I Just Wanted It To Smell Nice

Dear Kayla, as soon as I saw the deodorant smeared all over the fan I called you back to the room to ask why you did it.  You said you wanted the room to smell nice and actually... it does.  Next time we'll have to buy clear deodorant.
Dear Kylan, I broke one of my rules tonight and let you fall asleep in bed with me (and Joey). I just couldn't bear to hear you cry tonight.  After hearing Joey argue that "Dad is in my spot" I decided that you would just have to learn to sleep in your own bed.  I just made an exception tonight.
Dear kids, today I said, "No TV until 5pm." We did it!  And it was SO NICE, good job!

You've Done Everything That Your Done With

Dear Jaida, you have all of a sudden become more responsible.  I can tell you to watch Kylan and you will, you do your chores with only a little resistance and yesterday you came upstairs all dressed for the day and hair done!
Dear Kayla, last night you peed in the bounce house and created quite a stir with Jaida and Jenna! Also, Adam said to me yesterday, "I can't wait to follow Kayla growing up, I think she might become one of the greatest fashion designers ever!" You were wearing bright pink toe socks, pink shorts and a bright blue dress shirt.
Dear Joey, yesterday while I was mowing the lawn you said to me, "Mom, you've done everything that your done with." When you were watching fireworks at G&G Fielding's the neighbors were doing fireworks in a bucket and you said, "I saw the popcorn lighting on fire!"
Dear Kylan, while you were gone I missed kissing your chubby little cheeks! I have not nursed you since you got back and you are sleeping through the night!!! (okay, I admit that I miss the bedtime ritual when nursing)
Dear Monty, I love payday donut days!

Hula Girl

Dear Kayla, I came upstairs today and saw you all dressed as a Hula Girl.  It must have been from watching the Hula Dancers in the parade yesterday.  Five points for the creative use of my robe tie!

Dad Has Pee Color Eyes

Dear Kayla, you always have something funny to say.  Yesterday at the parade you said, "I can hear the parade starting because I have sensitive hearing mom."  Today I was making you write and after you brought me your paper that said, "I Love Ling." I told you to write, I have poopy color eyes.  Then I said I have poopy color eyes and so does Jaida.  Jaida says, "Dad's left out, he doesn't have poopy color eyes." To which you immediately responded, "He has pee color eyes!"  We all laughed for quite a bit about that and then you wrote it down and gave the note to dad.

The Fielding Burrrrritos!

Screaming Contest & Anxiety Attack

Dear Joey, you taught Kylan to scream.  Now he screams when he wants something, screams when he doesn't get what he wants and screams just to hear himself scream.  Sometimes you two take turns screaming just to hear yourselves scream.  Watching on the deck having a screaming contest is funny!
Dear Kylan, this is the first time I will be away from you for more than 24 hours.  I seriously am having an anxiety attack.  This feeling is new...it must be because you are only 17 months, still nursing, and as much as I think the nursing needs to end this will be the end of nursing, plus I'm getting old. However the nursers really need a break and are hoping this is the end.  Happy and Sad.
Dear me, I bet the dollar store has nice adult loofah's instead of the small loofah with the fish on top you are currently using.

Grow Up

Dear Jaida, I would really love for you to start growing - but first you have to EAT!  I have been planning on Kayla wearing all your hand-me-downs but this year for school I will have to buy both of you all new clothes because she is the same size as you.  You are 9 and she is 6!  Now that I think about it I guess I'll just have to make you wear all of Kayla's hand-me-downs.
Dear Kylan, now that we got out that giant sliver and I think you are done teething (for a bit), you should be happy and not have to have me hold you all day every day.  Maybe it's time to really get rid of the new dog so she will stop biting you!

I Used To Do That

Dear Jaida, I used to do this for pictures ALL the time when I was little. ha!

Dear Joey, you are starting to want to watch more and more tv, that's a bad thing

Dear Kayla, you have been very, very moody lately.  You cry at the drop of a hat and then you smile and laugh five minutes later - I hope it's just a phase.  Teaching you to ride your bike has been a lot more difficult than I thought.  You only want to go up and down the sidewalk once (I force you to go twice) and if I let go of you for too long you run away and cry until I can talk you into getting back on your bike. Ulg!  You will be SO HAPPY when you learn (and so will I) - let's just get it done quick!

Canyon Trail Walk from H.E.Double Toothpicks

Hahaha, remember when we used to say this?

Dear Kayla, on our walk you took your Alligator 2000 (a broken window blind) and a book, "...in case I get bored."

About 20 feet into the walk Misty put you on her back to carry you, and on the return Misty was pushing you AND Jaida in the stroller!

Dear Kylan, you're funny! :)

Dear Joey, you were jumping around and slammed your head into the water bottle while Jaida was taking a drink. It must have really hurt because you cried with tears and everything.  You also had to go the last half of the walk without shoes because the ones I bought you just to go walking in gave you two "blenders" on the back of each heel. OUCH! But now I love to hear you tell me about your blenders! :)

CUTIE!

Dear Jaida, I know this isn't a very good picture, but can you see how you're sitting in the stroller?  You walked yourself back to the van like that because you were too stubborn to do what Misty asked.  Actually, I take that back.  When you finally came over the hill Kayla was pushing you. She pushed you all the way to where the trail ended, and when you both got into the dirt and it was hard to push you jumped out of the stroller and left Kayla to get it out of the dirt by herself...m.e.a.n.

Tiny, Be Free

Dear Tiny, when I think of all the bad things that could happen to you in the mountains I am sad we let you go - you were quite the protector.  However when I think of how many times you attacked me I'm not so sad.

Workin' 9 to 5

Dear Jaida, for the past two days this has been your office.  Yesterday when you woke up you made your bed, put your clothes away, got dressed (even putting on dress shoes), brushed your hair, sat down in your office chair and turned on the light - letting everyone know you were open for business. You wrote Joey a contract for a car loan and since he couldn't sign his name I signed it for him.  Then when it was time to pay he didn't have any money and since I was the one that signed Joey's name you MADE ME pay for it! Sheesh, and you were not playin' around.  By the way, today you made lunch for everyone! We each had a small plate with chips, string cheese and cereal and when Kayla didn't eat you said, "Kayla you're making me feel bad for not eating what I made you."  You also gave everyone but yourself chocolate milk. You said there wasn't enough for everyone - that was so generous!

Renaissance Fair - The Shackles

Dear Monty, I have never seen you as ornery as you were today - I think this is the only time you smiled.  I think that one of these, kid size, would be a GREAT time-out tool, shall we invest? By the way, I think you secretly love the Sunshine Bear pillow case. ;)

Dear Jaida, today you brought your pink briefcase to the Renaissance Faire and carried it everywhere.  I thought it was empty, but when you opened it up to put your shoes inside guess what I saw?  Your small, pink, circle octopus rug (folded to fit)!!

 Dear Joey, you didn't get any candy when they shot a bunch into the air for everyone to go after and were very sad.  I don't think candy grabbing is your thing.

Dear Kayla, the whole time we were at the Faire walking around you kept crying saying, "It's not fair, nothing's free!"  You loved the sword fight demo and afterward you and Jaida kept pretend sword fighting - sound effects and all.  It was also funny to watching you try to belly dance.

Kylan the Mini

Dear Kylan, you are starting to do things that make you look like a big kid in a baby boy body. I love how you sit straight and tall with your little legs sticking straight out. You hold your giant sandwich with two hands and will eat more than your brother and sisters.

I Can Hold My Breath

Dear Joey, after watching the little girl from "Despicable Me" hold her breath you came to show me how you could do it too. You are much cuter than the little girl. By the way, tonight when we went on a bike ride, you decided you wanted to get out and run - you ran all the way to there and home (well except for the stop at the park where you and Kayla decided to play in the MUD!). You have too much energy for your little body, we'd better go for runs more often!
Dear Jaida, it took almost 12 hours for me to finally get it out of you that Grandma Fielding yelled at you at the pool for teasing and making Kayla cry!
Dear Kayla, you were "almost positive that Stacey's car was white." I was "almost positive that Stacey's car was black." After running outside when Stacey got here you said, "Mom, you were right."
Dear Kylan, you are TEETHING AGAIN! :(
Dear Monty, the ONLY thing you said about Misty's Rice & Peas and Jerk Chicken was, "That was good!" Talking about it later we were both pretty shocked and Misty was very pleased. p.s. The first thing Jaida asked Misty when she got home from work was, "Did my mom go to the DI?" Love ya like a nice long bike ride!

There's No Place Like Home

Dear Girls, it's so nice to have you home!  I was beginning to go crazy with all the quiet time I had.  We now have to work on just a few things.
- Despoiling (this is always the toughest and most time consuming)
- Getting back into the bedtime routine (yes you have to brush your teeth)
- Keeping the TV off more than on (okay maybe this one is the toughest)

Dear Kylan, I heard you say "Bammo" today for Sammo.  You can also say, "duck" for stuck, "duck" for dog and "duck" for duck.
Dear Joey, today we found you a $5 motorcycle bike - you were SO excited! I don't think we should put training wheels on it. I also taught you, "Give me five, on the side, up high, down low...too slow!"  We did it about 50 times so I hope you'll be able to remember it when dad gets home.
Dear Monty, when is the last time I wrote to you?  Slacker.  I'm glad you love re-reading all my entries. If I didn't write them down we would never remember things like, "The pool was kind of small but it WAS HUGE!" (picture Kayla's wide eyes)  Love you like....peanut butter m&m's!

Joey and Ling (LingLing)

 Dear Joey, as much as you taunt, terrorize and torture Ling she sure does like cuddling up to you when you are asleep.  Since we've had her we've seen you drop her, throw her, kick her, hold her mouth closed, swing her around, pull her by her legs, hold her at all odd angles, poke her, lay on her, cover her in blankets, lock her in the bedrooms...not to go on and on, but I'm just glad I got to photograph this.

Joey and Kylan Time

Dear Joey and Kylan, for the last five days it's just been you two at home while your sisters play at their grandmas'.  You two have played a lot together and it's been great to see you becoming better friends.  The funniest thing is to watch you two chase each other around the house.  Actually Kylan, you chase Joey and Joey runs in circles passing you about three times for your one circle around the house.  Together you two have been burritos, played cars, played ball, played in the sandbox, wrestled around, had naps and even had poopy diapers together....ahhh the fun.

No Task Bar, No Icons, No Nothing!

This was me this morning!  Our power shut down this morning, which shut down my computer - after a rebooting all I could see was my desktop image.  No task bar, no icons, no start menu...I think I rebooted 50 times trying all the f8, f11, f10, f12.  I emailed my "boss" (from Misty's laptop) and told her I was out of commission today.  Right after sending that email I find this paragraph on a forum:

Your computer thinks it has two monitors and only one woke up or they did not wake up at the same time.  All your icons are off to the left but you can't reach them.  Next time you are rebooted and running, go to your display control center (you may be able to get to it by right clicking on the desktop). If you see two monitors show as running and you only have one, then make the changes and apply so that you only have one.  I think my computer believed I had two because my monitor came with two cables (a VGA and some other type).  I hooked them both up, so the computer sees two output lines and doesn't know they go to the same screen. See if this works.

I so lucked out!  This is exactly what happened - I just plugged in the extra monitor cable this morning.  Phew!  Thankful for Misty's laptop and online forums.

A Green Frisbee, Not A Red Frisbee

Dear Joey, at the parade you were having a really hard time getting candy.  You would pick up one piece of candy put it in your sack and by the time you bent down to get another piece it would all be gone.  You came over more than twice with your bottom lip sticking out...you were so sad.  You also wouldn't accept any help and when big Emmett took E.T.'s frisbee and gave it to you, you said you didn't want a RED frisbee, you wanted a GREEN frisbee!  Did you know that Emmett tried to trade a little boy for his green frisbee?  Misty even tried to help get you candy.  You finally just needed a little time out on my lap, some candy and then you were ready to get right back in the middle of things.

I Am Thankful

Dear Jaida and Kayla,
I am up really late tonight working. I found a website that is playing the most beautiful music - there are only seven songs but they've been playing over and over for the past two hours. The website is for a little girl that needs a heart transplant.  As I read her story and the stories of her mom I can't help crying. I have two beautiful, healthy and happy girls that are having the time of their lives at their Grandma's houses.  I am thankful for that.  I think about all the things that I "wish" I had and after reading about this little girl I want nothing more than what I already have.  I am thankful for both of you and the funny things you do!
~ Love Mom

Misty Does It Again

Dear Misty, I don't know how or why you do it, but you're awesome!  You took ALL our kids plus Sidney to the park, got them pizza, took them to Walmart for ice cream and Brad's for drinks.  You were gone for a few hours so that Monty and I could go to the movies.  It was awesome!  I still can't believe you took 5 kids to Walmart...

We Love All This Cwap Mom

This morning I told my kids that we are so Blessed with all these toys and that we need to share our blessings with others.  I started going through all the toys, stuffed animals, cars, baskets, blankets, shoes, clothes, etc... "You don't play with this anymore." "Yes we do! It's my favorite toy!" "We can't get rid of any of these things, we play with ALL of it."  After going through things for about ten minutes I said, "We just need to get rid of all this crap!"  Joey says, "But we love this cwap mom. Mom, we love this cwap.  Mom, we love this cwap." Ulg....