Arbor Day Celebration

So every Arbor Day our community puts together a little shin-dig. The kids love it because there are bouncy houses, face painting, a petting zoo, sunshine, friends, food and prizes. The parents love it because it's FREE and the kids have a good time. I love it because I finally discovered our family's future pet. I've been contemplating if we should get a dog... but now I have my answer... we are getting a pot-belly pig. Jon and I have been arguing about this very touchy subject since the Arbour Day Celebration last month, (the kids siding with me). Jon finally agreed that if I want the pig after our summer vacations then we would get it... as long as we name it Bacon... I'm cool with that. Come August the Jolley family will be official proud pet owners... of a cute little pig named Bacon!

Facts about potbellied pigs:
-They have a unique appearance and they are known for their cleanliness and intelligence.
-They have a lifespan of 12 years and their average weight is 125 lbs., about the size of
a large dog.
-Pot-bellied pigs are exceptionally strong. It is advisable to teach leash respect when the piglet is young.
-Because of their keen sense of smell, food should be kept out of reach. Keep your refrigerator secure. Superior intelligence allows these animals to learn how to open the door. They love food and will do anything they can to obtain a snack. Never allow free feeding. This will lead to extreme obesity.
-As with all pets, your pot-bellied pig should be groomed daily; use a soft bristled brush. Only bath them occasionally. These pigs keep themselves immaculate.
-Pigs in general are the fourth smartest animal in the world.

What do you think about this idea? Who's side are you on... mine or Jon's??!!

Family, Feuds, Fun

My family came in town in... hmmm... March? Nice, I'm SO behind in blogging! Anyway, here's a little recap of what we did...

-SwAm -HIked -Had a WAY too CrowdEd houSe -WalkEd -tooK PictuRes -AtE -FouGht

-LauGhed -CrIed -WenT tO the PaRk -ShoPpeD -TalKed -WorKed -PlaYed -HugGed

-TiCKled -DranK DiEt CoKe -DrOve -PraNked PeOplE -WenT tO ChUrCh

-DaD on the PhOnE -TrAviS on ThE weB cAm -WenT JoGginG

-WatCheD CrimiNal MiNds and MeDiuM -PlAyEd BaD miTTen -TaLkeD TraSh!

-HuNg OuT by A CaMp FiRE -etc...

I LOVE it when my family comes in town. This time we had Milli, Avery, Mom, Dad, Sadie, Grandma, Grandpa and Erin... wow... it was chaotic! But so enjoyable. They were here for a two week in and out period. I wish they all lived here!

I love you family!

Camping in the Backyard

So much to blog about so I'm going to play catch up in random order...

Here it is, our family's first official camp out, and where did we do it you ask? In the comfort of our back yard! We borrowed Uncle Ryan and Aunt Jen's tent set it up, made smores with great friends, played guitar around the camp fire, told scary stories and just in time Anabelle and I crawled in our comfy beds while the boys roughed it out in the backyard... by the way, I HATE camping so this may be the closest I get to the "real deal".

Here's a ton of pictures of our festive camping night!...

Is it bad that I'm really impressed that Jon put this thing up? Maybe I'm too easily impressed... maybe not?!

Anabelle HATED being in the tent, I think she's claustrophobic just like her mama!

Rockin' out with Brayden to Dixie Chicks music... it's all I know, I'm a slow teacher/learner!

We got the fire started... again, I'm impressed with my boy scout!!

Jack's marshmallows looked like this all night, he just didn't quite get it down... slow and steady Jack!

Fun with the Chapo Family... we LOVE hangin' with these guys!

This is how my boys camp... they have to wrestle for about 45 minutes, then scary stories, then...

SLEEP!!! Nite boys.

Bella and I were back for breakfast!!!

All in a days work! And yes, this was the day Jack got in the "accident"!!! Just think, we almost canceled because we were so angry!!!

The Tales of Jack

I couldn't make this crap up even if you paid me.

I know I just posted a post on our crazy little Jack, and I'm pretty sure if I gathered all the "Jack stories" I have written it would be a compile of disaster after disaster after disaster, but what can I say, we love this kid. Really though, he will shorten mine and Jon's lifespan, if he hasn't already. This happened this weekend.

On Saturday we decided to have a camp out in our backyard. We missed our ward camp out and the kids were really bummed so we promised them that we would set up a tent and sleep under the stars.... uhh, I guess under the tent that's under the stars, but you get the idea. So Jon went with the boys to borrow our friends fire pit and our brother in laws 5 man tent. He wasn't able to fit everything in our trusty little mini-van so he had to make 2 trips. The first trip was for the fire pit. Jon retrieved the 50 pound thing and wanted to know if I could help him unload it, well I was busy bathing Anabelle so he decided to put the van in park and unload it himself. He told the boys to stay in their car seats because they were just dropping off the pit and then heading to uncle Ryan's house for the tent. As Jon proceeded to carry the fire pit to our back yard he heard a crunch. He didn't think much of it but as he walked back to the front of the house to get back in the van he noticed that the vehicle wasn't parked in the same spot anymore.

Then he noticed Jack sprinting from the front of the van to the back where his car seat was.

Jon came back into the bathroom where I was still bathing Bella and said to me, "Tice, I have to tell you something". This is never a good introduction to a conversation. "Jack drove your van into my car"... (see, never good). I gasped and demanded more details. Jon told me what had happened. He admitted that he knew the car was running "but I insisted that the boys stay in their seats, I TOLD the boys to stay in their seats." I couldn't get over the fact that he actually left the car running with the boys in it... I mean seriously, has he met Jack?... his son?... his middle child? HAS HE MET HIM?!!!

Apparently Jack got bored, unbuckled himself, made his way to the front of the van, turned on all the lights, messed around with the GPS and put the car in drive drifting into Jon's car that was parked in our garage... hence, the crunch.

After assessing the damages, or lack of damages (thank goodness) we sat the boys down and gave them a good talk. Poor Brayden, he always has to endure these talks that are brought on by Jack but we figure that it doesn't hurt him to hear them either. He kept saying "but mom, I sat in MY seat", "but dad, I didn't get out of MY chair". Yeah, yeah I'm sure he probably dared Jack to do it or something!!

Later that night Officer Petroni (aka my dad) called and left a message that scared the crap out of Jack. The "officer" said that he had heard there was an accident caused by a Jack Jolley. We called the officer back but he didn't answer. Jack is pretty sure he is going to jail. Brayden made us say a prayer right then and there to ask Heavenly Father to make sure Jack didn't have to go to jail. After the prayer that Brayden offered, he said, "mom, what if Jesus didn't hear us? Maybe we should say another one and make it louder." Brayden couldn't risk his brother going to jail, they are the best of friends and bunk bed partners.

Jack has decided that when he actually does get in contact with Officer Petroni he's going to explain that it was an accident and that he will NEVER do it again. He's hoping that this explanation will keep him out of jail.

Of course as a mother I have to go to the dark places in my mind and wonder what if Jack would have put it in reverse and backed across the street right into our neighbors garage? Or what if a car in the street was passing at the same time they were drifting out in the road? Like I said, years of my life will be taken off by my little Jackie Bear.

And like I also said, I couldn't make this crap up if my life depended on it.

Welcome to my life people, welcome!

Grateful

My dishwasher broke on Sunday so I've been doing the dishes by hand most of the week. On Wednesday I knew that the "dishwasher guy" would be at my house on Thursday so I let my dishes sit, I didn't want to do them by hand anymore (I don't know how you did it all those years grandma!). As you can imagine the dishes were piled up by the time the "dishwasher guy" came to my house to fix it. He was really friendly. He was really kind. He fixed my dishwasher in a jiffy. While he was fixing it we tried to talk as my children ran around like wild animals around us. He told me that he had 5 kids. His youngest was 5, a year younger then Brayden. His youngest has leukemia. The "dishwasher guy" said his son, Matthew, was doing really well and had been in remission for a year but he couldn't go to school because there are too many germs and they have to do everything they can to avoid Matthew getting sick. He didn't feel sorry for himself or his son. He was happy and hardworking. He really touched my spirit. I am so grateful for my family, my husband, my kids, my parents and in laws, for my sisters and my grandparents and the health that we all have. I just feel grateful today. That's all. I'm not sure why but I do and it makes me happy.

Jack's Reality Welcome Home at Christmas

Okay, it's time to travel back in time with me to a great memory around Christmas time, our ward Christmas party to be exact. I've been meaning to write about this for...well almost 5 months now...but I haven't gotten around to it (there are about 10 other stories I've been meaning to blog about too, but I'll start here). So it had been a little less than a week since I was reunited with part of my family and I was on cloud 9. I still hadn't picked Anabelle up from my parents who were watching her while I was at Remuda so it was just me and the boys and I was trying to adjust to being a mom and a wife again. I felt awkward and weird to be back. Anyway, our ward party was really catered to children because in our ward we have a million kids. There was a room where Santa was greeting the children, a room where we decorated sugar cookies, a room for family pictures (which turned into a couples picture because I wouldn't take a family picture without my little girly) and then outside there was a "sleigh ride" (it was really a hay ride considering the lack of snow in Arizona these days). Anyway, we first ate dinner then went to meet Santa (which is where my camera ran out of batteries), then proceeded to make the most frosted and sprinkled cookies EVER, and then outside for hot chocolate and the "sleigh ride", by now it was dark. I was trying to balance socializing with keeping track of my kids, with staying close to Jon (I was really nervous to be back), with acting normal... I don't think it worked! Anyway, it was my boys' time to jump on the back of the trailer and get dragged around the parking lot going about 15mph. Jon and I decided that they were BIG enough to go alone, without any parental supervision, plus my friend Kim and Liz were taking their little ones and would be close. Jon and I nonchalantly watched the truck pulling the trailer as is circled around and around. It was dark so there was only a silhouette of the truck and trailer but the kids were having a great time when all of the sudden someone jumped out of the trailer and rolled about 10 times. Everyone that saw gasped and then I heard Liz and Kim screaming unsuccessfully for the driver to stop. This poor child that launched him/herself off the trailer popped up after the rolling stopped and started chasing the trailer in hopes of getting back on. By this time there were some parents running towards the truck and the child to make sure everything was okay. Then, as the child ran, I saw who it was by the light of the moon, and why was I even surprised, it was JACK. Jack, unhurt, was laughing hysterically and Jon, in a panic, was sprinting across the parking lot, and I standing alone with my hot chocolate in hand was nudged by a ward member who whispered "welcome home"!!!

Not much has changes in the past 5 months... I'm so scared for Jack's teenage years!!

Caught in our Routine

This morning we had our regular routine.

Jack and Brayden wake up.

Eat.

Get Dressed.

Brush their teeth.

Practice Brayden's sight words.

Brayden catches his ride to school.

Then, like the little angel she is, Anabelle wakes up.

She always seems to wait until the chaos stops before she makes her morning peeps.

It's almost as if she knows how stressful and crazy the first hour in the morning is for me so she waits, she waits until her mommy is ready for her.

This morning I went in her room to find this...

Poor little thing pulled her shirt over her head and got stuck. I laughed, grabbed the camera and had to take some pictures, by the last picture she didn't think it was flattering anymore and started to whine... so, after a couple more shots, I stopped!

This little girl is something else. Everyday she learns something new and so do I. She is the sweetest little girl I've ever met and such a good baby.

I took her to her 18 month check-up last week (yes, I was 2 months late) and she is measuring right around the 3 percentile for height and weight. She's my little LITTLE girl!

I am worried about her though, as most mothers can relate, to the fact that she's 20 months and not walking or talking yet. Her pediatrician said that there's PROBABLY nothing to worry about but she just wants to make sure we cross all bridges necessary so she wants me to take Anabelle to a neurologist.

I'm nervous.

I made the appointment and they are 4 weeks booked out so I have to wait for 4 weeks. I'm sure everything is fine but I'm worried. I hate thinking that my little girl may have challenges that I never had.

Physical.

Mental.

Social.

When Anabelle was born she didn't pass her newborn screening or her 2 week screening. She had a protein deficiency and we had to give her daily supplements for awhile.

I hated that.

She hated that.

And for the longest time Anabelle wouldn't eat anything. We had to do test to make sure her esophagus was wide enough. The test showed that it was. She has a shallow gag reflex and so she didn't like to eat.

Luckily, she has grown out of that and now really likes food...

and toys...

and any little thing she can find on the ground!

Because of these problems she qualified through the state for physical therapy, speech therapy (with an emphasis in eating), and occupational therapy. Her therapists say she is doing great. She's improving every week at every session.

These comments make me less nervous.

Also, Anabelle is all over the place and into everything. She has a personality and makes my heart melt, as well as her daddy's and her grandparents.

She signs to Jon and I. She tells us when she's hungry, wants milk, and all done, it's the CUTEST thing I've ever seen.

I'm hopeful that everything will be okay, what ever that means I'm not sure, and if it's not, it won't change the way we feel about our little girl. We'll do whatever we have to to help her but one thing she'll never have to doubt is that

She is LoVeD

I love you baby girl.