Laptop Woes

My laptop was lost on it's way to get fixed. Apparently the guy that sent it out, sent it to the wrong place. Here's the part that confuses me... I called the place it was supposed to be at and they said they didn't have it, so I called the place that shipped it (a local Radioshack) and they said they got an email saying that it wasn't under warranty. I called my warranty place and said that it indeed was under warranty, with a year to spare even, so with them on the phone, we conference called the Radioshack and talked to the manager who said she couldn't find it. She was the same person who told me she got the email, so obviosly whoever sent the email has the laptop right?? You'd think.. That was all on Monday. They said they would track it down and give me a call back. I didn't get a call back and I forgot to call until yesterday and they told me "We're still trying to track it down. We'll call you when we do, or you can try calling back in a few days."

Wow, what a vote of confidence! I'm amazed they can't find it, a week after I was supposed to have it back. That Monday I called, I was expecting them to tell me that it was done and was being shipped back to the Radioshack. Not that it was lost en route and that not only is it lost, but it still has to be found and fixed before I can get it back.

I wasn't planning on not having my laptop. I've done a shoot and have another one right before I leave. Those pics are going to have to just in my camera with the others of the boys that I've taken for awhile I guess. It's a good thing Sabe just let me buy another memory card!

I guess the only bad thing in this situation is that it's taking so long to get my lappy back. If they can't find it, they'll have to get me a new one, so it's not like I'll really be losing anything but time. Though time is money, and it's really irritating!

Wow, sorry I just realized my few posts have been complogging posts. I'll cut that out quick ;)

What a Thursday

It's kind of funny to me that I'm writing about how my day is when it's only 10:30 in the morning. Usually I write about the day before, or a day a few days past. That should tell you how my day is going.

If you follow me on facebook, you know I've been posting about a Meltdown Marathon that's been going on in this house. I wonder if Jamesen is finally catching on to the fact that we're moving and it's stressing him out or if maybe he's catching onto MY stress of the fact that I'm still here and not magically where the army will be sending us already.

This meltdown marathon is actually quite comical to me. Really the only way I can get through a day like this is to see the humor in it. I've been trying to look at the situation from Jamesen's point of view when writing the "episodes" that are currently playing. Like "How dare you change my poopy diaper?!", "I was enjoying drawing on the walls with that, thank you very much!" and "I've hidden all my binkies and will now scream until you find one".

Living in Kentucky where it was all me all the time taking care of these kids, I've really learned that the more I stress, the more they act out and freak out. It helps all of us have a better day if I don't stress stuff little stuff. For example... Jamesen and Marcus are coloring and all is quiet for the first time since breakfast. I look over and Jamesen is (yet again) nibbling on a crayon inbetween is wondrous art making. You know what? They're non toxic. Guess he's gonna have some very colorful teeth for the rest of the day since the silence is glorious... and still going since I didn't take the crayons away!

One box, two box, three box, four

As the boxes start piling up, the boys have rediscovered the world... All of the sudden their world is filled with these weird jungle gyms that do nothing but call their names and beg to be scaled. I've had to take careful care to immediately move a box of breakables or fragiles out of the way. It's like having vultures watching me, waiting for their prey. They sit there and watch as I carefully fill the box like I'm playing tetris, frantically try to keep them out of said box while I try to find the tape I had to hide from them two seconds before, tape it up and set it aside. Then begins the free for all game of whoever can get to the top of the box first wins, with pushing and shoving allowed.

Usually it's filled with giggles and wild cackles of laughter as they pull and tug on each other, desperate to get to the top first. We did have a pretty big spill yesterday though. I think Marcus is finding out that while Jamesen is almost 2 years younger, he's almost the same size, and can very much take care of himself. Marcus pushed Jamesen out of the way, so Jamesen retaliated by grabbing the bottom of Marcus' shirt and pulling as hard as he could. He was successful getting Marcus down, though "down" meant on top of himself. It would have been funny had they not cracked heads together. Well, I still laughed... a little.

I'm also amazed at how many crafting supplies I've got. I've got oodles of yarn, all of it going towards projects that have either been long forgotten about, or are partly finished. My mom and I are planning on opening an etsy shop soon and that's what everything is going to. I'm sure we'll be cranking stuff out once I get down there. Hope I can remember what I bought everything for! I've also got some stockings I'm making for Sabe's brother and his wife, headbands to make, parts of tutu dresses, etc. I'll be getting my major craft on down in Vegas for sure!

Another thing we have a ton of? DVD's. We've got 4 big diaper boxes filled with DVDs and another one that's half full, waiting for a few more things before it can be taped shut. Sabe's a movie buying addict. He would buy movies every day if they were $10 or less. Sometimes he DOES do that, and of course they're usually some shoot 'em up movie that has the same story line as the last one. We'll have a complete library of those and military related movies here soon!

Though I have to say, these last few days of being here are dragging, hard core so I'm glad for the packing distraction. I'm so looking forward to warm weather and playing outside for hours at a time rather than just a few minutes. I'm so ready for wiggles to be let out accompanied with giggles rather than screams of sibling rivalry or stuck in the house blues {insert screaming now}. I'm so ready for kids that are so pooped from a hard day of playing that they sleep like angels. Best of all, I'm so ready for two weeks of having daddy off work before he goes. That will make the boys so happy. They're gonna miss daddy so much. I'm sure we'll be having plenty of "Pan-cake? Appuh juice?" as Marcus says when he wants to go to IHOP, seeing as how going out to breakfast is a favorite past time of ours. And last but not least, getting my laptop back and getting back into taking pictures. What a great time we'll have in Vegas!

A Boy and his Galoshes

The title that I really wanted to write was, a boy and his little brother's galoshes envy that sparked such wild and violent sibling rivalry so intense that mom had absolutely no choice but to buy little brother a pair of galoshes as well, taking great care to make sure that they were different in every way possible from big brother's or that would spark more protectiveness from big brother and his possessive tendencies towards his beloved fireman rain boots.


Keep your head up Jamesen, one day Marcus will grow out of his fireman rain boots causing me to buy him a new pair (since they're a hot commodity in our house!) and they will fall to you, since you just happen to grow up in his hand me downs :)

Let the Packing Begin!

I have been living in this basement for far too long. It's really hard to live in someone else's house, always following their rules and doing things their way when you've got a family to look after and all of that. Add that on to the fact that we thought we were going to be gone last August. It's now February, and we won't be moving for the army for another few months yet. But Sabe's going to training and I'm done living in this basement, so I'm moving in with my parents for a few months until we really move.

I can't even tell you how I wish I could blink and have it be time to move into our own house. That will be a wonderful day. I love my parents and can't wait to spend time with them, but living with parents or inlaws just isn't the same as living on your own, especially when you've got kids. It puts on so much more stress with every kid you have.

While I'll miss my couple of mommy friends here, I'm so ready to leave. I'm so ready to start a new chapter and spend time with MY family. I've got a niece down in Vegas that I've not even met yet so I can't wait for that either.

The good thing about moving when you've been living in a basement though, is that you can't bring all your stuff into the basement, so most of our stuff is already packed and in the storage unit we'll be keeping for a bit. We just need to figure out what stuff we'll be taking down to Vegas (which won't be much because we'll be in a smaller space) and then put everything else into the storage unit as well. Packing is easy when you've been living off of barely any of your stuff, lol!

Anyways, sorry for my rambling, I'm just very excited that the packing stage has even started. I'm so ready to leave!

And if you didn't see it in my last post, I stole an idea from a friend of mine who has a private blog. Here's an update blog for you to stick in your blog list that will link you directly to my new posts found HERE

Photoshop Withdrawals

I'm going through withdrawals!! I need to get my lappy back soon. I took a bunch of pics of the boys with my mom and I really wish I could post them. Sadly, they're stuck in a format that I can't post until I get to them with photoshop...

I'd love to scrapbook too. Missing that quite a bit lately too. It's amazing to me how something so simple as scrapbooking can be so therapeutic for me. I could be a huge ball of stress, but the second I pull my scrapping out, it's like a breath of fresh air to me and my stress goes away. And now that my laptop will be fixed, that feeling will be even better! The screen has been coming off the hinges and pulling apart for a bit now. Apparently it's a defect in the model. This has happened twice now. I tried to be really careful while it was breaking to keep it from breaking further, but every time the boys would even move on the bed, it would wobble and wiggle. Now that it will be fixed, the boys can jump on the bed all they want and I'll whip out my camera instead of going, "Careful boys! Don't move! don't even BREATHE". I was never that dramatic, but you get the point.

My mom was here for a few days and it was so nice to see her. The boys and I went to pick her up from the airport and Marcus went running for her when he saw her, it was so cute. I'm glad he remembers her enough to be excited, because he hasn't seen her much in his short little life. Every time she was in a different room than me, he would say "Yeah Dah-bye? Ok, go!" meaning he wanted to be with grandma and was trying to get me to give him permission to go. Cute kid. He was giving her hugs and kisses all afternoon before she had to leave yesterday and kept wanting her to hold him. It's a good thing he doesn't weigh much!

We'll be going to Vegas for about 9 weeks starting early March and I'm hoping that 9 weeks with grandma will warm Jamesen up to her. He's a huge momma's boy and doesn't go to people easily. He went to her for a little bit because we were playing a game of passing him between us. I would pass him to her and snap a pic and then take him back. He thought it was great and I got some non screaming pics of him with my mom, so it was win-win for us!

Not gonna lie, I bawled like a baby when I took her back to the airport, even though I'm going to see her in 2 weeks. I have to laugh a bit at myself because of it. I'll be seeing her again in 2 weeks, so it's not like I've got no idea when I'll be seeing her again. I tried to hurry and leave after she started going towards security because I knew I was going to cry, but I didn't make it very far before I turned around and watched her until she had gone through the metal detectors and I couldn't see her anymore. I then called Sabe and bawled, lol! Such a baby.

I really hope that my kids love me as much I love my mom. My life will be well worth it if that's the case.

By the way, if you're the type to put blogs in a blog roll to follow, I've stolen an idea from a friend of mine and created one that I update and the post the link of this blog into so you can follow it just as easy. I'm sure you can click the follow button on that one as well!

Click Here!

Going Private

Please give me your email address if you'd like to continue following my blog. Then, please go down the right side of list and "follow" my blog by clicking the follow button so you get an email when I post a blog.

We have words!

I've been a tad bit worried about Jamesen's speech since he's a bit behind. He's never passed Marcus in how behind he is though, so I've not been worrying too much. Lately though, I've got no need to worry, he's saying new words everyday!

Yesterday we were in a store at the mall. I was holding Jamesen while Sabe followed Marcus around. Sabe went past us and Jamesen clear as day said "Daddy" for the first time. It was so cute!! He said yummy today to the french toast and eggs I made him (another awwww!). He's been saying "done" regularly when he's finished with his food and wants out of his high chair and has also started saying "down". All these new words are on top of the ones he's already got, hi, bye, mommy, doggy, kitty, etc. I know it's not a ton, but it makes me heart sing to know he's talking. He's talking way more than Marcus at this age at least!

Speaking of Marcus, he's amazing me too. He's saying new phrases daily as well and is catching up quickly. He says bye bye to everything now days "Bye-bye daddy" when he leaves, "Bye-bye Ponyo" when the movie stopped, "Bye-bye poopy". We giggle about that one because usually it's followed with a "See yah!" I hope not son. I really hope not.

It's so funny how something can make you so happy when to others it seems so mundane. I've had a lot of people tell me that Marcus will soon explode with talking and I'll wish he would shut up. Honestly, with how long it's taken him to even get to these few word phrases, I can never see that happening. This boy will have his momma hang on his every word for the rest of life I'm afraid! Whether that's a good or bad thing is to be announced...

Jamesen is still just as clingy to me as ever. He gets really jealous when I pay attention to anybody else. He could be completely distracted by something, but the minute Sabe comes over for a peck or a quick squeeze, oh man! Jamesen comes running over and wants to be in the middle! Heaven forbid I pay attention to Marcus either. We were dancing around the living room yesterday and Marcus went behind the couch. He came out crying and holding his eye. He's got a slight black eye from whatever happened. Anyways, I was comforting Marcus and Jamesen was pretending to hurt himself to get attention too. It got to the point where he climbed up on the rest of my lap and whacked Marcus in the head with his own head, just to get attention from me. Well, not sure if he really meant to do it, but I laughed anyways. Poor Marcus. I couldn't help but giggle at them while they were both wailing away on my lap.

I think that's it for now. My laptop broke so there won't be any new pictures as they're all stuck on my camera for the time being. Should get it back from being fixed in a week or two. Until then! :)

It Feels so Good...

to feel good! We were pretty sick for a bit there and spent like 3 days like this:



I learned all the words to Atlantis by heart and had I not already known Lion King by heart, I would have learned them too. Poor dudes were so lethargic and fussy :(

Now days, though, we're back to our crazy selves again and we've been re enjoying our favorite activites... such as : chasing each other around the coffee table with matchbox cars



Shaving with daddy







Writing our letters (or scribbling in J's case)



Tackling each other with loves (not one of J's faves if you can't tell)


and playing in the "shwow". Marcus and I built his first snowman today. We have tried a few other times but Jamesen likes to stomp on the first ball before I can get the second one finished. Jamesen was in with dad, so Marcus and I made a quick little snowman. He kept saying "Hug shwow?" and I'd say "You wanna hug the snow?" "OK!" and then he'd hug it and giggle when it made his ear cold. Silly kid.




Then Jamesen made it out with us. I couldn't believe how happy and smiley the boys were today. It feels like it's been so long since I've seen those huge smiles from them. I'm so glad they're feeling better.





Looking at these pics makes me think Marcus finally had his growth spurt. That first one of them together makes Marcus look a lot bigger than Jamesen. Just a few weeks ago, Jamesen was getting really close to his height and we would get people asking if they were twins all the time. Now that I think of it, those comments have slowed down a lot... I better measure him!

And I have to say, as much as we love the snow, we can't wait to go to "Dah-bye" and "Dah-Pop"'s house and play in the warm weather along with all the cool things they've got in there. Only a few more weeks! Not that I'm counting or anything...

Marcus is so awesome

He's obsessed with writing his alphabet lately and writes it any chance he gets. He was writing it all through Sacrament Meeting at church today on his little doodle pad and then when we picked him up from class, his page he was supposed to be coloring had the alphabet on it instead. He's written his name quite a few times and gets so proud of himself!

He's started writing the numbers out but always skips 15. I've been trying really hard to correct him but nothing I do will add 15 in there. I might have found a solution though. I usually have the boys watch a movie when they wake up because they get up WAY too early for me. It's usually a Disney movie, but I've started changing that to Leap Frog movies. Jamesen has been trying to say his letters now too. Little smarty pants!

Well, there's really nothing else to day. We've all been sick and other than leaps and bounds in my digital scrapbooking, the kids haven't done anything exciting! Not other than the letters anyways :)

What a Difference

It amazes me the difference in my friendships here compared to everywhere else. Since I left Shauna back in Vegas, I've had a single friend that put as much into our friendship as I did. Most of the time they were only my friend because I'm too nice, too trusting, to friendly...

The difference this time, is that I've met these people through church rather than meeting them because they're my neighbor, or work with Sabe. I can't even tell you what a difference that makes.

Marcus has been really sick the last few days with a high fever. Since we don't have insurance for another month, I didn't want to rush to take him to the Dr but it wasn't getting better. It was getting steadily worse and his fever was extremely persistent. After 3 days, I called one of my friends up to see if her husband would give Marcus a blessing. He came right over. Within an hour of the blessing, Marcus' temp went lower than it had been in days and he was acting like himself. I text her to thank her and do you what she said?

"I'm so glad I was able to help. Let me know if I can do anything else. In fact, can I bring dinner over for you guys tomorrow?" I was shocked. Most of the "friends" I've had in my 6ish years since I've graduated high school have never offered to help me like that. She had already helped me by being available and now she wants to make my family dinner too!

I honestly had a hard time accepting it. After a couple more texts between each other I sent her "thanks for being sweet" and she sent back "That's what friends are for."

That's what friends are for. It seems like I'm always on the giving side of that phrase, not on the receiving. Not to sound selfish or anything, but it feels really good to be on the receiving end for once.

So thank you, friend of mine, for taking time out in your day to make a woman who's been through more than you know feel loved and welcomed. It means more than realize.