First Day of School!

Kleven had his first official day of Preschool on Tuesday this week. We had the opportunity to visit his classroom last week and were the last to leave after staying an extra 45 minutes. He did not want to go home! We've been doing our best to keep him excited since then, and I think it worked. His preschool teacher is a really good friend of ours and he knows her from church as well. She used to be our nursery leader and she really loves kids. She recently re-did her entire downstairs to accommodate her new hobby and its AWESOME! I will post photos when I get a chance!
Tuesday morning came and Kleven had a terrible case of fit throwing. He spent a good part of the morning on the floor kicking and screaming. I figured he was nervous, but excited and confused. He was fine after a long warm bath. He didn't want to wear the clothes I had set out for him and he was mad that his 'eagle' shirt wasn't clean. The kids' a Hurley junkie. He opted to wear his other favorite Hurley shirt, the burgundy one with the jackal-ope... He tried telling me that his school clothes are the ones with "animals and stuff on them". Not the preppy cute Polo's I had picked out.
He then got mad because we were out of Eggo Waffles and he had to eat cereal for breakfast. But that fit didn't escalate too much... he was hungry. We got his bag ready, found his shoes, made him brush his teeth and wash his face and then had to chase him through the house and pin him down to put gel in his hair. He hates having his hair done... but he looked SO handsome! We were ready a little early so he got a bit antsy and we ended up having to have another 'talk' about how the caterpillars in the jar could not go with him and that he didn't need to pack the entire toy room in his bag and that he wasn't going to starve because he'd get a snack at school. As we were getting the boys in the car to leave, we realized the video camera had given up the ghost and refused to work and had a small scare with the regular camera, but it ended up working. I had all kinds of hopes for getting some cute pictures with him in his classroom but when we got there the teacher met us on the sidewalk and escorted the kids in one by one. Kleven was SO cute! When his turn came, he walked all by himself to the front door, let himself in and never looked back. I couldn't believe it! It was a strange feeling, driving home without him.
Two and a half hours goes by pretty quickly. At first, I didn't quite know what to do: jump for joy, or go to my room and cry. Ezra and I attempted to clean up the toy room, but I noticed quickly that even Ezra was a bit weirded out by brother not being there too.
Before we knew it, the time had come to pick him up. We loaded up the car once again, only this time, included Titus for the ride.
Kleven came skipping out to the car with Chris wearing a hand print on a necklace and holding his bag full of projects and he was beaming! I could tell right away he looked older and wiser. He was excited to tell us about his morning. We learned that they had read a book about a raccoon who obeyed his parents and that he had been allowed to paint his hands, that a girl tried taking the animal toys away from him, that he told the kids to stop running, for snack they had orange, brown, and white crackers, they're not allowed outside, colored pictures, played with play-dough, they have a play-dough knife, he saw a HUGE lizard in his teachers backyard ("it was like this mongus, mom"), he played, found raccoons everywhere (pictures of one), he did NOT make new friends, he"knowed" all of them(which he doesn't), "one of the little girls wanted the giraffe and I telled her there was other toys over there. I told her that."
It was a pretty intense day!

Titus and the Bee

Titus now weighs 30.15lbs, about the same as Kleven. We found this out by taking a trip to the vet this morning. Titus tried to befriend a honey bee this morning, but it turns out the bee wasn't interested in making friends, it was on a suicide mission. Titus came walking into my room with Angelina Jolie lips and a puffy red eye, so off we went to the vet. In reality it wasn't that easy. We normally would have taken him to the Banfield clinic at Petsmart because it is close, but they're closed on Monday, as well as their Emergency clinic in Gilbert. So I called four other places from Queen Creek to north Mesa to no avail. I finally called my mom because she knows what to do in just about any situation and we were on our way to the Queen Creek Veterinary Clinic. But wait! It wasn't quite that simple. I had to get myself and two kids ready to go and both kids and the dog in the car, pack the diaper bag and then turn the car around thirty seconds into the drive because I had forgotten Titus' shot record. And that's after threatening Kleven to get his clothes on, use the bathroom and talk him out of packing a backpack to take with him. About halfway there I realized I didn't grab Ezra's binky and he was SCREAMING. It was nap time for him, lunchtime for myself and the other child, and we were already running late. We get to the vet and Titus does NOT want to get out of the car. Nor does Kleven. I had to convince Kleven that we were there to see the DOG DR, and that NO he (Klev) was not going to get any shots. We make it across the parking lot and Titus does NOT want to go inside, and once inside he does NOT want to get on the scale without a treat. Then we're waiting in the exam room and Ezra decides to head dive off the chair and onto the tile floor. So a bucket of toys and an ice pack later the clinic is finally quiet of crying babies and howling dogs. Titus survived the exam with an acute allergic reaction, a benadryl shot, and a steroid shot only to find out he is missing a testicle (so far) and that 'yes' the bumps on his head are probably just mosquito bites and 'yes' it was most likely a bee sting that temporarily disfigured his face and nothing more serious like a snake bite. We finally get out of there and Kleven has to poop. Which is obvious because he is holding his buns with both hands. I am trying to pay for the exam and convince Kleven to go into the bathroom by himself while Ezra is taking off his shoes on my hip and Titus won't budge on the leash. I dragged Titus across the room and pushed him into the bathroom with Kleven and then handed the patient receptionist my card and put Ezra's shoes back on. Then I hurried back into the bathroom to help Kleven wipe and wash hands. $77.45 later... it took me pulling, Kleven pleading, and a vet tech pushing from behind to get Titus out the door of the clinic. I left Kleven on the sidewalk out front with Titus on his leash so I could cross the parking lot to turn on the AC in the car and get Ezra strapped in. Then I went back and had to pick Titus up and carry him to the car. Thank heavens Kleven can buckle himself! We decided to stop at PetSmart to get Titus' nails trimmed before we headed home and Kleven said he needed a new toy for being good at the Dr's office. We parked and I loaded everyone into a cart, went in and had to push Titus into the grooming salon and then console Kleven because he thought they were taking our dog away forever. We looked at EVERY animal in the store at least twice, picked out a toy, some training treats (for the walk back to the car) and then he was done. We met the grooming lady at the salon door and proceeded to walk to the front of the store to pay for everything when Titus stopped and began to relieve himself and flood the aisle. Another groomer came by just as this happened and took over the clean-up. Thank heaven he decided to go right next to the clean-up station! The boys thought this was quite funny. We did eventually make it home. We paid for our things, gave both the nail tech and the helpful lady a nice tip and then put everyone back in a cart to get to the car. Both boys fell asleep on the way home and took nice long naps. I had a diet coke for lunch and now I have to go get some non-children's Benadryl so Titus can take it every 12 hours for the next three days.
Happy Monday Everyone!

An Ode to My Bratty Sisters

I have been TOO BUSY to post lately. Please forgive me! Now LAY OFF!
Here's what's keeping me away:

• potty-training a large puppy
• re-painting the family room
• rearranging furniture
• painting the hall bathroom
• laundry
• cooking
• cleaning
• reading Breaking Dawn
• swimming at the Y
• running errands 'in town'
• Katie's WEDDING
• shots for the dog
• Dr. appointments
• watching other people's kids
• making jewelry for a cancer benefit auction
• assembling my giant magnet board
• cleaning car seats after chocolate milkshake explosions
• a trip to San Diego
• scratching Chris' sunburned and now peeling back
• watching the Olympics
• sorting toys in the playroom
• hanging shelves and pictures in the family room
• cleaning off my desk in the living room
• clearing the dining room table
• prepping the dining chairs for an upholstery job
• bathing the dog and my boys
• burning tumble weeds in the backyard
• taking down curtain rods
• witnessing a wasp build a nest in the frame of the sliding glass door
• finding a swarm of bees building a home in the hot tub
• changing diapers
• doing dishes
• showering every once in a while

Is that a good enough excuse?

Swimming and Waffles with Jam

One day there was this mom who finally had a smart idea and bought floating devices for both of her kids so she could enjoy the pool too!



Can you tell he likes Eggo Waffles with jam?


I think so!

Elder Barnes Update

This is my handsome brother, Bryan. He's serving a two-year mission for our church in Sydney, Australia and has learned to speak Mandarin Chinese. He had been out just over a year and it has gone by SO fast! He emails us once a week and tells us all about the neat experiences he's having. He is such a good example to us all. He absolutely loves what he's doing and frequently writes that he would stay longer, if not indefinitely. He is one of the hardest workers I know, (he gets that from our dad) and he is genuine in every aspect. He has talked about going to China for school once he's home, and has even mentioned that he would serve for another two years if China opens their borders to missionaries. He loves Australia too, and can't wait to go back there on holiday, as they say. We love you Elder Barnes! May year two come and go as quickly as the first!