once every 4 years

so my friend jamie & i went to the mall today with our kids. sounds simple, right? i thought so too. jamie has an 18 month old daughter, lydia, and also brought her 2 1/2 yr. old niece savannah. savannah was extremely cute but i think she may not have eaten enough for breakfast. i only say that because she tried to eat one of lydia's hands. ok well she just bit her. it was pretty sad, poor lydia tried to figure out what had just happened to her as the welts started to rise.

caleb is not what we would call a social child. he has to be "eased" into situations & is very leery of kids until he warms up to them. after the vampire incident with savannah, caleb had good reason to want to stay away. heaven knows that even i, being a capable adult, kept a close eye on that child.

when we got to the mall (the AWESOME southpoint mall about 10 mins. away from home) there is a huge playplace that is usually pretty much empty. except apparently for leap day. who knew that once every 4 years every school decided to drop off their 1st & 2nd grade students to terrorize the younger crowd. i saved caleb's life several times. ok well leap day was the only reason i could come up with that would justify the large crowds we encountered. there was probably around 45-50 kids running, jumping & screaming. it was a nightmare. i don't know why we didn't take one look, turn around & go back home or just head to the nearest park. but anyway, it's over, we're all in one piece. although lydia may have to get a rabies shot. just kidding. here are some pictures i was able to take. and now i will start to emotionally gear up for the same adventure in another 4 years...it will probably take that long to convince me to do it again!

the vampire. she may look cute but don't be fooled.



the victim.




the only kid caleb didn't mind being close to today.




action shot.



lydia down the slide.



climbing the huge baseball bat. savannah on top, caleb on bottom.

get to work pooper scooper

i was talking with my brother on the phone today when he told me he had walked up to his front door & had a notice that he needed to "do something" about his dogs' poop on his lawn. but the bad part is that the note was from the SHERIFF. (valid point from ben, doesn't the sheriff have better things to do than be on poop patrol? the clearfield crime rate must be low this time of year.)

we talked about the good ol' days when ty had the designated job of being the "pooper scooper" of the fam. pepper, frasier & molly all left little surprises for tyler each day to pick up with the beloved red shovel. what i didn't know was that tyler told me his method for the actual act of "scooping" was to put the poop on the shovel & then stomp on the other end, catapulting it over our fence to the neighbor's lawn. oh don't worry, he said, i used to evenly distribute it to our 3 separate neighbors' lawns so that i wasn't ever caught.

well tyler, the day has come. you have been outed. i love you but it's high time you get a'scoopin. i will send a heed of warning to each of your neighbors in case they start stepping in something funky that doesn't belong to them. at least i will warn them to wear a helmet when they're out in their backyards. they deserve that much don't they?

teenage tag

ok so i'm doing lauren's tag...i thought it was a great idea. here goes nothing:

1 - If you could go back and tell your teenage self one thing, what would it be?
stop eating icecream. girls are mean, boys are stupid. but it's okay to get your heartbroken every once in a while because it makes you stronger. turn in your homework, you know you did it. stick with swimming and singing. you were pretty good at both. and most importantly, be nicer to your family. :)

2 - What extracurricular activities did you do in highschool?
swim team, madrigals, debate (ok well i probably shouldn't count that because i stunk so badly at it) key club and best buddies

2a - what other things did you like to do with your free time?
hanging out with friends, driving around in the convertible with the top down (the car's, not mine!) and blasting music, going on walks, reading, getting in fights with my sister

3 - What's the coolest thing you did as a teenager?
um, coolest thing? i loved singing with kurt bestor. one time it was at the joseph smith memorial building, just kurt, a piano & three other people. we performed for church leaders. also recording a song w/ my sister for a movie that we never got to see. tells you how popular it was but it felt pretty cool at the time. thanks for the opp, uncle lee.

4 - What's the dumbest thing you did as a teenager?
there are very few people in the circle of trust who know the answer to that question. i will leave it that way.

5 - Did you have a boyfriend/girlfriend in highschool?
yes but not for too long. i had a lot of guy friends & went on dates but never got TOO serious with one for a long amount of time.

5a - If you did, tell why it did or did not work out.
#1-didn't work out-first broken heart but it definitely was for the best
#2-broke up with him because we were so different & went to different schools.

6 - When you think about your teenage years, what songs come to mind?
"in your eyes" peter gabriel, "i will remember you" sarah mclaughlin, any indigo girls song, gin blossoms "found out about you" (copied you laur) alanis morrisette "head over feet", "just a girl" no doubt, "santeria" sublime, "lover lay down" by DMB, "time of your life" green day


7 - What's the funnest date you went on in highschool?
i really had a fantastic time with ben at the halloween dance. there's something about being dressed up as "his & hers" towels that tells you that you're in for a good time. we laughed the whole time. there was also the christmas dance with joey, prom with james, jim brickman concert with other james, homecoming with matt. all good times. i only had 2 really HORRIBLE dates that i can remember.

8 - If you could change one thing about your teenage years, what would it be?
my lack of commitment. quitting piano, flute, violin, guitar, dance, swimming. i was given a lot of opportunitites, something was seriously wrong with me.

9 - What did you think you would grow up and become when you were a teenager?
a college english professor. or interior decorator.

10 - Post a picture of yourself as a teenager.
i don't have a scanner so luckily i am free of this one.

GET GOING! (lauren had an open invitation for everyone to do this one!!)

one of the worst feelings in the world

when you are brushing your teeth, realize something's off, look down, and there's a hair in your toothbrush. ew.

be wary of the 'advanced level'

today caleb & i were having a very in-depth conversation about different sounds. it started a little something like this:

caleb: "mom, what does an elephant say?"

me: "hmmm. i don't know. what does an elephant say?"

caleb: "an elephant says....pffffttt! (or however you would write that out)"

so we went through the basics of all the animals. cat, dog, cow, you know. then we moved up to 'intermediate level' where we went through things like sloths & marmosets (thanks diego) & i had to get a little creative with the sounds. who has any idea what a giraffe sounds like? well to us, it sounds like a dying parrot.

anyway then we moved to what i would call 'advanced level' where we made sounds come from things that aren't alive. apparently caleb believes that books make sounds that say "read! read!" and chairs say "sit! sit!" then out of nowhere he throws me a curveball and asks me this:

caleb: "mama, what does a stinky little bum-bum say?" (why is he obsessed with the word stinky?? probably because it makes me laugh everytime)

i cracked up but was curious to hear his answer so i played along.

me: "i don't know. what does a stinky little bum-bum say?"

caleb: "it says toot, toot!"

i was laughing so hard.

thoughts in the wee hours

1) stayed up waaaaay too late last night. you know that nauseous feeling you get when you haven't gotten enough sleep?
2) what was i doing? wasting my time watching the re-caps of the oscars since i missed them. which brings me to thought #3.
3) did anyone else watch lisa rinna (the collagen-filled dancing w/ the stars alumni) & joey fatone (formerly w/ 'n sync) make total idiots out of themselves? i lost brain cells watching lisa fumble around while she completely embarrassed herself in front of amy adams. she kept saying "i am sooooo fired." and i thought to myself, "she had better be. and fire her plastic surgeon right along with her." it was painful.
4) it is weird having ben gone. (at a funeral for his aunt) i am so used to having him with me that this big empty house feels even bigger and emptier than it normally does when the kids leave for school. can't wait until he's home tonight.
5) i had the unwelcome pleasure of watching ernest pick his nose in front of me this morning. straight up. showed no shame. what am i supposed to do with that?
6) why can't fantastia zip and unzip her own jacket? could i dress myself when i was 11? and a better question...why do i keep enabling her?
7) there is a smell permeating from underneath carrot top's door and i am horrified to try to figure out what it is. i will wait until ben gets back. :)
8) ahhhhhh. a cup of hot chocolate in the morning. bad for the buns, great for the soul.

reason it's great to be short #6

we were at best buy the other night & caleb was running under those ropes that are put out in case it's busy so that people can stand in line & be organized. (does anyone know what i'm talking about?? you see them a lot at disneyland. anyway.) it was hilarious because caleb kept ducking like his head was about to touch the rope when in fact he was like 2 feet too short. well he yelled to me "mom, come on! duck!" so for fun...while ben wasn't looking... i limboed underneath it. just to see if i could. and let me just tell you, IT WAS A SUCCESS!! at struggle, yes. it was pretty low. but still a success with no touching the rope. the funny part is, i didn't tell ben i did it. he was off looking at mac something-or-others. so when he reads it he should get a good laugh. three cheers to 4 foot 11 1/2 inches!!


the line thingers looked exactly like this. except for different. but you get the idea, they were pretty much this low.

ps-a heartfelt thanks to those who responded to the last post. (the rest of you can still respond!!) it is seriously fun to meet new people. for your sake, hopefully the excitement will still continue now that carrot top's out like trout. for our sake, hopefully it won't.

curiosity kills...or at least makes you insane!

so i can't sleep tonight. every muscle in my body is telling me otherwise but then i lay here with my eyes closed & my brain swirling around random thoughts to keep me awake.

(mmmm, that stir-fy was good tonight. i love teriyaki sauce so much. kikoman is the best brand of teriyaki. oops, i didn't switch the laundry. where are we going to go after this year is up? is carrot top plotting his revenge? do i need to still sleep with a bat under my bed? when is the treadmill key i won off of ebay going to get here? it's dark in here. why did i watch the last 10 minutes of "the grudge" the other day? i knew that was a bad idea. even if 8 out of the 10 minutes my eyes were closed. when did caleb learn how to talk so well? where on earth is my turbo jam dvd?)

you get the idea. so of course i decide to try to 'zone out' by getting caught up on some blogs. then i check my sitemeter. i look at the locations of visitors. which brings me to the point of this posting. i'm not quite sure who everybody is that is reading this. then i start to rack my brain....who do i know in wisconsin? louisiana? virginia? i go through my list of friends who are mostly spread out through the u.s. but still can't come up with answers to many of the locations that are popping up.

side note: ben just started talking in his sleep. most of the time if this happens he just rambles nonsense. i try to toy with him, asking him questions & pretending to be in the middle of whatever conversation he is dreaming about. usually to no avail. but this one is pretty funny. he actually just repeated the steps to "interrupting appropriately" which is a social skill we teach our group home kids. then he just congratulated me on a "job well done." poor overworked fella.

back to my rambling. putting it mildly, i am a person who can't just leave things alone. if i suspect that a surprise is coming for me...birthday or something, i purposely wear the secret-holder DOWN until they finally crack and tell me. i am so annoying that it is an art. but this situation is a whole new ball of wax. i can't wear anyone down, can't crack the code.

so this is an open invitation to my secret friends. write me a note. introduce yourselves. don't be shy. tell me how you came across our page. i think it would be so awesome to find out what brought you here. and if you have a blog i'd love to check it out. especially on nights like these.

at least it would be one less question my brain would have to ponder about at 3 am.

reposting

i am reposting these pictures of caleb because i thought they were so cute & for some reason in the 1st post they turned out miniscule. so back by popular demand (of his parents:) here they are again in full form & all their glory:

last night's sHeNaNiGaNs

compliments of: carrot top. enjoy.



his bedroom






the living room

so long, farewell

as i write this i am full of so many emotions. the primary emotion being relief. the secondary emotion being extreme sadness & heartbreak. we said goodbye to carrot top today as he walked out the door handcuffed & escorted by a police officer. we have told him from the beginning that he was in charge of his placement. and on our side, ben & i said to ourselves that we would do everything possible to help him to succeed. but the sad part about this job is that it is not entirely up to ben, carmella, angel & myself. because if it were, carrot top had enough potential to make it. he just chose not to. and no matter how many times we continued to teach him the correct choices to make, the end came because of just that. a choice. (well, okay, several choices) so to try to stay away from the negative things, i will talk about the things i will miss/the good things about carrot top:

1) his sense of humor...when he chose to be, carrot top was a riot. and he could take a joke too. we loved to joke around with him.
2) his kindness to caleb...he was always bringing home little trinkets for caleb & loved to give him high-fives.
3) when we would listen to the radio in the car & he would bust out all the words to some random song like "another one bites the dust" by queen, or "jesus take the wheel" by carrie underwood. he really knows a lot of music.
4) every morning hearing him yell out, "BOOM BOOM BOOM!" while he was taking a shower
5) some of our best days with him were on thanksgiving and christmas eve. he acted so good that it actually became a holiday for us even if we were still working. he helped cook, helped clean & was a pleasure to be around.
6) watching him learn dance moves from fantasia & then they would perform them for all of us.
7) surfing lessons. you had to give him credit for trying.

a dedication: this is a song that we would often hear him singing while he was "cleaning" his bedroom. we thought it was fitting for the current situation as well.

aaaRRRGGGHHHH!

dear u.s. government,

i just finished our taxes...we are $350 OVER the amount you can be to qualify for earned income credit for the year 2007. that means we would have had to make:

$29 less dollars a month
$5 less dollars a week
$.012 less cents an hour


COME ON!! WE WERE POOR LAST YEAR!!! JUST GIVE US A BREAK!!

sincerely,
lynsey

tricks are for kids

so like most kids i know, caleb doesn't like to go to bed. we usually have to take him in his room kicking & screaming & then after we've SERIOUSLY threatened no rocking/singing/reading time, he calms down. but it's always a fight. a few nights ago i started a new "smoother bedtime" tactic...having caleb sit on his chair like a big boy & read to me while i sat on the rocking chair. then after a few minutes he would bring the book over & we would read together.

well last night as i was getting him ready for bed, he brushed his teeth & then as i was cleaning up, he disappeared. i went looking all over the place for him & finally heard him calling for me...from his BEDROOM. he NEVER voluntarily goes into his bedroom when it's bedtime. i opened the door and this is what i saw:





he said, "oh mama, there you are! i was waiting and waiting for you. you ready to read a story with me?"

now this is our new bedtime ritual. so far this trick has worked like a charm. a lucky charm. and who says tricks aren't for kids?

some random pictures

here are a few pictures from the last couple of months. nothing too exciting because we can't show the "real" exciting stuff. confidentiality you know. so here is caleb looking panicked, here is caleb looking sweet, here is caleb with trains. you get the idea. a debutante (spell?) for her coming out party? no, just caleb with socks on his hands. ben & i on valentine's day. caleb with his "valentine"...the enormous thomas the train set at barnes & noble. enjoy!

punchbuggy gone booty

every sunday to and from church we have a rousing game of "punchbuggy." it gets pretty exciting but is one of those rare moments where we have healthy competition going on between the clients. well our sweet little 10 yr old girl always spices things up with her reactions to when she misses seeing the punchbuggy. here was the conversation today:

ernest: "PUNCHBUGGY GREEN!! i'm in first place now."

fantastia: "oh MAN! that is some booty."

lynsey: "hey, maybe we can come up with some alternative words that aren't so crude. try to name 3 new ones."

fantasia:
1) "that's some dog tail."
2) "that's some frog legs."

ok, not bad so far. then she busts this one out.

3) "that's some butt cheeks."

she might have missed the point but at least we were all laughing. i told her that she needed to clean it up especially when caleb was in the car...it probably wouldn't be the most awesome thing if he blurted out the word 'buttcheeks' in nursery. her response to that was,

"you're right. then everybody would be thinking, "why's he talking like that?? that's some booty!"

and we're back to square one.

my personal motivator

this morning started off rough. i had this dream that carrot top was chasing me around the kitchen trying to grab a HUGE knife out of my hand to do who knows what with. i kept running behind him & smacking the back of his head. then i woke up to a phone call at 8:20 am....who does that? (you know who you are, we still love you) and as soon as my eyes opened, the pounding began. ooooooh. a migraine. a nasty one. this is also friday, the saddest day of the week for me because it means tomorrow is saturday and the beginning of the weekend. everyone else on the planet NOT working a live-in job at a residential treatment facility probably doesn't understand this concept but weekends are MUCHO STRESSFULLO. i know that's not correct spanish.

anyway i was all prepared to be in an awful mood. when suddenly i hear through caleb's monitor,

"helppppp! ayudo mas!" this is caleb's version of spanish that he has learned from his fav bilingual t.v. shows. i couldn't help but laugh to myself as i staggered into his bedroom, clutching my head to try to decrease the pounding.

as i opened the door my cute little boy stands up in his crib and says cheerfully,

"good morning mama! how did you sleep today? want to play with my car darage (garage)?"

and reached out his arms for me to hug him. i pick him up and he wraps his arms and legs around me so tightly and just says,

"i love you mama! i missed you today."

pounding head or not i decided that this would be a good day. today caleb became my personal motivator, pulling me out of my gloom and doom. he and ben do this often for me. they give me multiple reasons to hang on for dear life...to face the day, the weekend, the next 5 months...and more importantly, to do it with a smile.

happy lOvE day!

isn't this a cool picture? it's called "light from the heart nebula." also included are some music videos of some great love songs. hope you all have a fantastic day!





some classics



a little more funkified



for ben



for carmella



for lauren



for pdge & andrizzle



for tizzy



for mom



for dad



for troy...lol



for caleb

mEnTaL bLoCkS

1) why do i pull out a new toilet paper roll only to set it by the toilet instead of in its holder & wait until the roll is almost out to actually change out the empty roll, only to have to start the process all over again the next day??
2) why does ben take off his shoes and set them right next to the basket of shoes?
3) why do i order doubles of pictures to send out to friends & family only to end up with stacks and stacks of pictures that i need to mail out? why don't i just mail them?
4) why do i do the laundry, fold it & let it sit in the basket for days until eventually all the searched-through clothes are unfolded & wrinkled?
5) why do i have perfectly fantastic wedding cards, birthday cards, thank-you cards etc. filled out, sealed & addressed in an envelope sitting in a stack just waiting to have a stamp put on them & be walked out to the mailbox?
6) why do i refuse to wash off my mascara at night only to end up looking like a frazzled raccoon in the morning, having to wash it off anyway?
7) why is it everytime i sit down at the computer to get caught up on my office work i end up searching all of my favorite blogs & websites before i even look at my responsibilities...resulting in hours & hours of wasted time & backed up paperwork?

just the norm or prodigy?

so i know that everyone to some extent, feels their child is a genius. whether it's memorizing numbers, speaking early or walking early it always seems to be something. i've tried to not get too overly excited when caleb does something i particularly think is amazing but just enjoy how much fun he is & watch him grow. but i had to ask other parents about something, just because i was curious.

caleb has always LOVED music. as a few-wk old infant, beethoven, mozart & other classical music was the only thing that would stop his incessant screaming. every night ben & i would rock him & sing songs to him before he went to sleep. at 26 mos old i counted that he had over 35 songs memorized. at 2 1/2 he's up to over 50, not including all of the verses to the songs. that includes the basics like the 'itsy bitsy spider' & basic primary songsup to 3 verses of 'come thou fount of every blessing,' joni mitchell, jack johnson, james taylor, and of course a little bit of bob dylan thanks to ben.

he's constantly singing & is making up songs all the time. in nursey his teachers have commented on how well he knows the songs but have remarked that what they can't believe is that he's actually on tune. then we we were flying back utah in dec. he started singing "ode to joy" on pitch and 3 people asked me when we were getting off the plane how old he was. when i told them 2 1/2, one man called him a "prodigy." i was pretty cynical about the whole thing...thought it was nice but chalked it up to the man having some jet lag.

today i started singing a jack johnson song he loves from the 'curious george' movie soundtrack. he started singing along in tune & after a minute, i switched the pitch of the song, wondering if he would follow my voice or keep singing. he sang a couple of notes, then paused and started back up again changing his tune to match my pitch. i switched it again & so did he i tried it on other songs & he kept following my voice. i've also heard him singing harmony parts to some songs but thought it was because he just couldn't tell the difference between the melody & harmony.

so just be honest....is this normal? if other kids do this around his age then i want to hear about it. i'm not about to call disney or anything (sorry carmella!) but if he does have some sort of talent in this area then i want to be able to help him get better at it.

the day ben lost his "kool"

i am laughing as i am writing this....

so carrot top & fantasia have been doing a great job of wearing all of us down here since monday. there is a new hole in the wall, compliments of fantasia, a lovely poem written about me that is too inappropriate to write on a blog & various threats & cursings to the group in general.

carrot top has been trying again to secure his position in the home as "top dog" or alpha male by going off for no reason & screaming curse words. then he will usually open up the fridge & try to eat everything in sight...thus the fridge now has a lock on it. yesterday i took him on, very calmly following him from room to room, giving him his distance and just staring him down. it freaked him out. he would yell, "STOP FOLLOWING ME!!" and i would calmly reply, "hmmm? oh me? i'm just standing here." then he would move to another room and i would follow him. he finally got so frustrated with me that he went to his room where i didn't follow him & instead called to him, "peace out, brotha!" as he slammed his door in frustration. 5 minutes later, he emerged back out in a more peaceful and calm state.

cut to this morning.

ben is awesome & handles the kids in the morning so that i can sleep in. this morning carrot top woke up & was fine & then for NO REASON (which is why it's so frustrating to us in the first place, it's just to get attention ) starts yelling curse words at the top of his lungs. ben quietly prompts him to stop & tells him he needs to hurry & get in the shower. carrot top yells, "I DON'T GIVE A F*&!" and pushes ben's last button. ben had been helping fantasia make her lunch & was holding a kool-aid juice pouch thinger & just CHUCKS it at carrot top's back. KABOOM! it explodes all over his back.

the other kids start applauding ben for putting carrot top in his place & ben just calmly tells carrot top, once again, to get in the shower. of course he's now cursing up a storm by this point but it shocked him enough to make him obey.

after ben & ernest cleaned up the mess, ben spoke with carrot top & apologized for losing his temper. he said to him that he doesn't know how to help him anymore, that maybe it's time to consider another placement. (this, by the way, is all another ploy to take back the power from carrot top) here is carrot top's reply.

"ben, i just don't think i'm flourishing here."

flourishing? i wish you could know this kid to realize how funny it is for this word to come out of his mouth. no carrot top, you're not flourishing.. you're living with people who are waaaaaayyyyy too nice & take waaaaayyyyyy too much crap from you for you to actually flourish.

poor benny woke me up & said "um, i lost my temper and threw kool-aid at carrot top." i love this man. any other guy would have knocked carrot top's lights out months ago. i can't help but laugh because i know for ben this was his "tennis ball" moment. have i ever blogged about my tennis ball story? it's a goodie. that was the day i showed carrot top i meant business. another time when i'm out of things to blog about (so right around the end of july when we move out). but hold on to your seats for that story.

as for today, while you are sipping your refreshing kool-aid, remember carrot top & put a little smile on your face for us.

not too stinky, not too pooey

somehow this "not too stinky, not too pooey" statement has crept into caleb's nightly prayers. it goes a little something like this:

"thank you for my house. it's not too stinky, not too pooey."

"thank you for going to church today. it's not too stinky, not too pooey."

"thank you for my friends at nursery. not too stinky, not too pooey."

you get the idea. ben & i have no idea where this little combo came from because we both swear we didn't teach him this stuff. but we decided that little caleb might be onto something. so now we are using this NTS, NTP theory in all areas of our lives.

how is our marriage? NTS, NTP?

how did i do with the clients today? NTS, NTP?

how am i doing on my new year's resolutions? NTS, NTP?

so my friends. i think you should ask yourselves these questions & start using it as the standard to which you should judge all future decisions. it is the new "WWJD?" and we think it will catch on like wildfire. bracelets, t-shirts, bumper stickers. we are going global. this is going to take the world by STORM & caleb will be a multi-tramillionaire. we knew he would make us a lot of cash someday, we just didn't realize it would be with a little potty talk. this kid is not too shabby. in fact, he's not to stinky, not too pooey.

good reason to be short #1

short people got nobody....

but i did discover yesterday that i have the ability to sit on my 2-year old's bike & pedal without strain. beat that!

a tearjerker

we were sent this video after i had already posted the first one but i wanted to post it anyway. i love what president hinckley is saying during this video. so i thought i'd post this one too.