It is time I updated this puppy- July

Okay, I know I have been horrible about updating my blog lately. My last post was in July, and it is now February. Terrible. I have a good excuse or two. Mainly it is because we keep our pictures on our computer in the basement, and I'm not down there much. Mostly because it is smelly. We live in an old house, with mice and septic tank problems. You do the math. So let's begin, where I ended.

July

We built crazy forts in our living room

We went for adventures in our backyard.

We had picnics at Henderson Park

We played with our new kitties, Milo and Freddy.We spent every sunny day out in the pool. Davis is such a good swimmer. He can touch the bottom of the pool (it is 8 or 9 feet deep) and touch the bottom, and he can swim almost the whole length of the pool underwater. He is better at swimming under water than above the water. Marcus was starting to get really brave as well. He actually went in the pool this year.
We hosted the 2nd Annual "Doug and Nola Clark Memorial Swimming Party." It was really rainy that day, but once it cleared off, everyone was jumping in, and off the roof.

And, I finally figured out why I had been feeling so nauseous.

Trouble is His Middle Name

Living in a house with so many boys, you'd think that I'd be used to the chaos that comes with it. Out of all of my boys Phoenix is the most mischievous and destructive. He is always getting into something. Usually I will get out of the shower and find 10 boxes of cereal (yes, we have a lot. We all really like cereal) scattered throughout the house with little piles of the cereal on the floor. One morning I came upstairs after exercising and this is what I found on my bedroom floor...

Yes, those are my necklaces on plates. They are some of his favorite things to get into.

He also likes to throw his unwanted food off his highchair onto the floor, play in my make-up (one of my eye shadows is sporting a nice big hole), and bully his brothers. He may be a menace, but he is a very cute menace.

I Am Canadian

Every Canada Day, the Wolsey Family get together to visit and eat. This year Grandma Wolsey decided that we should have a program, because she loves to see her family perform. At the Boxing Day Wolsey Celebration Davis sang "You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch," and he wanted to do something this time as well. He really wanted to do a dance, but we didn't have time to prepare it, so he did The "I am Canadian Rant." He worked really hard, and he did so good. We were so proud of him.

Ruby Lou

I have an addiction to craft blogs. One of the blogs that I frequent is Sew Much Ado that is done by a very talented girl Abby, who as a side note is my friend Maren's SIL, and who is a sister to some girls that I know through church. Abby was looking for pattern testers for her very cute Ruby Lou Doll, and I jumped at the chance to try it. I have been wanting this pattern for a while, but I always thought to myself that it would be silly because of the plethora of boys in my house. Although, Drew made fun of me, I did it anyways.

This was the most complex pattern I've ever done. I am still very much a novice sewer. I thought she turned out cute though. Now she is waiting for someone to love her.

Soccer All-Stars

I am so glad that my kids have their Dad's athletic ability and not mine, or else they would be in big trouble. Seriously, I throw a ball like an old lady...on her death bed. We've been putting Davis in soccer for the past while and he seems to enjoy it, and this year is Marcus' turn. He is playing on a Parent and Tot league with Drew. He loves it. He gets so excited when he puts his soccer gear on, and then he runs around the house to show us how fast he can run. I guess he needs to be fast to make up for what he lacks in size. Drew also plays soccer in the fall, and of course it is the highlight of his week to play.

Phoenix cheering for DrewDrew in red playing for the Doug's Sports team.

Look at that high kick.

Davis Turns 6

My boy turned 6. It is sad to see him get so big, but it is also really exciting to see all the new things he can do, and way he is growing. His birthday ended up being a week-long celebration. On Tuesday he went out for dinner to Old McDonalds and shopping for Lego with Grandma Jane and Grandpa Tom. Thursday he had his special day at school, and since it was his birthday he got to bring cupcakes for snack. Friday we had his favorite dinner, spaghetti, and opened presents. Saturday he had his party and a potluck with family.

For his birthday we gave him Star-Wars guns and Batman Lego for X-box. Marcus was just as excited as he was to open the presents.

Davis had a pirate party this year. We had an Astro-jump, had cupcakes and snacks, opened presents, and went on a treasure hunt to find the treat bags. We also had a ton of kids.

I need to toot my own horn here...I made Davis some really yummy cupcakes. I made chocolate ones with chocolate cream cheese icing. So good.

We gave the pirates swords, masks and telescopes to help them find their treasure...Argh Matey.

My Mother's Day Tribute

First, I stole this link for this video from my friend Skye. After I watched it I ran and hugged as many of my kids who would let me, and I cried. I am so grateful to be a Mom. I know I am flawed and that I am not the best Mom, but I am trying. I pray every day that I can be better. That I will be more loving and patient, and that I can be a better person for them. I also love my own Mom so very much. She really is an incredible lady. I will be eternally grateful to the example she is to me. She is always there when I need her the most. I am grateful how she willingly took my boys home, when I had to be in Calgary with Drew. It was nice to know that they were safe. When she first came to help, when we were still in Lethbridge, I said something to her about how glad I was that she was there, and her response was "Of course, I couldn't just leave you here by yourself." I am also grateful for the examples of wonderful Grandmothers. To my Grammy, who I miss everyday. This weekend, I hope that we all can make an effort to be a little bit better, and to treat our own mothers just a little bit nicer.

I made this apron for my Mom. I think it turned out really cute. She told me at Christmas that she wanted one, so I figured I better do it.

My kids gave me this book. I just started it last night. I love Elder Uchtdorf. I especially loved his talk entitled "Your Happily Ever After" at the General Young Women Broadcast in March.

Easter

I know that I am quite late in posting this, but better late than never, eh? We started off our Easter celebration by dying Easter Eggs for Family Home Evening. Of course the kids had fun doing it, but it went by too fast. I only boiled a dozen eggs thinking that that would be lots, but it only took them about 2 minutes to go through them. Next year, I will try to remember to make more. I think the kids did a great job on them.

The next part of our Easter festivities was an Egg hunt and lunch at our house. The Easter bunny left so many eggs!! I think that there was enough for the kids to find 20 eggs each. We just threw the rest of the left-overs about a week ago.

It is amazing what uses you can find for your leftover Easter basket fluff!!

My Date with Davis

Drew and I have started a tradition, I guess you'd call it, where we take our kids on dates. One month he'll take Davis, and I'll take Marcus and then we'll switch. This month was my date with Davis and we went to "Old McDonalds" for lunch. On the way home I was asking Davis questions:

Marty: What do you want to be when you grow up?
Davis: A Magician
Marty: What do you want to drive?
Davis: A Motorbike.
Marty: What will you drive in the Winter?
Davis: A Black Truck, and a van for my kids.
Marty: You're going to have kids?
Davis: Yes, I am going to be married and have kids.
Marty: How many are you going to have?
Davis: 3 Boys
Marty: What color of hair is your wife going to have?
Davis: Yellow
Marty: What are you going to name your kids?
Davis: Jackson, Dragon...no...Drew, and Bob. Mom do you think Dad will be mad if my kid has the same name as him?
Marty: No, son. I think he'd like that.

The whole time he kept prompting me to ask him more questions. It was very cute.

My Ring

When I was in Vegas a couple months ago, one of the highlights of the trip was sneaking into Tiffany and buying myself a little something. I know that some people don't understand why I love Tiffany so much, but I think it is special, and my sister Karen reminds me that I deserve Tiffany. To me, this ring is more symbolic, than just being from a certain store. Just before Drew had his surgery, the nurses were trying to get his wedding ring off, but they were having trouble because his fingers were swollen. It was so funny to watch because they were trying all these different methods to get it off, tying string around his finger, using lotion...Meanwhile Drew is telling them "Are you even trying? Put some muscle into it." When they finally got it off they gave it to me for safe-keeping. I ended up just wearing it. I told myself that if anything happened to him that I would always wear it. That I would never take it off. Rings to me are symbolic, and it is his, and it is a symbol of the love that we will share for eternity. I got so I liked to see it on my finger, and when I took it off when we got home, I was very happy to give it back, but I decided that I needed a replacement. So, I saved my money and got something nice for myself. To me, this ring symbolizes that I was able to give Drew his ring back, that he is okay, and that I was able to survive this trial in my life. There are still days that I struggle, that I wonder if I ever will be okay. I wonder if I ever will recover from this traumatic experience. And, looking at my ring, I tell myself that I did it, and that through time, I will be okay.