Serenity Now

Not another pee drinking incident...

2011-11-14T17:20:00.000-04:00

Ok.

We have serious issues.

Today Toby got it.

"It" was Ben's pee in a costco coke cup.

From Saturday.

Maybe we should throw our cups away when we get out of the car.

Sorry Toby.

Also, are we the only family that has this much trouble with drinking pee?

Silly Vain Mommy

2011-10-07T20:37:00.000-04:00

So I'm going to Hawaii tomorrow...

so naturally I go get a spray tan and I can't shower for 12 hours...

and then a little while later my 5 month old cutie needs to nurse...

and then again...

and again...

so this is what she now looks like...

Sorry Ryan! Momma's gotta look GOOD!

Ryan is 5 months

2011-10-06T01:45:00.001-04:00

Just waking up...I love how happy she is in the morning

How is she 5 months old already?

How did this happen?

And most importantly, how do I stop her from getting any older?

I want to freeze her at this age and take care of my sweet baby for the rest of my life. She is just the best thing ever and in some ways is a lifesaver for me. Her smile is infectious and I just can't help having smiling wars with her any chance I get--but she always wins cause her smile is the best. I hope she stays this happy girl she is. We need more smiley happy people in this world.

She is rolling over these days-not a ton but a little. She's in no hurry to take on anything too extreme yet. There are babies that are in a hurry to get their crawl on, but not this one. She's just a social little thing, content to catch your eye while laying on her back and get you to smile and talk to her. She's lucky to have so much action going on around her, and by that I mean Toby, Ben, and Chase.

I often wonder what she thinks of us.

I'm sure she thinks I'm bi-polar or schizophrenic because one second I'm yelling something at the boys and then the next I'm all smiles and high pitched baby talk with her.

Surely, it's confusing for her.

It's confusing to me too, really.

Oh how I love this little Ryan of mine.

She was worth the wait, that's for sure.

And dare I say worth this baby fat of mine that seems to be hanging on to dear life not wanting to let go of me.

Todd says it's like a science experiment...that I have to stop eating as much or something like that...whatever Todd.

I don't believe in calories.

Mammoth

2011-09-28T00:26:00.000-04:00

We made a spontaneous weekend trip up to Mammoth the week before school began.

Todd was given a Friday off unexpectedly, so the next morning we packed up the van and headed to the mountains to enjoy some outdoor fun for the weekend.

But not without our skateboards!

Volcom has a sweet skate park there if you ever find

yourself in Mammoth you should check it out.

Even with his messed up face from a scooter accident he's still pretty adorable.

We rented some poles and went fishing one day.

The boys caught a few fish and a whole lot of trees above us.

This day also reaffirmed that I am married to the MOST PATIENT MAN ON EARTH.

He spent the day tying, and baiting, and fixing all the things that the boys messed up.

Beaches Bonfires and Baby

2011-09-27T20:11:00.000-04:00

I LOVE this picture of Ryan (3.5 months old) smiling at my Dad.

She has a smile that just lights you up.

Speaking of lit up...

We love ourselves a good bonfire!

One word: cheeks.

Skater Bros

2011-09-27T19:43:00.000-04:00

The San Clemente skate park was one of our regular activities this summer.

It was easier for me to take the boys there this year now that Chase has pretty much mastered every ramp on his razor so I didn't need to help as much anymore.

Toby ditched his scooter this summer, for the most part, and got pretty good on his skateboard, which was a relief to his Dad.

(Mammoth)

Ben, too, is doing good on the ramps on his board.

My 3 year old thinks he's as capable as any 9 year old, and in some cases he is.

Chase scares everyone there when they see him for the first time going down really steep ramps. Especially, when he eats it and there's blood everywhere...people don't like that much.

Ryan and I sit on the sidelines and tell older boys to "watch their mouths!"

Bunch a hoodlums I tell ya!

Yes, I am that Mom.

Orange County Fair

2011-09-26T15:13:00.001-04:00

Megan and I took our 6 boys to the O.C. Fair in August.

I was kind of dreading it.

There's always such weird people at fairs and I always leave wanting a shower.

Well, this year was not much different, except that the boys LOVED it.

Next year we won't wear sandals.

My Funny Chase

2011-09-25T19:54:00.000-04:00

I wish everyone knew Chase like I do. He has always been an interestingly funny kid; in the things he says, the way he dances, and sometimes just the way that he walks. I would freeze him right now at this age (minus some tantrums) cause he just cracks us.

(24 hour mohawk was all I could stand)

3 months old

2011-09-25T19:37:00.000-04:00

Here is my GIRL at 3 months old.

Have I mentioned how much fun having a GIRL is?!

Freckles

2011-09-25T18:07:00.000-04:00

Toby took this picture of himself at some point in the summer. There was something about it that I liked. Maybe its how his freckles stand out or his blonde eyelashes or maybe it's because he's looking so grown up these days, I don't know...just liked it.

Mustaches

2011-09-23T20:18:00.000-04:00

Max's Beach Day

2011-09-23T19:51:00.000-04:00

It's hard to believe that we have gone a year without our nephew and cousin Max. We felt a huge hole in our family whenever we were together over the past year. We decided last year that we wanted to celebrate Max's life and legacy each year around the time of his birthday with "Max's Beach Day," doing the things that Max loved to do. This year the kids wrote notes to Max and tied them to balloons and sent them up to Heaven for Max. But Max would have loved the lego building contest (where everyone was a winner of course!) and the "minute to win it" games. We miss him dearly.

4th of July

2011-09-23T19:25:00.000-04:00

We headed north to San Luis Obispo for the 4th of July. Ryan and Leanne hosted it in the barn on their property and treated us to delicious food, 4-wheeling, water balloon fights, paintball wars and some blood sucking ticks. The kids were filthy, which means a successful 4th of July.

Ryan's Blessing

2011-09-23T19:07:00.001-04:00

Ryan was given a beautiful blessing on July 3rd by Todd and her two Grandfathers and a large sampling of her extremely good looking Uncles- not a bad way to start off your life. She was surrounded by most of our family and despite her faces in these pictures I think she knew she was very loved that day.

Summer Begins

2011-09-23T18:44:00.000-04:00

We made good use of our neighborhood pool this Summer. Toby's hair was a nice shade of green for most of the summer.

Lindsey and her kids came in the beginning for 2 weeks and it was just non-stop fun. My kids got spoiled with something fun every day which was probably not a good idea because they expected that for the rest of the summer. There were few days that weren't. Even an infant didn't slow us down much.

Father's Day

2011-09-23T13:50:00.001-04:00

Kauai Getaway

2011-09-23T13:25:00.000-04:00

Ryan and I went with Todd and his company to Kauai in June for a long weekend. After a rocky start (we missed our flight and Todd's surfboard didn't make it) we had a much needed relaxing weekend. We mostly stayed close to our beautiful resort and Todd of course surfed when we weren't eating. We were grateful for the short getaway. (And even more grateful for Jen, Meg & Nate who agreed to watch our boys while we were gone.)

Award Winning Children

2011-09-23T13:16:00.001-04:00

Toby won an outstanding award at the end of his 1st grade year. Each teacher chose 1 boy and 1 girl from the class to receive a "Character Counts" award based on Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring and Citizenship. We were very proud of Toby for his year in 1st grade. Now if only he was like that at home.

Ben also was recognized for the "Leadership" award in his preschool class and we were very proud of him. It's hard to be a good leader at such a young age so we were happy to see that he was recognized for that. He loved going to Miss Diane's this year.

Daddy's Girl

2011-07-22T10:05:00.000-04:00

We are all a little smitten around here.

Ryan's first days home

2011-07-22T02:05:00.000-04:00

We brought Ryan home and the boys were eager to introduce her to our home...especially the one on the right. We were only home for an hour or so before Todd packed up the boys and took them on a Fathers and Sons campout with our church and left me sobbing with my new baby (not because I was sad, just because I'm a hormonal mess after having a baby, especially the first couple days after I get home from the hospital).

The first Sunday home was Mother's Day and I must say it was my favorite Mother's day to date. A new baby in my arms and the rest of them making sure I was comfortable and happy all day was all I needed.

Her first bath

Ryan was 5 days old when we took her to the beach to watch her older brothers surf...the first of only a million more times. Sorry sweetie...this will be your life so you might as well join in the fun in a year or two.

Introducing Ryan Ashley Harris 5-5-11

2011-05-19T03:02:00.002-04:00

After a lot of this... (actually a reenactment)

at 2:54 am on May 5th, out came our long anticipated baby girl,

RYAN ASHLEY HARRIS

7lbs. 8 oz, 19 inches long

Todd had terrible allergies that day and the previous week and he was so tired that I had to clarify to the nurses that he indeed was not stoned, because to everyone that saw him he definitely appeared that way. Everyone was more concerned for Todd's health than mine afterwards.

He always has to be the center of attention.

She met all her brothers the next afternoon-one of the best moments of my life. They were so gentle and sweet with her and fought over who got to hold her first, and the longest, and who was the best at holding her. Always a competition.

Kisses from Chase

The inspection

Lots of visitors

My sweet little Ryan, you are adored.

Happy Birthday Todd!

2011-04-20T11:31:00.000-04:00

Was it a year ago? Or maybe 2 that Todd hijacked my blog and wrote the sweetest little post about me on my birthday? I'll have to go check.

(this past weekend he ran 25 miles in the SoCal Ragnar)

Since he doesn't have a blog I get to write a little something about him on mine for his birthday which was yesterday. (Don't worry, you can still call him if you forgot...you're so rude/unthoughful!)

For those who know Todd, you know he's a pretty modest guy when it comes to, well, most everything. He comes across as the quintessential surfer...layed back, go with the flow, no malice kind of guy. And really, he is. This is sometimes confusing to people when they learn that he is actually a pretty smart guy with loads of ambition.

I fell in love with Todd when I was technically a teenager still, with priorities that a teenager might have; for the most part naive to the things that should concern me most:

Is he cute? Yes.
Does he surf (and not just says he surfs like most boys from California at BYU)? Yes
Do I get butterflies every time I'm with him? Yes.
Do I think about him all day long and possibly stalk him on campus? Yes
Would we make cute babies together? Yes

Lucky for me, my 19 year old brain also saw more to Todd than all that when we first met. One of the things that drew me to him the most was seeing the genuine love he could have for people that others could not. He was a real friend to people who had no one else, even when it wasn't convenient or cool to do as a young man in college and from what I learned later high school as well. I knew that I wanted to be with someone like that-with so much character and integrity and patience for others' shortcomings. (Maybe because I knew that I needed someone who could be patient and forgiving of all mine)

Somehow I convinced him that he wanted to marry me and we did.

You know how life gets really "real" after you get married? You let yourself be yourself more and more and your new spouse slowly unwraps the real you? Well in a lot of cases it seems to show the not so wonderful things about you (i.e. tantrums in my closet about having "NOTHING TO WEAR!" or crying about how fat I was whenever I got in a bathing suit, while Todd just stares at me confused as a 2 year old). On the other hand, as I got to know the "real" Todd, each layer that was revealed was only better and better. What you see is what you get with him and he really was as wonderful and as genuine as the boy I thought I was marrying. I know I hit the jackpot with him- cause let's face it, when you're choosing a spouse at the age of 20/22 it really is a gamble. That same love he had for friends as a youth translated into the most loving and patient Husband to me and Father to our children. And probably a pretty nice guy to work with at work from what I hear. He gives 100% of himself in everything he does and I'm really thankful to get to be paired up with someone like him.

He turned 32 yesterday. We joked all day about how this is supposed to be his "Prime," as he sniffled and coughed from a cold, and groaned from his sore muscles from running the Ragnar and then he had to look up to see his wife waddling around and groaning of her own aches and pains. We felt like an 80 year old couple yesterday!

Today is better for him- He's surfing Blacks right now and it's going off! So he's a happy man! I'm looking forward to many more birthdays with Todd.

You're So Skinny!

2011-04-14T03:02:00.000-04:00

I find myself telling a lot of women how skinny they look lately...is it a new diet I'm not keyed in to? Is it the fact that Summer is coming in a few months and they're all shedding a few pounds? Is that new class at the gym really making these women who used to be bigger than me shrink each week that I see them?

Oh wait, it's just that I'm getting bigger and bigger and everyone else looks ity-bity compared to my cankle-legged, sausage fingered, oompa loompa'd self. Oh, the end is near...I'm almost to my delivery weight...which has been the exact number (highly confidential) for all my children. So let's not try and break any records with this one, eh?

Sometimes I can feel my thighs touching as I walk. It's not a good feeling for me. It reminds me of a time in college when I was reaching my highest weight (not my loveliest time of life) and I was walking to campus and felt this awful feeling of my thighs rubbing together so much that I almost cried the whole way to class. Luckily, I was relieved to realize that my extra long scarf I was wearing had got caught in between my legs and was causing that extra stuffiness down there...kind of weird that I couldn't tell I had a scarf between my legs, but hey, it was really cold and I was wearing a coat that covered it. My walk home had a lot less friction. I have not been wearing scarfs lately so I know what's causing the friction this time...oh she better be a big eater cause Momma's gonna have a lot to take off.

Wow. Is this really what I'm blogging about? I get a little obsessed about weight. 10 years ago I was one of those really annoying girls who complained about how "fat" I was all the time and I know I become that same girl while I'm pregnant. I'm not proud of it and wish that I was less of a complainer...but I'm not. So this is what I write about at 11:30 at night.

What I should be saying is how excited I am to be having a baby in a few weeks. How I love sitting down when the boys go to sleep and it's just me and my baby inside me and I stare down at my stomach in amazement as it takes on wild shapes as she moves around for me. It's like she knows she has my full attention and she's ready to perform. The feeling of having another life inside of you is the coolest thing ever and something I will miss when she's not there anymore. It's very likely she is my last and the thought that these last weeks will be the last time I'll know this feeling is almost a mournful thing for me. As much as I dislike a lot of the changes in my body while being pregnant, it is all worth it to feel the kicks of a child you know nothing about yet and the mystery of who they will be and begin this connection with them.

I really can't wait to meet this little girl.

(However, I was totally convinced the other night, when I couldn't sleep, that this child for sure was a hermaphrodite because there was no way I was really going to have a girl, but if both ultrasounds didn't show a penis, then obviously it was a hermaphrodite, and then how do we decide what to raise it as? Boy or Girl? It was a very stressful thought which somehow led to my next thought that kept me up for another 45 minutes--how do snakes mate?)

Obviously I have become completely irrational and this pregnancy is skewing my perspective on life right now. And really how many dreams can you have about your baby coming out prematurely and you trying to stuff it back in? It is the weirdest dream and she always comes out looking at least 4 months old, yet she's premature. Go figure.

Really? Am I going to push "publish?"

Yes. I. Am.

A Challenge and a "Not that cool" prize

2011-04-07T18:56:00.001-04:00

Here's what takes place on a rainy day during Spring Break while Mom is trying to get work done upstairs...

Ah brothers.

Another "pee in the botttle" gone wrong.

2011-03-31T02:46:00.001-04:00

I know I won't be able to top the, "Todd drank Toby's pee," story, but I had to laugh [later] at the scene that took place in the car today on my way home from dropping Todd off at the Long Beach airport.

I had just gotten on the freeway to head back home with the 3 boys in the back of Todd's car. As we got on the freeway I made my way over to the carpool lane because there was a bit of traffic I did not want to be in if I could help it. As soon as I did, Chase starts panting, "I have to go potty! I have to go potty!" And like every 3 year old he of course had to go right that second and was not giving me any fair warning.

I looked at the traffic to the right of me...barely moving... and the double yellow lines of the carpool lane...and then down at my always trusty gatorade bottle. I then pictured in my head the recent story of my sister Sunny (mother of 8) bragging about how she was able to reach back, get her son out of his car seat, while driving of course, and with one hand on the wheel and one on the bottle her little guy beautifully took care of business and they went happily along their way without stopping.

So that's what I set out to do.

Well...I might as well have just told Chase to unbuckle and stand up and pee all over Ben and Toby and the whole back seat because that's pretty much what happened.

In his panic and urgency he didn't pull his pants down all the way, Ben tried to assist in the bottle holding, but the "equipment" was aimed upward towards Ben's face so as soon as it started Ben got pee in his eyes, immediately dropped the bottle while Chase continued to pee and cry at the same time. So then Ben is crying in a panic because "Chase just peed all over" him, so then I'm yelling at Toby who's reading a book and laughing until I start really yelling at him to help, which then makes him start to cry...so then I have all 3 of them in the back seat crying in hysterics and everyone with pee on them.

I'm just glad it was Todd's car and not mine.

We all calmed down a little while down the road. Ben commented later that he had been happy all morning, he was happy at school, happy when Dad picked him up from school, but then started having a bad day after Chase peed on his face. I think that would have been my low point of my day too.

With how often we use the "bottle method," while driving we're bound to have a couple backfire on us. I'm actually surprised we haven't had more than we have.

Will Dance for Quarters

2011-03-29T01:24:00.001-04:00

Oh man, these boys keep me laughing. Tonight we were at Round Table Pizza for dinner. Our boys like to eat there because Todd and I give them lots of quarters to go buy cheap junk from the little machines that they end up collecting. It keeps them busy while Todd and I try to have some conversation.

But tonight I made them dance for their money. I obviously have a thing for my boys' dancing.

They each got a dollar for their moves.

Welcome to Crazy-Town

2011-03-28T03:15:00.000-04:00

Well, I've arrived. I have hit my 6 week mark and you know what that means for me?

Crazy-town!

The last 6 weeks of pregnancy are my worst and not because I'm sick or in pain or have ever had anything close to threatening bed rest (although how nice would that be in some ways?) I just get so impatient...6 weeks is long and short at the same time so I confuse myself. It's like I start telling myself this baby could come at any moment, but really, no, it's like a month and a half still and yet I feel like I've reached maximum capacity and there's no more room in my abdomen for her to get any bigger. But she will!

Aaaahhhh...see? Crazy-town!

Ughhh...and the back fat...can we please talk about that? What is the purpose of the pregnancy back fat under your bra strap? It's all I think about...well that and the rest of the back fat that seems to really reach it's potential at the love handle portion of the back. Hopefully this is where my baby's creamy milk is being processed and will get sucked out of me like lipo as soon as the baby comes out right? I'm going to call it my own little milk factory...that's it's purpose I've just decided.

I'm tempted to become a recluse for these last weeks because I know how annoying I must sound to everyone-complaining is not that attractive. But neither is my back fat or my tricep fat and so I think it's best for me to just hide. So if you're wondering where I am in April...I'm home getting chubbier and whinier by the day.

Okay, moving on. To baseball.

This is Toby's team before their game on Saturday saying the baseball motto- which I have no idea what they said, but they were cute doing it...he's number 7 on the right and a good little slugger.

Oh, and here's me getting my hair done by Chase...

But wait, are those skateboards in your hair Ashley?

Why, yes, yes they are.

I am ready for a little more girly-ness in my life.

But look how proud he was.

So they stayed in my hair.

And you can't tell, but Chase took a bath with a dead fish head this morning that he got from Nana and Papa's dinner last night. That darker thing is the fish head floating around in the tub.

We take bath toys to a new level in our family.

I'll try not to complain as much next time...

I Failed...

2011-03-16T00:18:00.001-04:00

See? I told you I am really bad at goals and sticking with them. It's been a week since I last posted. Granted, it was a hectic week/weekend, but still...

We had the Harrises in town this past weekend for birthdays and baptisms. There was lots of Mexican food and little downtime.

Chase was not a fan of the red rover game we played at the park...

This week I don't have much going on and I'm trying to relax and not spend as much time driving around running errands - especially since gas is so dang expensive right now!

Today was beautiful. We played outside after school and then decided it was hot enough to go to our pool in the neighborhood for a little dip to kill the last hour or so of the day. It was marvelous.

The boys are all finally at a stage where they just get in and either swim or float, but mostly just tackle each other- softer landing in the pool-and I can just plop my Shamu butt on a lounge chair and yell at them when they get too rough.

I love living here.

Toby lost his other front tooth tonight. I think the infamous Tooth Fairy is out of cash tonight. Would it be bad if she raided one of the kid's wallets and repays them tomorrow? Otherwise she might have to call some family nearby (her Husband's out of town!).

Pregnancy is not pretty...

2011-03-07T02:12:00.000-04:00

It is way too early to be feeling the way I do about this pregnancy.

I look in the mirror and I see this:

I have 9 more weeks before this baby is due to come out and I just want to stop growing and begin shrinking again (I hope!).

I'm at the point where I'm starting to retain water in my legs, hands, and face and that just is not a good look for me, or that guy in the purple suspenders. My legs feel like lead as I walk up my stairs and every time I bend over to pick up some toy off the ground I say "oi!" because it feels like I'm going to pop this kid up through my esophagus. I won't mention some of the other unpleasantries because I'm not sure who all reads this here blog of mine.

And why is it that I always run in to long lost frenemies or ex boyfriends when I'm starting to look my worst? That's just not fair! You want to be at your prime when that happens!

Ok, so it's not as bad as purple suspenders there, but I feel the way he looks. Poor Todd-has to listen to me complain for 9 more weeks. He might be more anxious for me to have this baby just so he doesn't have to listen to me!

3 year olds...bleh!

2011-03-02T23:59:00.000-04:00

It's amazing how that same 3 year old I was willing to "sleep" in my van for on Monday night is the same 3 year old I could have given away to the first person to drive by my house today...about 20 times. He is officially 3 and that is my least favorite age. It was not his best day today...let's hope for better tomorrow!

Sleeping in Preschool Parking Lots

2011-03-01T16:50:00.000-04:00

My neighbor Wendy was among the "crazies," so at least I had a friend.

I didn't blog last night because I, and about 10 others, pulled up at La Cristianita Preschool yesterday afternoon and parked ourselves in the parking lot where we slept all night in our cars in 35 degree (very cold for California) weather so we could ensure our precious 3 year olds a spot in this preschool for next year at 8am this morning.

7 months pregnant and sleeping in the backseat of my van was not that cool but totally worth not having to stress about waiting lists and trying to get into other schools from here on out. Of course Todd was out of town, otherwise I would have made him do it like most of the Moms had done. Chase better go to a good college one day because I'm going to hang this one over his head for a long time.

Bieber Fever

2011-02-28T03:23:00.000-04:00

So my boys have liked Justin Bieber for the past 6 months or so (Toby has been hot and cold depending on his company) and yesterday we went and saw the movie...so now we've really got Bieber Fever. Chase is a crack up and takes his performances very seriously, also might be a little bit racist...

(apologies for the bad quality...my good camera was of course out of battery)

We created some headset microphones so they'd feel more professional and I think we might need some dance lessons...

Remember Christmas 2 months ago?

2011-02-26T22:16:00.000-04:00

We had such a good Christmas that it would be a shame to not have any sort of record of it. We didn't go anywhere for the first time in, I think, EVER...and it was really really nice. People came to where we lived this time which made it more relaxing, but in no way less eventful. We had cousins galore around and the kids were in heaven for 2 weeks. I also was in heaven because Todd had 2 weeks off of work and so I had a Husband again.

Tree decorating at Nana and Papas turned out to be a jumping event. No broken bones.

One year I'm going to go all out and bake my own gingerbread for decorating, but once again it was the Costco special. The boys didn't seem to mind. And we've learned to not keep them around as decoration and just eat them over the next few days.

We reflected on our year this past year and the many events that changed our lives, the most important being the passing of our sweet nephew and the boys' cousin Max. They brought some decorations for his tree to his memorial site. We miss him every day.

Christmas Eve at Nana and Papa's with JR's and Adam's families. Bailey was the director/producer, as always.

Christmas came and despite all the naughtiness through the year, so did Santa.

Sunny, Lindsey and Sam and families came after Christmas and we played, played, played. I think we did Dodgeball at the church at least 3 times while they were here...look at the faces on the men and you'll get a feel for the competition. It was a mixture of laughter, screaming, and many tears from the little ones who got a ball to the face at times.

(thanks Lindsay, I stole your pics from your blog!)

My Funny Valentines

2011-02-24T03:30:00.000-04:00

These turned out to be a hit in the boys' classes this year...and probably less work than the store bought ones! I sure love these guys.

Big belly and other "big" things

2011-02-23T00:20:00.000-04:00

Aaaaahhhh....I love the brutal honesty of my boys. They are not shy about telling me how big my anatomy is getting. And it's not just my belly apparently.

Ben: Mom, why are you getting so fat?
Me: Because of the baby, remember?
Ben: Yeah, but why is your butt so fat?

(in the bathtub as I'm getting out)
Chase: Mom, your butt is FAT and WHITE!

Also, complete strangers are not shy about telling me how my butt looks. A mom from Toby's baseball team on the first day of practice came up to tell me how she'd been staring at my butt and thinking how "juicy," it was.

OK people, I get the point...MY BUTT IS GETTING VERY BIG...I KNOW. But I'm not doing one thing about it. In fact I just finished off a 2 day old bag of peanut butter M&M's (my fave) and I feel really good about it. So stare all you want at my "booty-licious-ness," it's gonna be here for a while (at least 11 more weeks! and then some I'm sure).

Oh yeah, and the belly is growing too...

My Husband's a Lab Rat

2011-02-22T01:23:00.000-04:00

This is what happens when research nerds don't have mice to experiment on...they sacrifice themselves in the name of science.

Family Picture

2011-02-20T23:08:00.001-04:00

We had the most beautiful drive back down the coast today after stuffing ourselves with cinnamon rolls for the second day in a row. The central coast is really cool and if there were a reason for Todd's job to take us up there I think we'd definitely entertain the idea.

(just a random picture of us all together back in December)

What a View

2011-02-19T15:08:00.001-04:00

This is what we got to see each time we walked out the front door. Absolutely gorgeous!

We discovered a great cinnamon roll bakery in Pismo Beach, which was so yummy we ate there 2 days in a row...mmmmm.

Ryan and Todd went and surfed a place called "Hazards," while Leanne and I took the kids to the children's museum in SLO.

Driving to SLO

2011-02-19T03:41:00.002-04:00

We left Hollywood after eating at this cool old diner called 101 Coffee Shop and then made a pit-stop at Target to get some movies and treats for the remainder of the drive to San Luis Obispo (known as SLO to anyone who's anyone). FYI all the St. Patricks Day stuff is out. We tried some on for you-these were our favorites.

We had dinner at a hot spot called Firestone and then ended the night at a candy store complete with candy light sabers and all.

The sugar fueled the dance party that took place later with Abby and Charlie.

Fancy-Shmancy

2011-02-18T02:36:00.000-04:00

Oh you know, just another typical day for us...

Picked up the kids from school and headed up to the happiest place on Earth for a couple hours.

I love Toby's face in this-he's look up at the impending doom of the Toontown roller coaster.

Then drove further north to Hollywood where we rolled our sweet Odyssey into the W Hotel and unloaded our newly acquired McDonald's toys and pillow pets into the bell boy's arms, not to mention one of my sleeping children. Yes, we are pretty fancy people. We blend right in here with all these swanky Hollywoodians. Well, maybe Toby does.

Pooped out Chase and Ben

Todd should be getting in from New York in another hour and will meet us here. We're looking forward to our long President's weekend and are heading up to San Luis Obispo tomorrow to hang out with Ryan and Leanne who just moved up there and we're going to go visit their new place.

I think we'll take a little drive through Hollywood Hills before we hit the road, just to scope out a future place of our own next to all the celebs.

To blog or not to blog...

2011-02-16T21:00:00.001-04:00

Why is blogging such a pain sometimes? I think I need a blog makeover and then maybe I'll get into it again. I look at some of my friend's blogs and am in awe over how cute their layouts are, how perfect their pictures always turn out and how in the world they're able to stay on top of their blog and keep it current and still pay attention to their kids.

Every night I am faced with the same dilemma: do I sit down at the computer, upload all my photos and catch up my blog? Or do I sit my fat pregnant butt down in my messy family room and catch up on my "Real Housewives of [wherever]," "Bachelor," "Oprah," "Glee," "SNL," and now "American Idol?" It's not really a dilemma because my DVR always seems to win.

But I'm haunted.

I'm haunted each time I look at my kids and realize they've grown an inch taller, they've lost another tooth, or they've added a new phrase to their vocabulary (many that need editing or soap) and I'm not keeping a record of it. I know I can't capture every moment I have with them on this sorry blog of mine, but I need to make a better attempt.

Yesterday, Toby finally let me cut his hair. It's been a battle for the past month or more. The funny thing was that it took the influence of his friend, who happens to be a cute little girl, to get him to do it. His friend Kylie who lives next door came over for a minute and I asked her what she thought of Toby's long hair. I showed her a picture of him at the beginning of the school year when it was short and had her cast her vote. She said very sweetly that she liked him better with the shorter hair. A little while later Toby came to me and told me that I could cut his hair exactly to the length of the hair in the picture.

I reflected on what I had just witnessed. And so begins the era of other women (or little girls in this case) having more influence on my boy than I do. If only I would have known the power of Kylie a couple months ago, I would have saved myself a lot of arguing.

I've been debating whether to set this goal or not, and mostly because I'm the worst at following through on my goals (I won't tell you about my goal to not eat sweets for a year that didn't even last 48 hours-that would be embarrassing/pathetic) but I'm going to do it. I'm doing the 30 day blog thing. I'm going to force myself to post something-anything-for 30 days. So get ready!!! It's going to be enlightening.

Let's see if I can break my 48 hour record.

Hello January!

2011-01-18T01:07:00.003-04:00

It's days (and weekends) like these that remind me why we moved back here. I think we live in the most beautiful place. I can safely say that there's no way we'd be swimming and sunbathing at the beach in Boston or New York in the middle of January. Feeling very glad to be living in this moment.

My Lap

2010-12-26T19:50:00.002-04:00

My lap is shrinking by the day as my tummy is growing by the hour. I had to snap a picture of a moment I had today when my baby, who is not such a baby anymore, fell asleep on my lap as I was doing some work on the computer. Soon my lap will be taken up by another sweet baby but for now it still gives priority to my little Chase. There is nothing sweeter than when they fall asleep in your arms, which is a rare occasion, believe you me.

It's a G-I-R-L!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-11-13T21:57:00.002-04:00

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was prepared for some tears today but was pleasantly surprised when they were tears of joy.

I have not been able to stop smiling since 2:15 this afternoon.

Thank you Dr. Shettles for the book. Worked for us!

(Do not purchase an "Intelligender" urine test for $40)

Family Planning

2010-11-05T12:15:00.006-04:00

Because my life with 3 boys looks like this

before we made the attempt to increase our family numbers we read this

After a few minutes of standing on my head it led to this

Then, a month later I took this other test that said this

(match the color of the liquid to the color of "boy" or "girl")

So we're waiting for an ultrasound in another week to confirm that there will be another penis joining our family, but I'm holding out hope so I can go buy these.

In the mean time we're just happy we get this, penis or not:

What a brave soul this little one must be to agree to come to this family of ours.

13 weeks down, 27 to go.

Look What We Did in October:

2010-10-31T12:42:00.009-04:00

Went with the Harris cousins to the Outer Banks for a week:

Held some snakes:

Got to play with more cousins, this time Dicksons, who came out from North Carolina. We went to Irvine Park to check out all the fun Halloween stuff and of course a hay ride.

Played a lot of soccer even though the rain tried to rain us out this month.

(Turned 29 years old in the middle of the month!)

Celebrated Ben's 5th Birthday with a Star Wars party and lots of sugar right before Halloween.

Field trip with Ben's preschool to the local petting zoo.

Did lots of this:

And ended it with Halloween:

I always look forward to October but am equally glad to see it end.

Double Rainbow!!!

2010-10-05T12:41:00.001-04:00

Even if you've seen this you might want to watch it again. I could watch this every day and not get tired of it! "What does this mean?!"

Girly Girl

2010-10-05T12:22:00.002-04:00

We got out the Halloween stuff on Sunday-this was the end result. A better picture would've been Todd's face during this whole process. He did not approve.

School Days

2010-10-01T11:38:00.004-04:00

It's apparent by these photos that my little boys are looking older and older. Toby is 6 1/2 now and is in 1st grade. He has a great teacher, Mrs. Neill, who has 31 children in her class (big difference from last year's 15!). Toby's favorite subject is Math and all I get out of him about how his day was is usually how many recesses he had that day and that he likes playing handball. He says they're learning "baby stuff." He still won't let me cut his hair and he does that head swing thing like Justin Bieber. It makes me giggle every time he does it. He says everyone at school does it so he wants to. He also won't hug me goodbye when I walk him to his classroom. I didn't realize this "cool" stuff started so young.

Ben goes to Ms. Dianne's Preschool and is loving it. I'm so happy he's there. Last year he didn't really love going to his school in Boston, even though it was a good school. I like that this one is small and couldn't say more about how wonderful his teacher is. She has already fallen under Ben's spell and adores Ben. She called him a "treasure," and I must agree. Ben is "4 and 3 quarters," and has been counting down the days of his 5th birthday for the past 364 days. So we are planning a special day for him later this month.

Chase is our comedian. He goes to "Mommy School," when we drop Ben off. This usually involves a trip to the market or some other errand and a nap. He likes to ride his scooter and escalade naked. We have some neighbors who aren't the biggest fans of children so I'm sure they're even more disgusted when they see my naked 2 year old out there, which makes it even better.

Tight Spaces

2010-09-30T10:40:00.003-04:00

Todd is the 4th boy in his family's lineup. There have been many stories told of him crammed into tight spaces by his older brothers as a child (ehem back of station wagon, under the fold up seats). So I shouldn't have been surprised when I came around the corner this morning to find Chase packed into Toby's backpack. Luckily they only got it halfway zipped. Even though it's blurry you can tell the older two were satisfied with their choice of torture.

Reaching New Heights

2010-09-15T13:10:00.002-04:00

Need a "higher" hiding spot for that candy box.

Welcome back to the OC

2010-07-31T11:38:00.004-04:00

Todd and I went to see a movie last night...Inception, we really liked it. We walked outside of the theater at 10:30 at night only to see a group of teenagers hanging out waiting [for who knows what] and two of the girls had bikini bottoms on instead of, well, I guess anything else you would normally wear to the movie theater.

And I thought to myself...it's good to be back. And then I slapped Todd for looking.

Despite our sad start to life back in Southern California we are loving our life here. Too much playing and not enough organizing. We have the necessities-beach towels, heavy duty sand shovels, arm floaties for Chase and 4 different sunscreen numbers. I don't go higher than 15.

I need to start taking more pictures. After Max's death I am compelled to try and capture more moments of my children and keep these memories we're creating alive.

The first round of BYU brainwashing-which we never understood until the thought of $50,000 tuitions didn't sound so appealing. The kids' first visit to BYU-they bought it.

Uncle Harmon introducing Ben to a "swirrely."

Legoland on Max's birthday- Tate and Chase weren't too excited about sitting with the "princess."

Toby checked off the furniture as it finally made it to our new home in San Clemente.

Garbage day is always good entertainment.

A beautiful rainbow after a week of sadness brought a smile to our faces.

Beach day is every day here.

Cul de sacs and cousins make this the perfect place to live.

Missing Max

2010-07-28T19:39:00.006-04:00

You were the best cousin and nephew we could ever have had! We will celebrate your life by trying to act and be like you. I have been trying to get Toby to cut his hair but he wants to grow it "as long as Max's." And right now, I can't argue with that. We love you so much. Thank you for giving my boys the best example of a good boy. Like Aunt Kim said, you were the perfect oldest cousin. They looked up to you in every way possible. You were the reason they are obsessed with Star Wars and Legos and why our cockatiel was named Max.

Oh how we prayed and prayed that night that Heavenly Father would let you stay on this Earth for a longer time, but we know now that this was when He needed you. We are so thankful for the time we did have with you and one day we will be together again. Until then we will remember you with every Lego set we build and Star Wars costume we put on.

Til we meet again sweet Max.

P.S. Toby and Ben would like to know if you've ridden a dinosaur in heaven yet.

Maxwell Ryan Harris

July 8, 2000-July 3, 2010

Close one Ms. Tooth Fairy

2010-06-17T07:31:00.002-04:00

Dear Tooth Fairy,

Wow, really? 2 nights in a row you forgot to bring Toby his money? Really? Don't you know how devastating this is to a 6 year old? I thought it was bad the first night you forgot, but the second was just pitiful.

You were really lucky that he came in crying to his Mom at 4:45 in the morning holding up his plastic bag with his little tooth inside whimpering "It's just not fair Mom," and that at that same unthinkable hour his Mom had the wit to think up a way to give you some more time to get your sorry Tooth Fairy butt over here before the real daylight came up. You're really lucky that he believed her when she told him that maybe the Tooth Fairy was still working and that it was still a little dark outside and that he jumped right back in bed with hope that you could still come. You're also really lucky that Toby, whom once a wake can never fall back asleep, actually fell back asleep enough for you to sneak under his pillow and pay up.

I just kept thinking, how could this happen...twice? What kind of woman could do this to such a young, trusting child? I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you have had a lot on your mind lately, maybe you're busy relocating your life or something, or maybe you had long day and shut your mind off as soon as you sat down in front of the t.v. last night.

Just know that if this ever happens again, it's going to cost you a lot more. He's not going to be as forgiving. The extra buck made up for the first night missed-you're lucky.

But you're not a very good Tooth Fairy.

-Toby's Mom

P.S. What do you do with those nasty teeth anyway? Keep them in your underwear drawer so no one finds them? Sick!

Feeling Patriotic on Flag Day

2010-06-16T08:22:00.005-04:00

Toby's Kindergarten class was filmed on Flag Day for our local cable channel and I thought it was cute enough to share. Rather impressed with how well they new the words-that's a long song!

Last days and Lyme Disease

2010-06-15T12:05:00.006-04:00

The countdown is on til we leave Boston and move to California and I'm feeling not as prepared as I'd like. However, I'm very happy to say that we found a home to rent in San Clemente very close to where my parents live, walking distance in fact! We are looking forward to living on a cul de sac and not sharing any walls with other people. But most of all we are looking forward to raising these boys of ours in California. We have already been shopping for their wetsuits and surfboards so that they'll be all ready to go as soon as we arrive.

We still need to rent out our place here...uhg. I have 3 people interested this week so I'm just praying we find the right one by this weekend.

Ben finished preschool last week and is enjoying his lazy first week of summer. I just signed him up for his new preschool next year with Ms. Dianne and we're really happy about that!

Toby will finish Kindergarten next Monday. It's really quite lame as he has a day off for Bunker Hill Day on Thursday but then they make the kids come back on Monday for their last day...LAME. He's had a great first year of school but is really looking forward to our move to California. He hasn't expressed any sadness in leaving his friends here even though I keep asking him about it. He's not a very sentimental guy.

Todd is still busy traveling and working everywhere but here. He's been in La Jolla and New York for the past 6 weeks.

A couple of weeks ago he got really really sick with a fever, headache, night sweats and then developed this weird rash all over his body. He started getting better by the next week and he couldn't get in to see a doctor in NY so we were about to forget about it and blame it on a bad flu. But one of his coworkers got him in with one of his Dr. friends in the city and right away he knew what Todd had...Lyme Disease! We figure he must have gotten a tick while at the father and sons camp out he went on with the boys in May. I'm so glad he was able to see the doctor otherwise it could have gotten much worse. He's on a 3 week treatment and should be fine after that. Crazy!

I have 10 days to:

-rent my house out

-sell the bird

-host 2 sets of visitors

-go to 2 more birthday parties

-buy/install new dishwasher (it decided to die our last week here, I'm guessing suicide)

-finish duties as Primary president

-clean out/throw away junk we don't want to bring with us

-pack for our vacation in Utah while stuff is being shipped

-remember to feed my kids

Wish me luck!

Davis Bell and Friends Run the Ragnar

2010-06-07T21:50:00.008-04:00

4 days after returning back from our trip and being totally jet lagged, we ran a 185 mile relay called the Ragnar with 10 of our friends from New York. It started in Woodstock, New York and went almost to New York City.

It was my first race I've ran and it was pretty awesome. We had some good laughs and some good runs. It took us about 28 hours to finish the race. I must say running through the backwoods of New York at 3 am with sometimes absolutely no one around was a pretty gnarly experience.

This us at the beginning of the race

Todd started the race for our team, "Davis Bell and Friends."

My last leg. I'm smiling cause I was so glad to be done!

Us at the finish line. None of us could walk.

Big thanks to our Sponsors:

I slept very well that night.

Days 7-9

2010-06-07T21:28:00.004-04:00

Our last day in Bali was spent relaxing at our hotel at the beach and pool. Todd of course spent half of it surfing at Ulu Beach for the last time. We soaked up as many rays as we could and tried to take it all in before we had to return to reality.

Our flight didn't leave Bali til 2am so after dinner Chanel and I got pedicures while the men went back to the room and slept. I got a cute picture of this!

We arrived in Taiwan for a long 9 hour layover. We left our bags in a storage area and took a free tour of Taipei provided by the People's Republic of China. A bus picked us up from the terminal and took us to a couple of old, famous streets in the city so we got a little picture of what Taipei was like. Cool, but nothing compared to Bali.

We said goodbye to Brad and Chanel later that day as we boarded our flight to Alaska/JFK and their's to LA/Salt Lake. We had the best trip and all agree that even with the torturously long flight there, we'd definitely go back to Bali.

I've been washing my hair with the shampoo and conditioner I took from the hotel just so I can have those smells remind me that it was not a dream and that I did indeed visit one of the most beautiful and amazing places on this earth. The Balinese people were wonderful and in the short week that I was there I learned a few things about humanity from them and I think I came out a better person because of it. Maybe even a better driver with less road rage (they never get mad)!

Til we meet again Bali!

Day 6

2010-05-21T18:16:00.006-04:00

We took a day trip up to Ubud for some must-sees.

Starting with the elephant cave where we got hit up by some guy who wanted us to hold his snake :)

We washed our hands in some holy water

and went inside this very claustrophic cave, which legend says they dug it out with their fingernails.

Just cause I think we're hot.

We ate lunch at a restaurant that overlooks this really cool volcano. You can see where it flowed back in 1963.

They sell some pretty great crap and mob you at every opportunity.

The next stop was the Monkey Forest:

Todd did not listen to the rules and tried to pet the monkey when it climbed on his lap.

We still don't understand why Todd looks so happy when the monkey sunk his teeth into Todd's hand.

Our boys thought this was so cool that a monkey bit their dad.

This cute little baby monkey kissed Todd's cheek at one point. They didn't all hate him.

I'm bringing this little lady with me when I get mine done.

Day 5

2010-05-21T17:41:00.004-04:00

Day 5 was a day of rest for us after our previous day of biking. Although Todd surfed for 5 hours so not as restful for him. This picture pretty much sums up our day...lounged around the pool/beach, read our books and made comments about every Euro guy who walked by in a speedo or euro suit (see behind Chanel?).

After burning 19 calories throughout the day we went to Boom Boom Bali for an awesome dinner and ate way too much.

Todd looks like he had a little too much of something here.

But in true Todd form he was just really really tired and even fell asleep at the dinner table.

The rest of us ended up just getting up and leaving him there.

He woke up to the bill.

Love him.

Day 4

2010-05-13T20:42:00.005-04:00

We woke up early to go up to Ubud about an hour and a half north of us to go on a bike tour through some of the countryside which consists of rice patties and more rice patties.

It was, everybody now: "Beautiful and Amazing!"

Breakfast overlooking some rice patties

Chanel and I decided we have no reason to complain about our laundry rooms or our kitchens

If we look somewhat skeptical, it's cause we're not quite convinced that teeth-shaving is a good idea. They do this to the teenagers when the girls get their first period and the boys voices start cracking.

But we did think it might be fun to save our placentas after we give birth and then bury them in our front yards and place a stone as a marker til the kids move out. The best part is that the husbands are the ones that have to clean the placentas before they are buried. Yum.

Riding thru the local villages near Ubud

Visiting the rice fields. I'll never complain about my job again.

The end of the bike ride got a little harder and muddier.

Next time I won't wear a skirt and flip flops.

We ended it at Baggi's home (he runs the tour) where his wife had a home cooked meal waiting for us and it was scrumptious!

We met this awkward, but hilarious, guy Stu on our ride.

We ended our day doing some bargaining in Ubud and found another cool temple to take a picture in front of.

Day 3 Ulu Beach and Jimbaran Bay

2010-05-12T22:47:00.006-04:00

Just assume that everything we did in Bali can be described as "beautiful," and "amazing," so that I don't have to type it over and over.

This is Ulu Beach

Todd had some good surf, could've done without the crowds, but still had fun.

Sunset dinner at Jimbaran Bay

By this point of our trip we were trying to figure out how we could get transferred to Bali instead of Los Angeles. (i don't know why this is underlined)

Day 2

2010-05-04T16:18:00.005-04:00

We woke up early to rain outside, but the kind of rain that comes and goes in 85 degree tropical weather. We took a run along the beach trail that took us through many other resort fronts along Nusa Dua and by the time we got back we looked and felt like we had sweat every drop of liquid out of our bodies. So satisfying.

We ate breakfast at the resort which we decided not to do again since we could get food so much cheaper outside the resort (it's really inexpensive here), but the food was still good-really yummy breads and fruit.

We took a taxi over to Ulu Watu on the West side of the island (about 30 minutes away) to look for some surf. We first checked out Padang Padang, which we had to walk down these cool narrow steps through a cave to get to this beautiful cove

After getting mobbed by about 5 ladies holding shirts, dresses, and sarongs and begging us to buy everything they held in their arms we decided to wait to see if the waves got bigger while we went to to a nearby temple.

Ulu Watu temple (the people here are mostly Hindu)sits on the cliff and overlooks the ocean. The view was incredible. On the temple premises were tons of mischievous monkeys, mostly didn't bother you, but we saw a few of them snatch hats, sunglasses from people, hoping to get a new play toy. There were some adorable little baby ones that clung to their mommas, which made me and Chanel miss our little ones back home.

We headed back to Nusa Dua where we got some very affordable massages at the DH Spa while the men rented some scooters (or "hogs" as Todd likes to call them) and went back to find good waves. Chanel and I were a little worried about them-the drivers are crazy here. Tons of people on motorcycles and there seems to be not very many rules, except to drive on the left side, which can be confusing. Luckily they returned home not too long after dark with the biggest smiles on their faces. I guess the scooter ride back was extremely exciting for them-in their words they said it was like playing playing a video game.

We ate dinner at the shopping area close to our resort and by the end were all ready to get some sleep.

Bali Day 1

2010-05-02T09:57:00.004-04:00

The first 24 hours consisted of traveling from JFK

to Anchorage, Alaska

then a few hours in Taipei, Taiwan where we met up with Brad and Chanel

Greasy hair...beautiful.

Taipei layover

and then finally arrived 5 hours later in Denpasar, Bali.

After such a long time in the air we did not have much patience for the 2 hour long wait in customs. Seriously, I wanted to kill someone by the time I got through. Luckily, no one died.

We took a taxi to our beautiful resort in Nusa Dua, and all the frustration from the airport seemed to melt away as we were taken in by the beauty of this place. So, so, beautiful.

We walked the beach of the hotel, gawked at the models of a photo shoot on our beach and took a swim and then went to Ulam, a balinese restaurant not too far away.

Also, we were sad to find out that Sting's song Fields of Gold does not talk about Bali at all.

You'll remember me when the west wind moves

Upon the fields of barley

You'll forget the sun in his jealous sky

As we walk in the fields of gold

Who writes a song about Barley? Sting did apparently. We still wanted to make it our theme song while we're here so we're just calling Bali, Barley from now on.

We are so tired, have swollen feet and ankles from the flight, and are missing our boys but are really looking forward to having some fun while we're here. I'll try to post our adventures while I'm here and it's fresh in my brain.

Barley is AWESOME.

(Thank Grammy and Papa for taking the boys!!!)

Poor 3rd Child

2010-04-29T23:44:00.004-04:00

This is what happens to the 3rd child. Breakfast? Check.

(and if you're wondering if that is the hotel carpet? yes, it very much is. he's probably healthier than your kid though.)

Trampoline

2010-04-29T23:33:00.003-04:00

I want to post a few of these pictures so I can see my cute boys while I'm away from them for a week. We're going to Bali and meeting Brad and Chanel there who also are leaving their 3 boys. I always get a little anxious before I go...my mind just can't help but go to the worst possible scenarios.

This was them on the trampoline with their friends. As usual, it always ends with their shirts off and lots of flexing.

Addicted

2010-04-26T21:57:00.004-04:00

Tonight was like most nights, I tucked Ben and Toby in 3 different times after many requests for things that just delayed the inevitable: bedtime.

So, when I heard Ben's little footsteps walk slowly from his bedroom to the top of the stairs where he said the usual, "MO-OM?" I took a deep breath and said, "Whaaaat Ben?" expecting him to ask for another drink of water or to be tucked in tighter.

But to my surprise he asked this: "How do you stop being addicted to Star Wars?"

How does it get any cuter than that (remember, he's 4)? But then when I told him that he just has to watch it less and less every day,he said:

"Okay...did you hear that Toby?"

And then he got back in bed.

Sad Puppy Eyes

2010-04-26T14:22:00.002-04:00

The boys have been begging us for a dog recently. I told them we could totally get one. We'd just keep him at the pet store and we'd come to visit him every time we went to the mall.

Gum at Central Park

2010-04-26T14:14:00.004-04:00

Before:

After:

And then there were tears when he wanted me to give it back so he could continue chewing it.

I Like Bald Guys

2010-04-19T22:09:00.006-04:00

Todd gave the finger to his dying hair follicles for his 31st birthday.

I think he looks tough.

(You can't deny that Kelly Slater, Andre Agassi and that Swedish soccer player look better shaved instead of wearing do's like George Costanza)

FYI...

2010-04-17T21:33:00.002-04:00

iphone is still working despite being peed on by 2 year old. And I'm not talking a little sprinkle...I mean like using the phone as target practice.

I really love that kid.

My Own Personal Rodeo

2010-04-15T20:13:00.004-04:00

For most of my life while living with my parents I can remember there being many a rodeo watched on our family room T.V. My Dad had a thing for anything cowboy-ish (that kind of sounded Brokeback Mountain-ish, but not like that) and so if that's what he was watching, that's what we all ended up watching. I recall one of the competitions was to jump off your horse and tie up a baby calf and I remember always feeling bad for that poor little cow and thinking what a dumb sport it was.

Little did I know that I should've been taking notes because one day I would be playing this same sport in the form of getting my kids dressed multiple times a day. It's like as soon as they see me take my eye off them to reach for the second sock or the final shoe they just take off as fast as they can in any direction for no reason. And then when I finally grab them I literally have to sit on them in weird positions with the one unfinished limb wriggling around until I've finished them off. I feel exhausted by the end just like those cowboys who roped their cows. But at the same time victorious.

Because I always win.

I always win.

The Force

2010-04-14T16:04:00.002-04:00

We spent a couple hours at a nearby park with some friends today. As I went to go load Ben and Chase into the car I walked around to the other side where Chase, who insists on doing everything on his own these days, panicked as he saw me approaching. He took a wide defensive stance, held his left palm up facing me and said, "Force,"as he shot some magic Jedi power my way. It actually worked though because I couldn't help him into the car because I was laughing too much.

I'm really considering just raising them as Jedi's.

Snow Shoeing at the Gore Mansion

2010-04-13T14:21:00.006-04:00

Back in February or was it March? I can't remember. But a long time ago we went snow shoeing at the Gore Mansion here in Boston (Governor Christopher Gore-duh, and no relation to Al Gore we found out).

Todd had the day off, I think it was a holiday, and we had gotten a ton of snow the week before. Unfortunately a lot of it had melted. But we still thought it would be fun to try something new. We rented these snow shoes and stomped around the estate grounds looking for the things on the scavenger hunt map they gave us. I think we found 2 of the things on it, we mostly looked for fresh snow that didn't already have tracks on it or grass peaking through.

Chase rode in the Ergo on Todd's back

The Mansion

This is something that I will miss when we move back to California- no not the cold, or the snow- but being able to find little things like this that I didn't grow up with as a kid. I'm 28 and this was the first time I've put on snow shoes. Not that snow shoeing was on my bucket list, but hey.

Baby of Danger

2010-04-10T21:04:00.008-04:00

We call Chase lots of things: Chase, Chaser, Chaser-boy, Bubba, Dude, Craze-O, Baby of Danger, The Destroying Angel.

We really can't think of a better name for him than the one we gave him.

He keeps us on our toes 90% of the day.

I really need to start recording all the crazy things he does, I think it's become so normal for me that I just don't see it as anything to write about. But just so he realizes what he put me through as a baby, I think it's best that I become a better record keeper. His favorite thing to do lately is stand at the edge of the sidewalk, get my attention and say "Haha street!" and then run into it just so he can watch me freak out and run after him. I really think it brings him so much joy to torment me in this way. I really hope he gets it out of his system as a toddler because I can only imagine what he's going to be like as a teenager, especially with his older brothers egging him on like they do.

Easter in New York

2010-04-06T16:25:00.004-04:00

Friday was the perfect day in New York City. Beautiful weather, yummy food, and good company (Grammy/Papa and Kim and Jason and kids).

We played at some of our favorite playgrounds.

Saturday the boys got to hunt for eggs at Grammy and Papa's -notice Ben's dimpled scar on his cheekbone?

After a relaxing and sun-filled weekend, we returned to Boston where we were greeted by our newly bloomed flowers. As Ben would say, "Congratulations!"

The Dark Side

2010-03-30T21:38:00.002-04:00

Tonight as I was putting the boys down, and becoming inpatient with the struggle, Ben says, "Mom, your eyes look mean. Have you turned to the dark side?"

Lost and Found in Target

2010-03-18T14:51:00.002-04:00

I lost Chase in the toy section at Target yesterday. After circling a few times I turned as I saw something moving in the big ball bin.

Yep, found him.

Good Morning Young Jedis

2010-03-16T08:34:00.003-04:00

I thought it was rather telling this morning when my boys each woke up at separate times and the first thing out of each of their mouths had to do with their latest obsession: Star Wars.

Toby woke up first: Mom, I changed my mind, I want be R2D2. I'm R2D2 today.

Ben was next about a half hour later: Mom, I need my light saber. Where is my light saber?

Chase, was last, and in his dark room, laying in his crib, I heard him crying out: Mom!!!! I-wan Staw-Wos! I-wan Staw-Wos!

And so this was the start of my day...again. All we talk about, watch, play, pretend is Star Wars. We currently have 6 light sabers so unfortunately when one of theirs gets taken away due to one of them, usually the 2 year old, getting hit in the face with it, they just go and find one of the extras.

Toby dresses up as Darth Vader and stalks people at Costco.

Chase has a Yoda tattoo on his arm that is looking like it will be there forever. How come some last a day and others last for weeks?

Ben is playing the legos star wars game on the computer downstairs right now and pleading for my help.

Do you see the world I live in? Or should I say galaxy?

City Posters

2010-03-13T13:26:00.006-04:00

I'm wanting to put up some poster art on one of my walls with maps of the places we've lived as a family. I really like these from Ork.

Unfortunately Ork hasn't created a San Diego one. And for some reason, Provo, Ut did not make it onto their site yet either. Once they get those then we'll have a collection of all the places we've lived together.

I think this one is cute for the boys. But I kind of like it for me too. I found it at my new favorite site threepotatofour. I think I might need that cute orange phone as well. Too bad the poster's out of stock. Todd will not be sad about that though.

In No Particular Order

2010-03-04T15:28:00.007-04:00

I sometimes ask Chase the common question of "Who do you love?" Today his response was a list and I'm going to tell Todd that it was in no particular order, but I think there was some truth to his order.

His answer:

1) Momma

2) Wa-wa (t.v.)

3) Geta (his blankie)

4) Ben

5) Toby

6) Daddy

I'm actually surprised I beat out "wa-wa" and "geta." Feeling pretty good about myself about that. I should also add that if the same question were asked during Friday-Sunday Todd would be at the top of the list.

Right Back Where We Started From

2010-02-25T11:13:00.005-04:00

Yesterday was good. Well except for the rain, the stir-crazy boys, and one very whiny, clingy 2 year old who is getting over a sickness. Other than that it was good.

Todd found out yesterday that he will be transferring to the L.A. office with McKinsey, which undoubtedly means that we get to go with him!!! And that means, no more shoveling snow, no more mittens, coats, beanies, boots, etc. The thought of [mostly] good weather year round is almost too much for me. We are going to be moving after the boys' school year is over, so most likely at the beginning of the Summer and we're hoping to find ourselves in Orange County where we both have family and back to where we started from. It's time. We've lived here for 5 years now and have been feeling that pull to go back so we are thrilled and so are the boys.

We have 4 months left in Boston so we're going to try and squeeze anything we haven't done in before we leave. Hopefully Spring will come earlier this year (hah!) so we can get out enjoy all there is to do. And if you want to come visit us before we leave, springtime really is beautiful here. Ehem, Lindsey, Sunny...

Do you think I would make a good addition to OC Housewives? I think they could use a mormon housewife on that show...I need a couple surgeries before they would take me though.

Winter Break in New York

2010-02-21T21:56:00.004-04:00

The kids had school off this past week so I loaded up the van and headed to New York to the Harris B&B where we enjoyed delicious home cooked meals, watched the olympics, ignored each other as we sat with laptops around the fire and enjoyed the snow as much as we could. As an added bonus Jared and Kelli are still in the U.S. and now staying with the Harrises for a few weeks so we got to play with them and their adorable girls.

Chase learned to cover his eyes down the hill to conquer any fear

Aging

2010-02-19T18:55:00.005-04:00

My kids are getting older. Here is proof...

Toby lost his first tooth soon after he turned 6 last month, which validated our credibility since for the last 2 years we have been telling him he would lose his teeth once he turned 6.

High-five on that one Ms.Tooth Fairy!

He also finally had a birthday party at Monkey Joe's with a bunch of friends and this weird looking monkey hung out for a few minutes. Creeee-py.

Chase miraculously lived to see his 2nd Birthday on Feb. 4th. He made sure to make it very clear that he was indeed 2 by doing some very "2-like" messes throughout the day.

Still so easy to love though.

Ben's Funny

2010-02-04T00:54:00.004-04:00

So today on our way to play-group Ben informed me of something. He said, "Mom, did you know that I have a booger collection...In my STOMACH!?"

Then later today when I broke it to him that we were not having dessert tonight he replied, "Okay...Your Majesty," in a very depressed tone.

Such a funny guy.

Gettin' Jiggy With It

2010-02-03T20:54:00.006-04:00

At the risk of humiliating myself, I'm posting these videos of one of our before bed dance sessions. It's a good way to kill the last half hour of the day. Chase busted out a new move that is sure to be a crowd-pleaser in the second video.

I don't know who taught him it, but it's adorable.

We invite you into our world for a minute, if you dare:

(a little livelier in the end)

Coco Key

2010-02-01T09:38:00.003-04:00

We have been looking forward to our Coco Keys weekend for the past month, I might have been even more so than the boys. Which is rather odd, because clearly, who wants to be seen in a bathing suit in the dead of winter under flourescent lighting? I think it was just the idea of not being trapped inside the house for the 4th weekend in a row that was so dreamy to me. Coco Keys is an indoor waterpark about 30 minutes north of us. We went up Friday afternoon, met a bunch of our friends there, stayed the night at the hotel it's connected to, and played again on Saturday. The kids had a blast even though we all agreed it needed to be 10 degrees warmer for it to be more enjoyable.

Also, Ben learned how to swim without any floaties while we were there. He was super proud of himself!

The pictures aren't great-something obviously was on my lens or that's just the chlorine fumes. Most likely the chlorine.

(definitely recommend getting a cabana for napping!)

A Lesson of Selflessness

2010-01-26T23:13:00.004-04:00

I had a very sweet moment with Toby today.

He is in Kindergarten now and is beginning to act more and more grown up. The disaster in Haiti has been weighing very heavy on my heart since it happened and we've had a few discussions about it with the boys, explaining the science behind earthquakes and also trying to teach them about why something like this would happen. The boys were mostly concerned about how an earthquake works and what would happen to our house, etc.

But this morning before Toby went to school, out of the blue, he went up and got all of his money in his wallet which is way more than I have in mine, and the money still on a ribbon from one of his birthday presents and told me he wanted to put it in an envelope to give to Haiti.

What it would be like to be as selfless as this 6 year old boy- who agonizes over having to spend any money of his own on a toy at Target- but who would give it all to these people without a second thought.

What a sweet boy.

Ramblings

2010-01-25T22:14:00.006-04:00

I planned on getting up earlier this morning because Ben had a doctor's visit and you know how you don't want to look like the welfare family at the doctor's office? So I had big plans to get us all looking clean, bedhead combed down and in our nicest weekday clothes. Well, I can say I got most of the bedhead combed down, but that's about it. I ran a brush through my hair, threw on the quickest and warmest outfit and bundled the kids up in jackets that should've been washed 2 days ago. Luckily the doctors office is located in Revere, Mass. so we still ended up being the best looking and best dressed people there. If you need a pick-me-up, visit Revere, Massachusetts. You will not be disappointed...with yourself.

Chase was a disaster, big surprise, at the doctor's visit. I literally should weigh 80 pounds (I kept trying to put an "L" in "pounds" and couldn't figure out why-what is happening to my brain?) with how much running I do just to keep up with Chase. And if I got a nickel for every time I heard "Oh that's the perfect name for him." I would own my dream house in La Jolla by now. Okay, I'm exaggerating, but you get the point.

I took a relatively healthy little Ben in for a routine check up and left with a list of 3 other specialists the doctor wants him to be seen by. Nothing to be alarmed about-one for his twinkle fingers thing, which is cute, yes, but we are thinking about his future and don't want him acting like a little squirrel every time he's around a girl when he's a teenager. An eye doctor because Dr. N thinks he has somewhat of a lazy eye, and then a dermatologist for his dimpling scar. I just kept thinking, this is going to be a lot of doctor's visits, which was worsened by the fact that every 2 minutes Chase was acting out his escape strategy and running into other exam rooms and hiding behind the reception desks and stepping on medical devices and pushing cute little Chinese babies playing nicely with the waiting room toys. Seriously he was nicknamed "The Baby of Danger," by his brothers for a reason. Love him, but OMGsh, he's crazy.

Then we hit up Target because I need a swimsuit for this weekend. We're going to an indoor water park with a group of friends for a couple days and all I had was my g-string bikini which I just don't know if that would be sending the right message to the little ones. Plus, the first counselor in the bishopric will be there- but on second thought, maybe I should, then maybe they'd release me from this new calling they gave me at church....hmmmm. So I found a very modest one piece (I think I just heard my Mother scream) and a cute cover-up. I think this is only blog-worthy because I tried on like 15 suits with Chase and Ben in the dressing room acting worse than their Father in a mall. If you were at the Target in Revere today and heard a mother threatening her children's lives and coming up with every sort of bribe imaginable if they would just sit still and stop opening the door and stop banging their bodies against the cheap dressing room walls and spilling their juice and strawberry milk on the ground-I doubt that was me, cause my children and I would never behave like that. But again, we were in Revere, Mass. so we probably were one of the better behaved people there.

After that it just RAINED. So it was just another day INSIDE. So sick of being inside. Wanting to be outside.

We ended the day with a big bubble bath and forgot about anything unhappy or unpleasant about the day. Toby was kinder today. Ben was cuddly. Chase made us laugh. And that's how I'll end this day.

Goodnight.

P.S. I do not own a G-String bikini--but Todd does.

Feeling Done

2010-01-21T21:26:00.003-04:00

Aaaahhhh...the kids are asleep and Todd will be back in town tonight. I like Thursday nights. It's almost like having 2 Fridays for me. I look forward to Thursdays now as much as I do Fridays. Even though he locks himself in the office on Fridays and we only see him when he has to pee or when he wants food, it's still nice to know that he's here and not in Pennsylvania or New Jersey or wherever the heck he goes...I really don't ask anymore.

I'm caught up with all my pictures from the holidays so that's a relief. It took about a week for me to settle in to the routine of my normal life but it is good now and I'm feeling more in control lately.

I have numerous projects I've been working on for our home, mostly in my head, but some have been actualized. I repainted my kitchen for the third time and the upstairs bathroom the first week we got home. As soon as I walked through our front door I had this unbearably strong urge to redecorate- or in some cases just decorate. Or just to finally unpack the boxes that hadn't been touched yet. It's been good for my psyche right now-the winter does weird things to my head. I'm not good with being cooped up with not much do so I might as well make it pretty.

Current projects:

-kitchen curtains made out of tea towels-so easy.

-recovering chair cushions

-converting my "junk room" into a work space

-figuring out wall colors that will match my new aqua kitchen color-yikes!

-painting those walls-for the millionth time.

I'll post pictures soon. If anyone has some good decorating sites they love let me know.

Birthdays and Bonfires

2010-01-20T22:43:00.004-04:00

We held one last hurrah with both sides of our family to celebrate Toby's 6th birthday that was a few days later.

Chase was a complete nut, as usual.

We roasted hot dogs and made s'mores after he blew out his candles on his s'more cake.

We decided it was time to go home when the kids started making "sacrifices" around the fire.

Family: Isn't it about...Proximity?

2010-01-20T22:29:00.005-04:00

One of the best parts of being in California was I got to spend time with everyone in my family except my brother Sam-they just had a baby last month so they had an excuse. Sunny's family came and Lindsey's made a surprise visit as well, which she is making a habit of.

One of the downsides of living on the East Coast is being so far away from my family and all of the cousins. My kids are at an age where they are appreciating the relationship of cousins and I just loved watching that. They bounced from one set to the next. There really was never a moment where they weren't surrounded by cousins. Just one of the perks of big families!

Ventura, Ca

2010-01-19T22:26:00.003-04:00

After Christmas we spent a few days with Todd's side of the family at a beach home in Ventura. The home sits right on the beach with a huge sea wall that blocks (for the most part) the waves from crashing in on the house. Lucky for the Harris surf team there was big swell while we were there, which made for good waves to surf and caused the house to shake each time a wave would hit the wall. It was a little scary I must admit.

An up-to-date photo was taken of all of us in front of the sea wall

(please notice my HUMONGOUS HAND-seriously, I was supposed to be 5'11")

(Oh and Todd is really not fat, but his shirt is doing something funky)

(AND ONE MORE THING...we are much closer to the camera than the others so my head (and the rest of me) look huge)

(Not that anyone is looking at me as much as I am.)

(Do you think I could use parenthesis one more time?)

It was cousin heaven for the kids.Aren't they cute?

The Left Side of Ben's Face

2010-01-19T22:07:00.003-04:00

Ben's face got a little messed up over the past month.

First, he fell off a wall and landed on a sharp corner of metal box at the bottom of a lamp post, leaving a very wide gash below and to the left of his left eye.

5 days later, minutes after arriving at the Ventura beach house Ben walks in with blood running from his left eyebrow and had to be taken to an urgent care to have it glued together. He said he walked into the door frame.

And then shortly after getting back to Boston Chase decided to take a bite out of Ben's left cheek.

The bite and the brow are healing nicely, it's the dent under his eye I'm worried about. It looks like a dimple now. I hope it's just scar tissue that will work itself out. He's still pretty cute, battle-wounds and all.

Christmas Morning

2010-01-18T22:52:00.002-04:00

Santa found us 3000 miles away from home amazingly. The boys were a bit concerned that he wouldn't realize we were in California this year.

But he came down a chimney, we're not sure which one (Ben was very concerned about that), ate cookies, the reindeer ate some carrots, and left a bunch of presents that the boys had written on their lists, including a snow globe for Toby. Unfortunately for Ben, he did not bring him "pokey things to beat up Jonathon [one of Toby's friends who sometimes is not nice to Ben]."

There's always next year, Ben.

A Trip for Charlie

2010-01-16T17:05:00.003-04:00

We took a very short trip to Vegas to attend the funeral of Charlie Harris. He passed away a few weeks after he was born and we were able to be there to hear his incredibly faithful and strong parents, Josh and Rachel honor him at the funeral. We were amazed at their strength. This is their second child they've lost to this genetic disease (Spinal Muscular Atrophy). We were grateful that we were there for it and had them, and continue to have them, in our thoughts and prayers.

Getting out the wiggles before cousin Charlie's funeral in Vegas

Little Boys

2010-01-16T01:26:00.002-04:00

(On the new trail along San Clemente)

I had a number of moments during our vacation where I looked up at my little family of boys and thought to myself this is what I've always wanted.

I always pictured myself raising a bunch of boys with maybe a girl at then end. We'll see what the future has in store in the girl department, but for now I'm loving these little boys. They are doing everything little boys do and cracking me up and driving me crazy as they do it all. I keep telling myself that they'll grow out of this crazy stage, but part of me knows it's just the beginning of things to come.

Especially with Chase in the picture-this kid is dangerous! He said his first sentence yesterday, "I push baby," after he confessed pushing our little friend Emmeline (who just learned to walk) down the stairs. I don't know if he was feeling remorse for it or just proud of his ability to say a complete sentence but he kept saying it over and over today. He keeps us laughing! Pushing Emmeline, definitely not funny though.

Running Errands with my Cool Kids

2010-01-13T12:05:00.000-04:00

La Jolla, CA

2010-01-12T22:13:00.006-04:00

Not really sure how the iphone did this, but kinda fun right?

This was our first day putting our toes in the sand. The waves were huge and the skies were blue in La Jolla that day. We met up with friends Mary, Parker and Miles who took the boys down to the tidepools to explore and made us some delicious mac and cheese for lunch.

We ate In N Out on the way home. And life was good.