Victims of a crime.....

We had our first car theft last night, and no despite what some may wonder it may be tight in the Canfield house, but David and I have not turned into Dick and Jane.....

We were the victims of an unscrupulous crime...what does that word mean anyway...thought is was cool..LOL

David and I actually went to bed decently early, for the Canfield household last night, around 11:00....the last week or so I have been having trouble sleeping and naps do not happen for me. So I am beyond exhausted and every night hoping to finally get that peaceful nights sleep. I finally drifted off....groggily I awake to a noise...what was that??? Did I actually hear something, was I dreaming.....then it came to me, it was the door bell! WHAT?!?!?! Really??? Am I insane now, did I just completely lose my mind.....

"David, did you hear that?" I said.....amazingly he woke up and answered me, tyically it takes an earthquake to awaken the dead...(David while sleeping) and even that sometimes I truly wonder if he would make it if he lived in California and an earthquake hit at night. Anyway, he asked me "Did I hear what?"

"The doorbell"....

He thought I was crazy, he said no there wasn't a doorbell....then someone knocked on our door. THANK YOU!!! I am not crazy!!!! I was a little nervous for a second...

David got up and went to the door, in his drowsiness he almost opened the door without even asking who it was....it was a Police officer. A neighbor had noticed our car door was open and the light was on. But nothing seemed out of place, or missing...at first

They didn't take any of the thousand and one children's books we seemingly collect every time we go somewhere, they missed the crusty old bread that was left from last weeks lunch on the road, and apparently the the car seats covered in food from the last few years didn't appeal to them either.....LOL!

David came back in and said everything was normal nothing was missing, so I asked did you see the GPS??? He looked up at me with a shocked look on his face, Oh yeah....no he didn't see that. It was gone! Strange they would take that over the crusty old bread! What were they thinkin?? Leaving the good stuff.......

Anyway, that was our first time to have our car broken into. And only at midnight, that is actually early think. We are usually still up at that time. So I guess someone out there isn't getting lost anymore...meanwhile where am I right now??

BTW, I do not really have crusty old bread. Lots of books collect in our car and the car seats although have been covered in snacks get washed by me periodically....just clearing that up!

We just realized today, in our less sleep deprived stage...that all of our cords were stolen. Phone chargers, ipod chargers as well as GPS. So frustrating!

A day in the life of 4 boys.......

We discovered a tiny lizard in our house the other evening. Kai, our third, was determined to catch it and catch it he did. Then he picked it up proudly and showed it to me and said in his most adorable voice with many speech issues..."Mommy I want to keep it for my pet."

I thought YAY, my son is awesome he picked up a lizard and liked it, he isn't too cityfied......but I also thought...NO WAY are you keeping that thing in my house!!!

But I explained to him that we do not have an adequate place for him to live, he would miss his Mommy and we do not know how to feed and take care of him so he would probably die if we kept him...or her...

Casey our oldest is by far my most compliant child. He will do or say anything without a fight. He is responsible and mature (for the most part) this helps when you have 3 others running around climbing on everything from the door frames to the roof and wanting to jump off....

Brayden is our dare devil! He started climbing and hanging off of things at an early age. Flips off the diving board before he could even swim well. He doesn't give any thought to the stunts either...such as, "could I break my leg if I attempt this"...no he just runs headlong into whatever catches his fancy and figures out later whether it was worth it or not.

Kai, follows in his footsteps of being a dare devil and trying new and exciting things. As long as he is in conrtol. He doesn't care for stunts that involve other people making him do something but if he can jump off of it, or climb it he is right behind Brayden.

But TATE....he keeps me on my toes! I really wanted to title this blog ~

"A day in my life with Tate"

So here you go...it will not even come close to comparing with an actual day with him...but you can get a glimpse

DAY 1 ~

(Yesterday)

I found him locked in the bathroom, while he was trying to go potty. I thought after several minutes I should probably check on him

I had to unlock the door from outside, and when I opened the door I found the floor soaking wet, he had the toilet brush out on the floor, he was soaked, and the toilet was soaked...I do not even need to explain where all the water came from!

While making lunch he gets so excited...he says "Not ready yet..." about 20 times...and runs around, then he tells me he will get the jelly. I told him no...then there he is in the fridge before I can get him and drops the entire glass jelly jar on the tile floor....do not need to explain the results!

Again, while making one of his many trips to the bathroom, I decide to check on him and find.... him sitting on the potty with a bottle of toothpaste in hand, squeezing away....inside the toilet is about half of the contents

I cannot even tell you how many bottles of soap we have gone through with ihm, EVERYTIME he gest his hands on them he empties all contents into bathtub.

DAY 2 ~

(This is today)

While making another potty trip (I am telling you we have several hundred a day) he calls me and points his finger at me and says "Look"

When I move closer to find out what it is....it is POOP! There is also wet toilet paper on his finger which led me to believe he had been "fishing" in the toilet.

During lunch while my back was turned for a second....I turn back around to find him with the bottle of Arm and hammer baking soda from the fridge dispensing the contents into the shelf of the fridge as well as all over the floor!

Gets his own cereal box out of cabinet, the box is about two of him...and proceeds to open it stick his fat little fist into Cocoa pebbles and bring it out with as large a handful as he can grab...now people you know what happens when anyone, much less a child, grabs a handful of cocoa pebbles.....more than are left in the hand spill on the floor!!! You just can't grab handfuls of those things!

Those are just the events I can remember!!! I am convinced I blot out many more from my mind or I would go insane......Every day is like this with him. I cannot let him out of my sight to do anything....well it is plain to see he cannot got he bathroom without supervision or the fridge....disaster everytime!!!

This is our child who will DO anything!!!! Yes and we as a family will do just about anything for something FREE!!! LOL....Chich fil a wear your favorite sports team and get a free sandwich! So Casey, our poilitican, doesn't want to show favortism so he sports both Texas and A&M, No one said anything to him either!!!

I'm coming back....

I'm BACK BABY.....Well at least for today....I have been ...shall we say just a little bit busy lately! Need I rundown a list of all my tasks as wife to a coach/teacher and mother to 4 BOYS?!?!?! I think not!

But I have missed the blogging world and writing the crazy stories that are really everyday moments for us at the Canfield house! Oh the DRAMA!!!!

Our house is finally completed from the remodel. Everything they say about living in the home while its being remodeled is true....its a nightmare.....but now our home is SO beautiful! It was a blessing and now that its over I can hardly remember not seeing my kitchen table, ...or wait... for that matter any of the walls....everything from the rooms being remodeled was stacked around us in every available space...which is not much considering the house is only 1664 sq ft to begin with....EVERYTHING from the kitchen and living area and master bathroom was stacked in our dining room, the stuff from Tate's room was also divided between dining room and other boys room which is already full with 2 boys belongings. I can't even begin to describe how crazy it was...you can only get the real picture if you came by while it was going on....I had a friend who knew all of it was happening, I had described the disaster to her but when she came over to see me one day she said...

"You didn't tell me it was this bad!"

LOL....Oh yes I did, but you just can't give the adequate words to describe it so people undestand. If you have remodeled your house mainly the kitchen ...then you understand!!! Not cooking for over 2 months, and even if I could have gotten to the stove I didn't have a clue where anything was...bowl, spatula, can opener....

After the house was completed we thought we needed to take on a new project ...we had our floors painted....thats right.....the floors! Not that painted concrete either, we just went straight for something new!!! Painted carpet! After we completed the remodel of our home our living room and Tate's room have new carpet but not the other two bedrooms....so why not try something new......and here is the master mind and designer of that project

Now here is the crazy part...this happened twice in one day. FYI if Tate is left to himself for more than ... oh...say 1 minute he finds something to destroy!!! So he had already been discovered with polish about 10 mintues prior, and somehow he managed to paint his entire leg without getting even one drop on the carpet. I guess he felt like a failure to all busy 2 year old toddlers out there, so to save his reputation he went back and managed to complete the task.

After a week the polish is still on his nail, I cannot get that red off completley!

New photography blog

Sorry I haven't updated in awhile! Life is crazy and becoming more so each day! I did want to give you my photography blog address..>I tend to update that a little more because it requires less wording and thought. Just a few pictures from recent sessions or my playing and letting out my artistic side!

http://photography-by-ashleycanfield.blogspot.com/

Anyway...check it out sometime and give me feedback!

Prayers.....

Please be praying for David's family. His grandfather passed away this morning. We knew it was coming soon, they have had time to prepare, as much as one can prepare the loss of a loved one. He lost his wife earlier in the year and they both knew the Lord, so we are mourning and rejoicing together.

David and I will be making plans to head to Oregon this week, the boys will stay with our dear friends. I have never been to Oregon and I am very excited about seeing David's beloved home but I was hoping to go for the first time on a more joyous occasion. Please pray for the family as well as our safety and for our boys while we are away!

Bon Voyage part 3 ~ COZUMEL

COZUMEL....beautiful Cozumel! The highlight of the trip. It was amazingly beautiful and HOT! We rented a moped and drove around the entire island beach hopping ...it was GRAND!!!

Here is me waiting for David to take the picture....come on already!! LOL

I was SO irritated because it was FREEZING cold inside the ship and humid HOT outside my camera experienced SMOG for a few hours after we disembarked......neeedless to say I missed countless pics because I couldn't even see out of the lens. This one was the best and I had to edit it to see this much! I was SO sad!

Our first stop was a little weird, it was a Jamaican bar. Never thought we would find a Jamaican bar in Mexico. David played in the water until his feet could take it no longer, it was a very rocky beach. But the beauty of that was ..well the beauty...because of the rock you see in teh next few pictures it was breathtakingly beautiful! When we walked up that large rocky place there were holes where the water was spraying up like blowholes. Really amazing!!!



This is "us" walking hand in hand" pretty cool it was hard to get with a 50mm since it was so close but it turned out pretty well!

Here I am on the rocky place next to the blowholes....and let me say the camera was set for David so really he just had to click the button, but kudos anyway!

After our first "rocky" experience, pun intended....we set off to find our nesxt stop! I know some of it looks very much the same to you all, but really as you drove around each section of the beach had something new to offer...so bear with me. We stopped at this beautiful cove because theh water was so blue and the different shades were amazing. And there was a little tent shop where we walked up and a local seller said,

"Hey can I offer chu one of our leetle feegures, gut price...for you...." All said in his unmistakable accent. We did not want any feegureenes, especially since they were REALLY risque...actually Rated R for clay! Terrible!!! Anway, we did want a hammock but they were asking $50, we said no thanks and jumped on our moped to head away when of course he said "how much you pay? We give good price" We told him $25, he said no and walked away but when we started the engine he came back and gave us the deal.....GREAT until we later bought an even nicer one for $15...so much for bartering!

This was our ALL TIME FAVORITE spot the entire trip! It was the most beautiful crystal clear water, and it was in a cove where you could just swim of wade, or lay out on the beach. There were a few people there but not many. Some were snorkeling....

We had a great time here until I looked over, I wasn't too shocked to see a girl laying out on her stomach with her bikini straps untied, very normal even for here. I got in the water with David and we splashed and got some pics and then I went to put the camera in my bag and nearly tripped and fell face forward or caught a fly for my mouth was hangning wide open in shock that the woman as spoken of before had now rolled over to her back but had not bothered to tie on her top!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH Does she even realize there are husbands, young boys ...for crying out loud I DO NOT want to see that!!!!! I ran back and was like...."David you cannot go back over there.....if you need something I will get it." He was as shocked as I was and more than willing to stay put!

Despite the shock we did have a great time at this spot, we ended up combing the beach when we realized all of the sand was made up of teeny tiny shells. They were so small you had to get down on your hands and knees to even see what they were. But we collected TONS and in perfect condition, well as perfect as we could tell since they were so tiny. We brought them home for the boys to look at!

Goodbye beautiful cove.....GOOD RIDDANCE no morality....LOL



Here we are cruising on our moped. Sorry these are the best pics I have to offer, we never stopped to get a pic of us riding it! I probably would not have trusted anyone anyway since I took my professional camera....

Here we made our 3rd stop. By this time we are starving so we found a restaurant on the beach and stopped for more sand, water and food! We had fajitas and COKE of course because that is all they have there.

Here I am stuffing my face....Hey I was starving!


We were serenaded...of course we had to give them a tip....

These were taken as David drove us further around the beach!

This is one of my favorite pictures, I took as we drove through the town. I loved the two local ladies driving with a child in between. Priceless moment!