Yeah, yeah, yeah; I know it's about time. But we'll just bypass all the excuses and get to the bloggin'. It has been since October since I've written, so of course, a lot has happened. We still live in the same house and the same ward and have the same callings. I still work at the same place, but have been greatly blessed in my employment. The kids are growing and they are always involved in something.
Tyler turned 10 in February and he continues to be a good student and a stud athlete. He is presently playing Little League and got drafted up to the Majors division, so he plays with kids who are mostly 12 and some 11. His team has already wrapped up the top seed for the tournament and the regular season ends this week. Unfortunately, he plays for the Yankees. It's tough when we love the Red Sox so much, but I still cheer for him and his team. Although, I have yet to say: "Go Yankees!" all season.
Bailey turned 8 just a couple of weeks ago and she is excited to be getting baptized on June 11. It will be a great experience. She is also very thrilled to be in Activity Days and enjoys doing those girly things with other girls; which gives her a respite from a house full of boys. She is also playing baseball and doing quite well. She enjoys Zumba and will probably take a kids' Zumba class this summer.
Trevin is hard core into sports and right now with baseball in full swing, he can't stop playing, watching, or talking about it. He is obsessed, which is OK sometimes, and others, not so much. He is on Bailey's team and is also doing well. He looked like a vacuum out there at his last game as he made play after play while most of the rest of the kids just stand and watch. He has learned to read very well and he has enjoyed his first year of school. He turns 6 in June.
Caden is as feisty as ever. He turned 4 in April and lately he has become quite a handful again. We are trying to be as patient as possible and enjoy the moments when he chooses to be happy. He really wants to play baseball on a team, like his siblings and he has actually improved quite a bit since last year. He must be a Livingston. He just finished another session of preschool and enjoyed it, especially those days he got to play baseball outside and hit some "big homers."
Ammon is almost 2. Yeah, can you believe it? He is already into baseball like all of his brothers. He has quite the stance and can slide into a base like a real champ. He's got a great arm for a 2 year old, too. He still doesn't talk much, but has finally started to say a few words. He has also shown an interest in the potty, which we are quite happy about. Now we need to do something about it. His birthday is a week after Trevin's, and then we'll be done with kid birthdays for the year 2011, except the one that is due in December......wait for it....wait for it.....wait for it.....JUST KIDDING!
In all honesty, we think we are done. I'll spill the beans and say that we have tried for several months and it seems that it's just not meant to be; and we are fine with that if that is the case. So for all of you who think it's time for us to have another, or want to ask if we are going to have anymore, the answer is: We tried and it doesn't look like it's going to happen.
So there is probably a lot more that I have missed, but when you try to recap more than 7 months, a lot of the details get cloudy. On the plus side, I do have some funnies saved up. And although some of them are about 6 months old, they're still funny. So enjoy!
Much to our dismay, one of the PE teachers at the kids’ school likes to play Justin Beiber songs during PE time; and Trevin seems to have taken a liking to those songs. So he told Carol and all his siblings the other day that he was singing a Justin Beiber song and two girls from his class “were totally laughing. But it didn’t mess me up.”
Tyler was by our back door and he saw a bug and shouted: “Look, a scorpion.” He was totally serious, too. Carol questioned him and he reiterated his claim. So Carol walked over to investigate and said: “Tyler, that’s an earwig, not a scorpion.”
Carol makes these little rib-it sounds (that’s what I call them) from time to time. She has no control over it and it’s kind of like a gurgle deep in her throat. (By the way, she’s not exactly happy that I’m telling you all this, but I have to for this story. So when you see her, don’t speak frog to her.) Anyways, we were saying prayer and Caden was sitting on her lap with his head on her chest. She did one of her “rib-its” and Caden swiftly picked up his head and said with a smile: “Whoa! Who was that?”
So Bailey is totally into teaching. That is pretty much what she does with about 95% of her free time at home; pretend to teach an imaginary class. So Carol asked her for some Christmas ideas, other than teaching stuff, and she responded: “I want one of those things that goes around my neck.” Carol kind of asked for a clarification, and she said: “You know. Mine would say: ‘Bailey Livingston. Staff.’” Then she said she also wanted boys’ and girls’ bathroom passes for her class. She’s not messing around.
Caden was looking through his Halloween candy and was going to have a piece. He pulled out a Tootsie Pop and asked if it had milk. They do. He then proceeded to take out all of his dum dum suckers because he said they had milk, too. Carol came along and tried to correct him. She told him that just the Tootsie Pop had milk and that the others were fine. He then picked it up, looked at it as though he were reading it and said: “No. It says...contains milk.”
Carol told Caden that he needed to get ready for preschool one morning, but he said he didn’t want to go. She told him, he would be fine and he needed to get ready. He then said: “But there will be fat guys.”
We were talking about Tyler being baptized and then we mentioned that Bailey will be taking that step in 6 months. Carol said: “In six months, Bailey, you’ll be giving a talk at your own baptism,” (cuz that is what Tyler did). An then I said: “That means you’ll have to go under water, too,” (which she hates). Bailey then replied: “Yeah, I know. I’m gonna wear goggles.”
Carol got me a card for our anniversary, which you can see here.
I brought it out and said to the kids: “Who wants to see this picture me and mommy took for our anniversary? Don’t we look good?” The kids all gathered to take a look and with Bailey holding it, Trevin said in all seriousness: “That doesn’t look like them.”
Caden’s nursery leader was released recently and put in the primary. So as Carol and the kids got home from church her first week gone, Caden announced to everyone: “Mary wasn’t my teacher anymore.” Then after a pause added: “And I am not happy about that.”
We were leaving the baseball field and arrived at our van, when Caden blurted out: “What the heck?” Then, after a very short pause said: “Why do I just keep saying ‘What the heck’?”
We were finishing dinner and Ammon had been eating a ton, which is quite unusual for him. Earlier, he and his brothers were running around shirtless playing pirates. I made the comment about Ammon: “I guess all that running around naked made you hungry.” I then added as a joke of course: “Makes sense. When I go running around the block naked at night after you guys go to bed, I get hungry, too.” I expected some comments, but this is all I got; from Trevin, in a “who are you trying to kid?” kind of tone: “You don’t jog.”
