Saturday, February 27, 2010

Tiny and Terrifying




How can something so itsy bitsy...
be so scary???

We were screaming and  shivering while
trying to save this tiny mouse  from the parking lot.





lou kept trying to convince me that we
should keep it....

Couldn't do it.


Isn't it funny that we can be so much bigger than
something ,  yet so afraid of it?

what freaks you out?

shell






Thursday, February 25, 2010

Random Dancing (in my head)



This post is going to be about ....
....nothing in particular.

I just want to be able to look back and remember
the little things someday.
(like my cool friend jillo)









I am loving the  playgrounds here.

But i have to say.....

Castle Playgrounds are not  for the lazy
mom.
You can  never see all your kids at once

so you are running like mad all over the castle grounds

and peering into the lil' buildings calling out your

kids names.
****

Chuck E Cheese is the man.

He has my back  on the days i cant do it all by myself.




He even has lunch handled.

Love that guy.


****



Everyday is a fight to get

Kenzie to do homeschooling.

It's gotten really stressful.  She just wants to

be back home.  at school.  like "everyone else does".

sighhhhh


*****

Doing really good with the money thing.

budgeting, saving,  putting off purchases

whenever possible.

I'm really getting a hang of this -delayed gratification- thingy.

feels good!  Empowering.

Life isn't about money.  It is about God.  it's about Love.
It's about Family and Relationships. 

It's about Personal Evolution, learning, and growth.

                                                   Richard paul Evans



It's not about ...What can i buy?
but about who can i call?  who can i spend time with?
who can show love to?

How can i better the world today?

Who needs me this day?

                             rachelle


I'm feeding my good wolf.
How about you?

what  wolf are you trying to feed?
or  What wolf are you trying to starve for that matter?

xoxo  shell


Wednesday, February 24, 2010

A Birthday for Bubby!





Have you ever watched
a women giving birth on tv and
wondered why they were acting so crazy?
grungting and screaming and yelling at their hubby.
I have.
I rolled my eyes...

Until Bubby was born.

(stay tuned for further details)






Our Bubby is 4

He was  born a week early
 on February 24, 206

at Cottonwood Hospital

He was my smallest baby

6 lbs 13  oz






It was about 9 o'clock at night and I

was getting ready for bed but i hadn't been sleeping well

so i told Matt i was gonna take a hot shower and

a sleeping pill!

My friend jecca lived down the street and had

come down to chat a minute.


That is when the 
Contractions started.

I doubted myself and figured they were Braxton hicks
contractions and that they would go away.


Matt was getting really excited.
He kept saying ....

"let's just go to the Hospital and see how much your dialated"




It was our 2nd child but our first BOY.

Daddy could hardly wait.

I ended up going to bed.

about 10 minutes later (10 pm)

I was in sooooo much pain
but i  was soooo tired from the unisom sleeping pill,
that i could barely force myself to wake up and go get Matt.

I finally was in so much pain that i was fully alert!


I told Matt....

" WE GOTTA GO....NOW!"




My neighbor and sis in law came down to be with
kenzie as she slept.

I got to the Hospital and told them that i wasnt sure
but i thought that i might be in labor.

The nurse told me Probably not if i was walking
so easily and filling out paperwork at the counter
and was fine.


Inside the exam room,

They checked me and said 

that i was dialated to a 7.

I had about 5 more minutes to get the
epidural or it would be pointless and too late.

I figured that if i was a 7 and i was still doing pretty good....

What the heck....
what's another 3 centimeters???




the nurse said i should just go for a natural
birth.

I agreed...(all brave and dumb like)...


One centimeter later ....

I was cussing and  hateful.


I was sure my body was going to explode.

I just knew i was dying.

One could not survive this much pain.

I really felt for the savior in the garden.

every nerve in my body was screaming pain!

at 11:40 Kade Harley Hawker was born. 



He cried from that point on.

All night....All day...


for the most part of 4 years now.

...and You know what????


I thank him for teaching me patience!
He has made me a better person by far!

I love him just the way he is!



He is my little man and i couldn't ask


for a sweeter child.

He is the gentlest soul and the most loving
boy i have ever met.

He is going to make a wonderful
man someday!




Happy Birthday my Bubby!

Nobody knows what a boy is worth,
we'll have to wait and see.
But every man in a noble place,
a boy  once use to be.

xoxo  mom

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Kie's Bedtime Rundown




Kie rie has a nightly list she has to
run down before she can do her little
wiggle back and forth,  while humming,
 (with her blanky tag rubbing her nose).





The lights in the hotel room are shut off.

It is dark, and quiet,  and from down low in the playpen,

this is what we hear..... 
 


"Goodnight Mama"

 




"Goodnight Dada"






"Goodnight Lou lou"






"Goodnight Kade"





and then unexpectedly......


........

........

...



"NIGHT    PIG!"






.....  Life is so entertaining with that
character around.

Sweetcakes now has a new nickname...

PIG.

:)


Thursday, February 18, 2010

HIde and PeEk

I am officially renaming the
childhood game of

"hide and seek"


to:


"You go Hide and i will Peek"

is that too long of a name???

i was kinda thinkin' that too.

Ok,

let's go with :

"hide and peek"

short and to the point!


:)


my kiddos are the funniest.
they can play hide and peek in our hotel room for hours.

Lou Lou just gets annoyed cuz the 2
younger siblings just hide in the same spot over and
over again.

if she hasnt found them within 7 seconds of
calling out
"READY OR NOT!".....

they yell...
"We're OVER HERE!"


and honestly....

How many places can you hide in
a one room hotel space?

My lil'  troopers!
they are so wonderful through all this.

love
shell





Saturday, February 13, 2010

Fashion and Faux Pas


My Lou Lou is fond of using her creative ideas
to put together Fru fru outfits...






She's not partial to Fru fru ....




She designs "sweetie" outfits


and...
she goes funky somedays too!


Pants rolled up, purple hightops,
crazy hair with a bubble yum tee!


But........

The thing about Fashion ...


Well,  it sometimes goes horribly wrong.


she said...
"It seemed like a good idea!"


I'll give her this...
It is very Origional!  :)


Never stop Being yourself Lou!

I adore you just the way you are!

xoxo mom

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Carousel

This was the 1st
double decker Carousel that
i have ever seen....

A ride on it was a MUST!















Loved the lights,  the ornate designs, and  the 2 stories 
full of whimsical animal creatures!  ...

But the most precious thing i spotted, by far.....


My children's faces taking in the Awe and Wonder!


That's what it is all about!

Lovin my babies....

lovin my life....


shell





Monday, February 8, 2010

Bribery at it's finest!

This one's for you jillybean;



I've said it before and i will say it again....


I am a fan of bribery....


Sometimes if done well...

It can help initiate and then encourage major change after the
bribing ends.





the kids have been cooped up in the hotel for over
a month without anywhere to escape from eachother

for some space or along time....

Thus fighting and bickering has become
the form of communication around here.


Matt and i simutaneously came up with the ....




 
Poinsts for Prizes  Game
_________________


we give points for getting caught speaking kind

or helping one another, sharing , showing patience...etc...


Not every act of kindness recieves a point!

We are always suppose to show love to others....

So points are given randomly as a visual thankyou.


Points can be taken away for yelling, disobeying,
unkind words...etc

and likewise earned back by making a change.

There is such thing as "going in the hole" or negative amount of
points.


each time a point is recorded  it is announced and accompanied by praises from mom or dad.

5 points by bedtime =  picking a quarter or a small
Prize from a quarter machine!






If they don't have the 5 points at bedtime
we really encourage them to try so hard the next day
and tell them that we know they can do it!
 

The visual praise will not go on for long ...

it is expected of them to recognize that our

home is a happier place and they have peace in their hearts

when they are choosing the Right!






And then the game ends and the praises for
positive behavior continue without the visual "prize".

After 3 days of doing this ....

we have seen a 180 in their attitudes towards one another.

Next week 20 points, by weeks end , will mean that  they
are invited on a fun outing with the family!

Call me naughty,  call me lazy,

but bribery done right , in my opinion,  takes a lot of consistency,
follow through, and energy and by no means is for lazy people!










Friday, February 5, 2010

Funny Bone



 


We had a series of silly stuff come up

while we were at the playground this morning...

They tickled my funny bone so i had to record them here.



Potty Mouth
____________

Kade (3) was dumping wood chips from the playground
out of his fireman rain boots and kept saying...

" there's ouchy  stuffs in my booties "



To which kenzie (6) replies....

"  booties are baby shoes Kade.
So stop calling your boots " booties! "


Kade responds angrily to this demand...


"i'm not a baby!  i have big boy booties!"




So me being the peace keeper  of a Mom that i am and
wanting to end the argument....

I yell over across the entire playground...



"Their are all kinds of booties...


big ones and little ones!  So stop
fighting over it!  He can have big booties if he wants to!"


then i sunk down  deep into the park bench reallizing what
I just Yelled  in front of 3 moms, a gramma and
a park mower guy....

ha ha ha ha...





Swing Fluzy
________________________



Kie(2)  is so funny at playgrounds...

She has to swing on each swing at the park everytime we go

One....

by....

One....

all in a row....
until she has swung them all...

There is no loyalty.

She is a true "Swinger"

so....

Kade wants to ride in the baby swings

and kie is screaming at him that he is too big!

"YOU NOT A BABY!"

She keeps telling him.


so kade thinks for a moment and reasons....

"well fat babies can go in it and i am a
skinny big boy, and i can fit in it.  I'm like a baby heffer."


I just wanted to die!
we sounded like total potty mouth white trash
...  it was time to go!





(this is the end result of kade in a baby swing)
he climbed into the wrong holes! lol


O.C.D.
__________

 Kenzie was walking around the park

with an entire roll of paper towels from the truck

and wiping everything off before she would touch the

bars or slide down the slides....

People were concerned.  Looking
over at me with judgement in there eyes!

i just laugh!





quite an eventful day at the park.

shell

(your thinking your family is pretty classy
in contrast to mine arent ya!  )

;)




...glad we could help!

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Bridges


My lil'  mon-chi-chi's

have definately sacrificed for the sake of the family.

They had to leave their friends and most of their toys behind

to travel.


They are troopers to say the least.

I always wondered why they didn't play like we did

when we were kids.



Do you remember using your imagination
 to create worlds of fun?

I do.







The lil' kid size table would turn into a car
and we would slide under it with a lil shoe box full

of crayons and gadget-ma-do's so we could
pretend that we were fixing cars like we had seen daddy
 doing in the garage.






We made up games and played house with nothing
but  cardboard boxes and construction paper cut out food shapes.


We drew and colored A LOT!


We wrote stories for fun and built forts a plenty.






Well i now know why ........
......

 
-WE HAD NO TOYS-

or very few anyways.


and that was a privelage as far as i'm concerned.

We got to play in the magical land of
dreams and hopes...

armed with only our

Imnaginations...

we played happily for hours on end.


.....and now that we are on the road and the kids have
only one rubbermaid of belongings betwix the 3 of them...






they too have begun to spin wild and wonderful tales
to pass the time.






they have been building bridges to
Teribithia all morning.

There is a magical land on the other end...



"They" say that less is more.


and i for one....

am becoming a

*BELIEVER*


finding joy where we are,
Sincerely,

the Hawkers