the decoder

that is the name of jude's new bike.... his first bike.

i kind of can't believe that we have waited this long to get him a bike, you know trevan being a cyclist and all. oh well, 4 is certainly not too young or too old to start. now if he could just figure out pedaling, apparently its hard to learn.

oh and i got a bike too...

stay tuned for some sexy biking photos with yours truly.

lest you were concerned...

greta is a normal 2 year old.

i am a little worried that i may project greta to be not all the way 'there' mentally sometimes on this blog and that is not the case. i want to set the record straight.

people think that because greta is different and developmentally slow that she must be mentally slow as well. i have people tell me (including family) that greta is precious, special and sweet spirited which she is.... but not in the way they saying it. i often get looks and words of sadness and understanding, like i should be sad about her and what she will miss out on. i have even had people ask me questions like if ever walk or if she will go to a "normal" school or if she will ever get married. really, people?!?! i can't predict the future but i can guarantee you that she will do what ever she sets her mind to and she is perfectly mentally capable to do so and yes, if she gets married she will probably walk down the aisle. greta will not miss out on anything.

i know people mean well and are not entirely informed on the whole greta situation and probably just trying to be nice and don't know what to say. so let me try to explain better.... greta is not a sweet spirit that needs to have her heart blessed, nor is she different from any other (amazingly cute) 2 year old. YES, she is developmentally slow with walking and talking but everything else is in place. believe me, we have had her tested. if i seem to complain about her not being "normal" its because i hate that she can't run around with her cousins and how it makes her cry, i hate that she can't dance on her feet like she wants to right now, and i really hate that she ruins all of her pants by crawling everywhere! we all get frustrated because she can't say what she wants to say and that i have to translate greta-language. i know that not walking and talking at 2 years old is not "normal" and that maybe those things go hand in hand with mental handicapped children, but not for grets. not being able to do things like other kids makes it harder for her... and let's be honest, for me. i am the one that gets my feelings hurt, not greta. parenting and loving her is easy but learning patience in parenting her is really hard. nothing with her has gone as planned. whenever i have a "poor greta/poor me" moment she goes and does something totally outrageous like walking across the room or climbing on the counter. greta is a crazy 2 year old who is figuring out her world, just like everyone else. she is not mentally challenged and she is not predictable.

no one will label her, including me.

remind me of that, will you?

like today when she decided to wash her hair and then bathe in the mud.

or when she poses for pictures all through out dinner.

she is delectable.

and so is her ever-so-handsome big brother jude.

(he is doing his trademark sound effect here. one day i will get on video and you all will be amazed.)

our saturday.

i love productive saturdays and at this house they are few and far between.

we planted flowers

(until we were rained out)

jude helped water all the plants.

greta tried to hitch a ride on the dump truck only to find that she exceeded the weight limit and it was very upsetting.

and look what $850 can do for you...

amazing right? now we just need the weather to cooperate and then we can put sprinklers and sod in.

and then it was time for date night.

we went to the mandarin in bountiful. there was a lot of hype going there and i am not sure it lived up to it. pretty sure we waited over an hour and then ordered the wrong thing. maybe next time.... i will go back if only for the egg rolls, amaze.

i like date night and productive saturdays.

buzz.

i was a little hesitant...

... but i am so glad i did it. such the perfect summer hair cut.

does he look 10? i thought so too.

p.s. i am really sad that glee is almost over again.

a few things.

hi.

long time no see.

this morning this was delivered to our house... a side-dump dump trucks worth of top soil. why would we need that you ask? well, for the following...

our backyard.

i am sick just thinking about it. it is scary. we moved in nearly 4 years ago and decided we would tackle the interior of our house and the front yard first. meanwhile, out back we did nothing and thought once we did tackle it, it would be no big deal. not the case. oh how i wish we had the means to hire someone to landscape for us but we do not. we must do it ourselves. it is a mess and it is driving me insane. the weather has not been cooperating, we have no idea what we are doing, and we have been dealing with some pretty flaky excavating contractors. not to mention its weed central and the ghetto water feature the man that lived here before us was attempting to put in. i want to throw in the towel. our dream of a beautiful lawn, a swing set, a few trees and small patio has turned into a nightmare. i am done and it has not even started. did i mention that neither trevan or i are landscapers and that is what our backyard calls for?

but i can't be done. because this little dude needs a backyard to play in, even if it does kill us.

oh and can't forget these two:

i watched brooke's girls while they were in europe for a few days. it was amazing and insane. i love those girls like my own. my kids think the mins and poptart are their siblings and the all get along famously. its nice to have cousins, especially when they are minie and poppy.

and yes... we do sort of live in the ghetto.

a spoiled mommie

best. mothers day. ever.

from jude.

from grets (she broke my last bottle the day after i got it)

from trevan.

yes, i was spoiled rotten and it felt nice. trevan did REALLY well this year and as wrong as it is to say this out loud, i loved ever minute of it. i love being spoiled.

the day was perfect....trevan let me sleep in a bit, we all snuggled in bed for about an hour, trevan took me and the kids to a late breakfast, we had luxurious afternoon naps, and a wonderful evening with family at his parents house. my kids were on best behavior and looked especially cute, and especially mine. today they made me feel like the luckiest mom in the world and i really i am. its nice to have a day like today to make me look at how lucky i am just to be a mom. being a mother really is the best gift i have ever had. every women should be a mother, it completes things.

dear mom.

dear mom,

thank you for choosing to be a mother. thank you for showing me the way. thank you for ALWAYS loving me. thank you for 5 siblings. thank you for life. thank you for always being on my side. thank you for never giving up, on any of us. thank you for loving my kids. thank you for spoiling me. thank you for letting me follow my heart and trusting me. thank you for my courage. thank your for teaching me by example. thank you for only being a mother, you could have been anything. you are amazing. you are my mom.

i never knew it was this much work because you made it seem effortless.

thank you. happy mothers day.

i love you... always,

kennan

dear terri,

thank you for raising a good man. thank you for treating me like one of your own. thank you for loving my kids. thank you for spoiling me/us. thank your for teaching me how to be a mother. thank you for your patience. thank you for you sweetness. thank you for your laughter.

you will never know what you mean to me, ever. happy mothers day.

love,

kennan

happy mothers day.

barbie.

if you don't know already, we go to mcdonalds... a lot. greta got a happy meal a few weeks ago and lo and behold in the depths of the happy meal snuggled between a cheeseburger and apple slices was a barbie and its been a love affair ever since. on our trips to target we have to go down all the boy toy aisles and now the barbie aisle too. she is in love and because i am a "spoiler" she already has a collection of dolls, a movie, and vintage barbie t-shirt. this morning i downloaded one my junior high favorites aqua's "barbie girl" and we have not stopped listening to it, literally (jude is partial to the 'ken' part).

i sort of love this new obsession of miss pretzel and i will totally indulge it. i was a HUGE barbie lover myself. barbie was my go to girl and all my barbies learned the "bird and the bees" before i did. i had quite the collection until my brother bryce and his friend played barbie massacre one day and killed them all, and it killed me. i rebuilt my collection only to have it dismantled by brooke and paige in their attempt to cut hair, they turned them into "butchy barbies" and i don't think i have ever recovered. poor barbie has been through a lot.... the bratz dollz nearly took her down. i will be with barbie forever and i will continue to build my barbie kingdom with my daughter greta because truly 'life in plastic, its fantastic'.

enjoy.

i love her cheesing for the camera, having barbie dance, her checking out her shirt, and of course the self applause at the end. oh, and i didn't even capture the best of this.

post edit.

i forgot to mention that whenever i tell someone my name and they repeat it like (keenan, kenna, kenon) i say its "kennan" like 'ken and barbie'. they never forget after that.

dandelion bouquets

jude is da bomb dot com.

i love him and his inspired bouquet of dandelions.

how does he know?

p.s. has anyone seen my wedding ring because it is G.O.N.E. and i am sick.

date night.

date night is not something we do much. i mean... do we eat out? yes, too much. are we ever home on weekends? no. do we go to movies? sometimes. but more often than not we do all of these things with our kidlets. as much as i love my 2 babies its REAL nice to spend some quality time with my original baby, trev.

as part of our marriage re-vamp we have decided that date night is happening every week. so far we have made 2 out of 3, and according to 'meat loaf' that aint bad. this weekend trevan was really craving loco lizard in park city and i thought to myself "we may as well stay over night!" and boom, it was done.

ever since our point and shoot camera broke our iphones have come in real handy for picture moments.

do you have this app yet? we lurve it.

this is the reason trevan loves loco lizard.... their mole. trevan loves himself some mole. he is such a weirdo with his food tastes, he thinks he is so cool liking unique stuff. plus, i think he would switch rick bayless for one of our kids.

the highlights of the trip including the following:

-the shining hotel we stayed at

-our new bff's chad & becky (ultimate in red necks) that got our phone number after a relaxing evening the the jacuzzi together

- our date night purchase (new chef's knife.... i told you, rick bayless)

-midnight run to the 7 for doughnuts

- the jazz game

- finding jude the perfect iron man t-shirt to wear to the premiere

date night is good.