NieNie

On the right hand side of my blog I have posted a link to a donation for a matter close to my heart. There is so much to say regarding this matter, but I will try and make it short. If you are like me, you will find and read more....and cry...and read more. There is a sweet little LDS family that lives here in the Mesa area. Stephanie and Christian (husband and wife) were recently in a private plane crash near St. Johns, AZ. They were both burned badly and hope to survive. They have four beautiful children that are being cared for by family. If you cannot donate, you can do even more with prayer. Please take a look and I hope it touches your life like it has mine.

"Dirty" Laughter

Today I was out sweeping the front porch with the kids. There was sooo much dust that the broom just created a dust devil. In the process, I ended up with dirt in my mouth. Doing what any person would do, I spit the dirt out into the rocks nearby. Oh boy.......was that the funniest thing that Hannah has ever come across! P.S. The snorting at the end is Weston.

BOB and GRADUATION

Michael's life is a simile. Here it comes....are you ready? Michael's life is LIKE a Bob Ross painting. Michael is Bob painting his life portrait every day. He has painted a few happy rocks and a little trickling stream with some brush running along the side. Today he finished a most important part of his painting......his trees. He has been painting those trees for some time now, but they are finally done. Or shall I say, they are officially HAPPY TREES. What I am trying to say is that Michael has graduated with his Bachelor's Degree in Business. I am SO proud of him and his hard work to get here. We both are still looking at each other in unbelief that he is DONE! No more math classes! YEAH!

So, in celebrating, I made Michael a gift. He truly loves Bob Ross! He had asked me a while ago if I would make him a Bob Ross shirt for his graduation. That is all he wanted. I wanted to go to dinner to celebrate, but no can do right now. So, I put my almost non-creative hands to the task and whipped out a most beautiful liking to his idol. Michael had almost forgotten about the shirt and did not know that I secretly put it together without his knowledge. After a long film shoot yesterday, he arrived home to find the most outstanding shirt in the kitchen. I loved his reaction. To put it in his words, "It is the most absurd thing I have ever seen. I love it!" The best part is that he cannot stop telling people about it. I have to admit, it makes me feel good to know that he really does love it. Now, I know you are dying to see the shirt, so I must share. Here is the new graduate in all of his glory!

My strength

So, today was one of those days where I could not find the strength I needed to get through the day. I had so much to do, pick up clothes, do the laundry, do the dishes, make dinner, change diapers, bath the kids, shower myself, find and job.....and the list goes on. I consider myself to be a pretty strong person. If something needs to be done, I do it. I seem to have to learn over and over that I cannot do everything myself. I never rely on the Lord as much as I should. I sometimes forget that I should get on my knees and consult with my Heavenly Father about my life. Today my wonderful sister reminded me that I cannot run faster than I have strength. So true! That is exactly what I needed to hear today. And as I was contemplating the day, I looked at my kids and felt so blessed. I felt like I was gathering more strength as the day continued. So, at the end of the day, much of my strength has come from my Father in Heaven, my wonderful sister and my beautiful children.

New addict in the making

We all know that Michael is addicted to diet drinks....either coke or pepsi. He probably drinks a total of 2 gallons a day. Michael even has a diet drink when he wakes up in the morning. I constantly tease him that he is going to die of some weird throat cancer because of his addiction. Now, I don't think of myself as an addict. But, I love to get myself one coke a day. Hannah has caught on to this trend and wants her own. I have even caught Michael pouring small amounts of coke in to his lid and then letting Hannah sip it out. He has done this with every one of our kids.

So, to my story. As I was checking my email, I could hear Hannah starting up the "mad scream". She does this when there is something she wants. This can be something you take away from her or just something she sees that she cannot reach. I went to the rescue to see what she wanted.......and Daddy had propped his coke cup up in the pillows. I had to take a video. Enjoy!

Just for Amy

So, Amy reminded me that I have not posted since May.....a very long time in the blogging world, mind you. I did think about it every once in a while and just did not get around to it. So, with all of the traveling, ear infections, etsy sewing, and most recently my root canal yesterday, I am finally posting once again. And, did I mention that Michael is graduating this month? YES!! He will officially graduate on the 24th of August. But, if you don't receive and announcement....don't feel bad. We are not the announcement kind of people.....or the kind that attend the actual graduation. No thanks! Not in the Bast household. But, I am so very proud of him for all of his hard work and determination.

I also have not been in the mother-of-the-year club this summer. I never seemed to be camera ready for anything, thus I don't have many pictures. We did visit St. Johns a couple of times. While staying at grandma's house, Weston managed to quietly get him self up in the morning and not bother to wake anyone. When I awoke that morning, I found the house to be a disaster. He had eaten an ice cream sandwich for breakfast and left the remaining LARGE portion on the carpet to melt. Grandma's sewing machine had been played with and thread was strewn throughout the kitchen. My purse had been completely emptied and everything taken out of my wallet. You get the picture. Later that same day, I was changing his diaper and noticed this really large booger in his nose. But, as I looked closer, I realized it was not a booger. It was a shiny pearl that he somehow managed to stick up his nose. I panicked and called grandpa. He is the one with the medical skills and should be able to get the pearl out. But, as I calmed down, I figured I could have him try to blow his nose to retrieve it. After a couple of hard blows, the pearl was lodged in his nostril.....TA-DA! That was hilarious. I wish a had a camera for that one.

Just a couple of weeks ago, Weston hid my glasses that were sitting next to my bed. I asked him several time to find my glasses or show me where they were. I looked everywhere all day long, and nothing! Michael then told Weston that he would give him some pennies if he found mommy's glasses. Weston trampled up the stairs and 30 seconds later came down with the infamous glasses in his hand. Of course he was laughing while descending the stairs knowing all along that his trick had worked!

I realize that I never really write anything about Caden or Hannah. I guess they are just in the boring stages of life. Caden just read his Harry Potter books (he is almost done with the 7th) and played games all summer. He takes care of himself. Hannah is just cute. She doesn't do much but eat, sleep, and poop. Oh, and scream. But, Caden did start school this last Monday as well as football. He is a busy boy!

Life couldn't be better....I am enjoying every hectic minute of it! Here are a few pictures over thelast few months! I especially love the nursing pads!

I have to admit....I miss him!

I thought for sure I would be loving life when I sent Weston up to St. Johns for the weekend. The first day or so was really nice not having to follow him around every second making sure he was not cutting his hair, drawing on my bed with black magic marker or putting hand towels in the toilet(yes, he did all of those things). But I have found myself missing his sweet little spirit. He is such a happy boy and a joy to have around.
So, as I said, this was just for the weekend. But, Tra' and Andrea ended up leaving Saturday morning for Oklahoma....long story short, Weston is still in St. Johns til Friday when they come to visit. Knowing that he would have been back this last Friday, I did not send any church clothes. As you can see, Grandma made do with some old knickers that belonged to uncle Sean. What a priceless picture!
I have been able to finish many things while my little/big one is away. Andrea and Tra' helped me paint four rooms in the house. It was so much fun to have them stay and see the house transform with the painting. I have never painted before and loved the see how much it changed each room. I have done some touch up and just finished sanding and painting an old dresser for Caden's room. Not only that, I finally have my etsy shop up and running with a few items. I am so excited to keep adding more items and hopefully get some business going. With all of my craftiness(trying to be) going on around the house, I have neglected a lot of laundry and dishes. But, I am getting back to the domestic diva I try to be. I will try to post some pictures later of all the painting I have done. Back to the dishes I go!

Finally a new post!

I have not posted in quite some time and I am feeling a little guilty! I have been very busy sewing these past couple of weeks. I decided to open up a little etsy shop on the internet, thus the sewing has taken much of my free time. But, I love to do it! It has really been an outlet for me and my almost non-existent creativity. Weston is still getting in to everything and anything. Hannah is growing so fast! She just turned six months on the 20th. She is becoming really frustrated with not being able to get around. Here is a little video of her desperately trying to crawl.


Here is another cute video of Weston playing peek-a-boo with Hannah. He loves to do this with Daddy and Mommy when he can. He covers our eyes and says, "Where Daddy go?"

Birthday Time!

Caden is 9 years old! Can you believe it? I cannot. How the time flies. Caden had a great Birthday with some fun gifts! I think the favorite gifts came from the grandparents. He got a card with 50 dollars from one and an Ipod shuffle from the other. We went out to eat as a family and then he got his own Birthday cheesecake! What a fun day!

Happy Easter!

I have not posted for a while and I am sure you are all yearning for some more quality family photos after the sasquatch and farting in the car videos!! So, here you are! We had a good Easter with Grandma and Grandpa Bast down for the weekend. I love when they are here to keep me company! I think the boys played guitar hero non-stop for four days! We had fun though.

I have had a really busy and fun last couple of weeks. Caden had spring break and we traveled up the St. Johns to play with everyone! We had such a great time and I kept Ellen totally busy. I had some pillow case dresses that I wanted to make, which Ellen helped with. Hannah is wearing one of them in the above picture. I also had to make 120 cookies for Enrichment. Ellen helped make them so cute! They took a lot of time, but were so cute! Weston had a blast up there. Grandma seems to be his best friend! She had to do everything for him. He wanted grandma to bath him, change him and put him to bed. I have to say, that was definitely a vacation for me!

Mandles

Finally the perfect gift!

Pubfilms - Beta Site

Hi Everyone!
Well our site is on the verge of being released for its official Beta test and if you have a couple of minutes or are bored one day, go jump on to www.pubfilms.com and then click on the link that says "check out our beta". From there you will be able to sign up for a membership and start playing around with the site, there are some funny videos on there and also you can set up your own mypub page. My user name is crozzovers, see if you can find me and request me to be your buddy. It is becoming a really fun site and I would love to hear any feed back and criticisms you may have.

Date - No-No's

An oldie but still fun.

Messin With Sasquatch - Bowl

I saw this one awhile ago and it has made it to a special place in my heart... or something like that.

The Translator

I love this skit.

Hannah Banana

Hannah is growing up so fast! We tried some baby food for the first time a few days ago. That food just happened to be bananas. It is always fun to see the reaction to that first taste......so, I thought I would share it.

Weston seemed to be a little confused with the banana part. After feeding Hannah, he found a banana in one piece and asked to have it. After I gave it to him, he thought he should show Hannah what a real banana looked and taste like. Hehehe!!

Happy Birthday!!

Weston is finally two years old!! It seems like he has been in our family much longer than that! He had such a fun day. When he woke in the morning, he was ecstatic to see several balloons floating just outside his bedroom. I think he played with the balloons more than any of his toys!

I had wrapped all of his presents the night before and placed them in his brand new wagon with a big bow on the side. I did everything I could to keep it hidden in my closet until Michael got home for dinner. That did not work as planned. I found Weston with the wagon near his room just before lunch. Of course, he did not want anything to do with the presents in the wagon. He just knew he wanted to wagon. He eventually figured out that when he tore the paper, there was something inside! He ended up getting most of his gifts out. I was able to save a few for later.

We also went to Red Robin as a family for dinner and loved the food!! Weston got really shy when they sang Happy Birthday and stuck his finger in his nose. What kind of kid sticks his finger in his nose when he is embarrassed? Only my child would do a thing like that!

We returned home to open the remaining presents and have some cake before bed. I think Weston had a great day!!

Me And My Buzz

One day I Caden Bast was at a wrestling mach with Buzz with a POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW! Then i was so mad that day forward.When that happened I went, KAAPPOOWW! When the POW happened I was nearly got knockedout.Just then I kicked the opposite side of Buzz. But I kicked again and nailed him in the head. NO QUESTION ABOUT IT! THEN i was the best wrestling kid ever.

Posted by Caden

My life

So, I figured that I should write a few things down before I forget them. Our kids do the funniest things, but I never remember. This way I will.

Little Weston is such a character. I feel like I am always one step behind him. He is non-stop and into everything possible around the house. There is so much to tell, I don't know where I could even start. But, I was able to catch one little bit of his mischevious behavior. One morning I was on the phone with Michael looking up something on the computer for him. The computer is in the adjoining room to our family room. As I was surfing the internet, I could hear the clanking of the silver ware in the kitchen. I had previously placed the knives up to where those that are vertically challenged could not reach. Thus, my mind was at ease. After I finished my conversation, I headed into the kitchen to see what Weston could be getting into. Funny enough, I did not see him with any silver ware. I opened the drawer and every single fork and spoon had vanished. I thought he had possibly put them in another drawer or cupboard. But, no. I looked for over 15 minutes scowering the kitchen. Nothing. I even asked him several times where he put the silver ware and he just laughed! That seemed to make me even more frustrated. Finally, the silver ware was rescued!! Just watch the videos and see for yourself.

Unfortunately, this next funny moment with Weston has to do with my horrible mothering skills. I learned this one from my dad.

Weston is a VERY loud child. He can also become unbelievably mad at times when he is not getting the attention he wants. There have been a few times when Hannah was asleep on my shoulder and Weston was feeling left out. To pay me back, he would come close to me and scream at the top of his lungs to wake Hannah up. This is a great way to get negative attention!! In all of my fury, I flipped Weston's lip without a seconds thought. I was not going to put up with that kind of behavior(not that mine was any more mature).

A couple of weeks ago, I bent down to talk to Weston. Whatever I said was not good. Weston clenched his hand into a fist and lifted it near my face. He pointed his finger a couple of times near my lip, and I immediately knew what he was trying to do. He was trying so hard to flip my lip in all of his anger. I had to laugh!! I could not keep it in!

As you can tell, the second video is a little dark. I found the silver ware in the back of the couch. He had dropped every single piece behind the cushions. I had to laugh when I found them. What a little punk! Good thing he is cute!

Our PrimaDonna

All Region... We Are So Proud!!!

Well as you all know, Caden played Pop Warner this year. He played for the "Predators" a team that was based out of Gilbert. The team finished the season 7 - 3 and was able to win their final game against Dompers School for the Extremely Slow.
The team's captain attributed Caden to their sucess.
"If that kid who brings out the water hadnt brought it out, we would have all been thirsty."
Other high praise from the team's center.
"That water kid always brings the best orange slices."
In fact, Caden was nominated for honorable mention in the Gilbert- South Eastern Corner of Gilbert and Baseline Region's "Team Support Team". He narrowly missed honorable mention to Javier Smith the blind boy that washes the jock straps. Truly a bitter pill to swallow.... We think he played the whole "blind" card. However, the team's final excerpt in their team newsletter made a superb mention of him. "Special thanks to Caleb Blast - Team Gopher".
We were so proud!

Caden actually did very well this season and played both Offensive guard and Defensive End. The coaches said that they werent quite sure of how well Caden would do, but as the season progressed that he became one of their best players and fiercest competitors.
During practice, Caden would line up on the 1st string offense and play against the starting defensive tackle. The boy who played defensive tackle, became so tired of being pushed back and slammed into on every play that he began lining up out of position away from Caden. We had a really fun season and Caden became quite the tough tackler, sacking the quarter back multiple times and making a lot of tackles. We are excited to see how he does next year.

World Saved From Annihilation........ Again.

Heros come in many shapes, colors and even sizes. ....
On the brink of destruction and only a few short moments from the entire Earth coming into the grasp of the evil Skeletor, Weston "Thunder Pants" Bast came to humanity's rescue once again on Halloween Night.
With only his trusty magical sword "Horatio" and his Elmo pale of doom, Weston was able to single handily gather enough candy to battle Skeletor's minions, "Dental Care" and "Nutrition".
In an exclusive interview with the hero, Thunder Pants said this about his battle to the death with evil.
"Da Da Da, Gi! ...Gi!"

Which roughly translated comes from the ancient latin script. "Iza Kicksa Soma Majorio Asso".
Truly, Thunder Pants is more than meets the eye, not just a warrior, but a warrior poet sage.