3 little Bumble Bee's

Each week we have been doing different colors and themes. Because the boys are 3, I have been doing different preschool things with them. A couple weeks back we made bee hats and lots of stuff related to bee's. They had a ton of fun running around in their bee hats and pretending to be Bee's :)

Welcome to the World Brylee

Jason's sister Lindsay just had a baby girl 2 weeks ago today. Brylee Jean Gibson Wilkins was born on August 29th 2009 @ 8:24 pm. She weighed 7lbs 4 oz. She is beautiful and I got to change her diaper when she was less then a day old. Hard to imagine a baby that little. Taylor was 9lbs 9oz and Conner was 7lbs 15oz. She was very focused for being less then a day old when I met her and she would let out little squeals. She is a blessing from God for sure. Congradulations to Lindsay and Bryan on their beautiful baby girl. Welcome to the world baby Brylee- Your aunt Kelly loves you very much!! It's going to be so fun spoiling you!!

Never forget

8 years later, I still remember that horrible day in which all those lives were lost. People just going about their daily life, when some selfish people took their lives away. To the suvivors of 9/11 And to the familes that were affected by that day. You are in my prayers daily. . To the children who lost their mother's and father's that day. I pray that you will grow stronger everyday and not let the enemeny defeat your spirit. I pray that you find peace through this all.

You are in my thoughts...... I rememeber

Conner and Taylor's Half Birthdays

So every year I not only celebrate the kid's Birthdays but I do the half birthday's too although I don't get them gifts for their half birthdays... I do something special like make them brownies or take them out for a special treat. This time I decided to take them out for Ice Cream.. although Conner is not a big fan of Ice cream like Taylor is.. ( She gets that from Jason's side I think espically his sister) Conner is like me and loves Cake and Chocolate.. But this time he decided to try some icecream and he actually liked it considering it melted fast and I am not sure how much he really got to eat..lol He had his first Chocolate dipped Ice cream from Diary Queen and Taylor had her fave m&m blizzards. Happy half Birthdays Taylor and Conner..

Your mom and Dad love you very much!!!

I'm Back!!!

Between July and now it's been very busy. I also have just been so tired and really not in the blogging mood. I guess you go in spurts were it does hit you and doesn't.
Let's see so much has been going on since I last blogged.. I have a 4th grader now who thinks she knows everything about life, and I have a 3 year old who really wants to be independent like his big sister but gets frustrated by the limits.

School has offically been in school for over a month and I have had to deal with the transition of Jake going to school :( That's right he started Kindergarden. It's hard to believe he is so grown up. The first month kinda of felt a little lost without him but the transition was actually not that bad considering I was not the only missing him. Logan, Conner and Nolan missed him too!! We still get to have him on school breaks so that is a good thing!!

I have started doing preschool stuff with the three, 3 year olds, and they seem to like it although Conner does get bored with it and does not want to focus much. So hopefully this is just a phase and he won't have problems in school later on.

Each week we started working on different things, right now we are working on colors. We did lots of fun things with the colors already. I will share the color yellow in my next post.

Life never seems to have a dull moment here but we are pretty much back to normal after our flood.

I am just waiting for the weather to get cooler so the boys and I can do more outdoor things.
I am sure everyone is waiting for fall. It's my favorite time of the year!!

The flood

Life has difficult at our house to say the least. Father's day weekend we were all set to go up to Jason's aunt's 70th surprise birthday party. We had opted not to take Conner with us because he is wild and I was afraid he might get lost in the woods. I had images of me looking for him. Jason had to work on that Saturday and then we were headed out right after he left work. My mom came to stay with Conner at my house because he sleeps better in his own bed. The day started off bad. We got a late start and as I was packing Conner handed me my pill contatiner and I noticed some of them were missing after counting them and putting them back in their right places. ( I never leave my medicine out but put them in my purse the night before so I would remember to take them) Conner never gets in to my purse but he did that time.. I felt like a gulity mommy. He kept insiting that he did take them. So we called posion control. They kept calling my mom to make sure everything was ok, said to watch him and if he is bleeding or gets lots of brusing to take him to the Emergency room. Conner managed to be fine the whole weekend and we didnt have to get him into to see the dr till Monday morning for a blood test. It came back fine! What a relief. Now back to the prescott story, we almost opted not to go because we realized that Jason's trucks gas gague was broke and we could not tell how much gas he had in it so we kept a gas containor with us just in case we ran out of gas. Once we got to prescott, it was nice to be away from the heat and the party was really nice, It was nice to have a break from conner although I was still worrying about him. We slept in a tent and I manage to be frozen the whole night. I guess there even javelin's in the middle of the night right by our tent. EEEK Scary. The next day I woke up and called my mom to see how Conner was, She said he was good and sleep the whole night good. Then she asked me where I was at. I said.. We are in prescott still..Why ? She says well......... Your washing machine overflowedand you have water all through your house. She says, I called people to come dry it up and I also called a plumber in case you have a problem with your hoses. I said.. cancel the plumber since I have a home warrenty and would work on getting one of those when I needed him. We were anxious to get home not knowing what we would walk into.. We walked into, 2 guys, ripping up our linolum and carpet, ripping off our doors and ripping off the baseboards. I did call amica my insurance company and we realized we had to pay a 500 deductable. The guys got started on the work and it was so hard to see my house torn apart like this but.. On the fip side a week before I was just saying how much I hated the carpet we had and how I wanted new carpet and I so badly needed a vacation. I guess God answered both of those prayers lol. The adjuster came in and wrote down what needed to be replaced and the total damage was about 16.000 dollars. I guess the drying people dry force put in too many fans to dry it and they dont usually use this company because they are known for being excessive, Their bill alone for 2 days was 5.000 dollars. I am so glad I have insurance. On the 10th we are getting new carpet and linolum in and the dry wall people just finished their work so maybe it will look like a new house again. The air condtioning did go out on thursday and friday and I will save that for another post.. That is a huge story as well.
As long as we are safe and no one got hurt that is what matters. although I lost a week of work and that was rough but God gave me my vacation even if it was chaotic.

Potty training

About a year ago, I started trying to potty train Conner. He was very quite stubborn to say the least, I tried and tried but he just didnt want any part of it. I left him alone for awhile and then started to show him some potty train viedo's on You Tube. He thought it was exciting to see movies on You tube. I rented movies from the library as well, I even bought him a lift and flap book at Christmas called. Everybody Poops. He thought it was a fun book but still didnt care about going in the potty. I bought him a potty chair that makes noise but he loved using it as a step stool to wash his hands and play in the sink. I also got him all kinds of cool pixar underwear but he refused to wear that. Almost 2 weeks ago, I had to take all the kids to the store to get diapers, I never run out... usually get to 10 and then realize, I need more...... not sure where mybrain was but we only had one for that day. We got to the store and I showed Conner the diaper box and said.. "Look at that baby wearing that diaper" Conner said, That's a baby ? I said yes, you don't need these because you are a big boy!. We got home and right after we got home, he says.. " I wear big boy underwear today! He went all day that day and it's amazing because he does not have many accidents and he even tells me when he has to go., He has even pooped in the potty last week so it's going great. Only use pull ups now for bed time and nap.. I love not having to buy diapers.. It's so exciting lol.. Plus he was at a size 6..It's time for him to be a big boy! He even tells me. Mommy I go potty like Molan( Nolan) a little boy I watch.... Nolan stands up.. Conner most of the time sits down but hey, He is potty trained and that is what matters!!

From 3 grader to 4th Grader

Taylor at the beginning of 3rd grade with Mrs. Berges Taylor the last day of 3rd grade with Mrs. Berges

Wow, This year really flew fast. Taylor just finished 3rd grade and will be starting 4th grade in August. It seems just like yesterday she was a kindergarder and I was waiting in line at 2am to get her in all day kindergarden. She has grown so much this year, not only in academics but in mautrity. I was thinking about it the other day, since her school only goes up to 5th grade. Her and Conner will never be at the same school because she will be starting Jr high at a different one and he will be a kindergarder. I am so proud of my big girl. Had a wonderful year with A's and B's on her report card :) I love you Tay

Summer Fun

Shannon's 8th grade Graduation

Clare and Shannon and Rod ( Maternal Grandparents)

Shannon, Lauren, Taylor and Megan.. Hard to get pictures with the 4 these days

Shannon and her mom Joan

Lauren and her boyfriend Riley( What a goofy sister)

Shannon and her grandma Bailey.( Her grandpa passed away in March) I know he was there in spirit.
Taylor and I went to Shannon's 8th grade graduation on May 21st. It's hard believe she will be a freshman in highschool next year. I first met her when she was 2 playing in the kitchen sink and now she is all grown up. I got to be her nanny for 8 years of her life. I miss seeing her and her sisters everyday. She is a very bright student and will follow in her sisters and mom and her sisters footsteps and go to Xavier Highschool Next year in Phoenix, A all catholic highschool for girls. Way to go Shannon!!! So proud of you and we love you.

Rest in Peace Mousie

Mother's day was a bit hard around our house. Taylor got a hamster at the beginning of Second grade in 2007. Mousie was a wonderful hamster besides the night time noise, he kept his cage clean, He loved Carrots and sunflower seeds. He was loving and let you hold him, He would nibble on your shirt from time to time and he would even let you hold him while he cleaned his face. He was so loving. I know the life expecentancy of hamsters is not all that great, so I knew the time was coming when he would pass, after January I realized this would be the 2 year mark, I just did not realize when it was going to happen. We had just finished cleaning Taylor's room because we had family coming over when I told her that we should vaccum and then I told her maybe we should feed mousie first. We usually check on him daily and most of the time his food is still good for a couple of days but we didnt for a day because we were busy with her school project, We went to look in the cage and he was laying their all stiff, I knew for sure he had passed, so I called Jason, Taylor had a very tough time withthis because it was her first pet death. She cried on and off most of the day, I felt so bad for her.At the end of the day we had a funeral for Mousie and he is buried on the side of the house. She put a carnation on top of the jewerly box. She did talk me into getting a new one, and we did get a new one and we call him dash but he is not like mousie, he is scared of us and fast and runs away.. Hopefully he will come around but there is no hamster like Mousie. I Have a picture of him on my cell phone but can't figure out how to put it online but I do have pictures and viedo of the funeral.

Yes... I am behind

So much has been going on lately that I have been just too tired to blog..and I know it's going to get worse.. School is out as of Last Friday and Summer is here. This Summer I will be watching 6 kids. yes... It's alot and I am praying that I can do it. I will have Hannah, and Jake M- W. Of course Taylor and Conner full time and then my nephew Logan who is 3 and his schedule changes all the time, so I honesty don't know when he comes although it's 2 to 3 days a week. Some days I have him at 5am. Then I have a little boy named Nolan that I just started watching a couple months and he is 3. So It's going to be busy to say the least. Here is what has happened since I last blogged and since the above stuff is just rambling..

• Taylor just completed 3rd grade and will be in 4th next year.( Where did the time go?)
• Conner is stillllllllll working on potty training and we are still working on getting him in a big boy bed but ran out of time this weekend and of course we thought we would have time to do it memorial weekend and it did not happen
• I finished another year with girl scouts..Ireally need a break
• Me and Jason just had our 16th year wedding anniversary.. We went out on Friday night and saw Star trek and out to dinner at the Yard house at Westgate( Although the food was not that great)
• Had to have a air handler and evap coil put in our house... 785.00 later. Thank God for home warrenties.. It would of been close to 1800.. Can't run a home childcare without that in the Arizona Summer
• Jason's job is still safe.... we Pray everyday.
• Went to Shannon's8th grade Graduation( I was her nanny from the age of2 to 8) Where did that time go?I remember her in a pokadotted dress and barney shoes when I first started watching her.

Did I mention I have 6 kids tomorrow for10 weeks?.. It will go fast right ?

That's about it for now.. I will post pictures of all of the above whenI have more energy.

To my most amazing mom

Just wanted to wish my mom a very Happy Mother's day. She is a amazing person to me. She has always been very a strong person. She has always been there for the family and pretty much 100% of the time, thinks about the family before herself. She is a wonderful Mother and a wonderful Grandma. She is very organized and is so great at giving just the right gift for each person although our gift is her love and support. She is a wonderful ( Dama) In Conner's words and she loves the kids and it shows. Her patience with working with Jr high kids is amazing.. I know I personally could not do it and her patience even with my dad and Grandma can get to her at times, but she keeps on going. She has a love for God and for family and for others and that is what I so admire about her.

Thank you Mom for always being there for me when you are needed. You are a amazing gift to me! I love you.. Happy Mother's day

Hats!

Little Lola

Conner had to be involved

Big girl Taylor

From the mouths of Children

Today, I took Conner and Nolan to the Park. I started Watching Nolan a couple months back. His Mom decided to go back to work part time and because he got along with Jake, She decided to bring him to me. He is 3 and just a amazing little boy. I am telling you one of these days when he gets older he is going to be a major name in Sports. His main sport that he is really good at is football. He lines his hands up on the ball and can throw over my fence and even catch a ball half way across the yard. He is amazing. He can also hit a baseball across a big baseball field. His mom says they never taught him and that his dad prayed for his son to have this ablitly. Well God listened. Nolan does not like to be refered to as " Little" He has a older brother and Sister and Little to him is a major negative word. So I always have to watch my self. He is even Potty trained and a very independent "Big " boy but still loves to cuddle.. So back to the park story.. They ran around and had a good time, hit it off with a little boy right away. We played for about 45 minutes until it started to get warm. So I decided to take them to Micheals with me so I could get stuff so we could make mother's day presents.

So.. we walk around the store, I brought a stroller in for Conner but he decided to walk and Nolan decided to sit. As we were going through the asile, Conner sees a roll of ribbon that says, For a precious little girl, Conner then says.. Oh, I have this.. Look Mom as he starts to shove it down his short pocket, I couldnt stop laughing, It was the first time my child tried to steal something. I then tried to reason with a 3 year old that we can't just take things from the store and put them in our pocket ... Could you imagine if we all did that.. No one would have to work !!

As we leave the store, we see this bird and I wish I could of gotten a closer picture of it...I tried really hard.. It looked like a catus wren. It was running around the parking lot with a dead limp lizard in it's mouth. It was not eating it.. Just running around.. So Nolan see's it and says.. Oh Decusting *( His word for discusting) and I tried to explain to Nolan that a bird does not Eat Peanut Butter and Jelly like we do and that he is eats bugs and lizards and Nolan then says.. Kelly... Well let's go home and make him a peanut butter and Jelly Sandwich so he won't get sick beacuse that is Decusting..

They were both amazed by it and I got a big laugh out of it and this lady walking in in the parking lot was walking and then looked back a couple times and then she noticed me and said, I am from South Dakota and I have never seen anything like that!.. I then said, I have lived here 38years and I have never seen that. We both laughed. That would of been a awesome picture if I would of gotten closer... Something you don't see everyday lol

Remodeling

Our new tile in the bathrooms

Our Room. Milk Chocolate

Conner's Green and Blue sky

Our bright yellow Bathroom

We have been working on the house for the past couple of months with Tax money. We have never had our room painted in the 8 years we have lived here. We also are in the transition of trying to move Conner to a big boy bed from a Crib. We did his room two different colors so I could get a road painted on and then put car decals on it but I am at the point where we just don't have the money for the road to be painted right now so I may have to find a road decal. The hall bathroom ( Kids Bathroom) Has never been painted either and we decided to go Bright.. Not sure what I was thinking but it has a jungle theme to it so it looks ok I guess :)

We also got new tile in the bathrooms. Mybrother came and did it. I wanted to do the kitchen but knew that Conner being as crazy as he is may kill himself on the tile so... we opted not to do that for now and my brother ran out of time with the laundry room . But both bathrooms look awesome :)

Happy 29 Years Keith and Dot

Just wanted to wish My mother and Father inLaw a very Happy 29 year annivesary. It's so amazing that you have been able to put up with each other for so long and honestly I have have never seen you fight in all the years that I have been part of the family which has almost been about 20 years for me, so you must of fought the 9 years before I joined the family :) I hope you had a wonderful weekend together in Palm Spring and I hope you have many wonderful annivesary's together. I admire your relationship with each other so much. The love you have for each other shows not in the gifts that you get each other but by the little things you do.

We love you!! So Happy 29 <3

Tim Hawkins

potty training

I have been trying my hardest to get Conner potty trained for awhile and although he understands it.. He is very strong willed and stubborn. I have put him in underwear a couple times to help he realize that if he pooped or peed in there, that it would be a yucky feeling. Well he did both in his underwear and it didnt bother him one bit. He just seemed to keep playing. I could just imagine Conner asking me the same reasons as the Cartoon above of what the importance of Potty training really is.. Because Right now he does not get it! Although Yesterday he went was Dry after Lunch so I sat him on the potty, went to help Nolan a little boy I watch get in bed and right as I come back into the room I notice that Conner is going potty. He was soooooooo Excited and so was I. I decided to put him in a pull up and he went again after nap and after being dry. He didnt go the rest of the day yesterday but he did get a start so I was excited about that. I mean he is 3.. And diapers are getting tiresome and expensive. Of course today he has no interest in it but I just have to keep trying and not be lazy myself. He will get it soon. I never met a child that was never potty trained. So Iam hoping for the best. I just need to be patience.. hopefully I won't have to be patient for two long :)

Pet Peeves

Ok.. So the kids were both going to have a well check at the Doctors today.. I planned it for a Friday afternoon because Friday's are my light days and I knew that I would only have one child to tag along with us. It turned out that I didnt have any kids but my own and Jason was going to meet me there since he never goes to the kids's Dr's appts.. Well I get there and the lady says.. Umm The Doctor is not here today. You didnt get the reschedule call ? I wanted to scream!! People are losing their jobs left and right and they mess up something like this. I scheduled this appt because I knew I didnt have girl scouts tonight and it would be easier for me not having to rush.. Then the lady sitting next to her says... Oh that is my fault!! I wanted to yell and say............. Do you know how hard it is for me to not be around 5 kids at a time and that I scheduled my life already for this appt.. I bet she has no kids and just shows up to work... It bugged me but then I thought if I yelled, I would not be a Christian so....... I took it in stride and didnt make a big deal about it and rescheduled. It bugs me when people have poor communication.. Why can' t they just get it right so we don't have to change our schedules for them but I guess what can you really excpect from the Doctor's office ?

Anyways, Jason is outside with the kids and I am suppose to be spring cleaning so I am off before he catches me!!