How to be a mean mother

Chris found this in the form of a framed picture for me. . . My kids have been calling me "mean" lately. Now I take it as a compliment.

How to be a MEAN MOTHER

A mean mother never allows candy or sweets to take the place of a well-balanced meal.

A mean mother insists on knowing where her children are at all times, who their friends are and what they do.

A mean mother breaks the child labor law by making her children work--washing dishes, making beds, learning to cook, and doing other cruel and unpleasant chores.

A mean mother makes life miserable for her offspring by insisting that they always tell the truth

A mean mother produces teenagers who are wiser and more sensible.

A mean mother can smile with secret delight and pride when she hears her own grandchildren call their parents "mean". What the world needs now is more mean mothers!

Celebrate good times, Come on!

Independence day was a grand celebration all around. We trekked on up to Tulsa again and celebrated with Chris's family. Hang on tight . . . here come the pictures! Lots of them!

Aiden celebrated his 4th birthday (appropriately on the 4th of July ~ What other day would be more perfect for my little Spitfire!).



Chris's dad (a.k.a. "Pop") is a major Pyromaniac. He looks forward to, and stocks up on fireworks all year in anticipation of the 4th of July when he can let them all loose. It was a grand display of pyro-technics (the pictures certainly don't do it justice).


Cousin Bennett wasn't so sure about the noise!

Kolbi and little Miss Jaidyn (another way-fun cousin)


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Aiden recieved a sweet Transformers fishing pole for his birthday. Apparently it's magic, because this little man caught 8 fish with it in an hour! Those fish just kept snapping up his bait the second it touched the water!

Kolbi came in a close second with 4 fish.

Pop caught one whopper! (in his defense, he did spend the entire time baiting hooks with little time to actually fish himself ~ way to sacrifice for the grandkids Pop!)

Aunt Sandra getting in on the fishing action (see, she's got her game face on).

Mimi spent her time entertaining the Zoe and Jaidyn (Both of whom were completely fascinated with picking up, and stepping in the bait.)

I don't have a picture of it, but, after watching the minnows being speared onto a hook as bait, Jonah retreated to the folding chairs clutching his stomach and suppressing the hurls. Yeah, I think he had the most fun fishing!
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To beat the heat while we were there, we hit a local splash park. The kids had a blast! I got some fun pictures too.

Zoe thought the whole thing was her personal water fountain, we even caught her licking the grate where all of the water goes. Nasty! She's going to have stellar immunities I tell ya!

Aiden starting the water up again


And here's my favorite shot . . . proof that Chris is actually a super hero. Can you guess why?

Here's a hint . . . look at his feet.
I've been saying for years the he could fly, but no one believed me. I'm selling this lovely bit o' evidence to the highest bidder.

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To but it mildly, we had a wonderful time! Who could not love good food, fireworks, fish, birthday celebrations, flying, and lots of water all packed into a weekend? Thanks again Mimi and Pop for the good times!

Heard in the Trenches

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While on our vacation at Mimi and Pop's house, I was attempting to get the kiddos (three of which were sharing a room ~ an arrangement NOT conducive to any actual sleeping) back into bed (again!) the following conversation ensued. . .

Jonah: "Mom, do crystals really exist?"

Me: (baffled) "Crystals? Yeah, Pop has tons of them." (Pop is an avid rock collector)

Jonah: "See guys! That means Light Sabers exist and so does Star Wars!" (Betcha didn't know light sabers got their power from crystals? Jonah is quite the Star Wars aficionado)

Me: (chuckling) "No, honey. Star Wars is a story someone made up."

Jonah: "No mom! It's real! It was just a long long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. It was in the time of the dinosaurs so now they're all extinct like the dinosaurs."

Kolbi: "Yeah, so now there's no evidence! Like, no bones and stuff! No one will ever find evidence that it's real!"

Me: (rolling eyes and walking out the door) "Good night guys!!"
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Aiden is talking to me from the backseat of the car . . .

Aiden: "Mom, I have a remote control that can make things big."

Me: "Really?!"

Aiden: "Yea, so if you want your legs or feet to get bigger, bigger, I can do that for you."

Me: (chuckling) "Thanks bud. I'll keep that in mind." (Geez, If my boats got any bigger, I could sink the Titanic! What I really wanted to know is if this this magic remote makes other body parts bigger . . . Hmmmm)
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This morning, at the kitchen table, we had yet another lovely mealtime conversation. It went a little something like this . . .

Zoe: (turning in her chair and glaring at Aiden) "No go poopy!" (I don't know where this came from but I can only guess he was bugging her about filling her shorts)

Aiden: "What did she say?"

Jonah: "She said, 'No go (whispering) p-o-o-p'."

Zoe: "Heh! Heh! Dat's POOP!"

Kids: (fall off their chairs laughing)

Really?! My baby knows how to spell poop! This certainly has to be a sign of genius?!

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Me: "Okay Zoe, time for ni-nights. Give Daddy kisses."

Zoe: "Okay. (she leans in for a kiss). (Points to my bedroom door and with the other hand lightly pushes dad towards it). It's ni-nights daddy!" (Then she wriggles out of my arms to go play)

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We were starting with lunch ~ Of course, my kids think they must have Whine with their lunch!

Kolbi: "Mom, while we're eating, can we listen to my C.D.?"

Jonah: "No! I want to watch a show!"

Kolbi: "No! I don't want to rotten my brain!"

Me: (chuckle)

Kolbi: "What? Dad says it rottens (rots) our brains!"

Jonah: "I don't care. I WANT to rotten my brain."

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While at the pool, Zoe spied with her little eye . . . a bug.

She climbed out of the water, toddled over to it, and STOMPED on the bug. Then she got down on all fours and proceeded to examine the bug up close. A wave of compassion must have come over her as she gazed down at the poor bug curled up in a fetal position. "Awwww!" She says, "Is baby. Tute (cute) baby!" Then she looks up at me, puts her finger up to her lips and says, "Ssss (shhh) mom. Baby seeping (sleeping)!"

Indeed, little bug killer, this bug sleeps the eternal sleep. Farewell baby bug! May your heaven be free of gigantic, chubby little feet!

An amazing lady and a worthy cause

I have a friend, Adrian, whom I adore. I can't say enough good things about her (and they're all true!) She has undertaken the incredible task of joining the Breast Cancer 3 Day walk. Wow! I wish I had the ___________ (Guts/time/energy/werewithall ~ Fill in the blank) to do the same. Currently it's one of many things on my exceedingly long "Someday" list.

Adrian's determination just adds to plethora of thing I admire about her. Unfortunately I can't do much to support her cause financially, but I wanted to spread the word about her incredible work. Check out her website journaling her progress. If you feel so inclined to donate to a very worthy cause, there's a link to donate to Adrian's run.

As I post this the familiar lines from a church song keep running through my brain . . . . "

There are chances for work all around just now,
Opportunities right in our way.
Do not let them pass by
Saying "sometime I'll try",
But go and do something today.

Maybe I need to be more like my friend Adrian and go and do something today. Way to go Adrian! You rock girl! If any of you out in blogland wish to join Adrian in her worthy cause , this is how you sign up . . . Breast Cancer 3-Day

We are a happy fam-i-ly!

Memorial day started out pretty crappy (for reasons not worth mentioning here), but in the afternoon we got the chance to help the Young Women with a project they were working on. They were learning photography from a professional in our ward and were asking for families to come get their pictures taken so they could practice. The professional took most of the shots and the girls got candids. These are the results . . . Pretty good if I do say so myself! Dang I have cute kids!!

May ~ the month that got away

Ok, I know I've been a major blogger-slacker. Really? Over a month?! Well, now we're going to play a little game called Catch-Up. Exciting as they were (well, they were for me, but probably a bit ho-hum for you), these were the major events of May in the Wasson household. . .

I'm still not quite sure how it happened, but somehow 2 years just flew by and this bitty bundle

has become this !

I'm flabbergasted! Where did the time go? How did my baby get to be a 2 year old?! Considering that (at this moment) we don't anticipate any other newborns in our household (at least not from my tired loins), it's really quite tragic that my baby is growing so darn fast. I keep telling her to slow down, but she insists she has to keep up with the older kids. **Sigh!**

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The hubby and I decided we needed a family vacation badly. We were evil parents and took our kids out of school for as long as we could without getting in trouble with "the man". We packed up our meager belongings, and headed out on a fantastic voyage to the wild and wooley North (ok, we just headed up to Oklahoma, but it does get colder in the winter there). Once again, Chris's parents extended their hospitality to our rather large family of locusts and allowed us to come and clean them out of all food items (and I'm quite certain, Sanity). It was a wonderful break from real life. We just chilled a great deal. We spent a lot of time outdoors (unfortunately a lot of my pictures of the trip were corrupted, **Sniff , and Uber-Sigh **) . . .

We hit the neighborhood garage sales (Mimi and Pop generously gave the kids a wad to blow on previously-loved treasures). The kids each walked away with a ton of new books. How sad am I that they want to spend their money on books?!

We also had a fun (and messy) birthday party for Miss Zoe. (Please note the purple schmooze dripping from her arm. Yeah, my child is turning purple from her new strict Blueberry diet) As evidenced by these tongues, Zoe wasn't the only one who consumed blueberries with wreckless abandon.

I'm pretty certain we cost Mimi and Pop a fortune in Blueberries alone!

While there, we were also treated to a fun trip to Incredible Pizza (a favorite of my kids) and we played, ate, and had a ball. It was a fabulous trip. Well worth it and we came home sad to face the real world again, but feeling refreshed. Thanks again Mom and Dad!

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A week after we got back, Mimi and Pop then came to visit us for a big event . . .can you guess?

Yep! My eight year old got baptized! I've said it before, I'll say it again ~ I am so old!

It was a beautiful day! Kolbi's friend Mya was able to attend, as well as Mimi and Pop and several wonderful supporters from the Ward. She was so petrified of putting her head under water! It took a father's blessing, lots of prayers, and lots of practice before she felt somewhat ready. When the time came, standing at the font steps, she wore a terrified expression. But she took a deep breath, stepped into the water, and DID it!!!! I'm so proud of her and she's so relieved it's over.

I have some sad feelings about this day however . . . My parents weren't able to make it because my Grandfather (who is living with them) became ill and was in the hospital. As beautiful as the day was, there was definitely something missing. It turns out too, that the baptism pictures are some of the ones that were corrupted. AAaaaggghh!!!! Hopefully Mimi and Pop got some good pictures. Plus, this is a major step in a young life, I can't believe my babies are growing up so fast! Where's the pause button?!?! Somebody make it stop!!

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All in all, May was a real whirl-wind of adventures. Hence, the blogging break. I still have some catching up to do. Stay tuned and see if I actually do it . . .

Takin' a break . . .

In case you couldn't tell, I'm taking a little blogging break . I just need some time for some deep reflection and re-evaluation. Either that, or I'm just feeling too darn lazy. You decide.