The Atkinson Family Christmas party..This is for you Grandma!!

Jaxson got a frog game. He had fun learning how to use it. The best was when he growled at Andruw when Caity was trying to help him! Ha ha!
Kade was super excited for his Kung Zhu pet and battle armor!!


See, he was the only one that got 2 things.

Caitlynn was the most beautiful princess when she put on her make up. Jason's family hit that one right on spot. She just wants to be fancy!

She says, "Am I gorgeous yet?"

Andruw was happy that it was finally his turn. He is a good boy.

ROCK EM SOCK EM ROBOTS?!? Heck yes!

Kody got a Star Wars game for his DS. All the boys seem to love Star Wars!

Check out that excitement!

Clay was SOOO ready to open his present.

Good pick Andruw! Clay likes his Dart Gun!

I wonder what Ty wanted........

That's right, Lego Star Wars!!

Grandma, we all missed you. We did have a good time like you asked though.

Thanks for a great time everyone!!!

Liar, Liar. Pants on fire!

Its here, Caitlynn's lying phase has arrived. Oi, she is good at it too. Yesterday I got home from work, only to find a half eaten bag of chips in my bed with crumbs everywhere! I asked both kids who was eating in my bed and got the classic answer "Not me!" from both of them. I asked them if that meant that Grandma and Grandpa decided to eat chips in my bed and would you know that Caitlynn said "uh huh". That is how I knew that it was her, but there were so many crumbs that I was sure that she couldn't have done it herself, so I asked Andruw if he was sharing with her and he stood firm on his answer. I asked Caity if he was eating with her and she said he was. I didn't know who was lying at this point so enter creative parenting. I grounded them both from electronics and friends until they came to me with a MATCHING story. I realize that they could have made a deal to lie to me together, but I didn't assume that was very likely because they both hate being in trouble.
About an hour later they came to me and Andruw said Caity is ready to tell you I was watching cartoons in my room. She looked at me and nodded, so I asked "did Andruw eat chips with you?" and she shook her head yes. I let them know that their stories still don't match and that they were still grounded. I also used the classic line, "When you lie, Jesus gets very sad." That was what it took. Caitlynn confessed that it was just her. I told her, you aren't in trouble for the chips Caitlynn, I just wanted to know why you did that. You are in trouble because you lied and lying is unacceptable.
I thought, okay, lesson learned for now. That was, until bed time when Andruw was looking for his new library book and it was NO WHERE. Caity had it earlier as she was showing it to me and such. We looked everywhere trying to find where she would have put it. We looked under furnature, outside, in the cupboards, litterally everywhere she would have put something. Finally I said, "Caity, you have to tell me where you put the book. Don't say you don't know because that is a lie". She looked at me and said, "It's in my bed mom." Sure enough, she was hiding it under her pillow! UGH!
Any tips for fixing this behavior would be appreciated :)

A New Life

Today I have decided that I am going to start over. Not a huge overhaul, but starting over. I have been neglecting so many area's of my life the last month or 2. It is hard when Trevor is on days because we stay so much more busy..but I really have to get organized.

Step 1. Cleaning

I am going to clean up my room and keep it that way. Honestly, what is 15 minutes a day?
I need to manage that mountain of laundry. I think that it was much easier when I was washing 1 load a day. :)
I can keep my kids busy for 30 minutes after work and daycare everyday. It is not illegal to make your kids do chores.

Step 2. Exercising

Recently I have been turned away from plasma donation 2 times. This is in part because I have not been exercising. The lack of excersize means that my body is not using the protein that I am taking in. I will spend 20 minutes a day working out. I have to.

Step 3. Financially

We have made some big changes here recently and the light at the end of the tunnel just keeps getting closer and closer. I would like to sit down and make a plan. Not only a budget, but plan the time frame that we will take to move from my moms, the time that we will take to get another car, and the time that it will take to have a down payment for a house for when we can get approved.

I am giving myself 2 months to really accomplish these goals. I don't think that it is too unattainable.

My Little Pranksters

Last night, I needed to go to the Evil Walmart to pick up some stuff for my mom. I decided to take the kids with me and told them that if they were good, they could have a suprise. When the time came, I told them that they could each have a toy that costs $1. As i am sure you understand, that is hard to find. Caity got a jump rope, but Andruw thought a lot about his decision. After deliberating for a while, he chose a Whoopi Cushion.


It was decided that the first "victim" was going to be Trevor. It was perfect since we had to go pick him up from work. We got there a few minutes early so we had to wait. Caity and Andruw watched very patiently for their dad.

They stared out the rear window of the car for about 15 minutes counting down from 20, then back up to 20. I am not sure why, but I kept telling them that they would be counting for a long time.

In the end, when Trevor sat on the whoopi cushoin, it didn't make the fart noises that we were all waiting for. It was sad, but Andruw said it best when he said, "Oh well, there is always tomorrow."

Work and such

So, I am still working in Sugarhouse. This means that I am in the car for nearly an hour and a half each day. Bleh! Trying to find something closer to home is not working as well as I had hoped though. I wish that I could afford to work at McDonalds, they would like my resume :)

Trevor is working through SOS Staffing at Autoliv in Ogden. He has been there since November, and we just keep hoping every month that he will get hired on. That would really be helpful in the money department due to the outrageous cost of benefits at my job.

School will be out on June 4th! Andruw finally admitted that he is excited. He has loved 1st grade and Mrs. Pope's class, and one can only hope that next year will be great for him too.

Caity continues to go to daycare. She loves being in the 4 year olds, except that she misses the teacher from the 3 year olds. She has decided that "She is going to marry Shawn when she grows up, and be his princess", and that she "doesn't like white boys." I am aware that this last one could be considered racest, or whatever, but I don't think that she understands.

We are gearing up for a busy and fun summer, hoping that we will all have the time to learn and grow (or shrink) as needed. :)

BESTIES!!!!!

So I got an email from Tara, my sister, this morning. It is our girls. They are besties and I love it. Here it is!

Yes, it does look like Caity is strangling Lily, but really it is all in love.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUG!

Last Week Caity had her 4th birthday. She celebrated by having cake with Grandma and Grandpa Buck one night, having her friends and cousins over for a party Saturday and by having a party with her Grandma and Grandpa Thompson along with Uncle Graeme and Aunt Tori, Aunt Bekah and Aunt Ryann on Sunday.

Here is a picture of Caity at her Aunt Ashley's wedding at the Bountiful Temple. She is wearing her birthday dress:

and by popular demand.........

I don't really have much to post about right now. Life is busy, but not entertaining. Probably the most entertaining thing that has happened in the last bit is that I am teaching the kids to do chores. Probably the cutest thing ever was when Caitlynn decided that she could mop. Here is the video:




I think that when you kids say that they would like to clean the toilet or mop the floor, it is a good life lesson to let them :)