A Letter

Dear Eclipse,

Why are you taunting me? When I ordered you on Monday, you said that you would arrive in 5-7 business days. You are a few days early, and it is really causing me stress. Do you realize what I have to do today? I have piles and piles of laundry, a kitchen floor that needs mopping, a husband due to arrive tonight. I have kids that need to be fed, and cleaned up after, and fed, and cleaned up after again. I need to referee fights and combat the whines of "Mom, there's nothing to do. What can we do???" I have toilets that need to be scrubbed, a toy room that is an absolute monstrosity, and somewhere in all the middle of this I need to find time to take a shower! And yet, every time I pass you sitting so prettily in your amazon.com box, it takes all the willpower I have to look away. If I mop the kitchen floor can I sit down and read for 15 minutes?? Alas, I better not....15 minutes will turn into 2 hours and 2 hours into 2 days. Oh why, oh why can't today I be a full time reader, part time mom?

Thanks for listening. Until we meet.

Love, Me

A Tale of Two Hares

Once upon a time in the house of Nuttall, there lived a happy family with four beautiful children, and two, (ahem), semi-cute pets. One day while the king was out of town, these two playful bunnies were found missing. Upon searching the entire kingdom, it was discovered that the hares, once suspected being naughty bunnies for running away, were actually chased by some viscous animals. Fearing for their lives the rabbits took cover under the royal palace. (Read: under the deck.) One bunny was immediately discovered shaking in his very boots, but alas, the second rascal was not to be seen. It was soon discovered that the bunny had fallen down the window well. The royals subjects were much dismayed, for they know that the queen was a royal wimp and could not, would not, get into the window well to rescue this precious animal because her aracnophobia was too, too overwhelming. At a loss for what to do, it was soon impressed upon the royal children to call the "Bunny Whisperer. " (AKA Grandpa.) As soon as he could tear himself away from beautifying his beautiful palace, he hurried down to rescue the traumitized little bunnies. With gloves and gentle hands he wisked those bunnies to saftey and the royal children (and royal queen) will forever be grateful for his bravery. And the queen and the children lived happily every after, and counted down the minutes until the king of the house would FINALLY get home. The End




Dearest Grandpa, You are the absolute very best! Thank you for coming to our house to save our darling pets and for not being a wimp when it came to black widows and wasps. We love you and will always remember how you saved our precious (Ahem) Pets! We love you so, and will always remember you as the "Bunny Whisperer!" Love, Zach, Kylie, Savannah and Braden (Oh, and Mom too.)

One year is almost here

I hope that what I wrote here does some of the justice to how I feel about my sweetest final child. Happy Birthday Baby Bauer.

The surprise party:

So, Let's pretend that someone is throwing you a surprise party. The only thing is, you don't want a party. You don't like surprises, your hair needs to be cut, you don't want to have a bunch of people messing up your house...you can think of a million reasons why a surprise party would not suit you this year. Yet a surprise party is planned nonetheless and you have no choice in the matter. So you go, but not without dragging your feet and complaining the whole way. And some people will understand that you just don't want to have a party this year, and some people wonder why you just can't get over it. It's a surprise party for heavens sake, and who wouldn't be excited about that. So you get to the party, and before you know it you're starting to enjoy yourself. Did you know that there would be cake at this party???And presents?? And look at all these people that care about you. You're having so much fun that pretty soon you wonder what it was you were so reluctant about in the first place. A surprise party isn't all that bad. In fact, it's sort of Fun. And later that night, when you're at home reflecting on your day you realize this: A surprise party was just what you needed...and someone loved you just enough to throw you one.



To my dear Braden....I will always and forever be grateful that you graced our home with your sweet spirit. Someone knew just what they were doing sending you into our lives. We love you, we love you and wish you the very best birthday ever. I can't believe how fast this last year has gone by. With you, my dear, sweet son, we definitely ended on a "high note." I love you.
P.S I hope you enjoy the video montage that I made. I spent the latter half of the day neglecting my children, so I hope it was worth it. Just click on the picture to watch it.
You Have Stolen my Heart

SICKOS

Just to warn everyone...do not come near the house of Nuttall. We have sick kiddos here and it is not fun. There is some nasty flu bug going around and it is making the rounds through our family and we are praying that it will run it's course before Zach's Baptism. (I'm sure it will, as two kids are already better and it takes about three days to run it's course. ) It's a nasty one, I'm telling you. And, there is absolutely nothing worse than having your children sick. I have reflected long and hard on this and have come to this conclusion: I WANT MY KIDS BETTER. I want them to run and play, to want to eat meals (heck, to even ask for a thousand snacks a day.) I want them to talk, to laugh, to not want to sleep and watch T.V all day. And here's the clincher, I even miss their fighting! My home stays too neat, is too quiet, and feels foreign to me. The other day on a car ride home from Orem all four of them did not make ONE PEEP. This is not my life, so will someone please order up my life for me and give it back. Thanks for listening to my rant. I am sleep deprived, stinky (not showered), un-exercised (is this even a word???), and at my wits end. Oh, well, such is life with children, sicknesses and all.

Shiver me Timbers!

Ahoy Mateys! Yesterday we celebrated Zachary's 8th birthday with a pirate birthday party. We had 10 boys that Zach had invited to his party (two of the boys are not pictured) and we had a great time. Initially, I thought that this was going to be an ordeal. !0 young boys can have a tendency to get out of hand at times (thank you captain obvious), but I just thought they if they got too naughty I would make them "swab the deck" (And let's be honest...my kitchen floor did need a little attention. ) Although crazy at times, these boys were good for the most part. We played a few party games, Like pin the nose on the pirate clown (Thanks to Maryanne for giving us this leftover prize that no one would take at the bbq. C'mon ya'll, WHY did no one want a pin the nose on the clown party game???) We had a treasure hunt and had ice cream cones for dessert. It was short and sweet (Just an hour long) and fun for all who attended, because seriously....Is there a better, funnier, sweeter Mom than me??? I don't think so. Zach had a lot of fun, although due to some stomach bug the day before was only running at about 70%. (Poor kiddo, it sucks to be sick on your b-day.) Hope you enjoy these pictures from his fun day. I still can't believe my little boy is EIGHT YEARS OLD. Time goes by too quickly. I love you Zachy, you will always and forever be my Z-man, doodle bug, and doot doots. Happy Birthday little guy!

Dollar Store Fun

Okay, so here's the dealio....I hate the dollar store...hate it, hate it and hate it! My kiddos, however, love that dang place. So, one of the rewards that we have is getting to go to the dollar store and picking three things of their choice. This is the reward choice that I dread. That place is filled with junk, plain and simple, and my kids have yet to pick one toy that I didn't want to chuck in the garbage the minute that their backs are turned. (This, by the way, is a fine art...I call it "getting rid of your kids crap without them knowing" I am a semi-professional at this. If any of ya'll need pointers, I'd be glad to give them to you.) Anyway, on this fine day, My dearest Kylie picks none other than a wig of the most disgusting, fake, pink, curly hair that you could ever imagine! I was appalled, but, not letting my distaste show, calmly tried to say to Ky "Are you sure honey? Are you sure that this is what you want???!!!" Well, for those of you that know Kylie......once she makes up her mind....the rest is history. So, the pictures that you guys have the pleasure of viewing are what I like to call "Fun with a nasty pink wig." Hope you enjoy.

Our New Pet

Now, I know you guys all know that we have bunnies...but have you ever seen a pet as cute as this??? Savy thought she would crawl in the rabbit cage and just chill for awhile, and I, of course, had to capture this precious moment on film. Just look at that smile. First prize goes to the person that can identify the movie from this quote..."Better get used to those bars, Kid!"