If you don't want something forgotten..

..tell my sister Nicole to not let you forget!

My parents and Cole are here for the weekend so tonight Rob and I snuck off to the temple. I have been refinishing a desk for fun and had left it in the backyard earlier today. I had also turned off the sprinklers earlier so that my desk wouldn't get wet. So... Rob asked Nicole to not let him forget to bring in the desk and turn the sprinklers back on when we got home. She definitely did not let us forget!

The first reminder was on the garage door. "Don't forget to bring in the desk and turn on the sprinklers"

And then the alarm pad. "Don't try to say I didn't remind you about the dresser and sprinklers"

On the living room TV.

On our computer. "Hey remember to waterproof your dresser unless you plan on bringing it in before you turn on your sprinklers."

"Dressers are to bringing in... as sprinklers are to turning on.."

On our bedroom door. "What starts with 'd' and ends with 'ressers' and what starts with 'sprinkler' and ends with 's'? "

"The dresser called and said 'remember to bring me in before you start the sprinklers' " p.s. that's a scratch on the seat not something gross!

On our bathroom mirror.

This one is my favorite!!! ha ha She's too funny!

On our bedroom TV

On Rob's pillow "Dresser, Sprinkler, Need I say more?"

Needless to say we didn't forget. When we went to go outside we saw this little guy on the back sliding door.

And my other favorite one... On the desk!

I love my Coco!! She's so creative and funny and a truly amazing sister! We always have some good laughs when she's around! Thanks Coco!

A little sidenote..When I was glazing the desk Boston wanted to paint the desk with me. So, i let him have at it in a secret spot :) Good job buddy!!!

What are Sundays for?

Sundays are for...

...Looking ever so handsome in a shirt and tie...

...Cuddles on the couch...

...Intense Wii action with Daddy (look at Boston's face)...

...Building forts...

... Making cookies (Check out the cute aprons!!!)...

... Of course you gotta hang out on the kitchen floor while they cook...

... And finish the day off dipping the cookies in some tasty milk!

I just love Sundays :)

Law School

Everyone keeps asking me where we will be moving in 4 months. I wish I knew people! I'm a major planner so this is killing me. We are still waiting on 4 schools that seem content taking their time rendering their decision. Hopefully it means they really are interested and seeing if they can squeeze us in!

Back in early March we received our first admissions reply and thank goodness it was a yes! What a relief it was to know that we were for sure in law school somewhere! That school was San Diego.. it's a back up. I have been trying my hardest to talk Rob in to going there. I could definitely spend the next 3 years husbandless if it was on the beach! And when you look this studly in a wetsuit you definitely belong on a beach..

However, Houston holds better career opportunities for us after school. And wouldn't you guess it that the school we are most anxious to hear from is the one dragging their feet?

So here's where we stand..

San Diego: We're in!

South Texas(a back up of a back up plan): We're in!

William and Mary (Virginia); Waitlisted

Baylor-Summer Term (Waco, TX): Waitlisted

Boston: Nope

University of Texas (Austin, TX): Nope

SMU (yet another school in TX.. can you tell Rob really wants to go back to TX?): Nope

BYU: Nope. Oh this was such a sad sad day for me. I wanted so badly to live by my family.

University of Houston (this is the one Rob's really hoping for): Still waiting

Cornell (Ithica,New York): Still waiting

Baylor-fall term (Waco, TX): Still waiting

UC Davis (Up by San Francisco): Still waiting

I think I got them all. We should hear back next week about our final decision from Baylor. Summer term starts May 4th. Last night Rob told me what a great opportunity it would be if we got in to Baylor. He wants to do litigation and their trial advocacy program is really great. He said that if we don't get in to the fall we should really consider the summer term. I'm freaked out. I can't move in 3 weeks! 4 months seems too short of a time to prepare, but 3 weeks?! I'm really trying hard not to stress or cry until we have our final decision and can pray about it.

Hopefully in the next few weeks we will hear back from the rest of our schools and can start making plans! I'll keep ya posted!

The Woombie

You know when you find something that leaves you asking yourself, "Where the heck was that when I needed it? My life would have been so much easier!!" That happened to me this morning. I found an amazing, unescapable blanket!!

If you remember, Boston was quite the escape artist from his swaddle blanket. We called him Baby Houdini..

So proud of himself

Although Boston is super happy in the above pictures, that was rarely the case when he was little. He had dairy and soy allergies and horrible reflux that didn't respond to meds that made life (especially sleeping) very uncomfortable for him.

It was rare that he would sleep for more than 25 minutes at a time without waking up screaming in pain. Those 25 minutes each day were heaven for me. It was the only time I could grab something to eat and maybe if I had time, hop in a shower. When he was awake it was filled with screaming (NOT FUSSING.. FULL ON SCREAMING!) and me holding him/ bouncing him/rocking him every waking minute trying to comfort him. I couldn't bring myself to put him down to "work it out" knowing he was crying cuz his tummy was hurting him. The poor kid had a miserable little life that first 15 months until he finally got relief from the reflux and allergies.

Sorry for the tangent.. I guess my point is that the swaddle blanket helped him sleep for 45 minutes instead of 25 minutes which made a HUGE difference for my sanity. However... the little guy quickly learned how to escape it and went back to his 25 minuters. At one point Rob wanted to duct tape him in the blanket ha ha (we never did!)

So here's the amazing product that would have saved me many tears that first year.. The Woombie

I'd like to see him try to get out of this one!!! Knowing Boston he probably would have found a way but this thing is so being purchased for my next kid!!! :)

So that this post isn't all sad stuff let me end by saying that Boston has turned into such a sweet little boy. He has such tender feelings and is very concerned about others well being. When he sees someone crying he wants to comfort them. He is super friendly and makes friends with other kids instantly where ever we are. He's very shy unless I'm close by which I find endearing. He wants nothing more than to make us happy so when he does something wrong and is sent to time out he cries for me the entire time-out because he wants to come give me a hug and say sorry.

Don't get me wrong.. this kid is a big challenge for us at times. He's a runner. Any parent of a runner needs no more explanation ha ha. He is extremely strong headed/stubborn/ unflinchingly rigid when he wants something but what little kid isn't? He loves to feel in control so as long as Rob and I make sure to give him lots of choices he's a pretty happy camper. He definitely has his toddler moments but his sweet moments outweigh them by far. Ilove this little kid more than anything and I think that the first 15 months makes us appreciate him now so much more. Do I want to go through that again? NO WAY! But I think it helped us grow and now our second and third and fourth kids will be a breeze!!! Unless Boston was just a warm up... Uh oh!! ;)

Proof

Every husband or wife has a few things that they do {or don't do in this case} that has their spouse asking themselves.. "Is it really that hard for him/her to do such a simple thing?" Kinda like the lid off the toothpaste thing..

One of Rob's lovely habits is his shoes. He is great at taking his shoes off in the house but horrible at getting them in the shoe basket. He will kick them off right next to the shoe basket instead of lifting his foot 10 inches to kick them off into the basket.

Silly guy.

Mine is the toilet paper. Ever since we have been married when I need more toilet paper I grab it out of the cupboard, grab what I need, put it on the counter, and move on with my life.

Usually after a few bathroom trips I'll put it on the roll if Rob hasn't beat me to it {he almost always does}. After we had been married 2 years Rob finally had to say something. "Why not just put it on the toilet paper roll in the first place?" I seriously don't know why.. I just don't think about it.

Fast forward 4 years and I'm still doing it. Sorry Rob. A few months back Rob told me he was sick of being the only one to replace the roll. It really gets to him I guess ha ha love him! The funny thing is that I felt like I was the only one replacing the roll! So the next time that I was replacing the roll I had a brilliant idea....I would save every roll that I changed as "proof" for the next time he brought up the fact that I never do it.

In the beginning I wrote on the empty roll the time, date, and what bathroom that it came from but by the end of the second month I was just throwing the 'proof' into my secret drawer with a chuckle. As my stash grew bigger I waited anxiously for Rob to say something and he finally did last week! I had forgot to replace the roll and as Rob was brushing his teeth he said, "Is it really that hard to just put the toilet paper on the roll when you pull it out of the cupboard?"

When I showed him my stash he died laughing but in the end he was still convinced he is the only one who replaces the rolls.. Oh well, you can't win 'em all :)

Boston and Marlee

Totally stole this word-for-word, picture-for-picture off

my friend's blog.....

Step 1: THE LOOK

Step 2: CONTACT

Step 3: EXCITEMENT

Step 4: EXCITEMENT WORN OFF

Step 5: TAKING INITIATIVE

Step 6: FINDING COMMON INTERESTS

Step 7: HAVING FUN TOGETHER!!!

All kidding aside Marlee and Boston are great buddies! Marlee

lights up every time I say his name and tell her she gets to play

with him. We had a fun day yesterday at the wetlands, it was

sunny and hot...We even had to pull out the sunscreen for our

little pigment challenged kiddos! :)

Thanks Shannon for letting me steal your post!

THC

Yes, I am now aware that THC is a drug. I grew up in Utah people.

My friend had her baby a few days ago and I had made her a pamphlet to give her when I went to meet her little guy. After I had made the whole thing Rob informed me that THC is a drug. The best part? My friend's hubby is a cop! He's never gonna let me live this one down.

And let me point out that after I was woken up by a 2:45 am phone call telling me her water broke... I was at her house exactly 3 minutes later. I so should be a fireman!

Anyways... This is her 4th baby so she's set on all things baby so I had to come up with something fun and different for a gift. When I gave it to her I told her that I got her into a very exclusive club because the owner owed me some favors.

So here's the pamphlet. I had a some good laughs making it. I cut out the pics and the stuff I wrote and glued it all to some construction paper folded into thirds. Enjoy!

The Hartshorn Club

-Have you recently had a baby?

-Have your mother and mother-in-law had to say goodbye to go back to their regular lives leaving you to jump back into motherhood before you feel ready?

-Do you have a husband that works graves and is in need of sleep during the day leaving you to manage your own recovery, taking care of a demanding newborn, and wrestling with three other children?

If you answered yes to any of these questions then The Hartshorn Club (THC) is the right place for you! Here at THC we believe in helping mothers transition to regular life when all of their help has left.

________________________________________________________________

Sprawling over a massive 1300 sq. feet THC is an impressive estate. We will watch your children closely so as to not lose them in our enormous facility. Equipped with a toy area, lunchroom, art area, Library, Movie Theater, and outside play area your kids are sure to have a blast with our FC, Boston.

So what does being a member of THC entail? It entitles the recipient of this pamphlet to AT A MINIMUM 3 days of dropping her kids off at THC. She can bring the younger ones in the morning and drop off the older one when he gets out of school. Her children will be played with, read to, entertained, fed lunch and dinner.

Unfortunately a clause in our FC, Boston’s, contract requires us to have utter and complete silence in our facility while he naps (such a pre-madonna!) so the THC member’s children will be dropped off at her house for naps then picked back up after.

_________________________________________________________________

Fun Counselor (FC)

Boston R. Hartshorn

Boston graduated from TWU (The Womb University) in October of 2008 and has been working at THC ever since. He has a passion for little kids and toys. An upbeat ball of energy he will keep your kids busy and having fun. But beware.. if this counselor doesn’t get his nap he can be scary!

While Boston has accomplished much in his extremely long life so far, he plans on soon mastering going potty on the big boy potty, doing a somersault, and coloring within the lines.

The Toy area. We like to refer to this area as the toy explosion area. Each and every toy here at THC has been hand (and most likely mouth) tested and approved by our FC himself.

The outside play area is beautifully landscaped with dying patches of grass here and there while others are growing out of control. Random rocks add to the exotic feel of this play area.

The lunchroom is situated smack-dab in the middle of the kitchen so you are sure to get a very fresh lunch and dinner. ( Yes I realize me house is totally bare. When we moved back in after the fire I didn't want to unpack all the decor and curtains just to repack it in 6 months)

The Art Area. Look familiar? At THC we like to multipurpose our rooms.

Our luxury sedan will shuttle your sweet children to and from our facility.

Our movie theater. All we can say is WOW! Our grand 42 inch projection screen is sure to have your kids slack-jawed with amazement. We also offer complimentary popcorn with each movie.

And last but not least the library. Fully stocked with any book a 1-3 year old could want.

Fine Print:

· The recipient MUST use our service and not try to be superwoman and do it all by herself.

· I guess that’s all the fine print that we have