thoughts

Even though I didn't go to bed til 1am, here I am at 7am up.. the life of a mother.  Actually, I should probably consider myself lucky that I got to sleep in that late!  Joey: " Milk mama.. milk!! Bot, Mama, Bot! "  - what I wake up to daily.  Bot is the character from umizoomi, Joey's obsession.
Last night Sean & I finally got a little time away together.  It's been awhile since we've gone on a date.  Grantylicious babysat for us & got both kids to sleep pretty early when... da duh da.....Joey woke back up freaking out for a good half hour for him :(  Hopefully this doesn't mean he will never babysit for us again!
We went to Pizza Al Forno in Glendale.  We saw it on diners, drive ins & dives last week & wanted to try it.  The pizza was amazing!
This last week was one of those rare weeks that I ended up working 5 days. YUCK!  It wouldn't be so bad, but.. oh wait.. yeah it is.  It's really really hard for me to be away from the boys that long! & my house suffers alot too.  It looked like a bomb went off yesterday before I kind of started cleaning.  Today Sean is starting his tutoring for the lsat.  His tutor is coming here, so me & the boys gots to scram later on.  Meaning, I gotta clean like a madwoman here in a few minutes!
Sam starts preschool in 3 weeks & I can't tell who is more excited, Sam, or grandma ! :)  My mom is going to be his preschool teacher & she it is really cute how much she prepares & really cares about the kids, I'm lucky to have her to teach him!
Why did I seem to think when I was young that as soon as I grew up, got married & started having kids that my life would be magical & easy?  Each day presents new stressed & problems. I feel lucky to have been blessed with a husband that really cares about me & who I know I can share all things with, & grow with.  I never thought a males opinions would matter more to me than my dads :)

Alright, one last note-  if you are reading this, & have never looked at my picture blog, feel free to check it out HERE.  Even though there have been a few times I've even gotten pretty far behind on it.. it's probably the closest thing to picture how my life has been this year & I LOVE to share it with people :)  & nobody ever comments on it, so feel free to do that do if you want  :) 

here we go!

I'm taking my sister JoDee's advice & just starting to blog again.. not necessarily catch up... just start to blog.
I'm trying to type while my boys climb all over me & Sean teases them relentlessly.  Sounds about right.
My boys are growing up so fast!! Joey is saying more & more things that just astonish me.  Yesterday he told me "cuckoo clock mama!".  He likes to repeat Sam a lot, & since Sam NEVER stops talking.. it's not hard to pick things up quickly!
Things at our house are, of course, insane busy.  We went on a trip to California & Oregon a week &  half ago, & I still haven't recovered.  I just barely finished going through my pictures, & I can't quite get the house to feel clean.  I'm working 5 days this week & I'm not sure how I'm going to make it through!!! I think of Sam starting preschool next month & Sean starting his new classes & my mind gets so overwhelmed.  The months fly by & I feel like with work, I can't seem to keep up with the days!  Sean starts his tutoring for the LSAT next week.  & it very well could be that in 6 months he will be applying/interviewing at a few schools.  Where is my life going?  I'm going to make a stronger commitment to blog a little each day.  So many things the boys say & do are going undocumented, & I feel badly about it!
The other day Joe teased Sam for the first time. Sean thought it was hilarious.  Joey held a toy up so Sam couldn't reach it & then just giggled & giggled that he couldn't get it.  Joey LOVES watching Team Umizoomi right now. He asks for Bot over & over again.  Joey's vocabulary ...(real meaning cereal, apes -grapes, milk, Bot, Bruce- the dog, mama- for both me & Sean, clock, B- for blanket, daha-soda, bac bac- chicken, his numbers, some letters, set.. go! ). just to name a few.  He has the cutest little voice in the world, so to hear him say anything just melts my heart.
Sam's vocabulary increases all the time also.  I guess I've been saying the word sweetie lately- Sam asked me, mom, what is sweetie?   :)
The boys play together all day & love to be outside, as usual.
ok, more to come, every day.. hopefully :)

Memorial Day fun!

We had such an awesome Memorial Day Weekend!! I loved it so much because every single night we were hanging out with family, bbquing, homemade ice cream, swimming, eating, & enjoying each others company.  I made a few collages of the fun times we had so that we can remember them. 

swimming & bbq at Philip & Melissa's

 

 bbq & homemade ice cream with grandpa & great grandpa Johnson

 the last one is Max's awesome graduation party.

It's been awhile since we spent so much time with both our families. I'm looking forward to the next few weeks when all my family is together.  Good times :)

Fun Times

Yesterday evening I decided to take the boys down to the dinosaur museum in Mesa because it was their 35th birthday anniversary & they decided to party!!! They closed off the street & had games & crafts & gave free admission to the museum along with some cake & ice cream to polish it off.  It was tons of fun!! The boys colored dinosaur pictures, chiseled away some rocks to find toy dinosaurs in the middle, bounce housed it up & guzzled it all down with sugar :)  I only had my phone camera, so the pictures aren't amazing, but the time we had was!

 

 

notice the birthday hat on the dino in the second picture.  It was cute- they had party hats on alot of the dino bones in the museum.  There was also a live band on the street playing alot of oldies.  Sam stopped when we walked by & proceeded to dance to the music. It was so cute, I had to let him- after 4 songs, I had to break it up & we headed back.  Only down side of the night... my flip flop broke about half way through the evening, so I was shoeless on one foot. I was kind of embarassed, but what are ya gonna do?
Because we participated in all the crafts & games, Bookmans gave us a "prize" which turned out to be a $10 gift card for each of the boys, to Bookmans!  cool :)  So this morning we headed over there to cash them in.  The boys had alot of fun looking for books & there was a craft activity going on when we go there too! So Sam got to make a cool superhero mask & both the boys got juice boxes & gummy snacks!!
What an awesome FREE score we've had :)  The boys both got 2 books with their gift certificates.

My Sammy

Just a few Sam tidbits...
I am in love with this kid.  He is such a happy, independent kid!  Today we were in the car & I said: Sam, you are just so cute!  & he said:  Mom, I'm not cute... I'm a big boy!. Apparently you can't be both.
When we were eating homemade Popsicles, he kept looking at me bite into mine & told me if I bite into a popsicle, that I would become frozen.  Sometimes I wonder how he comes up with things.
He wanted to play with David today, who just moved to Florida.  I told him that he moved & Sam said : He doesn't live in Onizona anymore?  No Sam, David doesn't live in Onizona :)
He can now tell you that his birthday is Awtober 15th :)
Love :)

Sad day

Today the Schorns left us & moved to Florida :(  Last night & today we've spent time helping them pack up & get ready.  I know it will hit us more as time goes on & we are without them here, but we are SAD!!!  We will miss you guys so much!!!  We are so excited for you & all the fun you will have in your new life.. & hopefully we will get to visit you soon!!!

Tiffany & Sean

Tiffany & Julia

Tiffany & Caio

Sam& David.. bff

on the way to the airport.  When we left Sam kept saying- this is so sad!

It's so amazing how different people are in your life at different times, for different reasons, to make you a different person.  Part of my heart moved to Florida today & we won't be the same without them!!!

A glorious name

dearer than any other...
I never knew what it meant to be a mom til I became one. I never told my mom when I was growing up how amazing she was & how much I appreciated her selflessness.  How much I  appreciate sleepless nights, cleaning up things not so pleasant to clean up, laughing with me, crying with me.. but most of all, teaching me.  I love you mom.. more than I could ever say.  Thank you for my life.

:)

no pictures, just wanted to blog..
I feel so grateful today for my life. I love my husband & my boys so much.  My Heavenly Father blesses me by meeting every need I seem to have lately.  Sean & I have started trying to go to the temple more, & I can already see such an improvement in my attitude about life.  I started exercising more also & feel my energy level increase also.. much needed!!!
Sean just finished fixing our "new" (used) motorhome & took it to get some gas.  We are going to take it on a maiden voyage tonight, just up to the superstitions to test her out.  The boys are so excited they can hardly contain themselves!!!
Sam learned to spell his name this week & it made me a little teary eyed.  S-A-M. He is very proud to tell you, because he sees how happy it makes me.  I'm grateful that we can make our lives work with me only working 3 days a week, cause I don't think I could handle being away from my kids any more than that!  I can tell by Thursday they are dying to spend time with me.  I guess I should appreciate this while it lasts :)
Sean planned out his next semester so he can study for the LSAT.  He is planning on taking it this year & applying for law school.  I am so excited for all his accomplishments.. he is such a well rounded person!  I am also already starting to freak out about change to come in the next couple of years.  Sean will hopefully start law school next fall, which may or may not lead to a move.. & the year after that Sam starts kindergarten too!!!  I can't believe how fast my boys are growing up!!!!
the end.. for today.

joocs

Alrighty, maybe I'm still not as great at keeping up here as I'd like- but I'm on!!

This year has been my worst for keeping up with my blog.. shameful!

Things are always busy around here, but we've been having fun too.

The weather has been unbelievable lately, so the boys pretty spend each waking second they can outside playing with cars & playing with cars, & oh yeah, playing with more cars.

 

 Joey is still eating everything in sight.. well, anything with sugar associated!

 For some reason, the boys LOVE playing on the car dolly that is out in the backyard.  Sean moved it to the other side of the yard a day or so ago, & now they play over there, putting their cars on it, climbing on it, whatever they could possibly do on it.

The boys also love to help Sean water the plants.  Sam is always telling me the plants need a drink.  The only down side to this is that Sam feels like he can turn the hose on whenever he wants now, & I have to give more baths from muddy puddle jumping than I would like.

Sean had to take a picture of our baby who, even though it was on the top of the garbage pile, felt that this box of empty chocolates was important enough to try & get into.  awesome.

we celebrated David's 3rd birthday with him earlier this month.  It was a Where the Wild Things Are party & the boys had a monster rumpus & got fun masks to play around in.

we bought a motor home & although I don't have any picture of the inside just yet.. I have several of Sean working on the insides of it :)  We will soon make our maiden voyage. 

 last but not least... my boys, intoxicated by the addicting Peppa Pig.  What is up with this show that my kids just cannot resist?!  I put it on.. the rest of the world is dead to them.

alright- enough of the random pictures. The real reason I wanted to write was because Joey keeps doing more & more to make him less & less a baby!!
He is trying to talk more & yesterday he actually said- " thats not a tree mom". It's a good thing Sean was sitting right there because nobody would have believed it!!  He says- mamma, dada, car, stuck, milk, tree, nine ( every number or letter to him), grandma, yes, no, please, shoes, socks, peppa pig, bath... just to name a few.  He is really trying hard to put sentences together now, even though they sound muddled & me & Sean may be the only ones who understand him.  He is so much more cautious than Sam, it's crazy how different they are.  He LOVES to play with cars- as does every little boy & LOVES to be outside!!! He tows behind Sam & copies just about everything he does.  But Joey can play by himself & be quiet & still.. not words that are closely associated with Sam.
I'm working on letters with Sam to get ready for preschool.  He recognized some letters, but less than more.  Today we worked on spelling his name by himself.  I think he might be a little behind on his letters than some kids his age, but he will have 2 years of preschool still because of the way his birthday falls, so I'm not all too worried. He picks things up so quickly, his mamma just needs to get on the ball about working with him more!!!  He always surprises me- when we are out, he will point out letters or numbers & he is always right, so I know he knows more than he lets on when I try to work with him.  The other day he told me dinner was disgusting- great.  then the next day he came in when I was doing dishes & was trying to tell me something that had just happened.  He started getting frustrated & finally said- mom!  please stop doing the dishes and listen to me!  I almost laughed, but realized his attention was more important than the dishes. So I stopped & kneel ed down to listen.  He says such grown up things now, it's hard for me to believe it sometimes.
 You know, its funny.  When I started having kids I became a mom.  But it really, embarrassingly enough, hasn't been til just recently that I feel like I'm learning what it means to be a homemaker.  Life is hard, you have to roll with the punches, but you really need to be organized & work really hard to make it all work.  I love my life more than I could say, regardless of how overwhelmed I feel one minute- when the next minute brings me happiness  & peace that I couldn't imagine, it all makes it worth it :)
.

super duper crazy catch up

so Sean mentioned to me that since I have decided to do my photo blog, my regular blog has suffered quite a bit- very unintentional, but nonetheless, pretty true.
So- in very random order... what we have been up to the past couple of months!!

This is the view from our couch on our porch. The weather has been pretty amazing, mostly, the past couple of months, so we spend alot of time enjoying it. I love this view alot!!




I could say that the boys have become best buds, but I'm not sure that teasing each other, crying, poking each other, etc, is that definition. They play together pretty well, but Sam is really learning the ins & outs of teasing.



The week after Sean's grandma's funeral we all got crazy sick. It's a good thing I had that week off so that I could take care of everyone, & then get insane sick myself. Yuck! Joe's face is a good description of how we all felt that week.


However, around the funeral, we got to meet lots of cousins & catch up. Here is David, Alex, Sam & Joe celebrating Alex's birthday while they were here.


We (& by we, I mean Sean) started a little garden off the side of our porch. Tomatoes & squash mostly. A watermelon & cantaloupe too. Can't wait for the fruits of OUR labors :)



We went to the races with Tiffany, David & Justin. I was a tad leary of taking my boys to watch extremely loud cars race, but earplugs are great & they really liked walking around & watching the cars being fixed.


When I'm not working, we try to spend Thursday afternoon with my mom. A few weeks ago we went to lunch & then walked around Bass Pro shop just as they were feeding the fishes. I'm so lucky to have my mom close to me!!!!


Just last week we said goodbye to our trailer :( I was reluctant to sell it, but with our new car situation, I don't think we would be able to tow it with alot of confidence, so we decided to get a motorhome instead. Sean picked it up on Tuesday night. Sam didn't want to get out & so we ended up eating pizza in it that night. Pics of the motorhome to come.


Sam & David are always playing alot together, but with recent news that the Schorns may be moving, we have to get in alot of them!! :(


On Sunday Sam & Joe were running around at purple grandmas house (what Sam calls Sean's mom, for some unknown odd reason), & ran into each other. Joe was fine, Sam, not so much. He bit his tongue almost the whole way through. I tried not to freak out cause kids always bleed alot when they are injured, but when I finally got the bleeding under control enough to actually see what was wrong, I really had to try not to freak out. It is healing really now!


We got a new accord!!!! Horrible picture.. amazing car. We LOVE LOVE LOVE it :) Sean told me to enjoy a car for the last time til the kids leave home, cause if we have another child, we may not be able to fit them all in it!
the end. Ok, not really

I figured I'd write a little about what the boys have been doing lately.
I'm trying to work on little educational things with Sam to get him ready for preschool. He is really excited to go to school at grandma's in the fall. His birthday is in October, so he will be older than most his class, but thats ok with me. He loves to play fruit ninja, a letter tracing game, a matching game, & take pictures on my phone- all of which he can do on his own. I didn't realize it til the other day when he picked up my phone, unlocked it, got into the app menu, & found the game he wanted & started it. Huh.. so much for MY phone.
He loves to play games on Nick Jr.com too.
He really loves riding his bike around & is super into playing games right now.
He loves to sing choose the right & has loved being in primary this year. He can almost sing the whole song by himself. He loves to do everything by himself, & with a mom that tends to be a micro-manager, that is hard. Sometimes I just have to tell myself to let go.



Joey is turning into a little boy more & more every day, & less like my little baby. He tries to speak in sentences now- I want....- but his favorite word still has to be car. Much in little boy fashion, he lives to play with cars. He is very decisive & seems to know just what he wants. Pretty much every day he wakes up at 7am wanting his milk, cup of cereal, & a cartoon. He & Sam love watching Peppa Pig right now.
Joe is very sensitive, & dosn't like to hear negative things. When he is scolded, he immediately screws his face up into a pout & cries. He isn't adventurous like Sam- he doesn't like to jump around & is very cautious.

the 3 musketeers- David, Joey & Sammy
& then me & Sean.
Sean is always busy with school & I juggle the work/mommy gig. ALWAYS busy!!!


hopefully I'll start keeping up better on here!