funny kids

So, we were talking about something that we were going to do tomorrow... Sammy chimes in, "ToMario?"

We were talking to our neighbor about them selling their house... I mentioned that my sister was looking and Ada pipes up from the back seat, "And she says Why I outta!" (my sister often says this in a monster voice)

We were serenaded last night by what Jer calls a 'mixed chorus'.  We had Sammy singing the Angry bird theme song, Evelyn singing whatever as loud as she can and Ada sing her flag song that she 'wrote' herself.  ("Wave Flag for me! Wave Flag for me! So I can see you when I walk by. Wave Flag for me!")  We couldn't help but laugh. 

Judgemental

You know... being both fat and Mormon I get judged by the outside world a lot.  They probably wouldn't judge me the same if they knew me as they do on paper... but I do think it's kind of ironic.  2 examples:  MSN ran an article on how we, as members of the LDS church, pay tithing.  It was very inaccurate and you could tell it was coming out just in time for Mitt Romney's campaign.  The judgemental part was reading the comments at the bottom of the page.  WOW... that's about all there is to say.  There were maybe 5 people that had actually met one, 3 that were Mormon, and 1 that used to be.  Let's just say that there were not very many kind words.  Most of them saying that we were tax evaders, extortionists, idiots for giving money for the good of others, and very selfish with the churches money.  I was really surprised.  I'm not familiar with that group of Mormons... The second example was I've had a UTI... yuck... the last couple of days.  I went in to get an antibiotic and of course they have to take all your stats... weight, height, oxygen levels, and blood pressure.  I got the exact same reaction that I get every time someone takes my blood pressure.  Because I'm heavy, they expect a high blood pressure.  When they get 60/108 they look at me funny and almost every time... "Is your blood pressure usually like this?"   I think in my head, "Yes... and that's bad?"  (anything under 80/120 is normal)...

Moral of the story, know the person before you make the judgement.

Does she know her dad or what...

So, Ada didn't know that Jer and I were planning on taking our Christmas money and going to replace our dead laptop, but when I asked her and Sam what they wanted to get for daddy for his birthday this year Ada just lit up and said, "I know!  We could get daddy a new, new, new computer with new games on it to play!" 

Haha... does she know her dad or what.

Zoo

We try to go to the zoo once a year... I don't think we made it last year, but we've gone the previous years... even taken neices and nephews before we had kids.  Luckily we always have family willing to go too.  This year we got to go with my parents, Nella, McKay's family and some of John and Diane's kids.  It was fun!  I didn't know that there was a baby elephant this year or that the zoo had purchased a polar bear and otters since we last went... or that they had gotten rid of their penguins.  Hmm... things that you don't know til you get there.  Evelyn kept patting and hugging the glass and she positively squealed when she saw the elephants.  We did have one scare.  As we walked around we stopped to make sure that everyone had been drinking water out in the hot sun and after making sure the other 6 kids were there... we couldn't find Anya.  She had kept walking when we'd stopped.  She told me that she wanted to see the tigers after we found her.  The really neat thing is that while Jer went one way, I went the other, (the other kids stayed with my parents) and when I got to where the path splits I felt that I needed to take a certain one... I did, and at the top of the hill she was there looking at the tigers.  (A lady was trying to help her see them... I don't know how she didn't notice that she didn't have a parent/adult with her.)  I feel so blessed to have the Holy Ghost in my life to help at times like this. 

Hoola hoop contest

Caught in an eagle's nest.

This polar bear was giving quite a show... it swam back and forth forever giving kids kisses and fives on the glass.

Baby Arwen

My sweet little new niece... just about a week old... making me baby hungry!

Playing with cousins

We got to play with cousins the other day!  Fun!  We went to the LDS Church History Museum and played at the kids play area while my mind was frantically trying to find excuses to walk through the rest of the art with 6 kids in tow.  We had a blast... Anya and Ada were fast "parrot" friends, Joey and Evelyn were dinner companions and Kate made an easy chair out of building blocks meant to build Benjamin's tower. 

Mother of all sneezes

Honestly, you haven't heard a sneeze unless you've heard one from my mom.  Sometimes sounds more like a loud yell.  She is garaunteed to scare any children in the area.  In fact, Evelyn was standing next to her last night when she happened to sneeze... she looked at Grandma with big eyes, turned around and walked straight over to me and sat on my lap.  When she figured out that Grandma was okay and that she was just sneezing she started to fake sneeze... she practiced over and over... It was very cute.  She had a little "Achoo!" Then we'd hear her flubbing her hand.  It took me at least a day to figure out that she was imitating someone blowing their nose after they'd sneezed.  Haha... gotta love a cute 14 month old.

Jordan

Baby Jordan... what a cute baby... he's well loved by everyone around him and especially by his mom, dad, brother and sister.  These twins were especially excited to have a new baby in the family.

McKay and Sophie Family

Sammy and Uncle Seth

Evelyn and Grandpa Wilcox

Parkinson Reunion

This sweet niece has been my bud pretty much any time I've been over to Grandma's.

So, story about this one... Judy and her cousins that attended the reunion wanted a cousins picture before everyone headed out.  It just goes to show you how fun they are... they climbed in here whether they were 72 or 52...

And I caught Clifton (1 of the surving 2 out of the 9 children from the Parkinson family) pushing Evelyn on the trike... Too cute.  I think he's in his upper 70s.

Swimming and Irrigation

Ada and Mariah actually got along really well.

Jonathan and Sam got to be good friends as well.

And Evelyn and Amelia did too.  Evelyn was sitting in one high chair, saw Amelia and started patting the high chair next to her... They loved to go anywhere together.

Ada won this blanket at the reunion in a drawing for the little kids blanket... and immediately it got some use.

Judy's birthday