Mischief and Mayhem...aka Joey

There is a website out there called {ahem} *Stuff My Kids have Ruined. (*words have been modified to be less offensive)  I've never posted on it, but it gives me solace to know that other parents have a hellion in their midst.  Now all my kids were born stubborn--people like to call it "strong personalities"--but none were INTENTIONALLY naughty...that is, until now.  Joey is but a mere three years old, and he has already filled his life up with stories of destruction.  (You may recall that Jacob in his younger years was referred to as the "Destructor"--child's play, my friends...child's play.)  In the past 3 days alone he has: fed a neighbor's cell phone to our dog, who proceeded to chew it to pieces; pumped over half a bottle of soap in my newly cleaned glass sink, which then of course he got all over himself, the counter, the floor, the toilet....;  popped almost every key off my Apple wireless keyboard, of which I found all but 5 rendering the keyboard unusable (I am currently on the laptop); dipped his clean pull-up in the toilet then waved it around over his head splattering the bathroom with toilet water--again, the bathroom I had just cleaned.  The list goes on and on, but that was just the past 3 days.  He is constantly running away from me anywhere I go--stores, church, the yard...  In a matter of one minute while I was picking out the right size jeans for Tyler and Jacob at Walmart a few days ago, Joey managed to climb out of the cart (and yes, he was buckled in) and ran off and I couldn't find him.  Admittedly there was a split second where I thought of running off and letting him be someone else's problem--JUST KIDDING.  There I am in the kid section yelling his name.  Embarrassing.  He also colored on Ziggy with markers, spits on everyone and everything, drew with permanent marker on my nice chair and bedframe in my room, climbs to the top shelf of the pantry to sneak treats, etc.  It was so bad I even had to put a lock on Tyler and Jacob's room so Joey couldn't sneak in to steal/break/hide/destroy their things.  Now they keep it locked all day.  Oh my.  He gives me a run for my money.

If any of you out there are saying, "Well why doesn't she just stop him/discipline him?" I'd be willing to bet you either have no kids, or had very easy children who loved to please.  Take Joey for a day and then let me know what you think.  I have to admit, though, despite all that, he makes me laugh so much.  He can be very sweet and has the biggest, heartiest laugh of any little boy I know (that is, if you can get him to trade his signature scowl in for a laugh).  I love dearly despite my better judgement!  He gives huge bear hugs, he makes me sing him "Eye of the Tiger" before he goes to sleep at night (I love that), and just does funny things.  I know [hope] someday he will outgrow his naughtiness and channel his energy AWAY from the dark side and to good things.  Joey, I love you, now LISTEN TO ME!

                  Who needs the number 4 anyway?  And don't even get me started on "M"....

Like Mother like daughter.

Anyone who knows me well will know I am what you'd call a "planner."  I am not so much a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of girl.  Sometimes I wish I were, but being a planner is not a bad thing.  But it can be taken to far--case in point:

Yesterday we went to the library and Maggie and Joey each picked out 3 books to bring home.  Although I am ashamed to admit it, we don't frequent the library too much (any of you who knows Joey knows why).  Maggie thought it was amazing and wonderful and marvelous.  I said to her, "Maybe we can come to library every Tuesday and pick out books since you liked it so much."  She thought for a minute and replied, "Well, maybe when I'm 15 or 16 and it's my birthday, and it's on a Tuesday, we will have to have a party first, and then we will have to do something else, and then something else, and maybe something else too.  But after we do all that then we can go to the library."  Now that's what I call planning ahead.

A fun filled December

Well December was a whirlwind of activities!  Is it just me, or was the Christmas season uber-short?  It was--but we managed to cram it full of Christmasy fun.  I guess I will just go in order...

First, with the kids out of school, I was bit tired of being stuck in the house with them so we went to Wendy's for lunch and Joey's toy in his meal was a little mini train.  Ever the non-conformist, this is how Joey decided to play with it...

 He wore it around the house for hours.

Every year we try to go up to Salt Lake City and spend the night.  Last year we went up on a Friday night---"I've made a huge mistake."  It was so crowded you couldn't even walk through temple square to see the lights, restaurants were maxed out and the mall was too busy to walk around in.  Needless to say it wasn't very much fun--more stress.  So this year we decided to take the kids out of school for a day and go up on a Tuesday night.  What a difference!  Not only were the kids completely stoked about missing school, there was hardly anybody there.  We walked around the mall at City Creek and loved watching the fish...

 Walk all around Temple Square.  Joey was hilarious--yelling out the colors of all the lights in a most excited voice... "Look!  Is orange!!!!  Orange ones!!!!  Orange!!!   ORANGE!!!  AAHHHHHH!!!" (His favorite color is orange.)   The only drawback was that we happened to go up during that crazy cold spell--0 degrees as we are walking around.  BBRRRR!!  But we had booked our hotel a month in advance so couldn't change it.  But we bundled up and luckily there are lots of places to go inside.  So we'd walk a bit then go in the tabernacle, walk a bit then go in the visitor's center, walk a bit and go in the mall, etc.

 Just to prove my existence I put in this "selfie" I took of Maggie and me in the visitors center.  It isn't flattering--taking a picture of yourself with 20 layers on is harder than it looks--but since I am rarely in pics I thought I might as well add it.  This is in the theater watching the video of the nativity.

 Salt Lake was fun, and a few days after we got home we had our 2nd annual Ugly Sweater Party.  It was a blast.  Everyone looked TERRIBLE and we had good food, played games and contests,  Here's Eric and I getting photo-bombed.

 Then it was Christmas eve before we knew it!  The kids donned their pj's from Grandma Swenson...giddy with excitement!

 Sleeping was hard that night for the kids--which made it hard for mom and dad too!  But they rose bright and early Christmas morning and all piled on our bed anxiously waiting while dad went downstairs to see if Santa really came....

 Once we heard the go ahead from Eric we ran downstairs---Joey (who really didn't know what he was supposed to be excited about) realized the thrill of Christmas and Santa as he came down and saw all the wonderful gifts!

 Tyler made a picture for Joey...

 Maggie got a bike and a dollhouse.

 Jacob got a remote control helicopter and science kit.

 Tyler got a remote control plane (that we ended up returning because it didn't work---it's a good thing Santa shops on Amazon too) and a gift card.

 Joey got a Batman set and Spiderman toys.

 Santa gave all the kids goggles in their stockings....

 And Bubble Tape (can you guess how long it took Joey to eat his whole container?  about 5 minutes).

 And here I am Christmas morning (picture taken by Joey), slaving over cinnamon rolls--it took forever to open the bag and heat them in the microwave...(They were from Shirley's Bakery--I can't compete).

 The kids loved their gifts, and we spent time with family.  Then yesterday we went sledding with friends.  Ty and Jake had a snowball fight waiting for the 4-wheelers to come pick them up to take them up the hill.

 Ready to go!

 I managed to get a shot of everyone coming down--front to back: Jake, Tyler, Joey, Maggie and Eric.

 Whoo hoo!

 Maggie and Joey pooped out long before the boys so they stayed warm by the itty-bitty fire.

 Joey eating snow....

 Maggie riding up the hill on the back of the 4-wheeler.  Uncle Dan telling her, "Hold on tight!"

 And Dan even gave Tyler his first skiing lesson!  He was so patient and good with him.  Thank you Dan!

SO now we are ready to swing in the new year!  Here's to good times, good food, good friends and family!

Happy Anniversary to me...

Well as of today Eric and I have been married for a {mostly} blissful 14 years.  When I told that to my kids they couldn't believe it, in the sense of it is a longer amount of time than they can even comprehend.  ("You got married in the 1900's!?!!?!" said Tyler).  To celebrate we picked up Eric from work and took him out to dinner...yes we had all the kids but since they are a byproduct of us being married I figured I could take them.  The kids, of course, ordered food they didn't eat (but if we didn't order it for them they would say they were starving....) and fought over the limes in my soda.  We were talking about Christmas coming up next week and what the kids wanted if they could only have one gift.  Tyler described something I got him when Maggie was with me.  Maggie whispered to me that he was talking about the thing we got.  I told her yes but to not say anything to anyone.  The boys kept asking what it was and who it was for--I turned to Maggie and told her to keep her lips sealed.  I told her DON'T even say who it is for!  She gave me a knowing smile and turned to Jacob proudly and she said, "Jacob I can't whisper it in your ear because Tyler might hear it."  Whoops.  At least he doesn't know what it is--except that he was talking about the thing he wanted so if he's clever he will put 2 and 2 together.

A couple weeks ago we made candy trains with some friends.  Gingerbread houses are too hard to stabilize so I carry on a tradition my mom did with us and do trains instead.  So much fun to put together--and even funner to eat!!!

 Maggie decided to play dress up the other day, and I suppose Joey felt left out because next thing I know he comes downstairs asking me to button him up....

I always wanted another little girl....  (By the way, he wore it for several hours....)

The year in {BRIEF} review...

Well, there is no way to catch up on a complete year of activities, what with our busy social lives, so here is a recap of some of the highlights...

2013 consisted of:

Trips to the pumpkin patch

 A trip to Disneyland....

 Trips out to Grandma Calder's (a favorite destination we won't have much longer) and the beach...

 Lots of soccer from both older boys (Jake LOVES it)...

 A new puppy (YIKES!)...

Tyler WON his Pinewood Derby!!!!!

Lots of Joey's signature CHEESERS....

A GIRL'S TRIP to Seattle!!!

Another trip to Grandma's and the BEACH!

 A successful hunting trip (yuck)...

 FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!

 Another Halloween...

Maggie turned 5!

 Just general goofing around...

Not one but TWO facial traumas...

Joey had 8 stitches,    Maggie had 40 (in 3 layers)!!!

BYU football games...

Cold walks!

 And MORE trips to the beach!

Phew!  Let me tell you picking out only a few (yes, I consider this a few) pics from the year was tough--my kids are so darn cute.  But there is a brief recap.  Christmas is right around the corner so be ready for some more pictures!