Pettisx5

Ode to the First Born

2010-12-14T13:57:00.000-08:00

In light of my last post, I wrote an ode. If you aren't an English nerd, you probably don't know what an ode is, but I can clarify for you. An ode is a lyrical poem with complex stanza forms. As I'm sure you all know, "Melissa" and "Complex" don't usually show up in the same sentence. I'm not so sure about the complexity of my ode, but I had fun writing it anyway.

You poor, poor being

How you were thrown

Into the arms of the unknown

Her first born, your mother was seeing

So small, so wet, so precious

Not knowing what to do

Everything was so new

She took you in her arms with a promise

No harm will succumb to her first little son

No dirt will he know

Not even on his toe

I won't take a chance with one toxin

True to her word

Much to your chagrin

Again and again

She washed and she wiped Northward and Southward

The Third Baby Blues

2010-12-11T09:30:00.000-08:00

Things are quite different for the third baby in a family. Let me show you just one scenario:

Baby is toddling around outside and decides to put some dirt into his mouth.

Parents' reaction:

Baby #1: "AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!! Gross! Gross! Shooey, Shooey. Don"t do that! Let's take him inside. We have to clean him up immediately. Do you think he actually swallowed some? Should we call the doctor?" The parents will worry off and on the rest of the day and torture themselves with what foul, unseen items could have been in the dirt.

Baby #3: "HaHaHa. Look honey! He's eating dirt! Get the Camera!"

EXHIBIT A

Kohen's 1st

2010-12-09T23:24:00.000-08:00

The "new baby" is no longer new, but he'll always be the baby. Kohen turned 1 on October 22 and we celebrated his birthday with a Very Hungry Caterpillar birthday party. This is one of my favorite children's books and I had a ton of fun decorating. It's too bad Kohen won't remember any of it! We have a ton of pictures so I'm going to share quite a few with you all.

November, where did you go???

2010-12-08T19:06:00.000-08:00

Well, the month of November snuck by me. Here it is December 8th and I still haven't written a post about Kohen's 1st birthday, my own birthday or Thanksgiving. What a Looser I am! I'll get right on it peeps, fans, family members and friends. Please forgive me...both of you....

Meanwhile, here is a cute little video I took on my phone about 6 months ago. It's not very clear, but you can still hear Kohen cracking up.

Laundry: The bane of my existence

2010-10-30T23:50:00.000-07:00

The laundry situation at the Pettis house is a little out of control.

Please.

Send.

Help.

Now.

Homeschool Field Trip

2010-10-29T23:37:00.000-07:00

Every year Shawn and I try to catch Tehachapi's apple season. Last year they only sold apples for two weeks and we missed it. This year they have an abundance of apples and have been selling apples for about two months.

If you only buy apples in the grocery store, you are missing out. We were told by the apple growers that the apples in the grocery store are actually last year's apples and have been kept refrigerated since they were picked. Obviously the fresh ones are way better.

As we were driving around, we stumbled upon a pumpkin patch (happy, happy, joy, joy). Have I told you that I love pumpkins? Well, I do. I have a fetish about pumpkins, and I'm not ashamed to admit it.

Kohen wanted to get down and walk so we were happy to oblige him. We soon got distracted with helping the boys pick out their pumpkins. Kohen wasn't impressed with the pretty, orange pumpkins at all. He decided to have a sit and check out the dirt.

It looked interesting...... It felt interesting....

Let's see if it tastes interesting.

Not so much.

Tip of the day: Emergency Adhesive

2010-10-11T11:24:00.000-07:00

Pretend you are having a bad day and find yourself in a MacGyverish position.

Let's say you're locked in a building with a bomb that's about to explode or stranded in a deep crevice facing a deadly avalanche.

Possibly, you're trapped in a 3 bedroom house, with three boys, sleep deprived and out of coffee..... wait, that's my reality.

We're supposed to be pretending, remember?

Anyway, you're in a sticky situation, whatever it may be and you need some type of adhesive. You have no tape and no glue of any kind.

What do you use?

Rice Krispies.

I have discovered that Rice Krispies + milk = super glue.

It's true.

Try it.

Or better yet, give your kids Rice Krispies for breakfast and don't clean up after them for about 30 minutes or so.

Monterey Bay Aquarium

2010-10-09T23:04:00.000-07:00

We recently took our first homeschool field trip to Monterey Bay Aquarium. My dad had gotten us tickets and we used them on Karter's birthday weekend.

There's something very intriguing about the ocean and the aquarium was a cool way to get to explore a small part of it.

My favorite part was the sea horse exhibit. It was huge and displayed so well. I have never seen so many different species of sea horses and I have been to three other large aquariums. This had the best sea horse exhibit by far. I wish I had taken more pictures.

If you've never been to Monterey Bay, it is totally a worth while trip. We didn't get to spend any time on Cannery Row, but all of the shops and restaurants looked like a ton of fun.

Here the boys are "underneath" a wave

Kohen loved looking at all the fish too.

Can you see the sea horse?

When I first saw this tank, I thought "what are all those people staring at?" These sea horses are so cleverly disguised. God actually made their body leaf like, so they blend in with the sea weed. This truly was the coolest thing I saw all day. It's called a Leafy Sea Dragon.

Here is a better pic of it.

Pappa Mick, Kenson and Karter and Harry Otter.

An explanation of my "First day of homeschool" post

2010-10-07T22:42:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I have these really, weird, lapses of memory/reality and I forget that I am the mother of unruly boys. I don't know how this happens, I have three constant reminders running circles around me all day.

This happened to me on a Monday, our first day of home school. I was making pancakes and I told Kenson to go wake Karter up and tell him I was making pancakes for breakfast. In my delirium, I envisioned Kenson skipping down the hall, butterflies flitting about, birdies, singing sweetly on the window sill. He gently leans over his sleeping brother whispering softly, "Little brother.... Mommy dear is making us pancakes. Won't you please join us?" My darling offspring would then walk back into the kitchen arm in arm with broad smiles on their faces.

What was I thinking?

I KNOW that this would never, ever happen in my house..... with my boys. Yet, for some reason, I did it anyway.

Was I drunk on French Vanilla Coffemate or what?

What did happen is this: Somehow when the words left my mouth and entered into the ears of Kenson they turned into "Please, please go torture your brother and see just how mad you can make him." So Kenson, happy to oblige, sped down to Karter's room, leaped onto his bed and began jumping, up and down.

Karter, even under the best circumstances, is not a morning person. These were not the best circumstances and he began to scream like a banshee. I have never heard a banshee scream, but I imagine they sound similar to Karter in the height of his fury.

I intervened.

Karter stopped his screaming.

Kenson left Karter's room only to return a few minutes later to continue afflicting his brother. This time he decided to poke him randomly at intervals as he was trying to fall back asleep.

There really are no words to describe what happened next.

Let's just say it was ugly, real ugly.

I got angry, real angry.

This was our first day of homeschool.

It did not go well.

In hindsight, I probably should have just postponed the first day until Tuesday, but I didn't. (please see first paragraph)

It feels like fall

2010-10-04T09:47:00.000-07:00

Today I woke up to a very pleasant surprise. I hadn't paid any attention to the weather in the paper or I wouldn't have been surprised.

Good thing, Huh?

It feels like fall, finally. It's cloudy, slight breezy and only 65 degrees. Awesome. Since it was 91 on Saturday, I had no idea it was going to cool down so drastically.

I feel giddy, like a school girl. Hey, I'm a homeschool girl/mom. Does that count?

Autumn is my favorite time of the year, hands down. I love the crisp air,the turning leaves, pumpkins, apples and candy corn.

I need to go get some pumpkins, a bale of straw, some indian corn and some gourds to decorate my front porch.

I also need to bake something. But I don't know what. I don't do pies so pumpkin pies are out of the question, maybe a pumpkin log?

Happy Autumn, Everyone!

Happy Birthday Karter

2010-09-29T09:49:00.000-07:00

Karter's birthday was this weekend and my little guy turned 7. I'll share a few facts about him that y'all might not know.

Karter was the biggest of the Pettis babies, being born at 8lbs, 3oz.

He is the only one of the boys that has green/hazel eyes like his mamma.

He has a fear of natural disasters even though he has never been in one.

He loves knock, knock jokes. (would somebody pleeeese tell him some new ones.)

He collects stuffed animals.

His favorite animals are monkeys.

He's also very analytical so he has a thing for numbers and counting. An interesting conversation between him and my sister went something like this:

Karter: "Aunt Misti, what's your favorite letter in the alphabet?"

Aunt Misti: "Ummm, I don't know. I've never thought about it. Maybe M?"

Karter: "Mine is E. You know why?"

Aunt Misti: "Why?"

Karter: "Because E is the fifth letter in the alphabet and my favorite numbers are 5 and 15"

Karter smothers me with hugs and kisses throughout the day, especially when he's supposed to be doing his schoolwork.

He is easily embarassed and doesn't like to be the center of attention.

His favorite food is shrimp.

His favorite color is green.

Karter also thinks I am extremely old. Like older than metal, steel, or aluminum.

That's old.

I'm surprised he hasn't tried to put me a nursing home.

We had this conversation right after he learned to ride his new bike:

Karter: "Mom, what color were bikes back then?"

Me: knowing exactly what he was referring to, "Back when?"

Karter: "Back when you were a kid."

Me: "They had all colors, just like now."

Karter: "Oh"

I can see wheels turning in his little head and I'm wondering what's going to come next when he asks, "Were they made out of wood?"

Happy Birthday Karter Mack! We love you!

Differences

2010-09-18T13:09:00.000-07:00

Monday, Karter and I were making cookies. I was dumping in the ingredients and he was manning the mixer. When we were finished, I ask the boys if they wanted to lick the beaters. Karter has done this several times before, but apparently actually seeing the raw eggs go into the cookie dough affected his decision.

He asked, "Can't raw eggs make you sick?"

I replied, "Well, yes, technically I guess they could. But you really won't be eating very much cookie dough and not actually getting a lot of raw eggs. So you probably won't get sick. You've eaten cookie dough before and never gotten sick."

Karter declares, "I'm not eating it."

That's just the kinda guy he is.

This made Kenson very happy. "Cool!" He exclaimed. "I'll eat yours too!"

Because, that's just the kinda guy he is.

Kenson's DIY photo shoot

2010-09-17T08:22:00.000-07:00

These pictures really don't need an explanation, but this would not be a blog if I didn't give one, now would it?

Kenson found my camera and used it on his favorite subject... himself.

First day of school

2010-09-14T18:57:00.000-07:00

I quit.

Just kidding, but it did not go well.

What's really important?

2010-09-12T09:51:00.000-07:00

I finally received all of the boys' curriculum so the first day of school will be this Monday, Sept. 13th. Yesterday, I was making sure I had everything prepared. Sharpening pencils, trying to organize all of their books and muddling through the teachers' manual took up most of my day. Knowing that today was Sunday and I consider Sunday to be my day "off" (no laundry; no housework), I went ahead and wrote some assignments on our dry erase board. Later in the evening the boys asks if they could add something to the list. My parents had come over for dinner and we were saying our goodbye's and I never noticed what the boys had added to their assignments. This morning I took a picture to show you their addition.

Apparently "Bake cookies" is a very important task that I had neglected to include in their academics.

A new mascot

2010-09-10T09:15:00.000-07:00

I love this Cat. I saw him the other day and quickly added him to my computer. He's my new mascot.

Do you think I could have a t-shirt made with him on it?

A bumper sticker?

A flag flown proudly outside my home?

Maybe just a coffee cup.

I think the reason I like him so much is that he so appropriately expresses my feelings on a plethora of subjects.

Me as a homeschooling mom

Gray hair

Potty training

Housework

Fat-free mayonnaise

Dieting

I could go on and on, but I think you get the idea.

Angry kitty will be visiting the Pettis blog often in the future.

Kohen's most recent photo shoot

2010-09-07T10:37:00.000-07:00

You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance. ~Franklin P. Jones

Karter 1, Mom 0

2010-09-04T21:57:00.000-07:00

Karter has been a serial sleep stalker for the past few years. I can't really pin point when this started, but it has gone on way too long. He'll come and get into our bed numerous times throughout the night even though we take him and put back in his bed. We actually have counted, and between the two us we have put him back in his bed up to 5 times in one night.

This is very frustrating.

He grinds his teeth. He throws his legs over my head. He pins me to the bed by rolling over on my hair.

Did I say this is very frustrating?

The other night we had this conversation when he crawled into our bed:

Me: "What are you doing?"

Karter: "I want to sleep in your bed."

Me: "No. You need to sleep in your own bed."

Karter: no reply. He just continues to crawl into my bed.

Suddenly, I get a bright idea.

Me: "Karter, you're going to be 7 soon and you can't sleep with your mom and dad when you're 7.

Score!

He gathers his pillow and starts to go into his room.

Yes! Victory is sweet!

But wait... He stops and turns...

Karter: "Mama?"

Me: "Yes?"

Karter: "Can I just sleep in here tonight? For the last time?"

Blam!! Straight to the heart!

The last time? The last time?

Suddenly his life flashes before my eyes. The day he was born; getting his first tooth; loosing his first tooth; his first day of school; learning to ride his bike.

These past seven years have flown by.

Where did they go?

I now see vision of his future: singing in the youth choir; getting his drivers license; graduating from high school; driving off into the sunset with his red headed girlfriend and forgetting about his poor momma who grew him in her womb.

Me: "Ok, you can sleep with us."

Me: "But you have to cuddle with me. And grind your teeth. And throw your legs across my head. But don't pin me to the bed by my hair. That is really frustrating."

Funny

2010-09-01T11:08:00.000-07:00

What do you call it when a home school mom is caught talking to herself?

Fears of Home school

2010-08-31T10:23:00.000-07:00

When I went back through and read my post about our decision to home school the boys, I realized that I sounded very confident about home schooling. I am confident with our decision, but I still have some fears and "what if's" that keep bugging me. Maybe someone can help me out with them. Feel free to leave the number of a good therapist if you know one.

1. Will I be too hard or too easy with my kids? With no other students to compare them too, how will I know if they are working to their full potential. On the flip side, what if my expectations are too great or above their capabilities?

2. Are my kids missing out? I was a kinda sad that my kids were not going to have a "1st day of school" this year. I can remember as a kid hardly being able to go to sleep the night before school started because I was so excited. Getting a new back pack and school supplies, picking out new clothes and shoes, meeting my new teacher in freshly decorated classroom are all a big part of my childhood, am I cheating them by not letting them have the same memories?

3. There is so much I want my kids to learn, where do I begin? I think I need to stick to a curriculum for Language arts and math, but what about history and science? Should we learn a little about a several science topics or really delve deeply into just a few. Where do we begin with history? Abeka starts with American, which I like. Some curriculums believe a chronological study is better and actually start with creation, I like that too. ?????

4. Did I choose the right curriculum? I originally thought I would just stay with the Abeka home schooling curriculum. The boys have been using Abeka since kindergarten and have done extremely well with it. Once I started looking into it, I quickly found out that there is a lot of really good stuff out there. Which one is best for them? Which one is best for me?

5. Will I be able to motivate my kids? Without the friendly competition of other students will my boys try as hard at home as they normally would in a classroom setting? Do they need the affirmation of an actual teacher on order to have a feeling of accomplishment?

My biggest fear is that my home schooling adventure will ignite into a raging ball of flames, with me as the pyromaniac.

Homeschooling? For Real?

2010-08-30T13:13:00.000-07:00

I mentioned in a previous post that we had made the decision to home school the boys this year. Just in case you're wondering why in the cornbread world we would decide to do that, here are our reasons. Not necessarily in order of importance, just the way they popped into and out of my head.

1. I don't feel like the whole school schedule (7:55 to 3:30) is conducive to a Pentecostal lifestyle. As most of you know, there always seems to be something going on (revivals, Easter plays, conferences, Bible quizzing). My kids were rarely getting to bed on time and I felt like I was sending sleep deprived zombies to school for 7 hrs a day. I really, really, think it's important for kids to get adequate sleep. There's tons of info about it online to back me up.

2. My kids' teachers were getting the best of them everyday. I get to wake up the sleep deprived zombies and rush them out the door every morning. By the time we get to school, they are finally awake, no longer whining and ready to go. When I pick them up, there are tired, sweaty, hungry and mentally wiped out. I've missed them throughout the day and would like to talk about their school day, find out what they learned and spend some time with them. They just want to veg out.

3. My boys really, really don't like school. I know that kids don't usually like school, but seriously, my boys hate it. The traditional classroom is not designed for wormy, squirmy boys - at all. I highly recommend the book Bringing Up Boys by Dr. James Dobson. He discusses how schools are geared more toward girls than boys.

4. Bible Quizzing was going out the window this year if I did not home school. It is extremely difficult to squeeze Bible Quizzing, a school schedule and church activities into our life. See reason #2. The boys do not want to spend anymore time studying on school days.

5. I can choose a curriculum and schedule that suits my boys' learning styles and interests.

6. The boys will have time for music lessons. Karter wants to play the trumpet and Kenson would like to learn to play the drums.

7. I enjoy being with my kids.

8. Private school tuition was a strain on our finances. Our church school is very reasonably priced, but it still was not easy for us with only one income.

9. They can learn more in less time each day. It takes less time to teach one child than a group. We can actually get our core lessons completed each day in about 3 hours. I will be adding in some electives as our school year progresses.

10. Shawn and I have spent a lot of time in prayer and we feel like God has led us in this direction.

These are just some of the reasons, I could go on, but I'll stop here. This is not something that we have just decided on a whim. I've been tossing the idea around for over a year now. Shawn and I have spent a lot of time discussing and praying about the right decision. We hope we are doing what's best for our kids. Our church's private school is good, but would home schooling be better?

We're going find out.

Cheese Puffs

2010-08-29T09:46:00.000-07:00

I just feel like I need to get something off my chest, ok?

I have a weakness for cheese puffs.

There! I said it! I don't care if the whole world knows!

I. Love. Cheese Puffs!!!

Now that I have gotten that out of the way, please understand that while I looove the crunchy, puffy, cheeseyness of Cheese Puffs, I don't eat them. It has probably been like 3 or 4 years since I have bought cheese puffs. It just seems like something is wrong with them. They taste great, but how do you really make cheese puffs? Should we really be eating something that in no way, shape or form resembles a natural product? Even the cheese doesn't taste like real cheese.

So, I was at the grocery store the other day and I was hungry. I know, you're never supposed to go to the grocery store hungry, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. Anyway, I saw the cheese puffs and the cheese puffs saw me and they wanted so very badly to come home with me and they did. Still love me?

When I got home, I opened the bag and was happily munching on my cheese puffs while I was putting the groceries way. I would not allow myself to think about all the artificial this and color #45, and preservative 502 that make up cheese puffs. My little dog was standing there, wagging her tail and begging me for one of my puffs. Well, I love my little dog, so of course I gave her one. She sniffed it for a sec, then gingerly took it from my hand and spit it out. This is the dog that eats socks for crying out loud! (I'll have to post about that at a later date)

Even she knows Cheese Puffs are not fit for consumption.

HELP!

2010-08-26T23:22:00.000-07:00

Somebody pleeease rescue me from the recesses of my tortured mind!

I have My Arms are Broken by Tim Hawkins STUCK in my head!

Please.

Send.

Help.

Now.

Thank you.

Arkansas

2010-08-26T10:04:00.000-07:00

This is Shawn checkin in. I recently made a quick jot back to Little Rock for a music conference called Newsong. The conference was informative and motivating. The church that put it on was First Pentecostal Church of North Little Rock (Pastor Joel Holmes). The church was amazing. Here are a few shots that I took with my phone. We did one of the songs we learned there Sunday night at church. It's called The Blood Still Works (Malcom Williams & Great Faith). I have the vocals and the chord sheet if anyone wants it. I will check back in later in between Melissa's postings.

Sleep! Glorious Sleep!

2010-08-26T08:53:00.000-07:00

Sleep is like the unicorn - it is rumored to exist, but I doubt I will see any.

I found this quote on line and it pretty much describes how I have felt since Kohen was born. He is a horrible sleeper. I expect babies to wake up once or twice to eat at night, but he's been a little excessive.

With that said, I just want to thank the Lord with all my heart because the little, precious, schmootzie pooh SLEPT ALL NIGHT!

That's right folks, he didn't wake up until 6 a.m. to eat. He then went right back to sleep and he is still sleeping at 9:00. It was wonderful!

Of course, I still didn't sleep because my mommy sense was tingling telling me to check on him 5 or 6 times. I'm sure if he can keep it up I can beat my mommy sense to smithereens and get some much needed sleep.

Melissa

2010-08-23T00:20:00.001-07:00

There really is not very much to update about myself.

I do laundry, sometimes.

Pick up every one's stuff around the house, sometimes.

Clean the bathrooms, when I feel like it.

Mop the floors, every now and then.

And I occasionally vacuum.

Vacuum is a really strange word, huh? Why isn't it Vacume or even Vackume? Maybe someone can leave a comment and let me know why Hooked on Phonics didn't work for vacuum.

I did start sewing lessons with Sis. Jenkins. She really is an awesome seamstress. If you need any sewing done, you should look her up. If I can sew anything of merit, I'll post it. She has helped me make a skirt that turned out way better than I thought it would. I would really like to sew a number of things, its just finding the time. Not just time, but without kid time. The big boys aren't a problem, but Mr. Kohen is at a very curious stage and spends most of his days exploring our home. Toilets, dog food, tiny chokeable toys and the "God only knows where he got that" stuff keep us both busy. No time for sewing.

I decided to home school the boys this year, I'll post the why's and wherefor's later.

In May, My lovely sister got married and had a pretty beach side wedding.

We made these bouquets, they turned out nice, huh?

Kenson and Karter

2010-08-22T22:28:00.000-07:00

I decided to write Kenson and Karter's update together since they typically do the same things.

2010 has been a great year for the boys so far. No major illnesses, accidents, or broken bones.

Kenson turned 8 in February and he had a sleep over with his buddies.

From Left to Right: Caden, Mike, Ethen, Kenson, Landon, Karter. Back Right: Kohen. Center: Polly

We went to Lego Land in March. All of the rides are pretty much geared for younger kids. This was perfect for the boys. These two are the biggest chickens EVER! The display behind them is made entirely of Legos. It's a race track complete with race cars and a huge crowd in the grandstand. The people in the grandstand are made out of Legos too. The detail is incredible.

They both received "A" Honor Roll in school this year and Sis. Casey survived having both of them in her class... at the same time...everyday. She's a saint.

I'm really excited to report that they actually completed a year of Bible quizzing. Now, they didn't learn all of the verses, but we did hang in there and went to the last tournament. They were supposed to learn 183 verses and I think we ended up learning somewhere in the 130's. I say "we" because as every BQ parent in the Beginner division knows, these little guys don't learn verses on their own. :-) Is anyone proud of ME for learning 130 something verses? huh? Guess not. I'm really proud of them for lasting to the end ( and myself for that matter, cuz I really, really wanted to quit in April.)

As you can see, they get really nervous right before they quiz. It's sad, really, to put them through this kind of pressure. They're trying to let off some steam with Rylan and Dylan from the Paso Robles team. (Hey, That rhymed! Steam and team...get it?)

This is Bakersfield 1. Kenson, Karter and Caden. See the lady with the red hair in the back? That's Sister Diane Newton. THE LADY HAS PATIENCE! It's not easy trying to get these guys to calm down and practice or to stop interrupting questions like a bunch of crazy, crazed....craze.....crazies. (there really are no analogies for crazy bible quizzers, how sad....)

We decided to get the boys a crew cut this summer and get rid of all their hair. This the "after" pic. Landon the Great came along too.

That brings y'all pretty much up to date!

Happy Birthday Miranda

2010-08-11T22:12:00.000-07:00

Happy 13th Miranda! I can't believe you are a teenager.

I love you,

Uncle Shawn

Kohen

2010-08-10T22:37:00.000-07:00

Kohen is growing, growing and growing. I hate how fast his first year is going by. He is already 9 months old and at his last doctors appointment he weighed 19lbs. Just like his older brother Karter, he decided to get 5 teeth at one time. I already miss his toothless grin and its only been a few weeks. As you can see by the last picture, he is already reading at a first grade level. (ha, ha) He is crawling everywhere and climbing on everything. He stands by himself, walks with one of his walking toys and raises his hands to praise the Lord. Kohen is a total blast. I'm so glad we decided to try for girl and I'm so glad God gave us Kohen instead.

Playing the drums with Uncle Shannon

Asleep in the car

Playing with Karter or in actuality Karter playing with him. (this doesn't always work out so well)

Reading a book. He's a genius!

Kohen's dedication

Back and better than ever!

2010-08-02T12:46:00.001-07:00

Apparently the numerous fans of PettisX5 have been in a frenzy for updates on all of us. Since it's been about 6 months since there has been a post (who's responsible for that? huh? Someone is in BIG trouble), there's just too much info/pics to post all at once. I'll give an update for each member of PettisX5 separately. Since I'm really into organized chaos (it's my middle name. I have several.), I'll post from youngest to oldest. So stay tuned for the next post!

2010-02-11T13:08:00.000-08:00

It's really shameful how long it's been since I've posted on here. I can't even say I've been horribly busy. My blogging confidence has been crumpled up like last year's wrapping paper.

Why? Oh let me count the ways:

#1. On Christmas day I had some great pictures of the kids to post, but my camera had an attitude problem and it wouldn't transfer my pics. Consequently, I decided not to post at all. It's my personal belief that a post without pictures is like cheesecake without that yummy graham cracker crust. Yes, it still tastes good, but it's just not, quite right.

#2. I'm also frustrated with this whole blog/post set up. My pictures never appear where I want them and they're not in the correct order.

#3. I also have a problem with huge spaces showing up out of nowhere or no spaces at all. When I'm rambling, like today, I feel like my post is easier to read with appropriate spacing, but for some reason, its not gonna happen.

I DON'T NEED THIS FRUSTRATION! I've got mountains of laundry, dusty furniture and suspicious stuff growing in my shower. I'm also trying to type with one hand because Kohen wanted to nurse and I'm determined to get this post up. With all that said, I would appreciate it if blogging was a wee bit easier.

If anyone would like to show a poor, little, retarded girl how to blog/post properly, she would greatly appreciate it.

Ok! So I'm not a exactly a "girl" anymore and I'm not foolin' anyone in the "little" department either. I'm also not exactly retarded, but I am special :) However, the truth remains: I NEED HELP!

deep, cleansing breaths, deep, cleansing breaths…….

I'm done whining.... for now.

I'm afraid this has turned into a post about why I haven't posted. I do want to share some pics from the holidays with everyone. They probably won't show up in this order, but here goes: Christmas at my sister's house with my cousins Jackie, Heidi, and Heather; Christmas Eve at Nana Mary's, and Christmas Day at home.

The tooth that wouldn't give up

2009-11-30T13:54:00.000-08:00

I think we all had one of these baby teeth, at least I know I did. The one tooth that decides its not ready to come out yet and no matter how much you wiggle and waggle the stupid thing it just won't come out! This tooth of Kenson's has been really loose for about two months now. The adult tooth just keeps pushing it forward instead of down and out. It looks pretty hilarious as you can see. For some reason it has a tenacious hold on one corner, but the other corner is not even attached to the gum. Of course, if Kenson would let us get a hold of it, Mom or Dad could probably encourage the nasty thing to come out. I say nasty because, Mr. Kenson doesn't really like to brush it since it's half way out. According to him it hurts when he brushes it. After a few days of neglect it starts to take on a Dorito like appearance. Mom then has to assist him in brushing in that area.

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-30T13:41:00.000-08:00

We had a great Thanksgiving! Here are some pics of our day. The picture of the boys and Chloe was taken at the annual Thanksgiving dinner at Bethel.

Kohen update

2009-11-04T09:57:00.000-08:00

Baby Kohen is doing great. He was a little fussy the first week. I got the impression that he was really enjoying being a fetus and being expelled into the outside world was not his idea of a good time. He has finally stopped screaming during every diaper change and is sleeping for longer periods of time. Best of all, he isn't wanting to nurse all day. The first night in the hospital was roughbecause no matter how much he ate he never acted satisfied. I kept having the recurring thought "a little Similac never hurt anybody". I toughed it out though and everything is better now.

His big brothers are totally in love with him, so much that they gave him an eye infection last week. I have no proof it was them. It actually could have been anyone,but I'm highly suspicious of the boys since they always have their hands on him. The doctor gave us some ointment then checked him again today he got a clean bill of health.

I wanted to share something funny that Kenson said at the hospital. Kohen was born with really long fingernails that needed a good trimming. Kenson was also overdue for a manicure and when he noticed the baby's fingernails, he said "Look Mom! He's got my fingernails!"

2009-10-24T12:18:00.000-07:00

Kohen Lee, 7lbs 6oz, 21 1/2 inches.

It's a boy!

2009-10-24T11:49:00.000-07:00

Kohen Lee Pettis arrived at 4:33 p.m. on October 22, 2009. I was shocked! I truly thought I was having a girl. On Wednesday night I was giving my predictions to Shawn and Misti and I said Girl, 7.8 , 19-20 inches long. So much for mother's intuition. I wasn't the only one surprised. Most everyone in the room thought Girl! when they saw all the hair he had. Both Kenson and Karter were almost bald when they were born, so surely this hairy beastie had to be a girl. Well, surely not. God decided to save the Pettis's a lot of money (I've been window shopping online ever since I started feeling girly). I'm not disappointed in the least, I thought I might be, but look at him! He is gorgeous! He is precious! He is the bomb diggity! I think he looks just like his daddy did when he was born. The boys think he's the greatest. I'm surprised how interested they are in the baby. They act like they really enjoy holding him and so far are trying to be helpful. Kenson said last night "My baby brother is the sweetest gift." Kohen was pretty fussy his first night and kept Shawn and I awake ALL NIGHT long, but he has been sleeping and eating great since then.

Kohen Lee or Klaire Ashton?

2009-10-06T17:29:00.000-07:00

As most of you know we decided to be surprised with the sex of our third and final child. OK, I decided that we would be surprised, Shawn really had no choice. (I know. I really need to work on the whole submissive thing. Pray for me.) We have 17 days left until due date October 23rd. It really is exciting not knowing if the baby (fondly referred to as Pat) is a boy or a girl. We will post pictures asap whenever he or she arrives.

Some Pics of Karter's birthday

2009-09-30T04:35:00.000-07:00

Karter on the Power Jump

Two Bad Dudes

Karter and his school homies

Happy Birthday Karter Mack!

2009-09-30T04:16:00.000-07:00

Karter turned 6 on September 25th. WOW! I'm getting old and time is flying by. He wanted to take smiley face cookies to school for all his friends to enjoy so we obliged. Both of the boys looove grilled shrimp, so their birthday lunch spot is Red Lobster. After lunch we took the boys to the Fair and we all had a great time. We let the boys get their faces painted and ate quite of bit of highly priced, sub-standard, fried food.

In honor of Karter's birthday, I'll share with you a funny comment he made the other day.

My mom, being the "mamie" of two boys, bought some gummy candies called "Boogers" (very creative). The flavors are snotermelon, lemon loogie and sour green boogie. The boys were, of course, loving this. As mom opened the packages and the green and yellow gummy candies fell out, she said, "Ewww, is this what your boogers look like?" Karter very seriously replied, "No, mine are way smaller."

Are you ready? Here we come!

2009-09-15T05:39:00.000-07:00

"Who in the cornbread world wants to know what the Pettis family is doing?"

That's what I said to Shawn a few months ago when he suggested starting a blog. Since I'm suffering from insomnia due to late pregnancy hormones (they blame everything on hormones) why not? I'm certainly not sleeping at 3 a.m. any way.

My kids actually can be pretty amusing in spite of boring parents, so maybe they will provide me with some interesting blog entries. I also thought that with the new baby coming, this would be a good way for all of our out of town peeps to keep track of us.

Sooooo

Are you ready WWW? Here we come!