What do cupcakes, Lysol, and stamps have in common?

I know we all have those days where you think everything is fine, but then you take a second look and notice that it's not quite what you thought. Keeping up with my kids is sometimes a challenge for me. Sometimes I hear the "quiet" and panic and run around looking for them to see what they are doing. Sometimes they are just reading or looking at a book quietly in the corner of a room. Sometimes...not.

Brayden asked me if I would make cupcakes last night. I thought it was a good idea since we hadn't had any sweets since oh...noon! (it was really more like 4 days). I start baking away and when I finish, I notice that it's one of those "quiet" moments. Hoping that it's one of those innocent moments. ring, ring, ring,"Rob do we have a college fund for Brayden and Madi?...No why?...Cause if we did, we need to use their money to pay for a maid to help me clean up their messes. Once they stop making messes, then we will start saving for their future." In the short amount of time that I was baking those darn cupcakes I found post-it notes all over the floor, a roll of stamps adhered to the tile under the table, crushed up crackers in the carpet, a string of toilet paper hanging out of the toilet and then leading the way to one of the culprit's room, a little girl with rather stiff hair, and a little boy that smells like Lysol spray.

"Brayden, (aka: Mr. Whatdidido) why do you smell like Lysol spray?" "I didn't put it on my armpits!" Oh yes he did! I asked him why he would do that and he said he wanted to put on the stuff daddy uses. I guess I need to have a talk with Rob and let him know that Lysol is for sanitizing not for perspiring. Minimally to at least let him know that he shouldn't use aerosol spray..cuz it's bad for the environment.

Brayden, why does Madi(aka: Miss Whomeimjustababy) have such stiff hair? "She wanted spikeys like Daddy!" (Umm am I the only one that's noticed that Rob's is a little lacking in that department?)

My kids are up, so I better go watch them and their "quiet" moments.

P.S. I have such a caring family. My uncle Tom noticed that I had no tread on my tires. Tom, I got new tires, new brakes, I even got them aligned! Thanks for caring about us!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

LA Examiner-Holidays

Some of you might be wondering what that blue button is on the left. Well, this week I accepted a job as an examiner for and online newspaper. It's called Examiner.com and I write for Los Angeles about different holidays. It's pretty fun but somewhat time consuming...mainly just because I'm still trying to get used to their publishing program and trying to find pictures to use legally. I'm sure it will get easier the more I write. So far we've celebrated National High Five Day and Cheese Ball Day. So check it out and tell your friends...who doesn't need something to celebrate every once in a while.

Vacation for Everyone!

Okay, cleaned up the spill and am ready to vent. Why is it that 99% of the time when I have to wake up the kids for school they take their sweet time and dill dally?It usually ends up with me yelling at them to hussle. We all end up in a mood for the day. Then the teacher says, "Have a great vacation!", and we all say yeah! They are thinking: non-stop cartoon watching, endless time to play video games, lots of time outside, and no homework. I'm thinking: don't have to wake them up "early", don't have to drive 8 times back and forth to school, don't have to go to the endless activities we signed up for, and no homework. Yeah for VACATION! Why in the heck do they think it's okay to voluntarily get up before 7a.m. and make breakfast in bed for themselves, and worse wake me up before I have to (when Madi gets up)? They are up, dressed, and fed before 7a.m., and all without my help. Why do they toy with me? I think I might just drop them off at school and see what happens, after all it's my vacation too, right?
Does anyone have velcro in large quantities? So, I go to clean up their breakfast making efforts and Brayden takes some child size scissors out of the drawer. He comes up to me and says, "Madi needed a haircut". Busy cleaning and not really paying that much attention (maybe due to the lack of sleep),I said that I know her hair is kind of fluffy and resembles a seeded dandelion, but that it will grow. Then I play back what he said in my mind, NEEDED a haircut. Holy cow! He gave her a trim. At least he told me right? I just found a little clump of hair. It could've been alot worse. So it is 8:50 a.m. and only 8 more days of vacation left...help me...please....anyone there?!

Our March Madness!

Oh my gosh! I completely missed blogging in March! Where to start!? I have some cute pictures to share, but can't figure out how to get them off the camera (new camera). We have been relatively well. No one has been sick...knock on wood. Logan and Kalyn participated in Jump Rope for Heart for school and had a good time. They are both doing really well in school. Brayden and Madisen keep us busy. Brayden loves to make us laugh, and Madi has migrated to become queen destroyer of things...speaking of I must hurry with this (she spilled a thing of juice and is now playng with the phone). I had gall bladder surgery...doing well...Heavenly Father thought I should be back to normal 5 days after, with a dead frog incident(blech) and an overflowed toilet. Oh we also, made an ER trip this month and I was diagnosed with sleep apnea. Gotta go, but at least I've blogged!

Sock Hop

Kalyn and Rob going to the Father/Daughter "Sock Hop" at her school.

What have we been up to?

Make a Smilebox slideshow

The Storm Is Finally Passing

Part two of the Ford saga.

We took the Ford in and they kept it for two days and put 30 miles on it but couldn't find the problem. They told me to call them when it happened again and they would send a mechanic to where I was and try to diagnose it. The next day....(The kids think the car is mad at me and doesn't like me anymore)I go to get a prescription filled and the car wouldn't let me drive it AGAIN! I call the mechanics and sure enough they came! Get this, they drove me and my kids home and took my car to the shop. We thought that was so nice of them. They found the problem and $700 later it was "fixed". So far so good. Nothing major since then, just a flat tire and we are starting a round of the flu, but that is minor. I think the "storm" is passing. Compared to everyone else's problems it was more like a large "black cloud". It was a very expensive "cloud", but at least it's leaving. Tired of dancing.
We got to go to the temple yesterday and it was so nice. Of course it has been a while since we went (like 2 years) so we got lost, but eventually found it (L.A. traffic!). Life is good and I am ready to dance again, but only if I need too.

The Freakin' Ford and the Daring/Darling Duo!

I am learning how to "dance in the rain". This blog entry is my attempt at dancing. (See quote on left.)

We have been having some problems with our Ford lately. At first we thought it was the battery, so we got it replaced under warranty. Then it still wasn't working well. Then we thought it was the alternator. We had it tested and Auto Zone said it was bad. We went to Ford (it's under warranty) and they said the alternator was fine and that it was some overloaded wiring, blah, blah, blah. We paid our $90 and Rob asked them to pinpoint the problem and he would look at it. He played around with some fuses and it started working again. I thought it would be a good time to go to Cost-co and get the "4 things" I thought we so desperately needed. Those 4 things always cost alot. I came out to the car and started it and it wouldn't keep running, so I couldn't drive it to go home. I called Rob and asked him to come and rescue me. During normal years, January would be "cold", but it was 70 degrees that day! So to keep the things that I bought from Cost-co somewhat frozen I had to keep the car on in park and rev the engine so my ac would work and my stuff wouldn't melt. Rob rescued me (he somehow figured out how to keep it going during the stoplights) and I took the things home and put them in the freezer.

As the kids were getting resettled.. I heard a flushing sound and then a..... MOOOMMMM!!!!' Now normally I wouldn't rush, but the tone in the voice was one of panic. I came in to see the "Daring Duo" staring up at me with their big blue eyes and lovely toilet water filling around their toes. Let me introduce you to them:


Mr. "Whatdidido"


Miss "Whomei'mjustababy"

Cute aren't they?

Now back to the story. You know the flushing sound. I asked ever so calmly, of course,"Oh sweet, little, and darling children of mine...what happend?" Mr. Whatdidido said, "Miss Whomei'mjustababy put a pencil in the toilet and I flushed it." As I ever-so-swiftly turned the toilet water off I asked, "Now, Mr. Whatdidido, haven't we learned our lesson from the box of band-aids and the bar of soap...that nothing goes in the toilet except #1, #2, and toilet paper?" Silence. "Oh sweet husband of mine can you fix our toilet with your newly discovered talent?" "Sure Sugar lips." So he went out to his ever-so-organized garage and grabbed one of our wax rings (since we buy them by the case now) and an auger. He starts working on it, when to our surprise only half of it comes out....the auger that is. "Sugar lips you better find a toilet that you want me to go and buy". So I scurry off to research on the computer the toilets with the biggest pipes plug thingys and the biggest "bulk removal" holes. My sweet husband came back with a toilet and a logo on it that claims that it can flush a "bucket of golf balls". "That should do it!", he says. A 10 cent pencil cost us $300.

Now to get our sweet, little, and darling children to bed, when what do we see? A big and beautiful, mural drawn by Mr. Whatdidido. It was all over the wall and the windowsill. I just have to say, I LOVE THE MAGIC ERASER! As I was nearing completion of clean-up duty, I hear a crash. Miss Whomei'mjustababy comes running in with front of our stereo. "Oh sweet husband of mine will you please remove the stereo that we NEVER use, to your ever-so-organized garage?" "Sure sugar lips."

The next day we went to church, since our Ford was on the fritz, a friend of ours took some of our kids, so that we could all fit into our FIT! The rest of the day we relaxed, and I went to a meeting. After I got back I said, "Oh sweet husband of mine, let's go take the Ford to the dealership tonight so we won't have to wake the kids up so early in the morning". "Sure Sugar lips." So our friend came over to watch our kids and we went on our merry way. We get parked and Rob gets out to fill out the envelope to leave our key, when a man rushes out of the building and runs straight over to me. After hearing a loud, buzzing sound, He says, "Do you work here?" (after I realize he wasn't coming to me to rob me and he was Ford's cleaning crew, I answered)"No." "Does he work here? (pointing to Rob)" "No, we are just dropping off our car". "The smoke alarm is going off and I don't know the code...do you know the phone number to the fire department?" " No, but I'm sure there is a phone book in the building" (I know I'm so helpful). Just then we are surrounded by 5 fire trucks of all shapes and sizes, 1 police car, and 1 helicopter. They all look at me and I point to the man (cleaning crew)."Oh SWEET HUSBAND of mine, we need to go! Maybe we should move our car." "Too late Sugar lips the key is already in the box". "Ohh...PLEASE don't let my ever-so-reliable Ford burn to ashes!" As soon as Rob got in the car, we sped off. (We didn't want to be involved with this incident when it wasn't necessary, of course.)

Our car still isn't fixed. I used it everyday this week to drop off and pick up my sweet, little, and darling kids from school. It strangely worked long enough until the last kid was home and then it would putter into our driveway and die for the rest of the day. It did this for 3 days until yesterday. I had one measly little errand to run and as we got in it to come home it died in the middle of the parking lot. Without the engine working, the power steering doesn't work so I asked Logan to put his foot on the gas (while in neutral) and steer the car to a parking spot while I pushed. He couldn't reach the pedals. Heavenly Father loved me so much and saw how frustrated I was, so I tried again and it worked just long enough to get it into a parking spot. I called Rob, "Oh sweet husband of mine YOUR car died again and I'm stuck in a PARKING LOT! Please come rescue us again". "Sure Sugar lips."

Part 2 of this saga to be continued....

The Stewart Annual Christmas Pagent

Every year Grandma and Grandpa Stewart have a Chirstmas Pagent at their home. This year there was 47 family members that came. Lots of little ones and lots of chaos. I laughed as I caught one of my sister-in-laws taking a big breath before she went in. I told her that in a few more years she would be used to it. This is Brayden as a shepherd. What a goof!

These are the shepards, Brayden is in the red and white stiped robe. We get everything from the traditional lambs and staffs as props and and sometimes dart guns. Logan is in the background with one of his cousins (Jason). He is a wise "guy" with his "gold". The other two cousins are Skylar and J.J.

Logan is a wise"guy".

This is Kalyn and Madisen as angels. What cute smiles. Bayley is the other angel (cousin).

Kalyn's School Performance

Kalyn had a performance at school with her Kindergarten class. She knew every word and did a great job. This is a picture of the kids after the performance. Ally was able to come too.

Kalyn showing me the ornament she made for us.

This was the group of Kindergarteners (120 in all).

Thank goodness Kalyn was in front.

This little random picture is of Madi and Bray enjoying juice and a pop tart one morning.

Christmas Performance with Tavaci

Logan and Kalyn at their Christmas performance. They did a wonderful job and we are very proud of them. They also did a little skit that I can't figure out how to put on here and Logan did a little solo, of course I forgot to record it. They were so happy that some family and friends were able to come and watch them. They sang lots of songs and we all had a good time.

Visit to Santa

This was at our ward Christmas party. Madisen was a little mad about Santa holding her and Brayden just wanted the candy canes you get from him. Logan and Kalyn were excited though.

Dang It!

My cousin put a story of her son on her blog concerning the elections, and that reminded me of something my son said. Most of you probably know that Prop 8 was a big thing here in California...still is. For a few months I was able to help with the various phases of polling and informing people of what prop. 8 was about. He would see the sign out front on our yard and would make sure and point out every "Yes on 8 sign". He would always tell me "8" would win in the election. I asked him if he knew what prop. 8 was, and he told me that it was to protect traditional marriage (it said that on the sign). I told him he was right. I didn't need to go into anymore detail, so I didn't. He comes up to me late on election night and tells me to wake him up and tell him who had won the presidency. I told him and he said, "Dang it! Grrr..Now we will have to pay higher taxes! Dang it, dang it dang it!" The funny thing is that we haven't talked with him about the president at all, it must be all the Glenn Beck that Rob watches. He was very aware of the elections this year.
Kalyn said a funny thing the other day. Earlier this year she got her ears pierced. She asked me if boys could get their ears pierced too. I said that some boys do, but it really should be for girls only. As I was dropping off my son at school one morning, a little boy opened the door for Logan (we have a valet program) and he had big, bright diamond earrings in his ears. She asked me, "Mom was that a boy or a girl?" I said, "A boy. Why?" "Why does he have earrings?" I told her that maybe he didn't know he was a boy, or that maybe he thought it was cool. She replied, "or maybe he just likes the bling bling".

Bakersfield Pageant Performance

Logan and Kalyn getting ready for their Tavaci performance at the Bakersfield Pageant. I took some video of their performances, but I have to figure out how to put it in this blog.