Rub a Dub Dub

Harvey kids circa 1981 or 1982

It was so fun to finally have Olivia old enough for a family tub picture.
I remember thinking how cute the one's with my brothers and sisters in it were. Unfortunately we never did get one with every body. By the time Megan was born Ky was too old to be in a group tub photo.(I think he was 9 in the last one we ever took... kinda' messed up if you ask me.)

Its official

We are now residence of Colorado. What's that you say? We have lived here 6 months already? What am I talking about? Well today we made it official by putting our new license plates on our cars ( to be fair we haven't had them that long). So you see, my point is we are slackers. We postpone. Some may call us procrastinators. Okay, I call us procrastinators.

Dave and I put things off until the last minute. This happens all the time and with just about everything. Dave puts even his school work and projects off until the last minute. Now when I did this it showed. My grades proved that I put in too little time and effort. After a few semesters of poor grades, and a lack of motivation, I decided that School was not for me. I didn't re-register and never went back. It was too much work and too much planning. Now Dave is an anomaly. He has been a procrastinator with his School work as well. The difference? He has still gotten straight A's all through College. Including his Masters and PhD. (so far at least) I don't get it, but I envy him.

In most things we balance each other out perfectly. This is not one of them, its where we falter. We are not planners... and even a little lazy.

So I apologize to the things we have put off. To the people whom we took too long to get things to or do things for. Forms and documents we sent in late, papers left on the shelf too long, DVD's and library books returned after their requested dates, projects turned in last minute and calls not returned.

It is my goal to be better about this fault. Im going to do it! I resolve to be better at these things. You'll see, just watch. Im on my way to becoming the more organized Jill, starting first thing tomorrow.

some of the things I have heard today

"Leave me alone Mom, I'm not in the mood."

"Just go away!!"

"My teacher said I could!!!! She makes the rules."(As she says the first part her voice gets higher and louder with every word.)

"Well, we'll just see about that one"

"Whatever"

"Im not even talking to you"

all of this along with the sound of stomping feet, a tongue or two sticking out, and plenty of "humph" and groans.  O' and throw in some crying when things don't go her way.

Now I have never claimed to be a Perfect parent and am sure I say things I should not. However, there are certainly things that come out of her mouth that I simply do not say. Where does she get these things? and why does she only pick up the bratty statements? How am I going to get her through the day without wanting to lock her in her room for hours? (hey, maybe I could try that) Am I the only one with a child like this?

Why does she have sooooo much attitude? And seriously, what do I do? Its getting bad. She just does not care about anything other than doing and saying what she wants. Punishment? Bring it on. She could loose all of her privileges and yet she still keeps at it. She even had an accident at Pre-School today. I was so angry. Not because of the accident but because I had to wake up a sleeping baby and haul a sick 5 year old out to bring her more clothes.

Clearly she is acting out but I don't know what to do. Nothing is working. She pushes and pushes. Demands and pouts. Have I created a monster? I blame my Dad (and several other admirer's) for giving her so much attention and constantly feeding her ego. Now that we've moved away from all of it she's trying to get it the hard way I suppose.

The sad part is that when she's got 1 on 1 time she is the same sweet, bubbly Ella who I know and love. 

Sorry Ella, you can not be an only child, any other ideas?

Guess who's 5 months old today?

This skinny little cutie pie!
(look how great her incisions look... you can hardly see them anymore)

Bjorn is here!!

We have just spent the weekend with, what we think, the best dog ever!! He is mellow, mild, sweet, a good listener and fun. His whole goal in life is to be with people and to be hugged and loved. Even Ella was trusting of him within about a hour. She is a bit timid around dogs and I was worried about her when I realized how big Bjorn is. Well, she has been great with him. Its quite amazing actually.
We are loving this new member of the Family and cant wait to get to know him even better.












I know we were going to call him "Ollie" but Bjorn (Bee-yorn) just stuck. Plus it means Bear in Norwegian and he looks just like a Polar Bear!!

My new photo blog

I am on my way...

http://www.acandidmoment.blogspot.com

I still have a little time before I am official but this is a step in the right direction.

I am open to any and all thoughts and or advice.

Ella

Im going to love you even more on the day's when you're driving me crazy!! Go ahead, keep testing me, all  you're gunna' get is more hugs and kisses.

Ollie

We may be getting a Dog! Its a certified therapy dog for Luke. Its something we have been thinking about for a while but these dogs are not readily available and we thought it may be a very long time. After we got the approval from our landlord and went ahead with the process this beauty seemed to be there waiting right away. We think he's just about the most beautiful Dog we've ever seen.
He currently is owned by a breeder in Nebraska and is working in Hospitals, Nursing homes and psych wards. He is so calm and loving. He will just lay his head on your lap for as long as you'd like him to. He has been through many classes and specialized training courses that will make him an ideal fit for our Family. And it would be amazing to have a dog that is sweet, calm and fully trained. A dream.
We have yet to make the final decision, though I think we are leaning towards doing this.
I showed Luke his picture and he lit up. He excaimed, " I want this dog!!!" before I even said a word about the possibility. He asked what his name was and I said "Oliver." He looked at me with a strange expression and said, "No Mommy. His name is Olive-he.. because he's not a girl!"
I laughed so hard.
We need to decide here in a few days so I will keep you all updated. For now here he is, the possible newest member of our family.

Happy Valentines Day

We had a great Valentines Day weekend and hope you did too! It was so nice to go on a date with Dave for the night, something we have yet to do since the arrival of Olivia over 4 months ago.

And the kids were so thrilled to have their Cousins sleepover on Friday night so that Char and Blaine could go on their date. That next day we all went out to a fun lunch together. We sure love having the Wilkins so close by, they are the best.

Happy Valentines Day!! 

My favorite Valentines!!!

Olivia enjoyed her first Valentines Day. I was so disappointed that the daring Valentine's outfit I got her was so big, the pants were falling off of her. Biggest 0-3 I have ever seen!

I snapped these of Olivia while they kids were playing. Just though she was looking so cute... happy and healthy!!! She is such a good girl, its nice to finally have an easy baby. After our run we may just be done, sorry no Brother Luke.
And by the way, we still cant get over how weird it is that she is incapable of spitting up. After her bottles we just cant help but to smile. It is soooooo nice to ditch the well- loved burp cloths.
She is 4 1/2 months old now, amazing. And weighs in at a little under 11 lbs. Still tiny but she's growing and healthy, hooray!!!! I am dying to get her big enough to jump into the next size, Im bored with her 0-3 month baby clothes. Sadly, she still has plenty of time left in them. They are starting to get a little short in the legs and arms though! The 3-6 bin of Ella's cute things are anxiously waiting. I love that her little body even makes her head look kinda' big (at least thats what I think...her head's in the 10%)
I melt. She just melts me on a daily basis. I literally have to scrape myself off of the ground at the end of each day.

Boys, Boys, Boys

Once a week a group of Luke's friends get together for a playdate. We rotate who's house its at and this week was our week. They all had such a great time and played so perfectly together. I am so thankful that Luke has such nice friends here. I hope they all get to be in the same Kindergarten class together.

I love that they all sat and watched eachother playing Leapster for a little while. Boys will be boys!

Lance (Ella's crush) Jeyksten, James and Luke

silly boys

Better watch out girls... these boys are all pretty darn cute.

Valentine's Day sugar cookies

Watch out guys!

taking it very seriously

Yes, she is in her Pajama's. And it was 2pm. We'd already been out and ready, she changed back after we got home.  She lost tokens for this but still didn't care much. She loves to wear her pajama's and would do so all day if I let her.

dont worry, after she had her way with the knife I took it away and gave her a new one.

I must admit, I know it may sound bad. May rub some of you the wrong way. But I do not like making sugar cookies with my kids. O' I still do it. But I am on the verge of hating it.

The dough takes forever to chill, its a pain to continually roll it out and cut shapes into. I dont like making and tinting the frosting, its a mess. And the decorating kills me.  I can not stand how messy the decorating is. By the time I am done there are a million dishes to do, frosting all over my kids, their clothes and the counters. Not to mention the small red sprinkles I will be cleaning up off of the floor for months.

But my kids love it, so I do it. For them. 

And they had a great time today.

Blog resurrected

If anyone is interested I have decided to bring back to life my old, personal blog.

www.jillwirthlin.blogspot.com

Loved

She reached for me to hold her this morning. Just makes me happy, this Mama's girl.