That's What Friends Are For

So one of my good friends calls me last night to see if I could pick her son up from Kindergarten today. Of course I did, no questions asked. He is, after all, Kips best pal...and in the same class as him, so it really wasn't a big deal. Little did I know I was watching Parker so that his mom and dad could be on Good Things Utah! Did she bother to tell me, or anyone about it??? NO!!! She just calls me up asking for a favor, and doesn't even bother to tell me why! I just assumed she needed to do something for work. Next time you can bet I'm asking her questions!!! Check this out to see why she was on GTU. http://proulx-x-4.blogspot.com/2008/10/big-changes-for-proulx-family.html Also, this is them on TV.....http://www.abc4.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoid=88295@video.ktvx.com&navCatId=462 .....Congratulations guys! I think you both look amazing and you deserve it!

Nicole is 6!

This is my CUTE niece NICOLE. I LOVE HER. She just turned six, and you would think she's a teenager. She loves being a girl...tea parties, dress up, cleaning, bossing people around, just like a little mom. Here are some things that I love about her....

• She wanted a foot bath for her birthday!!! How great is that??? Of course what Mom can't resist getting her one.



• She was soo excited when she got the "Pooping Dog Barbie" that is like mine. ( I know, it's disgusting, but hilarious)



• She is so loving to everybody. You would think that YOU are her favorite person in the whole world, but she really treats EVERYBODY like that. I wish I could be more like her!

Jack-O-Lanterns

Every year Marks family has gotten together to carve pumpkins. It's a really fun tradition because everybody makes it a point to go. Marks cousins live right next door, but the only time we see them is when we pass each other on the street...well, we finally got to see them at the party!! It really is a lot of fun. I owe Mark pretty big because I didn't have to carve a single pumpkin this year, but I did help clean them out, and deal with a 3 year old who was crying under the table because we wouldn't let him use a knife! Thank you Wendy and Dave for letting us do this at your house! WE LOVE YOU.

Pumpkin Patch

We picked pumpkins the other day, and thought I share some pictures with everybody! We will be carving them later....

Early Halloween

Every year my parents have a Halloween party...It stems from a long tradition from when we were little kids with our cousins. We play the candy bar game, eat chili, and dress up. It gets funner and funner as the kids get older. We missed Mark this year because he was hunting...he was just glad he got out of dressing up. Here are some fun pictures of the kids and adults. I think Alex won the "most daring" costume since she wouldn't keep hers on and was in her panties and tank top all night!! What a cute little girl, I love you Alex. Thanks Mom and Dad for doing all the work for such a fun party.

The Cast

Our life with the cast is hopefully over! Sier still wants Shaun to come over to put a cast on, but we all really know it's because Sier secretly wants to play with all of Shauns awesome toys! For those of you who don't know who Shaun is, he is Siers Occupational Therapist...who is the most amazing person I have ever met. Sier loves him... more than he loves Santa Claus. Shaun introduced us to the casting therapy when Sier was about 18 months old, this is how it works: You put a cast on his right arm, making sure he has no use of it at all- that makes him use his left hand, which needs the help. The first time Sier ever had a cast on was HARD for him and for everybody around him. He couldn't feed himself, play with his toys the way he wanted to, he was totally helpless (even more than a normal developing 18 month old). We did the casts, had some red ones, black ones, and a ton of blue ones...I think we had a white one in there somewhere...we tried to talk him into a pink or purple one, but he would never go with the idea. The castings started out with him wearing it for 2 weeks, then off for about 6 weeks. That lasted about a year, then we got more aggressive...he would have one on for 3 weeks, and off for 4, then we would do it again. Nothing stopped us from him having a cast, we learned fast that we couldn't plan it around our lives, and we couldn't plan our lives around the casts, so we dealt. If he wanted to play outside, we would put an old sock over it to keep it clean. When he ate, we put a sock over it to clean...he really had a sock over it 95% of the time because lets face it, he's a little boy who LOVES to get into things. We have a cover for it so we can bathe him, you just put it over the cast and suck the air out...it was the best thing $35.00 could ever buy for us. One time he put the cast in the toilet, so Shaun had to drive out and take it off...he made sure that Sier understood that that's NOT the way to get out of a cast, and put one right back on him! When Sier turned 3 he was out of the program that he was involved in, which meant NO MORE SHAUN! But since he is a great guy, he snuck over to our house when we called him and put more casts on the CRAZY boy. (he asks for them!) Well, we haven't done a cast since April of this year because it's getting hard. Sier realizes now that when he has one on he can't do the same things as other kids, he was starting to get frustrated with it, and would always ask Shaun to take it off as soon as it got on. This never happened before. Before when he would have them on he would just sit on the counter top, put his arm up, and Waite for Shaun to do the cast...no turning back...he wouldn't complain, it wouldn't slow him down, he had been at the point for over a year where he could feed himself, color, play, anything he wanted to do he figured out how to do it with his left hand. I think he loved having it on, because it was a built in sword...I coulnd't tell you how many times he has hit me or other people with that thing! Sorry for all of you out there that got it in face with the cast. When kids would come tell me that Sier hit them with the cast I would secretley think "well, you probably deserved it"...after all, it was his only line of defence! But there were times when he definatly was being just naughty and hit someone. But once he turned 3 it's like a switch turned on in his brain that thought "oh crap, I have this stupid cast on that doesn't let me do things as good, or as fast as I usually do...man, this really SUCKS!" He also understands a lot more, which makes a difference because when we go somewhere when he has it on, people are curiuouse and ask what happend to his arm, the conversations usually went like this "Oh! What happend to your arm, did you break it?" Sometimes I would go along with it, and sometimes I would explain it to them. It was getting to the point where if I went along with it Sier would say "No I didn't", or if I wouldn't tell them the truth fast enough Kip would- in the form of "No, he has brain damage" HELLO! We tell Kip all the time that it's not nice to say that, and Sier has NO idea that something like that is wrong with him..so, what do you do??? Kip is old enough that he knows something is wrong with his little brother, and we've explained it to him countless times EXACTLY what it is, and evertime he's like "oh, brain damage, no big deal." One day they'll both understand it better. Needless to say...the casting is over. It has taught us all a lot about how the brain works, how kids are amazing and can cope in different situations, and find different solutions to problems, it has brought us patience, and laughter, and it has taught one little boy how to do things he wouldn't have been able to do otherwise. Mark and I are really lucky to have a little boy like Sier who has taught us all of these things, and who brings such happiness to us and to other people around him. We love you Sier!

I Can't Smile Without You

Kip and I were playing in my parents back yard with my brother...I had my camera so I asked him to take some pictures of Kip and me. Well, Kip didn't like the idea, so he was trying to cover my smile! I hope he knows that I without him I truly could not smile.

French Fries

I LOVE FRENCH FRIES. It doesn't matter where they are from, I love them. I think they taste their best when they room temperature, with just a LITTLE bit of salt on them. This is what Kip said to me after I had finished mine, and was moving on to eat Siers..."Mom, maybe you wouldn't be getting fat again if you wouldn't eat all those fries." HMMMM....he has a point doesn't he?? He also said "It's a good thing I don't like french fries, or I would would be getting fat too." Now, most of you might think that it's NOT a good thing for a 5 year old to say things like that, but I have to disagree; without him saying that I definitely would have eaten ALL of the fries, and that my friends would have been bad. And it is a good thing he doesn't like french fries because then he would have the same problem as I do!! Just to let you know, my kids don't think about there weight...they are very aware of what food does to your body though, since they know that I watch what I eat, and I let them know what is good and isn't good for your body....not once have I told them if they "eat that they will get fat", I tell them "It's not good for your body." So, maybe I should cut down on all the fries and maybe I can loose the 7 pounds I've picked up over the summer!

High School Tag

1. Did you date someone from your school? Yes...Lots & Lots
2. What kind of car did you drive? My first was a Ford Taurus...but most people remember my black Sentra we called "Yolanda"
3. What was my most embarrassing moment in High School? I don't remember ever being embarrassed!
4. Where you a party animal? No, but there was always somewhere to go and something to do.
5. Where you considered a flirt? Some people think so, I think some of my friends nominated me for "biggest flirt", so I guess I was.
6. Where you in band, orchestra, or choir? Yes, I was in Dorkestra.
7. Where you a nerd? Probably
8. Where you on any varsity teams? Nope

9. Did you get suspended/expelled? No

10. Can you still sing the fight song? Most of it...Binghams sons and daughters, like the mighty waters roll along to victory.......I could keep going

11. Who were your favorite teachers? hmmm...Cindy Petty

12. Where did you sit during lunch? At a table!

13. School Mascot? Melvin the Miner

14. Did you go to Homecoming, and with who? Yes, all three years, but I don't remember with who on any of them...If I got my pictures out I could tell you, and have a good laugh!

15. If you could go back, would you do it again? Who wouldn't???

16. What do you remember most about graduation? It was long & at UVSC ( now UVU). My boyfriend came with us.

17. Where did you go on Senior Skip Day? Shopping with friends for our graduation outfits! It was a rainy day :(

18. Where you in any clubs? No, but I would be if I were to do it again!

19. Who was your prom date? Matt Higbee

20. Have you gained some weight since then? YES! But fortunately it's gone now!

21. Are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion? It depends, but I would like too.

22. Looking back, what advise would you give yourself? That you only have one chance to do it- so do it good!

Thanks Jeri for the tag...Now I tag....Annette, Jesse, Joni, Sara, & Jera....Make them good!

Lego's

My Kids Love playing with legos. They could build things for hours on end. When I say "They" I really mean "We", since they still need a little help. Kip is getting so good at building things like trucks, cars, airplanes, helicopters, even all of those things all rolled into the same thing; his favorite?....a "trarplane"...a truck, car, and plane all in one. Sier still needs a lot of help, so he just stick with the little guys that come with the sets. His favorites are the Storm Troopers that we have that came with some starwars sets.
They not only like to play with the Lego sets, but they love to play the Lego video games...and sad to say...I think we own most of them. The newest one is Batman Lego's...man, where they excited to get that. Kip has been making his bed, unloading the dishwasher, and anything I ask him to do...he even weeded some of the garden with me in order to get the game. He loves it, and played it for 2 hours strait when we got home with it, and Sier will just sit there and watch him while he plays it. I remember when I was a kid my brothers had an Atari, and I think I was pretty good at Frogger! Now Kids have way more options...When a 5 year old wants a Nintendo DS for Christmas, what is he going to ask for when he's 12??? Oh well, times are changing...what on earth did our parents do when they were young? (they'll tell you "worked")