The Sharpe Family

Sorry, No pics.....

2012-02-09T02:46:00.000-08:00

Just a quick update on what we are up too! I have no pictures....sorry, boring, I know but life has been a little busy to get the camera out!

Ryan - Got severe pnuemonia over Christmas...actually when we were visiting my sis down in Utah. We rushed back home....17 hours of straight driving for me and got him to the doctor. Thank heavens..a few more days and he would have been admitted to the hospital! He is just busy as ever at work. There are lots of projects that he is excited to design and complete which makes work a little more fun for him. He still plays hockey every week and coaches Keegan's soccer team. Oh, and who can forget his nightly chats with Tatum and his nightly handball games with Keegan. Poor guy, those kids tire him out!

Tatum - She just turned 12 and is in Young Womens. We have an awesome group of beehives in this ward that were so welcoming to her! She loves going to activities every week and feeling so grown up! She is trying to get started on her family history work and get some names that she can take to the temple to do baptisms for. She's super excited about this! Her first ward temple trip is in three weeks! She is on the jr. basketball team at school, plays in the band and is part of the Art Club. She is such a joiner....I love it! She has been babysitting a ton for the past few months and is saving her money for her own laptop! She is halfway there already!

Keegan - Keegs is big into soccer right now. Ry coaches his team and at the first of the season, they stunk, big time. Now, they are the TEAM TO BEAT! He's got about 5 weeks left of that. He loves his schoolwork and is so anxious to get his assignments done.....he just loves to learn. I hope that sticks with him. He is working on his cub badges and only has about 15 more to do....then he will have every cub badge!!!! Such an accomplishment.....it's been a lot of work for me!! Haha!

Scoutt - She is a new sunbeam in church. It's so strange with her in the big kid primary now. She seems so little. I think it's because when the other kids were in Sunbeams, they were the oldest....she is the youngest one in primary! She loves getting her fill of cartoons everyday and we try to break that up with dancing, playing with her Littlest Petshops and baking anything we can think of....she loves dumping all the ingredients into the mixer!

Me - I started teaching Zumba at a club here in town. It's going really well and I enjoy the challenge. I am still primary pres. which is getting a little old but getting hugs every week from those kids, sure makes it worth it! I am busy with my craft club every month, baking treats for the kids' school classes, ryan's soccer team etc. etc. Oh, and running kids around like crazy. The other day Ryan filled up my truck and a few days later I thought, Geesh, didn't I just get gas? The tank was on half! Ugh. Oh well! I'm trying to enjoy the little moments with my family and really treasure the time that we have together. I am reminded far too often that we really dont know what will transpire in life and I dont want to have any regrets that I should have done more with my family. I not perfect at it, but I'm trying.

Well, that's it, I guess. Hopefully I can dig my camera out and take more pictures next time......we'll see!

Proud Moment!!!

2012-01-19T21:02:00.001-08:00

I got my first paycheck for teaching Zumba today!!! I am seriously so proud of this. It's kind of silly but when I look back a year ago, I never dreamed that I would be doing anything like this....ever, EVER, EVER!!!! This paycheck represents hours and hours on end of practising every day and so much hard work and MAJOR COURAGE!!! I love teaching Zumba!!!! I start my new job teaching in a week or so at a club here in town....wahoo!!! I'm sure my first paycheck from them will be exciting too!!!

Skills!!!!

2012-01-14T17:34:00.000-08:00

Whoosh, do those boys have some skills.....well, on the ice anyways. We headed up to Edmonton today to watch the Oilers skills competition. We had a great time, minus the frigid weather, the back of my hair getting soaked in beer, and......the frigid weather. Oh, it was cold up there today! Tatum and Keegs have gone before but this was a first for our little Scoutty. She was amazed with it all....for about 20 minutes and then she just wanted treats! Haha....that is so how she rolls. It was so fun to see all the players and cheer for them!!!! This is becoming a yearly tradition for this family which is totally fine....I mean, it could be worse.....it could be the Flames, enough said!!!

Our new little sunbeam!!!

2012-01-09T06:47:00.000-08:00

Scoutty is a sunbeam now.....she has always been a little ray of sunshine but she officially a sunbeam at church now! She was not too happy about being in sharing time and not being able to sit by me. She kept getting up and following me around and I would have to make her go back and sit on her chair. She cried and kept asking her teacher when snack time was. By the end of sharing time, she realized that she would have to go with her teacher so she held her teachers hand and went to class. It was such an exhausting day for her and I......and when she was being naughty and we put her on her bed, we went back a few minutes later and found this.....

Remembering Back.....

2011-12-16T10:10:00.000-08:00

I was just looking through my blog and came across this post that I did 4 years ago. It made me smile since in this, Keegs was 6 and so attached to his frog, using it as a pillow and last night when I went down to check on the kids before I headed off to bed, what did I find? Yes, you guessed it, Keegs was sleeping with his frog as a pillow. So, four years later, we still have not broken him of his love of frogs!! Here is the post from four years ago.......

Sorry if I'm boring everyone to tears with my everyday outlook on life.......but there is so much going on! Today my baby turned 6. Man, am I getting old! We went to the movies today and had his favorite dinner, taco soup, and finished off the day with a game and some cupcakes. He's having his "real" party next week. I just took this picture of him because his most favorite thing is frogs. The frog that he sleeps on, he's had for a year and a half and the thing is totally mutilated, but man, he loves it. After all the things he got for Christmas and his birthday, he still just carries his frog around everywhere! Hopefully we can break him of that before he gets married!

Keegans Christmas Concert

2011-12-15T07:06:00.000-08:00

We went to Keegan's christmas concert last night. The school that he goes to does an amazing program every year....by far the best that I've ever seen. The music and acting was so fun and the best part, we were out of there in under an hour! Merry early Christmas to all the parents!!!! haha!! Here is a picture of Keegs with his friend Ryan in their matching suits(Ryan normally doesn't have a grey mark on his face.....stupid red eye thing).

We Heart our Missionaries

2011-12-05T06:21:00.001-08:00

We have the best elders in our ward right now. We all adore these boys! They are so fun to be around and we're super excited that they are here for christmas. We had them over for dinner last night.....made them exactly what they wanted...sweet and sour meatballs and teriaki(that is not spelled right but I'm too tired to think about it) chicken. We always get the missionaries gifts at christmas so on Saturday, we went on the hunt for the perfect gifts. As a tradition, we always get the elders white tube socks with the Oilers logo on them. Sadly, this year we couldn't find them so we had to settle for Oilers t-shirts. We gave them a massive bag of Dinosours...you know those sour dinosaur candies?? anyways, they loved it. The kids wrapped their gifts up a million times and in a million different boxes so it took them forever to open them. It was so fun. Then Elder Brich(who is known in this mission as a yo-yo master) did some tricks with his $70 yo-yo. Now, I thought the boy was crazy to spend that much on a yo-yo but when we saw what he could do with it, I was ready to go buy one. Wow, it was amazing! We are so blessed to have such great young men serving in our ward.....it makes our traditions of gift-giving to the elders just that more fun!!

Tatum

2011-12-04T05:53:00.001-08:00

Tatum is just finishing up her semester of fashions......for those of us who are old, it was called Home Ec back in the day! Anyways, she did lots of little projects but her best project of all was her pencil case she made. It turned out really cute and she is so proud of it! Great Job Tatum!!!

Keegan, The Cub....

2011-11-29T15:07:00.001-08:00

Keegan is just over half way through the cub program. He works so hard at completing his badges and earning his stars. He loves it and not to mention, he has amazing leaders. We are so proud of him for all his badges that he has earned and for how hard he works.

Christmas Time is Here......

2011-11-15T06:10:00.000-08:00

Our tree went up on Sunday!!! I know it's early but when christmas day is here and past, my tree comes right down so we just enjoy it early! We headed out last night for FHE to buy our christmas ornaments. We started this tradition years ago and it's become one of the highlights of christmas. Everyone that comes to our house, gets a "tour" of our tree and whose ornaments are whose. This year, Tatum picked a sparkly Eiffel Tower, Keegan went with a motor boat(he gets a motorized something every year), Scoutt changed her mind a gazillion times but ended up with a high heal boot(girl after my own heart), Ryan got a mushroom, cause that's just funny to have a 'shroom on your tree and I picked out a massive diamond ring(yes, I know everyone is shocked at my choice, haha). It was so fun last night getting our ornaments up on the tree and reading some christmas stories before bed! It was a great way to kick off the christmas season!

What is all this white stuff????

2011-11-04T14:36:00.000-07:00

When we woke up this morning, the ground was covered in fluffy white stuff! The kids were so excited. I really dont care either way...... So many people on facebook were airing their "feelings" on the snow and I'll I have to say is...Come on people, you act like it's a surprise and a freak act of nature that we got snow in November....remember, we do LIVE IN ALBERTA! Haha! Anyways, the kids headed right out after school today to enjoy the little bit of snow before it melts over the next few days. Even Scoutty was pumped! And the best part.....all of their snow gear fits from last year....whew.....that's a relief!

Gross, Gross and more Gross......

2011-11-01T07:08:00.000-07:00

You would think this was all about something really gross.....like boogers everywhere or smeared poop on the walls.....nope.....just Halloween Candy. The kids went out last night for about 3 hours...even Scoutt! She lasted until the end, running house to house with the big kids. When we got home, they dumped their candy out and started sorting through it. It didn't look too bad when I took this picture but by the time they had sorted through and put them in large ziplock bags, I figure there if someone went out and bought the halloween candy that they had, they would have spend a few hundred dollars. There is soooo much of it and I'm already grossed out. Oh welll......thank heavens it's only once a year! Happy Halloween!

Scoutty's Three!

2011-10-28T01:14:00.000-07:00

We had a fun little party for Scoutty this past weekend. We had asked her who she wanted to come and she said, Grandma and Grandpa and Bruce and Peggy.....she's so funny. We had both sets of grandparents over, the neighbors, the bennetts, Michelle and Patrick and Tatum's friend Sophia. Scoutty totally was not into the whole crowd and all the attention but she perked up when she caught on that all the presents there were for her.

Scoutty has been a little ray of sunshine in our lives. She has the funniest little personality and says that funniest things.....like the other day when I was using the "facilities" and when I went to use some toilet paper, she looked at me and said, "Mommy, do you need some help to wipe? I dont mind....". Even now, that's one of the best parts of our day, getting Scoutt out of bed in the morning, just to see what crazy thing she is going to do that day. We love her so much and are truly blessed to have her in our family.

Just for Grandma Sharon.....

2011-09-29T14:58:00.000-07:00

Tatum's homework......just for Grandma Sharon

Mommy, I's all grown up!

2011-09-29T11:54:00.001-07:00

Scoutty got into someone's make-up today.........and yes, she told me that she's all grown up now!

Sunday Afternoon Fun!

2011-09-26T05:36:00.000-07:00

What do you do on Sunday afternoon, when the weather is warm and breezy, the sun is shining and it's a wonderful day? The answer is easy........

Play Polly Pockets...of course! We bought a huge bin of Polly's at a garage sale a while ago. Over the past few weeks, Ryan has been gone tons...Fort Mac, Saskatoon, Calgary etc...all staying a few days at a time. Last week, when I was about to officially go insane, I remembered the polly's and decided to pull them out and let Scoutty play with them. What a smart idea on my part....but no one is surprised right now by my genius, are you? Anyways, Scoutty loves them soooo much and haha, so does everyone else. This was our sunday afternoon activity yesterday. Even Ryan got involved for a while, dressing the polly's on Scoutt's insistance. Of course, he and Keegan had to throw a football around for a while after that, just to feel like men again!!!

It's been a crazy few weeks. I'm working towards teaching Zumba in a few weeks. I am heading down to Billings to do the certification and then practicing on some very willing guinea pigs(friends) here before I start charging people to come take my class. It's so much work. I've been doing hours of choreography every day and practicing tons. It's so much fun though.

The kids are busy busy in school. Tatum has started playing the flute this year and she's pretty good already. Maybe that's because her NAZI mother insists that she practices every day for 15 minutes. She is trying out for the volleyball team right now! Keegan starts soccer again in a week and he has amazing coaches this year...yes, you guessed it...it's Ryan and I. Ryan really wanted to do it but since he's gone so much, I got sucked into it. It should be fun!

It's that time of year again.......

2011-09-20T14:22:00.000-07:00

This is the third year that I have blogged about the Dawe Run! Tatum has done it for three years, Keegan it was his first time. Unlike the miserable weather they had last year for it, it was warm and sunny and the kids were coming through very HOT! Keegan placed 16th overall and Tatum was 27th. They both did awesome and are very proud of themselves.

We're still here......

2011-09-06T13:46:00.000-07:00

Summer has flown by....not the best summer that we've ever had and I'm glad it's over and we are back in the routine of work and school. I crave routine and I like my space from the kiddies....so I can quilt and do a few things that dont require running kids all over the city.

Tates has started Jr. High...I hate having a child that old! The first day of school I walked her to the front doors and we waited together for the bell to ring. There was a group of boys standing next to us using all sorts of foul language and talking about totally innappropriate things..... It made me sad to leave her there. After the bell rang, I got into my car, said a quick prayer that she would be okay and remember everything that we've taught her about being a good girl and then I cried all the way home. It was not a good day for me.....great for her though. She made some new friends and is super excited about her options for this semester.

Keegs is in grade 4. He got the teacher that he wanted and some of his good friends from last year are in his class. He's happy to go to school!

Scoutty is happy having the house back to herself. She loved having the siblings home during the summer but she loves her space and her Mommy time.

I've been coming up with things to keep me sane here in Red Deer. This has been one of the most challenging places that we have lived and man, we are struggling with it but we know that we are here for a reason, so we're sticking it out and trying to see the positives. It's pretty hard most days but once in a while, something great happens and makes the struggles seem not so hard.

Ryan is busy as ever with work but some good things are happening there. He's been biking to work alot lately and he is loving that.

Other than that, life is just chugging along, somedays at a snails pace and other days, way to fast for my liking but we are enjoying the ride.

Driving Miss CRAZY.....

2011-07-02T12:36:00.000-07:00

To celebrate the end of school, we headed out to Sylvan to test out our mad driving skills on go-karts. The kids had so much fun. Keegan, who we thought would be a holy terror in the cars was actually being quite cautious. It was the other the dingdong that was crazy.....Tatum had the pedal to the metal all the way!! Scoutty lasted about 3 laps and then she had had enough. For hours after her ride, she kept telling Daddy that she likes Mommy's car better(my actual real car) and that's daddy's car wasn't fun. It was a great way to end off a wonderful school year for the kids!

If at first you don't suceed....TRI, TRI again!

2011-06-25T20:28:00.000-07:00

The kids did their first triathlon today and yes, they are going to try it again next year. They did pretty well and had so much fun and are super pumped for next years race. They enjoyed the morning with tons of their friends that were doing it too. Keegan won a prize afterwards......it made his day! Any guesses what it was? Something that ANNOYS THE CRAP out of me? Drumroll..............yes, another watch. Seriously, their were tons of prizes and that's what he got? If you dont know what I'm talking about, I'll have to do another post on Keegan and his watches. Anyways, they loved every minute of it and we're so proud of them. Because, unlike them finishing the race, I would have drowned in the pool!

Oh yeah.....Scoutty got to run a little race too and won a medal. She also met 7 different mascots and was yelling at all of them..."I need a pound" with her little fist out.....so funny!

Fathers Day

2011-06-19T14:51:00.001-07:00

Ryan is having a super stellar Father's Day. He started off the day feeling very manly with his new tools etc. that we got him. Then he got to lounge around all morning with two lovely ladies.....Tatum and Scoutty who both have chicken pox! Poor guy. I felt bad going to church and leaving him at home but the primary was singing in sacrament meeting and I was doing both sharing times......anyways, to make up for it, he got this dinner....

MMMMM, his favorite. He loves mashed potatoes and I make them every Fathers Day because I try not to make them the rest of the year.....they make me gag! And, just because I'm in a bragging mood......check these yorkshire puddings out....they were huge!

I am so blessed to have Ryan as the father of our kids. I dont know too many fathers that will play handball every night on the floor of their sons room, or have nightly chats with their daughter since she was 5! He has bathed Scoutty every night since the day she was born and has given these kids all the attention and love that he can. He is a rockstar in our books and we sure do love him!

Walking in the Rain

2011-06-18T18:00:00.001-07:00

Today, Tatum and I did the Walk for ALS. It was pouring rain but it was so fun to walk with our friend Carrie, who lost her dad a few years ago to ALS. It is awesome to have a friend that understands when I'm sad that my dad is sick....just because she has gone through the exact same thing! It was the coldest, most miserable day but our hearts were warm! Thanks Carrie for letting us join you!!! It was awesome!

Window Washer

2011-06-05T17:22:00.000-07:00

So, it's spring and the windows are in need of serious cleaning. Does anyone know of anybody that is reputable and inexpensive? We had one gal come over.....she was cheap but her method was a little strange...I dont think we'll have her back. The windows were a little streaky with her way of cleaning.....

JDRF Walk

2011-06-04T19:33:00.001-07:00

Today we walked to raise $$$ and awarenes for Juvenile Diabetes. We have a family chalk full of diabetics so this was a fun way to get out and support them! I was going to make tshirts for everyone....cause we're a team right? So we should match.... Well, I never got around to that. The pictures will show you what our team theme was......throw back to the eighties or creepy pedophiles.....I'm not sure which one! We had such a great time together and we raised around $700 and the walk today in Lethbridge raised just over $16000.00!!! That's awesome and makes a cure, just a step closer!!!! We love all the family members that are dealing with diabetes....well, I guess we love the ones that aren't either but the ones that are, we were thinking about you today!!! We love you!

FHE

2011-05-30T20:48:00.000-07:00

For family night tonight, we decided that we would have a marshmallow/hotdog roast. This is the first one this year and we were so excited to stink like campfire smoke and fill our bellies with some burnt sugary goodness aka..marshmallows! We got the fire going, without the help of gas(dad) and we were well on our way to having a great evening. Tatum was showing us her mad skills on the trampoline when suddenly, she got off holding her face and running into the house. I saw blood dropping from her face so I obviously quickly followed. She had gone into the kitchen to get some paper towel to mop up the blood. I told her to turn around so I could see what she had done and she's like.."Mom, it's no big deal." She wasn't crying or anything. She thought it was just a little scratch or something. The funny thing was that as she was saying that, she had a huge stream of blood coming out of her mouth. I looked and saw that she had put her teeth through her lip so I told her that she would for sure have to get some stitches and then it happened....the thought of stitches put her over the edge and then she freaked out! Ryan ended up running her over to the clinic and the doctor stitched her mouth up. The REALLY SAD part in all of this, is that when Tates was getting stitched....big tough Daddy just about passed out. He had to be taken to the room next to Tatum's to lie down for a while. And he had his own personal nurse bringing him sugar water and watching over him. Hehe! He'll shoot me that I put this on here but seriously????? The 11 year old is fine and the 34 year old is getting most of the attention at the clinic.....see anything wrong with this picture???? Poor Ryan......blood and needles is definitely not his strong suit in life....good thing he is a rockstar at everything else!

I heart Free STUFF!!!

2011-05-23T09:35:00.000-07:00

So, I was so ticked off the other day(heck, I'm ticked off most days about something or other). Anyways, you know the show Extreme Couponing? I love/hate watching that show because of all the great deals and all the great deals that Canada doesn't have. You just cant "coupon" here the same as Americans do. Anyways, so one night I got on my computer and spent hours trying to figure out how to get some coupons for things I use everyday. I found some great websites.....nothing like extreme couponing in the states but for Canada, not bad. So, this was my haul for today....all this was free!!! About $40.00 worth of stuff...... I also got some coupons for febreze plug-ins and slurpees from 7-11...all for free! Can't wait for my next haul!

Our New Summer JOB!!

2011-05-19T14:18:00.001-07:00

In an effort to try and help the kids learn the value of working hard, saving money and paying tithing, we were struggling to figure out what they could do this summer to accomplish all three of those. I thought, well, I'm good at crafting so lets just do that and we'll sell it at the Farmers Market this year and online. The kids are beyond excited to start selling their wares. Obviously, I`ve done a huge chunk of the work but they have been painting and sanding for hours! I hope they do well.....well, as well as an 11 and 9 year old need to! They are doing HOME letters with the little fill-ìns for the 0. They are also doing 4, 6, 8 inch by 2 foot boards with a vinyl quote on them. They are doing the whole alphabet so people can do up children`s names too. Good luck to them. They are starting their market experience next Saturday.

I'll miss it one day......but not today!

2011-05-18T08:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Scoutty and I made dinner for some people. In the middle of the process, she got into the flour. She was having a great time until I saw what she was doing. Needless to say, she had to be taken outside to get "dusted" off. I was grouchy with her because she had just made more work for me to clean up. After I got her settled watching a movie with some treats, I headed back to the kitchen to clean up. This is what I found.......

I have friends that are years wiser than me. Their children are gone and it's just them and their hubbies in VERY QUIET HOUSES. Everyone of them tell me that one day I'll miss all the noise and the chaos. I always roll my eyes and say whatever. It's hard to see that when I'm in the trenches of noise and chaos. But yesterday, seeing Scoutty's little feet prints on the chair, I realized....Yes, I will miss it. It was a great little reminder to me to enjoy all the little moments a little bit more because they will be gone soon enough. Thanks for the flour mess Scoutty....it smartened your mama up!!!

Scoutty's Hat

2011-05-13T11:41:00.000-07:00

Did you watch the "royal wedding"? I did for about 5 minutes to check out all of the wonderful hats that people were wearing. When Scoutty got out of the shower this morning with Tatum, she came out donning her pretty hat......well, she thought it was pretty.

Happy Mom's Day!

2011-05-08T15:20:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning to happy children and the sun kind of shining. I used to not love mother's day but the past few years, Ryan and the kids have made a huge effort to do everything for me that I love on this day. Of course, the day was started off with presents. The kids(and me) couldn't wait. Scoutty got me some hand sanitizer...but not just any hand sanitizer. On the front of the bottles, it says...One Hot Mama, I love you Mom and Mom Rocks. They are awesome. Keegan gave me a frog for my flower garden to always remind me of him. I love it. Tatum gave me a bath and body gift basket that had a lady bug clip on it.....when she was little, she got a lady bug outfit and that started us calling her Tateybugs. So, I wore my bug clip to church today! Ryan wanted to give me happiness for mother's day....he came up short and just gave me happy......as in Clinique Happy. It's my favorite and extra treat for me....it's Clinique bonus days so I got that too! Keegan made me the cutest card and the funnest treasure hunt.....what was the treasure??? I made it all the way down to his room, following all of his clues and my treasure was......wait for it..........a massive huge hug! What a kid. Here is the card he made me....

RECIPE FOR MOM

10 parts beautiful
9 parts Oilers fan
8 parts smart
7 parts great at baking
6 parts kind
5 parts sweet
4 parts irish
3 parts good at sports
2 parts fun
1 part young
0 parts Flames Fan(that one cracked me up)

Mix it all together with money. Stir it with a kiss. Sprinkle with diamonds. Place in my heart with hugs. Bake with lilies and serve with butterflies. What do you get? MOM

That melted my heart!

I'm so happy to be a mom. Most days its a challenge but days like today roll around and I'm grateful again for the blessings that I call Tates, Keegs and DingDong.

Good Oral Hygiene.....just for Auntie Ali

2011-04-27T08:58:00.000-07:00

Hi Auntie Ali, this is Scoutty. I wanted to let you know that I've been practising my flossing since you always want me to have nice teeth. Love you. Cheerio, Scoutty

Easter, East Indians and School Projects......

2011-04-25T06:28:00.000-07:00

This year is just flying past and I'm not blogging as much as I should be, so here is three posts all in one.

Tatum and her friend Brooklyn had a school project to do a few weeks ago. They had to make something that they could put a light in and with the wires and batteries they had, it would light up. They decided to do a camping scene. It turned out so well. The fire lights up and it looked really good. They were so proud of all their hard work.

The kids decided the other day to dress up as someone from another country. They chose....well, you can see for yourself.....it was pretty funny.

This easter weekend, we were going to go up to Ryan`s family for dinner but Scoutty turned up with pink eye this week and was really quite sick with a fever, cough, cold etc. so the two big kids went up and spent the weekend with Grandma and Grandpa Sharpe. They had lots of fun but we sure missed them....no easter egg hunt or any of the fun things that we do on Easter weekend. The best of the weekend for us was having our neighbors over along with their neice, Brittany. We pulled out the bbq, cooked up some steaks and had a delicious meal....and yes, it was delicious and yes, I did cook it. I know, they dont really go well together but it HAPPENED!!! Then we had a bowling tournament on the wii. The kids made a Bowling Cup....it was so cute. Keegan ended up winning but he gave the cup to Brittany since she was a guest and she was heading back to Vancouver on an airplane and the thought of her carrying the cup back on her lap, made us all giggle. Then we pulled out wii fit and the hula hoop game. Everyone did well that tried it...well, except Bruce, he failed but it was great fun for everyone to watch!!!

I guess that`s it for life as of late. We have another crazy few weeks of busy schedules including info nights for the kids schools they may be attending next year. Tatum is so excited to be going into Jr. High......me, not so much. Keegan was invited to join the Horizons program here in Red Deer....it`s for gifted children. It is an exciting time for both of them.

Buckle up!

2011-04-13T10:20:00.000-07:00

Somehow between here and Utah or I guess Utah and back, Keegs lost his belt that goes with his suit. Sunday morning was a bit of a gong show with everyone looking for Keegans belt because he's pretty skinny and his pants would be around his ankles in two seconds with out it. The search was pointless......we couldn't find it. So, Ryan went to get one of his belts. Now, Ryan is pretty thin but not quite as thin as a nine year old. So, we needed to leave for church and I couldn't find the boys so I went downstairs and this is what I found.......

I thought it was so funny. Ryan was drilling a hole in his belt so that Keegan could wear it. Keegan was a little nervous because he could only imagine the damage that would happen in dad slipped while drilling. It only went around him a few times but whatever, it did the job.

Spring is here....I hope!

2011-04-07T08:59:00.000-07:00

Spring is in the air.....can't you just smell it???? It has been such a LONG winter this year that I am doubly pumped for spring. The kids have been on their scooters for the past few days after school and we have been cleaning off our porch and deck, getting ready for chillin' outside. So, we've been in this house for just about 2 years and some of the paint needed touching up, especially the red in our room. So I decided yesterday that I would just paint out the red and make a few changes. I picked a shade darker of the rest of our house and painted. It looks great. I even painted our doors and wow, I didn't realize how dingy they were until now....its amazing what a fresh coat of paint can do! I'm excited to touch up the rest of the house, repaint all of the doors and feel like I"m starting fresh with this house. Ryan is busy getting the downstairs ready for the theatre room....that`s our next project. We`ll see where we go from there!!!!

DK Cup!!

2011-04-02T14:53:00.000-07:00

Keegan and I(Ryan) have been playing handball at night before he goes to bed for a year or two. A few weeks ago Keegan decided to make it into a tournament (with two players!) so he made up a bracket sheet. We called the tournament the DK (Daddy/Keegan) Cup. We have been playing the games for a few weeks leading up to the final. Today was the big day for the DK Cup final. We made a concession stand with treats, and pretend money so the audience (Missy and Scoutt) could buy them during the intermissions. Keegan also made the DK Cup out of some paper and a pop bottle which would be presented to the winner following the game. Tatum was the announcer, scorekeeper, music player, and the zamboni during the second intermission when the carpet was almost unplayable. Tatum did a really good job introducing the players (Me and Keegan) at the start of the game. She got the music going, shut off the lights, and put a spotlight (flashlight) on us as we ran into the arena (Keegan's room). Everyone was pumped up by the time the game started! The game started with a furious pace and the first period ended with Keegan up 16-11. Keegan made a game for the first intermission where you had to throw the ball into a box which had various slots. You could win money (more pretend money to buy treats) depending on which slot the ball went through. The second period was slower than the first although a fight errupted midway through the frame. The fans went wild! The second intermission featured another game for prizes and then some awesome dancing by Scoutt. The zamboni (Tatum) had to clear off the surface before the third period could start. I fought hard to catch Keegan in the third but in the end fell short. Keegan was then presented with DK Cup. Notice how happy he was, he did a couple victory laps and then he even kissed it!! The cup was sitting on the special box made by Keegan before the game. We later found out that it can't support more than 20 lbs (Scoutt). Following the game Tatum conducted interviews of the runner up (me) and of course the big winner, Keegan. We then had an autograph session where of course Missy was the biggest fan. All in all it was a pretty fun afternoon, who needs spring when you can have this much inside!!

SNOW, it's my new four letter word.....

2011-04-02T06:10:00.001-07:00

I have been going nutsos with all of this snow lately. I decided to head down to Utah to visit my sister and fam with the kids. Ryan stayed at home and worked and worked and worked....poor guy. We had lots of fun. We always go to temple square when we are down there. We checked out the conference center this time....the kids had never been. They were totally enthralled with it all. The childrens part at the museum has been changed too. It was so much fun. Tatum dressed up and learned a Mexican dance while Keegan and Scoutty "drove" around the neighborhood. It was so fun. Our other "fun" was going to see Cody's house. Cody Brown, that is.....you know, the dude from Sister Wives. I dont faithfully watch their show but I thought it would be fun to find out where they live. We googled their address and we went on a journey to find their house. It was fun. We basically just drove past and took a picture but it was a super fun adventure. We had lots of laughs, there and back and best of all, we got out of this stinkin' snow for a while!!!

LuCkY LePrecHauNs

2011-03-17T07:10:00.000-07:00

These have to be the cutest little Leprechauns anyone has ever seen, right? I think so. St. Patricks day this year is pretty low key. Ryan's gone with work all this week and our March 17th party is tonight so we're not doing too much "green" partying. I thought that I would be a good mom and at least make them a cute tee to wear to school and send treats with them. That's all it took.....Keegan said that this was his most favorite St. Patricks Day yet.....

Just a quick update....

2011-03-07T09:34:00.000-08:00

Here is a quick update.....without any pics!!! Sorry! Life has been busy. I was put in Primary Pres. yesterday so my life just got really busy with that. I'm excited to be there with my kids. I just finished a quilt top for my neighbor's daughter that's getting married in 7 weeks. I was lucky enough to see Grandma this week to have her take it back to Cardston with her to be quilted. My great uncle Cyril passed away this past week and I took my kids to the funeral. It was really nice to see everyone, especially my mom, grandma and grandpa and ALL MY GREAT AUNTIES! Oh, how I love those ladies. They are so cool!

Ryan is busy as ever with work but hopefully in the next few weeks, some of his projects will wind down and we'll actually get to see him once in a while. Scoutty is talking like it's her job. She says the funniest things. The other day, I was dancing with her and I did a silly move and she said, "Momma, you's crazy!" I love that girl. Tates and Keegs are still doing really well in school. They try so hard. Tatum was happy to report that she will be getting an A in science on this next report card....up from a B which was one of only 2, might I add. I'm such a proud mama when it comes to my kids. They pretty much rock!

Life is Hard and other facts.....

2011-02-24T07:36:00.000-08:00

Do you find that sometimes life is just hard? It's still really good, just hard. That has been our life as of late here at the Sharpe household. Nothing too major is happening, just lots of little crummy things that add up to a whole lot of stress. Even though the stress isn't gone, today I am grateful for a few things:

1. My sister, as of today, has started a new medication for her insanity. I'm sure it will work really well too. The name of the medicine is A MUCH BIGGER HOUSE! I am beyond excited for her and her family to have space to move in!

2. I am grateful for GRAVOL. Scoutty has been up screaming for hours every night for the past few weeks and last night, I gave her some gravol and she slept through the night. Needless to say, I am feeling much better this morning, having slept!

3. A few weeks ago, Tates brought a little friend to Activity days with her. On the way home, her friend was asking who we pray too and we explained that we have a Heavenly Father that loves us and watches over us. She was amazed to think that there was a whole other person out there that loves her. I was sad for her but grateful for the gospel and my upbrining that taught me that I do have a Heavenly Father that loves me.

4. I am grateful for friends, especially this past month. I've been such a drag to be around and yet they all still keep loving me and checking up on me. They are a real blessing in my life.

5. I am grateful for sugary treats. I am an emotional eater and thank heavens I have the metabolism to support it. I am grateful for all the cookies, chocolate bars, candy etc. that I have consumed this past month. When life gets tough, a banana just doesn't cut it.

Well, that's about it for today. I really try to see the silver lining in everything and it's been pretty hard the past month but I'm still trying. Now, off to make some double chocolate chip cookies! Weight Watchers, I might be paying you a visit soon!

Ski Loppet Day

2011-02-17T08:49:00.000-08:00

Tates and Keegs both got to participate this year in the annual ski loppet. They were both so excited, especially Keegs since this was his first time. They both did their best and Keegs came in 7th and Tates, 11th. They had a great time and the best part of it all......they got to miss a half day of school!

Party Central!!

2011-01-24T09:11:00.000-08:00

This past Saturday we had two birthday parties. The big kids opted for separate parties this year so I thought it would be smart to do them both on the same day. My idea was to get the mess and stress over with in one day. The jury is still out on whether that was a smart thing to do or not. Tatum had a spa party, filled with facials, nails, parrafin waxing, hair bling, body glitter and cute hair accessories. She had a great time. Keegan wanted a sledding party and the weather was plus 2....wow, talk about luck!!! The Saturday before was minus 25!!! Both of the parties were great and what's even better?????.....they are OVER!!! Thank heavens!!

My Birthday Post....watch out, here comes some ego!!

2011-01-20T07:21:00.000-08:00

So, I usually post stuff about the kids on their birthday, what they are like and how great they are. Since I'm the only one that writes on this blog, I've decided to be so awesome to myself and write a few things on here that are great about me. I know, pretty egotistical but whatever. I find that as I age, I am more comfortable in my skin and am loving my strange little quirks even more. So here they are.....

1. I am pretty darn fantastic at making Mac & Cheese in the microwave. I only screw it up occasionally.

2. I have a fantastic memory. Well, it usually sucks but if someone does or says something stupid in front of me, I will remember it for forever and never let them forget it.

3. I fall down more gracefully than anyone that I know. Probably because I'm such a klutz and do it all the time!!

All right, that's about the bragging about myself that I can handle. Happy Birthday to me!!!

Little things that make me smile.....

2011-01-12T08:54:00.001-08:00

Well, today so far, it's just been one little thing.......she's two and super cute! This morning, Scoutty and I were trying to figure out what to do since it's -27 and snowing/blizzarding outside. We decided to make cookies. I dont really remember doing this as a child with my mom but I do remember when my mom would make angel food cakes and I got to lick the beaters.....mmm, that was the best. So, it seems the tradition of licking the beaters has continued......at least I could wait for my mom to unattach them from the machine!!

I hate new years resolutions....

2011-01-07T09:59:00.000-08:00

Why set new years resolutions???? Because that's the thing to do on Jan 1st of every year??? I never make new year resolutions. I like setting goals in my own way and on my own schedule. On that note, I did make one goal for the new year. I have this pipe dream that someday when my kids are all grown up and married, I can give them a beautiful chest that their dad made for them that are all full of quilts. Baby ones, snuggly ones, queen size for beds etc. Hence my new years goal for this year. I am going to get 12 quilts done this year, one for each month. They aren't all quilted ones etc. Some are rag quilts, perfect for snuggling. I've already got two under my belt. I made Scoutty a toy story rag quilt, crib size, that she loves to snuggle in to watch Toy Story and who is snuggled in there with her, you might ask??? Her Woody doll, of course. I made Ryan a rag quilt for his birthday. It's a double size. Plenty big enough for us to cuddle under while watching hockey!!! I've got enough fabric for 10 out of the 12 quilts so I"m pretty excited to get to pick out some new fabrics for two of them. Wish me luck. My kids probably wont really appreciate them when they get older cause they get new blankets all of the time but at least they'll know that their Mommy loved them, everytime they use one!

I like being Green....

2011-01-04T09:20:00.000-08:00

Isn't that what Kermit the Frog sings????? Well, I guess Scoutty decided that she wanted to be green also......yeah, I'm thinking the food coloring is not going anywhere for a few days. Good thing we're not going out anywhere!

Someone turned 9 today!!!

2011-01-03T18:09:00.000-08:00

Keegs turned nine today. Wow, his birthday always sneaks up on us so quickly after Christmas. He was super pumped today just to get some extra attention.....must be a middle child thing. Haha!!! My family will get that! Anyways, we took a treat in to his class at school today to help celebrate, then sledding after school, followed by tacos, birthday cake and of course, presents!!! He is downstairs right now putting all of his new things together. I dont think he'll sleep tonight for all of his excitement about his new things. Some of the things that our family loves about Keegan:

1. His laugh. It is contagious and loud and you just can't help but smile when he laughs!
2. He is a crazy man, just like his father. He'll go off huge jumps sledding or snowboarding, do crazy things on the trampoline and basically do anything that looks like fun, no thought as to his safety.
3. He is so obedient and follows the rules. It's almost obnoxious how precise he is about following what I say but it's mostly a good thing.
4. He loves his sisters and will still hug them and sing with them. Poor boy!
5. He is so stinking loud. His voice only has one volume level and it's permanently set on loud.....hmm, just like Grandpa Hough!
6. He loves to read and learn new things. He loves new books, especially world record books.
7. He's such a softy. He's quite sensitive and gets choked up kind of easy. Kind of reminds me of a BIG teddy bear I know......uh hum, Jay!
8. He loves all sports and does really well with everything he does. He tries his best to be a good sport about everything although he really just wants to win!
9. I love it that he's still not too big to give his Mama kisses. I've told him a million times that even if he grows to be as big as Uncle Jayme, he'll never be too big to give his Mama kisses.

We sure love Keegan and are so glad that he's part of our family.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-02T17:48:00.000-08:00

Christmas has come and gone for another year. We celebrated, for the most part, at home this year. It was nice to spend some really good time together, driving each other nuts!!! Santa was good to all of us this year. Ryan and the big kids got decked out with snowboards and gear and the big fat man brought me a new piano. Okay, the "big fat man" is really quite thin at our house.....just saying.... Scoutty was sure pleased with her Woody doll. She loves that thing. We spent Christmas day with Ryan's family and besides having fun and playing games, we ate and ate and ate. Ugh! I thought I was going to explode by the time I left their house! This past week of holidays, we have spent it mostly sledding and snowboarding. The kids are getting really quite good!! All in all, it was a really good christmas, full of love and family and a lot of reflection of life and the blessings that are ours. Happy New Year to all of our friends and family and may this year bring happiness and joy to all of you!

Mrs. Claus' Cookie Place....

2010-12-23T11:20:00.000-08:00

We met up with some of the crazy cousins in Calgary this week to decorate cookies at Mrs. Claus' place. The cookies were okay but time with the cousins was priceless. It was so fun to see them, even though it was only for about a half an hour. Thanks for meeting up with us, Gibbs! We had fun!

LIfe is happiest when you have a pretty table.......and other myths

2010-11-30T16:30:00.000-08:00

My life is complete. My table is pretty and life is complete. Well, not really but it is kind of silly how happy I feel to have a pretty table with shiny things on it. I spent a few hours last night ironing and fixing and crafting to make my table look like this and today, I've spent hours admiring how pretty it is. Isn't is so funny how something like a pretty table can make a person smile.....hmm, I'm not quite sure what that says about me but whatever it does, I really don't care because like I said before, my life is complete with my pretty table.

Festival of Trees and the Official Opening of Sharpe's Rink....

2010-11-27T10:57:00.000-08:00

Ryan has been working forever on this rink...or so it seems. A few days ago, it was the official opening of his rink. Some of the neighborhood kids came over and the kids skated for hours. Keegan was up bright and early again this morning out skating and both of the big kids are planning on skating all afternoon today. What a great thing for the kids. Ryan keeps trying to get me in some skates but I have a slight phobia with skating and rinks.....ever since breaking my leg at age 6 on ice, cracking my knee at age 10 on ice and cracking my wrist at age 12 on ice.....can you blame me????

On another note, Tatum is in school choir again this year. Their first performance was at the Festival Of Trees this weekend. We rushed over and waited in line for forever and by the time we got in there to see her perform, she was done and off the stage. I felt so bad. Oh well, there's always next year! I took the kids to Candy Cane lane at the festival. It is full of games and prizes and fun things to make and do. Keegan did double of everything since Tatum couldn't stay with us, she had to go back to the school. So we were there forever but the kids had a great time. Scoutty just ate candy canes the whole time....she was sticky but happy!

Christmas Traditions.....

2010-11-24T12:21:00.000-08:00

For the past few years, Ryan and I have been trying to set up our own traditions with our kids. We have incorporated some from his childhood and some from mine but lots of our own. One of our most favorite is pin the beard on Santa. This happens Christmas Eve and "Santa" is usually some poor unsuspecting guest that thinks they are just there to enjoy themselves but they usuallly end up getting their eye poked out! Another tradtion that we've done for the past few years is buying Christmas ornaments for our tree. We usually get our tree up and then head out to find that special ornament that makes the kids smile. Everyone picks out their own so we get quite the assortment. This year, these were the picks......

Ryan - Santa on a crazy carpet
Missy - Pickle
Tatum - Candy Sucker
Keegan - Leopard print car
Scoutt - Dancing Frog

We had so much fun putting the ornaments on the tree after we bought them. It's quite a process....the kids have to find the perfect spot for their ornaments. They are so proud and excited about them. They went over and got Nana(our wonderful neighbor who is their "fill-in" grandma since the others aren't right here) and showed her the ornaments they bought. They are leaving spaces on the tree for their homemade ornaments from school too! It's such a fun tradition.

Now, onto some of the others......like doing the "12 days of Christmas" to an unsuspecting family in the ward. We've got one picked and are getting everything ready for them!!! Hopefully we wont get caught! Wish us luck!!!

Rock and Roll Nativity...and other things.

2010-11-18T07:46:00.000-08:00

I made this nativity last year and didn't really love it but I had a brilliant this year to glitter it!!!! I think it turned out so cute!

Craft night was last week....we did jewelery and temple pics. They turned out so cute and it was so fun to visit everyone. Can't wait for the next craft night.

We put up our tree on Sunday. The kids and Ryan put all the decorations on the tree, I didn't supervise at all so it turned out pretty well, considering.

Sharpe's Spooktacular Halloween

2010-10-31T15:31:00.000-07:00

Our Halloween was super this year. We decided that since we weren't going to go trick or treating on Halloween night this year, we needed to something else super fun. A haunted house came to mind and we ran with it. Here are the pictures of it. The first room was filled with monkey brains, witches eyes, guts, bugs, etc. Under the box, was Tatum's head. She would scream at people when they lifted it up. She had on her ugly mask and boy, was she good! Next was a scary hallway with bats hanging, a motion activated witch and of course, tons of cobwebs. The next room was a construction room with cut up bodies everywhere and pools of blood. The next room was the graveyard room. There was lots of tombstones and of course, a coffin filled witht the cutest little mummy. The pictures dont make it look half as scary as it was. There was strobe lights everywhere. We had a fog machine that made everything smoky and we had scary sounds playing in the background. Ryan wore a mask and scared everyone in the construction room and Keegan was in the coffin jumping out at people. It was pretty fun.

After the kids went through the haunted house, they got to come up and decorate a cookie and then pick out some treats from our treat bin. Everyone had such a great time and the most tears that we had, was from so many kids who didn't want to leave our house. We had about 130 visitors and anticipate even more next year! Needless to say, we were all exhausted from scaring people for 4 hours but the kids both said that it was by far, the funnest night of their whole lives!!! I guess it was pretty good, but then again, they haven't lived that long either!

Scoutty's Birthday

2010-10-25T15:51:00.001-07:00

Scoutty turned two on the weekend! It's so crazy how fast time flies! Here are a few pics of the party. We went over to my cousin's house, with the George's and the Elders.....so much fun. Scoutty got such nice gifts from everyone and Michelle is so awesome to have gotten pumpkins for our kids to carve!!! We had sooo much fun!!

Don't we all love Heroes??

2010-10-21T06:20:00.000-07:00

Last night Keegan and I went to the Rebels homegame!!! It was super exciting because they were playing the Kamploops Blazers. Why is that exciting, you may ask? Well, it's because Tyler Hansen plays for the Blazers! He's from my hometown. We had awesome seats...just four rows back from the Blazers! We cheered, ate lots of deliciously unhealthy food, and visited with Tyler's family in the intermissions! What a great time! After the game was over, Kamloops won, Keegan and I went down to where the players leave the ice to go to the dressing rooms. We were cheering for them and of course were cheering super loud when Tyler went past. One of the players gave Keegan the game winning puck! He was sooooo pumped about that! Tyler's mom gave Keegan a pack of team cards for the Blazers and Tyler's dad give him picture with his stats on it. We were then invited to go down to the dressing room area with them to see Tyler, Keegan was dying to meet him....so we went. We had to hang around for a while but when Tyler came out, wow, someone was starstruck and no, it wasn't me. Keegan was so excited to meet a "real" hockey player. Tyler was so kind to him and signed everything that Keegs had! Tylers mom was telling me how much he hates this part of playing hockey because he's just a regular guy and doesn't understand why kids think he's something special. I told her that he needs to get over that because I"m so glad that my son has an awesome hero to look up too! Keegan talked about Tyler all the way home and announced that he was indeed, his new favorite player of all time!! He is planning on framing his stat sheet for his bedroom and is seriously contemplating cheering for Kamploops over the Rebels.....hmm, we'll see how that goes over with Daddy....

And it's OFF!!!!

2010-10-19T08:37:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who helped out with our Gibb Family Christmas project of sending Christmas gifts to children in Romania!!! It was sent this morning....I wont even tell you how much that was to ship but man, that was thrilling. I was teary eyed this morning just thinking about all the joy that that small box is going to bring! We ended up with very little left over of all of the donations...just a few big items but other than that....everything went!! We wrote letters to the children last night. Ryan wrote his in Romanian and helped the kids write a little bit of Romanian in their's! And yes, we had brownies.....Keegan's face doesn't usually look like this!!! We are so excited about this whole thing and are anxious to hear from the missionaries who are delivering the toys!!!!

Where's Waldo...umm, I mean Scoutty and Keegs

2010-10-11T16:41:00.000-07:00

Ryan is out putting up our bike holder thingy's in the garage right now and Scoutty and Keegs are entertaining themselves. You should have heard the giggles coming out of that box. They thought they were being so sneaky!!!

Row, Row Row your Boat

2010-10-05T17:45:00.000-07:00

Keegan had a project due this week....wowsers, what a doosy!!! It took us many hours to construct this but he is so proud of it...I seriously hope he doesn't want to keep it forever and ever.....ugh! Don't we all love school projects????

Run Tatum Run

2010-09-28T16:35:00.000-07:00

Today was the Dawe Run for the city school kids. Tatum practised for weeks to get ready for it. She wasn't very competitve last year and this year she was shooting for the top 20 girls in grade 5. Well................she did it! She came in in 16th place. Needless to say, we are so proud of her for trying so hard and she was pretty proud of herself. The day was wet and dreary and all the runners were coming through the finish line, soaking wet and muddy. Kind of crappy conditions to run in but the day was great for Tatum!

All Aboard!!!

2010-09-26T09:55:00.000-07:00

Today is a quiet day at the Sharpe house. No church for us today. We are all sick with colds and flu and decided that we would be kind enough not to share with everyone in our ward. So, instead, we hauled out all of Keegan's geotrax.....yes, three bins full!!! He's been collecting them for four years and still loves them. We got everything set up and now we all having fun crashing our trains and airplanes together! I'm sure you can tell from the picture why this is a once in a while activity.....look at the space this thing takes up!!

Joey Moss Classic

2010-09-22T04:17:00.000-07:00

Ryan took the big kids to the Joey Moss Classic last night. It's a preseason game of oilers vs. oilers, which in my opinion, is very equal.....I"m sure both sides sucked. Haha! They had super seats and Ryan filled the kids' stomachs with hamburgers, pop and junk so everyone walked away happy. During the game, they were shooting t-shirts into the crowd and Tatum caught one. She was so excited about it. I think that'll be her new pajama shirt! Anyways, fun time had by all.

Us.....lately

2010-09-20T08:34:00.000-07:00

I've been so bad at blogging for the past few months....it's kind of been put on the back burner. Anyways, school has started for another year. The kids are loving their classes and all that they're learning. Scoutty really hasn't missed the kids at all. She loves having free reign on the house. Tates has a big run coming up tomorrow. All the city schools participate in this run so it's pretty crazy. Last year she walked most of it, choosing to just visit with her friends along the way. This year, she has found her competitive edge and she wants to be in the top 20 for all of the grade 5'ers. They are running 3km and she has been practicing everyday, going on runs around the neighborhood and we've even gone over to the actual run place and she's ran that a few times too. She was pretty bummed out this morning when she woke up sick with a fever and head cold. Hopefully she'll feel okay to run it tomorrow.

Keegs has been on a big kick of making paper airplanes. I swear we have a future engineer in him. He loves building and figuring out how things work and of course, designing new awesome inventions. He's pretty funny.

Scoutty is getting so grown up. She is talking pretty good now. She was a bit of a late bloomer on that front. The other day, Daddy picked her up to give her a hug and he went to kiss her cheek, but at the last second, she turned her head and he ended up giving her a smoochie on the lips. He said, "Hello"...and Scoutty looked at him and said, "HI".....it was pretty funny. She also hates getting her hair done everyday but if you look at the pic, you'll know why. Can you imagine sitting through someone combing THAT out???? We call her hair, "THE BEAST".....

Romanian Christmas

2010-09-14T05:52:00.000-07:00

Every year at Christmas, the Gibb Family pools their money together to do something charitable for someone else. We all takes turns at getting the $$ and choosing what we will do with it. This year, we have chosen to send gifts to the children of Romania. Why Romania? Well, that's where Ryan served his mission. The need is great there. Most children wont even have one gift under the tree this year.

We are trying to get some donations since our money will barely cover the expense of just shipping the boxes over. And there is a time crunch! It has to be sent in 4 weeks for them to get it for Christmas! We are looking for the following donations:

stickers

toothbrushes

small packaged candy

small coloring books

hairbows and accessories

foam airplane kits

toy cars

small lego sets

tiny foam type balls

Remember, that the shipping charge is dependant on weight so we need everything to be as light as possible. Anything that you can do to help out would be great. The mission president's wife in Romania is co-ordinating all the efforts there and is excited to send Elders and Sisters out Christmas morning, loaded up with goodies, to unsuspecting children. We can take things off of your hands anywhere in Red Deer, Magrath, or Lloydminster. Thanks so much!

I just realized....

2010-09-12T17:36:00.000-07:00

I've been a MOM for 10.5 years now. Yes, that does seem like quite a bit to me. I love my children dearly but have come to realize lately that instead of thinking about my hopes and dreams, I worry about theirs. I think it's like that with most moms I know. We get put on the back burner, so to speak. So, lately I've been pondering over some things that I like and don't like, what some of my life's ambitions are etc. etc. I just wanted to write them down cause I know that I'll forget them in a few months when I'm just so busy being a mom.....

1. I love bubble baths. There is pretty much nothing better to me than to soak in extremely hot bubbly water for 15 minutes, hearing nothing but the sound of my own breathing.

2. I hate the top sheet on a bed. It never stays with the rest of the blankets and seriously makes me think bad words at least twice a night when I wake up and it's all messed up. I would much rather just have a blanket there and wash that every week. So, FYI....top sheets are banned at the Sharpe household.

3. I love pasta with no sauce on it....just a little bit of butter and salt. That is pure comfort food to me.

4. I have no patience. I mean NO NO NO patience for anything. I can't even tell the number of times that I get annoyed during the day for someone and their stupid ideas or way of doing things or just the way the garbage man throws our bins after he empties them....grrrrr.

5. I love to work...pretty much more than any hobby or anything. I guess that is my hobby. Ryan keeps telling me to get a hobby but I just come up with different ways to work....whatever. I'm sure at some point in my life I'll learn to chill.

6. I hate the sounds of a football game on tv. Ryan watches a lot of sports and I've realized that none of them bother me except football. For some reason, the sounds of a football game are like fingernails on a chalkboard.....

Well, that's it for now. Totally random and useless to most but it's awesome for me to realize that under all of the "mom" years....I'm still here!

My Little Baby Momma....

2010-09-04T09:15:00.000-07:00

Scoutty loves her baby. She changes her bum everyday....it's kind of funny. She points to her baby's bum and says, "poo, poo" and then insists on changing her bum. She feeds her baby and pushes her in a little stroller all day. I may be biased, but it's pretty darn cute!!!

Tate's Room

2010-09-01T18:26:00.000-07:00

Well, it's only been painted for months and months but not decorated. Yesterday, I finally got my but in gear and got it all together.....just the pom pom flowers remain. Tates loves it....it's the perfect tweener room for her!

I thought Christmas was the most wonderful time of the year

2010-09-01T09:55:00.000-07:00

I thought Christmas was the most wonderful time of the year....I guess I was wrong. The kiddies are off to school this morning. Tates is in grade 5 and Keegs in grade3 Tatum has a couple of her bestest friends in her class so she is super pumped. Keegan, on the other hand, didn't recognize anyone in his class this year and he was so nervous at school this morning, teary eyed and everything. Poor kid. I hope he has some friends by the end of the day. Scoutty is so excited to have the big kids gone and to be the ruler of the roost once again. We started our new paper route this morning. Whew...tons of work but the kids love earning the $$$ every month and it gives us some extra $$$ to do some extra fun things every month and shhhh, the real reason I'm pumped about it......it's a full hour of cardio everyday...running house to house. Yes, I dont dawdle. Here is some pics of the kids going to school this morning!!! Enjoy!!

Your Worst Nightmare......

2010-08-07T07:28:00.000-07:00

So, I'm still giggling about this today. Last night, I offered to help in the kitchen at a friends sons' wedding. Ryan is out of town so I loaded up the kids and my 40 hot baked potatoes and headed over to the church. There was about 10 of us kitchen workers that were told to be there at 5:00, so sure enough, we were. The people that we bringing all of the food and overseeing the kitchen hadn't arrived yet so we all just were hanging out until the bosses arrived and told us what to do. So 5:00 came, then 5:30 and then we started harrassing everyone that came in the building, asking them if they had brought food. We were all getting a little nervous but having fun. Finally, the mother of the groom got ahold of the people in charge of the food. There had been some miscommunication and they thought that the wedding was today, not yesterday. OOOOOOOOPS!!!! So, this was now 5:55 with dinner to start at 6:30. What happened next was nothing short of a miracle. A lady in our ward with lots of experience feeding 200 PEOPLE took charge. She thought for about 3 minutes, came up with a list, lined us all up and started shouting orders. My job along with a friend was 20 dozen buns and butter. GO!!!! So, picture this, a bunch of nut jobs running around the city, getting food for 200 people that were expecting to eat in 30 minutes. We were all pumped and ready for the challenge.

I'm sure I was quite the spectical running around co-op in my dress and 3 inch heels, barking at people to PLEASE EXCUSE ME and ordering, in the nicest way to get another cashier up to the front because we are in the HUGEST RUSH EVER!! When we got back to the church, everyone was arriving with the purchased food and then we got to work. Cutting buns, rolling meat for the cold cut trays, getting all the baked potatoes trimmings ready, cooking vegetables, cutting pickles, making salad etc. We were only about 30 minutes late on dinner and the best part was, so many people commented on how good the food was. We, of course, politely said thankyou and then went into the kitchen to laugh. The whole kitchen crew was dripping in sweat and exhausted by the time the food was on the table but the dinner went off, with very few people the wiser about the OOOPSIE with the food. I'm still giggling this morning about what we pulled off.......I think we all deserve a medal or maybe some of the 5000 pounds of roast beef that has been cooked and prepared for "today's" wedding.........teehee

Family Fun....

2010-07-24T15:16:00.000-07:00

For the past few months, we have taken on tons of projects. Cleaning up our yard is one and today we finished off some more of it. It is starting to look fantastic. We pulled the dead tree out of our front yard, filled in the whole and put sod there. It looks marvelous!! Of course, while we're out, the neighbors, who we love to death, came over to check out the work. Bruce took Ry over to get some dirt and then proceeded to make Keegan this ramp for his bike. Bruce's son Scott came over to inspect the jump and informed his dad that it wasn't quite right so back they went to their garage and rigged up this "safe" jump for Keegan. I can't even express how much we love our neighbors!!!

The kids and Daddy are jumping on the trampoline right now with a sprinkler under it and all I hear is giggles and happy screams from the backyard.

Some pics for the moms.....

2010-07-21T18:30:00.001-07:00

Some boys, some girls, Scoutty, Dukieville and Mermaidville......

Put your Paws up....

2010-07-19T13:20:00.000-07:00

Today we headed out to the Gopher Hole Museum in Torrington. Supposedly it's world famous. Regardless, that was the best laugh I've had in ages. I'm sure that my older (and wiser) sister would have peed her pants if she was here....this was totally up her alley! The best one was the atb bank hold up.....I'm still laughing about that one now. There was a dude there from a tv station that interviewed me and took some video of the kids enjoying the "exihibits". The kids are excited to be on TV......as Chandler says..."we're FAMOUS!!" Enjoy the pics and by all means, if you're ever near Torrington, stop by....it's worth the 50 cent admission!!

We Did it.......

2010-07-18T16:03:00.000-07:00

Yes, we got to church this morning at 8:30 with 7 children and two adults looking fabulous.....I mean, really....aren't these guys just stunning.....hehe!

Let the fun begin......

2010-07-17T16:47:00.000-07:00

Well, it's fun right now but it's only been a couple of hours........

This crazy crew is staying with us for a week! When I say crazy, I mean CRAZY!!!! The girls have already done make-up and the boys have been outside playing street hockey. Pizza is happening at the moment, then off to play baseball with Uncle RyRy.....whew, I'm not sure who's going to more tired at the end of the week, us or THEM.....I'm going to keep them so busy they'll be begging us to stop!!! Wish us luck!!

While the Family's away....the Mommy will play...

2010-07-09T10:06:00.000-07:00

Okay, so not really. Ryan and the two big kids are out at his parents cabin in BC. I opted not to go this year and stay home to get some projects done. They just left yesterday and already I have stained the front porch, re-organized the office, taken garbage out, got groceries, played with Scoutty etc. etc......so much more gets done when the house stays clean behind me as I work. I miss Ryan and the kids a bit but it's so nice not to have to cook. Scoutty had veggie soup for supper last night and I had Maple Walnut ice cream. No cooking necessary.....ahhh, my kind of living(for a few days, anyways).....

Today is more cleaning and de-cluttering and setting up Scoutty's new water table play thingy......whatever, she'll love it!!

I'll post some pics of the front porch when I can find my camera card!!!

Year End Field Trips.....

2010-06-17T16:52:00.000-07:00

Tates and Keegs have been field tripping the past few days. Tates went to Shunda Mountain(by Nordegg) and Keegs went to the Calgary Zoo. They both had a great time and came home super tired. Here is a few of the hundreds of pictures they took....

He is LITERALLY...a literal little boy

2010-06-07T20:03:00.000-07:00

Keegan had a tummy ache tonight going to bed so I sent him downstairs, chewing 2 gravol tablets and gave him a little bowl just in case. I told him to put the bowl by his mouth. When I went down to check on him, this is what I found....... hmm, I better not ever tell him to go jump off a cliff....

Just for Auntie K.D.....

2010-06-05T10:12:00.000-07:00

So, this is what happens when mom is gone and the two big kids are supposedly "watching" her. She fell down our deck stairs onto concrete. Okay...so her face didn't blow up like I thought that it would but it's pretty purple and gross looking. The best part of all of this is when I took her picture, I said, one, two, three, cheese and she said cheese to me....clear as day. That made my day since she doesn't say too much!!

It's Mallow Time!!

2010-06-05T05:47:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we bought a fire pit thingy for our backyard. I think Ryan was a little skeptical about how useful or fun it would be but we got it anyways. I was so excited since we always had these growing up. They were much more elaborate but same idea. When I was little, I remember having one of these in the backest part of our massive yard and our neighbors would come over all the time to roast marshmallows and just hang out. All of us kids would play anti-I-over on the shed, then take a quick marshmallow break and then get right back at it. I dont have any specific memories or great stories about this, but the memory of doing this with my family warms my heart. I was hoping that having a fire pit in our backyard would do the same. So, before we could get at the roasting, we needed to mow our front lawn...it grows so fast because our neighbor puts his "special fertilizer" on it. Anyways, we hadn't used our mower yet this year so we tried to start it up but it wouldn't stay running. After several attempts, our neighbors came out along with their son that lives with them and Bruce and Scott ended up fixing the mower while Ryan mowed the lawn with their mower. We told them that we were going to roast hot dogs and marshmallows and to please come over if they didn't have plans......so they did! What a great time visiting and eating! We absolutely love our neighbors! And now we love our fire pit. We had the best time....the kids loved it....and Scoutty couldn`t get enough marshmallows into her mouth. She was so funny. She stuffed in two big marshmallows and then wanted a drink from Tatum so Tates told her to say please and when she did, marshmallow erupted everywhere! What a great time. Next time, I`ll take pictures!

Scoutty's first date......play date that is...

2010-06-01T11:29:00.000-07:00

Scoutt was so lucky this morning to have her little friend come over and play for a while. She was totally unsure what the deal was having someone around that was the same size as her and someone that didn't just give her everything she wants at the exact minute that she wanted it. Her nose got a little out of joint.....it was so cute. The best part of the morning was when Rylan wanted the litle kitchen microwave door open and SCoutty wanted it shut.....wow, that was a fight! And of course, I just stood back and giggled at them.....too cute!

That's MR. DONKEY to you!!!

2010-05-30T16:46:00.000-07:00

Sunday afternoon wouldn't be complete without a ride on the family's favorite pet....

Silver lining in everything.....until it costs us $$$$

2010-05-30T14:04:00.000-07:00

So, it snowed this weekend. So many people were angry/grumpy about it and I thought...."No, I'm going to look at the positive side of things". So I did. I noted in my head how it is going to make everything so green and pretty outside, Red Deer is in a bit of a drought so the extra moisture is fabulous and I won't have to water my lawn anytime soon which will save $$ on our water bill. I was feeling pretty good about myself for being so positive and not letting the snow get me down.....yeah, that was until we looked out our back window and saw that it had totalled our brand new gazebo. My "positive outlook" went right down the crapper for a few minutes. Ohhhhh, I was mad. That gazebo cost us $400 and we sat under it twice....which I don't think was worth $200 each sit but whatever. After we did some damage control on it, we started laughing.....realizing there is not a darn thing we could do about it. So now we are really hoping that we can save $$ on our water bill so that we can replace our NEW GAZEBO. Also, I pointed out to Ry today that if we get a new one that is exactly the same, it will last forever since we'll have two sets of netting and fabric for it.....silver lining in everything right???

Arizona Baby!!!

2010-05-27T05:28:00.001-07:00

We just got back from Arizona this past weekend. What a great time. The weather was hot and Keegan saw a cactus.....what more can we ask for? The airplane ride was thrilling for the older kids....they seriously can't get enough airplane rides, I don't think. Scoutty had a harder time, I'm sure wonder what the heck was going on and why she couldn't get down and run wild but she made it okay. Some of the highlights of the trip were our visit to an Ostrich farm.....too funny and smelly. Ryan and the older kids went to a Diamondbacks game vs. the Toronto Blue Jays so they thought that was awesome. We had lots of fun visiting with family and the kids had so much fun playing with their arizona cousins. By the time we got home, I decided that Ryan and I needed another vacation to recoup from this one....whew, we were tired but so happy to have gone.

My warped sense of humor......

2010-05-18T10:45:00.000-07:00

I finally decorated my bathroom this past week. I was so sick of the beige walls and the lack of character that it had. So I painted two walls chocolate brown, put up some stars and a word search on the wall across from the toilet......yes, you can do your business and be entertained at the same time....

Anyways, I had the space above the tub to fill so I came up with this crazy idea to post some pics of cracks with a reminder for my kids to wash all of their cracks when they're in the shower. It turned out pretty cute......the bum crack is Scoutty's.....a little baby's crack is still cute!

The future Picasso....

2010-05-17T08:29:00.000-07:00

Scoutty loves to color and draw but a few days ago, she discovered the wonder and joy of coloring on my walls. It looks like she was just scribbling but she actually was taking her time, perfecting her art. She was so proud of herself and her beautiful artwork. I'm sure if she could talk, she would be saying that it was a picture of her beautiful, gracious, loving mother. Haha! She was not to thrilled when we ended the fun. We have left the wall art up for everyone to enjoy.....at least for a few more days and then sadly, it will be scrubbed off!

For the love of a Grandpa....

2010-05-06T15:47:00.000-07:00

So, my grandpa is probably one of the coolest people I know. He just turned 86 and I'm seriously surprised that he's still alive, given all the horrible pranks I've played on the poor man. Everytime we are chatting with someone and Grandpa comes up, I usually end up in tears and rolling on the floor holding my stomach in laughter telling all the terrible deeds that I've done. I think the last prank that I did to him was in Magrath, a few years ago. I don't dare to anything to him now. I don't want to be known as the person that killed grandpa from a heart attack or something. So, instead of putting in my efforts to scare him, I have had a change of heart and now am putting in my energy making him home made strawberry jam, which he loves. But he is worth every jar. I decided that I better make Grandpa one jar of jam for every prank that I've ever played on him so he better live another 20 plus years cause I've got alot of making up to do! Love you Grandpa.....the jam is on it's way!!

20 Dollar Bill

2010-05-05T05:54:00.001-07:00

My friend posted this on her blog and I thought it was so awesome, I copied it from her.......thanks Tobie!!!

A well known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20.00 bill. In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this $20 bill?"
Hands started going up. He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you, but first, let me do this."
He proceeded to crumple the $20 dollar bill up. He then asked, "who still wants it?"
Still the hands were up in the air.
Well, he replied, "what if I do this?"
And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty.
"Now who still wants it?"
Still the hands went into the air.
"My friends, we have all learned a very valuable lesson," he said, "no matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20."
Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way.
We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened, or what will happen, you will never lose your value.
Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless ... and especially to those who love you.
The worth of our lives comes not in what we do or who we know, but by WHO WE ARE.
"You are special - Don't EVER forget it."
Count your blessings, not your problems.
Never be afraid to try something new.

Small Moment of Happy....

2010-05-02T16:57:00.000-07:00

It's a beautiful Sunday afternoon. Pretty warm with a slight breeze. We ate supper outside on our deck and afterwards, went for a walk around the pond in our neighborhood. The kids had taken a tennis ball and were throwing between them and daddy while I pushed Scoutty in her stroller. For a brief moment, I commented to Ryan that in this very moment, I was really HAPPY. Not that I"m not happy all of the time but it was a feeling of pure peace and contentment. This is what makes life so worth living and struggling for. There are trials and hardships and life is just chaotic but these are the moments that we are blessed with to put everything in perspective and give us clarity and the will to fulfill our life mission. I think it truly is a tender mercy of our Father's. Too bad that moment ended but it gives me something to look forward to again on another beautiful Sunday afternoon.....or whenever it may be.

First Bike Ride....

2010-04-30T19:07:00.000-07:00

Tonight, Ryan and the kids went out on their first ride of the summer. I didn't join them since I haven't purchased a bike yet. Too bad. It looked like fun. Scoutty was not happy about getting in the trailer but we distracted her with some fruit snacks. She loved it in the end and the kids were digging their rides too.....both talking about how they can pimp out their bikes. Keegan is already planning his jumps that he wants to build.

First day of Nursery

2010-04-26T08:29:00.000-07:00

Scoutt had her first day in Nursery yesterday. Wow, those poor leaders. She cried and cried for the first hour until the snacks were pulled out and then she was fine. I felt so bad for the leaders but they are awesome in our ward and so patient. I seriously think that nursery leaders and cub leaders are automatically celestialized for their work. Wow, makes me grateful to be on the Enrichment committee and no where near those other callings.

What a day.....

2010-04-21T18:19:00.000-07:00

You may read the title and think that something crazy happened......hmmm, just the opposite. Nothing but my regular stuff happened today and I thought that since this is my journal, I should document a day in the life of Missy. So, up at 6, off to the gym. Had a hard time running since my eyes were still partially closed. Home at 7, made breakfast, got hubby out the door to work, cleaned house, got Tates off to school....Keegan's at home for the second day with pink eye. Clean some more. Go grocery shopping. Make pie for Ryan's office. Do laundry. Make lunch. Clean kitchen for second time today. Get scoutty off for a nap. Fold laundry and entertain Keegs. Take pie down to Ryan and pick Tates up at school. Help with homework. Help with papers. Make supper. Clean kitchen for third time today. Fold laundry. Scriptures and prayer. Tuck kiddies into bed. Give Ryan instructions on errands to run for me. Fold more laundry and yes, that brings me to now.....no wonder I'm so tired. I always say to Ryan....oh, not much happened today but this is pretty much what everyday looks like in my life. So, as grateful as I am for this wonderful break to blog, I need to get back to my laundry and then sorting out papers, jars, ribbons etc. for a craft that I'm doing for the stake on Saturday. Dr. Oz says that if you fall asleep within 5 minutes of your head hitting the pillow, then your sleep deprived. Some days I don't even recall putting my head on my pillow....I'm out long before that. And as crazy as my days are, I still find time to enjoy the funny little things my kiddies do........hence, the picture of Scoutt. She loves stuff on her head, her binkie, her blankie and her book. She's such a goof.

Sharpe's lately......

2010-04-18T17:16:00.000-07:00

I've been gone from my usual blogging habits for a while. Life just gets busy and I forget to write about it. So, if you read the last post, you know that we had a mouse in our vehicle. Yuck! It's getting old enough and enough km's on it that it was starting to cost us money every month it seemed, to fix it. We have talked about getting a new car but the mouse was the last straw. So, meet Bo......yes, it's a boy car and Tatum thought it would be good for us to name it this.....get it? A "bow flex".....haha. So, yes, Bo is a part of our family now.

Yesterday, we finally got our gazebo up and it has been wonderful enjoying the great outdoors....alright, the great outdoors at my house, up on a deck with no wildlife around. That's about as good as I can do....or handle when it comes to nature.

We had a busy sunday today. I subbed for primary, with Scoutt for part of the time and then my wonderful friends relieved me of her for the last half hour. We met a new family at church and had them over for dinner. They were down from Edmonton and checking houses out etc. and had three kids with them and only McDonald's on the horizon so they came over and ate. It was great. Always fun to meet new people and visit.

Tatum has had a student teacher in her class for the last few months. He's been a great teacher and the day that he left, he gave everyone a certificate for something that they were great at. Some kids got funny things but Tatum got the "Leader by Example" certificate. Needless to say, we are pretty proud of her. She is such a leader and great example at school and at home.

Ryan and Tatum did the Amazing Race last week here in Red Deer. The public library put it on and they got to do lots of fun crazy things. They came in third and got lots of prizes,......pencils, books, candy etc. Tatum had a great time and is looking forward to it in the fall.

Well, that's about it for the past few weeks. Hopefully I'll get back to regular blogging but we'll see.....

P.S.....for your gee whiz files.....the trap that caught the mouse was one of those old school wooden traps with a piece of cheese on it........it must have been an OLD mouse

A Friendly little visitor......

2010-04-14T08:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we had a surprise and very uninvited visitor come to our home.....well, I should say, our car. As I was pulling out of the driveway yesterday morning, I noticed little droppings all over the dash and floor of my truck. Yup, you guessed it, little miss mousy came for a visit. Needless to say, I completely freaked out. Sick. I cleaned out all the poop and set traps in there and this morning, there was more poop everywhere and no mouse in the traps. We've been talking about trading in our truck for a while now and this pretty much seals the deal. Sick, sick, sick.

Only in Utah.....

2010-04-09T09:34:00.001-07:00

We were down in Utah this past week for some much needed shopping and relaxation. The trip consisted of shopping, shopping, Taco John's, and temple square. The kids had so much fun at Temple Square. They loved the church history museum with all of the "kid" things to do there. I just love the feeling at Temple Square. It's so awesome there.

The weather there was so nasty and cold. We were thoroughly unimpressed with it but it didn't dampen our spirits to shop. We found some great things but the best was when hubby surprised me with a new Coach bag and matching wallet. Lucky me. I love it.

We dropped Tates and Keegs off at Aunties on the way back for a couple of days of fun with their cousins. I'm sure they are having so much fun.

Well, that's it. No ranting or raving or sarcasm in this post, I'm just tooo exhausted.

Beware.....you might pee yourself.

2010-03-29T11:24:00.000-07:00

Check out the video......we did this for our roadshow this past weekend with the Darby family. We had so much fun and were shocked by how well Michael Jackson performed......seriously, 11 years of marriage and I didn't know he could do that!!

Jealous Much?????

2010-03-26T10:47:00.000-07:00

I know you're all jealous and secretly wish your husbands hair did this???? Heehee....Ryan's going to shoot me for posting this!

Random ramblings of a single mom.......

2010-03-24T09:31:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I'm not single but let's face it.....it's spring, the ground is thawing and thus I will be acting as a single parent for the next 6 months. I'm okay with it...I just realize that it is the reality of my life and thus I am coping. I'm pretty darn excited to go to Utah for easter.....cause that means that I'm with hubby 24/7 for 5 days and we can catch up on all of our visiting and NO WORK! Don't get me wrong...I appreciate his job because it's going to pay the the buttload of stuff that I'm planning on purchasing down there, it just would be nice to see him more. But we just keep looking at the silver lining in everything.....he makes a good wage, we have $$ for some extras here and there, he is appreciated at work and his work is valued and most of all, he doesn't have to get dirty doing it...yes, that is a positive. I love having a husband that comes home from work smelling the same as when he left that morning....silly, I know but hey, I'm really trying to find positives and that's the best I could come up with!

Tatum had her choir concert on Monday night. She did so well. Her school choir sang with the city Symphony Orchestra so that was pretty cool. She is starting to get so grown up. It's fun and I hate it, all at the same time.

Keegan is just busy with cubs. He enjoys going every week and hanging out with the other boys. They usually play dodge ball at the end of cubs which is good since he needs to be toughened up. Living with 2 sisters, he's not super tough but he sure tries to be brave when he's smacked in the head with a ball.

Scoutt is getting huge. She looks like a little toddler now....no more baby. She doesn't say very much so she'll be going to a speech therapist in the next few weeks. She loves just wandering around all day and playing by herself. Her latest thing is that she is fascinated with belly buttons so she tries to lift up everyone's shirts and look at their belly buttons.....get's a little awkward in public.

I am just busy running kids, cleaning the house, and trying to keep from going postal on everyone and everything. Wish me luck with that.....the next 6 months might be long!

Spring has Sprung......well, on the calender anyways...

2010-03-22T09:24:00.000-07:00

I can now see a patch of brown grass out my front window. It's the most beautiful thing I've seen! This winter has been far too long for me and I'm about ready for some shorts weather......hmmm, I should be kind to all of humanity and work on getting a little color on my legs. Well, I guess pastey white is a color????

I love spring and the excitement that comes with it. I feel like cleaning.....more and being outside and doing projects.....it's kind of like New Years for me...a time to start things and get stuff done. My projects for this week, besides the insanity of everyday life are:

1. Painting the main bathroom, putting up a new "decorative" shower curtain and finish my picture craft project to go in there.

2. Cover the cushions of my new bar stools with red leather......yes, you read right....red leather.....ooh la la

3. Organize my pantry.....hmmm, I might be calling some of my particularly neurotic friends to help me with that.....I have a few that have immaculate pantries....ugh, I need the help.

Well, that's it for this week. I made a list of everything that needs to be done in the house and it took up two pages......ugh! I might not ever get out of my house again! Wish me luck.......

What are your plans..now that spring is here?????

Caught with my pants down.....

2010-03-19T09:03:00.000-07:00

Haha, bet that caught your eye. Well, to be technical....I was caught with my pants off........here's the story.

So, a few posts ago, I told you about our leprechaun that was visiting our house. This leprechaun brought us all sorts of wonderful treats and games and we loved every minute of it. Well, on St. Patricks Day, I met my leprechauns in person. They stopped by, all gussied up in their bestest green, wearing weird glasses and tinkly jewelery. I was just getting into the shower when Ryan came in(hence the caught with my pants down....) and said that there was someone at the door for me. I was so shocked to see our leprechauns at the door.

They kidnapped me, forced me to drink pina coladas with them and then took me to this loud, crazy place where they forced me to eat chicken wings, yummy bread and deep fried chips. Shame on them!

So, to make a long story short. I have always pictured leprechauns as conniving slippery little characters and I have now learned that they, besides protecting their pots of gold.....they also have hearts of gold. I HEART Leprechauns!!!!

Cub Cars and craziness.....

2010-03-14T07:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the Cub Car Rally for our stake. Keegan was pretty excited but he also had a fever and was not sure whether he really wanted to go or not. We went and weighed his car in and it was way too light. We glued washers to the bottom and headed to the gym for the races. Poor Keegs.....us, as "newbies" to this whole thing..didn't realize that the track had a raised part in the middle that goes in the middle of the car.....get what I'm saying? Anyways, Keegan's car was so slow....we think the absolute slowest in the whole competition but afterwards, we realized that all the glue, pellets and washers were rubbing against the raised part on the track....no wonder his was so slow. He was so brave since his car pretty much sucked at the races but I kept telling him....."Hey, your car is the only one here that is sponsored by Saturn and Jaguar.....Obviously, they think you're awesome". We put his "sponsors" vinyl stickers on the sides of his car. His car did look awesome and I guess we learned for next year. Oh well....someone has to be last right?????

Lucky Us!!

2010-03-09T10:37:00.000-08:00

This morning we woke up to a wonderfully decorated door and front porch. Some sneaky little leprechaun decorated everything so pretty and left us a note that promises some fun between now and St. Patty's Day. Needless to say, we are so excited. I love my Irish heritage and love this holiday.....it's right up there with Christmas. This little leprechaun better be sneaky though, cause I've always wanted one for a pet so we are going to try so hard to catch it.....wish us luck. Oh yeah, we don't need luck, we're Irish....we were born lucky!!