"Pull It With the Pliers!!"

For some reason, I was on a photo-taking frenzy this last week, I guess. I knew I had quite a few pictures and videos, but it wasn't until I loaded them all on the laptop that I noticed...Usually there's about 25 pictures or so per blog post of the week. I get all my pictures loaded and find that I have 54 pictures! Haha wellll...Went through and purged haha. I still had a good 35-ish, so I've decided to split the week up haha. This one begins with Thursday morning at work. (:

Each day I work, I try and ask Austin what kind of day he thinks we'll have that day; I then ask him what kind of day he would like to have. As him and Nick walked into the living room after waking up, I asked him this question. He lazily responds, while slumping into the couch, "A laaaazy day." So we all laid around, watched "The Little Rascals", and ate pancakes!

However, after a little while, Austin's usual energy kicked in haha. We all got dressed and ready to play, but Nick still didn't want to do anything. Lucky for me, the neighbor kids were home instead of at school, and their mom said it was okay for Austin to go over and play! He took off about 10:30 or 11, came home for some lunch, and went back! So what did Nicky and I do? Cartoons, food, cuddled, YouTube videos, and obsession over Yanny's (Lanny) camera on her iTouch!

Uhhh yeah, I love this kid haha. Don't get me wrong; I love Austin, too! Just in a different way. Nicky is all cuddles, giggles, and smiles. Austin I love to experiment with, talk to, and learn what goes through his head. On the outside, he's a rambunctious, insane kid. He's a really closed off little guy, though. He acts tough and doesn't want you to know how he really feels. I hope he learns to express himself a little more, which he's starting to do with me.

So as many of you know, Brooklyn has her first loose tooth!! She's pretty excited, but is really afraid to pull it out herself. So she just keeps wiggling and wiggling! One morning she came out with Trista, and Trista says, "Okay Brook, tell Daddy what you wanted to do..." She begins to pout a little and tear up, but says, "I want to pull it out with pliers already!"...Or something like that. But, of course, she was too afraid to do that! So then came the idea of looking up YouTube videos of different ways to pull out a tooth! I've definitely learned that it's a good idea I wasn't planning on becoming a doctor of any sorts, because I can't even handle a loose tooth! Trista seems to share this in common with me haha.

Trista cringing and Sam laughing at her

Closing her eyes and plugging her ears haha

This is a picture I decided to throw in, because it makes us laugh haha. Trista, Russ, and I worked on this puzzle all freakin' night and next day. This is basically the furthest we got, because the fur was ALL the same. Trista even separated all the pieces into similar shapes to help! Wicked frustrating. We gave up, put it away, and have decided we should take it back haha.

Russ decided to take Thursday off from work, and he already has every other Friday off. So he had a four-day weekend! Saturday night I worked for another gal and had a blast with her two, adorable little girls. Sunday was Russ' last day, and we had to go do something before Skype-ing/ooVoo-ing/G+ with the family and a little bit of West! So we went for a hike. Dang that was a good workout when racing the kids uphill or carrying them on your back haha. But this is how the majority of the hike went:

Sam and Brooklyn find some type of bug and (usually) try to catch it!

This time it was the infamous field cricket; it was HUGE.

Russ looks up what kind of bug it is in the bug book.

Brooklyn would then show every passerby her cricket, and Trista and I walked along and laughed about it. 

We then got to see/hear some family (sorta), and Trista and I were ready to be lazy and sit around. Russ, however, wanted to get outside. So we finally all headed out and sat on the sidewalk while the kids rode around on their bikes and scooters. We often talk about how fun scooters are still, but they're just a tad too small, mostly for our feet. Nevertheless, Russ and I had to go for a spin! (;

It really was not all that warm out, but for some reason Sam, Brooklyn, and the neighbor girl wanted to get wet. They're insane, but I still found it pretty amusing. :P And, of course, Sam thought THIS was pretty funny, too haha.

Rainbows!

Monday morning, I headed out to work again. Austin finally came out of his room about 9 o'clock, and he was already dressed!! All by himself, without me ever saying a word. It was a pretty good day. Or so I thought, but that's a long story haha. Anywho, before taking Austin to school, we went over to Sam and Brooklyn's to play a bit! Well Brook wasn't really in the mood to play at all, and I don't blame her. Austin and Nick can be kind of overwhelming haha. After a long day of work, I came home, and it was just "one of those days". Full of lazily watching Jimmy Neutron and swinging on the hammock. (:

Alas, this ends the first long blog of only half a week! (: Next up? A birthday!!

Braids, Beaches, and the Big City!

I swear, every time I begin writing a new blog, I stare at a blank template for at least five minutes trying to think of where the heck to start! Trista and I often laugh about how we're both so exhausted at the end of a day, but when we try to explain all that we've done...It sounds like we did nothing. Saddening. But oh well, we're content. (;

I finished off the last post on Thursday. I went to a super easy day of work on Friday; I got there just in time to get hugs from Nicky and put him down for a nap. Watched some Big Bang Theory (**gasp** TV!) and went home once Daven got home! Saturday, however, was supposed to be sweltering hot. Honestly, it's only heated up each day even more since Saturday. Lucky for us, the pool opened that day! So the kids, Trista, and I went. Brook was just tall enough to go on the big slide!! So her and I went once, and we came down to find Sam bawling. ): He really wanted to go on the slide, and we couldn't even convince him to go on this AWESOME BigToy water deal; him and Trista went and sat/laid down on a beach chair. It was a tad windy, and Sam wanted to be covered up with a towel. Done deal. After a few minutes, Sam was out haha. Trista finally got up and made sure he was still asleep...Believe it or not, but there is a child under there!

We all went home exhausted, burned, and we then cuddled on the couch to watch some Shrek. Well this giant bottle of apple juice was almost gone, but not quite. We dubbed Brooklyn to be the one to finish. (;

Oh, did I mention being burnt to a crisp? Uhhh yeah. I don't think my legs have EVER been quite this tan!

That night after Trista and Russ got the kids to bed, I had taken a shower, and, for some odd reason, had a ton of energy. I just wanted to get out and go for a long walk on this bike/nature path. I grabbed my iPod, mentioned where I was headed, and took off. I got a whole ten paces past the driveway and wanted to run so badly. Plug in the headphones. Turn the music up. Off I go. Holy cow, I left at the perfect time! It was just as the sun was going down, and I absolutely loved it.

I got to the end of the stream that runs along the path, so I climbed through some brush and sat atop the canal and soaked in the peaceful evening. After sitting and thinking for a while I got back up to run back; before I ran back, I had to snap another quick picture. (:

Anywho! Sunday. Well let me try and summarize this real quick. I go a whole year of college and am never called to serve in any type of calling other than visiting teaching haha. I'm in Livermore a whole whoppin' two weeks before I am asked to serve on the activities committee! I figure it's because of one of two reasons. One, this is the bishopric's way of telling me to REALLY get involved! Or, two, the bishopric noticed (and I surprised myself) that I had gone to church, a game night, FHE, and stayed late to play basketball after FHE all in the first two days of being in the ward. It was a blast!

I had noticed in the previous week I had been shorter-tempered than I usually am while taking care of Austin and Nick, and it was bothering me. It bothered me that I wasn't looking forward to going over the past couple of days. The only thing I could think of (other than getting a tad more sleep) was to pray for help. That I could do better, be a better nanny, and that the kids would also be more willing to listen and enjoy their time with me. Holy crap, Monday was so much better! I let go of some useless worries and just did the best I could. Austin listened to what I said, respected me, and respected Little Nick when I reminded him to. He even wanted to help flip the french toast for breakfast! (:

I swear, the only time I think to get a picture of Nick is when he's "hiding" and giggling so hard! So freaking cute. (:

No need to change into real clothes just yet! We spent the rest of the morning experimenting with mud, water, tubes, etc.

The rest of Monday was a pretty chill day, I think. Of course, that's the curse of summertime; all the days sort of run together. I do remember taking a short nap on the couch, however, and I woke up to this funny kid:

This is a random thing I thought I'd throw in. It shows the high that day (Monday) was supposed to be 86 degrees. Well, it was 90 outside at 5:30 in the evening. I'm loving this heat. (:

Something I've learned that I love is all the hugs, kisses, and cuddles I get from Brook, Sam, and the boys I watch. My heart breaks every time I hear Nicky yell, "Yanny!!!", but the moment he comes running at me and holds on super tight...I've melted haha. I've also realized that Trista is perfectly okay with this, as well haha. So this is typically what happens...

Sam hurts his pinky toe and is crying about the cut. Take note of the cute band-aid.

After a tad more crying and brief spurts of distracted happiness, he just wants some Mommy lovin'. (:

Obviously, she's a sucker for this little guy. But honestly, who isn't??

Tuesday was a wonderfully lazy day of laying on the hammock and watching Netflix haha. It was wicked hot again, and we took off for a new park in Pleasanton. Trista wasn't feeling so great, and I was exhausted, so we basically just laid on the blanket in the shade and read/talked/watched the kids. I may or may not have taken a quick nap. :P Anywho, we headed back home, I (finally) took a shower, learned how to french braid my hair, and took off for institute. Had a blast there, was invited to go see The Avengers, decided not to go, and sat at one of the water fountains downtown for a tad instead. I've been there a few times during the day, but I was stoked when I saw they lit up and changed colors at night! So cool!

Before heading to bed at maybe 10 pm, I braided my hair again differently to see if it would curl the next morning. (: Proof of my success in learning to french braid! Haha. Why I'm so proud? I have no idea. I guess I've just been meaning to learn for a long time now.

And now for the finale!...TODAY! I apologize for so many pictures, really. I wasn't going to include today's activities, but I can't help it. Here it goes! Trista had free entries into this awesome kids' museum in San Francisco, so off we went on the hour (or more) drive. Trista and I were talking about if I would ever live in a big city like San Fran, but I really don't know. I tell myself no, but when I see huge buildings and such in the distance and the Golden Gate Bridge, I get so excited. Perhaps it's just because the idea and atmosphere is so foreign to me. I like the size of Livermore, though. Maybe a little bigger even, but I love it. (: Anywho! I had to snap a quick pictures of the city as we were crossing over the Bay Bridge.

And we stopped by the beach super quick!! It was maybe five to ten minutes (it was pretty windy and cold), but I loved the sand and beach nonetheless. (:

We got to the museum, roamed through a building or two, and I had to get a picture of the Golden Gate as the fog was finally clearing.

I'm beginning to realize how inventive Brooklyn is with blocks and such. She enjoys art, but it only seems to keep her attention for a few minutes. But she will spend forever on building, creating, and inventing things from shapes and blocks. She probably spent an hour creating this "bumper boat", playing in it, and showing it to others. This is just the beginning of it, too! It became much, much more elaborate. This is just her two engines, she says.

But yes, she did finally make her way into the art building for some paper mache time!

She was pretty bummed that we had to leave so soon to beat rush hour, but we did finally get out, and we did still get sorta stuck in traffic. Sam was out within minutes of getting in the car, and even Brook fell asleep, too! For a little bit, at least. Unfortunately, we had to wake 'em up for a trip into the grocery store. They were both pretty pooped, so of course they weren't much help in the task of shopping. This is the majority of their help we received until it came time for them to pick out a small treat in the bulk section. :P

Taking a glance into my cart.

Trista pushing her cart. Yup, more Momma lovin'. (:

That's basically my (our) day! Got home, had dinner, went to Paws to Read for Brooklyn, and here we are. I am now listening to Trista and Russ put away laundry: "**Trista's short giggle** Russell, just fold your socks, won't you?!" (: G'night! Love you all!

PS- Shout out to my incredible sistah, who is sittin' 30 feet away in the living room, either on the laptop or reading...You're pretty dang wonderfully awesome, and I really love being here with you guys. (: Love you!

Tumbling Towers y Películas Perezosos

Question: Do you enjoy doing laundry?

Personally, I love it. Why? I'm not sure exactly, but it's a mixture of an aura of accomplishment, cleanliness, and therapy haha. It's a repetitive ritual, a time where the mind doesn't need to think of anything specific at all. To some people, their shower time is just like this, and I can't say I disagree, either. Because I love showers, too. :D Anywho! Trista claims she hates laundry (who wouldn't if they were a mom? She does like two loads a day!), but I think I caught a short video of what "laundry" really means to her and Sam haha.

Yup! Pretty fun, I think. (; That is what I came home to after running around town and dropping off applications to gyms. I received a ton of great advice and honestly have a great chance of getting a training job at the end of this month! 24 Hour Fitness here only has one female trainer, who is leaving, so they are looking to hire a new one once she's gone. I went in, talked with the head trainer (Joey), and we got along great. Talked a lot, got to know the place...My one downfall? Uhhh yeah, I'm not a certified trainer yet, of course. So my choices were to either pay a nice chunk of money to pay for study materials and take the certification exam OR wait until I get certified through BYU-I with my major and clusters. The certification was a lot more money than I expected, so I decided to let that glamorous opportunity go and keep looking. That's what my day consisted of last Wednesday! Except for one other part...

Chalk art!! Trista walked by my room and said, "I'm feeling creative: I'm gonna go make a masterpiece!"...I was so confused. So I went outside later to find Trista drawing this huge, street-wide "masterpiece" (; It took me a minute to figure out what it was. :P

It's a butterfly!! Saying, "GIMME UR NECTAR!"

I feel like our entire Lybbert family was blessed with some type of drawing/art talent. Except me; I don't draw worth squat. In second grade, I was even told, "No offense, Shelan, but you're not very good at coloring." Yup. What're best friends for? Oh yeah, ruining your coloring confidence. Anywho, yes, West is so detailed in his artwork. Dene' just draws all the time, and I remember her drawings/poetry always being in our room. Christian...well we all know he's got it, too. Hence the pile of artwork in the cement room back home, which used to all cover his wall in his room. Trista? She has paintings and photography of her own around the house, and she is simply just creative in all that she does. Mom and Dad? Oh yes. Artistic, indeed. Whether it's painting little snowmen with all us kids (and hers ALWAYS looking way better than mine), or drawings of one of Dad's new ideas for a Christmas light structure for the highway! But do I ever draw? Nah. I'm no good. But I have recently discovered something! While Trista was drawing her butterfly, we were talking about kids' progression of drawing, art presentations kids had to do, and doodling! Apparently doodling is an art. Alas! I can doodle! (:

The entire time we were outside drawing, the kids and the neighbor kids were out there either scootering or playing with bugs. Once they saw all the fun we were having, however, they jumped in. Trista even made up a game with different colors of chalk and shapes or something. Great fun! And what is chalk drawing if you don't get it ALL over you??

I went to work Thursday morning, bright and early at 6:30! Stephanie left for work, and I was watching baseball highlights from the week until the kids woke up. I've decided I need to take a few pictures of these crazy ones. Well little Nick (NuNu, Noodles, Nicky, Nicholas, etc.) isn't crazy really, so getting a picture was way easy. But Austin? Oy. He is diagnosed with ADD, and believe me, it shows! Haha. He likes to push things sometimes, can be a bully on occasion, and has fits over little things...But what kid doesn't? So one of these days, when he has slowed down a tad, I'll grab a picture. This Thursday morning, while I was making them eggs, Nicky decided he wanted to play and hide-and-seek. No problem with me! (:

Nick and Austin are complete opposites. For example, Austin had a severe meltdown today that I wouldn't let him wear his bedtime slippers to go to his friend's house. He is screaming and bawling, and tears out of the house screaming bloody murder. Oy. After I suggested his racing shirt and flip flops, however, he was totally cool with that. Nick? We went to the park with Trista, Sam, and Brooklyn earlier this week. Nick wanted to play with the drinking fountain some more, but he couldn't reach the button. He is two. No tantrum. No crying. He just runs over to me, says in a sad voice, "Yanny!" (Lanny) He says nothing else, just crawls in my lap and wants to be cuddled. I wish I had a picture, because Trista and I sat with him in my lap for 15 to 20 minutes on the edge of the park. I asked him questions to make sure he was okay, but he said nothing. Just hugged me as I rubbed his back. Gah. I pray for cuddly kids like him haha.

After taking Austin to school and putting Nick down for a nap, Stephanie comes back from work, and I head home. It's always wonderful walking into the house after a long morning at the Johnson's. I am perfectly compliant when Brooklyn says, "Lanny, let's get out the playdough." Okie dokies!

I worked for a couple hours on Friday, and then Trista, Dut, and I were all stoked to get out and go camping with a bunch of other unschooling/homeschooling families! Oh my word, there were so many people! 25 familes, more kids, and a bit overwhelming. One of the funnier moments other than when it was just Sam and I falling asleep in the tent? I was sitting on a bench by the 6 kids attempting to make a fire, and Russ sits down with me, sighing heavily, and saying, "Ahhh, ain't it great to be an introvert?" Baha. Yes, indeed. I am perfectly content sitting there, people watching, and only knowing Trista's family.

The next morning, on Saturday, was the ONLY day of the year Russ's work lets family and friends in! He had even gone so far as to do the paperwork so that I could go in, too! Really interesting, honestly. Afterwards, we got lunch, and they all headed back to camp. I had another baby-sitting job that night, so I stayed, relaxed, sat in the sun, ate, and left early to walk downtown and read next to the water fountain. (: 

Sunday was great! Church was relaxing, and we had awesome speakers from 3 people I had gotten to know the previous week. All were to choose an article of faith and speak on it. Oh yes. It was great.

Monday? Insane day of work. Tuesday, though...Berkeley's Hall of Science! Holy cow. It was intended for kids, I think, but I loved it haha. So many cool things! There's even a life-size whale out front for kids to climb on and such, so of course we got a couple pictures. These three pictures are hard to see, but I find them amusing. Sam didn't totally trust that I could pull him up for the picture, I think. So this is him testing his faith in me haha. 

"Should I twust hewr? I dunnooo."

"Owkay...Hewe it goes..."

"Ow!! My awms!" Haha.

And here is the quick, final result haha.

One thing here at the Hall of Science was a deal about height. They had life-size cardboard cutouts of a college volleyball middle hitter and another college basketball player who plays post. I look at the girl and think, "Whaaat? No way. I'm not much shorter than that!"...Uh yeah. Apparently I have a You-Are-NOT-As-Tall-As-you-Think-You-Are syndrome. Because I measure myself to the middle hitter and find that I am maybe to her neck haha. But I did measure myself! They doctor was right: I am not 5'4", I am not 5'5".

I am 5 feet and 4.75 inches. SO close to 5'5" haha.

There was also a cool mirror-filled triange you can climb in. So, of course, Sam and I did!

"Wanny, wet's show ouwr butts!"

"Uhhh okay..."

As Sam and I played around, Trista promised to help Brooklyn make a soft block tower. What's the fun of a tower if you can't knock it down, though?

There was a pretty sweet station there where the kids could make "contraptions" and put them through wind tubes on either low, medium, or high. Pretty cool! Well Sam got bored of throwing cups, pipe cleaners, etc. up them, so he climbed in...

Needless to say, it's been another pretty great week. (: Did lots of my own laundry yesterday, and it's covering my bed right now. Yes, I am currently sitting on it. After I did some laundry, Trista was supposed to go grocery shopping for dinner, but she didn't feel like leaving the house. Neither did the kids. So she gave me the list, and off I went. I came home to the house smelling like Trista's amazing granola (LOVE it). She did lots of cooking last night, and I certainly don't mind. :P Granola, crazy good salad that I can't remember the name of (help Trista?), stir fry (with her own homemade sauce), and then after the kids went to bed...Chocolate no-bake cookies! Whoots!! Such a talented, multi-taskin' mama!

No, she does not know I secretly took this picture...Yet.

Trista has been thinking that Brooklyn would really love Harry Potter, so she checked out the first book from the library yesterday morning, and Trista read to all of us out loud. (: I felt like a little kid again, when Mom used to read Harry Potter to West and I on the couch. I was SO relaxed, I even fell asleep on the couch a bit. But yes, Brooklyn cuddled in Russ's arms, while Trista read the first five chapters haha.

I went to work this morning, and the kids didn't even get up until almost 9. Pretty uncommon, but I didn't mind watching a couple of college softball games. (; It was a pretty easy day (minus Austin's meltdown I mentioned earlier). And what do I come home to? Trista teaching Sam some of the Kempo from P90X haha. Great stuff!

Anywho, it's been a nice "Stay at home all day and do nothing but chuckle at Brooklyn, who is watching Tom&Jerry in German, Tarzan 2 in Dutch, and Lion King in Spanish"... (: I'm off to go put on some sweats and listen to some more Harry Potter!