And We Will Call Her Diamond

No! Not the new baby!! The lizard. Boston's new favorite hobby is catching lizards in our backyard. He LOVES it! Everyday, he says, "Dad, is it time yet to go catch lizards." It's kind of Ammon's and Boston's after work activity. So last night, we had a curry party (those who don't know the Blodgett family will need an explanation. We make a big ol' batch of chicken curry and eat it with friends and family- we've done it for 30 plus years. I will talk to friends who we lived by 20 plus years ago and they will ask if we still make our curry.) Anywho, our guests last night were Ammon's sister Rachelle and her family, and Ammon's brother Nate's wife Marie and her kiddles. It was quite the group! Boston caught a lizard and immediate the girls (Tyler, Annie- 7 yr old cousin, and Olivia-4 year old cousin) took the lizard upstairs in a cup to play with. I warned several times- "Tyler- DO NOT LOSE THAT LIZARD UPSTAIRS!" The good news or the bad news first? The good news, they didn't lose the lizard. The bad news, well let me just show you.

Enough said on that topic because I don't really know why 3 little girls would think it was a good idea to paint with nail polish a lizard... other than it looks pretty- maybe that's reason enough.

Swim Lessons

Before I even start, I have to admit, I was warned! I was warned that the first 3-4 days of swim lessons would be a bit "difficult". Well, they were! Last week, Tyler (5), Boston (4), and Ryder (2) had their first week of swim lessons. We went to the pool Tuesday with high hopes of Olympic swimmers in days. Ryder was first. He cried and tried to get out of the pool for the entire 30 min. By the time his lesson was over, I was soaking wet... and angry and tired. Next was Tyler. She did great. Last was Boston. During the hour that he waited for his lesson to start, he went from excited with a pinch of nervousness to scared out of his mind and ready to go home. Ammon warned him if he didn't get in the pool, he would lose every privilege he had. He didn't care. We finally corned him and handed him over to his teacher Kim who I must say is AMAZING. She taught Ammon to swim 30 plus years ago. She's a pro and has dealt with many a sad/scared/angry kid. She doesn't take any crap- I love it! During Boston's lesson, he escaped from the pool and said, "Dad, can we just say a prayer." It was actually pretty sweet but didn't buy him more than about 30 seconds out of the water. We survived day 1 and I was feeling pretty OK about life. Then, day 2 came. Boston started on the way to lessons telling me he didn't want to go. We got there and as I wrestled Ryder into the pool, Boston was telling me over and over how much he didn't want to do his lesson. I was a bit flustered and told him to please go sit on one of the chairs and I would talk to him in a few minutes. Well, a few minutes later, I realized Boston was no where to be found. I checked the pool first. Then all around the pool and Kim's house. I even opened the door into her house and yelled "Boston, you get over here RIGHT NOW!!!". No answer! I handed my screaming Ryder over to my sister-in-law Rachelle who luckily has kids in the same classes as my kids! Thankfully, she dealt with him for the next 20 min while I searched frantically for Boston. I drove the neighborhood, walked the premises of the house, looked in the house. He was NOWHERE!!! Finally, after about 20 min, he came walking into the backyard saying, "Mom, I have to go potty." He later showed me where he had been hiding (across the street, down a few houses, in the bushes!!!). He really didn't want to go to swim lessons! Ironically, that was the day it all changed for him and he ended up loving swim lessons. Ryder had a change of heart the next day. So, by the end of week 1- I had 3 kids anxious and excited for swim lessons!!!

As a side note, we decided to let our kids go try out what they had learned from lessons that week at the public pool by our house. All were playing and having a great time until Boston came over to me and said, "Mom, I frew up in the pool." What! He was right next to me. I would have seen if my kid chucked in the pool. I was trying to get the story straight when I heard a lifeguard yell, "Will everyone please clear the area; there has been an accident." They couldn't possibly be doing this because of my kid, right? He swallowed a little too much water and spit it up. Oh geez!! Then over the load speaker I hear, "Due to an accident, will everyone please evacuate the pool. Repeat, due to an accident, will everyone please evacuate the pool." And by everyone I mean, all 200 people!!

It was a rough swim week. Let's hope for better ones to come as we now live in AZ and that's what you do when you live in AZ- you swim!

Happy Birthday Boston

Before the day ends in about an hour, I just wanted to give a big birthday shout to my baby Boston. Because we are in the middle of a move (our house is completely empty and we are living out of suitcases), I can't post any pictures of my big 4 year old because the camera is somewhere between here and AZ on a moving truck. But I didn't want to let the day slip by without letting my Bossie know how much I love him! He is such a funny, sweet, cute little buzzard. We are lucky and blessed to have him as part of our family. Here are the first 4 things I can think of that I love about Boston-

1. He is very sensitive to others' feelings. He hates to see anyone sad or upset. He makes it his job to make sure everyone is always happy.

2. He is my big helper. He always asks me to give him jobs to do. He is killer at laundry!

3. If you don't know Boston very well, you think he is a really quiet kid. He is not! I love all the noise he brings to our house (sometimes I forget I love it but when it's quiet at night and I think about it, it makes me smile).

4. He loves his daddy so much! Boston wants to be just like Ammon and I love that about him because that's a good person to want to be like.

Boston- you're my sweet angel. I love you so much. Happy 4th!

Again???

Yep. Third time in a year.

Happy Birthday to My Sweet Ryder T

Today is Ryder's 2nd Birthday. He is such a sweet little guy. He is always so cuddly and he loves to make us laugh. We love having you in our family Ry Guy!! As a side note, there were 3 different colors of cupcakes and he picked pink. I did not purposely have my son's birthday cupcake pink.

Oh Geez!!!!

As parents, we know it's inevitable that our kids will at some point make a comment that will be so embarrassing we will want to crawl under a rock. It's just part of being a parent, right? We've had a few "moments" at this point in our parenting careers that were cringe worthy. Like when Tyler once saw my friend nursing her baby and pointed to my friends breast and asked, "how come my mom's are bigger than yours?". Or the time we were at the grocery store and Tyler pointed to a woman with really short hair and asked, "Is that a boy or a girl." It's embarrassing but we hope no one has heard and try to get out of the situation ASAP. Well, yesterday we reached a whole new low. We were over at my parents house for dinner. They had the missionaries over to eat as well. During dinner, Boston turned to one of the Elders and said, "You look like a rabbit." "Yeah" he said. "Why?". Boston's very observant response was, "Because your ears are really big and they stick out." Oh geez!!!! Luckily for me, I was in the other room. My dad was right there though and afterwards, I asked him what he said to soften the blow and make it less awkward. His response to me, "There wasn't anything to say." Oh geez!!! Luckily, the guy was a good sport and said, "And I like carrots too." So Sad!!!

On a more positive note, Happy Birthday Stephanie (my SIL)!!! I love you!

Excuses, Excuses

OK, so I know it's been a while since I last blogged. Although I must say, I feel totally justified in my absence from the blogging world. I have lots of really good excuses. Let's start with the fact that of the last 50 days, Ammon has been out of town 40 of them. Good excuse, right? That leads me to my next excuse, with Ammon gone, I'm responsible for the care of my kids 24/7- I don't know how single moms do it! Another good excuse. How about the fact that my house is on the market and a good portion of my time is spent trying to keep my house perfect JUST IN CASE someone decides to drop by and take a peak. What about I've had a sick, fevery, barfing baby that needed all my time and attention. Still not convinced I'm justified in my hiatus. OK, then what if I said I were pregnant (like first trimester, so tired, always nauseous pregnant)? I have my reasons for not being up to date in the blog world. I think they're good excuses. Maybe one day we will finally get to AZ with Ammon and my life with return to semi normal and I can once again become a regular blogger. Who knows. Maybe I had my blogging run and the rest is downhill from here. Only time will tell. K well I better run, kids are screaming. Let me quickly leave you with a story from the other night. On Wednesday night, Ammon jumped on Skype and the kids and I crowded around the computer and we all had a little talk. We told our kids that not only is Thanksgiving coming up in November but around that time we will be having a new baby. The kids immediately asked if it would be a boy or a girl. We told them we didn't know yet. They asked what we would name the baby, we told them we didn't know yet. We finished off the conversation by saying our prayers (over Skype, weird but sometimes we have to do weird things to keep some sort of family unity). The kids and I then headed upstairs for bed. As I tucked Tyler and Boston in, I explained to them that sometimes when you have a baby in your stomach, you feel really tired and sick. Tyler said, "wait, you have a baby in your stomach?". I was a little confused. "Yes, Tyler, that's what daddy and I were just talking to you guys about." Tyler explained that since it wasn't coming until Thanksgiving she didn't think it would be in there yet. I concluded by saying, "Yes, that baby is in there. It's about the size of a bouncy ball. That's why I haven't been feeling that good lately. " I can't remember if it was Boston or Tyler but one of them said, "Ohhhh, so that's why you're always on the toilet." Interesting what kids pick up on and what goes straight over their heads. Anyways, as of right now, I think the kids and I are on the same page. Little tiny baby in my tummy. Going to come out around Thanksgiving.