Things I never thought I would say #1

Im finding that as a parent, I hear myself saying things that I never thought I would EVER say.  Thought I would just put a few down so that I can remember them.

"Sawyer, Stop putting the Polly Pocket in the toaster"

"Son, stop licking the cats back!"

"No Brock, you cannot eat plain butter"

"Do NOT punch him!! STOP punching him"



And finally I found myself saying something that when I was young, I swore I would never say because when my mom said it, it drove me CRAZY.

"Well ya know what,  Life isn't fair!!"

Mom would be soooo proud of that one

The Mean Mom

So lateley Karsen and I have been really struggling with our oldest son Jayden.  His whole life he has been a very easy going, happy and all around good kid.  Then he turned 8. I honestly feel like now he does every and anything that he can do to push my buttons.  And its working!!!   I have spent a lot of time talking to my mom and friends to see what to do to handle it.  The main theme that I have gotten from them is when I say Im gonna do something, I need to stick with it.  Okay, .......confession time.  I do not always do what I say or threaten to do so I can see why this attitude is my fault to some extent.  Basically I have to just be as my friend Angela says "the mean mom"

Anyway, yesterday was a particularly trying day with arguments ranging from homework to cleaning his room to talking back.  A particular comment that he said sort of set me off.  When I told him that he needed to do what Heavenly Father asked and honor his mom and dad, he looked at me and yelled "But Mom, That is IMPOSSIBLE!!!  I had to leave the room after that one.  So as I was stressing about how to deal with it I thought of the mean mom thing and decided to channel my inner mean mom. I decided that I was gonna ground him from a boat race that his scout troop is doing and that I HAD to stick with it.

So I sat him down and told him that  I wasnt very happy with the behavior that he had been having.  I told him that now that he was 8 and baptised, it was his responsibility to make the right choices. And that the way he was acting is Satans way of sneaking into his life to cause problems.  Then I dropped the bombshell of him not being able to go to the boat race.  Holy teenage girl like freakout!!!!  He proceeded to tell me that I was a .....wait for it.... Mean Mom.... and that I never let him do anything fun...yada yada yada.  Essentially by the time he was done with the accusations and tears I felt like a total creep.   But I stuck to my guns (pat myself on the back moment) and told him that I love him and that it is my job to teach him responsibility and that is the way that I am doing it. 
Anyway, the next morning when he woke up,  he was a complete delight.  I didnt have to yell or get after him at all.  Thus far it seems to have taught him (and me) a very good lesson.
When he went to school today he even gave me a hug and kiss and said "Mom your the BEST mom ever!!".....at least when Im not being mean I guess

My sweet boy and his daddy on  baptism day.  Could he be any cuter??

Going on a Berry Hunt.

Since I was young, one of my favorite things to do in the late summer/early fall, was to go huckleberry picking.  We used to go and make a whole day of it.  I have many fond memories of those times.  Because of those fond memories,  I want my kids to be able to make the same kind of memories.  I think that is an important thing and one of the reasons that my family is so close to this day.  So this past weekend my sisters and mom and our families all went out to find the elusive huckleberries.

Loading up the truck to go up in the mountains

When we actually got up there and found a good spot, the kids did more playing and eating than actual picking.  But Karsen and the kids did find lots of wild raspberries as well as huckleberries.  I made the boys pose for this picture during their fun

Little Rhett (my sweet nephew)  hanging out in the truck with Grandma.

Beckham (another nephew) running to tell his momma  "Mom, I gotta go pee!!"

Me and Sawyer being silly!!

The two lone girl grandkids gotta stick together dont ya know

And finally, some of the yummy berries we picked.

It was so much fun and now we get to enjoy the "fruit of our labors"  (pun intended)

Its a Beach Party!!!

Okay so its not really a beach party but gimme a break,  I live in SE Idaho where beaches arent exactly plentiful!!  Anyhoo...we had a little celebration to mark Brocks 6th Birthday and Miss Emmas 4th Birthday.  We had it at our house and used this awesome blow up pool and waterslide that my in laws have.  The kids were able to invite lots of friends and the weather was absolutely perfect.  Here are a few little shots of the fun we had

Here is that awesome water slide

Miss Emma and her bathing beauty friends

Brock and friends sitting down for some English muffin pizzas.  Yummy!!!

Emma and her gals havin some lunch

Jayden and cousin Jack

Emma and her friend Hayven really enjoyed their snow cones!

CAKE TIME (I love Brocks face)

Both kiddos showing off some presents they got.

Lots and lots of sun and fun.  But mom is definitely glad its over!!!

Building a Beach

So since my kiddos Brock and Emma have birthdays so close together (about 3 weeks), we decided to to their parties combined.  They chose a beach party theme (pictures and a post from that to come later.)  Anyway,  we decided to do the cake at home and decorate it ourselves.  Since I am not a cake decorator I was a little nervous as to how it would turn out.
First I made one of my kids and husbands favorite cakes, a Texas fudge cake, and put it in a large sheet pan.  Then i let it cool and here is where it got really fun!

First I tinted some icing blue and iced one side of the cake and made it really thick to be waves of the water

Then I iced the other side white and crushed up some graham crackers to make the sand

Here is what it looked like with that all done

Here are my little helpers. Although you can see from their faces they were doing more eating than helping

Then we had to add our people and other decorations to the beach.  We used some icing to give our teddy graham beach goers swim trunks and bikinis.

Then we added the writing on the cake.  We also made beach towels, a surf board and a shark fin out of graham crackers and then added our people and the candles.  This is the finished product.

All in all it turned out to be a really fun project.  And the kids loved it.  In the words of Emma "mom that is the most awesomest cake ever!"

Saying Good Bye Stinks!!

Things have been a tad bit crazy lately with getting back into the groove of school.  Now that the older two are gone during the day, I have a bit more time to think.  And truthfully, Im not sure that is such a good thing.  I have been thinking lots about my friend Angela who up and moved all the way to Kansas. I know that I moved from Pocatello about a year ago, but I was still able to stop by and see her smiling face.  Seriously you cant talk to Angela and not have a smile on your  face.  I miss her crazy laugh, her adorable kiddos and the way she says yall.  She is an amazing person and she helped me through a lot of crap that I have been through, and Im not sure if she even realizes that.  That is how amazing she is.  Anyway,  I was able to talk to her today and I gotta say that it honestly made my day.  She is amazing and SO strong. So with all that being said I now need to say officially that Good byes Stink!!  Okay here I am getting all emotional but I honestly have few friends that I consider close and she is one of them. 

Saw this quote on one of my facebook friends wall and had to post it

Wouldn't life be perfect IF: Sweatpants were sexy, Monday's were FUN, Junk food didn't make you FAT, Girls didn't cause so much DRAMA, GUYS were't so confusing, and goodbyes only meant until tomorrow

Miss ya and love ya Warth Family!!!