little did we know...

today i went by a friends house to drop off pictures and ended up staying a while and letting the kids play in the back yard. my boys had a wonderful time. whenever you have toddlers together you always get a little rough-housing (usually instigated by mine=) however i enjoy letting my friends little boy and my boys play together because for the most part they do really well. anyways the boys were playing for a while and then mandy decided to break out the wild octopus! it was wild! little did we know that the thing would start fling water everywhere and two of the three boys would cry because it caught them off guard. anyways after we tamed the octopus the kids had a blast. anyways here are a few pictures from the day. man... i love summer!

this is the wild octopus!! curls could not keep his hands off it before we got it set up. he kept calling it his "copter"

curls with the hose is never good. sargento and i learned that the hard way last year!



i love this picture because you can tell rewind is having fun and you can just barley see it, but the I man has a big smile on his face too.

and at the end of it all.. they got treats too. a very unexpected but sweet surprise!

Thanks Williams for a great afternoon!

(Sorry about the tantrum at the end, Curls said Isaacs name the whole way home)

as always if you want to see more pictures from the day you can click here!

ok you have to read this and tell me what you think~

Teens May Have Made Pact to Get Pregnant

you can listen to the interview here!
All Things Considered, June 20, 2008 · At a high school in Gloucester, Mass., at least 17 teenage girls are pregnant — more than quadruple the school's pregnancy rate from the same time last year.
But what has stunned people in this largely Catholic town is that it seems as though these teenagers created a pact and were trying to get pregnant so that they could raise their babies together.
Kathleen Kingsbury, a reporter for Time magazine, helped bring national attention to this story with her article "Pregnancy Boom at Gloucester High." She conducted interviews with the girls in the pact, the friends and the principal at the school, among others, after it came to light.
Kingsbury tells NPR's Michele Norris that Principal Joseph Sullivan made it clear that most of the girls were lonely, and they didn't have strong families behind them. Most of the girls were sophomores.
"I have a feeling that these girls weren't part of the cheerleading squad; they were more loners," Kingsbury says. "As to where the idea of the pact came from, that's still unclear."
The school first noticed the trend because a large number of girls were going to the school clinic to have pregnancy tests. When they found out they were pregnant, they celebrated. One yelled out "sweet!" says Kingsbury.
When Sullivan investigated, six or seven of the girls admitted that they were trying to get pregnant. The trend has baffled the principal and other adults in Gloucester, Kingsbury says.
What is clear, says Kingsbury, is that the girls didn't have restrictions in their lives. And they live in a town that has been hit hard by the loss of its fishing industry.
"So these are girls who didn't have a strong life plan, and they decided, essentially, to make their own life plan and take control of the situation," Kingsbury says. "They decided if they needed an identity, being a mother would be their identity."
Another interesting fact is that the girls did not have a strong background in sexual education, which ends freshman year, Kingsbury says — the girls she spoke to had little knowledge of condoms and contraceptives.
"One girl I spoke with said she and her boyfriend used a condom every few times, but they didn't really know why they were doing it," Kingsbury says. "And sometimes they just forgot, and sometimes they just didn't think it was important."
In May, school nurse Kim Daly and the director of the student health clinic, Brian Orr, resigned in protest after the school rejected their proposal to distribute contraceptives regardless of parental permission, according to Kingsbury.
As for the fathers of the babies, Kingsbury says many of them were older than the girls. One was a 24-year-old homeless man who was living in a local shelter; the girls apparently recruited him. Authorities are trying to determine whether to press statutory rape charges against the fathers, according to Kingsbury.
Kingsbury says that town residents are baffled.
"I think they're ashamed that this is what has brought attention to the town," she says.

ok first off this is sad. it kind of makes me sick to my stomach. if you listen to the interview.. i don't know. i have no clue what i would do if my boys were a part of something like this. why would you want to participate in a pact like this? being a mom is hard enough when you are married with a dad. i know sometimes things happen, but this is intentional--deliberate. what would make these girls think that this was a good idea.

as always i would love to hear your feedback!

tonight they played

tonight our kids got a chance to play with aunt silara while sargento and i went on a fathers day date night. it was part of his gift. we went to dinner and then basically just wondered around the mall. it was nice to just walk and talk. oh and i got some new flip flops from old navy. sounds silly but i was excited! anyways... thanks aunt silara, the boys had a blast!

what rewind loves..

rewind loves this blanket. he carries it everywhere he goes. i made it for him long before he was born, and it was the first thing i put him in when he was all cleaned and things had quieted down in the hospital.

however no matter how much rewind loves this blankie, i think he is the best part of it. he always looks so sweet waddling out of his room with it tucked under his arm. hmmm i sure have some sweet fellas!

youth pavilion

today we decided to take the kids to the new youth pavilion in the area. i highly recommend it. my kids had a blast. there is stuff there for every age, up to about 12-13. the third thursday of each month is dollar day. that's right just a dollar to get in for anyone!

so here are some fun things that the kids did while we were there!

laugh and push all the buttons you want

drive your brother around on a magic bus!

cook some delicious chinese food and then eat with chopsticks

do some fishing .. figured this would make g-pa george happy!

play in the boat

hang out with your brother

maybe a little more fishing.

walk around with dad

make some new friends

honk the horn

or just relax and enjoy watching everyone run by!

what a great day. we can't wait to go back next month to play and have fun with all of our friends!

playgroup

today we went to playgroup. my kids had a blast playing with friends. curls got to see his old friend that he has not seen in a little while. he sure loves playing with her. (they are above) hopefully i did not annoy all the other moms with all of my pictures. i just love taking them. i think you all have the cutest kids. it was also nice to be out in the sun.. we actually needed sun screen.. yah for hopefully more fun playgroups!
of course i took a million more..if you want to see them you can click here .

the originals untouched if you like them better are here

out and about

Today we got the boys out and went to go see some helicopters and play at the local gardens! They had a blast. Here are two of just a bunch of the pictures I took. If you have any intrest in seeing more, you can click here. It is so great to have some sunshine!

Today they are DETERMINED!

random things i just felt like posting

playing piano with aunt silara

now that is dedication to the binkie
my sweet boy
finally someone took a picture with me in it
rewind.. having a tough day.. this one my sil took

just in case you were wondering...................

no new bishop.. maybe next week all though we will be sad to see the current one go. But here is something that my sister in law showed me that she thought Sargento may enjoy!

Happy Father's Day!

I thought I would post about all the Dad's in my life. They all have great qualities. First my dads, George and Jeff. I love you both! Thanks for everything growing up and even still today. We are happy that we can all live close and enjoy being around each other.

I am also really lucky to have great in-laws, so the next one goes out to my father in law. I have always appreciated you making me feel like part of your family. I am glad that we also have lived close to your family so that we can all spend time together.

Last but not least Sargento! I could not ask for a better dad for my kiddos! He plays with them and loves them and teaches them all sorts of things. They think he is the coolest and want to be just like him. That makes me happy. I hope our boys turn out like him! I love you honey and am grateful for all the sacrifices you make for our family!

singing anyone?

Ok so we found out last night that our cable box has a karaoke function. We had no idea, but as you can guess we decided to have some fun with it. Sargento picked out a song for me first and said I had to sing whatever he picked. Can you tell what it is from the words?

Next I picked one for him.. I love the look on his face.. Do you think he was enjoying himself?

and to top it off I got a video... Enjoy!

What am I going to MISS?

As most know I love music. There is something about country music that you can kind of get lost in the story. Anyways I love this song. Everytime I hear it, I think about my own life and my boys. These are the things I think I will look back and miss.
Somedays I miss high school and my friends that I had there. I miss hanging out and just being young and not really having any worries. At the time I thought I did, but now looking back you see things differently.
I do have to admit that I miss the time when Sargento and I were first married. I love my kids, but I miss how we could just have fun together and do what we wanted - when we wanted. There was a lot of fun memmories made in the first few years of our marriage.
Then came the kiddos and more good memories just different. These are some of the ones I am loving right now.. and I am sure I will miss.

Curls.
The way he says " Ohh Tannnks"
The way he bounce his head around so he can feel his curls bounce when he runs.
The way he comes in in the morning and says "Mom WAAY UP" and then laughs hysterically.
The way he is constantly into naughtiness. ( right now I would say I won't miss it, but I know years from now I will look back and laugh about all the things he has done.)
The way I constantly have to fish his toys out of the fish tank.. IE spiderman.
The way he runs at me and gives me a big hug the minute I walk through the door, and says MOMMY!

Lets see with Rewind I will miss,
how lovey he is. He always wants a hug or a kiss or a cuddle.
His duck lips.. I will have to try and get a picture.
All of his funny faces..
How while I am making dinner every night he follows me around and gives me kisses on my leg.. saying mmmmm waaaaa (that is a big kiss sound!)
How he sleeps all balled up on his tummy, feet tucked under and all.
His numerus funny faces.

I am sure I could list a million more..

If you looked back at whatever point in your life you are at.. what would you say you miss?

Diaper Drama!

So our house has been unusually stinky lately. The stinky factor is because we have had an unusual amount of stinky diapers. That has been really yucky but the reason I am posting is not to tell you about our stinky diapers. It is to tell you a funny story. Here it is. Today we were at the store, more just to let the kids get out of the house since everything is closed down. Anyways Curls is running with me trying to find Sargento and Rewind. As we see them, Curls starts booking it down the isle yelling " DADDY". As he does I notice something white hanging out the left inside leg of his shorts. Then there was more and more. That is right his diaper had completely fallen off in the middle of the isle. It did not even slow him down. Sargento and I were dying laughing. Curls was completely oblivious. Ahh Boys ... What would I do without them!

More Storms ...More Sad News

Well today we woke up to news of another tornado in Iowa. This one was not as close as the last one however it hit a scout camp and killed for young boys. The full story is here. I am so ready for this to be over. It is the middle of June and hardly any sunny days or outside fun. We have been stuck inside waiting on the rain and storms to be over. Our thoughts and prayers are with all those scouts effected by the tornado.

This is why my Husband is great!

Today I really wanted to go and take pictures of all the flooding. I know it may seem weird but I love taking pictures. Anyways, my very sweet and patient husband drove me all around town while I snapped pictures of all of the water. It was nice to spend time with him and it was fun getting all dirty taking pictures. (not that this flooding is a good thing.) I just really enjoy snapping shots of everything going on! I would love your feed back. Let me know what you think. Good or Bad.. It is hard to hurt my feelings.

You can click here or here to see the pictures.

On a down side, my camera started acting up so I might have to take it in. Blah. So that might mean no pics for a while. I really want a new one, but I am in the very long saving process!

CONTAMINATED!!!

Thanks thunderstorms, tornado's and now floods. So far we had managed to steer clear of the damage. However today I turned on our sink to do some dishes and this is what I got. GROSS! So bottled water it is. Thanks goodness for 72 hour kits. We have about 12 gallons of water on hand. Hopefully that will be enough to wait for the water to get fixed. Although with two more days of rain and rain right now things are not looking hopeful. Our town might be completely underwater before to long if the gates and sand bags don't hold. This flood is breaking all of the previous records from the terrible floods of 1993. Oh I hope things get better soon. This is just yucky!

I found this... Tell me what you think?

So I was looking at photography blogs and stumbled on this. They are wonderful pictures, but not having experienced this I don't know. It seems like such a personal time. However I think I would love to have pictures to always look at and remember. Anyways tell me what you think.

http://www.nowilaymedowntosleep.org/pageDisplay.php?page=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlKhrCORF8w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0xaT00ez98

I hesitated to put this up because I did not want to offend anyone, so I hope that does not happen.That was not my intention.

Oh the Flood Gates!

OK tornado's and now the flood gates are breaking and water is everywhere. This is crazy. I can not believe how bad this is getting. The water is everywhere and the town we used to live in the downtown area is flooded. This is crazy. Hopefully the rain will hold off so we can get rid of some of this water.
These pics are from our local news.. I am not brave enough to venture out with the kids to take pics of all of this. Maybe in a day or two!