Ben has his very first chair test tomorrow. 

Wish him luck!!

The "Perks" of Motherhood

Warning: Before reading you must know that the following list was written with complete and total sarcasm.

1) Cleaning pee out of the couch cushions.

2) Having to answer questions like "What are you doing in there?" while using the bathroom.

3) Being woken up by someone physically opening your eyelids.

4) Cleaning up puke in the morning when one of your children decides to wake up in the middle of the night and explode in the bathroom and not wake you.

5) Having to physically hold down your ten year old to get them to brush their teeth.

6) Trying to scrape cemented cereal out of a bowl that was put in the sink without rinsing it first.

7) Finding underwear in the middle of the laundry hamper that someone had an accident in and didn't inform you about.

8) Potty training! (see number 1)

9) Getting a Dora or Yo Gabba Gabba or Sesame Street or any other children's show song stuck in your head for hours.

10) Stepping on Legos left on the floor.

11) Whining in any way, shape, or form.

12) Temper tantrums. The End!

These are just to name a few. If I don't laugh about it, I will go crazy.

Mounds Stuffed Crescent Rolls

Don't let this simple exterior fool you.

Okay, so I have been sucked into the Pinterest website. During my daily perusing of the site I have found some great links to fun/yummy/sinful recipes and recipe blogs. One of which was for Reese's Stuffed Crescent Rolls. The name is pretty self explanatory, but basically it is half of a Reese's cup wrapped in a crescent roll, seal up the ends and bake as directed on the crescent roll packaging. Then, top with powdered sugar. Needless to say, they are wonderful! But, as soon as we tasted these delightful little treats, my mind started spinning about all the other candy bars you could wrap in a crescent roll. Snickers, Milky Way, Almond Joy, etc.... So, we went and bought some bags of the bite size candy bars and some packages of crescent rolls. The first one we tried was a yummy dark chocolate and coconut Mounds bar. I can honestly say that the consensus was that these tasted better than the Reese's. 

Be sure to seal up the ends really well so the goodness doesn't flow out while baking.

Ooey, gooey and hot fresh from the oven.

You have to try out this extremely simple, extremely yummy recipe. Let me know how you like it and what other fillings you want to try. Next on my list is Snickers. YUM!!

Grandma's Visit

Grandma Bickerstaff came to visit us for Hyrum's baptism and to spend time with the kiddos while I went to Girls Camp. I am very grateful her giving of her time to be here with the kids while I was gone and Michael was working. The kids really enjoyed their time with her. This was the first time that Angela had met her, and the first time the boys have seen her since Levi's blessing in January of 2007. Hopefully, it wont be so long until they get to spend time with her again.

Hyrum's Baptism

On June 5th, 2011, Hyrum was baptized and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He is now the fourth member of our family. Which gives us more baptized members than non-baptized members of our family. I am so proud of him for making the decision to not only be baptized, but also to have the desire to be taught by the missionaries before being baptized. He was baptized by his father and confirmed by Elder Robison. Hyrum was the first confirmation that Elder Robison had ever done.

Spring has sprung!

And so has baseball season. We are very active in our local baseball organization this year with 3 of our boys playing. Adam is playing T-ball, Hyrum is playing machine pitch and Ben is playing his 2nd year of PeeWees. We have been crazy busy with practices every week night except Wednesday, and last week was the first week of league games.
Hyrum started out with a coach pitch tournament in Ringling. His team won their first game on Friday night, and had two really close games on Saturday afternoon.

Hyrum's first time at bat. He didn't get a hit, but he did get hit with the ball.

He got to play the pitcher position when fielding even though he didn't pitch.

Adam's first game was on Tuesday. I didn't get any good pictures, because we were facing the sun. Adam had another game on Thursday. Not only did Adam's team win this game, but Adam got his very first run.

Adam up to bat. 

Running to 1st base. This is the first time he made it to 1st without getting tagged.

Waiting at 1st for the next batter to hit.

Woohoo! He made it to 2nd base.

Rounding the corner at 3rd base to run home.

Crossing home plate.

Ben played his first game on Tuesday too, but I didn't get any pictures from his game for some reason. Thats what you get for trying to watch three different game on the same night, and because I was cheering so loud. Ben's team scored two runs, and he was one of the runs. Way to go, Ben! Ben's team had another game on Thursday, but Ben got sick during Field Day at school and couldn't participate in the game. He was there to cheer on his team mates though.

Hyrum had his first league game on Tuesday. This was also the first time to bat with the machine pitching which makes the pitches more accurate. 

He didn't get a hit, but he was so close.

Tonight starts week 2 of baseball games galore. Thursday the boys all play at the same time on different fields, so I will be running like a mad woman around the ballpark trying to catch a little of each game. It should be interesting.

I know it has been way too long since I last posted on here. There hasn't been much going on here in Oklahoma for us lately except baseball practices galore. The boys have there first official league games tonight, and I will be posting pictures. Other than that, I have been trying to prepare for Girl's Camp in June and Youth Conference in July. Also, Hyrum is going to be taking the discussions with the missionaries starting this Saturday. I love that he has expressed interest in doing this before he is baptized. It's hard for me to believe that he is going to be 8 in just a couple of weeks, and then he will be getting baptized the first weekend in June while Michael's mom is here. They grow up way too fast. So, stay tuned for some good posts coming up soon.

This is the reason why mother's worry about whats going on at home when they are away. Thanks goodness this didn't occur in my home. But, if it ever did, I would hope that Michael would video it too, because this is just too funny. (Sorry about the lame movie trailer at the beginning.)

Somewhere over the...

Our family tradition, since we are of Irish descent, is to have an authentic Irish dinner for St. Patrick's Day every year. My house was filled with the scent of corned beef, potatoes and cabbage this afternoon. YUM!! We also bought some Dubliner cheese imported from Ireland. Some liked its robust flavor (Michael, Ben and Hyrum) and some did not.

And, while our oh so yummy corned beef was on the stove I was painstakingly coloring and layering rainbow cupcakes for dessert. I don't know that I will ever try to make them again, but they did turn out beautiful, if I do say so myself. I definitely didn't hear any complaints when it came to eating them.

After all is said and done, a merry St. Paddy's Day was had by the Bickerstaff family.

10 years, 7 months, 2 weeks and 1 day ago I married my sweetheart. 

June 30th, 2000

He was literally heaven sent. No, he wasn't perfect and he still isn't, but he tries. He can make me so angry, and he can make me laugh out loud. He makes me feel beautiful even when I'm bloated, cranky and still in my jammies when he gets home from work. He understands me even when I don't quite understand me. And, he always says he loves me before going to sleep at night even if we aren't happy with each other at the time. We are like 2 puzzles pieces that fit together so perfectly, and along with our 5 other puzzle pieces, we are complete.

I love you, Michael, on Valentine's Day and every other day too!!

SNOW!!

Finally something to show for the freezing cold weather.

The view of the fresh morning snow from the front door.

With 11 degree weather with a -10 wind chill and 23 mph winds what do the kids want to do? Go play in the snow, of course! It took at least 30 minutes to get all the boys (Dad included) bundled up for outside play.

Adam lost interest is getting the picture taken before it was done.

They only lasted outside for maybe 10 minutes, but they had loads of fun before they started crying that their hands were frozen.

Levi didn't want to have a snowball fight so he just watched the craziness.

Michael was as excited as the boys, if not more, to get the fight on.

You can't tell from all the layers, but Levi is smiling for the camera.

Angela was less than happy that I wouldn't let her go out too. Maybe when the winds aren't blowing so hard.

"Mommy, I want to go out and freeze with the boys."

Even more Confessions of a Crazy Mommy Person!!

Here I go again!!

1~ I love my kids, but they get under my skin sometimes a lot. My home is so much happier when I just have my two little ones home. The older boys really love to push my buttons and torment their younger siblings. On regular school days my house is quiet and Levi and Angela get along so well. (You can tell we have had a rough MLK morning, so far.)

2~ I love Wednesday evenings! It is the only time I ever get to go anywhere without my kiddos. And, I get to hang out with the best youth ever!!

3~ I prefer hand washing dishes. Granted, we don't have a dishwasher, but it seems like the dishes get done better and more often now that I have to wash them by hand. It also is kinda relaxing to stand at the sink and look out the window while scrubbing away.

4~ I wish I could hire someone to potty train Angela, and have it magically be done. I have potty trained 4 out of 5 of my kiddos and it is one of my least favorite things to do.

5~ I am kinda, maybe starting to find Oklahoma somewhat bearable a little. ( Shhhhhh!! Don't tell anyone!!)

6~ I wish I could stay in my pajamas every day. They are the perfect clothing. They are comfy and warm, and they don't care if you are bloated or irritable.

7~ I am reading Twilight...again, and this isn't just my second time reading it. The whole Twilight series has become my old standby when there is nothing else for me to read. I really thought that it would get easier every time I read it, but it is still almost impossible to put down.

8~ Michael and I have lists of 5 famous people that we would have permission to cheat on the other person with if we ever met them and the possibility arose. Both of our lists change with the times, but Johnny Depp is and always will be my #1. I have loved him ever since Edward Scissorhands. Mmmmmm

These are my super, sweet, awesome Young Women that I have the greatest opportunity to serve in our ward. They teach me so much about how I should be, and how to love unconditionally. They truly are the best examples of daughters of our Heavenly Father. I am so excited to be able to go to Girl's Camp with them in June.  

Clockwise from the top: Lydia, Sidnye, Jessica, Emilie, Daphne & Stormy

I really, really, really LOVE being in Young Women, and they are the reason why!!

Sock hands

Angela is still pulling out her hair, but now only on the right side of her head. I don't know which was worse. All over or just on one side. I seriously thought she would stop after her ear tubes were put in May, and then after we shaved her head in the summer. But, alas, no deal. I think it has become a comfort technique that goes along with sucking her left index finger. Thus the pulling only on her right side. Now she is lopsided. Her hair has grown back nicely on the left side and top of her head but the right side is picked clean. I finally am on my last idea and that is having her wear socks on her hands. We started with just a sock on her right hand, but she was starting to try to pull with her left hand. So, both hands it is. We even have to put tape around the cuff of the sock so she can't take them off when she is sleeping. The only time they come off is while she is eating and in the bath. I can survive the funny looks from people as long is this will work. I don't want to sound superficial, but I want to have my only girl have long beautiful hair that I can do all kinds of fun things with. She is very beautiful and has a great personality, but I need her to have hair. Please, keep your fingers crossed that this will work eventually. I know I am.

Angela a year ago on Christmas before she started pulling out her hair. You can see that she had a lot of hair with enough for a pony tail on top and pig tails too.

Angela before her surgery to have tubes put in her ears. You can see how much hair she had pulled out between Christmas 2009 and May 2010.

Angela at the end of June 2010 right after I shaved her head to get her to stop pulling her hair out, and start over new with even hair or so I had hoped.

Angela a few days ago with her lopsided hair. You can see that her hair has grown back on the left side, but the right side is bald.

Things to look forward to in 2011

1) Angela will be potty trained and we will have no more kids in diapers!!

2) Levi will start pre-kindergarten in the fall.

3) Adam will improve on his reading skills, and continue to amaze us with his intellect.

4) Hyrum turns eight in May, can be baptized, and starts Cub Scouts.

5) Ben will earn his bear rank in Cub Scouts and start Webelos when he turns 10. (Am I even old enough to have a 10 year old?)

6) Michael will be starting nursing school.

7) I get to go to GIRLS CAMP!!! WooHoo!!!

8) We will celebrate our 1oth anniversary as an eternal family in June.

This is just the beginning of the list of great things that will be happening throughout this year.