Gratitude

What an amazing head Jackson has. It's been through so much. As you see from the pictures, the doctors did such a great job on his head. (jury is still out on the helmet doctor)

We've been so worried about his health lately that I didn't notice that something was wrong with his head. I thought everything was over and done with. Jeremy and I had been noticing more and more lumps on his head. But we just thought we were noticing things that had been there all along, but were just now noticing. Until last week. His head is swelling on top, fore head, and his left temple. The top of his head is red now and with all of his long hair it was hard to see. Which was the point of his long hair to start with. The hard part is that his doctor is in Houston and when you call you have to leave messages. He has a GI appointment that I've been waiting for 6 week to go to. The kids have school and Jeremy has work. Of course we can work around all of that. It just means asking friends for help. I'm so worried, I hope the Doctor calls us back tomorrow and can get us in Wednesday. (Jackson has had a low grade fever for 3 or 4 weeks, but he's cutting two teeth, so who knows what to think with his diarhea, fever, swelling, and crankiness)

I hope everyone knows that my worries and heartaches are not the for lack of gratitude for what the Lord has given me or lack of faith that the Lord is all knowing and loves me and all of you.

Our lesson on Sunday was on Gratitude. I pose a question for all that read this blog. Is there a difference in having gratitude in our trials and gratitude for our trials? and is it required of us to have both? I will be waiting for all your posts. I will have to admit, I have a very hard time understanding gratitude for trials. My answer to my own question will have to wait till I've done more studying and pondering.

Always a Party

Our goal each evening is to survive until about 7:15. This is the time each night when the event known as "getting ready for bed" takes place. It truely is an event. It's a clash of agendas. Ours vs. theirs. A clash of the titans. Us vs. them. Although very small, the kids collectively can wield quite a bit of influence as to the tone of the event. They remind me of fire ants. You see them, but don't pay much attention to them by themselves. In numbers, however, they can strike fear into you, no matter how big you are, and can inflict discomfort - even pain - seemingly with no warning.

Some nights are better than others, and even some nights bring with them some of the best "moments". After teeth brushing, potty, jammies, scriptures, 1 book and prayer, Chauntel usually puts Kayla down and Isaac and I head to the room together. Jackson is a toss up. We take turns with him, and we both have our own way of doing it. He just goes with the flow and understands that Dad does it this way, and Mom does it that way. Mom tells me how well Kayla is reading to her at night and I get to share stories like this to her about Isaac and mine's conversations:

Isaac has been wanting a cat for a while now. He says that, "when they meow, they just make me so happy". He asked me again for a cat the other night and I explained to him that cats make daddy sick because I'm allergic to them. He asked, "You don't want me to have a cat, Dad?". I told him again that I just can't be around them because they make me sneeze. He then said, " Well, maybe you can go where there are no Dads." I just told him that I'd look into finding that place and he covered up and went right to bed.

Once the kids are down, it's party time. There's usually a different party almost every night. There's the 24 party (on DVD), the I'll do dishes you do the floors party, and one of my favorites: our folding parties. I can usually tell when one of these are sneaking up on me because there's just no socks or underwear in the drawer one day. As I walk by the laundry room on my way out, that quick glance I give reconfirms the party planned for that night: about a 4 basket laundry folding party. YEAH BABY!!!

The other night we had a combined party: the Heroes (1st season on DVD) and folding party. We try to spice it up however we can. I've tried the topless folding party but with me being the only participant, it really wasn't as much fun as I thought it would be.

It's always a bonus when you get the over-flowing basket to start with and fold, and then realize that there are 2 big towels in the mix. YEAH! Done in no time! You then announce to the other spouse how lucky you are. That this was the towel basket.

It's also great when you start digging into the baskets how you can almost "hear" the clothes. Certain shirts or outfits bring an instant smile to you; thinking of Isaac wearing this shirt and how he said that he has to wear this one because he is a hoop star, and hoop stars wear this shirt. Or Makayla's running shorts that she likes to jog in around the block with Mom sometimes in the evening. I think of her coming back through the door with her red cheeks. Sometimes I get lucky and spend a little extra time in thought when I get to fold one of Momma's "pretty" items of clothing. Those are good memories.

The other night though, it was a little sock that made me stop for a while. It was one of Jackson's and as I picked it up, I immediately heard him running his lap through the living room, family room, and kitchen as he likes to do in the amazing time of about 20 seconds. I could hear his mumbling voice trying to tell me about something that was important to him as he made the final turn from the kitchen back into the living room, but what he was trying to say I'll never really know about. It's funny how important it was to get them down for bed so quickly can turn to missing them and when you hear a noise, running up to their aid to see if perhaps you can spend another moment with them before the night is gone.

This is more of a journal entry probably, but I don't have mine handy right now.

So as for the Logsdon's home, if it's past 8:15 and we don't aswer the phone, it's probably because of the party that's going on.

Some Logsdon Clips

We'll put more videos up now that we know how to. And just for Uncle Mike, there'll surely be more of that great geetar music. Just for you little bro.

The clip of Isaac rockin' out is great. I walked in the door one day and he said, Dad, Dad! watch! and he just did his thing.

Since Chauntel and I refuse to buy furniture for our front room that we'll never use, it has turned into a football/soccer/gymnastics/guess where game (mom and dad - after hours) room.

I'm Jeremy's groupie

here is a video of jeremy playing around on the guitar. i hope it's a good video clip. we didn't watch it before, to screen it for public viewing. we're trying to figure out the whole video clips for our blog thing.

Broken Camera!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The kids playing in their fort in the living room

O.K. so our brand new camera (used off of eBay) is broken. Not our fault this time. Except for buying it used in the first place. I sent it back to the guy and he's going to fix it or replace it. We'll see.

We did buy a new video camera. We haven't had a video camera for like three or more years. We left it on an air plane somewhere between Houston and who knows where. No one turned it in of course. They scored a bunch of Logsdon home videos. I hope they enjoy those:)

We are a new and improved (try to eat extra extra healthy) family. If anyone has any great healthy healthy dinner ideas, let me know. Oh and ideas on getting kids to eat healthy would be nice. Our kids have gone to bed starving for a week now. Poor kids, we have a video clip of them scream hysterically at the dinner table. I'm thinking of buy Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld. Maybe if I sneak it they'll eat it (as long as it's in chicken nugget form:)

I think Makayla's playground worries are OK for the time being. I went to lunch with her again and she had Jeffery eat with us. I asked him what his favorite things about recess were. He said Makayla chasing him and playing soccer. Makayla smiled at that.

I think shouts are going to be a regular visitor to my blog:

GOOD LUCK MY SISTER IN LAW AMY ON YOUR TEST TO BE A TURBO KICK INSTRUCTOR

CONGRATULATIONS POPPY ON BEING CANCER FREE

GOOD LUCK TO MY SISTER ROCHELLE WITH STARTING CHEMO YESTERDAY, YOU'LL DO GREAT

CONGRATULATIONS MAKAYLA FOR BEING SUCH A GOOD READER (she read 5 books to me last night with HARDLY any help)

CONGRATULATIONS ISAAC FOR GET THREE LEAVES ON THE COMPLIMENT TREE (for being a special helper with out being asked and raising your hand so good)

CONGRATS AND GOOD LUCK TO MY SISTER KENDALL WHO IS HAVING TWIN BABY BOYS

GOOD LUCK TO MY MOM WITH ALL THE CRAZINESS IN YOUR LIFE, YOU CAN DO IT

CONGRATULATION TO JEREMY FOR MARRYING SUCH A GREAT LADY, GOOD LUCK WITH THAT ALSO


this is too much fun i don't know if i can stop i'm sure i'll do it again so don't be sad if i forgot you

Another Shout Out

I can't get this photo any bigger. Some of you may not know that I have five amazing sisters. It was always A LOT of fun growing up with five girls, six girls, if you count mom. We kind of took over, but dad handled everything wonderfully. I aways thought that's what made me unique or different from those around me (having big family full of only girls) I always knew I'd have a big family just like it someday. Now that I have half as many as my mom, I realize truly how amazing she is. Our family has been through so much, but through it all, my parents have never let their testimonies waiver. They've always been strong in the gospel and totally 100% committed and in love with one another. To a child, that's just the way it should be - no exception, but now as an adult I see how much hard work they put in o each other, the kids, and the church, none of that just happens.

And of that hard work there are six amazing daughters (most now mothers). No matter how different our lives are or our choices may be, we each are loved. My oldest sister, Rochelle is actually who I'm shouting out. She is one of the most feisty women I know. She's truly able and capable of fighting anything that comes her way. She is strong. And along with that I know that there is a lovely Heavenly Father. He knows her, he loves her, and he is all powerful and knowing. I know this; if there's anything in this life that I know, that's it. Seasons change, ideas, and attitudes change, but I know that there is a God who watches over us. (1 Nephi 3: 1 Nephi says ..for he (the Lord) is mightier than all the earth, So why not Laban and his fifty, yea, or even than his tens of thousands?

I say, for the Lord is mightier than all the earth, so why not cancer. It happens everyday, if you just look around, MIRACLES.

Pumpkin Patch, Recess, and More

Isaac on the hayride with some of his class friends. I was amazed at how well he listened and followed directions. Of course I saw a few slip ups, but oh well. Here's Jackson on the hayride. He had a good time.
Jackson was so brave. He fed the cows twice and the goat a few times. He did get scared a few times. Isaac said he didn't want to get slobber on himself (he's scared of everything)

I was able to go to the pumpkin patch with Isaac's preschool class. I took Jackson with me, I wasn't much help, but I think Jackson had a really good time. We went on a hay ride, fed the goats, sheep, and cows. Then we were able to pick out a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch. It was so nice out and it was a real fun time. I think Isaac does a whole lot better without me around though. He through a few tantrums because I wouldn't give him and Jackson Cheez-its. It was pretty embarassing, but I'll survive.

Makayla would just die if she knew that I was going to tell everyone this. From the first day of school she had two best friends, Jeffery, and Kaylee. Last week I went to eat lunch with her at school. She is allowed to pick one friend to come and eat with her. She chose Kaylee even though Jeffery was asking to join her. I think he got his feelings hurt. From that day til yesterday, which has been 5 school days, she says no one will play with her at recess. It breaks my heart in two. I emailed her teacher yesterday because she went to the nurses office with an upset tummy on her way out to recess. She told me the first day no one would play with her, she sat on the ground with her face in her hands:( We'll see how she does today. Her teacher said that she's always nice and great in the class and at recess, but that she would keep an eye on her.

Jackson is starting to speak a little better. He says car now and cool, wow, and dog. He loves playing with cars this last week. It's so cute. I catch him rolling cars along everything (couches, floors, walls) and running them into each other. He's also been lining them all up in rows :) Jackson's Dr appointment is Nov. 8th hopefully someone will cancell and they'll get us in earlier.

love ya all

REFLUX?

JACKSON EATING A WHOLE PEACH. I LOVE THAT HE'LL EAT ALMOST ANYTHING I TRY TO GIVE HIM. (almost, as long as it small portion all day long)
ISAAC AT THE FOOTBALL GAME. WHAT A CUTE KID!!!!!

So, I forgot to add something. I don't know yet, but Jackson may have reflux. I feel so bad. I thought the doctor was crazy for thinking that he had reflux. She mentioned reflux every time i went in to see her, but she never told me the signs to look for. All I knew about reflux is that as a baby you spit up all the time. He didn't a whole lot and now that he's older, he never spits up. Until a few weeks ago. He spit up twice and when he has anything with cheddar or straight milk he throws up (I thought he was just allergic) I got on a web page that gave like ten signs of reflux and he has like 8. I have to call the G.I. specialist today. I've already seen him, (like 5 months ago) but he's the one that will test him for reflux. I'm very excited that we may know whats wrong with him and that there's something we can do about it. I don't know much about it. So I don't know it he'll grow out of it or what. Hopefully he'll start eating, growing, and cheer up a lot.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SHOUT OUT TO ANGELA

THANK YOU! ANGELA SENT US BOX TOPS! AWESOME!!!!
MAKAYLA GOT HER FACE PAINTED LIKE A TIGER AT A BIRTHDAY PARTY. SHE HAD FUN CHASING THE BOYS AT THE STAKE PARTY THAT NIGHT!!!!
THE BOYS, ENJOYING THE FOOTBALL GAME. ISAAC ONLY STAYS FOR THE FOOD. JACKSON ENJOYS THE GAME A LITTLE MORE THAN THE FOOD!!!!!
MAKAYLA OUR MIGHTY MUSTANG, AND HER PROUD DAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MOM WAS PROUD TOO. WE'VE ALWAYS KNOWN MAKAYLA IS RESPONSIBLE AND CONSIDERATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

yesterday I had to rent a carpet doctor, because spilt half a galloon of paint on the carpet in my front room (formal dining room) I totally freaked, but I think I got it all up. It was white paint so it came up a little easier than the red paint all over jackson room. Here is still a red haze all over his room. And the purple and red make up didn't come up off of Isaac's room, and the purple soda on the stairs is barely noticeable now, and the red juice in the toy room is covered by a rug etc................................ So I guess the carpet will need replaced before we ever try to sell this place. Thank goodness jeremy didn't get his way, to recarpet before we moved in:)

My new Kitchen Aid!!!!!

Yeah!! I bought a kitchen aid. I've been wanting a kitchen aid for 7 years (no joke) So today I was at target and it just so happened they were marking all their show models down because they are moving locations. :) I'm going to make bread, cookies, and cake everyday!!! Well maybe not everyday. But I may gain 10 pounds ( my husband says he'd like that )

I just bought tickets to go to a local high school play of Beauty and the Beast. Our home teacher is playing Gaston. We're going to take Makayla and Isaac. We'll leave the baby with a sitter. It should be fun, if Isaac will sit through it.

We're also going to the high school football game tonight. The baby loves to go to the games. Makayla loves the cheerleaders. The head cheerleader is in our stake and the kids are just in love with her. It's a little embarrassing. Isaac has a crush on one of the laurals in our ward. One week he wouldn't go to primary because he wanted to go to class with her. She's a really good sport about it.

Links!!!!!!

It's only been over a year and I finially figured out how to do links!!!!!

BOX TOPS

So Makayla and I have been saving up box tops ALL summer. Box Top$ are on different product boxes (go-gurts, cake mixes, and bisquick, to name a few). We've save up like 30. Her class was in the lead for awhile but isn't anymore. So I was thinking, if any of Makayla's Aunts, Uncles, grammys, or grandmas use products with box top$ on them, it would be really awesome if you just saved them up for awhile and mailed them to us. We're also doing Tyson's Project A+ So if you buy tyson chicken nugget save the top label and mail it to us. Don't worry if you don't buy these products it's no big deal, but if you do, I know Makayla would just be thrilled if you mailed them to her. The money goes directly to her school and it's used at the end of the year to buy really neat stuff the school would otherwise not be able to afford.

I noticed Isaac wrote his name on one of his papers at school. I'm so excited for him. He's doing really well at school (as far as I know)

I was cleaning up my kitchen today after lunch and found, Makayla school notebook. We forgot to pack it for school. Which means she won't get a stamp in it today and she won't get a treasure at the end of the week. She'll be so upset. She checks twice a day to make sure she's had me sign by her stamp everyday and gets so excited on Friday when they get a treasure for five days of remembering to get mom or dad's signiture by her daily stamp. She's so cute about all of her school stuff. I'm afriad she'll get sick, for how much she wants to please everyone (mom, dad, teachers).

Thank You

Thank you for all the comments. I can't remember if I blogged about Makayla's Birthday. She had a Hanna Montana Party. I bought wigs, make-up and sparkly scarves for everyone. We dressed up and took pictures as Hanna Montana and her friend Lola. It was a lot of fun. There were about five girls and they seemed to have a good time. I made phelt purses for everyone and we decorated them with glitter, jewels, and phelt flowers and hearts. I had so much fun.

Makayla took blueberry muffins to school for her birthday and Dad went to the school and had lunch with her. I'm her class mom, copy making mom, and cutting stuff out at night mom. I enjoy it. I didn't volunteer for class mom. They just needed one and I felt bad that the teacher was having to beg me. I did say no twice though and then eventually said yes. I love making copies at the school once a month and cutting stuff out, two or three times and month, but class mom may be too much. We'll see.

Isaac is having a hard time with not wanting to write his name or write in his journal at school. The only thing I can think of is that he's embarrassed because he doesn't know how very well. I tried to work on it today with him. I even had fun little marker boards Grammy made them to practice their letters but he refused. I don't know what to do.

So Jeremy has a new calling at church. He's the first counselor in the bishopric. He's a little sad because he LOVED working with the 16 and 17 year old young men in the ward. And I'm a little worried because I have to sit alone in sacrament meeting again. But mostly we're just glad to be able to serve and for the opportunity it will give to get to know the ward and serve. We love our ward so much all ready.

Last night was enrichment night for the Relief Society women at church. We had a Spiritual Spa night. It was so much fun. I taught a little mini class on health and nutrition. I really enjoy speaking and teaching. It's always a lot of fun to prepare for and present. I'm on the Enrichment Board. I had to make treats and gift bags for everyone. It's really nice to have it over and done with.

Was that your dad Makayla?

So Kayla had a Bingo night at her school last night. It was for the whole family and she was really excited for all of us to go. So we went and had ice cream and watched Isaac flick Bingo chips off the table between and during the games. It doesn't take much for those things to become weapons. It was fun watching the kids playing and getting really close to winning. They had ice cream and had a really good time until we told Isaac he couldn't have more ice cream.

In the midst of the noise and commotion, a letter and number was called out and out of all the people in the room, (there had to be at least 200 playing) my card was the winner! BINGO!!!! I yelled really loud, so proud of my accomplishment. The lady then came over to check my card. As she yelled to the main lady with the microphone in front of the entire crowd in attendance my letters and numbers that I had covered, it seems as if N-45 was never called. Then why did I have it covered? Was there some Bingo experience in my youth that made me really want to show everyone that I can win at Bingo? Did I really want the McNeal Elementary antennae ball so bad that I resorted to creating a competitive advantage in my favor thinking I would not have to face the consequences of unfair play? As the lady with the microphone let me know that I had not won with that "come on Dad, it's not that hard of a game" look on her face, a collective "AHHHHHH" came from the lunch room because most of the gamers had already cleared their cards. At that moment as the game resumed, a confused Makayla asked me, "didn't you win Dad?" I tried to come up with the words to help her understand that "Listen Makayla, you can't win them all; leave me alone right now."

Everyone around me tried to keep talking and playing as if I just then didn't make a fool of me, my family, and our faith since the family behind us was in our ward. Chauntel had to take off with Jackson as I yelled Bingo and came back wondering where my prize was. Last she heard, I was proclaiming my victory in this game of skill and chance. I had to let her know too that although N-45 should have been called, it really wasn't.

So as the stories will go today at McNeal Elementary about that guy that tried to cheat at Bingo last night, inevitably someone will associate my sweet girl with the event and ask, "Was that your Dad, Makayla?" She will then be faced with the decision that will follow her for the rest of her life. Does she accept me as her father in spite of myself, or does she take the easy road, one that will qualify her for much less heartache for the rest of her life and say, "I think he's my stepped Dad. Or something like that."

School days

I asked Jeremy if I sounded like such a brat asking everyone to comment, but it looks like it worked. There's still some people who I know are out there not commenting. I'm going to try to do better at commenting on everyone elses. As you can see we gave the kids all suckers, to kept them happy. It work until the last two minutes, when two duck swam over by us and the kids started to freak out. My kids are scared of everything.

I'm actually really loving school and the great schedule it forces. I get up at 6 am and the kids all get up between 6:30 and 7 I love it. I actually get to the gym more and get more done. Isaac really misses Kayla when he doesn't have school. And Jackson really misses them both on the days Isaac is also at preschool. He pouts and wines the whole time they're gone. He so bored without them I have to entertain him the whole time.

Isaac is doing so amazing at preschool. He doesn't even want me to walk him in, so I just drop him off at the door (car pool lane!) He loves it. When you ask him what he loves most about school, he yells EVERYTHING. He tells me everything about school. Unlike Makayla, who I have to trick into telling me. Well she shares a lot too but she's more annoyed after a year of answering all these question already (everyday)

I almost forgot to mention my mirror, Bailey helped me pick out. I discover IKEA while she was here. Of course I've been there before but mostly for the kids. I guess I didn't know they had nice home decorating stuff (that weren't bright geometerical patterns)

No more blogging unless

O.K. everyone who gets on my blog. I am no longer blogging until I have at least 7 comments on the latest post. We want to hear from everyone who is keeping up with us. I will try my best to check and promply post when there are enough comments. I love you all.

Family Pictures

My sister Bailey and her son Kooper came to visit this weekend. I'M SO GLAD SHE WAS ABLE TO COME! It was so great to see family. It makes me a little homesick. She took family pictures for us. The lens had a finger print on it. :( So they're all blurry. I'm still going to try and blow one up.

Cinderella's Ball

Makayla and Isaac are so cute. Today Makayla dressed up as Cinderella and Isaac dressed up as the Prince. He had me help him. He wore his suit, church socks and shoes, White shirt, and tie. Then they went down stairs, turned on some music, and danced hand in hand as if they were at Cinderella's Ball. Of course our camera is broken, so I use my film camera. I'll let you see the pictures in about 6 months:)

The pictures are from when grammy and poppy were here. Isaac, now has a new suit. Watch out girls he's smok'n. It's almost exactly the same but it isn't missing any of its buttons. I got it on line. It's the same brand as his old one (one size bigger of course)

Makayla met her new teacher tonight. She seem very nice. I'm so excited for school to start. We had a practice run this morning. We got there on time, but there was no traffic and I found out today school starts 15 minutes earlier than I thought.

ISAAC'S COOL O'METER

So it's been summer time, not a whole lot of occasions to wear nice stuff except for Sundays. (which Isaac will only wear his suit to church because it's cool)(sweater vest are not cool and everyone will laugh at him, or so he thinks) So everyday he wears basketball shorts and a tank top of some sort. No biggy because it's summer time. Occasional I've tried to get him to wear nice shorts and a polo and he has strongly declined.

Last night we went out to eat and Jeremy put Isaac in nice cargo short. I have never seen such a test of wills. He was convinced that it wasn't cool to wear cargo shorts and that everyone at the restaurant was going to laugh at him.

The other day I bought him two pair of cute cargo shorts and while we were checking out he informed dad that he HATED those shorts. Then today I was buying them school shoes and Isaac informed me that the spider man lite up shoes made him run faster and everyone at the gym would think he was cool if he wore them. Somehow I convince him to let me buy them somewhere else where I knew they would be half as much.

TWO WEEKS TIL SCHOOL

I can't believe summer's coming to an end. Makayla's first day of school is August 27th. Isaac starts on Sept. 5. I hope I can keep up with all the dropping off, picking up and nap time schedules. I think the only school clothes I'm going to buy is shoes. I think the kids will be fine till it starts getting cold. I do need to go school supply shopping. How fun. I guess all this stuff is fun because it's my first.

I don't think I posted how Jackson's 18 month check up went. He wieghs 19 pds 9 oz. which I thought he'd weigh more, but at least he wieghed more than before. That puts him at the 0% for height, wieght, and head. What a bummer. His doctor totally stresses me out though. She wants him to go to the G.I. specialist again, have blood work done, see a cranial facial specialist (because his head isn't growing), see a speech theapist because he's not talking, and take antibiotics because of fluid in his ears. The list goes on and on about genetic disorders, allergy tests, and diseases I've never heard of; and the whole time the kids were acting like they were little monkeys climbing on everything and pretending like they couldn't hear me when I was talking (sternly). I was so stressed out I was unable to function the whole rest of the day. I came to two conclusions 1. something is wrong with the baby and my doctor is totally on top of taking care of him. 2. She's a total basket case and freaks everyone out that comes in to visit her and the baby just needs to recover after the 8 rounds of antibiotics he's had in the last 9 months and his hearing and speech just need some time after he gets tubes to get used to hearing everything. Personally, I think she's a basket case and I need to find a new doctor who is more laid back and doesn't stress me out so much. I don't think I'm in denial. I'm just not a freak when in comes to getting sick, giving medicine, and going to the doctor for every little scrape and runny nose.

I'm venting. That's what blogs are for, right?

I think Jeremy is so ready for summer to be over and focus on his branch and not the woes of salesmen. Hopefully he can figure out how to keep all of his customers and have a great 2nd summer. He's been spraying everyday for at least the last month. He'll probably spray every other day after the salesmen leave. He's working really hard for this branch to be successful. I'm really proud of him, for how he's dealt with things and worked so hard. I love you Jeremy.

Tubes

Jackson is scheduled to get tubes in his ears Tuesday morning. I've had a really hard time giving in to this. It probably should have been done two or three months ago. We went to a natural (helistic, or chiroprator) for a while which I still think would be the best solution.

So keep us in your prayers, Tuesday, that everything will go perfectly. You guys should click on the last picture of Jackson to have a better look. It's great.

We love having familly visit!

Thanks to grammy and poppy I have a few pictures to share.

Thanks you, Jeremy for your always wonderful posts.

Computer back, Camera broke!

So our computer is back in all it's glory and it's great to be able to have access to the real world now. But now the problem is that our new camera is broke. Of course one of the kids found it, took 26 pictures of themselves, the TV show they were watching, and the kitchen chair and then thought they'd save time I guess by pushing the lens in with their finger rather than pushing the button to do it for them. Whatever. We can either keep them seperated, confined in areas where they have no access to anything other than nerf products and let them out to graze at the table periodically, or have Chauntel get a job to support our electronics habit. We've decided to let the kids roam free while Chauntel is applying at Best Buy as a greeter so we can get a discount perhaps on their stuff.

Here are some pictures of our Mexico trip from earlier this year. That blonde is my wife. She's pretty hot. The other one is of me and Cheslie rockin' out by the pool at night in front of our resort. It was a lot of fun. A lot of people would stop and listen for a while as they were walking by. One groupie ended up in my hotel room that night. (of course the same one that was there the night before)

no computer

I might get my computer back on Tuesday! It's really hard not having a computer. I totally rely on my computer so much it's crazy. Jeremy brought his laptop home yesterday, yeah! It's hard for him to bring it home because of the way his office is networked (it's always nice when he's able to)

We're all doing great. Jackson seems to be getting a lot bigger. I have no idea how much he weighs but he looks bigger. He's now wearing 12 month clothing pretty good. He's not really saying much but he's seeing an ear specialist in 2 weeks. He's really trying to communicate in other ways. Which include pulling on me and whining a lot. I hope it's just a phase.

Isaac is doing a lot better in primary, which gives me hope that he'll be O.K. in pre-K in a month. He's now swimming. He can swim until he run out of breath and then I have to be there to grab him or if he's in the shallow end he just stands up. It's so exciting. Soccer's over and I'm thinking of signing him up again. He's still having a hard time with soccer. He pouts and sit out a lot. Which is so frustrating to watch. I just want him to have fun and try his best, but he wants to be the best and can't deal with not being the best.

Makayla will start kindergarden in a month. Here in Texas its 5 days a week all day so she's pretty excited for that. She's swimming GREAT. She loves going down the BIG slides at the gym and can swim to the edge. It's still a little scary for me, because I have three little ones to watch out for. She's also done with soccer. She was really surprising me at how well she would do, but she enjoyed goofing off and play with the other kids more than try to play the game. She's going to try cheer in the fall. I think she'll like that.

My family had a family reunion without me, I'm so sad I couldn't be there. But Grammy and Poppy Logsdon are coming to visit in two days and I'm very excited for that.

My kitchen and whole house actually are still sadly undecorated. I can't make up my mind on anything so for the time being I'm at peace with it so that I don't stress out about it.

Grandma Schultz's Mind Tricks

So I got a gift card from Grandma Schultz in the mail yesterday for my birthday to Wal Mart. I was excited and thought it was really nice of her to do that. But as I got to looking at it, there was nowhere written anywhere an amount of how much the gift card was worth which got me to thinking. I could go and get a bunch of stuff according to how much I feel like she would put on it based on how much I feel that she loves me and hope that it covered it, or get some gum and see if it would cover that.

As I got to thinking, I kind of came up with a Grandma Schultz love-o-meter. I figured that they just came down for a visit recently and how well she felt I was doing as a husband to her daughter and father to her Grand kids would probably have a lot to do with how much she actually put on the card.

I figured that the $0-$5 range was probably letting me know that I needed to step it up. Perhaps she saw me at a time of frustration when I didn't know she was watching, or maybe one of the kids told her something really mean about me that I don't know about yet that will fester inside Grandma and come to a boiling point each time I answer the phone when she calls, or when she thinks of her poor daughter all by herself in Texas with her incompitent husband.

The $5-$10 range sends a pretty good message as well. It's not that she thinks that I'm a total loss with this amount, but perhaps only being able to buy socks or some replacement air filters helps me understand that Grandma's love isn't that easily won over. Each of her daughters are absolute prizes to their spouses (or future spouses) and if we expect much from Grandma, we MUST show to not only our wives, but also to everyone else(including Grandma Schultz) that we understand the value that we've received and that we WILL NOT take them for granted.

The $10-$15 card starts to get interesting. This is CD or DVD money now. It's not, however, new release CD or DVD money. It's kind of that 2nd tier, old release shelf that I have now become an immediate candidate for. The titles such as Big, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and Robin Hood: Men in Tights all become a very real possibility to me now. The messae that this sends is clear as well: Perhaps I am just that - 2nd tier in Grandma's eyes. If maybe we lived closer or if I wouldn't have taught Isaac to have people pull his finger to get a surprise, I may have been able to be elevated to tier 1 status.

The $15-$20 card sends a very clear, loud message. This is now an amount of money that I can buy a full outfit on the clearance rack or maybe even head and wrist bands with the Dallas Mavericks logo on them and a Mavericks shirt (on clearance of course) with perhaps enough left over to go ahead and get an Icee on my way out that I've never been able to get before. If this card is for $15+, I've got it made. I surely am one of (if not the absolute) favorite on the Schultz side. $15-$20 can even clear tax on what I'd need for washing and waxing needs for my bike and van. It's enough as well to get a new garden hose (a good one) with a nice sprayer on the end. The $15-$20 card is really exciting; it surely helps you think big when those automatic doors open and you wonder what isle you should go down first. I feel like at this amount, I finally have Grandma Schultz's approval.

We'll see maybe tomorrow or Monday where I fall on Grandma Schultz's love-o-meter. Wish me luck.

At least now I'll know exactly where I stand with Grandma.

UPDATE

The picture of Isaac and Jackson is sideways, but it was neat to see Isaac helping his little brother. Jackson LOVES to play anything with a ball. His favorite right now is baseball and he'll put Isaac's batting helmet on and drag his bat around outside as long as you'll let him stay out.
This is a picture of Makayla's favorite dress. She wears it all the time to wherever. We're having computer problems AGAIN. We just got it out of the shop and Jackson turned it off and on and it didn't turn back on for us. It's at the Geek Squad at Best Buy to see if we can fix it, or if we're just going to get another.

Wiper School

Isaac was yelling from the bathroom yesterday, "I'm doooooonnne!" as he always does when he's finished firing it up (as we call it) in the bathroom. I went in to wipe him and told him that when he starts pre-school in a few months, he's going to have to know how to wipe himself, so he's got to start learning how to do it. He looks at me and says, "But Dad, I don't have a wiper teacher. DAD! How about you be my wiper teacher! I can go to wiper school!"
He is now enrolled in wiper school. I am the instructor.

No More Helmet

We went to Houston on Wednesday. We met with Jackson's plastic surgeon and helmet doc. They both agreed that he was getting too old for the helmet and that he could take it off. I'm so glad to be done cleaning that thing (and the worry of checking his head everyday) But even more than that I'm so glad to never have to make the trip to Houston for Doctors appointment again.

He still need to see the ear specialist, and eye doctor, but those appointment will be here in Dallas.

If you haven't seen the weather channel for our area. It's been raining for eight weeks straight. I'm so sick of rain. It's in the forecast for the next five days though so its here to stay for awhile. I love ya all

Mom and Dad in Texas

Thank you mom and dad for coming to visit. I always enjoy having you all. Isaac Looked in your room Tuesday morning for you. He was pretty upset that you guys had left. We went to a baseball game, the park and the mall and that was about it. I hope they weren't bored out of their minds. I totally enjoyed not cleaning all week. I totally neglected my floors and bathrooms while they were here.

mom, I still haven't decided what to do with the kitchen! I keep thinking if I ignore decorating the kitchen and living room it will magically happen on its own

Our Computer is being fixed finally. So maybe we'll have it back this week.