Where the heck have I been!!?

Things are not completely normal yet but I should be able to start posting updates for our family. We are in Bellbrook, Ohio. It's very beautiful. Great schools! They sure know how to suck your wallet dry though. Our house is a lot bigger thank heaven. Everyone is making friends, so that's good.
I love you all and hope all is well. I will write more soon.

Woo-Hoo!

The other day we were driving in the car and the kids start asking about getting shots..."When do we have to get shots again?"
Here we go again...but it just happens that Levi needs two and we were taking him soon.
"Levi is the only one who needs shots right now"
Levi, at hearing that belted out with a ..."Wooooo-Hoooooo YAH! And gestured as if he was pulling a train whistle.
All of us busted out laughing. He thought that was funny...but he wasn't laughing today.

PHew!! What a busy few months...

Well I wanted to post a funny story...So my son is now ten and goes through lots of emotional ups and downs, but for the last two months has been in this helpful angel phase. He started doing laundry for me!!!Jealous? You should be. He got up the other day early and we were talking and he stops suddenly, "Oh I need to put the clothes in the dryer!"
Ok, so this makes me feel sooooooooooo good.
So he also started decided that he likes taking showers and so Joey thought it would be fun for him to buy him his own "AXE" hair and body care system. Because that's what Joey uses and he likes it. Ok, so he comes out of the shower one day and I said, "Scrub down really well?"

"Yup, I shampooed and soaped down and rubbed conditioner all over my body"
UUUUHH "What?"

So we had a good laugh about that for the next two weeks.

Love you all,
take care
Carlie

Memories

My Scarlett is sick today, which reminded me of the last time she was sick...and I thought I'd share a funny moment.

So the last time Scarlett was sick, I was sitting in my living room on my couch. She came to me and told me she didn't feel good. I told her to grab a bucket (old gallon ice cream bucket with handle) and keep it with her. She then started to gag and covered her mouth with her hands..."run" (to the bathroom) I said...Where I'm sitting I have a clear view of the hallway...so she had puked into her hand a little bit and as she goes skipping down the hall she proceeds to shake her hands clean ...all down the hallway...I should have been completely grossed out, but actually, the visual was so funny, I cleaned the hallway laughing the whole time.

Starting February with a bang!

Ok, so my littlest gremlin is at that marvelous stage where he is repeating everything we say. I think we all know how fun that can be, right?
So he comes to me, while I was a little distracted and grabs my face so he gets my full attention, and tells me wants something that sounds very close to the very naughty F work...
So he has my full attention, and I'm thinking that I better figure out what the heck he wants before he has the other kids attention also! So after a few minutes I figure out that he wants to play "Star Fox"
Then I proceed to attempt giving him phonetics lesson on how to say FOX....yeah, we're still working on that one...aren't little gremlins great!?

My January

Ok, so the other day at lunch I pull out this great looking salad my neighbor gave me...store bought, just enough for one, but a big serving. So I put it all together and I was gonna sit down and enjoy this yummy looking salad. So I'm sitting and my baby comes over and starts begging me for bite...fine, he likes salad, have a bite kid. I turn my attention to the tube for a second and back down for another stab at my yummy salad...my son is hovering over my salad spitting everything out, covering my yummy salad all over with his spit. The look on his face is the same look all my kids give me when they are very sick and throwing up helplessly over and over. It could have also been translated as,
"you're gonna spank me for this, I know, I'm sorry, but your salad is the most disgusting thing I have ever tasted." Then he motions to me, opening his mouth, with a look of...."please mommy help me get this taste out of my mouth."

I was really sad that I lost my yummy salad after only a few bites, but I was more sad that I didn't have the moment recorded on my camera.

Guess the kid doesn't like goat cheese

My January

So January found us once again without Joey for five weeks...three more to go. Thankfully nothing too terrible has gone down in his absence. Glory turned 8 and Gideon turned 10 and even though we were without our daddy they still had fun birthdays.

To be very honest Sundays are very scary without Joey. Something about never knowing what to expect of my littlest gremlin during Sacrament seems to keep my stress level high.
So the very first Sunday by myself I shuffle in too late for a side pew, and get them in their places. Our very nice and very young second counselor comes to chat...
"So going solo again? Hows that going? I was gonna ask if you wanted to say our closing prayer...would that not ....be possible then?

I might have given him my -I'm an evil harpy and will claw your face off- look but I hope it wasn't that bad..."I better pass this time...sorry"
"Oh sure, sure , no problem, I completely understand"

well if that was some sort of torture test, I failed, but my sister gave me a way out of my guilt...That was a lesson he needed to learn...I hope he won't forget it...ever.

So I've been a little stressed out over another issue...my now ten year old son had a loose tooth that has been hanging by rotting strands of skin for months...seriously, months...so finally one night I'm furious once again because he refuses to pull the stupid thing out...But I'm extra mad tonight...I'm so mad I wanted to break dishes...I was ticked...

"He's gonna get it now...when he falls asleep, I'm gonna rip that tooth out"
I had tried before but I guess I just wasn't mad enough...so I felt a little better knowing that I was gonna cause him a little pain for what he caused me.

So I cleaned my kitchen and an hour or so later I could tell he was asleep. First I had to move him on his side and give him a minute to relax again...I turned off the light...slowly stuck my finger in his mouth.. It took a push and a pull and it was out...and the little rebel didn't even wake up. I was happy it was out and felt a little empty that he didn't even feel it. The next morning went like this...

"Wake up guys...who want's oatmeal? Who wants cereal? Who wants to see THE NASTY TOOTH i RIPPED OUT OF THEIR MOUTH LAST NIGHT?"

That woke him up! So he's checking out his tooth and has the gaul to get excited that he was gonna get money from the tooth fairy!

"Not a chance twerp, I did the work, I get the dough...the tooth fairy's gonna transfer 50 bucks out of your allowance, into mine for all my pain and suffering."

Then he laughs hysterical at me like I said something terribly funny and walked off laughing as if the truth behind my threat was just not in the cards...but funny anyway.

I wasn't laughing or joking...