Four To One...So Far

Gavin...

2009-10-31T21:28:00.000-07:00

I know I have been horrible at blogging. I keep thinking I'll get better... I don't know how you all do it! :) I just thought I would share a little about each of my boys of the next few days! Hopefully, I'll get to Griffin before Gage gets here!!LOL!

Gavin is 7yrs old now! Wow!!! I can't even believe it! He is getting so grown-up! Gavin is still as social as ever. He can make a friend while we are standing in line at the grocery store! Everyday he wants to know who can come over to play.... He never gets enough of his friends!:) He is very bright and does well in school! He is in the second grade at Noah Webster Basic School. His best subject is Math and up until about a week ago he had a 100% in the subject, and was VERY proud of this! He now has a 98% and is happy with that for now! He has been on the Honor Roll since his first quarter of Kindergarten. His school is a Charter and to be on the Honor Roll a student must have an average of 94% or higher! We are so proud of him!!

Gavin is playing Flag Football for his 3rd season and really enjoys this sport! He has really improved this year and has turned into a great running back for his team... The Panthers. He has great Coaches and enjoys all of his team mates!

Gavin also enjoys video games... especially Pokemon, Super Mario Bros, and Guitar Hero. He is a pretty good big Brother. Although he fights with his brothers from time to time they also have a lot of fun together! If it was up to him I would just stay pregnant and have "100's and 100's of babies!" His words... not mine!:) They ride scooters, play computer games, toss balls, and wrestle together!

Gavin has 2 sets of parents.... This year I think he has really learned to enjoy this, and has realized just how lucky he is! He goes to his Dad's every Friday night and e/o Saturday night as well. He has a sister named Alex and a brother named Gabe and they adore him and miss him a ton when He is not there! Occasionally Gunner has gotten to go with Gavin... We are a very fortunate family and have grown very close to Scott and Melissa and their kids and Love them like family.... cuz really, they are Family!

Gavin, I want you know just how much I love you! You are such a special part of this family and we would not be the same without you! I love the spirit you have... the love of life... the love of friends and family... the love of the Gospel and you are learning more everyday! I love that you still like to "cuddle bug" with me on occasion and always want me to tickle your back! Your smile can light up any room! Keep up all your good work and know that your Mom Loves you more then you will EVER know and is so proud of the boy you are becoming!!!

Love,

Mom

Boy parts.... consider yourself warned!!!

2009-10-31T21:09:00.000-07:00

Gunner has been cracking us up lately! You NEVER know what's going to come out of his mouth. A few days ago he came up to me with his pants down just low enough to let everything "hang out". He points to his balls and says "Mom, are these my peanuts?" LOL!!!! Trying to keep a straight face was next to impossible! As soon as I regained my composure I told him "Those are your testicles. Some people call them nuts..." He smiled and said "Cool!" and then calmly walked away!!!! I really should be used to this.... but everyday there is something new with these boys and their "parts"!!!

Then tonight after trick-or-treating Tami and Gunner did Knuckles and Tami said "Owe!" Gunner said "I know, myself is like a hammer!" LOL!!!! I Love this kid!!!

Gunner's "Fun" Day

2009-10-08T11:24:00.000-07:00

Well, I don't know about anybody else but I'm sure tired of reading about Gavin's first day of school! So I hijacked the blog again and I'm doing a post about Gunner! This is Tami and I had the opportunity to spend the day with just Gunner and Meg today. You see, Gunner was disappointed in my Sugar Cookies last weekend because he was really wanting Chocolate Chip cookies! In his words "the ones that you cook," meaning not store bought! So I scheduled a date with him to make said cookies on Thursday, he wouldn't let any of us forget! So the day came, and of course he remembered, after dropping the kids off at the bus he jumped in and came home with us. Meg and I have kind of gotten into a routine that when we come home she jumps in the stroller and we walk to the park and play, so we had to do that first! Gunner grudgingly obliged and ended up having a great time. I snapped a few pictures of the occasion with just my camera phone. He was so good helping Meg on the play structure! According to him "she likes him," and I think he might like her just a little bit!

Then it was home to make the cookies! He was so happy, he got to put in all the ingredients by himself! There was no one around he had to take turns with!

And then of course he had to test them to make sure they tasted okay! Here he is enjoying the fruits of labors! He is one happy kid to finally be eating them!
I think he ate 4 or something!

Evidence is on the face! They were Yummy!

Gavin starts 2nd grade

2009-08-12T16:10:00.000-07:00

Gavin starts 2nd grade today! I can hardly believe I have a 2nd grader. His teacher is Mrs. Nesheim and he is really excited to start the new year.

Tami and I decided to try using the bus this year! I can already tell it's going to be a good thing.
Here he is with his cousins Ryleigh and Liam getting on the bus.

Our First Cast

2009-04-27T16:24:00.001-07:00

Check out those guns!!!

He got to pick the color... Jon suggested

pink but Griff chose blue!

Well, I made it almost 7 years with out anything to major happening!

Gavin did get 4 stitches in his chin about 2 1/2 years ago, but this is

the First cast, and it belongs to my 2 year old! He has a Supercondyl

Fracture Humerus Closed. And we have a picture to prove it!:)

If you look closely above his elbow you'll see a squiggly line going thru

the bone.... that shouldn't be there! After about 2 days he was walking

around like nothing was wrong! He had almost full use of his arm but

it was swollen, he wouldn't put weight on it, and he held it always slightly bent!

When we walked in to my good friend Courtney's house she laughed and said

"I can't even tell which one it is!"... his right arm hanging by his side and his left

bent and resting on his waist!:)

The good news is that it is very minor. Requiring only 3 weeks of wearing a cast.

The BEST news is that his cast is water proof! That is so cool! It should make

the next 3 weeks much more livable!

Only in Arizona can you.......

2009-02-24T22:14:00.000-08:00

......go swimming in February! We helped Liam celebrate his 6th birthday with a swimming party. The kids had a blast and were so excited to be swimming again!

Here's the Birthday Boy!

Pizza Any One?

2009-01-25T17:12:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday night I watched Tami's kids so she and her husband could go on a long over do date! I decided I wanted to do something fun and different for dinner so off to the store I went! I decided on home made individual pizza's! It was a hit and Fresh and Easy was the perfect store. They had everything I needed to make everyone happy including myself! Dough, fresh basil, shredded moz, fresh moz, pepperoni, sausage, sauce and olives! All of it very good and at a decent price. I was happy!:) Gavin and Ryleigh went first. All I did was roll out the dough, assist in the sauce distribution and brush olive oil on the edge's! You'll notice Meghan eyeing the pizza in a few of the pics! The only way to keep her from attacking the pizza's was to feed her a yogurt! Ryleigh and McKenna were a great help with keeping her happy so I could help when needed! They also did a great job helping me clean up! In fact Jon was shocked when he got home and learned what we had been up to and couldn't believe how clean the house was! Good Job Girls! Let's do it again soon!!

Here's Gavin putting on the finishing touches!

More Pizza!

2009-01-25T17:03:00.000-08:00

Gavin stuck with his favorites! Sausage and pepperoni and lots

of cheese! Check out the new glasses!! I think he looks so GQ!!!

Here's Gunner loading it up with olives! I had

to beg him to let me put any sauce on it!!!

He would have been completely happy with just

Crust and Olive's!!

When he was done, I had to open an new can of olives!

Mckenna put a little of everything on hers and it turned

out to be delicious!!

Liam loaded up on the sausage! You got to love that smile!!

Pizza Pics

2009-01-25T17:00:00.000-08:00

Liam's finished pizza! Sausage and sauce!

Griffin helped me make mine! He was a very good helper!

This is our finished pizza!

Ryleigh was brave and tried the fresh mozzarella cheese!

She actually liked and it and wished she used more!!!

She also tried mine with basil and wished she used that

as well! Next time!:)

Gavin holding my pizza after it was cooked! Looks good? It was!!!

One Good Sport!

2009-01-25T15:42:00.001-08:00

Tami and I have been going to Body Pump twice a week while the older kids are in school. The other day after our work out we headed out to the car. When we were about 4 cars away from ours, Gunner took off in a mad sprint. Griffin was hot on his heels! This happens almost every time we get in our car! It's always a race!:) Well Gunner got their first and immediatly threw his arms up in the air and declared "I'm the Winner!" Shortly after Griffin touched the bumper and threw his arms in the air with the same enthusiasm and declared "I'm the Loser!" Tami and I were laughing so hard we could barely walk! What a good sport! He is so hilarious! He really keeps us on our toes!

"Noise"

2009-01-16T07:58:00.000-08:00

Hello, this Julie's sister again. I thought I would give all those who check her blog something new to read about. This time it's about this guy, Gunner. About 6 months ago he finally potty trained which we are all grateful for. But I had to share something funny that he does when he goes #2! Last week when he was over at my house one day he was in the bathroom doing his "business" when I hear "Mimi, I need the noise!" Apparently when it starts to get stinky in the bathroom, he starts yelling that he needs the noise. It took me awhile to figure
out what he was talking about.
What he really needs is the Fan!
Silly Kid!

New pictures of the kids

2008-12-13T19:33:00.000-08:00

More Flavor?

2008-10-31T12:11:00.000-07:00

Gavin and Griffin are really good eaters! Griffin puts everything he see's in his mouth and Gavin will try anything at least once! Even sushi! Gunner, well, he's another story! This kid is incredibly picky! He likes about 5 things at time! But there is one thing he always likes, stroganoff! All my kids eat this really well! The other night Liam was over to play and we decided that stroganoff was on the menu for dinner! Liam took one bite and said "Julie, this is really, REALLY good!" (He has eaten this before!) Gavin then said "Ya Mom, did you put more flavor in this?" I smiled and he then said "Cuz I can taste ALL the flavor!" Gunner agreed and they all ate up!

Sugar Cookies

2008-10-30T21:42:00.000-07:00

Many of you know that my sister Tami makes INCREDIBLE sugar cookies! Last night we decided that we would let the kids decorate a few cookies to help get excited for Halloween!! Tami is very meticulous about the decorating part. Her cookies not only taste amazing but they look amazing as well! Tami's Frankenstein cookies always have black hair. Those of you who know me well know that I am all about the eating of the cookies and don't really care how they look!:) That being said, I don't like the black frosting! So we went with orange and being the hairdresser that I am, He needed highlights!! As soon as I finished this cookie I held it up and Gavin looked right at me at said "You made me!" What a goof ball! He constantly tells me that his hair is yellow, not blonde! I love that kid!!

Bad breath

2008-10-10T21:41:00.001-07:00

This is Julie's sister Tami posting, yes I broke in and am going to tell you a funny story about this kid. Julie just hasn't had time to do so! I wanted to put it in before we forgot.
Anyway, last Saturday night we were driving on the freeway, the 202 south, on our way to Gavin's football game. I don't know how many of you have driven this freeway but it winds through all of the dairy farms in that area! Well, as we were cruising along we hear from the very back seat Gavin say "Mom, I have bad breath!" Julie and I start cracking up because we know he just smells the cows but obviously he didn't know what he was smelling, he thought it was his breath. Julie composed herself pretty quickly, I didn't, and tried explaining to him that it was the cows. He kept insisting it was his breath and even said "I should have brushed my teeth, I don't want to have bad breath."

Marriage....

2008-10-05T09:06:00.000-07:00

My older boys have been fascinated with marriage lately..... Mostly Gunner. We get questions everyday about what they will do, how big will they be, what they will have.... The other day as I was driving Gunner to school I looked back at him and he looked very upset. So I asked "Gunner what's up Baby?" He looked at me and said "Mom, I just can't find her! Can you help me find her please?" I was very confused and asked "Who are you looking for Gunner?" "The girl to marry mom! I just can't find her and I need to find her... Will you help me?" WOW!! Slow down there buddy!:) I explained to him that he is a little too young to be getting married just yet! And that when the time comes if he still wants my help, which we ALL know he won't, I'd be happy to help! That seemed to satisfy him for the moment! What a funny kid!

Making the Big Bucks!!

2008-09-17T21:00:00.000-07:00

My niece got her cosmetology license today! This started a very funny conversation with Gavin and his Aunt Meilyn. He asked what a license was and Meilyn told him that Chelsea had to have a license so she could cut hair like his mom. So he thought about it for a minute and asked "Do you have to have a license to cook?" To which Meilyn said "I don't think so but if you go to school you will learn more so you can be a better cook and make more money" Gavin got a big grin on his face and said "I'm gonna cook like my dad and make the big bucks!!!" What a goof ball!!

Camping and the Stomach Flu

2008-09-06T21:38:00.000-07:00

Thank goodness we got some horse back riding in before

we headed home!! Thats the boys favorite part!

Every August we go camping with the Eagar family! My Uncle Reuben has done a great job of keeping us close and helping us to remember all our family that have gone before us! My Aunt Helen's family owns some land up in beautiful Alpine Arizona. It's called Sherwood Forest! They have awesome facilities and beautiful land all around them! So for the 3rd year in a row, we headed up!! Well it's a 4 hour drive and about 45 minutes into it Griffin was throwing up! Jon had to stay home for work so luckily my nephew Zac was with me to help! He threw up 2 more times before we got there and was starving when we arrived. I decided crackers would be safe. Nope! About 30 minutes later up they came! And then again as we were all around the camp fire roasting marshmallows!! In the morning I decided I better head into Eagar (about 20 minutes away) and get some pedialyte so he doesn't get dehydrated. Well on the way back to the camp ground Gunner threw up!! What was I thinking!! So when we got back to camp I decided I better head home! Mostly because I didn't want to get any one else sick!! Gavin was sooooo sad! He loves his cousins and Uncle Reuben and Aunt Helen and all their kids too!! He is my social butterfly and the thought of missing out on something is just the end of the world to him!! We ended up getting home around 5. So I was gone exactly 28 hours and 8 of them I was driving!! Fun times!! Thanks to Mike and Cindy, they didn't make it up this year so we called to see if Cole could play with Gavin to cheer him up. They came and took Gavin and Gunner to Peter Piper Pizza! They were in heaven!! I love my family!!

This is what Griffin and I looked like most of the time!!

Poor Guy!

Pizza Rolls

2008-09-06T21:31:00.000-07:00

Gunner decided he wanted pizza rolls for dinner tonight. I'm not a fan so I've not made them for him before. But since we were going to the store anyways I told him I would get him some! When we got home, I turned on the stove, put them on a pan, and started to put them in the oven. Well Gunner freaked out....." Mom you supposed to put them on a plate and put them in there!" pointing to the microwave. To which I said, "We can make them in the oven to Gunner." His response... rolling his eyes and throwing his hands up as if to give up... " Mom..... just call Meilyn!" Meilyn is my sister and she watches them for me when I work and if you ask my boys.... she knows everything! She is pretty amazing and they love her almost as much as I do!!! Thanks for all you do for my family sis!!! We love you!!!

The Arizona Grand

2008-09-06T19:14:00.000-07:00

I love this picture! This picture was taken minutes after we arrived at the pool for the first time! This is the boys patiently waiting for us to be ready to get in the pool! I love that they are all scowling! They do that so well!!:) This was the best vacation money can buy!! We had so much fun and did what ever when ever!! The boys beg to go back all the time but the highlight of the trip was Gunner got potty trained!! I don't know what was different this time when we asked him to sit on the "potty" before we put a diaper on him but something change and he was ready!! He has done awesome and quickly started remembering all the things we promised him if he wore big boy underwear! The first week or two he was so fascinated that his underwear had "pockets" (the front flap) We just asked him to not put anything in the pocket!!:) Now he insists that his underwear don't have a pocket! Thank goodness for hanes boxer brief!!! Anyways, back to the resort, we could have floated the lazy river all day long and everyone would have been happy! They had an awesome baby pool with a splash pad right next to it! When Griffin discovered that he could walk the whole length of the pool he was in heaven! The big kids also had fun with the splash pad and wrestling me in the pool!:) Jon and Devin made some pretty big splashes on the slides. The kids loved getting splashed as they came down! We took naps everyday, ate when we wanted and just enjoyed being with the family! I'm pretty sure we'll be doing this again!!

More Pictures....

2008-09-06T19:00:00.000-07:00

Gavin and Liam with dragon goggles!

Jon, Gunner and Liam in the lazy river!

Pretty sure this is seconds before they tackled me!!

Gunner, Liam, and the splash pad!

I'm so strong!!!! This is one determined, independent little boy!!!

And....

2008-09-06T18:00:00.000-07:00

Griffin loved covering the wholes.

Gunners big jump!

Gavin's sweet moves!!

Jon and Ryleigh... "What up?"

Ryleigh and Gunner getting splashed!! I think

that was one of Devins showers!!!

Where Has The Time Gone???

2008-09-06T17:30:00.000-07:00

Wow! I can't believe it's September! I don't know how you all find the time to keep up with this blogging business!:) And you all do it so well! I have so many things to share that I don't even know where to start! So bare with me and I'll do my best to catch up!! Thanks for your patients!

OUCH!!!

2008-07-22T15:58:00.000-07:00

The day it happened

The after math

It's official...... Griffin is my trouble maker!! This incident left him with a mark, but it hasn't stopped him from doing the same thing again! My niece Taylor was watching him while Jon and I went to work out. When I got in the car my phone was beeping like crazy! When we got home this is what we found. Griffin had climbed up onto the back of my overstuffed chair and fell off the back, hitting the window sill on his way down! His eye was swollen for about 3 days and since has turned all kinds of pretty colors! The best thing about him is that he smiles through it all!!! 2 days later he became Picasso!! I came home from work to find him covered in marker and the walls, carpet, cabinets granite.... Kill me know!!:) Luckily it all cleaned up pretty well. I'll have to repaint my doors but they needed it anyways!! Then on saturday he found a new canvas at Tami's house!! Her's also cleaned up well. He is very independent and loved cleaning it up all by himself!! He kept saying "I do it!!" over and over again!! Oh well!

Gavin turns 6!

2008-07-17T15:40:00.001-07:00

Kinda hard to see but that's Griffin! No fear what so ever!!!

Cousin Ryleigh trying to climb the Spider Web!

This is cousin Liam right off the slide!

Here's Jacob, a cousin, starting the obstacle course! That's Gavin's sister Alex and his Dad in the background!

Here's one of Gunner playing Basketball!

This is way late but better late then never! Right?!

We had Gavin's 6th birthday this year at Bounce U! What a blast!! Everyone had so much fun and I did nothing! Just relaxed and visited with everyone else who came! OK I did go down the slide a few times, I had to help Griffin!:) Actually we had 2 party planners that even helped with him! We had 23 kids come and about 10 adults! The planners were a young girl and boy in their late teens. They were on the equipment helping all the kids to have a great time! Gavin had so much fun and was so excited to have all the people he loves there! Gavin is soooo outgoing and social! He knows no stranger!(Which has been scary at times!) He loves to have fun and to make people laugh! He loves his brothers and his sister very much and is so good with going back and forth from his Moms to his Dads house! He is the oldest of 5 kids! He has 2 younger brothers at our house and a younger sister and brother at his dads house! He is excited to start the 1st grade. He has done very well at school and was even awarded a medal for being on the Honor Roll all year last year! One of my favorite stories of Gavin is when he was almost 3 years old, we were potty training. We took a trip to Lowes. Mom, Dad, Gunner and Uncle Keith were all there. We were looking at fixtures for our bathroom I believe when all of the sudden I hear this little boy say "Look Mom I do it all myself!" As I turned around I found Gavin, pants around his ankles, sitting on a display toilet right in the middle of the store! I thought I was going to pee my pants!! I have never laughed so hard in my life!! Luckily we caught him before to much damage was done! Jon, Keith and I were all crying as we left the store from laughing so hard!! Gavin, We love you so much and are so thankful you are a part of our family! You make us smile everyday!! Thank You for being YOU!!! Love Mom and Dad

Shingles???

2008-07-17T15:08:00.000-07:00

About 2 weeks ago our little Griffin woke up with what appeared to be 2 spider bites! Both on his thigh, about 2 inches apart. I wish I had a picture to show but I don't so use your imagination!! Each bite had 2 marks like fang marks. Well we search his room and found nothing! Then through out the day more marks appeared... but now they looked like blisters! They were in circular clusters some big, some small! That day my niece Rainy came over to get her hair done and when she saw them she said "That's exactly what my shingles looked like!" Rainy had them when she was in junior high. She then proceeded to tell me just how painful they were!! I thought "No way! Toddlers don't get Shingles.... old people get shingles!" Well they weren't really bothering him to much so we went through the weekend and waited till monday to call the Doc! So I call and the Nurse says "How soon can you get here?" I tell her I'm at least a 20 minute drive and that no one was dressed yet so an hour. Then she told me something I didn't know about my Dr.'s office. Apparently they have a "Back Door". They have 2 entrances that I've used before.... a lot! A Well check entrance and a Sick check entrance. I have never used the "Back Door"!:) She told me to ring the bell and they would put me immediatly in a room. So at first I thought Sweet no wait!! Well as we drove I started to in vision Nurses in Haz mat suits opening the door to help us! I laughed the whole way there! I couldn't understand why the big fuss cuz he was acting really normal. A little whiny maybe but nothing to cause me to worry. Well my pediatrician was so funny. He was kinda excited about seeing shingles! He said in his 12 years he had only see one other case in some one Griffins age. Shingles is basically just like Chicken Pox. Once you've had Pox, or in Griffins case the vaccine, you can't get Pox again. However you end up with shingles. It attacks your nervous system. Nerves run up and down staying on one side of the body. Griffins Shingles followed his Syatic Nerve. It started up on his right Hip right were his diaper and shorts rest and came down and wrapped around to his inner thigh! Turns out the only thing you can do is to try to make them comfortable. It had to run it's course. The only ones that opened and became sores are the ones on his hip and I think his diaper and things rubbing up against them made Griffin more aware of them causing him to scratch at them! Any ways, they are almost gone now! YAY! Back in swimming he goes!:)

Jon's Talents

2008-07-17T10:59:00.001-07:00

Pickles and Ice Cream anyone? Jon is an amazing Pastry Chef out in Scottsdale, AZ. This is just one of his creations! Everything you see is edible except for the popsicle sticks! He made this cake about a month ago for a baby shower and it's one of my favorites! The important thing is that they not only look amazing but they taste amazing as well! He has had several write ups done on his desserts and the critics love his work! He is just so dang talented!! I love it!

Rockband Family

2008-06-29T21:35:00.000-07:00

Ok, one last post for my first day on the job! Jon got rockband for his birthday in March. To say that we enjoy playing would be a major understatement!! Our kids love it just as much as we do. Now obviously Gavin is the only one who can really participate, but the other 2 pretend pretty well!! Griffin is the funniest about it! This little boy learned to but games in the XBOX the correct way before his 1st b-day! Meilyn brought him home the other day along with Jon, one of her sons, to babysit. In the car they were talking about playing Guitar Hero, equally as fun! When they walked in the house Griffin turned on the TV then the XBOX, made sure the right game was in the system, then he turned on the sound system, and finally he found a guitar and got ready to jam!! What a cutie!!! Here's a little video of our future Rock Star!! (Sorry it's sideways!:))

Boys and Tractors

2008-06-29T16:23:00.000-07:00

I'm very new to this so at the bottom of my first post you will see a little video of a tractor. We had the opportunity to go to Idaho and Utah about 3 weeks ago! Jons Grandma Ipsen unfortunately passed away. We are all very sad to see her go but are excited to know how happy the reunion will be for her and those who have gone before! We were able to be gone for 8 days. During this time we did a lot of driving! We spent the night at a different house the first 5 days we were gone! We saw so much family that we love and wished lived a lot closer! Any ways one of the places we stayed was at Jana and Sid's Farm. Jana is Jon's sister. The boys were in heaven.... and so was Sid! He took those boys every where they wanted to go in a real John Deere tractor! Gavin said "Mom.... that's like a Humungo one!" It was fun to see there little eyes light up with excitement. Boys will be boys! The video is of Gunner driving the tractor. Thanks to Uncle Sid... No one was injured while filming this!!!

WHAT THE BLOG!!

2008-06-29T12:41:00.000-07:00

OK, so we are finally giving in to the blogging world! Apparently, you aren't cool unless you Blog!! Now those of you who know me well know that I just recently learned how to e-mail a picture so....... bare with me and I'll do my best! I am the proud mother of three handsome little boys! Gavin is 6, Gunner is 3.75, and Griffin is 22 months. I've been married for 5 years to Jon Spahr who is an awesome husband and an even better father! He is an amazing Pastry Chef and works with Southbridge restaurant groups out in Scottsdale and they keep him pretty busy! We are enjoying the slow season as it allows him to have an occasional day off! I work for Avante Salon and Spa. I've been with this company for almost 5 years! I've been doing hair for about 11 years and I still love it! I work 3 days a week and spend the other 4 chasing after the above mentioned boys! So hang on and enjoy the craziness from afar!