I let the kids start helping me cook dinners. They each get to choose one dinner a week they want to prepare. One week as I was asking the kids which day they wanted to make dinner and what they wanted to make it came to Jaxon’s turn.

Me: “What would you like to cook?”

Jaxon: “I don’t know, but I want it to be something really hard and you use A LOT of knives.”

And, yesterday I came downstairs to find a smelly wet rag on the living room floor. The rag had previously been in the laundry room. I know, because I put it there. One of the kids had gotten it, and had been throwing it at the others. I picked up the rag, and was getting mad and asking who got the nasty rag out and was throwing it. Berkley knew who did it.

Berkley: “It was the T-rex, Mommy.”

That T-rex is going to get it when I find him. He seems to be causing a lot of problems lately!

We went to the library yesterday, and I got a “How to Draw Bugs” book. I mostly got it for myself, since my kids always want me to draw them pictures and I’m not very good. Well, Parker saw the book and spent the next hour drawing on the chalkboard. I think he has his Dad’s talent. He drew all of the bug pictures himself. Nobody helped him at all.

Pretty impressive, don’t you think?

Parker got a slip and slide for his bday from his nice auntie. Since then the kids have been watching the weather everyday to see if it would be warm enough to use it. One day was finally a little warmer, and I gave in to their begging and got it out. I think they loved it, but it was still kind of cold, so they only lasted for a few minutes. You can see Berkley above. That is as far as he made it on the slip and slide. He didn’t really like getting wet.

Scott decided to put a chalkboard wall in our kitchen since our kids are constantly writing on the walls. It turned out really good. In the pic above, Keaton was writing on it for the first time, and below is what it looks like now. The kids have stopped drawing on the walls so much, but Berkley did draw on the chalkboard with some crayons….But for the most part it’s been really good. The kids love the chalkboard and I even like drawing on it sometimes.

So, Scott and I have been trying to read to the kids from the scriptures every night before they go to bed. I used to read a chapter to them every night, but lately they seemed to be bored and would start playing with their toys instead of listening. So, we decided we would just read a couple of verses and then discuss them with the kids. Last night Scott was reading out of the Book of Mormon in 2 Nephi, where Nephi quotes Isaiah. It was talking about men being prideful or as the scriptures say, the loftiness of men and how they will be made low and the lord alone will be exalted. So, we are discussing this, and Scott is trying to teach the kids that it’s not good to be prideful. Well, Jaxon and Parker started coming up with some ideas of what not to do:

Jaxon: “It wouldn’t be good to walk up to someone and say, ‘You’re lame.’ That would be bad.”

Jaxon sits there thinking for a while and then says, “It wouldn’t be good to walk up to someone and say, ‘You’re hideous.’

Parker: “It wouldn’t be good to walk up to someone and say, ‘You’re stupid.’ Or it wouldn’t be good to walk up to someone and punch them in the face.”

Somehow they also talked about not acting like they are cooler than everyone else either. So, then this morning this is what happened:

Keaton: “I’m cool. I’m cool.”

Jaxon: “You’re lofty. You will be cut down.”

Keaton: “I’m cool.”

Jaxon: “Nobody’s cool. I’m awesome. Nobody can be cool.”

Wow, I’m so glad they understood what we were trying to say! Of course nobody can be cool, they can only be awesome. But, then something else happened just a few minutes ago.

I found a lost DVD, and Keaton got all excited about it.

Keaton: “Wait to go mom. You did it! You found the movie! You’re awwwww……(he trailed off and didn’t finish what he was going to say)”

Me: “I’m awesome!”

Keaton: “No you’re not awesome. Jesus will cut you open.”

So, yeah, explaining the scriptures as we go is apparently working out really well!! We are such cool….errrr….awesome….errrr…..well some kind of parents.

Jaxon tried drawing this picture out of a Dr. Seuss book. I thought it looked pretty good.  I asked him what the blue letters underneath his name meant, and he said it was a mystery. I think I figured out the mystery….It’s his name, only he only wrote half of each letter. Lately Jaxon has been reading lots of Dr. Seuss books. He really enjoys them. I guess he’s a little Dr. Suess…or maybe Dr. J.

1st pic: A dragon burning down a tree. 2nd pic: underwater sea life.

If you didn’t guess, this is a rabbit, and a whale.

1st pic: (I will quote Jaxon’s words) “That’s me running away from the skunk, and the skunk is spraying his stink.”

2nd pic: A pterodactyl that is hungry and is hunting for food. There is also a balloon in the picture that has popped, hence the “pop” written by it. The picture costs $25. Any takers??

This last picture is of pirates. Maybe you can find the pirate with the sword in the back of his head. I know it’s very violent. But, Dr. J did tell me that someone threw a sword at that pirate and it went through his head. Ewwww……..

I also have lots of fun pictures drawn by Parker and Keaton that I want to put on here, but I don’t have time right now. I know you can all hardly wait. Hopefully I will get them up in the next couple of days.

So my kids keep saying really funny things. Parker found a stick and a went and got a knife and was trying to make a spear.

Me: “What are you doing?”

Parker: “I’m trying to make a spear, like how Tyler does. I can’t make the spear mom. Will you do it?” (For those of you who know my nephew Tyler, he ALWAYS has his little pocket knife, and he will spend hours wittling wood and making bows and arrows and spears and all sorts of things. Jaxon and Parker think he’s so cool that he can do all that wittling and I think they like the thought of using a knife even more).

So, I sit down and start wittling him a little unsharp spear. All the boys gather around me and watch.

Jaxon: “Mom, is that hard for a woman like you?”

Me (Laughing): “I’m not exactly sure what you mean Jaxon.”

P: “Jaxon you are going to marry a girl and she will be gorgeous!”  (It was meant to be an insult)

J: “Stop teasing me!”

A song by Jaxon:

“Five little monkeys hanging from a tree. One fell off and didn’t get hurt. Momma called the doctor and the doctor said, Do it again!”

Keaton talking to Scott:

“I want to get big and be a big kid, just like you Daddy!”  —–ha ha…see he knows Scott is really just a really big kid.

I have been reading more about uveitis and the problems that can occur.  Here are some websites you can read if you want to learn more.

Uveitis Web

Web MD info

I haven’t completely understood all the things that come along with the disease, but this is the 3rd time that Parker has had his eyes flare in the last year or so, so I have been trying to find out more about it.  I thought we had taken care of it the other two times before, so I wasn’t extremely worried about it, but it just keeps coming back.  Parker’s cell count in his eyes is a 3+, which I found out is a “severe” case of the disease.  It can cause cataracts, glaucoma, and even cause you to go blind, so it’s not something to take lightly.  He’s doing really good with his eye drops.  He’s been a brave little super hero.  We are going to go see the uveitis specialist next month so that will be good.  I also found a blog about another little boy who is dealing with a lot of the same stuff Parker has gone through.  That blog explains a lot about JRA and uveitis.  If you are interested in finding out more about all of it, you can get on their blog.  It’s listed under “JRA Blogs” on the right hand side of this web page, and you just have to click on “Jacob.”  His mom has a lot of good info on there.

Well, anyways, since uveitis is all I can think about right now, I decided to post a couple links and let anyone else who is interested read more about it.  We go see his regular eye doc again next week.  I’m crossing my fingers and hoping it’s getting better.  Other than all of that, we are all doing really good.  Our house is as lively as ever, and full of smiling little boys (most of the time).  For now, I am going to go watch a movie.