Hey everyone, come by me and Dale's blog and check out a video of Jeremiah's little guy Mutton Busting... don't know what that is? Trust me, you'll be entertained. You all remember my brother, Jeremiah, right? Afterall, most of you knew him before you ever knew me. So anyways, the video is pretty cool, so check it out.

To Justin And Kate

Justin & Kate,
As you may be aware, long ago Kristin started off a great tradition by passing on all of Mack's clothes to Bella. It's been a wonderful blessing for us, saving a great deal of money while outfitting our girls in some sweet threads. Well, in the spirit of kith and kin, we announce that we will continue this family tradition by passing on to Nate Carter's old clothes that were passed on to him by Jake, passed on to Jake by Bryce Peacock, passed on to Bryce by Tyler Peacock, passed on to Tyler by Justin Peacock (the chain of custody runs cold beyond Justin). These now-vintage (iron-on patches for holes not included) clothing ensembles should serve little Nate well for days (most items have about one washing left before totally falling apart). We hope this modest gesture adds somewhat to your enjoyment of this summer season. Just post or e-mail your address and we'll ship them off immediately.
Love,
The Edwardsons

Happy Birthday Baby!

Guess who else had a birthday yesterday? Our baby is three...and we couldn't be happier! We are happy to say goodbye to the "terrible two's" and hello to the threes which could possibly be A LOT WORSE.

Malia is our wild card. She keeps us on our toes. She has had a very eventful year...she progressed from a crib to a bed without even blinking. She now talks in complete sentences...more like paragraphs really. She broke two bones in the period of two months. She's graduated from a little scooter to a real bike! Let's not forget that she has mastered potty training including nights, so the Edwardsons could say goodbye to diapers for good. She has her brothers AND sister wrapped around her little fingers. She commands (demands?) attention wherever we go because she is fearless. If she is not shouting so she can be heard, she's throwing a screaming fit so she IS heard! She's always saying funny things to make us laugh. We can't get enough of her little bucky teeth because of that pesky little thumb of hers. And, who wouldn't love a kid who says to me at least once a day, "I want to take a nap now, mom." (Of course, it is a ploy to get her blanket back, and we are allto aware of that...but nonetheless, it's great that she has gone back to napping). We have all learned that sleeping bears do not like to be awaken...Malia follows in the Lisonbee tradition of not wanting to be awaken if she is asleep. When she wakes up, she likes to be loved for about 15 minutes or so and then she's ready for life again. Next year, Malia and I will be hanging out by ourselves every morning as the other kids are at school. I can't wait to see what that will be like. So, happy birthday to our baby. She loved celebrating with 17 kids singing happy birthday to her at a family bar-b-que...she just relishes the spotlight! Life has definitely not been the same since she arrived!

Snaggle has finally lost his other front tooth!

Remember this? Well, as you can see, Carter now has that look going for him. A little history behind the last front tooth to fall out...it looked so horribly disgusting that I begged him yesterday to let me pull it out. His teacher told him not to come back to school with that tooth still in his mouth. Finally, before he went to bed, he let me pull it out...or shall we say TRY to pull it out? I did the tie a string around it thing. I got the string on really well and gave it a nice hard yank...too bad the tooth didn't come out with the nice hard tug. Carter was crying, there was blood, and the string was stuck. So, after that, he decided to let it fall out on its own, which it did today, thankfully. Isn't he a sight? You lucky wedding guests will see it next weekend. That's going to make for some fabulous pictures!

Brandon and crutches

Welp, Brandon is on crutches now. I had to take him in to the doctor tonight because he came home yesterday after school with really bad leg pain. It got so bad to where he couldn't walk or stand on it. So today, I decided to take him in to the clinic and have a look at it. We didn't find out much of anything really. The doctor found out that the pain is coming from his hip and so he had an x-ray done which came out fine. So then he thought maybe it was an infection, but the blood work came back fine (thank goodness)... a hip infection would not be good. So, he called it an inflamation for now and told me to take him in to see his pediatrician in the morning, which we will do. Anyway, since he still can't walk or even stand he is now on crutches. He sure has had a lot of health issues since last year... I will be interested to see what his pediatrician says in the morning since he knows his history, etc... anyway, thought we'd share our latest news with ya'll. Oh and since I'm posting this, I might as well let ya know that I posted a couple new posts on our family blog, so check it out if ya get a chance. Hope all is well for everyone!

Funny Video of Sarah

So on Sunday, we were all sitting at Lisa's parents' house and Kevin, Lisa's youngest brother, was playing with Sarah. He would set an animal on her head and then when it fell off, he would make a noise and she started laughing. She was laughing so hard that she started passing gas (if you turn up your volume, you can hear it.) Then, out of nowhere she decided she was done and just let off a couple of screams. It was hilarious. The screams are funny too because we were sitting in church on Sunday morning waiting for Sacrament to start. Our ward is pretty crazy. If you are not there 15 minutes early you don't get a soft seat. Then, 5 minutes before the meeting, a bishopric member gets up and asks everyone to quietly enjoy the prelude music. At this point, it goes dead silent. Then about a minute before we started, she lets out this huge scream. Everyone turns and stares at us. Then the lady in front of us turns to Lisa and says, Oh, I just love it when babies find their voices. Such a nice lady. Anyways, here is a funny video of Sarah. Oh, and it shows how well she is sitting up now. That all happened within the last 2 weeks. We took three videos of her doing it, but I have decided to spare you and only post the last one.

FHE/Blessing on the dinner

So, this evening, we were sitting down to dinner. I asked who wanted to give the blessing. Malia always wants to. Tonight, it went something like this...Heavenly Father, thank you for this food, thank you that Carter's not pushing me any more, thank you that Carter's not being mean any more, thank you that iCarly's not over yet, thank you that I can watch it with my blanket, Amen.

Then, for family home evening, I asked who wanted to pick the song. Malia wanted to go first...she picked...Spongebob. You bet. We sant, "Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? Spongebob Squarepants. Something and yellow and porous is he. Spongebob Square Pants....spongebob square pants, spongebob square pants, spongebob square pants! Then, for an even lovelier song, we sang Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star (as requested by Carter). They got so into it that Bella was dancing and twirling around. Carter didn't like it so he gave her a big shove, landing right on her kiester. Oh, isn't family home evening just the most wonderful, bonding experience...hope yours was equally memorable.

Weekend happenings...

Well, the weekends aren't always super exciting around here...but we do have some bloggable happenings...The first picture is our trusty lizard Abe. We thought he was a boy, then a girl, and now we think he's a boy again. Check out his pose. He is standing upright with one leg resting on his tunnel log thing and one hand is at his side. Classic. He is definitely an Edwardson. The next picture is Carter...notice the missing top tooth? He played with it at church until it fell out. I'm sure his primary teacher was thrilled. We all know how quiet and well-behaved Carter is. This is a particularly exciting happening since that was his DEAD TOOTH. It's been dead since he was like 2 and it finally fell out! Yippee......And finally, the last pictures is Malia with a thing of grape tomatoes. I absolutely love grape tomatoes. I planted some in our backyard...but while I'm waiting for them to grow, I treat myself to a little container of them every once in awhile and look who I found eating them. I suppose I would be really mad if she were eating my chocolates or something...but since she chooses to sneak my grape tomatoes, I guess I can forgive her. Does anything bad happen to kids if they eat the WHOLE THING? Guess we'll find out, 'cause she did...And the last happening...Malia's blankie "takes a nap" AKA dissappears during the day. We were hoping it would cut down the amount she sucked her thumb. It hasn't worked. Instead, she'll find whatever blanket she can get her hand on and suck her thumb any way. Today, as we were getting her out of the car for church, I noticed she had the red throw that goes on our couch...she had a meltdown when I wouldn't let her take it in church. I can't win...We have been swimming a lot. Lucky me, my good friends both have pools. It is so nice. We can go over any time, and we don't have to pay for the cleaning or worry about kids falling in when we're not watching. It's beautiful.

In other news, who's up for camping this summer? I guess we are because we're going to camp with some friends at Shaver Lake the week before 4th of July. It should be really fun. There will be something like 25 kids between 5 or 6 families. Somebody has a boat which should be really fun. And, there are hot showers, washers and dryers, and electricity to plug stuff in. Oh, and there are "tent cabins" which means a wood structure with a blue tarp for a roof. Should be fun huh? I'm looking forward to it. My kids love all the kids that are going and I think it will be a welcome break for the summer. I haven't been camping since the infamous redwood experience...this has to be better than that because I don't have a baby, among other reasons...

Finally, Rick and I went to see Iron Man. I really liked it. It was a good flick. I also introduced Rick to "Sweet Potato Fries" at a place called Tacone Grill. He liked them so much he took Carter back the next day and got some more. Good stuff...

Well, happy Sundee everybody...

Talking Monkey

Ok, so this is pretty funny. I got some spare time on my hands.

http://www.careerbuilder.com/monk-e-mail/?mid=27088616

Matty

Yes folks...summer has arrived in Fresno

So, today we broke 100 degrees in the lovely Clovis area. It was CRAZY HOT. Lucky for me, I have two good friends with swimming pools. I took the kids swimming at one house yesterday and the other one today. My walking partner, who lives around the corner, also has a pool so we'll hit them up this weekend. And I got rid of my fabulous farmer tan in two days. Gotta love that. And, the boys got their report cards today. Jake (no surprise) and CARTER, yes, that's right, Carter, both have straight A's. Can you believe that? He had such trouble at the beginning of the year and he's doing so well now. I am so proud of him. And, we got hooked up at the kids' school. There are five couples that we go out with a couple times a month and one of the men was made the principal of the kids' school. That means...I have a serious in. I watched him in action at a PTC meeting and then again with a parking lot issue today and I was highly impressed. He rocks! This next school year is going to be sweet.

Okay, now for one "Maliaism." Malia likes to wear Bella's clothes...she'll frequently change her clothes after I put her to bed and when she walks out in the morning, she'll be wearing something of Bellas that doesn't match and is way too big. So, a couple nights ago when she was getting her pajamas on, she put one of bella's nightgowns on. Bella wanted to wear it, so I told her to take it off. She turned around and looked at me, put her hands on her hips, and said, "Too bad, I'm wearing it," and proceded to stomp right past me out of the room. Follks, she's two. This isn't looking good...she's going to be an awesome teenager. Happy summer everybody. Can't wait to see some of you guys at the wedding! I'll be the tan one.

We were flyin

This last weekend I took the boys on the ward's father-son campout. Someone brought a boat, and Jake, Carter and I took a ride on the pictured towable. At the end, we hit a wave that launched us about 10 feet in the air. The picture shows us coming back down to the water. To the left in the blue shorts you see Carter's rear end - he managed to hold on as he got yanked back down to earth. To the right in the yellow shorts you can see Jake's legs as he makes his exit from the watercraft.
I loved it, though I don't think I'll ever get the boys out there again (I only got them out there in the first place by threatening to ground them if they didn't do it).

Only a day late, but far more than a dollar short...

I know this is a day late but yesterday I randomly got called up out of the congregation to speak on mothers. Now, while this is not an experience I would recommend, it was amazing how many hilarious, sometimes really tender, off the wall and just genuinely warm memories of our mom came flooding to my mind as I made the long walk up to the podium.

That afternoon, I came home and looked at this picture* and thought how vast our numbers look. Think about it. This woman raised 9 hooligans, is in the process of helping to raise the next generation of Lazerbeams, and has managed to remain (at least marginally) sane!

I don't know of a more generous person. She'd literally give the shirt off her back if she thought you wanted it. Every last time I visit Cali and go to church with her, it seems like several people stop her for medical, parenting, cooking or just general life advice and she doles it out freely and without the slightest hint of pretense or arrogance. She knows everything about everything...literally!

So, since mom had to share Mother's Day with all the other mothers in the world, I think one more day of telling her how awesome she is wouldn't hurt. So um... GO MOM and stuff...

*Author's thanks to Justin for providing the picture.

Frogs

Setting: Breakfast table at about 6:50 am.

Persons in Attendance: Brandon (just finished eating) and Dale (just started eating)

Bystander: Justin (in the middle of eating)

Here it goes --

Brandon: Dad, how come frogs throw up in their mouth when they eat?

Dale: Can we talk about this some time other than when I'm just starting my breakfast?

Meanwhile, Justin is standing nearby trying his best not to imitate a frog by throwing up what he just ate because he's laughing so hard.

lazy lazy lazy

I'm too lazy to double post, and besides my last one was huge and I don't want to overload the fam with pictures so if you want to catch our latest, look at my other blog!

A little advice, por favor???

So I've decided to break down and start looking at nursery furniture, strollers, car seats, etc. for my not so little baby girl. I really candidly have NO idea what to look for and everyone and their mom seems to think that this is the make or break decision of a lifetime. So here's the help I need:

1. Cribs: what to watch out for, what is potentially hazardous, where to find them, drop down sides or not, convertible to toddler bed or not, and brands, if you have any favorites.

2. Strollers: I know there are as many kinds out there as there are kids. What is the best kind to get? Do you buy your stroller w/ your carseat so it can snap in? Are there strollers that can transform from infant stage to bigger toddler?

3. Carseats: Brand? Type? Bells and whistles?

Basically, I want to know what you wish you had known when you had your first kid. Oh, and do you recommend neutral colors so that if Jr. #2 is a boy, we don't go for all new stuff or will it all likely be wrecked by then?

Thanks in advance all. I'm seriously as clueless as I could be so any advice would be AWESOME!

The Truth is Out

Did you hear the news about why Romney really dropped out of the presidential race? Click here for the video of Romney's shocking revelations.

WE LOVE BRETTUMS!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BRETT! How do you not love a kid who's as cool as this? So last night Justin and I were telling Brett stories and laughing so hard, we couldn't breathe anymore. The thing about Brett is that he's such a crack up. I even remember this kid as a baby would roll people. It seems like he's just a natural. People just gravitate to him, probably because he's so hilarious to be around we can't help ourselves!

I thought this picture of Brett totally captures him. Right in the middle of accomplishing his mischief, he takes a step back to figure out how best to further trash this poor unsuspecting car.

Remember when Brett sprayed spray glue on the door of his Junior High teacher's classroom because he wasn't a huge fan?

Or remember when he told the substitute teacher (in kindergarten, if memory serves) that his name was Brat and his best friend's name was Moron?

Or here's another great Brett moment. Remember when he was about to leave for the prom and Mom asked if they'd talked about curfew? He said no and Mom asked Dad if he had any thoughts? Before Dad could even say a word, Brett said "I'll tell you what, Dad. If you've got any thoughts, you can just keep those to yourself." HILARIOUS!

We love you Brett. The kids, as evidenced by this photo, adore you. What on earth would we do without you? I mean, you're so great that I'm not even jealous that people like you better than any of the rest of us because at least I get to be related to you. Oh, and Brett...want some chocolate milk? We love you!

Alright everybody! You know the drill! Let's hear some classic Brett memories!

Brett's Happy Birthday

Brett, like the rest of us, is getting a teeny bit older and today is his Happy Birthday so if I was as clever as Tams in posting a tribute I bet there would be a lot of funny memories and since i am not that clever I hope someone picks up on this and does him proud - the best I can do is see that he sees it.

I don't think so....

So, I've been bulking up on food storage lately and on one particular website, they advertised freshly canned SQUIRREL. I am serious folks. They even bragged that you wouldn't have to break out your pellet guns...the only tool you'd need was a can opener. THESE PEOPLE WERE SERIOUS. I think the site was called internet grocer.com, but I'm not positive...I didn't bookmark it because any site that sells actual squirrel to be eaten is NOT A WEBSITE I WANT TO GO TO EVER AGAIN!