I'm Sorry!

Dear Blog,

I am sorry that I have neglected you for so long. I have so much to tell you about what our little family has been doing but I can't seem to find the time...or realistically, the desire...to catch you up. There is just so much to tell you. I don't know if I can ever get it all done.

Honestly, I feel overwhelmed with catching you up! I also feel bad for letting you down and forgetting you for so long.

I know, I know, you will forgive me! Well, if I ever write to you again I would hope you would forgive me. Well, dear friend, I hope to be able to write to you soon and catch you up on our lives. I have truly missed you!

Luvs,
Cally

Happy Birthday Aubrey Sue

On July 21st, Aubrey turned 4! She has been waiting for this day for about 364 days! Aubrey is my only little girl and boy does she play it up. She is a feisty, prissy, emotional, loving, giggly, demanding, bossy, girly girl.

Aubrey is a princess with mud on her ball gown.

She is the girl who would spend HOURS getting ready for prom but if she saw a mud football game on her way she'd stop to play.

So, with that intro, what else would we have but a princess birthday party? Aubrey has been our neglected child. This was her first ever birthday party and was she ever excited. We have been talking about this party for months! We planned and had a special trip to the store where she got to pick out the party favors.

Her party was a few days early this year because I was going to be at Girls camp for both of our birthdays. So, the night before her party I started on her castle cake. I was up until about 2:30 am and then woke up the next morning to frantically finish just in time for the party. She LOVED the cake so it was worth every minute!

My time was running out! (Don't mind the mess on the counters. Remember I was up late and just left the mess. That morning I was throwing stuff at my kids for breakfast. It was crazy. The party was in the morning so no clean up time.)

Me putting on the finishing touches.

Finally finished.


The princesses arriving.


Vince was in charge of passing out the princess rings and magic wands. He wasn't too excited about being at a princess party, but was really excited to be in charge of helping.


The princesses making crowns. They had lots of fun decorating their own.


Look closely at the crowns. Yep, they're from Burger King. I called to ask if I could get some and they told me they were free. So, imagine how dumb I looked when I went through the drive through to pick up 20 crowns. The drive through guy was funny. He asked me what else and I told him nothing. He said, "Nothing else?!" Remember, we were unemployed at the time. We were going cheap cheap.
But, I will eventually go back and buy something to pay my respects. :)


Instead of "Pin the Tail on the Donkey",
we played...
"Kiss the Prince"


The girls thought it was funny to kiss a frog.


Aubrey getting ready to pucker up.


The big smooch!


Princesses in waiting


Most of the princesses that came to the party.


Aubrey thought it was awesome that her friends were bringing her presents.
I told you she is neglected!


Can you see the excitement? By the way, Vince and his friend made "prince" crowns. They were NOT princesses...just ask them.


More present opening




That face tells lots of stories. She was trying to not act so excited about having all of the attention. Plus, she loves candy!






The cake...aaaahhhhh! (that's angels singing)




Getting ready to blow out the candles.

Aubrey with her princess punch.

All in all, the party turned out great. She had so much fun and I think the other princesses had a great time too. Aubrey is already planning her next party in two years. I'm sure she will talk about it almost daily for 730 days!

We are so glad to have Aubrey in our family. She is such a crack up! She is always saying or doing something hilarious. Here's a few of the latest stories...

~tonight while I was rocking her (she needed some mom time)

Aubrey: "Mom, remember when Marty was in your tummy and wanted to come out?"

Mom: "Yeah Aubrey"

A:"Remember how he was trying to come out your mouth? And then they tried to cut off your head so he could come out?"

M: "What? Aubrey that's now how babies come out of my tummy."

A: "Where do they come out of? Your belly button? That would be stinky!"

Needless to say, she now kind of knows where babies come from. I couldn't let her think that they would cut my head off the next time I had a baby.

~A few weeks ago she told my sister these...

Aubrey: "Did you know that when you toot in the tub it makes bubbles?"

Cassy: "How do you know that?"

Aubrey: "Because I just did it!"

Another one...

Aubrey was eating Tootie Frooties for breakfast when she said...

A: "These don't taste anything like toots!"

One more...

She dropped something and said, "That's a darn!" Then she waited a second and said, "No, that's a darn darn!" I'm not sure you know, but apparently it's really serious if it's a darn darn. :)

We have endless stories about funny things she says. Maybe it's because she never stops talking! But, even though our ears never get a break from her, we're glad that our hearts never do either. We love you Aubrey Sue. Happy Birthday!

Updates Coming Soon!

Okay, I know that I am a blog slacker this summer. I will update asap...well, as soon as girls camp is over this week. So, if you're wondering what we have done the last few months, you'll find out soon!

Lia Sophia Jewelry!

My sis-in-law was nice enough to do a jewelry party for me and I will be placing the order in a few days. Here's the deal:

Buy 1 (least expensive),
get 2 half off!

How awesome is that?

If you want to place an order just email me or leave me a comment and I'll give you a call. You can find the current catalog here.

Happy shopping!

Infuriating!!

I am infuriated! Can I tell you how screwed up our legal system is?! (I'll get to that later in the post.)

Here's the deal...
tonight Josh and I were watching TV and we hear a noise in the park...the sound of spray paint cans being shaken.

Yeah, you see where this is going...Hispanic (sorry Dru & Ben, it's the truth) punks spray painting the park! (Now, here's my disclaimer before everyone yells at me...I know that the majority of all Hispanic youth are NOT out tagging, but these troublemakers were.)

So Josh goes to the park and finds two kids sitting on a bench while 4-5 others are taking off down the path.

After a few minutes, Josh notices the graffiti on the sidewalk. He tells the 2 punks to stay where they are and yells to me to call the cops and get out there.

I head to the park and see the little pieces of @#$% sitting on the park bench (remember, I never even elude to swearing - I'm mad!). I call 911 (which didn't even notify the cops for about 10 minutes - don't even get me started on that topic!) The dispatcher could not hear me well and so I headed back to the house to see if the reception was better. So, while I am trying to get the dispatcher to stop asking the same questions over and over and over...and for her to NOT call the cops (remember, it took a while)...the kids are sitting with Josh at the park.

He kept them there for about 7-10 minutes and finally they decide they're gonna run for it. I hear Josh yelling at them "Stop!" "Get down on the ground" (he wanted them to think he had a weapon of course...which he does in the house, but can't use because the punks have "rights").

I ran out to the park to see them running down the pathway. I of course yelled at them also, but added "Josh, chase them! Don't let them get away!" Me being from safe small townville saw no problem in telling my husband to run after two young punks (who also had 4-5 more down the path somewhere) on a wooded path with absolutely no lighting. Sounds safe enough, right? Well, good thing Josh is smarter than me. He chased them a little ways and decided that more could be around the next turn.

While my maglight wielding husband is chasing the punks (that's the most polite word I can use to describe them on my blog. It's a family blog!) I run to the car to chase them. Okay, stop laughing. I know, what was I going to do. But, just go with me here. Back to me in the car chasing them...well, back up a little. As I was running through the house (on my house phone) I told the dispatcher that it was ridiculous that the cops had not gotten there yet. I told her I would call her back on my cell and I jumped in the car.

I saw a girl walking (not a trouble maker...believe me, I could tell) and asked her if she saw them. They had jumped into a truck and taken off. So, I proceeded to pursue them...yeah, again, I had no idea what I would do. I thought if I could just see the truck I could follow it and tell the dispatcher where they were going. So, I drove down a few streets but couldn't even find tail lights. I came back toward our house to FINALLY see the cops making an entrance.

Of course, me being the nice polite person I am said, "Sorry if I offend you, but why in the heck did it take you guys so long to get here?!" That's when we found out that the dispatcher didn't even notify the police until I had been on my cell with her for 3 minutes...remember, I changed to my cell when I began the vehicle pursuit (I'm trying to use technical jargon...it's not working for me). So, the whole time that we had them busted in the park the dispatcher hadn't even notified the cops! Can we say remedial training...or forced retirement? How ridiculous is that?! From the time she dispatched them to the time they actually arrived was 3 minutes. Yes, 3 minutes! They would have busted the punks if she would have only notified the cops. I am fuming at miss 911 dispatcher who thinks that she shouldn't dispatch the officers until 15 minutes after I call.

So, we came back to the house and had to give descriptions, write reports, go over the park scenario, etc. Josh was able to give AWESOME descriptions and even identified one of the idiots from a photo on the cops laptop. While we were writing our reports, the cop went to look around for more graffiti and boy did he hit the jackpot.

They had graffitied...
on the pavilion wall,
on the ceiling of the pavilion,
on the slide at the playground,
2 places on the neighbors fence,
and a few more sidewalk areas.

Here's where the frustration in the legal system lies. Guess what happens if you catch someone doing graffiti? If convicted, they get about 5-10 community hours. What kind of a joke is that? That's like my mom telling me that when I punch my brother in the face I have to be in time out for 10 seconds. I think getting to punch my brother in the face would be worth the punishment.

Here's where the frustration in the parents lie...they know it's happening. According to the police, this group of "gang" members are constantly in trouble with the police. The police are on their doorstep every other day. The parents are told multiple times that their kids are breaking the law and ruining OTHER people's property! These parents are not working 3 jobs, they just don't care or don't believe their kid is a punk. Let me tell you if my kid was caught ruining someone else's property my kid would wish the cops would have taken them into custody for protections. I would be furious!

So, now that it's almost 1 am and I'm still wired...I even swore when I was talking about them to the cop. I never swear! They made me swear tonight...now I'm even more mad! I need to calm down. That's why this is such a long post...I needed to vent.

Oh, and did I tell you that the cop told us these kids are known to carry knives, bats, crowbars, etc. So, I'm so smart to send my husband off chasing them. One of the kids that we could ID was being charged with hitting someone in the head with a crowbar. Nice!

Well, now that I've vented I feel much better. I'm just thankful that we are all safe and that hopefully we scared them away from our park. We will not watch our park taken over by spray paint wielding punks!

Sorry if I offended you, but there is nothing that makes me more mad right now that kids who have no regard for other people's property. They think they have the right to spray paint whatever they want. I hate it!

I think I will be at City Hall in the morning to see how punishment is changed, how we get lights in our park, and what else we can do.

Wish me luck!

Happy Birthday Vincent!

Can I tell you that I hate blogger sometimes! I have tried and tried to get this post to work right and it is impossible. It looks perfect when I am composing it, but when it goes to posting it messes everything up. How frustrating!

Yes, his birthday was a few weeks ago, but we've had lots going on...broken bones, vacations, etc. Cut me some slack, okay.

Just over 6 years ago, Josh and I were expecting our first baby. He was due May 10th. On April 1st, I told Josh to call my parents to tell them I was in labor. He said that it was too mean for an April Fool's day joke. I on the other hand thought it would have been hilarious.

Well, the joke was on me, because 2 days later on April 3rd, I really did go into labor. Well, to make a really long story short (a 4 day story to be exact) Vince was born 5 weeks early at a whopping 7 lbs. 1 oz. He was perfect! He had minor problems from being early, but all was great. I remember driving home from the hospital with this tiny person in the back of our car thinking,

"I am a mom...

we are parents...

we will never be the same."

Little did I know that was more true than I could ever have imagined! Vince, we are so glad to have you as part of our family. Here's a little tribute to YOU!

You are a great big brother:

~One day I told Aubrey I was going to beat her bum and you jumped in front of her with your arms spread open and said very boldly, "No Mom, don't do it. I won't let you. I will protect her!"

~A few days after you broke your clavicle, you caught Marty falling out of his highchair. With your help, the fall was much easier. You started crying because it hurt you so bad, but you said, "Mom, I saw him falling and I knew it would hurt my broken clavicle, but it was worth it!"

~You let your little sister tag along even though it is a bother at times. You are always looking out for your younger brother and sister.

You already have a strong testimony of the church:

~You love to bear your testimony. Or as you say, "I'd like to stand and BURY my testimony."

~You know that your Heavenly Father and Jesus love you.

You are a great friend:

~For your 6th birthday we had to invite a TON of kids because you didn't want anyone to think you didn't like them or make them feel bad.

~You get reminiscent when we drive by the houses of your friends that have moved away...you are a true friend.

You are a great son:

~You have taught your dad and I so much about being parents and about love.

~You love to spend time with your dad and I. Especially with Dad when it involves airplanes!

~We love those days that you are so worn out that you take a nap (basically never) because that means you get to stay up late and talk to us. We love the alone time with you.

You know how to tear at the heart strings:

~I was having a particularly hard day...I was really ornery...and when I tucked you in bed you said, "Mom, why were you being mean today?" You have a very tender heart!

~On another note, you are always up for a good cuddle and you are very good to show your love.
~If you ever see me crying...even if it's a happy cry (guys, you wouldn't understand) you come give me a hug.

The celebration

We have decided to let our kids have "friend" parties every other year. So, this year Vince was able to have a friend party. We had planned for months to go bowling with some of his friends. Well, then he broke his clavicle. He decided he would figure out a way to bowl and we would still go.

Our neighborhood has about 1 million kids...okay, maybe only 1,000. But, you get my point. It's great because Vince has SO many kids his age, but when it comes to birthday parties it make for a long list. Vince came up with a list of 12 kids. We planned on about 8 actually coming. You know how there's always the kids that can't come, but not this time. Plus, we had some family members in town that we weren't planning on being able to make it. So, you see where I'm going, right. We didn't have a little friend party. We had a 4 lane, eighteen kid (all 6 and under), rockin' party! Yes, you read right. We had 18 kids bowling...plus lots of little brothers and sisters watching. Surprisingly, it was very controlled chaos. What was I thinking when I agreed to taking so many kids bowling you ask? I obviously wasn't! But, we had lots of fun bowling, eating cupcakes, and opening presents. All in all, it was a great party. I mean, we even came back with all of the kids...surprising that we didn't lose any.

Waiting for the fun to start.

Waiting for the bowling balls to come back.

Charlie bowling and SOME of the kids from the party playing in the background.

Cousins Maren and Isaac. We were so glad they were in town for the party.

Vince bowling. He did a great job of figuring out how to bowl with his arm in a sling. He would run up (sideways) to the line and throw...literally...the ball down the lane. He even got a strike!

What a party!

Marty bowling. He loved it!

(Just a note about my lovely shoes...I bought them the summer I went to Florida to sell pest control.

I paid $1 plus tax. They are about to celebrate their 10th birthday this summer.)

Opening presents.

After bowling, we took the kids home and Vince picked where we went to dinner. He picked One Man Band. We tried to talk him out of it, but hey it's cheap so we didn't try very hard. Since it was his birthday, we even let him order our food over the phone at the table. He was so proud.

After dinner, we came home for cake and ice cream. When I asked Vince what kind of cake he wanted this year he told me the #6. How easy is that? I just used two 8" round cakes and cut out the 6 from that. So, so easy!

Talking to those who called to wish him a happy birthday.

My masterpiece. He even picked the decor...chocolate icing with sprinkles.

Vince insisted on lighting the candles himself.

The birthday boy! He is growing up way too fast!

Blowing out the candles.

All in all, I think Vince had a great birthday and birthday party. Earlier that morning we showed Vince his present from us...a basketball hoop. We told him he had to feed the dog before we'd give him his present. We had the hoop set up in the garage and he didn't even notice it. I twas hilarious!

Feeding the dog.

Finally noticing his hoop.

It was actually kinda sad. Vince broke his clavicle the day that we bought his hoop. After he saw his present we told him to go take a few shots and he said, "I can't, I only have one arm."

We love you Vince and are glad you are part of our family!

Payment!

It's days...or moments...like this that I love, love, love being a mom.

I'm the carpool driver for kindergarten this week. Today I had to talk to Vince's teacher about a book order so I followed him into his class. After I talked to his teacher I told him I was leaving. Here's the conversation that followed.

Me: See ya Vince!

Vince: "Bye Mom! Oh! Can you come give me hugs and kisses before you leave? And can you tell Aubrey that I want hugs and kisses from her too?"

Yes, my heart melted!

He gave me hugs and kisses in front of his entire class. How long will this last? I'm thinking it's almost over and I will miss those good hugs and kisses!

(My little sweetheart!)

I love moments like this that you are so happy you put in the time and effort and give up so much for your kids. Even though this has been a slightly rough week...you all read about my breakdown earlier...I'm so glad to be a mom who has the opportunity to stay home with my kids. Yes, even though they only get injured in my presence! :)

WANTED!

Anyone who can keep my children safe!

Can I tell you how awful I am as a mother? Well, I will anyway. I am the mom who says "let them do it, they'll be fine". Well although that is good, it is also bad. Case in point, I have been the one "in charge" when our children have received ALL of their injuries. Did I mention I'm to blame for all of them? Thus, Cally = crappy mom!

Here's the rundown: (sorry, couldn't find pictures of all the incidents...some are really old. Oh, and be warned...this is graphic.)

#1. Vince (age 2) has a tv & stand fall on him at my parent's house in Esky. He is blessed with a cut that covers his entire finger, but he's alive. Where is Josh...home...thus, Mom is to blame.

#2. Vince (age 3) while at 7 Peaks...gets pushed by a mean (okay, maybe just excited) little girl and hits the edge of a stair...stitches by his eye. Who was in charge? ME! Are you seeing a trend yet?

#3. Aubrey (age 2 ish) closes the washer lid on her finger while helping me do laundry...ends up with a broken finger...yep, you guessed it. Josh is at work and Mom is in charge.

#4. Vince (age 4) gets hit by a golf club at a neighbor's house (not technically in my presence, but Josh was at work and I was home...so it still counts) and ends up with a severe cut on his cheekbone with major stitches. I mean there was a piece missing from his cheek for crying out loud.

#5. Vince (age 5) breaks his clavicle crashing on his bike at the skate park while going down a ramp (this happened a month ago). Who would let their 5 year old try out the skate park...even encourage it? You guessed it, ME! Have you noticed how Josh has not been a part of any of this?

#6. Happened today and is definitely the kicker!

(Let me start by saying that we got back just last night from a vacation to see family in sunny California. It was a nice and relaxing vacation and we were looking forward to lots of spring projects. But we are no longer looking forward to the next 4 - 6 weeks.)

One week ago today = Vince got to take off his sling...clavicle healed (just in time for vacation). Yay!

Today (Monday)= Marty wearing a cast with a broken leg. Boo!

(Remember, this is day #1 back from vacation!)

Who has a one year old with a broken leg? You guessed it...the irresponsible, torturous, non-attention paying mother known as Cally.

How could a one year old break his leg you ask? Well, he loves to sit on the trampoline and pet Buzz (the hyper family dog). This works great because Buzz isn't allowed on the tramp when the kids are on so he stays on the grass and Marty pets him (our tramp is in the ground). Well, Aubrey wanted to get on the tramp with Marty and I warned her to NOT jump. Well, she couldn't resist forever so she jumped..."I was only doing bum, knees, feet mom". Well, with that jump came a "buckle" or "compression" fracture to Marty's little one year old Tibia (right below his knee).

Where was Josh?

At Work!

Where was Mom?

In charge of course!

(Marty eating breakfast the morning after.)

So, here's my plea to save my children from myself.

Is there anyone out there that would be able to keep my children safe? I don't know that they can survive a lifetime with me! Please attach resumes in the comment section. As for me, I'll be not sleeping tonight because I'll be on the one-year-old-with-a-broken-leg-shift. But, I promise that I will not allow my children to get hurt throughout the course of the night...hopefully!

p.s. Josh was embarrassed to call and tell anyone. So sorry we didn't "call" and tell you. He said he would be telling nobody at work either. What a mom I am! Maybe DCFS will be on our doorstep today!

Love Day was...

... a REALLY long time ago. But, for journaling reasons, I'm posting it anyway. Maybe it will bring back the love day feelings. Not that they aren't here anymore...I meant that maybe it will bring them back for whoever reads the post (if they need the feelings back that is). Okay, I'm just going in cirlces.

The kids and I started our love day celebrations on Friday by making chocolate heart suckers for friends and cousins. Vince and Aubs had so much fun. They thought it was awesome that we could make our own suckers. But, I think they were more excited to pick out the perfect one to mail to each cousin. Later that day we delivered them to their friends. They were so excited to show what they had made. Aubrey would ring the doorbell, hand them their sucker and valentine and run away without a word. It was funny. Her friends would just stand there confused. We're kind of addicted to making suckers now. We can't wait to do it again. Hopefully all of the cousins got theirs in the mail. I'm sure they were in a few pieces by then but remember it was the thought that counts.

Here are some pictures of the sucker making process. The kids

loved that they could do it themselves.

Some of the finished product. We made soooooo many

suckers, but it was so much fun.

Josh gave me my Valentine early

...Redvines and tulips...

because he was going on a scout campout Friday night.

He knows me so well. Chocolate is wasted on me,

but Redvines have a special place in my heart.

Not to mention that I cannot stop eating them.

But, I did manange to have these last a while.

While I was helping Josh get his camping stuff in the car, Marty found the redvines. It was so stinking cute. The first picture is when he realized he was busted. The next picture if when Josh was walking to him to take away the bucket o licorice. He was not happy to have been discovered. I'm sure he would have stayed and munched for hours.

While Josh was gone, we had a mom/kids paaaaarrrrtttty. We ordered pizza, had a picnic in the front room, and watched a movie. We also had a slumber party in the front room. I'm trying really hard to make the ordinary in our house really fun. We had so much fun just relaxing til the wee hours. Good thing the wee hours were 10 pm or else we would have regretted it the next day.

I asked Aubrey why she was sitting like this to eat and she said,

"Because that's how Troy does it on High School Musical 3".

Yes, my daughter is obsessed with HSM and is growing up way too fast

and picking up on way too many things. I'm scared for the future!

When Josh got home the next day, we kicked our Valentines to the kids. I love kicking Valentines to our kids. We pound on the door, ring the door bell a bunch and run through the garage back into the house. They start screaming and run to catch us at the door. They always know it's us, but they still have fun. I wonder how long the excitement will last? Hopefully forever!

We gave the kids tickets to Disney on Ice. I'll post that adventure later. Josh really loved my Valentine to him. He took a nap with it. :)

Vince was so excited for his track "stuff". He loved that they were Payson colors.

He is very excited to start track.

They actually love each other at times.

Aubrey was seranading us with HSM songs.

Marty with his sucker. He loved it...obviously!

Dipping strawberries

What we looked like after eating the dipped strawberries.

As you can see I am really behind on updating my blog, so I have made a goal. I am going to update every other day with the past info. I know it seems pointless to update stuff from a month ago, but I want to remember for myself. So, either bear with me or just catch back up in a few weeks when we are actually current.