**caution...cute but handle with care**

katie at about 13 months with one of her *looks*

so i need to mention this cause it's kind of funny, this morning kyle and katie were actually playing and laughing, and then within seconds i hear this yell comming from katie that i swear if she could talk she would of been swearing, then i hear kyle yell "NOO KADEE!" and then another cry from katie and then kyle's crying! what the...okay so i go over to check out what's going down and i actually see why kyle is crying...katie decided that she wanted something kyle had and when kyle took it away from her she actually HEAD BUTTED HIM(gently and on the back but still!) my *sweet* little 17 month old girl was beating up on her 4 year old brother! she then went to grab at him but i got involved and took her away as she was flailing to grab at kyle! the best part was as i picked her up she did that *swearing* yell at kyle again!

I have NO idea where she gets her fiestiness from, i'm just a bowl of peaches at all times, so i KNOW it's not me! ;)

by far my favorite D.I. finds

this is actually an enamel ware...enamel ware with flowers!!! i nearly fell over when i saw it!

i found these two plates this last time i went to D.I. they both together cost me less than $2! i also found a few other things, but i'm still tweaking them so i'll post when i'm done! have i mentioned i looooove having a girl?

dream house stalking and meals prepared

okay so this is the house that i've been looking at for about 3 or 4 years now, i drive by and look at it and just think it is soo lovely, i love the simplicity of it and i love the colors, love the shutters love the front door, so forth, and i have to admit this isnt the first time i've sat outside this house and taken a picture either, i'm sure it looks kind of freaky but really i just love the house, when i took jake to look at it, he said it look like a soap box. basically he didnt like it, but maybe if i add a wrap around porch then it would add some spice and then he would like it, now if only i can convince the owners to give it to me we would be set!

so i did it, made dinner that is, the kids all whined and complained till they tried it and then it was "oh it doesnt taste too bad!" gee thanks, i guess...baby steps i'll try something more exciting next!

kyle turns 4

all day long he would tell everyone that "today is MY birthday!" (we told him we were going to eat cake and celebrate the night before his birthday, but he still insisted to tell everyone that THAT day was his birthday...it's okay dude whatever you want!)

poor little guy his actual birthday was overshadowed by our farewell for jake, but we tried to make it a little special the night before at grandma and grandpa's house. kyle is a super cute adorable kid, who's scream is really loud for such a small child, i guess that's what happens when you have two older brothers and you have to defend yourself. he's a cuddle bug and is loved by everyone, anyone who knows him (adults that is) has had at least one time in their life when he just decides that he wants to be on your lap and just be happy as a clam there! he absolutley adores his older brothers, is dad's biggest fan, is mommy's little shadow, and starting to appreciate being an older brother to katie! we love you!

our final goodbye

jake with his mom and dad

our ever so excited selves
nate

daddy and katie
daddy and kyle
looking on to the airplane
my favorite picture

i don't know why they've dragged this process out so long, i would of much rather had a quick pull of the the bandaid instead of a little tug every couple of days or weeks, but now our actual "year" deployment begins. it was emotional to say the least, but the blessings at 5 am this morning made everything seem okay. we're suppose to be doing this at this time, i'm suppose to be here in this super small town while he is gone (when we prayed we were astounded that we were to pass up chicago, teaching at a medical school and doing research at the hospital, jake's dream job) my children were promised blessings that brought tears to my eyes, i was promised strength beyond my comprehession, all i have to do is ask for help from above, the words "He's waiting just for you to ask, and the blessings are there for you to have" we were all assured that life will go on, Heavenly Father knows of our needs, and is wanting to give us so much if i just ask for help. (i think i see a pattern here) i was also blessed with acknowledgement that i struggle quietly (well i guess i did till i just wrote it out!) and that i need to stop that and just ask for help. OKAY I GET IT! but anyways, it was wonderful.

all in all it was super busy after he left, i sat with all four children for over 2 hours at the militarynational guard headquarters just waiting to get a current ID card. the couple of soldiers kept apologizing for all the computer glitches that were causing the delay, as we walked away, they jokingly said "are you going to be alright? i mean we could watch them for a little if you need a moment" i looked at them smiled and said "i don't think you would last a minute, they would eat you alive, but thank you!" we all laughed and as i walked away i had a moment of "yeah, i'm super-mom" then it faded as the kids finally let loose and started running and yelling, fighting about who was going to pick the movie in the car, katie had had it and was not having the stroller again! and so forth. it wasnt till the drive home after BYU (signitures for jake's dissertation) while the movie had long been over and the kids were all nodding off that i did the cry, that ugly one, the one you are praying no one sees. it was brief it was fierce, and now i'm tired. i am going to bed, to sleep off the headache, and to welcome tomorrow morning 364 days left till my sweetheart comes home to us for good. one day at a time. with lots of prayers. thank you for your kind words, and prayers, and thoughts, we appreciate them!

i've been tagged

10 years ago I was: a newlywed. living in San Luis Obispo (gosh i miss that place!) working at the local bank debating if i should stay in school (which i was totally burnt out on) decided that 15 units would be totally easy to finish once i got my groove back to do it... yeah 10 years later, still same 15 units hanging over my head.

5 things on my to do list for today: (well tomorrow morning)
*get up super early so we can do father's blessings for the kids
*see jake off for our final farewell to this deployment
*finish getting signatures for jake's dissertation to be published
*get my active duty ID card
*Cry my brains out with the other wives on my husband's team after we send them off at our "woe is us party" we are going to have!

If I were a billionaire I would:
*hire someone to do this and that around the house to make it just like i want it
*finish the barn so that i can have my own creative retreat
*buy my kids tutors, for everything from education to woodworking, to cattle driving, to culinary, to drum lessons, this way they could get a taste of everything and find their true passion in life
*buy a summer house in san diego
*help people anonymously
3 bad habits:
*self doubting
*scared of failing so therefore letting opportunities pass me by
*my car is disgusting

5 places I've lived:
Middle of nowhere, UT
Monterey, CA
Provo, UT
San Luis Obispo, CA
San Diego, CA

Jobs I've had:
*Manager Of Messes (M.O.M.)
*pattern maker
*organizer
*Assistant to the Assistant of the CFO (ooh yeah)
*Personal trainer/Aerobics instructor
Thing most people don't know about me:
*I watch those stupid MTV shows, go ahead and ask me who Lauren Conrad, or Heidi and Spencer are! (i'm embarrassed!!!)
you're tagged:
*Brooke
*Kate
*Mindy
*Kim G in cali
Answer the questions and post them on your blog. Leave me a comment when you're done-then you tag 4 new people! Ahhhh, good fun!

the challenge

many of you cook, i do not. which is wierd cause my mom is an avid cook. i just can't seem to do it. maybe it's the picky eaters in my house, maybe it's the love hate relationship i've had with food for so long, but i'm not using excuses anymore. i've decided that this is the year of "stop talking about it and just start doing it" and so here's my french toast. this one wasnt hard cause the kids actually like to eat this. and i do it more often than not, after tomorrow it's just me and the kids, so i'm going to make it a plan to "prepare" food. my first cookbook to tackle is "5 ingredient cooking" baby steps! BABY STEPS!!

before he leaves...

i'm trying to take pictures of jake and the kids. it pains me to no end that we havnt taken a family picture yet that is outside, it's just been so cold, and with katie being sick with a nasty cough i just can't bring myself to do it! so when jake has a few days inbetween washington and afghanistan, sometime in april we are already scheduled with a lady here in town, i wish i could have my friend maggie do them because she's amazing but, i have to do what i got to do with the resources i got...here's the mini me of jake, or so everyone says so!

My new plates and bunny ears

Okay found these plates at my FAVORITE store that is no where near me TARGET. THEY ARE PLASTIC!!! I'm going to back on tuesday when we send off Jake and buying 4 more of the big plates, because they were out at the Target that I was at. The bowl isnt the one that goes with the set either but I bought those instead cause they only had two of the ones with the set, but I thought they went pretty good anyways. My goal for this year is to have all white plates, real ones and now plastic ones! WOOHOOO! It's the little things I tell you.

you can see the shear excitement oozing off his face can't you?

these children have been affected by the popular fashion of having velcro on shoes. Well I don't know if its popular still, but we have a few pairs with velcro, so my kids havn't had the opportunity to learn how to tie their shoes. So Jake's home for a few days before they leave, and he put it upon himself to teach the boys how to tie thier shoes...the instructions went a little like this "okay, now pull the bunny ears, don't be afraid to yank those bunny ears!!! It's all about the bunny ears!!!" after about half an hour, the boys did it, and are now full blown bunny ear pulling shoe tiers!!!!

Update on Nate

The EEG was normal! Yeah I'm so relieved! It took them till yesturday to tell us but alas late (good) news is better than not! So thank you so much to all of you who prayed, thought, and said nice things to us. We are doing so much better these days with him, and we're just trying to make life smooth here, with everything going on outside of our house (bullies, hard time with dad being at war, his fear of having to leave another "home" behind, hard time with school...so forth) I'm just really trying my darndest to have love and peace in our home. (for example the post of "scream free parenting") He still pushes buttons farther than any other 8 year old I know, but then again those other 8 year olds arnt mine, and they probably don't have ADHD, but I'm working on myself as a mother, a single mother, and I'm trying to be at peace with myself too, I can't make everything perfect, and there's no way that I will try, there's just things in his life that are part of his journey back to his Heavenly Father, but having an crabby mom, who isn't going to try will not be one of his burdens. So I am looking forward, looking up for help, and getting down on my knees to do it. And that's all I'm really going to be concerned about for a while, everything else will take a # and I'll be able to add more at times, and am learning to let go of things too. Now if you excuse me I have to go be a ref between the other two boys wrestling and fighting in the bath tub over who has more "room" in there! :)

May I suggest something?

Whatever you do, do NOT get that nasty flu thing that is going around! IT IS HORRIBLE!!!! My kids and I were in bed starting on Friday and I just got moving about monday long enough to throw all linens off our beds, and Lysol, and Pinesol, everything I could with the small amount of saved up energy I got while I downed some more fever represant. The kids are still down, Katie and Kyle with ear infections and running fevers of around 103.8, Ryan's starting to show some life, and Nate's just lying there. Poor guy didn't get away fast enough! The greatest thing though is that yesturday, I looked out my window just in time see MY HUSBAND, getting out of his truck and getting ready to come in our house!!!! He has to go back today, but what a wonderful thing to even have him back for a day!

You know you have a "Problem" ...

Nate (entertaining himself)

Kyle (poor little guy!)
Ryan (other poor little boy!)
little Miss Katie (ignoring her symptoms)

...when you feel like poop and your kids look like this and you take pictures so you can blog about it! Yes, I have now hit a new low in blogging and my obsession. Nate's the only one who does not have the FLU. Katie surprisingly enough is quite on the happy side for having yet ANOTHER ear infection, she gets those like they are going out of style. So everyone here, (including me now) is feeling poopy and Nate can be heard saying like "I'm BORED here!!" and "Please dont breathe on me, I dont want to get what you have!" And my personal favorite one is "Who's going to take care of everything and everyone if you are sick, mom?" Wish us luck we are in the hands and mercy of an 8 year old!

Happy Valentines Day (cough, cough)

We're not feeling too well over here, but Happy Valentines day everyone!

Scream free parenting

I've been been reading this book "Scream Free Parenting" and like most books like that, I lose interest before they give you all the details on how to do the actual "scream free" part. well I have to share my version of scream free parenting...the other day started out just like any other day after school, CHAOS... Ryan and Kyle were running around in circles, Katie was in her chair screaming cause she was out of snacks and Nate of course was arguing with me that he didnt need to do his homework. I managed to get Kyle and Ryan to play in their room, Katie some snacks, and Nate was still doing, well, was pushing buttons. He has this talent of taking 5 to 20 minutes on each math problem. The aggrivating part is that I know he can do the whole page in less than 2 if he wanted to. But this day he was not going to let up, so after 45 minutes or so of "come Nate, you are so smart Nate, I know you can do THIS NATE..." the other boys start running back in screaming and yelling because Kyle or Ryan had the others toy, there was crying and running , and that set Katie off who was just finally becoming content and I had FINALLY got to put her down for a minute. So three kids yelling and crying and screaming, katie trying to grab my legs, and then I lost Nate, (he only had like two more problems left, and then I could finally start dinner) he started in on the fun and and I lost it. You know that shaking feeling that kids better be running away from you cause you were going to SCREAM and START GRABBING! SO I with shaking voice say "I've got to go!!!!" and I ran outside. It was freezing but I didn't care, I wasnt going to yell at them. And I became a crazy person. I ran from one side of my pasture to the other side. I'm sure that the nieghbors were saying something like "I really don't understand them city folk, I mean look at her, she's rambling off something and running like a mad cow!" The kids had all stopped what they were doing and I could hear them saying "Mom? What are you doing mom? She's funny! HI MOM!!!" everytime ran past that window I heard them. I screamed up at the sky for patience, and then as I walk back into the house red faced and exausted, I walk in to shouts of joy "YEAH MOM!!" I smile wipe the tears and sit and Nate asks "Are you okay now?" "Yes, yes I am."

I just have to mention that this happened a few weeks ago, and since then, whether its that we're on a schedule without Jake, or whether my frantic tatic to Not yell at them scared them and don't want to see mommy lose it again, or weather it's the Lord helping us through this time in trying to do our best without my wonderful partner, we are doing a lot better. Nate's doing Awsome at school, and the boys are trying so hard to be nice to eachother, Katie's become a little more independent, and I havn't had a "running like a mad cow" incident since that day!

This is for Ryan

Okay so while we were all looking at the blog, Ryan asks "how come I'm not in there so much" Well buddy this ones for you. Ryan is a great kid who gets along with EVERYONE. You name it he'll play it. Kyle absolutely adores him and Nate loves to play with him. He's always considerate of others feelings, and is usually the one who is worried that someone might be left behind. He's a helper, and I love him dearly!


this is Kyle and Ryan

he actually asked to help vacume, had to take a picture of that!
loves animals!
all around good kid

He loves to play with friends and his brothers, loves school and is doing great with his reading. I usually ask have you done your homework and most of the time its "yup already done all you have to do is sign it!" he makes life easier!

Secrets Revealed...The Blog Background

I probably should keep you all in the dark so I look cooler but...okay fine I'll show you how to change your background without having to change the template. First off you are going to go to photobucket.com, I have a link to it on the left hand side under "Vanessa's Favorite's". Create an account. Next you are going to go to scrapbooking sites, and fabric sites online. Find paper you like and save it in your computer files. Go back to photobucket and go under "my account" and hit "browse". And just like you upload pictures to you blog you are going to do the same to the photobucket account.

Now comes the tricky part. To upload it as the background here's the steps:
1. Go to edit HTML
2.under edit template you will see a section that says "body", and 7 lines down you will see "background", here's where the magic begins.
3. now you are looking at something that looks like this:background:#483521 url("http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg89/vanessa_christenson/Large_UR-267.jpg") repeat;
4. now I said sort of! mine has my name on it cause it's my background from photobucket
but you are going to go to photobucket, and click "direct link" under your paper that was downloaded.
5.Now go back to the http:// section and highlight everything BUT the parenthsis ( ) those things...and the quotation marks. so everything inside there should be highlighted.
6. now paste your "direct link" into and hit "preview" and see if it works, if something is messed up, just hit clear edits.
7. if you like what you see then save your template.

** my template is not a phyzam anymore, I used the plain one with the brown background I think it's called Scribe? anyways that should work. If you having any problems just tell me and maybe I can help. I'll try but I'm still sort of new to it all!
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48 degrees outside

And we're partying likes it's summer! My kids were thinking it WAS summer! They spent so much time outside they actually turned pink from running and riding thier bikes! I loved it! They did so well yesturday playing together that I was a little bored and started to organize my shirt drawer, military style, so everything is rolled up and in rows, it looks so pretty. Sad this is my life on a Saturday when my kids are not fighting! Normally we would be doing family stuff and working on something in the house or going somewhere, I probably need to think up a good idea for saturday traditions without Jake.

And today was officially my first time while he is deployed to go to our ward without him. It went really well! I was expecting something like every other Sunday, but they surprised me and did GREAT! Some of you have heard our horror stories of church and the boys. OH the things they do! I guess that I will share our most embarassing moment by far:

Pretty sure it was a few months ago, Katie was fussing and I had gotten up to walk with her. I guess while I was gone Jake (this is what HE says) was totally listening to the speaker, so he wasn't paying attention to the boys. Well apparently Ryan had gotten into my church bag and was rummaging through the pockets, when Jake finally clued into the kids, he saw to his horror, Ryan trying to "pop" the tampon which he had mistaken for a "firecracker popper" and was getting pretty annoyed that nothing was happening when he was pulling on the string. From my understanding, everyone around them saw it and people were turning purple trying not to bust out laughing in the middle of service.

So yes today has been so great, they are being polite to eachother, and actually sharing and when I asked Ryan what he was doing, he answered "oh just getting some toys for kyle so he can have fun in the bath" I'm starting to suspect something is up. I wonder what they are hiding or wanting?!

The Army life

I didn't go up to see Jake this weekend because of all the traveling we did this last week. And he tells us he's doing things at Camp Williams but I never actually had any proof untill now. Just got an update, I guess this is a M203 grenade laucher that he is shooting. Shooting at what? He didn't say. But this is him in all his glory, a little different from the job he left behind as a therapist! Although I'm pretty sure he would of liked to use one of these in some of his sessions!

Not a baby anymore

NO ONE bosses her around!

one of my favorite pictures of her
my artsy fartsy side of taking pictures

Gosh she's growing up too quick! I remember when Nate was born, and I couldn't wait till he entered the next stage. It was always so exciting, anything new he did and I was calling everyone! Yes, I was annoying, you know that first time mom, where she had to tell everyone how smart he was because at 4 months he had 4 teeth! Yup, guilty! But I see those moms now and just smile. How exciting for them. Now as an "older" mom with a few kids under my belt and quite a few more wrinkles and over colored hair, I find myself not wanting them to go anywhere, not wanting them to grow up so fast and having a hard time with my "baby" not being a baby anymore. I guess saying that she's my last one and knowing that this is the last time we are going to have those exciting times of first steps and first nights in the toddler bed... *sigh* I always thought that I would be looking forward to this time. I really am though, looking forward to what lies ahead, seeing the kids growing, but I guess what is unexpected is the saddness of Katie getting older way to quickly. Wait...no more diapers...maybe I won't be too sad about EVERYTHING! ;)

Introducing "Billy", our... billy goat

Here's our boy goat Billy...hmmm...my mom always said "If you can't say nothing nice, dont say nothing at all" well...enough said!

(have I thanked you Felicia lately for being so willing to give us your goat? You want him back?)

Learning from our children

So we made it back from our hectic trip to Salt lake and back, we left last night and came back today. All in all it was a good trip, we saw the neurologist, and they did their tests on Nate, and now we do the waiting game. He promised to give me news once he knew something. But in talking with Nate and with me he assessed that a lot of his involuntary movements are driven by stress and anxiety. Who could blame the little guy?! Moving three times in one school year, having your dad be gone for 6 months, having a great grandma that was living under the same roof as you pass away, and then having the news of dad having to leave again and those incidents in July was the last straw. So for now we are just focusing on making his homelife relaxing (hmmm...with three siblings who are all younger I'll do my best) And we pray, and we just love him. He's such a great kid. It just pains me to see him have to go through this at such a young age. He's defitnitly amazing. He shows me how to be a better person all the time. Just the other day he told the one of the boys that was taunting him that even though he was mean to him that he knew he was still a nice boy. Um yeah I had something else in mind to say to that kid, but Nate defitnitly has an attribute that I need to work on. He's always the first to be willing to forgive those who have hurt him, and usually is willing to say "it's okay" and put an arm around that someone who's been hurt, I need to learn a lot from that kid.

Up to Primary Children's Hospital we go

Up to this point I've kind of kept a closed lip on some of the things that Nate's been going through. But seeing that i'm using this as a Journal and kind of scrapbooking (niether of which I'm really good at) I thought that I would start adding this "adventure". Last July we started to hear rumors that Jake would be getting deployed, while fishing Nate accidently got a fishhook stuck in his hand while picking up rocks and throwing them into the lake (really deep that Jake had to push it through to the other side) and a week later had a propane tank explode while camping and Nate miracously walked away with burns on only his right hand and singed hair. I mention this because it was after these three incidents that Nate started to have involuntary twitches, starting out as just a shoulder shrug, and when school started in mid August it had gotten so bad that it looked like he was having seizures, he couldnt control his body and was having a difficult time even trying to take a drink from a cup. You could imagine how hard it's been to make friends at a new school . All they know about Nate is that he's the new kid who can't sit in his chair and who's arms and legs flail about all day long. To put frosting on the cake for the kid, he's got a few boys in the other class that have been bullying him. (once I found out about them I rose HELL and made sure that those kids parents were called and told what they were saying to my son) We've been trying to figure stuff out, and trying to see what works, so far we've been doing the token system (Nate refused to do any work at school, and homework was a nightmare) and it's made a huge difference in his wanting to do his work to get rewards, but we are still puzzled over the "tics" and we want to make sure he's not having seizures. He's on some medicines that have helped "calm" them down, but it's like putting a bandaid to leaky faucet, the problem is still there. So up to Primarys we go. We will be going to a neurologist just to make sure its not something on that end, and if it is well, we will at least be in going in the first steps in the right direction to helping him.

Nate's BIG day!

Isn't he just so cute?! He was so nervous before everything but he did AWSOME!
after the confirmation, he's glowing! AND much more relaxed!We were so blessed that Jake had a few days off from the Army to be with us and to be able to do this for Nate, we were such a happy family for a few days while Jake got to come home for that little bit of leave. We miss him dearly but are very happy that this was possible!

My Other Blog "Country Chick Boutique"

Okay so my husband said that I need to stop trying to sell things on OUR blog (didn't even know he cared about this thing!) SOOO, I created a NEW blog for selling my stitchery, and table runners, finished stitchery pillows and framed ones too! I've been doing a little boutique here in town and well, I guess I thought maybe I would give this a try too! So please check it out, and send as many people my way too! Maybe I'll do like a little give away to those who "recomend me to a friend"! I'll have to think about it for a little bit, but I'll come up with something! It's still in the works, and I don't have TOO much on there but I'll see how this goes and I'll start working on some new stuff! Let me know if you think this is a dumb idea!!! Thanks for your support! LOVE YA! -V

http://countrychickboutique.blogspot.com/