He can dance if he wants to...

On the way home from taking Hunter to drum lessons:
Barrett- "Bauer!  Stop Dancing!"
Bauer- "No, I Dance!!"
Barrett- "Baaauuueeerrrr!  STOP DANCING!"
Bauer- "No, I Dance!!"
Mom- "Hey Barrett, he can dance if he wants to." (wait a minute, that sounds familiar...)  "He can dance if he wants to, he can leave the world behind, cuz his brother don't dance and if he don't dance- well he's no brother of mine!"  ha ha.

can you say flash from the past Men at Work?

2 new loves... for free!

So, I am the queen of "buy something at Sam's Club or Costco, save the box, and return it when it wears out."  And that I did!  They take everything back- what do they care, I'm just going to re-spend the money right back in their store again.  We had a blender we bought about 2 years ago and it just wasn't working so great.  I expect a $50 blender to last longer than 2 years.  Call me picky, whatev.  So, I packed it up and returned it to Sam's Club.  They took it back, no questions asked (well, I take that back... the one question asked was: "how old is this thing?" :))  and I got my $54 credit and bought myself THIS BEAUTY!!!  It takes whole, large ice cubes and turns them into SNOW.  Real snow.  Not just ice chips.  Snow.  Anyone who makes protein shakes, this little missy is for you.  So quick and efficient.  Happy Happy.

 I even had $20 leftover.  Not bad for using a blender for 2 years.

                                                                   
                                                                         New Love #2:

Motorola MOTONAV TN30

Now, I know you're all saying "Garmin is the best GPS."  Again, whatev.  This motorola is the BOMB!!  It even is bluetooth enabled so I can use it hands free w/ my cell phone in the car.  SCORE!!  Originally $249.99.  Didn't sell well because of all y'all who say "Garmin yadda yadda..." so they clearanced them out.  I took a leap of faith and got it.  It was $70 less 25%-- that's $50 big ones y'all.  BUT--- here's the kicker.  It cost me $0 big ones really.  You see, we had a customer service problem at Staples a year or so ago.  It was pretty bad.  It was escalated to the VP of Staples and they sent me $100 in Staples gift certificates.  I spent the first $20 on copies, spend the next $60 on the above named beauty, and I've still got $20 left to spend at my leisure.  Oh yeah.

I'm $40 bucks up.  What a good shopping weekend!  :)

Could you just eat him up?

Yummy!  I can never cut his hair... it's too cute!

I mean seriously?!?  Where does he get the curl?  No perm here!

Gobble gobble-- you are so scrumptious!

Bauer and Dayne playing under Dayne's playmat

So stinkin' cute!!!  LOVE my kids!

Hunter's Lunch

"Hunter, did you pack a good lunch?"

"Yeah mom."

"What did you pack?"

"Some chips, one of those nutty bars, other stuff."

I pick up his lunch bag and to my surprise:

Really Hunter?  I guess the question should have been, "Hunter did you pack ANYTHING healthy in your lunch?"  His response: "NO MOM."

Happy Birthday to my 8 year old girl!

Happy birthday girlie girl!

Here's a recap of her special day!

Breakfast of her FAVORITE sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit.

Lunch with Hannah and friends... what a treat!

Recess!

A cute birthday hat-

Birthday treats for the class... silly kids!

Home for presents from many...

an ipod shuffle from Grammy & Papa (along with some other fun treats!)

Some darling dresses, skirts, a bathing suit, and a Target gift card from Nana and Papa

(with which she bought her new doll Eva Susanna!)

Dinner at Gattitown- which will remain unpictured.

Dessert at home

A fantastic day all around!

Love you Hannah!

(I've been working very hard for 2 weeks on a video to be played at our house after the baptism during our "brunch"... it's almost done!  More later!)  Baptism is May 8th.

Hunter's Band Competition

Hunter's 6th grade band had a competition at Sandy Lake Amusement Park today...

This is the judges booth-

look at those trophies!

You can place 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 with one being the best.  Scoggins place 1!!!  YAHOO!

The whole band was behind the trophies and the judges, so I couldn't get any close up pictures, but this was afterwards.  They were disassembling the percussion instruments.

Hunter helping pack everything up.

Handsome kid!

After the "1" performance, they were allowed to go play to their hearts content!  They had a blast! 

Great Job Hunter!!  Proud of you!

Never again...

That's it.  Just like that.  He doesn't want me anymore.  It's been a few weeks and I've been forcing it, but this baby prefers the bottle.  My milk supply is all but gone and he doesn't seem to be phased.  Me, on the other hand, I am crushed.

Maybe if this wasn't my LAST baby I would feel different, maybe.  But frankly, I'm an emotional wreck.  Up, Down, Happy, Sad, Angry, Irritated, Patient, Loving, Mad, Glad.  Can the end of an era really wreak that much havoc on this mama?  Granted, there's still the day in and day out stresses and responsibilities, but this has been a tough last couple of days.

I am a nurser.  I love to nurse.  I make and sell nursing covers, for goodness sakes!  I even told Dayne I'd cut him a profit if he'd still nurse and help be my walking advertisement.  No dice.  He is happy with another nipple.  Dr. Brown's to be exact.

For the last 12 1/2 years I have been in baby mode.  Pregnant, nursing, OOPS- got pregnant, nursing, thinking about getting pregnant, pregnant, nursing, took a 3 year break- but I knew there was more... pregnant, nursing, pregnant, nursing, pregnant, nursing.  Now here I am: NOT pregnant (thank goodness!) and NOT nursing... and never to be again.  Where has my identity gone?

For all you non-nursers out there, or those of you who can't remember, or those of you of the opposite sex who have NO IDEA what I am talking about, this may seem like I am overreacting and making a big deal out of nothing, but it is a big deal to me.  I am sad.  Sad because I will never nurse a baby again, sad because I will never feel needed in that way again, sad because that bonding feeling I feel while nursing a baby is done.  Never to come back.  I don't need the mother's room at church anymore (except to change diapers), I don't need my Peekaboobaby nursing cover anymore (I've got 5-- one for every outfit!), I can wear dresses now and not think about how I'm going to nurse while wearing that!  No more let down when I'm in the shower, and goodbye nursing bras and breast pads!!  But wait-- come back!  It ended too soon.  I wasn't ready.

Don't worry, I'll be fine.  In a few days it won't be so fresh on my mind or so instinctual that everytime Dayne cries I want to nurse... but I will never forget the experience of nursing my 6 children.  Some for longer, some shorter, some way too short.  I have loved every minute of it.

Onto the next phase-- let's hope I'm not this melancholy when Dayne's out of diapers!!!  :)

Constipated anyone?

Try the BUMBO!!!

Serious as sin folks, it NEVER fails... as soon as I put him in the bumbo chair- he poops.

Nice pooping face huh?

Thankee dirty chair...

All clean!

Entertaining himself in the mirror.  Cute boy!

Yesterday was his 4 month checkup.  He weighs 14 lbs., 6 oz., and is 24" long.  Too big already!

General Conference

Remember those conference packets I was talking about?

Barrett's packet...

We even played bingo!

Dad was joining in on the fun as well!

Brock was hard at work-

And Bauer was just happy everyone was all together...

(might just be my favorite picture of him- he is such a happy fellow!)

He was even leading the MOTAB!

Hannah kept herself busy doing her workbook-

Here's some of her reflections...

Thank you, Hannah!

I love that her "notes" about the talk were what they wore...

But how did she know that "Deder Fudoff" wore black shoes?

Funny girl!

All in all, it was a wonderful conference.  I have it all TIVO'ed so I can go back and watch it during the more peaceful times of the day.  LOVED LOVED LOVED Julie B. Beck's talk.  It was my "answered prayer" of the weekend.  On Friday night we challenged our 3 older kids to think of a question or concern they had and asked them to pray about it.  We then went on to promise them that it would be resolved or spoken about in General Conference.  Bill and I joined in as well.  I am happy to report that 5 out of 5 concerns were spoken about AND resolved.  Pretty good record Heavenly Father!!  Love it when that happens!

Thank goodness for modern day revelation!

Easter Baskets...

Happy Easter!!!

Our NEW tradition... no more Jelly Bean Trails!! Each child tied yarn to the foot of their bed and then put the ball of yarn outside their door.  The Easter bunny then took the ball of yarn and wound it real "tricky" all around, up, over, under, and above leading to their Easter basket.  Here's the crossing of the yarns...

Brock was the only patient one who wound his yarn and followed it all the way to his basket.

Hannah's Easter Basket

Bauer's Easter Basket

Dayne's Easter Stash...

Dad even got a little Easter treat... nice book, eh?

Bauer is now a "gum" boy since we took away his pacifiers.  He loves gum!

Hannah's sunglasses--- Bauer stole them.

Wolverine... Hunter's favorite!

Brock's bathing suit and swim shirt.  Getting ready for summer!

Happy Easter Baskets!