When Darren gets himself dressed.

Loren and I totally missed the fact that Darren was kickin' it "Kris Kross" style until halfway through Sacrament Meeting.

Our friend Dan thought it was so funny he snapped a picture.

Darren even added his own little "twist" to the pants; hence the reason they're a little off centered. Very stylish.

Courtney's Fairies in the Forest photoshoot

Liz from Earth Mama Photography did a mini session called "Fairies in the Forest" where she would take pictures of little girls dressed up as fairies who would play together. How could I not sign up Courtney for this?! And she was thrilled beyond belief to be able to dress up, wear Mommy's makeup, and get pictures taken of her.

The candid moments are adorable and I love the pictures that Liz took.

We even got Darren to take off his shirt and put on a pair of wings! HA! But I don't have the picture on me at the moment! I was too precious! I'll have to upload those another day.

Isn't Courtney beautiful? I think so! I may be a little biased though... :D

Note: If you are a family member and are interested in getting the original file size of one of these photos, let me know! These that I posted I had resized.

I can't believe there is someone out there like this...

...who *isn't* acting.

A MUST SEE!! You won't believe it!

I just finished laughing when another funny thing happened.

This evening, as I was putting the kids to bed Courtney and Darren had a race to see who could make it to his room first for prayers. Courtney let Darren win previously so this time she wanted to be the big winner.

And Darren didn't like that.

So he gets into hysterics about how he wanted to be the winner when I say, "It's okay Darren, we're all winners." (lame, I know, but I hate mean competition in a family and I'm hoping to make mine not like that)

And that's when Courtney says her words of comfort, "Yeah Darren! You still get a medal, but I get the trophy."

******

And after hysterics (from both laughter and tears) had been diminished, we knelt down and Darren gave the prayer, with me helping him.

In the middle of the prayer I have Darren say, "And we're thankful for Daddy that he can fix cars" to which he repeated and then I said, "And we're thankful that Darren was able to help Daddy fix the cars."

Darren, instead of repeating it, says after a sigh, "Yeah."

Retraction of Austim caused by Vaccines!

Medical journal retracts flawed autism study.

The Lancet medical journal formally retracted a paper on Tuesday that caused a 12-year international battle over links between the three-in-one childhood vaccine MMR and autism.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35197332/ns/health-mental_health/from/ET

Like sister, like me!

Since Courtney's been in school, Darren and Isaac both love to wear a backpack around the house. Normally they'll just put it on for a few seconds and then take it off.

But this morning was different. Ikee roamed the house in his school get-up! I had put on Little Einsteins for him to watch in my room with me while I put away laundry. When I turned around, I saw this:

I scurried to get the camera and take a shot before the backpack came off. He even looked at the camera and smiled on the first try! That never happens! He must've known that Mom was taking a picture of him with his backpack on.

Helping Daddy with the Cars

Yesterday Loren bought everything needed to give both the Jeep and his van a tune up. Of course Darren hung out with him the whole time and even got a little greasy. He was so proud of himself with being Daddy's little helper.

Darren would also get tools and stick them up to the tires like he was removing them. It was just too cute! And afterwards, while on my way to pick up Courtney from school I said to him, "Thank you Darren for fixing the car."

He then acts like he's awesome, "Your welcome." What's funny is that the way he said it was like he believed he actually did fix the car!

Nothing better than a little oil to make you manly!

I swear, this child. He always makes these faces when I snap pictures of him! He does this look where it looks like his mind is off in the distance and that, well, he appears to be one of those kids that's a few tools short of a toolbox.

There we go! There's the smile I wanted!

"Dear..."

There are a couple of these I posted on facebook and wanted to post more but honestly, I think I'd just annoy everyone. I mean heck, it would probably annoy me.

So I thought I'd post them on here and just annoy all you non-facebookers.

So here they are:

Dear House,

Thanks for being so drafty. Nothing makes me want to stay in bed more and be the neglectful parent that I never want to be than a drafty, chilly house. Nope, not even keeping the thermostat at a cozy 75 helps you. I guess I should be thanking you: shivering IS nature's way of losing weight...

Dear City Trash Collection Company,

When will you "get with it" and start collecting trash twice a week? We've been here for three years and you havent changed other than the day of the week that you collect my trash. Everyone else does it, why don't you? Think about the mounds of trash bags you would avoid manually picking up and throwing in your truck if you did this!

Dear Antibiotic,

What is this sudden wave of nausea that I feel? Is this another one of your unexpected "side effects"? I already feel like I've been slapped across the face and witnessed the world spin around me while on your "healing regimen". It's always nice to wonder why, went I'm in the middle of doing a task, my equilibrium suddenly feels shot and I have to regain balance on the first thing in front of me (even if that is my child's head) when I remember that I have you in my system.

Dear Sugar,

Why do you have to keep coming around? I've told you over and over again just how much I hate you. Yes, that's right, HATE you. I never want to see or think about you again. Screw the good times, it's over buddy. Just when I think all is well with our relationship and I let you in, with whole hearted trust in you, you have me tipping the scale well over the BMI that I want. You are no friend of mine. Pack your bags, grab the Hersey's Cocoa while you're at it and get the h*ll out of my house.

Dear Bank Account,

When will you understand that you are controlled by a computer and that you can add a few zeros behind the amount we have in you? It's called a "glitch" in the system. It will be our little secret and I won't tell a soul as long as you don't either. Sure, money doesn't buy love/happiness/good looks (well...)/true friends/etc but it sure as heck makes a difference when bills and groceries come due.

Dear WalMart Toilets,

You have planted a deep-rooted seed of fear into my son with your automatic flushing system. Thanks to you, I have to attend my son while he goes to the bathroom; watching him cover his ears the whole time and high tail it out of the bathroom afterwards with pants around his ankles to avoid the sound of flushing water. Nothing like kickin' it with my son while he's emptying his colon.

I was sweeping the floor and...

...Ikee dumped out a bag of marshmallows. He's been so addicted to marshmallows lately, which he must get from his Daddy as I don't think they're very yummy.

BUSTED!

He got down to take one more bite and then ran off to leave me to clean up the mess!

A moment that's very few and far between.

Darren and Isaac are...to say the least, not the best of friends. There's always some contention that Darren's stirring around. I say Darren because, well, it's Darren who happens to be the "spirit of contention" in this house. Ikee just goes along his merry way, being sweet to everyone (even Darren!) but Darren changes that by taking toys from him, throwing something at him, yelling at him, etc.

I was in the kitchen, checking my emails when suddenly....It.Was.Quiet.

Something had to have been going on. Something bad.

I lean back in my chair to see this (they're backwards by the way):

And then, after the pictures were taken, Ikee got down and then the fights started happening again...

Go figure.