canal. If it starts hurting, I will probably have to have a root canal, but we tried the filling first. I REALLY hope I don't have to have a root canal. YUCK.

Well, here is a picture of the kids and I. L's face tells his personality to a T.. . . full of mischief! :)

pictures, pictures, pictures!!!!!!

Well, here is the post on Memorial day weekend. We had a lot of fun driving, wedding crashing, and camping with the Palmers. :)

We started out driving to Lexington for a family get together at a park. We had a little picnic and play. Afterwards we stayed at D and S's house--always fun!!! The next day, we woke up early and headed to the Louisville temple. I was able to go through a session before D's dad's wedding. There were lots of people from Ashland (D's hometown) in the session. It was fun to see everyone. :) After the session, D's Dad was married to Sue! She is a great lady and D's Dad seems very happy.

After a quick pizza party with the siblings, we headed to flatwoods for the reception. It's interesting trying to keep kids still at a table when they've been in a car for 3 hours. We finally opened the nursery at the church and got all the toys out for them. They had a lot more fun. :)

We stayed the night at the hurts home. D's second family in flatwoods. For breakfast she made us bisquits and gravy. . D's favorite. :) They were GREAT!!! After sacrament meeting, we headed back to lexington and off to d's brother's property to camp. It was super fun to watch all the kids enjoy each other. Hopefully they will have good memories when they get older. :) Well, here are some of the pictures from the weekend. :)

Palmer fam with D's dad and sue!

Cousins playing on a hay bail! :) So much to explore.

good friends!

D giving nephew, R, a ride through the woods

S and A. chillin'

One shot of all the cousins except A who was already in the car to go home.

J was sooooo proud of herself for putting up her's and L's tent almost all by herself. :)

Diaper changing race at the reception.

Even clean up was fun!!! Especially getting the balloons out of the hoop!

Me and my sweetie!!! (oops, I need to fix the red eye!)

Palmer siblings with their Dad and Sue!

Aunt J took such good care of Z when we needed help. Sooo fun to see her. She lives in the West, so we don't get to see her too often. We love you, J.

Single Palmers with their Dad and Sue.

cutting the cake.

Grandpa and J at the temple.

The hurts. She makes the BEST bisquits and gravy EVER!!!!

Some of the group at the temple.

D's Dad and Sue at the Louisville Temple.

One of the best highlights for J and L was the 4 wheeler ride they took with Uncle D. :)

Well, that was our memorial day weekend in a nutshell. We stopped by D's mom's grave and remembered some of the great things we love about her. The kids said hello Grandma Palmer and goodbye Grandma Palmer! We love her sooo much and hopefully we can teach our kids all the great things about her as they grow up. She loved to travel and learn about all sorts of interesing things. She truely was a woman of God and great to be around. I'm grateful for the lessons she taught D growing up and helped mold him into who he is. :) We love you Grandma Palmer!!!

ode to my babies

Well, since D took the camera, I'll wait on the weekend pictures, but I thought I'd post this picture I put together today. I'm going to frame it and put it on my mantle. :)

I love my little ones. Sure, there are days that I wonder what I'm doing and why this is soooo hard, but overall, I love being a mom and am amazed at my children. I love pictures because they capture life and bring back sooo many memories. I'm getting better at taking pictures. I'm afraid our youngest child will have more pictures than our oldest (normally, I think that is opposite). Oh well. :)

I'm sooo lucky to have such an amazing husband that supports and loves me. I've never felt belittled, or less of a person from being around him. . . He truely lifts me and encourages me to be who I am. He is a great daddy and I love that he is here for the kids. They love him and jump on him the second he enters the door. I love that I can even communicate about the hard things in life and be understood. :)

Anyway, Here is a little tribute to my precious babies and my husband that supports us all. :)

memorial day weekend

We had a great weekend filled with family. I have lots to write and TONS of pictures. . . but D took the camera with him to NJ. I'll post LOTS on Thursday or Friday!! :) Until then.. . . . I love you all!

J and Z

Many people have said that Z looks like J. What do you think?

funny fun!

Funny pictures and stories:

A radio station in the area is having shoesday-tuesday where they give shoes away on Tuesdays. J heard this on the radio and said, "I think shoesday is the day we wear our shoes ALL day long." It's amazing how much little kids hear and absorb when you don't think they are listening. :)


D borrows our neighbors lawn mower each week and mows both ours and our neighbors lawn since the husband is away at war. I don't think D minds mowing the lawn anymore. :) He really likes this lawn mower. :) I think he looks kinda funny.. . . but fun!!!






Z is smiling all the time now. He is such a good baby. We just switched formula because he was a bit fussy with the other kind. He has done SOOO much better since we switched. He makes us happy! He will be 7 weeks old tomorrow! :) WOW!!!!


L helped me do laundry yesterday. When I went down the hall once, I saw him. . . . HERE!!! in the Dryer. I took a picture, THEN taught him it wasn't the best idea to be in the dryer. :) Kind funny.

spontanious painting

I'm still trying to paint our house. I've tried about 3 different colors on random walls trying to find the right color. Well, we got a little crazy one morning with the colors and made our family wall! I like it so much I'm going to leave it up for a while. I'll probably paint over it eventually because it's not really "decorating," but it's my house and it makes me smile. . . does that count?

Anyway, here's a picture of our creation. :)

I don't know a title for this blog.

Well, it's been a while since I updated, soooo. .. . .


Everyone is finally all well. I can't believe it. It seems like it's been a long time. J is over her strep and pink eye and glad to be back at preschool. :) She's going to be sad that she has to wait a WHOLE summer before going to kindergarten. D bought some "educational" placemats the other day. One was of times tables. We thought we'd work on add and subtract and just change the sign, but after D explained what times was to J, she could do them all. CRAZY!!! She is such a driven little girl. She sits until she figures it out. :)

L is busy busy busy. He makes us laugh all the time. Last night he saw an airplane in the sky and asked us where it was going. D told him it was going to Grandma's house. He laughed and said, "That's silly. It won't fit in Grandma's house." He is finally getting his 2 year old molars. I think it's making him a bit grumpy at times, but he's o.k.

Z is a sweetheart. He is sleeping about 6 hours at night and 7 on a good night. Hopefully he will continue to progress. It's starting to catch up with us. D and I always feel tired, but oh well. Z's worth it. He is smiling all the time now and trying to talk to us. I had to buy size 3 diapers today. He is getting really big. :) He is pretty content during the day, but has his "fussy" time in the evenings. He isn't all that bad, but likes to be held in the evenings. :) That's o.k. though. :)

D has finally finished working on his "investment house" and is ready to sell it. Some investers are coming to look at it this week and then we will put it up on the market. :) wahoo. :)

I'm really enjoying going to the gym. I wasn't able to go today because I had my 6 week post pardum dr. appt. All is well. :) :) I'm hoping to be back to pre-preg. weight in 2 weeks. Then I have about another 20lbs to go before I'm at my pre-kentucky weight. :) It's slow going, but I'll make it. :) it's fun. D made me a graph I've been keeping track of eating and weight, etc. I'm ALL over the place with my weight, but with a slow downward trend. . . . so that is good.


L and Z in matching (kindof) shirts. :) They are good buds!!














Brothers. :0)




















On Sunday, L and J made a big pillow pile in the living room and jumped in them. After they were done, I told L to put the pillows back on the couch. Well, by this point, D had layed down for a rest . . . Sooo, L just piled them on top of D. If you look closely, you can see D buried in the pillows. :)

GYM TIME

Well, nothing really exciting is happening, but Z is officially 6 weeks old so we went back to the gym today. :) I did "assisted" pull ups, dips and ran 2.5 miles. phew. It felt good. D's side of the family is having a biggest loser contest. So that helps me be motivated. :) :) Sadly, I have about 30 lbs. to lose. It's going to take me a while, but hopefully It will come off with time. :0)

Well, I'm going to go paint the rest of the bathroom!!! :) :)

L is a proud big brother

L LOVES to hold baby Z. I think he likes knowing that there is someone smaller and younger than himself also. He get this proud big brother look on his face when he gets to interact with Z. He always says, "ahhhh." very quietly and gives pats or hugs. :) Here's a pic. L's face is soooo him.. . . full of something all the time.

smiley days

Z has been smiling for the past couple of days, but today I was able to get him to smile lots. He even attempted cooing at me as he tried to talk and use his voice. It made me smile! I can't believe he is going to be 6 weeks old this thurs. Time has certainly flown by since having him. Why is it that time passes soooo slowly those last 6 weeks of pregnancy and it FLIES by afterward?

J hasn't felt well yesterday or today. I brought her home from school sick with a fever. She complains of a tummy ache. She was relatively lathargic today if she didn't have tylonal or motrin in her. Poor girl.

L is a funny man!!! He definitely thinks for himself. That tends to be a bit dangerous at times!!!! But super funny.

D is well. He's glad it's the weekend. He had the kids laughing sooo hard tonight as they wrestled and played. He is such a good daddy.

I am sooo excited that all my bushes, trees, and flowers are thriving thus far. Hopefully they will continue. It's fun to watch them grow. :D

Painting GREEN!!!

Sooo, I decided to start painting my house today. I started with the kids bathroom. I'm sad to say, I don't like the paint I picked out. I'm so bad at paint!!!! HOWEVER, I really like the shower curtain and the wall hangings that I made!!! The shower curtain has lobsters, fish, octopus, etc. on it. :) Lots of blues, greens, with splashes of orange and purple. WELL, I made the following for wall hangings above the toilet. I picked a green color for the walls which is tooo green. hmmmmm. I'll leave it for a few days on one wall and decide what to do later. . . :) i bought a power paint sprayer with is AWESOME, except not really great for small areas like a bathroom. I covered EVERYTHING in green and ended up wiping down everything. I think these will look pretty cute after framing. :) I had fun creating them in photoshop today. :)

Well, my mom and dad went home yesterday. SAD! We had so much fun while they were here. They are awesome people!! It was fun to just have someone to talk to during the day. It made the days go by faster. We enjoyed getting together with my sister's family so often while they were here also. :) We went on drives to show them how GREEN the area is. J and L keep asking when grandma and papa are coming back or when we can go see them. Z misses grandma's snuggles, I'm sure!!! :)



Thank goodness I still have my sweetie and kiddo's! :) Aren't they great?!!!

family, friends, and fun

Here are pictures from Z's blessing day! :)