Mess Maker

Everything Max does, he does with ATTITUDE.
He is so unpredictable, charismatic, reckless and so much fun.
He is a definite entertainer
and will perform for any amount of attention.

Justin said today, "Max sure is a mess-maker isn't he mom?!"

His comment inspired this song...
dedicated to Max & his current lifestyle
to the tune of Match Maker, Fiddler on the Roof

"Mess-maker, mess-maker,
make me a mess..."
crash, brake, and mash;
throw, go go--whoa!!!
Mess-maker, mess-maker
blaze through our home, and
Make me a perfect Mess!"

Absolutely Delirious!

After getting up at 12 midnight and 2am to feed Max, I awoke again at 4am to go to the Temple. I signed up for our ward Temple assignment thinking the 5am session would be the least intrusive for our family, specifically...MAX! He must have sensed I was leaving because he woke again right before I left, so I fed him again at 4:15 then dashed out the door. I made the 5:00 session by the skin of my chinny chin chin! I was amazed at how alert I was during the session despite my lack of sleep, and of course once I make it to the temple, I am so grateful to be there.

Of course my delirium quickly caught up with me the instant I returned home. I thought I would take a quick nap until Max woke, but low and behold...Max was wide awake and anxiously ready for MORE MILK, MORE MILK!!!!. So I bi passed the nap and all hopes for restoration and continued the day.

I thought I functioned fairly well, considering the circumstances. Geoff would say otherwise. For example, Geoff asked me to pick up a plan at the printers on my way back from grocery shopping. I went, but didn't pick up his plan as they hadn't printed it yet. When I returned, he asked, "where is the plan?" I asked, "What plan?" He explained, "The plan you went to pick up at the printers." I replied, "It wasn't ready." End of discussion. Five minutes later, I asked Geoff, "Did you find your plan?" Confused he asked, "What plan?" Me, "The plan you were asking about a few minutes ago..." It was then he KNEW I was delirious and in major need of sleep. Embarrassingly enough, this scenario was repeated several times throughout the day!

Early Morning Rocket Booster Run

As soon as the sun appeared and Justin woke up, Geoff surprised Justin with last night's late night rocket creation-- Courage Rocket! Geoff, Justin & Max all went immediately out to the big dog park near our house to give the rocket a test run. It was a huge success! And meanwhile, I got to take a nice, long shower all by myself. I'm telling you...I could get used to this! What a great way to start out the day!

A miracle stroller ride

Well evening came and Max Justin & I enjoyed a fun racing stroller ride with the resurrected stroller and it worked beautifully--Just like new. I guess I got my new stroller after all--President Hinckley style.

Scripture Study in the Garage

Last week, when I was at LeiLani's house in Utah, we went for a walk with babies in our strollers and drove through a patch of thorny weeds. My wheels got totally infested with 'goat head' thorns and the vines got jammed into the wheel bearings. Max's ride there after was similar to that of riding in a Jeep on a rocky dirt road in Africa, potholes included. Upon returning from our trip, I tossed the stroller in the garage thinking to my self, "Finally, I have valid justification for a new stroller!" I was actually even excited at the thought.
WELL, this morning we were about to begin scripture study and couldn't find dad. Eventually, and to my horror, we found him in the garage with tweezers and pliers in hand performing surgery on the wheels of our beloved stroller. I knew immediately that my dreams of a new stroller would never be realized. So, I did the only right thing I could do... I brought the kids outside and there assembled together in the garage for scripture study and we read 2 Nephi 28 as dad monotonously pulled out every last goat head, and untangled and discarded every last vine. As we read about the Nephites who were consumed with pride and "considered not the poor"--I couldn't help but feel grateful for a wise, frugal, and humble husband. President HInckley's quote fits him to a T!..."Use it up, wear it out. Make it do, or do without." I really want to have an attitude more like this and be more thrify and wise...Geoff is such a great example of this. What a blessing to our family!

Burrito night with "normal tortillas"

We have decided to introduce burritos into our Monday night menu and have them every other week with pizza on the alternating weeks. So tonight was burrito night. Geoff asked if I made the tortillas, which I answered with a proud YES! Justin brought his head up with a shocked look on his face and exclaimed, "You made these??? But, they taste NORMAL!" He couldn't believe I made them. I guess I'll take that as a compliment.

Sunday Night Family Night

Justin gave the lesson for Family Night. He had us each color a piece of paper with the word "courage" on it in block letters, while he read the story, "The Village that Vanished." He was so cute to emphasize the lesson taught about having courage. It is fun to listen to Justin read as he does so with great expression.

Dad was in charge of games, and chose to first make a "courage" rocket--continuing the courage theme into games (which he ended up stayed up until 11:30pm to perfect the rocket), and then play the game Zarahemla. Geoff FINALLY broke his losing streak and won the game. Of course I gave him a break and played with much mercy and compassion versus my heated competitiveness and brilliant stratagem.

We had a yummy pumpkin bar for dessert, and since it turned out to be a delicious treat (you never know when I create these things if they'll actually be considered a "treat"), we took some to our neighbor, Karen.

Trial run for the Rocket Booster

It was the perfect day to try out the freshly assembled and glued Rocket Booster! With only 8 pounds of pressure, we sent Space Star shooting about 100 feet high. We will wait until it has dried completely to give it the full pressure of 40 pounds! Even with less than 1/4 the pressure, you can see from the pictures that is was very fun to shoot!

Geoff is so good with Justin, and creates such simple and fun activities to do together. Justin LOVES planning and working on projects with Geoff! This has been an especially fun one! (Justin can't wait to take it to Stand N Deliver and show all the kids how to make and shoot their own rockets!)

Springy love notes from Justin

Justin was so quiet this morning. I wondered which of his many projects he was working on. Then he came bounding upstairs, handed me a purple card creation, gave me a kiss and a big sly smile, and went back down stairs. This is what he gave me...







Geoff received one of his "sling" cards too. Justin thought it would be cool if they kind-of POPPED open! Justin is so creatively thoughtful and has such fun doing nice things for his family. He is full of wonderful surprises all of the time.

Scary poop

In my eight years as a mom, I've never had a child go poop in the tub until tonight. Max let it all out, looked at the tub water, and immediately started to cry. I wasn't sure if the site scared him, disgusted him, or simply frustrated him. Needless to say, his bath came to a quick halt.

Hidden Springs Lego Model

This morning Justin thought it would be good to do something nice for Dad. We've been working on redesigning our house plan and have been struggling to get it how we want it. So Justin decided to do a 3-D Lego model for him. He was sure to include a slide from his bedroom window to the yard outside. Personally, I like the vibrant plethora of colors--kind of like a Spanish Villa!

Our lot

We all went out to our Hidden Springs lot to take some measurements and re-think our plan a bit. We really want to get things rolling! We love spending time on the land though. It's very peaceful!

Boise Green Belt

Our Friday Co-op had a fun day learning about hibernating animals. We saw a family of nesting owls, and a fox's den (very cool!) Then we went to the Boise green-belt to explore and enjoy. It was SO BEAUTIFUL. I could easily come here every day. It reminded me so much of the place I took Justin and Oakley all the time at Rock lake right next to our home in Island Woods. I can't wait to come back!

Rocket Booster and Space Star

In home school, Justin and I do a "thinking" activity each day. These last activities have centered around Robert Frost's poem, Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening. We had memorized 2 of the stanzas and were working on the 3rd. I told Justin that he could win a bonus 5 minutes if he could learn the fourth today as well as the 3rd. Without even looking at the poem, he recited the entire poem to me. I couldn't believe it. I asked him if he secretly learned it, and he said he didn't-- he just accidentally learned it. His capacity for learning and remembering amazes me!

So I gave him 10 minutes instead of 5. The minutes are a reward system I use when Justin does well with his work. He earns minutes that he can do something fun he'd like to do with Geoff or I or his friends. For example today he choose to build a Rocket Booster--a project he's been wanting to do for quite a while. So Geoff took him to home depot and got the pipes and stuff they needed for the project.
This "booster" can shoot the rocket over a four story building. It's really pretty neat!!! Justin was very excited!!! Even just by blowing in a single pipe you can send the rocket flying powerfully through the house as illustrated in the picture below.
Justin named his rocket, Space Star.

Soccer classes begin

The weather outside is so inspiring! We have loved going out into the much anticipated warmth! Soccer is quickly becoming a favorite. Max, our coach, is quite encouraging. Every time Justin makes a goal, Max claps and screams! Justin is a good little soccer player. He talks all the time about what he would do if he were on Abraham's team. I can tell he is contemplating the thought of actually playing on a team.

So it is with Justin. Before doing anything, he first explores the expectations and carefully determines if the effort required is more or less than the satisfaction received. If he concludes that the activity is in his favor of pleasure and fun, then he will continue the exploratory process by carefully calculating how he will best fulfill his role for perfect performance. He usually only wants to do something if he can do it right and well. After he has his plan worked out to a perfect T, then and only then will he venture into the desired activity.
Our job is to introduce things to Justin so he can begin the process. We let him choose his pleasures and then we work with him so he can feel confident to proceed further. It is fun to play with him and work with him...he is so much like Geoff.

3 Words of CLEAR communication

Max loves to be able to communicate. He currently knows three words of sign language which he uses all the time: more, milk, and down. In this first picture, he is signing more. Usually you would just bring the ends of your fingers together, but when Max wants more, he wants more and NOW, thus he claps his hands together with much vigor until he receives MORE of what he wants. Here, he is signing down (he wants to get down). It is SO NICE to know exactly what he wants!!
I wish I had a good picture of him signing milk, because it is so cute. You squeeze your palm as though you are milking a cow. Only when Max signs it, he is very hungry and desires to make it known and understood...so he squeezes his palms tightly together and holds his breath and tightens all of his muscles. Often he will precede this determined way of signing by clapping first as if to say, "More milk! More milk!"

He is so darn cute!

Stand N Deliver

For Stand and Deliver today we had a PJ party and brought our favorite books to share. All the kids gave great reports. I couldn't help but take the picture above--these kids are so brite and so cute! We came away with some really good ideas of good books to read in the future.

Our group has grown by two (fabulous) families and 8 more boys!! We love our group!

Home Sweet Home

We spent a wonderful couple of days at Joe & LeiLani's home. They have such an incredible talent of making us feel comfortable and at home. I loved spending time with them, and our kids loved playing with each other. They've got a great little family!

Traveling home, Max Justin and I had a great relaxing trip...amazingly enough. Justin is So GOOD with Max, and entertains and plays with him so tenderly, so carefully and with so much love. It warms my heart to watch them together. I am especially thankful for Justin's care when I am seat-belted to the front, and they to the back.

We drove 3 hours to Twin Falls, and stopped to eat and fill up with gas. We met Laura Olsen and some of her children at Wendy's. I LOVE Laura and adore her children. I often wish we lived closer to each other. Nonetheless, I take the random moments of reunion when I get them with a grateful heart that the Lord blesses me to mingle with such great people and caring friends.

Max slept the last two hours of the trip home--miracles do still happen!! I wasn't expecting Geoff to be home when we arrived, but he surprised us. I really missed Geoff and was so glad to be with him again. Home is where I most want to be. I am SO blessed.

Utah State Union Train Museum in Ogden

We (Mike & Alisha and sons TJ, Nate, and McKay and Justin, Max and I and Kailey Numbers) spent a afternoon at the Ogden Union Train Museum. Today was a huge train show, and they had many fun exhibits. The hit of the afternoon was the Lego exhibit which was quite expansive and very AMAZING! Max loved watching all the trains, and of course Justin was especially interested in the electric train layouts. He and Geoff have been making plans for thier own layout. Justin could have stayed there much longer than we did! This was a great place for all the Neyman boys who all seem to be big train enthusiasts.

Anyone want a snack?

Justin & Kailey decided to do a "science experiment" coloring food, and decided to make a snack for Lincoln and Kaytlin for when they got home from school. They made blue applesauce, pink yogurt, green eggs, blue cucumbers, yellow water and bluish ricemilk. Yum!! Kaytlin would have NOTHING to do with the food, and Lincoln was a very good sport and tried a bit of everything except the eggs. They're talking about starting a restaraunt.