confessions of and unbalanced woman

I stole that title from a book I read. It was amazing, by Emily Watts. I am stealing this little segment from my cousin Mary Killion. She does a Tuesday confession that I love. They make me laugh and cry sometimes. SO I am stealing it! Thanks Mary for being so inspiring!

#1. I secretly love that Juliet doesn't want Max to hug her and she runs from him. A little sad but I love it because he loves her TOO MUCH and that is why she doesn't like it! It's kind of sweet in a sad way.

#2. I miss my father in law. He died almost 2 years ago. I used to talk to him at least once a month. He loved hearing little things my kids would do and I would call him sometimes just to tell only him. He loved it! He was inspiring and motivational. I miss him. a lot.

#3. I hate whining and I kind of think I might be a whiner.

#4. I pee my pants when I jump, sneeze, or laugh too hard. The price of 4 babies. Not really a confession as I will let anyone know.

#5. I LOVE TV. I wish I didn't.

#6. I get grumpy when Brandon sleeps in. I don't know why. I think I just want him to be awake when I am so we get the most of our time together. He lets me sleep in. He is never grumpy about it.

#7. I love hand me downs. Again, not a secret.

#8. I talk to my mom every day. Sometimes 4 times a day. I love that she doesn't work cause I can call her more than once a day. I just found out she may go back to work. boo.

More confessions later!

Happy Happy Birthday Darby Dear!

Darby turned 10! I can't believe it! It was just yesterday when she was in my tummy. She is growing up so fast it makes me want to cry! Her birthday was yesterday and her party is today! TOO much fun! Max says, "She's awesome! She's kind, Really kind."

Dash says, "She loves me. She likes to play with me and she likes me."
Juliet says, "She plays with me and does a scary monster voice and chases me! I love when she comes home from school every day she says to me 'I missed you all day!"
Mom says, "She is sooooo funny! I can trust anything she says because she always wants to choose the right. She is helpful and fun. I love that she bares her testimony and wants to get a testimony of her own!"

Daddy says, "I love her sense of humor, her compassion for others, and her desire to be a good person."
Nana says, "Whenever she is with me she makes me happy. She is kind and loving and ALWAYS willing to help me even when it's something she doesn't want to do."

Papa says, "She is a sweet sweet girl and I love her."
Callie the Cat says, "Meow, I love that she lets me sleep ACROSS her neck, Meow!"

Gracie Bell's Birthday!

When we were in Utah for the summer we were able to have a surprise birthday party for Gracie! She was SUPER surprised! It was tons of fun decorating and Yelling SURPRISE! My brother made her cake for her and put this whole party together! I think he is one of the best dads I know! He was so worried about pulling this off and making sure this was great for her! He does a lot of things for his kids on his own and I marvel at him all the time! He is way to hard on himself! What a great dad!
Time to open gifts!
Her "surprised" look!
We love you Gracie Bell!

The Boyers

When we went to Utah over the summer we got to see our Tx friends, the Boyers. I used to babysit Jordyn for a while until she got big enough to go to school. :( We loved having her at our house. One year, on the last day of the school year, Dash pushed Jordyn down on the stairs and bit her on the back! Who bites someone on the back!?!? That year he had bit everyone but Jordyn! NOT ok! Try telling that to someones mom! So sorry, he pinned her down and bit her on the back....the bruising giant bloody teeth marks will turn to bruises in a couple of days, don't worry! Grrrrrr! It's a good thing miss Hilary loves him! We LOVED seeing them in Utah and LOVE that we have tons of memories with them! (not just the bad biting memories!) Dash and Jordyn! They were best buddies for a long time! This is how a lot of their pictures were in the good ol days!
Darby and Cara! Darby LOVED to play with Cara! She was older and wiser (2 years)! They even started a business together! C.A.D.Y.S. Cara and Darby's yard Service. I think that they only serviced the Boyers and our yard. (about 4$) BUT they had HUGE plans for their biz!

Quote of the day!

So you need to keep in mind that when my Max said this he is a real video game head and will talk your ear off about Pokemons and Marios and upgrades and kits and all things game! SO with that I can tell you the story.

We watched the new Karate Kid this Saturday night as a family. There was a cute little love interest in that show. (Max had a crush on a girl in kindergarten named Mary Vu. He liked her because she played video games and only played with boys and never wore pink!) SO Brandon joked with Max and said "oohhhh that's Max's girlfriend Mary Vu!" We expected Max to say "nu uh! I don't like Mary Vu!" like he always did. That is not what my sweet boy said! he said "No way dad! That is Mary Vu "up-graded"!" Mom---- "What did you just say?" Max----- "I said, that is Mary Vu UPGRADED!"

Nice

We miss Uncle Tim

Tim was leaving California to move to Denver for bigger adventures! The night before he left we had a pizza party to say farewell! We miss him!

Little Miss Busy Body!

So that is her name. (See flour post below or any of my walls with crayon or her arms and legs with Marker!) We bought HUGE cupcakes at Costco for some special thing for the kids. Juliet whined and cried the whole time they were in the cart because she wanted them! When it was time to eat them she FLIPPED out when I had to help her because I didn't want a HUGE mess! She wouldn't have a bite unless she could do it her self. Sorry Charlie! You don't get to have something if you throw a major fit! We were done with the cupcakes and she didn't have any. (we are both very stubborn) The cupcakes then went in the very center of our dining room table with the cover back on them. About an hour later I was in the kitchen (one room over) and realized I hadn't heard ANYTHING for about 3 minutes! I came into the dining room to find this.......

Not only one or two but THREE cupcakes! She had to quietly and VERY quickly pull the chair out (on tile) then climb on the chair to the table and quietly take the cover off THEN very quickly INHALE as much as possible before I came in!
I feel the same way about a cupcake!


She got what she wanted and I got even a bigger mess than if I would have just let her have one in the first place. 1 point Miss Busy Body! 0 points mommy!

Last day of school!

It felt like school was in session FOREVER here! We don't start until middle of Sept. so we go until the middle of June. Here is Darby with her friend Monzi! They were good buddies through the whole year! Darby with her friend Maritza! The three of them did everything together through the school year.
Darby received a Presidential award at the end of the year. It was a big award for academics. Here she is with the other award winners and her teacher Ms. Inbar.
Max and his teacher Mrs. Faraji!

Memorial day! (Or Labor day)

I can never remember which is which! This one was in May. I think that is Memorial Day! It is one of them that you get Monday off! Mom J (Myrna) came out after Olivia's graduation to spend it with us and see the new Baby Jeremy! It was so fun to have her there and be with all of us. We had a little bbq and swim party! (It was the last one we had in that house) :(

Jamie's cute little family with Grandma Myrna. (from lt. to rt. Journey, Marilynn, Domenique, Grandma Myrna, Baby Jeremy, Jamie and Ireland)
Grandma Myrna with the her grandkids!
Snuggle time with Grandma.
The girls were so cute. They kept getting in and out of this little space. (under a bar stool)
Baby Jeremy and Grandma.
Journey with her little brother (she is getting ready to kiss him) she loves his ear lobes. (Dash used to love ear lobes too. It was the first thing he went for on a baby. He would try to be sneaky about it sometimes too.) too funny!
Kisses for baby brother!
Pool time!


Brothers with their babies!



Time for dinner!










We loved having Grandma Myrna with us. It just made us wish we could all live closer!

Olivia's graduation!

We were able to go to Arizona for Brandon's nieces graduation! I can't believe she is even that old! I remember when I started dating Brandon she wasn't even 2 yet! She used to LOVE the Lion King and knew the songs so well she would even do the background noises! Brandon and I still sing the songs the way she would sing them! She used to call me bashzazshee! (long story). We didn't get to make it to see her graduate but we got to see her and spend time with family and friends. I didn't get a single photo of her and she was the reason we went out there! Oh well! Her mom (B's sister, Wendy) and Wendy's hubby, Matt (Secret Agent Man/Numbers) and baby Rocco! Whew that was a mouthful! Baby Roman was in Aunt Wendy's belly! We went to a park to hang out and play. They had a fun train that went around the park. It was SOOOOOO hot there! Az. packs some HEAT! The boys enjoyed a slushee as we rode the train!
They also had a little splash park there. Darby was at a friends house but the boys enjoyed cooling off and taking care of Juliet (who btw was still only CRAWLING!)

Big brother helping her get up!
Dash would "walk" her places so she could get around without getting water splashed in her face!
It's exhausting when you have to play!
If you can't beat em', join em'!