My house, finally!

Here are a few pictures of our house, late I know, sorry! :) Anyway, I disliked my fireplace at first when we moved in because I thought it took up so much space. I now love it! It is so much fun! When my house is clean I will take more, but this is as good as it gets right now.

It Snowed in Texas!

It totally snowed in Texas on Friday morning! I couldn't believe it! The kids went to school on the bus, due to Ashley falling off the couch and breaking her collarbone the night before. I was so sad because I couldn't pull the kids out of school because it hurt Ashley to move. So Josh and I moved Ashley's mat close to the door so she could see the snow falling and feel the cool air. It was so sad because she wanted to go outside, but she knew her shoulder would hurt. I brought snow in for her to touch and taste. She loved it!

Now as you can see in the pictures that the snow is very little, but this is huge for Houston. I think we broke some record for Houston because it was so early. Early it's December for goodness sake. :) Anyway, I got a phone call from the school saying school was going to let out early, due to the weather conditions. I was so excited!

As you can see the kiddos had a blast! Emily wasn't ever around when I had the camera out so I took one of her after she played in the snow in the house. I was so thankful for the snow. It was so beautiful. I forgot how much it makes it seem like Christmas to have it around us.

There are a few shots of my sweet little Ashley's arm in there too. Russ was able to help the process at the hospital not take forever. It does pay off to have a Radiologist as a husband after all! :)

Thanksgiving Holiday

My parents stayed after Emily's baptism for Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful time. It was so wonderful to have company. Russ had been so busy for a few months. At times it seemed unbearable to be a single mother of 5. So this was such a lift for me!
We started the trek with singing, "The good ole' Mountain Dew," in the chorus it says, "I'll shut up your mug if you feel up my jug." Josh loved singing, "shut up, shut up," the whole time. This is a Fisher family favorite as Grandpa sings and we clap and our hands and then we join in the chorus. My kids eyes when they heard me sing shut up widened because I was encouraging them to sing along. :)

We went to San Antonio and saw the Alamo. What's that? What's the wheelchair for? :) My Dad has horrible feet issues right now so we borrowed a wheelchair and made him sit in it while we pushed him around the River walk. Grandma attempted to push him at the Alamo, but when she ran into a bump and sent him almost flying out of the wheelchair he huffed off and pushed the kids around in it for awhile. :) I only wish I had thought to take a picture of that moment. My mom stood in the middle of the street, a busy street, with her legs crossed, laughing her head off. I kept saying, "Lady get out of the street before you get hit by a car!" She couldn't though because she was laughing so hard that if she'd moved she would have peed her pants. They now laugh together about it. So at the end of the day I took a picture by a handicap parking sign, seeing as he has a pass now and all. They are so fun and crazy!

We then headed over to Bastrop State Park where we stayed in these cool cabins that the CCC build years ago. My mother says she'll NEVER camp in Texas so this is as good as it gets for camping. :) It was good enough the kids had a great time.

For Thanksgiving we stayed at home. Russ was on call the entire weekend and got called in a few times, but mostly we all got lucky to have him around.

My mom and I always venture out for the day after Thanksgiving sales. We started at Midnight and ended my adventure at 7am. My mom's ended with my Dad at Joann's Fabric (yuck) at around 11am. What a trooper he is. My mom is a sewer and I remember having to wait in lines for sales when I was a kid. I think that is kind of what Hell will be like. :)

Thanks Mom and Dad for coming. We loved having you and miss you so much.

The Wright's

The Wright's came and visited us for Emily's baptism a few days before her special day. We had a lot of fun. Josh really fell in love with Grandpa Wright. He followed him everywhere. They were outside together watching the kids play on the trampoline and Josh told said, "Move, move," until he was up mimmicking what Grandpa was doing. Loren played catch with Grandpa a few times and loved every minute of it. Uncle Dan, Russ's brother, came and brought his daughter, Ally. Emily and Ally had a blast from the second they saw each other.
We took the kids out of school a little early and took them over to Nasa. It was nice to drive over with Marie and have an adult to talk with. My kids always enjoy Nasa even if they only played on there playground. Then we stopped by The Waffles House. Pretty good waffles, I have to admit I was a little nervous when the lady took our order. Only if you've been to a Waffle House can you relate to this fear I had. :) All in all, I'm still kickin'!

Emily and Ally

After Emily's baptism, my mother and I, took Ally, her cousin and her out to this store called, "Sweet and Sassy!" It was so fun. They went and made there own soaps and decorated them and then they got stars "sparkled" to their faces. I told them they could pick a fun little gift to take home with them and they both picked out these adorable boas. If I could video the way they walked the street back to the car. It was priceless. My mom and I just laughed. The radio was playing at the mall outside and their little bums we right on beat. There wasn't a care in the world. It was like it was only Ally and Em on the whole street. They were shakin' it all the way to the car. Where do they learn that?

When we got home they were laughing and running around. Then Ally spotted my Dad, she really took a liking' for both of my parents, which they loved. Then she put her boa on his head and so did Em and they dressed in matching PJ's and posed for the camera.

Thanks Ally for coming Emily missed you the moment you left. She keeps saying I wish Ally was here. :)

Emily's Baptism

Our sweet, beautiful, Emily got baptized on November 21st, 2009. We are so proud of her choice to be apart of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She looked radiant on her baptism day, dressed in white. She picked this gorgeous, white dress because it was long and it reminded her of Taylor Swift when she sings, "Romeo and Juliet." :) I was so worried that she was going to only think about being Taylor Swift instead of focusing on the feeling that was definitely there. Jim Potts, our friend even said to her, "I heard Taylor Swift is getting baptized." She was so excited he thought she was Taylor Swift.
We were also so blessed to have both of our parents come out as well as Uncle Dan and Ally. She felt so loved.
My fear was taken from me as she showed us that she knew why she was truly there that day. She listened so well to all of the talks, including making eye contact with our Bishopric member when he welcomed her in the Ward.
I was so flustered during the baptism with making sure it ran smoothly that I had to stop and take in the Spirit. When I held her hand and handed her to Russ in the font my heart swelled and I knew Heavenly Father and Jesus was so grateful for her choice too. I was so thankful for Russ, that he holds the priesthood and could baptize and later confirm, our beautiful daughter. What a blessing it is to be a member of this wonderful gospel. You know even more that the church is true when your own child takes on the sacred ordinances that are so important to return and live with our Father in Heaven. We love you Emily!

Our bike ride and the "dog whisperer" that I am not. :)

This morning it was only 50 degrees! Now for some of you that seems "normal," but for us Texans this is unusual weather. So I thought it would be great to go for a bike ride with the trailer (Josh and Ash would sit in) and Jaggers our black dog would pull us around the neighborhood. Jag was ecstatic of course. So ecstactic that the dumb dog wouldn't calm down. I pulled a "Caesar Milan" the "dog whisperer" on him, and said, "Ch" and did a dog bite with my hand to stop the behavior. This wasn't working so well. So I thought it must be my "not so calm and assertive energy" that I'm giving off. So I puffed my chest and tried again to "calm" the dog down. He started relaxing a bit, but we had to wait for a long time. Josh and Ash were starting to fight in the trailer, but I was trying to have my calm assertive energy so Jag would eventually give up on his annoying behavior. After about 15 minutes of waiting patiently for the dumb dog to submit to me he finally stopped whining and laid down. Now during this 15 minutes I am "biting" him with my hand and pushing the dog to the ground and holding him so he can calm down. He would and then he'd get back up and we'd start all over again. As we started down the road once he submitted to me he's literally pulling us down the road and this guy that was about 4 houses down gets out of his truck and looks as me like I'm crazy and I look at his car advertisement and it say, "Petiquette, How to train the perfect dog."
My first question is this,
1. How long was this "dog trainer" watching me in my driveway with Jaggers?
2. Was he laughing, because I am now!

For those of you that don't watch the dog whisperer this may have been the dumbest post ever, sorry.

Ashley is 3!!

My sweet little Ashley Nichole is three years old! When she woke up and we were singing to her, Emily came downstairs and smiled so sweetly at her. It reminded me of when she first saw her sister at the hospital. She was only 5 and so excited to have a sister. They are like best friends. I love it.
Some cute comments she said the night before as we were discussing that she was going to be three tomorrow were, "I don't want to be 3, then I won't be your baby girl anymore." I of course reassured her that she will always be my baby girl. That's what I call her around the house I guess she assumed that I wouldn't call her that anymore. :(
When she got dressed for lunch she looked so old. I can't believe how quickly this girl has grown up. She got a new baby and she has taken her everywhere with her. What a good little mama!
I love you Ashley! :)

U2 360 Tour baby!

That's right U2 fans I went to their concert last night with my great friend, Tamany. She actually invited me because her poor husband that was dying to see them couldn't go because he had to go out of town for work. So I went as "Jared," except we didn't kiss. :) Anyway, it was AWESOME! We were on "Floor Access" seating so we stood and danced the entire time. It was a great girls night out. Thanks Tamany and sorry Jared. :)

Holden Hilights

Holden's teacher came up to me at school the other day and said, "I've got to tell you what Holden said today to me." She was asking the kids what they wanted to do today. Holden raised his hand and said in a very sweet voice (she love the boy), "Um if you don't have any plans then can I go home?" She said to him, "Holden, don't you want to stay and play at school with Ms Holloman?" He said, "No, I just want to go home." She laughed and told the class that she did in fact have some fun things planned for the day. He then asked her, "how many more days until my days off?" She just laughed and said, "Two more."

So he does miss me! Or at least home, but I'm here so lets pretend it's me he misses. :)

Holy Ghost

I was setting up Halloween decorations...I know a little early, but I've been dying to set up because I loooooooove fall! While I was setting them up I put a cute little ghost on our front door knob. Ashley went over to it and said, "What is that Mom?" I said, "It's a ghost, isn't he cute?" She said, "Oh, I know the Holy Ghost! My teacher teaches me 'bout the Holy Ghost in my class!"

I am so grateful for the teacher that taught her 'bout the Holy Ghost. :)

FHE

For FHE last night Loren was teaching the kids about cheating. It was in the Friend for September. He asks the kids the questions at the end. He did a great job. After he was done I add in about how I cheated sometimes (or a lot of times) in school and how one of the many consequences is that I don't know any thing. Their eyes got big as they take in that "I don't know anything." I have to restate that I do know stuff, but there is a lot that I missed because I didn't always use my own brain. I used others brain. (My poor mother if she's reading this I'm sure I'm braking her heart.) Anyway, they all decide that they want to be like Dad and study and "use their own brain." I say, "that way when you go to college your prepared for it." Emily butts in and says, "I'm not going to college, I only want to be a mom. My work will be at home taking care of my children." :)

I didn't know what to say except, "I'm glad you want to be a mom, Emily."

I didn't want her idea to feel small. She has clearly seen and knows that I didn't go to school and that this was my choice too, but I do want her to do well in school and go to college later too. I didn't want to push one or the other either though. Getting an education is important, but raising children is my top priority.

Late Night

Loren had a "late night" with his buddy the other night. A "late night" means that he went over to his friends at around 7pm and came home at 9pm. :) He said he had a great time. The next day I run into the father of the boy and he say, "Hey Loren, I heard about what you did to the cockroach in my neighbor's yard last night." Loren's eyes grew very big, and so did mine. I asked what they did, but the father was so sweet and put his arm around Loren and said, "lets just keep it between the two of us." Loren immediately relaxed and they laughed. When we got in to the chapel I leaned over to Loren and said with a serious face, "what did you do to the cockroach?" He tried to avoid the question. I asked him if they made a mess in the neighbors yard? Nope. I try again, did you dissect it? Nope. Finally he said they peed on it. My eyes get bigger for 2 reasons, 1. his friends Dad is the stake president. 2. well really just reverting to number one again. I ask him who's idea is was and of course he rats out the neighbor. Oh, I guess Kyle was there. That made me feel better even though my boys have done a fair share of peeing on numerous things in our backyard that I'm pretty sure I knew who's idea it was. He assured me it was dark outside, which is was. I tell him to not do that again, but who are we kidding boys love to whip that out any chance they get. That little stinker. :)

Painful Piano

The other day I was taking Loren and his best buddy, David to skateboard camp. On the way up Loren announced to David that he will be starting piano soon. He said, "Hey David, I'm going to take piano lessons, dude, so I'll be feeling your pain." David and his little brother, Tyler decided that they should let Loren in on how painful piano is for them. They did say the good things as well. I was totally laughing at this adorable conversation. Tyler at one point says, "Piano is so PAINFUL!" and then at another moment, "piano rocks!" The best part was that they all agreed it was a good thing and worth it in the end.

So Loren and Emily started their lessons yesterday. Loren asked just before he left, "Do you think I'll be any good at it, Mom?" He's so sweet. Emily came home and ended up going to her room because of the pain it brought her. Loren can't keep his hands off the piano. He loves creating music I can tell. Emily loves it too she just needs to get back into the practicing routine.

I ran into his piano teacher at school and she said that he was so sweet. He was nervous and so tense. He'd appoligize everytime he made a little mistake. She said, "I told him that if he did everything right then he wouldn't give her anything to do so it's okay to make a mistake here and there." Then she said, "He was so tense it looked painful." I started laughing. Now is that a Seinfield moment or what?

Piano is terribly painful, but the music is so worth it.

Funny comments

We went to the zoo on Saturday. We were are the monkeys and these two monkeys were fighting over a tree branch. They were basically playing tug-a-war, but it was really ticking the other monkey off. Josh must have felt the Howler's hostility as he yells, "ET GO! ET GO!" which in English is "let go." I was laughing.

Today Holden was telling me about his new friend named Joey. Ashley came in and assumed that he was talking about his Uncle Joe that they call, "Jobee One" after the famous "Obee One" from Star Wars. :) Then Holden replies in an iritated voice, "No, Ashley not Jobee his name is Joey." Then Ashley began to sing, "Joey, I'm so sorry." It's a country song.

I can't get enough of the funny conversations around here. It's what makes my job or staying home so worth it!

I am 30

I just thought I better give a call out to Russ and my kiddos for surprising me with streamers all over the ceiling and a chocolate birthday cake! I had gone to the temple for the early session and came home to yelling children, but the yells were sweet. It was Ashley yelling, "Happy birthday, Mom!" and Emily saying, "DAD she's here, she's here!" It was very thoughtful and I felt like a princess. They even gave me a heart necklace that blinked and said, "Birthday girl." It was for a little girl. Russ let the kids pick all the 30 things out at the party store while I was at the temple. It was very sweet.
Then in the evening I went out with my friends to a Mama Mia sing along. I love Mama Mia, and I thought I was going to be the superstar, but this man behind me knew every single word to the entire movie! :) After the movie was over we went to visit Russ and Ben Taub hospital. He took me and a few friends on a "behind the scenes" tour so that was fun. It was the first time I've seen him in the hospital working. It was so fun to see him there.
Thanks for a wonderful Birthday everyone!

First day of school

On Monday I had 3 of my kiddos go to school. Russ gave us all our back to school blessings the night before, and I bald my eyes out. My shirt was wet. Holden kept on saying, "Mom why are you crying?" I am so thankful for the priesthood. What a blessing to have that in my home and live. It always amazes me how everything Russ says in the blessings are exactly what I needed to hear, and I didn't tell him my feelings or thought on any of the stuff before to prep him. It came straight from Heavenly Father. Without these blessings I would be a nervous wreck the entire year while they were at school. When I put the kids to bed I couldn't even sing them their songs because I was a cry baby still.

The kids looked great in their school uniforms and were so excited to go to school. I took Holden in to his class and was waiting in the doorway and I thought he was next to me so I grabbed his arm, but I came to realize that was this scared little girl that was clinging to her Dad with all her might. I scared the snot out of her I'm sure grabbing her like that. The Dad didn't look to pleased when I said, "Sorry I thought that was my son." I looked up to find Holden and he was making himself comfortable walking around trying to find his spot. I found it with him and gave him a kiss and said goodbye.

Emily got sick of waiting for me out of Holden's door and found her class herself and was getting situated when I got there, AND SHE WAS TALKING TO HER TEACHER! Let's fast forward to 2 years before where for 2 weeks I was prying her off my legs to go to kindergarten. I went in a kissed her too, and she went on with what the rest of the class was doing and didn't flinch once.

Loren was sitting in his class by the door and I waved and blew him kisses. As I was doing this I realized that he was giving me that kind of embarrassed, but too nice to say anything look that his father gives me when I kiss him in public or say "I love you." Like father like son. Sweethearts think alike. I'm a little sad that he grew up that fast, but I guess it had to happen sometime.

All in all this week went great for them. After waiting for a few days in the insane parent pick up line for a hour we decided to bus the kids from school to home. They love it, and it drops off in front of our house. It's a sweet deal.

Josh walked around saying all week, "Loren go ba bye?" "Loren go ride da bus?" can you tell who he loves the most? Really he calls all 3 of them the same name because its easier, but he does truly idolize Loren.

Ashley has had an adjustment with learning to play on her own. She is so use to having Emmy lead their play that she kind of followed me around the first few days, but now she loves leading the play for Josh. They play cute for the most part. There is the occasional, "maniac" reply from Josh, poor misled child. Who is his mother anyway? We're getting there....I hope.

pros and cons to talking babies

So a few months ago I posted that Josh was talking, and how cute it is. Well it is cute, except for when he learns words he shouldn't be saying. For instance, when Ashley gets upset she'll call one of her siblings, never me or Russ, "maniaces" or maniacs. Unfortunaley she learned that from the older siblings that trickled down to Ashley as well. Well I thought that was not okay. Today I caught Josh playing in my make-up and when I took it from him and said, "NO!" He looked at me and said, "maniac." I turned and started laughing, and he proceded to keep calling me a maniac. I'm working on changing this behavior, but getting a 16 month old to stop saying a bad word is kind of like teaching a dog to poo in a toilet. Now if that is possible then soon Josh will have a cleaner mouth. :)

New house!

We are in the process of moving into our new house! I am so excited and the kids have just been so pumped about it. It's been funny. We spent the night there last night because we had a few mattresses there, and Russ is working the night shift this whole month. So I thought we can sleepover and then I can clean or put things away. Loren and Emily stayed up until 12:30am laughing and goofing off. Those stinkers. Today I went to the "old house" is what they call it now, and got another load of junk to take over there and Emily had organized our junk that we dumped previously. She said, "While Holden and Loren played I was working." What a love. She is so helpful! I will post pictures as soon as I find my camera. :)

Joshy's words

Josh is starting to randomly say a few words here and there. I want to type them down so that I remember his words when he's older. Jump down to the next posting this one is boring, but not to me. :)

Mommy/Daddy
waffle
doggie
MOOO (for cow)
Mackdy (Mackie the dog)
bakdudan (bakugan)
ball, ball
baskaball (basketball)
bup (up)
ouw (out)
ow
dree (drink)
babble (bottle)
mowr (more)
na na (bed)

That's all I can remember for now.

It's been awhile

The other morning Josh, Ashley, and I were laying in bed and Josh started pounding on Ashley's back. She quickly responded, "Josh I'm not a basketball, don't dribble me!"

Russ has been working the nightshift and a few 24 plus hours at a time so the things that come out of his mouth are funny, but the best is that he is laughing at himself because he knows what he said made no sense at all. :) He asked me one day if it scares me to think he was taking care of patients? :)

Emily's new gig for now is to be Hannah Montana/Taylor Swift and sing and dance REALLY LOUDLY through the house and backyard. She really has some good dance moves. It reminds me of being a kid and rockin out in my front room with my sisters. Who are we kidding I totally rock out with her too!

Loren and Holden are hilarious together. They wrestle, play Super Smash, catch bugs, play Bakugan. The skies the limit for those two. I love to watch them play together.

Josh said, "Waffle!" We were (who are we kidding there is no we these days, he's gone! love you babe) I was getting breakfast ready and Ashley said, " I want a waffle." And then Josh said, "waffle!" He repeated it a few times until I actually shut my mouth (I was in shock) and got him one. :) It's so random what he says that it makes me laugh!

Well I guess the biggest news is that we are moving into a bigger house this month! Yeah! We found a cute house that will fit our family. We are excited to have a little bit more space. Now selling our own house is another story. :) No we have had so many people come and look at it, it has been crazy! Last week alone we had 12people. So I hope somebody want to buy it. I did, 6 years ago and it worked great for us. Anyway, we have been so blessed to have this house. Heavenly Father really blessed us to be here in Pearland and has blessed us again with this new house. Now if I only had the song, "Blessed" by Martina McBride that would give those few sentences the best setting right now.

Pictures will come someday.

My Mom's here!

My mom came to visit from Minnesota! It has been so fun to have extra hands around the house. I use to refuse help but now adays any help is better then no help. I'm so grateful that she has come to help she truly is a great lady! I helped her create a blog and I published some really great posts for her! Mostly about how lucky she is to have me as a daughter. We just laughed when she read them. :) The kids have really enjoyed having a listening ear around. Thanks Dad for letting her come!

He's back!

Russ has had a long and hectic month (Feb) so we are so excited to have him back with us! Josh (10 months today) can't stop saying "Da, Da, Da!" He doesn't just say it he screams it with such excitement it is hilarious. We went to the grocery store and the whole way he was so excited. If he saw Russ he'd yell, "Da, Da!" So on the way home Joshy fell asleep in his seat. As I went to get him out he wakes up immediately and again yells, "Da, Da, Da!" But when I picked him up he went straight back to sleep. Emily and I just laughed later. I wish I could take a picture of his face it was adorable. Even our little baby is excited to have his Daddy back. :)

Sing with me

The other day I was putting Ashley in the car and I hear her say very calmly, "Oh a bider (spider)." I looked and in her window there was this tiny spider just hanging out, but before I could kill it she said, "Sing with me, da bitdy, bitdy bider ( the itsy, bitsy, spider) went up the," and she sang the whole song to the spider. Then when we were done singing to it I killed it. :)

Big Brother Note

When I was putting Holden to bed last night I saw a note on his dresser with a candy bar (half eaten) the note read,
Dear Holden,
I'm giving the rest of the Chocolate bar to you I don't want the rest so thats why I'm giving it to you.
Your
Big
Brother,
Loren

I thought what a sweet big brother. He earned the candy bar in his class at church by doing homework, and then turning it the following week. I tried to take a picture of it, but our awesome camera couldn't pick up his soft pencil writing. So I copied it exactly how he wrote it. What a sweetheart. I picked this picture just because it was about Loren. It doesn't even go with this. :)

Cell phones and texting are beyond us!

Russ just started moonlighting and had to get a cell phone... uh oh! How do you use a cell phone and what is texting? We have had one pay as you go cell phone for a few years, which we tried to avoid, only because of finances. So we got one. Then Russ started moonlighting and apparently they didn't like that he had to call me from work so that I could call his work, and then turn on the party line (I'd put the phone down,and then they would discuss their business). :) It took Russ's job actually saying to Russ, "You need a cell phone." So now we have 2 pay as you go cell phones. :) We are so white trash it's incredible!
Anyway, Russ got texted the other night that they needed him to pull an extra shift because somebody had quit, but we didn't get it. Who knew that when your phone makes this little beep sound that you have a text. Well we didn't. We heard something weird come out of the phone, but it just didn't register. Why is calling so hard to do? I mean texting seems harder to me then picking up and dialing the number.
So when we were at church (the next day) Russ told me his work had texted him last night, and they wanted him to work today (we sound flakey, but really we're just texting retards). So he "text" them back, and he told them he never had "text" anyone is his life. I guess they got a kick out of that, but so did we. We know we are so out of the cell phone world. I hope everyone pays attentions to texting now because we're in the know and we're going to use it. Just kidding Russ. I guess texting cost more too if you don't have a plan for it. So really we won't be using it. :)

Bedtime boots

Ashley wears these boots EVERYWHERE we go! She usually is wearing her Dora backpack with it which is cute. The boots aren't so cute. Let me give you some background on these babies. First of all they've been past down through a few kids. Usually they were used for the backyard, but Holden, when they were his, decided to take a pen and color all over them. I never tried to scrub that off. So now are you with me on how beautiful these boots are? I don't force her to take them off because she really loves them. It's like she turns into a princess when she slips them on. Her personality blossoms and its adorable. Well worth looking past the boots past history. :) Anyway, now she has decided she needs to wear them to bed! If you take them off she throws a temper tantrum, which I'm okay with her doing, but not when every child is in bed already and that means I get to deal with them. So for now our beautiful yellow white trash boots are being worn to bed. :)