My sister's kids

My older sister's kids came over last night and hung out with us while she and her husband went out for dinner to celebrate their anniversary. I was cleaning off my counter this morning and came across this paper that Emma, my 10 yr old niece, wrote. I thought it was hilarious so I wanted to share it. I will write it exactly like she wrote it so you have the full effect:

The Daily News
Reporter: Emma R. Johnson

(on the left margin she drew a picture of a smiley face that is supposed to be Cody. He's saying, "Hey, ladies.") Cody is 12 and my only older cusion. He gets his humor from his halarious father. He has sunburns everywhere!! "Who's your favorit cusion?" reporter Emma askes. "Myself" he simply replys (See, Humor!!) "Who's your favorit brother?" Emma askes. "They both are some thimes. "he answered.

(This left margin has a picture that is supposed to be Abby, her sister saying, "hi.") Abby is my 8-year-old sister. She has a hamster named 'Rhino.' I don't know were her humor is from. "Who's your favorit cusion? "Emma askes lovley Abby. "Everyone" Abby said. "Who's your favorit sibling?" "You" Humor and sence. I like this girl!




I love how she isn't sure where Abby's humor comes from. It's either because she doesn't think her parents are funny or she is not sure who is the funniest. And that only leaves me to assume that she thinks her Uncle Jabon is funnier than her Aunt Tara. Ah, well. Sometimes the youth can be easily fooled. :P

Her son Matt is 6. For dessert I gave them the choice of a brownie I made or a frosted cookie Shelly bought and brought over. Matt chose to have a cookie. All the kids were enjoying their desserts but I hadn't noticed that Matt had only taken a few small bites from his cookie. Finally, he tells me that his cookie does not taste good. He said, "I thought cookies were supposed to taste good! This cookie tastes like dry dirt!!" After I quit laughing, I let him throw away his cookie and gave him a brownie.

Kids are funny. I get the pleasure of being around my funny kids but also my sister's funny kids. It makes life sweeter. :)

Oh, my kids!

I love my kids. Here are some fun facts about them from the last few days:

Cody went to his first dance. Since he is 12, he goes to Mutual every Wednesday night where he usually just hangs out with the other boys his age and does projects or works on Scouts stuff or whatever they do. This last Wednesday, his leaders surprised them all with a combined activity with the girls from church. They went to a local school where a disco ball was hung, learned some dances, and then had the dance. I am so glad that he absolutely hated it! Is that horrible of me to think that? If so, oh well. I'm not ready for him to start liking girls! He said the worst part was holding the girl's hand and the best part was when it was time to go. There is a girl in our church who has a crush on him. She kept asking him to dance, but he kept turning her down. Good boy, Cody.

Brett is turning 6 on Valentine's Day. 6!! It seems so long ago and yet not that long since he was born. Since its his first year in school, he really wants to bring cupcakes into class. He was so worried about the color of the frosting and the cupcake liners. He wanted each boy or girl to have the correct gender-related cupcake (pink or purple frosting with princess liners for the girls, blue or green frosting with the airplane liners for the boys). I brought up the question of how many girls are in his class. He thought 5. I think not. So I asked Brett since it was his birthday, why don't we just make Brett cupcakes? He liked that idea. So we are making red frosting cupcakes in the airplane liners with a candy heart on top. That should make everybody happy, especially since red is a color that boys can like too, he tells me. We are having his birthday party tomorrow. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins will be over. I am making an Oreo cake and we will have lots of food (pizza as our main course). Monday, Jabon and I are going to take him to Chick-Fil-A for lunch.

Ashton is turning into such a kidder! Almost to the point of frustration. Especially when I am trying to change his diaper or get him dressed and he keeps turning away from me and laughing. His favorite song is "We Will Rock You" by Queen. The CD is in the truck, so every time we are in the truck its: "Mom, We Will, We Will!" That's all the words he knows. It's really cute hearing him sing along to it. He will listen to it over and over again. Thank goodness the grocery store is not that far away so I can handle it! He is coming along in his talking. Jabon said he held a whole conversation with the check-out lady at a store they went to, completely surprising him.

Get out the scissors

I cut the boys hair. Always have, always will. In fact, I have been cutting Jabon's hair since our 2nd or 3rd month of marriage. He likes to get a haircut every 2-3 weeks and we just could not afford that.

Brett is having a contest with his cousin Matt on who has the shortest hair. I don't think Matt knows that, though. I told Brett I could get his hair really short so I practically buzzed it. It reminds me of the haircuts my youngest brother, Peter, used to get. My sisters and I would chase him throughout the house to rub his head and say, "Peach fuzz! Peach fuzz!" We loved it but he hated it. Brett's hair is that short and it feels like peach fuzz. He rubbed his head when I was done and tells me: "Mom, you rock." Apparently I am the best at cutting his hair. His hair is so short now that we found 3 freckles. He is excited to show his classmates tomorrow, but only during recess so they don't get in trouble, he assures me.

So, here is a pic of the 3 boys after their cuts. My camera gives a yellow hue when I take indoor pictures, so sorry about that. Aren't they just the cutest kids?

And so it begins...

The next semester of college has officially started. I have logged on to my online business class and done a little bit of that and I go to the school tomorrow night for the first class of geography. I am actually hoping to get a lot out of that class. I am fascinated with all the cool things the earth can do.

Jabon went to his first class tonight and said he worked all day on his math class (which, unbeknown to him until today, actually started Saturday. Whoops.).

We hope this semester goes smoother than others we've had. Now, as long as I don't get too stressed with the idea of possibly being too stressed this semester. I am my own worst enemy.

Copper Mine

Jabon and I are the proud new owners of a copper mine. It's wonderful! Our copper comes already in the form of a penny, so it is ready to use. As long as we don't mind digging in Ashton's poopy diaper for it, we are quite possibly set for life.

What a surprise it was for me to be changing his stinky diaper, only to find a treasure inside! :)

Bet you are all jealous and want one just like it.

Last week of 'freedom'

The next college semester starts back up next week. I am really NOT looking forward to it. I'll be taking two classes. My geography class will be on Monday and Wednesday evenings from 5:45 to 8:45 and then I will take a business management class online. This is my last semester to go if I want to stop at an Associates degree. I am not sure if I will be okay with that or if I want to go for the Bachelors. I am just so sick of school!!

I am exhausted just thinking of the next 5 months! Yuck! 7 credits in school, 40 hours of work a week, church responsibilities, 3 children + 1 dad to care for, dinners to make, house to clean, laundry to wash, groceries to buy, etc. I'm glad my husband helps out and that Cody and Brett are big enough to do some things as well.

Jabon is also taking two classes this semester. He'll do one on Tuesday nights and one online.

Since we have such a busy Springtime to prepare for, Jabon and I are making sure we spend time with each other before the chaos erupts. We're gonna go out on a date next week. That might not sound like a lot, but it is. Trust me!

Hopefully, your next few months will be more enjoyable than mine. Don't be surprised if you don't hear from me much during that time.

This week Jabon is up in Oregon for a work trip. It's also the first week of Christmas break. I wasn't quite sure what to do with my boys, so I called up my parents and asked them if they didn't mind some company for a few days. It's nice that they only live 2 1/2 hrs away now and spending a few days with Grandma and Grandpa is a possibility.

My parents live about 40 miles north of the Mexican border. With about 20 miles to go, we passed through the border checkpoint but didn't have to stop. Cody asked me what the checkpoint was for, so I explained how if you are coming up from Mexico the border patrol wants to make sure you are not carrying back up illegal items like drugs or smuggling people. He chuckled and pointed out how we didn't have to stop going down toward Mexico so we (the U.S.) must not care what might be smuggled IN to Mexico!

So all my boys are gone this week. Jabon gets home Thursday and Friday morning I will drive down to Ajo and spend the day at my parents house. The boys and I will return that evening.

What shall I do with my lonely evenings?

Monday night: Tonight. I went shopping. Now I am just watching a movie and staring at the presents that need to be wrapped.

Tuesday night: I am getting my hair done and then going to see a movie. My sister will join me for that. We should have fun!

Wednesday night: Going to my niece's birthday party.

Somewhere in all that I want to get done a few things that are not so fun:

• Cleaning my bathroom
• Putting away the younger boys clothes
• Picking up their room

I miss all my boys and will be so happy to have us all together again in a few days!