help... he wants a nintendo DS

jude is turning 6 next week... i know, i know unbelievable that he is 6, but that's not the reason for this post. the reason is, all first born wants for his birthday is a Nintendo DSi. jude's mind is made up, and that is what he wants. DONE and DONE. i am sick over it. i mean, duh, of course i bought him a special edition pokemon DSi 3 weeks ago when it was on sale at targ but now i am second guessing our my decisions. everyday i see it glaring down on me from the shelf it is hidden on (BTW it is so visible. i love that jude is so innocent still) taunting me. you see, i do not know what to do with that little box. i'm afraid of how that little box will change our lives forever. i am not ready to fight about time limits and video game ratings. most importantly, i don't want my imaginative jude to turn into a video game zombie.

jude has the best imagination i have ever seen. he loves to play make believe and he plays with his toys, different toys, all his toy, everyday. jude always has some world set up that he is playing in, he even invites greta and ez into his world. even when he is watching the tv or a movie, or playing on kidzui he is still playing side by side. he loves to color and draw, build forts, and he will make up games to play all day long. jude brings his toys or as trevan so gently puts it "crap" where ever we go. he always has a supply of "crap" on hand... really, you should see our car. we are always adding things to his collections. for instance, if we don't have a certain "guy" jude draws them, cuts them out, and then adds them to the collection and then into the rotation of things to be played with. we have to be real careful in these parts as to what we can throw away because everything has a place in jude's world.

jude is incredible
but
jude is also obsessive.

once jude is into something, jude is INTO something. the determination that kid has drives me insane, literally. i have gotten better about standing my ground, but he still knows how to get his way with me and trev. when jude gets into something, it takes over his life. he eats, sleeps, and breathes whatever the obsession is. do you see my dilemma... obsessive/strong willed kid & a hand held video game system? it sounds treacherous.


 i know from personal experience that video games are addicting and fun. freak, don't get me started on my years of mastering sonic, beating every super mario level, hours wasted beating aladdin on the sega, dominating mario kart as my alter ego wario, killing it on the original tony hawk, and of course my high school days of playing SIMS with my siblings.

so you see, i am not a video game hater, i love a little video gaming. it's just a lot different now, and i am not sure how i feel about my 6 year old becoming a gamer.


what am i to do?
i am asking you.


is 6 too young for a nintendo DS?
am i doing him a disservice by letting him have one?
am i doing a disservice by NOT letting him have one?
how do set boundaries, without fights?
 how do i tell him he can't get the only thing he wants for his birthday?
will i lose my jude forever?
am i worrying too much?
but all his friend/cousins already have them...
am i fighting the inevitable?
who? what? when? where? how?

i am confused and scared.

please, i am BEGGING you, what am i to do?
i have until next friday at 12am....

please!


for the record... trevan is already 100% anti-video games but he's a boring dad. what does he know?

fall soccer with jude.

have i told you that i love that jude likes playing sports?

 this year jude played t-ball in the spring and soccer in the fall and each were enjoyed thoroughly.

my 3 kids.

a boy after my own heart... a keeper!

baby.

best part about living near family? support systems at games. jude had a whole crowd cheering him on at every game.

one time we even got support of down south (ie. st. george)

ezzie & sully 

(8 months apart)

 go green dragons!!!!

 

i love my soccer jude.

p.s. next year, i will coach and you better watch out.

 

2-day-get-away

this year has been a doozy for us financially... i'm not quite sure how having our 3rd child threw us into a downward spiral but it did. literally, we are strapped for cash. i am working again sigh 3-4 days a week and trevan is doing everything in his power to make things better for us at his job. it's been pretty rough round these parts. things could be SO much worse and we are not poor, we are just struggling a bit. blah blah blah, you don't want to hear it, I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT but it's our life in 2011 and i want to remember it. all of that complaining being said, 2011 has been a perfect year for our little family. we are officially a family now it seems, we go to school, we go to games, we have schedules, we have bedtimes, and we enjoy it all. the best part is, besides some added money arguments between me and trevan, the kids don't know our struggles, they are happy and most importantly healthy. the love that we all have for each other, for our family/from our family, and our beliefs have made this year possible. FAITH. i don't ever want to be in this tough money spot again, but if i had to do it all over, i would because the family aspect of 2011 has been perfection.

being in a "tight" spot is hard. we are use to doing certain things, like vacations yearly. they are never huge vacations but they are getaways and they are NEEDED. as the year is coming to an end i realized that what we needed was a a getaway. thankfully, a really bad experience on our anniversary back in august at our hotel in park city turned itself into a good experience when they comped us another weekend of our choice back at the hotel. i choose the first weekend in october and it was delightful. we brought our kids this time, and i fell in love with them, utah, fall, and my life all over again.

oh and how do you vacation on a budget? well, let me tell you how we did it.... free hotel room, dinner at burger king, breakfast from home in the hotel room, lunch at taco maker, and a splurge dinner at bandits. the kids swam 4 times in 36 hours, there was no outlet shopping (ouch), and we couponed the alpine slide. boo yeah, kennan's on a budget! lol.

the babies.

the jude on the alpine slide.

the scenery.

 

greta's turn!

waiting for mommie and sis.

there we are!

happy family.

we followed up our lovely weekend by having sunday dinner back at my mom's. we drove through our future home town (midway, ut.. call me) and then over into cascade springs, up the alpine loop, drove down my favorite place (american fork canyon) and then back through my old familiar roads of highland, ut.  i love going home.

favorite people.. EVER.

daddie, schmez, and the baby bjorn on a sunday walk.

 

this is the house that built me.

and now you know.

to the fair.

we went to the state fair

and in all fairness, 

its about time i post about the fair (1 month later).

i took SO many pictures so instead of lots of cute commentary, epic stories, and step by step details of our night, i will let the pictures speak for themselves... sort of.

 

ANTM cycle 37

my kids loved the pony rides...

minie? not so much.

daddies & daughters v1

daddies & daughters v2

i felt awkward having my doppelgänger there.

best besties ever.

dustin = the original bromance/trevan's missionary/our official third wheel for 3 years/great speller/ceo mba emtB/noBAMA/inappropriate/do-er/giver/perfect best friend/my sisters husband/good times

told you.

 git er' dun.

 

next time won't you join us?

at least, for lil' linda's sake?

thanks.

september.

*i'm behind a bit on blogging so today, we are starting here.

every september i am reminded of how much i really love truly this month....

the brisk mornings, the warm afternoon, and the cool evenings,

the newness of school,

the bright green grass and the changing of the leaves,

the new season of tv shows,

the smell of autumn in the air ,
the state fair (more on that later) ,

and it will ALWAYS remind me of the month 9 years ago that i met my trevan and the night our future began.

september, you're heaven.

this september lent itself to lots of backyard playtime with my 3 kids.

 

judakins, almost 6 (inconceivable!) and still a little boy.

my shadow and best friend,

miss greta pamela.

our 7 month boy wonder

those darn little people and there adorable helping hands will NEVER go out of style at my house.

  for the record... i love little people and aaron neville.

GET.IN.MY.BELLY

we still are virgins to video games in these parts so jude's imagination runs wild and he loves to play... but his birthday wishlist includes a nintendo DS so we are enjoying our last month of video game freedom. it's a necessary evil, right?

gretsie's little tongue is always out during times of concentration.

 

ezra... ugh.
i love him so so much.
and no, you cannot have him.

dear september, 

call or text me. anytime, day or night.

xo, 

me