Help...

Does anyone have solutions or suggestions of how to deal with a very angry 5 year old? Lance gets soooo angry sometimes, and I try to cuddle him, distract him, put him in time-out, read to him, threaten him, etc, etc, etc. He gets this growl on and runs around hitting or saying he'll kill someone. Should I just beat it out of him????? (JK sort of!)

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10...

My Baby is Four :(...

Joey is four years old today, although I had to remind him that it is now OK to be four. (We had a big discussion 2 months ago that he WAS NOT four yet!).

He got some Thomas toys and a game for his birthday, so our family room has been transformed to the Island of Sodor. It's almost 2:00 and he's still in his pj's (bad mom!). He got a phone call from Goeffrey the giraffe from Toys R Us, then from Grammy. Can you guess which call he was more excited about?!?!?! We are having Vietnamese for dinner tonight and an ice cream pie for a cake. Dad has a Silver Thread (see sidebar link) interview, so it will just be mom and the kids! What a kicked-back b-day!

Happy Birthday to my very sweet four-year-old with a nice shiner!!!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

A happy Holiday wish to all our friends and family! We think of you at this wonderful season and wish you the very best, with all our love and hugs...

May you have a very merry season and have a wonderful new year!

My Christmas Wish List

1. Peace in my house for 30 minutes...
2. A package of paper cups so I don't have to wash cups.
3. Children who don't complain about doing chores.
4. Painted toenails.
5. A clean house without me having to do it!
6. A good hair day.
7. Hugs - NOT Zerbets!!!
8. More time with my friends and sister.
9. More time...
10. All my loved ones to know I love them and appreciate their influence in my life!

The Reason!!!!

So, this is the reason (one of them) we went to Arizona. We are the proud owners of a Toyota "Surburban". It's actually a Sequoia, but my brother has a Suburban so he calls my sister's Expedition a "Ford Suburban", so we jumped on the bandwagon.





We needed a vehicle we could take camping, and this one has eight seats, so our big, huge teenager can spread out, and I can separate those children who choose to fight while we are in the car...

So if you know anyone looking for a nice 2000 Ford Windstar van, it's for sale!

And, yes, it is our Christmas present to ourselves!

Our Thanksgiving Weekend

He must have been trying to shock me, because Thao suggested we go down to Arizona to spend thanksgiving with my sister. Four and half years ago he swore he wouldn't go back (he got a speeding ticket on that trip)! So I rushed through my mini-week to prepare to leave Wednesday am with my parents in tow (not literally).

We had a wonderful time enjoying each other and spending the first semi-Stowell Thanksgiving dinner in over eight years. And the weather was beautiful! Carri and mom made an awesome turkey dinner ( I helped a bit), Carri wowed us with her mastery of swimsuit making, Sam entertained and loved Joey, and the big girls were inseperable, and Uncle Brandon was awesome about taking Todd and Aaron hiking, then playing all kinds of sports in their huge "front yard".

We had a wonderful time!

On our way home, we stopped at the Grand Canyon to be thankful for God's amazing creations! If you have never been there - go!!! Next to Arches, Yosemite and Lake Tahoe, it's one of my favorites!

Now, on to the reality of finishing up the Reflections Art Contest for the school, doing laundry (endlessly), and getting ready for Christmas. Maybe tomorrow I'll tell you WHY Thao wanted to go to Arizona!!!!!!

I'm Baaaack!

hehehe...
I will now take back my blog...but it will have to be later! Todd has his own, and I need to post again. We had an ABSOLUTELY AMAZING time in Arizona for Thanksgiving, with a YUMMY turkey dinner. THANK YOU, EKBERGS! A few pleasant surprises like Sam and Joey bonding, fun watching Grandpa play baseball and watching my boy's shocked faces when I hit the baseball TWICE! It was great to spend time with Carri and Mom, and see how mellow Thao was about being there! I will put pictures on when I find my camera (I'm still unpacking)...

TODD!!!

Guess what? I got my own blog! look at the links... then check it out!!!

From Todd =)

Technical Difficulties

So, it's me again, and I have an update on my guitar progress. Crazy train is learned, One is perfected, Sweet child o' mine is in progress. I said I was going to post some videos on my mothers hilariously lame (just kidding) blog, but we are having some technical difficulties, aka my mom. So since my mom isn't willing to post some videos right now, I'll have to wait. Anyway, I don't like my mom's personality on this blog, so I'll be choosing to make my own blog sometime in the distant future.

By the way, Dan, I like your new blog, I posted some comments.

=)

TODD

During the time period in which my mom has been forced to make a blog by my aunt, there has not been much of me in the blog except for the "Personal guitar hero" thing, which was pretty embarrassing. Anyway, the only reason my mom says those things about me is because I'm freakin' amazing at three things, soccer(and yes to all you football players, it's cooler that your demented oval-shaped ball game), art, and music, most of all. Specifically, guitar. Me and my friend Andrew are the best guitar players in our grade (and that's saying something, because Andrew still sucks, lol, Just kidding, he rocks), and he can play every song that I can play, except for "One, by Metallica". Unfortuneatly, in the last two days, he's learned a song that I can't play, to be specific, "Crazy Train, by Ozzy Ozborne", yes, parents, "eww", but at least I have some competition now. Anyway, I have another friend Greg, who plays the bass, and he is self-taught but he's friggin' amazing. He's trying to learn the bass part to "Sweet Child o' Mine, by Guns N' Roses", and I can already play the guitar part, so when we get together again, we'll make a video, and you can see our awesomeness. Also, when I can play "Crazy Train" I'll make a video of that. Well, I think I've babbled on long enough, so rock on, and peace out(lol, just kidding, hippies suck!!!)!

So Very Thankful Thursday

A few weeks ago, my best friend's hubby went to the doctor becuase he had a lump in his bicep. It turned out to be a tumor the size of a golfball, and they didn't know how bad it was. It was very scary in many ways, and iI worried so much for both of them. Last week he went in for a biopsy, and I got a call last night that it is BENIGN!!!! I am so grateful for that he will be OK, and so will their awesome family. Prayers truly are answered, but I also know that we are strengthened through our trials. And I am SOOO grateful for friends!

Monday Madness

For my very favorite sister (okay, my only sister), I have changed your comment line, just as you asked. Now I'm contemplating all sorts of other changes to your blog. I'm thinking it should be something like a treasure hunt. Can you find all the stuff I did? Should I give you a few hints? Like maybe I made 5 changes. Can you find them all?



Love you bunches!

Thankful Thursday!

I am thankful I do not have my neighbor's tree. It is big and beautiful, but when it drops leaves, you don't wanna be there. You can hear leaves dropping from our yard. So for any of you who are complaining about raking leaves, check out the car and the sidewalk. And this is just from today!!!

the rest of the Halloween Pictures

Yep, those are my toes, and they are glow-in-the-dark, too!

Yes, I Still Live...

Ok - enough harrassment! It's been a busy week and I was sick last week (that really sucked, by the way!).

Then we had Halloween -what fun! My daughter was beautiful, thanks in HUGE part to my AWESOME sister for making her costume. Aaron was a ninja (?), Lance is Spidey and Joey was Thomas the Tank Engine. Todd wears a shirts that says "I don't do costumes". What a party-pooper.

On Halloween night, our power surged and smelled like it fried something. So I called Rocky Mountain Power, they came 35 minutes later, and told us the transformer was faulty (the boys got really excited when he mentioned "transformer"). Sunday they came to replace the unit, and the kids felt sorry for them! I was really grateful they came so fast, and I sure have learned to appreciate my electricity!

Today, Lance and Joe are building train tracks. Down the hall and into the kitchen and past. And they are asking for MORE tracks!!!!!

Then there is outside. Beautiful, but do I have to go out? Boy, am I grateful for a garage!

You're a turkey!!!

Hope you like your new look--if not, why don't you POST something every now and then???

More fall pictures from my yard!

IT IS ACTUALLY MUCH PRETTIER IN PERSON.

aaron has new glasses. by lance

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

This is my own personal Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde! His other alias is Aaron. He is in 6th Grade, he has brown eyes than now can see more details with his lovely glasses. He has brown hair sometimes (depending on Halloween or crazy hair day). He loves all sorts of animals except for the little brother variety - he just puts up with them. He sure is cute and he gives awesome back and foot rubs. And he says : TEE-HEE!!! to all

Welcome, Fall, to my backyard!

Who are Those Painted Kids?

Cool face painting on my cute kids! Too bad I had to wash it off last night!