My Wi-fi went kaput.  And my blog suffered. 

Whenever I haven't blogged in awhile I never know where to start.  It reminds me of all like 15 diary entries I have as a kid in random journals that always start "Dear Diary, I'm sorry I haven't written in so long!!!..."...moral of the story, as a kid I totally over used exclamation points...now it's periods and comas...

Um let me think....

Oh!  Addy is saying like 10 times more words than the last time I posted.  I'm so excited, but it leaves me in a bit of a quandary, I'm not sure what to make her for Halloween anymore...I had been leaning towards a mime...

Her few choice answers to any and all questions I ask her..."ah know? (with upturned hands)"  "Aub did"  here are a few examples...

Who colored on your face?  Aub did.

Where did you get that candy?  Aub did.

Why did you color on my table?  Aub did.

Where are your shoes?  ah know?

Where did you put my make-up? ah know?

She says shoes, purse, bye bye, wadoo(water), bah-bowl (apple), and tons of other words, but still calls Colton 'Uh'...hopeless...

So much has happened lately.  And I can't remember what I blogged about and what I didn't.  Maybe I should just make a random list...reading won't feel that much different than talking to me since I am by nature, a total topic whore...

*some really sad things have happened lately.  When I hear bad news, like Lisa's baby niece Jocelyn passing away in her sleep I picture myself running across a battlefield.  And some how I keep bobbing and weaving and just missing the bullet.  Some bullets are closer than others, maybe a knick here and there...but otherwise I go unscathed.  For the most part, my heart just breaks for others...but a part of me starts to panic, because I know there is no way to get across the endless field without taking some major hits of my own...sometimes it just feels like a waiting game...

*Mallary came over a few nights in a row and I think my kids were a bit spoiled by her company, because the other day when I was going out shopping with my sisters she wanted to go to my moms house, then Amy's, and when I shot down her ideas she said "Well then where's Mallary?"  Apparently staying home with her dad was not a viable option for her..

*I think I need to invest in a giant stash of ear plugs.  Aubrey's voice has been like a microphone on steroids lately.  It's like when Addy and I are at home, we live in a china shop, and then this little in stature, but huge in impact bull comes crashing through our home.  Seriously, there are no words...wait there are and I use them constantly..."Aubrey.  We are all right here.  You don't need to shout."

*It has been at least 2 weeks since I have yelled at my kids.  In Landoni time, that's like forever.  In the last few days I have raised my voice a few times, but caught myself and restrained.  I just keep repeating the words that Amy told me "kindness matters".  I read an article once by a leader of my church that said 'the Spirit cannot be present when there is yelling in the home'  I am a mother of practicality, if Kent and I tried to raise our kids without any help, we would surely fail.

*We had our first official Family Home Evening....with a prayer, a song, a prepared lesson, snack, the whole kit and kaboodle.  I know I am about 8 years late, but whatevs.  I did a pretty dang good job if I do say so myself. 

*Last Sunday, we had 17 kids from 18 months to 3 years old in the Nursery.  It was insanity.  It's still giving me the shakes when I think about it...

*I feel like I keep cleaning, and there is still so much to do and all my efforts are for not...but I am adapting Amy's new rule.  If the mom is cleaning, it's optional for the kids to help with the busy work, but if they choose not to join in, they can go in their rooms.  No watching tv while I zip around doing all of the chores.  When I implemented this new rule today Colton totally scoffed at me, but in the end he cleaned.  And Aubrey did what she has been doing a lot lately.  If Colton is being difficult helping out, she goes above and beyond the call.  She does more than I would even ask her to do...love that kid...and how quickly she has learned to play the game...

*Colton has taken to mooning me.  Like all the time.  He stayed home from school Monday, and I wanted to kill myself by 10.  He bugs Aubrey, winds up Addy, and sasses me all in the name of "just joking"  I didn't realize how much easier life had gotten not having Aubrey and Colton home at the same time for too long...

*Colton is becoming a bit of a math wizard.  He is starting to grasp a little pre-algebra.  He is constantly giving me equations like x+2=5....the best was the first time he did it, he had written out y+3=28.  I was about to explain something about it to him when he said, 'so mom, y is 25 right?'  I about fell over.  A minute before he had just told me his friend Tyler from school had told him some math had letters in it, like x and y.  Come to find out, he thought y equaled 25 because it was the 25th letter in the alphabet.  Pretty freakin cute.  Anyway, it didn't take long for me to explain how it worked, and he was writing up more equations...Good Will Hunting moment...

*the other day Amy, Lisa, and I took my grandma to the egg farm and out for ice cream at Baskin and Robbins.  It was so fun.  We dropped my grandma at home and spent the whole day and into the night together.  I keep thinking about it, I had so much fun.  I have had a lot of fun lately.  I really have been working on having a positive attitude, and I can actually see a difference in myself.  Except the last few days...but I totally chalk that up to hormones...

*I bought my kids little white boards for a dollar at Office Depot, and I cannot believe how much they have all played with them.

*I have really enjoyed talking to my sister about spiritual stuff lately.  She never makes me feel stupid, and always seems to get what I'm saying.  And when she doesn't we will talk it in circles until we come to a conclusion.  It makes me feel good.  Kinda cheesey,  whatevs...

I could go on, but I have rambled long enough.  There is so much text here, I don't know if anyone will make it to the end....

Picture....

Since I posted Colton's, I thought it only fair to post Aubrey's....

Through clenched teeth:  Like this?  You mean move my lips like this?  does this look natural?  am I smiling now?  how about now?....

I have quite a few thoughts to write about, but I cant seem to find the energy or the time tonight.  But I was afraid if I didn't write this now I would forget it...

A few minutes ago I was getting some cereal for me and the girls, and Colton came and sat down waiting to be served.  I told him I would pour him some Fruit loops because that's what I had out, and if he wanted something different he would need to get it himself.   He got up and walked over to the pantry, and as he went he said...

"you're my mom, it's your job to make my life easier."

I laughed...

He said "well it is!"

A few high lights of my evening, before I fall asleep at the keyboard...

A not so good one-  Me not noticing Addy crawling out of the shopping cart until she was racing down the aisle..in my defense, it was one of those stupid ginormica carts with the car thing in front and every where we went it rattled so hard and so loud I couldn't feel my arms or hear anything...I even had to strain to hear Aubs, and if you have been around her lately, you know just how loud that cart must have been...

The phrase I used most- "Aubrey, we are all right here.  Talk at a normal volume"

The phrase Colton used most- "Oh my gosh!  I hate this game!  Mom is the worst shuffler!"  All said with a smile on his face as he took turn after turn after turn while we played Sorry...the best part was when he had already not played in so long and then I pulled a 1, he didn't then Mallary got a 1 or a 2, and then Aubs got a Sorry card.  We seriously went through a whole deck of cards, and he didn't get to play once...

We laughed the hardest- when it was actually semi-quiet, and then Addy blew a huge raspberry on my back.  We all busted up laughing...

Favorite quote- Colton said this to me as he bumped my game piece back home "Sorry mom, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do..."

I had a great time, we laughed a lot, and now I am exhausted...

Picture....

typical Jason...I might never be the same....stuff like this is always the best when you go scrolling through all the pictures you snapped that day...then boom! some crack pops up and Lisa and I start giggling like school girls...

I totally went to bed last night, and realized I completely forgot to blog. And I totally had stuff to blog about...

Like how Kent and I took the kids to the McDonalds play land for dinner while we had the oil changed in the Sequoia.  And they ran around and played like crazy, and Addy refused to leave. Then after dinner we headed straight to Carmike to watch Dolphin Tale...I love stimulus Tuesday.  It was a cute movie, basically the animal version of Soul Surfer...and in case we weren't the raddest parents already, after we pit stopped at Hobby Lobby, we stopped to get ice cream cones from Zips...we pretty much rock the house...

So, addy totally says max and apple and match now. Just in the last few days she has been trying
to say a lot more...too bad she still says nothing for Colton...and she is still so far behind...

Tonight I had to google, " how to get gum off my iPad screen". While I appreciated Colton's honestly, about putting his fingers in his mouth and playing with his gum and then touching my iPad screen, it pretty much used up all the patience I had left for the day....like scraping the side of the bowl clean kind of patience...but I did not yell, so kudos to me.

I have noticed lately when Aubrey comes home from school, she has been reaching a whole new level of loudness and talkative-ness. I am coming to the conclusion, that she isn't talking much at school, so she comes home and spews all her pent up thoughts and sound. Seriously, the sheer volume of it would make a grown man cry...

Picture...

Nothing says retakes like....

He swears this is his normal smile, the only way he can smile I think he said...

I am officially living proof that it pays to eat out.  After only 2 visits to McDonalds since Monopoly has been back, we won a $100!  Yeah baby!  So, in 8-10 weeks we should be receiving our cash....when Kent told me how long it would take to get it, I just started laughing...but I am still in shock that we actually won $100, crazy...

Addy said 2 new words today!  After the kids got home from school, I told them if they did a good job cleaning their rooms, I would take them to the gas station to pick out a treat.  After the ever lasting, painful experience of helping Aubrey complete her task, we were ready to go...I told Addy, 'come on, lets go get some candy at the store!'  and she said....wait for it...wait for it...."Wait Mom!"  Jaw dropping information this is!  I just sounded like Yoda...She wanted to grab her Jessie doll off the counter, and so she said "Wait Mom!"  There is hope for my little mute yet...then later when we were eating dinner, our hundred dollar dinner, Kent walked outside...and she said "mom, dad go?" It sounded a bit more like 'doh' but still, leaps and bounds for this little child of mine....

I rearranged almost every room in my house today.  I moved one thing from one room, and then another to the next, and so on, and so on...Kent and Aubrey hate it all, I love most of it and see potential in other places...now if I could just find my giant, stuffed with money wallet I seem to have misplaced....

Picture....

Notice how she has this huge piece of paper, and she decides it would be more fun to paint on the white board instead?  I can't believe how many spots on my wall are colored on that I unearthed today as I moved my furniture around...whenever I point to a spot she colored and ask her what happened, she gives me the same answer every time..."Aub"

'So last week I mentioned how uplifted and resolved to be a better me I felt after watching General Conference.  I have been diligently trying to look a the brighter side and try a little harder.  I have been successful in some aspects, and at the same time, I have completely bombed in others.  But the point is, I'm trying.

Like today for example, I woke up with a headache, my throat was sore, Kent was working...I could have stayed in bed all day.  But I knew I didn't want to miss being in Nursery, not when just the week before I had decided I was going to put more effort in my callings...we made it to church, and I felt good just knowing that I had won my personal struggle with church attendance.  Here comes the important part of my story...almost all of the kids in our class are more drawn to Alicia, but there is one little rascal in there, that finds comfort with me.  I have dark hair just like his mom, and I'm pretty sure that's why he is drawn to me, a fact that I would say was confirmed when he called me mom in class today...anyway, the real point is, once his mom left, he came right over to me, and I kid you not, I think he had one of his best days in Nursery yet.  I left church feeling tired, but blessed.  I felt like it was a tender mercy, an answer to a prayer.  I mattered.  It mattered that I was there.  I am grateful for a Heavenly Father who knows and loves me.

As thankful as I was for this experience today, I recognize that not all of my 'look on the bright side' struggles revolve around church related things.  It's hard to be all shiny and new about everyday things, to see the silver lining in the day to day.  So this is another example of me over coming my old negative, glass half empty kind of self.

Last night I came home from Danielle's baby shower, where I had received many a compliment on my appearance...so I came home and told Kent 'so, a lot of people told me I looked cute today...', totally spoon feeding him an opportunity to pay me a compliment, and he just said, 'yeah'.  The me I was last week would have been all hurt and down trodden, but the new me tried to look past it.....a few days ago, he came home from work and told me how good the pie was I had made him, he took the time to tell me how much a few of the guys at worked loved it too...so here is my calculation, my silver lining so to speak...Maybe he doesn't shower me with superficial compliments, but age and beauty fade...when I am old, and ugly, and fat, I will still be able to make a killer strawberry rhubarb pie...now that I said that, I'll probably have some tragic accident and have both my hands chopped off...and I don't see myself as the kind of person that would learn to make one with my feet...


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I am thankful for her prayers....Denice, I thought you'd like to know tonight she said "please bless grandma 'nice and grandpa that they will get home safely..."  She looks so silly climbing the gigantic sand dune in her bathrobe...

  

*yesterday after school Aubs said to me ' can we pleeease call Amy and go to her house, she always has the best activities"

*Mallary made the most delicious pumpkin cupcakes ever.  Ever.  Even Kent said how good they were like 3 times as he ate one...

*Clothes shopping is poo.

*I volunteered in Aubrey's class for the first time yesterday...I still can't stop thinking about how cute she looked sitting at her table raising her hand...she just seemed so grown up, but at the same time, she seems  so little, like I could just slip her in my back pocket...but I don't think her ginormous voice would fit inside...she told me there is a boy in her class that won't say the Pledge of Allegiance, so he misses his recess...she said he always gets in trouble...

*tonight when I was headed to the mall, Colton and Aubrey were both disappointed they couldn't go...I can't decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing...

*I keep thinking about how I want to buy a Charlie Brown-Like Christmas tree this year, because it's supposed to look a little ugs, no pressure for perfection...and plus, with a tree like that I won't have to wait for my mom to come over and decorate it for me...

*Addy keeps falling out of bed...she keeps saying "huh?" in the cutest little voice when I say something to her...and then she usually answers me with "no, mom!"  Cutest thing ever...

*I swear, it was just Friday like 5 minutes ago...the weeks are flying by, seriously...

I can' think straight anymore...my head is getting fuzzy...

Picture....

of all the things I saw out shopping today, I want these the most...

So today I volunteered in Colton's classroom for the first time this year.  The first thing the teacher told me was, her class is known for being the worse class behaviorally, just a warning she said.  Then she said she has like 12 kids that have serious problems.  Sah-weet...but again, for the second year in a row, Colton isn't one of the problems in the Misfit Classroom...I love how they tell you that like it's some sort of consolation prize.   Do they want me to do cartwheels?  Shout out how grateful I am that he will have another year in school with disruptive rodents that continue to make the class lose out as a whole?  Ugh...

Today when I was getting in the shower, I noticed my conditioner bottle was knocked over.  When I picked it up, I thought to myself, 'why does this feel so light?  Why does my almost brand new bottle of $15 conditioner feel like it's over half gone?  When Kent doesn't even have any hair?'  Later tonight when Colton was in the shower, he said 'hey mom, what's this stuff in the blue bottle?'  When I looked in to see what he was talking about, I could see there was conditioner all over the 2 bottle right next to it.  Kill me now.  I didn't want to ask...'have you been just squirting it out?' he answered with a sheepish expression, and a nod yes.  Holy crap, he  has been wasting my salon brand conditioner?!  Are you kidding me right now?  The heavens opened, and I maintained a tame demeanor, as I explained to him what it was, and if he ever wasted it again I would waste his face off....so I left out the part about the face...but, oh my gosh I can't believe he has just been wasting it over and over...

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When I came home from volunteering, this is what I saw as soon as I walked through the door...

Apparently Addy didn't want anything to do with Kent once she realized I was gone.  I think this might have been her version of a sit in, in protest of being left...I totally stared at her for a second to make sure she was breathing...

Did anyone else cry watching Parenthood tonight when Alex was talking to Christina Braverman about how much he loved their family?  cause I totally did...

Did anyone else totally laugh out loud like 5 different times while watching New Girl?  Cause I totally did that too...

So a few months ago I fell off the exercise wagon with a pretty big thud.  But much to my surprise, as I continued to count calories, the number on the scale kept getting a little bit smaller.  I was overjoyed.  The honeymoon period is so over.  I slowly began falling into old habits...nothing as extreme as my 2 cheeseburger meal large sized, but counting anything has fallen to the wayside.  Slowly, the chunk monster caught back up to me.  Damn him.  Now I am back to feeling like putting my clothes on, is a lot like trying to scoop jell-o with too small a spoon.   Emphasis on the J-E-L-L-O.  Cue depression like feelings, and the desire to cover all mirrors that extend past my neck.
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Today I was grumpy for no apparent reason.  I hate when that happens.  I hate when I am fully aware that I am particularly crotchety, and I can't seem to do anything about it.  By this afternoon it got worse...then I leveled out to a normal state, but it didn't seem like I could stay that way for long, I was up and down all day...

After school Aubrey came across a pumpkin cookie cutter, and for the first time it what has seemed like days, she actually asked for something in a nice voice.  "please can we make cookies?"  I agreed.  Weird right?  Since all I wanted to do was crawl in bed and threaten life destruction if I was disturbed.  About half way through the cookie making, while I was trying to make dinner at the same time, I realized Aubrey and Addy were covered in powdered sugar up to their elbows.  It coated the counter, the chairs, their faces, and the floor.  I just made them get straight in the bath and cleaned up in bitter silence.

Then a little bit later it was time to decorate.  I made up 3 bowls of frosting with hidden food coloring and they each got to choose a bowl to stir up and see what color it would be....

Colton had 'black', Aubs got orange, and Addy had purple...they were pretty excited to see what color it would be, and it was funny listening to them guess what Halloween colors I would pick to give them...

We gave up on the butter knife thing pretty quickly and decided it was much better to pile on the frosting squeezing a ziplock baggy.  When Aubrey realized she could outline the cookie like Colton and I did, her face was all aglow...but, by the time she was finished, there was no out line in sight...

Addy enjoyed doing this...

and this...

and more of that...

but not before finishing this....

By the time the cookies were decorated, there were sprinkles and frosting everywhere the powdered sugar had been.  And since I had made Kent a pie earlier in the day, it was like my gagillionth time cleaning the kitchen.

Not to bad an evening for an Oscar the Grouch mother...

Aubrey doesn't want to eat the cookies because she wants to save them for Halloween and Christmas...which just means me and my jell=o self will probably eat the whole plate...

General Conference was awesome this weekend.  Listening to the Prophet and the Apostles speak always leaves me feeling edified and renewed.

Fried chicken for dinner at Denice's left me feeling beyond stuffed.  She makes gravy like nobodies business.  She told us the other night she is going to be out of town for the next two months, it just seems so crazy every time I think about it.  She will be missed...

Aubrey stayed at Denice's last night, and Colton stayed at my moms.  A break is always nice, but having all my little turkeys back at home makes me feel at ease.  Kinda like when you exhale, and you didn't even realize you were holding your breath...

Today Addy colored all over the window, map, fridge, and counter with a fabric marker.  I was holding my breath concerning her for completely different reasons...Later, when she was watching Toy Story 2, she seriously acted out certain parts and quoted the movie to the best of her ability...it cracked me up...

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Oh, the irony...