Little Lady

She is growing up WAY too fast! Her vocabulary is getting HUGE and if she can't say it right, she gets so frustrated and keeps repeating until you figure out what she's trying to say! This morning I was cooking some blueberry muffins and she told me she was "hungy" so I asked her to look through the oven window and tell me what was inside. (I was expecting her to say "cocakes - for cupcakes" but she said "MUFFINS" and it was completely clear and perfect! I was shocked! Every day there are just so many new words! It's fun to hear her cute little voice!

Here's a couple pics I took the other day in her cute little demin dress with ladybugs. For some reason she actually likes the hat and loves to have it on! (Another shocker!) She was watching her "princesses" on TV (Barbie's Princess & the Pauper) so no smiles in these photos!

Party Chaos

There's nothing crazier than a 5 year old's birthday party! It was a lot of fun, but we were definately glad when it was over! We played some duck duck goose, (a favorite at this age) stick the spider on the web, a ball toss game, pinata, presents and cake/ice cream! We managed to get it all done in just a little over an hour! WHOO HOO! The lighting in our house is horrible, so I have to use a flash which is TOTALLy too bright.. but oh well! (Oh and did I mention it's really hard to get a picture of the birthday boy WITHOUT a million kids in the pic? Oh well, maybe on Saturday with our family party I'll get a better one! I knew I should have done it before the party, but you know how things go when you're scrambling to get ready!) Here's a few pics of the madness..

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUKEY!

Today is Luke's 5th birthday! He is SOOO excited! He has been waiting for this day since Feb. 4th (Michael's Birthday). He has finally made it to the big day on his spiderman birthday calendar! I got his cake finished up last night and he LOVES it! His day will start off with preschool. Today they are going to visit their "grandfriends" at the nursing home and treat them to an easter egg hunt. Then I will take pizza to school and another mom is going to bring cupcakes since her son's birthday is tomorrow. Then at 3pm he'll have over a few too many friends and we'll party! I'll post pics of the festivities later! Here's a pic of his cake that I finished last night at 11pm! I'm by no means a cake decorator, but it turned out alright!

Red-Headed Bandit Strikes Again

So yes, He did it AGAIN! This time it was the same store (Albertson's) and it was a pack of Hubba Bubba Bubble gum. But this time he made it all the way home with it and kept it quiet until late at night when he was supposed to be asleep and decided to share some with his brother. Michael (being the BIGGEST tattle tale on the planet) announced the next morning, "Oh, by the way mom... Luke stole a pack of gum." So yesterday Luke and Dad went to Albertson's and spoke with the "woman in charge" and he got to pay for his gum, but didn't get to keep it. Maybe he gets it now? That's what we thought last time! I just hope he doesn't apply the 5-finger discount anymore, or we are going to be banned from grocery shopping at Albertson's!

He is getting so grown up though - his birthday is in just 1 wekk and he will be 5! He is so excited and loves marking a day off on his Spiderman Calendar to help him count down the days. He finally stopped asking me when his birthday was after he got his calendar. Now he can go and count the days himself!

Cute Girly Things

I found a cute shop on Etsy the other day - candyland beads, which makes cute little things out of clay. I made these cute little hair clippies for my niece Makayla. I thought they were so cute I just had to share!

I will work on Brynley's next. They even have a lot of beads to match the newest gymboree lines out now - my favorite is their little turtle with the bow! I got one and will make brynley a bracelet with it to match her turtle attire. Here's a photo of brynley all decked out in turtle. (she's getting quite good at saying "cheese") She has the purse, hair clips, shirt and socks. She loves her "turtle bag" from grandma! I can't wait to see how she likes the bracelet! (I have to wait until we hit michael's again to get the beads though). It's so much fun having a little girl!

What happened?

So we try to teach the kids right from wrong, and today Luke really pushed the limits. We ran into Albertston's to get milk and a couple other things and when we got out to the car, michael says "Luke stole a camera mom." I looked back and sure enough, he was proudly displaying a disposable camera he had stolen from the store. I had already gotten Brynley all buckled in her seat, but we got everyone out and marched Luke right back to the store. He had to take the camera and apologize to the lady at the checkstand. He was NOT very happy about this. I have caught him a coulple of other times trying to grab a piece of candy or gum when I've told him we weren't buying any. My friend's hubby is a cop, so maybe scare tactics will work... so far the little talks on why he can't take things (even though he wants them) aren't working.

Time for new suits ladies!

Ok.. so normally I don't really like swim suit shopping, but my friend is a modbe consultant and they have got the CUTEST swim suits ever in their 2008 swim line! I'm having a party on March 20th.. so if you want anything, let me know or come on over! CUTE STUFF! In the mean time - check out Erin's site @ http://www.erinjohns.mymodbe.com/

This is the suit I'm going to get.. I think!

Busy Week!

A few days a go I thought I would involve the kids in making Becky Higgin's Banana bread recipe (Yummy! See the recipe portion of her blog - link is on the side of my blog). There's some photos of them "helping" Michael was the only one strong enough to smash the banana's. Luke filled up all my muffin tins and Brynley cheered them on with a mouthful of banana! The muffins turned out yummy - althought I cooked them a little longer than I should have - but they never really did get brown on top .. they were just a little more dry than they should have been. Those mini-muffins cook quicker than I thought they would! Anyway - the chocolate chips we added made them SOOO yummy! The kids just ate them up!

As far as what's been going on this week - Michael and I had our picture in the paper. My face is still chubby from the meds I took last month (Oh ya.. did I ever post that I broke out in hives?? Anyway - the prednisone was awful, but did help with the hives. We probably won't really know what caused it... hopefully it stays away!) Anyway - here's a link to the story and photo. http://www.bakercityherald.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=6012 All this studying for the bar is making me crazy! I don't know who has it worse.. Steven who has to study, or me who has to pick up the slack while he's been gone so much! If I don't get some time out AWAY and ALONE soon I think I might just go crazy! But the end really is in sight. The exam is Monday afternoon and all day tuesday - he'll be back home by Tuesday evening. WHEW! Not to mention all the ear infections (Brynley & Luke) and just the normal cold's going around. Brynley's most frequently said words have been "HOLD YOU MOMMY!" and that's exactly all she wants. To "Hold you." That's sweet at times, but when I'm trying to do laundry or cook dinner.. or just anything I need 2 hands for, it's a little difficult with a 23 lb weight on the hip! Oh - and the other added stress for the week was the van. I did drive by today and saw that it was in the shop - rather than in the parking lot, so they must have gotten the new transmission in on friday! I hope it gets done soon!

Speaking of Brynley - I'm sitting here playing with my blog, trying to get my music and pictures all back on when I start smelling something. I turn around (because she's laying on my bed.. supposedly falling asleep...) and she says "LOTION MOMMY, EAT!" Well, not exactly lotion - but she had the vicks vapo-rub that was sitting on my dresser! She had rubbed some on her feet, neck and hands. What a greasy little girl she was! She is definately our "busiest" girl as far as getting into things and causing "mischief" (that's a new word michael learned at school a few weeks ago, and uses WAY too much!).

Sweet Strawberries

Well, I thought I would be sweet and make some chocolate covered strawberries to take to Steven and the others at his work. I got them all finished up and then ran to meet my mom who had forgotten something at my house. Right when I met with her, my "check engine" light went on and my transmission died. Thank goodness she was right there because she was able to take me and the kids back home so I could figure out what to do with our ONLY vehicle! The nice guy at the Transmission place loaned us a van for the next week and a half until he can get the new transmission in (he won't even receive it until next friday!). He was nice enough not to make us rent it from him. Now just to figure out where the $$ will come from to pay for a new transmission! Because of all the drama with the van I wasn't able to get the strawberries to work in time.. so I guess the one good thing that came out of valentine's day was that I got to eat way more Chocolate covered strawberries! YUM! Don't these look yummy! (PS... They were!!)

Happy 7th Birthday Michael!

I can't believe it! Michael turned 7 today! He is growing up so fast! He's doing very well in school - very smart in all subjects. I think Math is probably his favorite subject and his best. Today we took cupcakes & hawaiian punch to school. Michael wanted chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting.. and don't forget the sprinkles! He wanted a lego-themed birthday so I found some cute lego cupcake picks on ebay. The kids loved it! Here's a few pics from Saturday when we had his family party. Some of his aunts/cousin's were unable to come due to the bad weather, but hopefully we'll see them this week! He got a lot of legos for his birthday, some cash, a new Bionicle PS2 game, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles DVD, Tennis racket & Balls... etc etc! He got a very embarrasing Hoops & Yoyo card from Grandma Pam.. when he opened it it i

says.. MMM MMM MMM YOu are looking Fine.. and then goes on and on about how they could just eat him up.. yum.. etc! It was so funny to watch him turn red! Oh - and in case you're wondering what that cake is supposed to be... it's a LEGO! It looked kinda funny when it was all done - but Michael said it was the BEST LEGO CAKE EVER! That's what is great about kids! They don't really care if it's a little crooked, or you can see some chocolate crumbs showing through the frosting.. it's a cake, and he was happy with it!

Strawberry Shortcake!

So grown up!

Look at these 3! They are growing up so fast! They are all so much more grown-up looking! Especially Brynley and Michael! I took this photo sunday before church . I love playing with photoshop and adding little splashes of color back to my black & white photos. It's very addicting!

OH SNOW!

We are getting pounded by more snow! Sunday night we got another 6 inches to add to our collection, last night another inch and a half and it's currently a blizzard out there! If only it weren't for the snow plows who feel the need to do our street at 4am! (they are as bad as the garbage man who comes by at 5!) I'm ready for the snow to go away!!! The kids are having fun though - here's a few pics from yesterday.

Luke's Art

Luke's Preschool displays art at the local gallery every year. Here he is with some of his famous art that will be displayed throughout the month at Crossroads. I love his preschool. They do so many neat things and he learns so much more than his ABC's and 123's. They pick a different artist every month to study and to copy a picture from. I have such a neat collection from last year and look forward to what we will receive this year!

Big Girl Bed

Be bought Brynley a toddler bed last week, deciding it was finally time for her to be out of her crib. She has actually done pretty well! The first night though she did drag her cute little wooden chair over to the door so she could open and escape. But overall she has taken it like a champ and we only occasionally catch her on the floor cuddled by the door! (see photo!) She loves her big girl bed and is so proud of it! She even kisses it occasionally!

Little Lady

Brynley has turned into quite the little lady ! She has her purse that she fills up with random stuff and carries everywhere. She always has to have a little lotion and some chapstick or lipgloss which she calls "pips." (her word for lips!) She usually has at least one little baby bottle and something to write with. Once she realized I was going to take her picture she dragged a chair over to "pose" in for me! Here she is with some of her "pretties" (necklace and bracelet).

Sledding in a Blizzard

Daredevil Michael

The two boys

Look at those HUGE flakes!

Daddy & Brynley

Steven had the bright idea to go sledding up at the golf course hill on saturday - but by the time we all got ready to go it was snowing huge flakes and they were coming down fast! It was so cold... but the kids weren't about to stay home! Brynley absolutely loved it and was very upset when it was time to go home! She kept crying "GO... GO.. and pointing to the bottom of the hill! Maybe if the weather is nicer we'll rent the boys some ski's and let them practice before we attempt a real mountain! It makes it a little hard to take photos when it's snowing this hard - not only because it was soaking my camera, but the flakes were in the way! Maybe next weekend will be better!

Holiday Craziness

Christmas this year was so fun. As you can see by the photos above there were WAY too many presents... but this photo is at my parents house, where there were presents for everyone (My family and kids, my sister's family, my two brothers, parents and great grand-parents!) Pretty overwhelming! I think next year we'll do something a little different - not too much room left for people after all those presents! The kids had a blast and for the first year in a long time, all of my kids were healthy! YAY! No fevers or throwing up this year! YAHOO! To try and keep the two girls quiet until everyone else woke up Christmas morning, we threw them in the tub together and they had a blast. (the other girl is my niece Makayla. She is 4 months older than Brynley) Too bad they don't live closer so they could play more often!

Tomato Soup

So this is what I get for leaving out a mostly empty pot of soup! When she got caught, she said "YUMMY... SOUP!!" She didn't care that she had on a white shirt! (luckily I got the stains out!)

Lost tooth #2

BEFORE






10 days ago, this was BY FAR the most dramatic pulled tooth yet! Michael knocked it even looser during basketball, then again while brushing teeth. He came to me because it was literally just hanging there.. but attached enough that it wouldn't just fall out. Rather than having him choke on it in the middle of the night, I gave him 5 minutes to pull it on his own, then I went in after it. (Dad is definately not into teeth pulling!)Once he realized there was blood, and the little twinge of pain from the tooth being messed with, he got pretty upset! I hope they get easier for him! He's got 2 more loose already!



AFTER