Christmas 2009

Christmas Fuller Style. This year was the first year that Jay and I put off all Christmas shopping until the Dec 22nd. We had our "Favorites" dinner this year Jay requested Totinos Pizza Pockets, I chose Chicken Cordon Bleu, Kaelee picked Ambrosia, Makenzie picked funeral potatoes, Gavin picked Chocolate Cake and rolls, Cache had to have little smokies. Oh what a meal we had. For those who don't know about our silly tradition everyone having dinner with us gets to choose their favorite food. Some years it is all dessert, some all Mexican food, and some years a whole lot of foods that don't go together. The kids all work together on their choices so nobody chooses the same thing. It is how we do Christmas Eve. Christmas morning did not come early at our house. Jay told them all they couldn't get out of bed until 8am they all took him seriously! So we didn't get going until 7:30am Kaelee got her Ipod touch, Makenzie got her glitter bouncy ball and a beading kit, Gavin got his Spy kit, and Cache got his Ski Sled. We only had 1pair of pants that didn't fit and one set of walkie-talkies that had to go back. This was the first year in 13years that Jay didn't have to work on Christmas Eve and The Day after Christmas and we loved it. I hope everyone had as good as Christmas that we had. Merry Christmas Everyone!

Happy Birthday Makenzie

Oh wow Makenzie is 10 years old. The years have gone fast! Kenzie's Birthday is often lost in the Holidays so this year we are having her friend party in January so we all have time to fully give her Birthday the attention it deserves. I can't think of Makenzie's Birthday and not recall her birth. 10 years ago I was very pregnant, the doctors told me that I would deliver around Thanksgiving. About two weeks before Christmas that year I am awoken by Jay crying in pain, I knew he was in trouble when he insisted I call the ER. He had kidney stones. The doctors expected him to be able to pass them on his own after controlling his pain they sent him home. I remember being jealous because I was the one who was supposed to be in the Hospital. A week later on the 22nd of Dec Jay woke me up again at approx 4am and we headed back to the ER. His kidneys were blocked and were shutting down. He was in intense pain they began talking emergency surgery, ICU, and major pain meds. I started having contractions at 5am. I told no one because I needed to be with Jay I was no longer jealous, he was in way more pain than I was. The doctors tried to do numerous things to help him without surgery but at about noon they announced he would have to go to IF to ErMaC. Jays nurse was one of my good friends and noticed my contractions and notified my doctor. They wouldn't let me go to IF with Jay because I was officially in Labor. My brother,Travis, took Jay to IF because we didn't want to pay for an ambulance. My mom escorted me upstairs to the maternity ward. The nurses at both hospitals kept us updated on each other. Kenzie was born shortly after midnight. Jay got out of surgery at about 8pm they got the stones and the kidneys were starting to function again. They released Jay on the 23rd on the condition he stayed in my hospital room with me. We were both let out of the Madison hospital early afternoon on December 24. Kaelee insisted she needed a present for her new sister so I headed to Walmart to help her pick one out. Jay was not moving well. Between the Fullers and the Jenkins we were rescued. All of our neighbors pitched in to help since Jay was down for a few weeks. I turned out to be an amazing Christmas. My mom,Grandma Jenkins, insisted that Makenzie smiled at her minutes after she was born, Makenzie always had a special place in her heart. Kenz came in the world surrounded by drama and still loves drama. She is the happiest kid anyone has ever met!

Christmas is coming to town!

Well merry Christmas everyone! That is about all the Christmas Spirit I can scrounge up. I have to admit this is the first year in all of my years that I am not exicted about Christmas. I have many therories why my attitude is this way but I'll skip that and go straight to my kids are so very excited for Christmas. Our school dist is trying a new thing this year, we get two full weeks off for Christmas break. Oh the kids have plans if only I can keep up. We did go and see Santa today. Thanks Santa you made my kids year by remembering all of their names. Cache wants a ski sled, Gavin wants a spy kit, Makenzie wants a glitter ball (basically a big bouncy ball) and Kaelee after much deliberation wants a sweat suit from Aeropostle. We changed our original rule of the kids can ask for three things to they can only ask for one. I personally was suprised with the one thing they all selected. Well we are doing the Fuller Family "tradition" tommarow wish us all luck! Oh did I mention it is Christmas time.

I cant spell

I know it is really bad when the spell check cant help you. But that is how I am I cant spell. I am trying to learn but be patient with our family blog untill I learn to spell good enough for the spell check to help me!!!

Busy Busy Busy

Okay the Fullers are alive. The mom is running crazy. Ok here is the low down and hopefully everyone reads this so I don't have to explain my insanity again. I am going back to school online. I am going to go to Phoenix University. I already have 45 credits but unfortunately they are in Political Science. What a worthless degree. I know there are numerous field it goes for but the facts are that none of them go with being a mom. Darn it that is what I am so I am going into Psychology. I have been tutoring kids with Dyslexia and am finding out there are so many kids who need help in so many ways and no slot of people educated to help them. So that is my goal to help kids who may not even know they need help. I believe this falls under the category of Child psychology. So I could work in the schools or privately. We'll see meanwhile I am busy!!!! I am currently taking 7 credits for the next nine weeks due to the lack of speed of my transcripts have been sent I am taking a technology class (basically to learn how to use the computer and Internet to help with my education) and a business writing class (not sure where it falls in but hey I'm doing it). So I am online about four hours a day five days a week. I am still working in at the middle school and no I haven't sold any kids yet. I must admit my floors need mopped and the laundry is becoming a mountain but I'm doing it. I have to say thank you for all the angels who have helped not knowing there was a need until they filled it. Last night as I dragged myself into the kitchen to make dinner there was a knock on my door and a lovely angel brought dinner because she "felt" I might need it. Now please don't everyone start bringing me things, but I have to say I cried at the thought the Lord is obviously watching me run around in circles and is either laughing or knew I need help. Thanks to all of you who help. The kids are being supportive and they all find it funny that mom groans about my homework and reading. The girls have both offered assistance (I hope they don't read this) I made errors for them to find in my first paper so they could help me like I often help them. We are going to do this for the family as the family. I have awesome kids and a husband who gives up his morning so I can study. Please feel free to Laugh at me as I lose my mind on occasion because I will also be laughing. That is what I am up to with all of my families support!

2009 Thanksgiving

Ok I know Thanksgiving is all about family. Well I am here to tell you about the most relaxing and entertaining Thanksgiving yet. I have to admit I am able to write this because none of our families check our blog. We stayed home for our Holiday we had nobody over and we didn't go anywhere. I must admit on Wednesday night I was feeling out of sorts. What I don't have to make 4 doz rolls, we only need how many pies, I don't have to wake up a 5am to put in our turkey? I soon realized this is a great thing the kids and Jay helped me put in the turkey, helped roll out the rolls and we ate around 2pm. We slept, watched videos, and hung out together. The kids did fight but that ended in a discussion on how to make our family better and then the rest of the weekend was almost fight free! We went to the Christmas Carol and were pleasantly surprised that it was at the cheap movies. We went and wandered Toys'R'us for a couple hours to let the kids dream and decide what the want for Christmas. Then we hung out. We officially got nothing done and Kaelee's most common Facebook post was "I'm bored" but we really loved it. We had no pressures and didn't have to try to form our schedules to anyone elses. Now I have to admit that we missed our families and cousins and nieces and nephews, but it was nice to miss them and not want to strangle them. So it will become a tradition that every couple years we are taking a year off and just being a FAMILY.

Thanksgiving

Today I am thankful for the opportunity to be a mom. I really miss my mom and am starting to realize how she had a hand in most if not everything I think and do. My mom taught me to be who I am. She taught me to make "Parker House" rolls just right so they don't open in the oven. I know this is a common thing but they are the bain of Holiday dinners for me I cant keep them closed mom spent many of days before Thanksgiving showing me what I was doing wrong and the right way to do it but today I master about 75% that staid closed. I also make a pretty good apple pie but it is not my moms. Today has been a trial in love for me because I really wanted to hide in my room and cry, but I am blessed with four kids who need me to be their mom and I spent the morning teaching them how to make "Parker House" rolls. I am not as patient as mom was but we got to eat so that is what counts. I taught Kaelee to use ice water in the pie crust, and the kids learned we clean Grandma's goblets by hand and not in the dishwasher. I am so grateful for the time I had with my mom and am most grateful for her teaching me how to be a good mom. Thanks mom I miss you everyday.

Memories

Well I just had a thought that remembering things sometimes sheds them in a better light. Tonight as we were driving in the car we were talking about adventures we mistakenly have taken. All of us agreed that just maybe we shouldn't continue to look for ghost towns. I must tell you when Jay advertises "lets go for a ride, and find the ghost town in Gilmore" we all got excited. The kids (I think) really thought we would see ghosts. I pictured a cool "old west" town with a saloon and bank with maybe bullet holes. Well this was our first mistake. Our second was about and hour into the drive we were promised just a few more minutes. Well the facts: first Gillmore is and old mining town and has been abandoned for about 20-30 years (not old west). Second you cant get out and go in because it is all private property and the buildings have all been condemned. Third NO GHOSTS. Looking back though it was one of our favorite days together (pitiful yes, but great non the less) after we saw what we had driven two hours for we continued up the road and found the coolest lake. It actually still had snow the end of June. There were huge ice chunks flouting every where. Next we stopped at the side of this little known road to make lunch (yeah I brought bread and peanut butter and Jelly) We quickly got chased back into the van by a huge swarm of mosquitoes. So we decided to save the day by stopping at every historical site we could find. I realize this sounds awful but by this point we were all trying to torture each other to utter boredom. It flipped on us and we just had a great time doing nothing. The kids all groan with a huge smile on their faces as we recall this day. We ate PB&J's drank soda and had a ball. I do have to admit if Jay mentions he has heard of a new ghost town we all run the other way but it is more for the fact that we could never possibly improve on the day we went to Gilmore.

Family Pics

Tonight we attempted to take family pictures. We didn't pay anyone we used our timer. I was inspired by Katie and Doah's family pics. So off we went we had 1 hour of sun light and had to find a neat place to take the pics so of course off to Moody we went. (One of our favorite places on this planet) Jay kind of remembered an old granary so we went in search. Cache screamed in fear as we drove down the somewhat narrow (I say somewhat because it really was a nice smooth one lane road but so Cache wouldn't look like a wimp I'm sticking with narrow) road screaming, "slam on your breaks Dad were going to crash." Now knowing Jay you would know that he took this as a way to torment Cache and laughed the whole way. About half way up Gavin started looking green and was getting car sick. Kaelee and Makenzie were attempting to play I spy so you can see it was a normal Fuller outing. I personally didn't realize there would be snow where we were going or else I wouldn't have had all the kids and Jay dress in short sleeves. (he he) I wore a sweater. I hope we got OK pics and lots of memories.

Gavin is Awesome

Wow our boy is great. Most everyone knows he has been struggling in school mostly with reading. When he got diagnosed with dyslexia I thought we were in for a really hard time with school. This year he got the most Awesome teacher Mrs. Ward this is her first year teaching (so I was really worried) but she has made a big difference in his attitude (Jay says is because she is cute) then with the dyslexia mom began to tutor to learn how to help Gavin, with all of this help we just had the world's best parent teacher conference. He is above grade level in math (a miracle) he is almost at level in reading. (He started our lower than a kindergarten level and now he is catching up. The best news though he is loving school. He actually wants to go. So Yeah Gavin you rock!

Veterans Day

Today is Veterans Day which has come to mean lots of essays, projects, and programs. Kaelee finished the last of the Veteran Essays today at about 10:30am yes she was very late for school (She only had 10 days to write why not wait until the last min?). Kaelee, I and Jay were all up until midnight trying to get her thoughts narrowed down to 400 word. Some people say she is quite no she just waits until she is comfortable and then lets her words flow. The good news is her essay was one of two selected from the school to go to the next level.
Makenzie had the Veterans Day Program. Her fourth grade class has worked for about a month writing and rewriting, learning songs, making invitations, and decorations. Makenzie's essay was chosen to be read today. She wrote about her Great Grandpa Higley who served in World War II. She did an excellent job. She kept Jay and I entertained by chomping her gum with her mouth, then making faces throughout all of the songs. Cache decided he was bored immediately and entertained himself with taking pictures of everything.
I must say the Fullers are grateful today and everyday for our Veterans and all they have done for us. They are braver than me. We have many uncles, grandpas, and great grandpas that served. We love them all.

Husbands are great!

This weekend Jay tackled the basement with the kids. I have been fighting it forever and had no more energy for it. They all started working and four hours later it is done. Jay has the DVD player working, the VCR (yeah we still have one), the Wii, and the antenna. You must understand we only have rabbit ears so getting reception is next to impossible, this is the reason that for the last 6 months the only TV with reception was in our bedroom(it is easiest to get reception). So after nearly 5 hours Jay got rewarded with watching an edited version of the Tail of Despero. It is edited because Great American only has edited movies much to our frustration. Our family doesn't watch R rated movies and is really selective on the PG-13 movies. If the movies content is not what we want to watch we skip the whole movie but Great American takes the option completely. Then you never know if you can recommend the movie because you don't know what has been cut. So frustrating. But anyway my husband is great and really helpful. He makes dinner at least once a week and that takes the load off and some pressure. So hear is to my Honey YOUR THE MAN!

Friends

I just want to make a note of friends. I was told by a friend that blogs were a good way to write family histories so that is one of my biggest reasons for doing this. That and my friends asked me to so they could easily keep track of our family. My life would be boring without friends young and old. Today I had a friend stop by just to say hi. I was having one of those days that my laundry is behind and I had no clean clothes so I answered the door in b-ball shorts and a not matching t-shirt. My friend didnt even act like she noticed and we had a great visit then shortly after she left another great friend popped in to show me the quilts she had completed. My day went from busy and boring to relaxed and great. I also want to point out that some of my greatest inspiration comes from my friend and some of my best lessons learned so to all my friends thank-you and to my kids rember to alway be a good friend because you never know when it will make someones day.

My new calling

Well I now have a new calling, I am still Librarian, but now I am helping with quilts and crafts in Relief Society. It's not called Enrichment any more. Our last activity was making Humanitarian Quilts so here are some pics.

Well tonight is just another night. What makes it special? Well for starters Jay is working in Rexburg (yea) the kids are all in bed and quite (its only 10:30pm) its a miracle. Today I was asked what I have planned for the week and which nights I have free. I got to say that we had nothing going on this week. I must back track a little for those reading this that doesn't know my life. I had a friend call me up at the end of September and ask if we could get together for dinner sometime in October I had to say I didn't see a free night and that I would plan to get with her in November. She thought I was crazy and I can now say I was right I had two to three things going most days and then the kids got sick. I remember the day the H1-N1 vaccine clinic came, I had to take Gavin there just wasn't a choice, I actually thought yeah a few minutes or hours in line doing nothing sounds like heaven. Sadly there was not a line to be had and we were in and out in 30 min. Seriously I was sad my break had been cut short. So looking at my week and having nothing to do is great. So anyone that I have missed your phone call and forgot to call you back I am working on my call back list. Those who are waiting for the Humanitarian Quilts to be finished I might have them done by next week, and kids I might actually make some treats this week :). My mom used to tell me that she just wished for a week off that nobody knew about so she could just get caught up on her cleaning. I used to laugh, knowing that it just never would happen. I grew up in a family always on the run. I remember the day that my older brother had an accident and had to have stitches, mom called me to take him to the doctor because she just was to busy, I really thought being a "stay at home mom" would mean I would have time to spare just not the case. So tonight is special because I know that I will have 10 extra minutes tomorrow and I might have the urge to make a pie!
Oh and to the kids I help at the middle school I did spell check this and every one of the speacials I typed were wrong (they dont believe that I cant spell)

New Traditions

Well what do you do with the carved pumkins after halloween they dont burn they take up tons of room in the garbage so Jay had and idea. We would start a new tradition (there are some activities that you just know are going to happen every year once you have done it once). We blew them up for FHE! we dont have normal Family Home Evenings always, we have tried the song, prayer, lesson, song, prayer, treat format and since the boys refuse to sing and I just cant Makezie is kind of tone deaf we sound really bad (definitly doesnt envite the spirit). We have found we do things outside of the normal box we have the kids attention then BANG we do the lesson it fits us.

Happy Halloween

Well Halloween was great. All the kids were finally healthy. I'm not quite sure about Halloween on Saturday, it stretches it out to two days. The kids were bouncing off the walls Friday night so Jay took them bowling. It gave me a wonderful break and they had a ball. Well costumes were a little chaotic this year, with kids sick, and mom sick it seemed none of us had any inspiration about costumes. So last minute it was Kaelee was an Oompa Loom pa, Makenzie was Raggedy Ann, Gavin was Death, and Cache was a dinosaur (not to be confused with a lizard or a dragon). I ran out of time and energy to make Cache's costume so I had great guilt. He refused to wear any costume out of the Halloween box. I was extremely lucky when I found a dinosaur/lizard/dragon costume for half off. It was goofy but oh well he loved it and stayed warm.

The Fullers have been sick. Makenzie had it the worst and had to go to the ER on Saterday. As soon as we walked in she had to put on a mask. She ended up having pnemonia then developed H1N1 so she was sick. Kaelee also got sick and so did I. So the girls missed three days of school and I missed 1 week of work. Jay is now trying to get it. I think he just wants extra love so if you see him give him a hug.

Cache

Cache is last but my no means least. He is a great energetic kid who loves to cuddle and never do the same thing more than once. He is stubborn. This is really and understatement. He will argue with you that the sky is not blue. It is a he sees it. He is not going to kindergarten this year. He could have but he has a really late b-day so mom kept him home. Unfortunately he is to smart for his own good. He is going thru a dinosaur faze lucky us. He is ALWAYS happy and loves to be busy. Just don't put him in a crowd (like sharing time) and he will do anything. He is a mover and a shaker and is always crafting or inventing something. We really love him. Oh and he is freaked out by the idea of spiders. He is usually a tough guy but he is a softy. He is a lot like his dad.

Gavin

Gavin is the man. He is all boy. He is really social and love to make people laugh. He loves to hang out with his dad doing everything under the sun. His quote of the week,"mom, all the girls love me what am I going to do?" Everyone asks about his hair. So here is the story- He likes to be different. He doesn't like the feeling of getting his hair cut, and He hates when people pet his freshly shaved head. Then he began to notice that all his favorite motocross riders had longer hair. Then he noticed that all the boys on Disney Chanel have long hair. My mom always said to let your kids do what ever they want with their hair because if you let them rebel in that way they wont search out other ways to rebel. So it all adds up to Gavin has long hair. My favorite part of the story is when Gavin pulled on his motorcycle helmet and couldn't see to ride he grabbed some scissors and cut the front so he could see. So he is still growing that mishap out.
Gavin is a great kid who loves to have fun. I love to hear him giggle because it is infectious. He is getting caught up on his reading skills last night he did all his math homework by himself even the story problem, and he got all the problems right this was huge but that is Gavin he either does it BIG or not at all.

Makenzie

Well to have a fair blog I should probably tell about each of the kids. Today it is all Makenzie. She is the kid who is just so happy and helpful and never complains that sometimes she gets shuffled aside. But not today. She has to be the most natural eternal optimist ever. She looks to the bright side of everything. She is very tender hearted. On Sunday we walked into the chapel (of course we were late so we were in the overflow) and she shuffled in and got the most coveted seat in our row by Dad. Since the new job and being gone alot any time with him is the best. So Jay asked her to go get a program because we dint recognize the family giving talks. She got up got the programs and while she was gone Gavin slid over and stole he spot. We usually go by "If you shuffle your feet you lose your seat motto" Most of the time it cuts out most of the arguments so this day she sat next to Gavin put her head in her hands and started to cry softly. Well Jay having a huge heart and not being able to see a girl cry quickly made Gavin move. I'm told by the people sitting behind us that it was quite the little show. That is just Kenzie. She is great at sports. It probably isn't nice to say but she has way more natural talent then Kaelee. She is supper tall and skinny. (who would have thought I would have a kid that was skin and bones) She is doing great in school and is currently between extra activities. So she spends her time with friends. (which she had a million of) She is our boy crazy one. Jay went on a field trip with her and was shocked to see her flirt right back when the boys were flirting with her. Our Makenzie is great and is definitely alot of the glue that holds my sanity together she is always there to help in some small way. We love her yea yea yea.

Tonight we went on a family adventure. That is what we call it so the kid will get in the car. When the finally ask where are we going we always say,"CRAZY". Our family adventures are just a drive to somewhere usually decided after we get in the car. We usually end up hiking. We love these adventures because it just us. Tonight we went up past Green Canyon. We were in the car (the truck was out of gas) so we couldn't go up high. Our goal was to see lots of fall leaves. We should have known that since we've had wind, snow, rain, and did I mention wind since the temperature changed there wouldn't be many leaves. But we didn't think that far in advance so we went. The boys wanted to find Elk I wanted leaves or pics I settled with pics. I love making the kids climb up on huge rocks, hills, or in brush and pretend for a moment I know how to take a picture. My delusion only lasts until I hit the click button then on the screen it shows my mess. That how it works at our house.

Well tonight is good, Jay is home. (yeah) I get to sleep. I have to explain. I don't sleep. This is a fact it is a medical fact but I wont go into that. I take meds to help me sleep. When I am asleep I have a hard time waking up. So when Jay is gone I don't feel comfortable to take all my meds because I know that with four kids I will have to wake up at least once throughout the night. So I don't sleep! So when Jay is home it is time to sleep yeah. So it is going to be a good night.

Kaelee wont go to bed

Yes I know I said that the boys were tormenting her but I went up stairs and Kaelee was watching TV not doing homework. We all need to be proud of her because the boys are still alive and in one piece after tormenting her. So Yeah Kaelee.
Well I will take a moment to tell you about Kaelee. She is now 12 and is acting her age. She is quite the snot(she is reading over my shoulder he he) No really she is a great kid. She usually keeps me in line. She just got done with School Volleyball and is waiting for traveling basketball to start. Now if you have sons she is anti boy (she is still reading over my shoulder) but she is super cute so maybe show them a picture in about 4 years. She is doing great in school and is guaranteed a spot in Jazz Band if she trys out. She has charmed the teacher or something. She is currently working on her first quilt. She picked out the pattern, then the material with a little help, and is now sewing it. It is for a Young Women's goal so she has to finish it. Well now that I have bragged she might go to bed. :)

I am here

Well I or we now have a blog. That is so funny to me because yesterday I figured out how to upload pictures. Well I guess I am supposed to say whatever and Katie just so you know I am doing this because of you!!!! Well it is now bed time at the Fuller house one child is asleep no not the youngest it Makenzie. She is the easiest to get to bed the boys are running around. Kaelee is trying to get them in bed because they are tormenting her. I gave up about 30 min ago. So I am writing this I have decided that I am not the average mom or a super mom I am just me. Believe it or not I will have the kids on the bus tomorrow on time (they are not staying home with me). I will make breakfast in the morning no guarantees that all four will eat. If it is not scrambled eggs the boys are hit and miss. The girls are sick of eggs. Makenzie is great with yogurt and Kaelee prefers carbs like pancakes, waffles, french toast, and in her dreams hot Cinnamon rolls. So we generally have eggs because getting two of them to eat is better than just one.
Jay is out town tonight I really should be used to this but by the middle of the week I need a grown up, but really I just need him. He is my sidekick or I am his whichever makes him feel the manliest. So having him gone I have learn a few things, like having a 125lb dog sleep at the foot of your bed is comforting. I really find this funny because when Jay is around ICE(the dog) protects the kids, when Jay is gone ICE protects me (I am that big of a wimp) I have also learned the kids prefer Dominoes pizza to just about anything I can make, and it is quicker and easier.(Jay wonders why we a sick of pizza on the weekends he will never know). I have learned that I can drive through a migraine I just may get tested for drunk driving, but hey my kids get where they need to be. I have learned that even though it sucks to miss Jay like this I can do it. I can survive to Friday when he will be home. I can do this. Well as you can probably tell I am still trying to believe the last part. But come Friday all four kids are alive (barely), fed (most of the time), most of the homework is done, and I am hoping I only got four more grey hairs.