For you Logan-ites

What an AWESOME Valentines weekend date I have for you!

You REALLY should go to this show. It'll be in Logan and catered by the Coppermill if you want dinner too! If you want to get tickets go HERE

Not to mention the piano player has got to be the CUTEST guy EVER! (my dad)

:(

My heart is breaking. I heard some sad news from a friend today and I feel helpless. You know that feeling? When you're far away from them and can't even help. When you look at your life that's going pretty good and wish that you could just take some of their burden and heartache......but you can't. I've felt like this before over my sisters and other people I've loved and it consumes my mind.....and my prayers for that matter. Every time something like this happens, my thoughts always turn how much our Heavenly Father's and our Savior's hearts must ache even MORE for that particular person. And with how much I want to be there and comfort someone, They want to even more, and could do a much better job then I could..........

Something to (half) smile about

Here is Bronson on Monday..................AFTER his dentist appointment.

We kept asking him to smile over and over again because it was so entertaining. :)

He laughed too, until he realized he had a basketball game that day. Thankfully, his mouth de-numbed before the game.

Wow

How CUTE is this?

She's definitely at my favorite baby stage now of sitting up, not moving, constantly smiling and playing with her toys. However, she is moving around quite a bit and scooting more then I like DESPITE my efforts to move EVERYTHING closer to her so she WON'T crawl, I think this week she'll officially start to disobey my wishes.
My favorite time of day is at 6 am when I grab her and bring her into bed with me to eat and snuggle. We snuggle until 6:20 when I have to wake up everyone and it is always so hard for me to leave her. I've never slept with a baby in my bed (or in my room for that matter) but I DO love the morning-sleepy-snuggle time. Most of the time she falls back asleep until I gather everyone to get in the van at 7 to take Bronson to school.

From starting out to be my "hardest" and most crying baby, to being my absolute angel and a sweetheart, I'm grateful for whatever changed inside her sweet head.

The ladies that watch her at the gym said, she just plays so well by herself and is ALWAYS happy. I didn't go into the details, that she plays by herself so well because Mommy sometimes is a little busy so she has HAD to learn how to do that.

I just don't think it's possible to kiss a baby's cheek/neck more then I do her's.

(I know what you're thinking, "SAVE IT FOR HER JOURNAL!!!" but don't you worry, it's written in there too!)

Mom, don't you think she looks like Jess?

HE IS SEVEN!!!!!

Yes, I'm starting out a post with a picture of his cake. But it was SUPER yummy, so it deserves to be here. He wanted an Oreo and Fudge Ice Cream Cake........ Star War's Style.It's an awesome and super easy recipe. I ended up doubling it and putting it in a 9x13 pan and I think I like it better this way. He was THRILLED.

Okay, now to the pinata. Now THERE'S a story. I had the flu-ish something last week on the 2 days I needed to start it and obviously didn't get around to starting it. So I thought, I'll just run to a store and buy a Star Wars pinata somewhere.......well those "somewheres" ended up being nowheres. I couldn't find one anywhere.

Then I went back to Walmart and found a Spiderman bodice one......and right behind it were party masks for a Star Wars party.........then the lightbulb went on!

Bronson helped me with this pinata this year one night when I let him stay up late with me and watch Narnia. Here we are covering spiderman to reinforce the pinata more. Afterall, there were going to be BIG kids whacking it!

Then I went to grab the white paint the next day and I didn't have any....for the CLONE TROOPER! AH! Bronson said he wanted a black one then. Even though there aren't any on the movies......whatever. So he let his brothers help him paint it black.

Then the next morning (morning of the party) he wanted it gray. So it could be a "white one that just got a little dirty" Um. Okay. It's HIS birthday right?
So he painted it gray and then we added the black and stuff like on his Clone Trooper toy.
He LOVED it and worked so hard on it. Note: the Walmart pinatas do NOT need to be reinforced. They're SUPER strong as it is.
After their naps (yes, they all still take naps, and Bronson still takes them on the weekends) we had his party.
We did the pinata outside with the friends he wanted to have over because it was BEAUTIFUL yesterday. (the kids were in the wading pool in their swimsuits earlier in the day)

During his party he just ran in to me and gave me a HUGE hug and said "This is the best birthday EVER!" I enjoyed it too. I didn't have to serve up cake AND icecream, I had fun chatting with the parents (we invite the WHOLE family), and Bronson was just so grateful for everything......................so all it all it was a successful day for Bronson with lunch w/ Daddy, basketball in the driveway, picking dinner, picking the movie, picking breakfast, playing with ALL his toys and eating treats! I'm hoping Bronson forgot that his birthday morning started off with his mouth being washed out with soap though.

RALEIGH!

My kids LOVE going to hotels! We went to one on Friday night and had a blast.

He stopped at an Italian restaurant before we got there and actually went IN with all of them (first time in a formal restaurant) and they did great. But then again my kids LOVE spaghetti, so as soon as the dinner came out, we didn't hear a word from them until it was all finished. Even Iris was loving it and some breadsticks.

We don't have any TV stations or anything at home so when we go to hotels they FINALLY get to watch normal cartoons on the TV......and they LOVE it. Look at them all.This hotel (that we always stay at) has an indoor pool too. Here's Aleeya in the elevator going down to the pool. When she gets so excited about something she just grinds her teeth and clenches her fists like this.
(Check out her upper arms! Wow, I'm suddenly jealous)

She was so excited to be wearing a matching suit with Emerson at the pool. This is obviously before she was thrown in the pool. Me? I just hung out in the hot tub with Iris.....which wasn't really that hot this time (hence me taking Iris in there), but still soooooo relaxing.

The hotel serves breakfast there and Brooks usually takes the first two that wake up down to eat, then I take the other two when they wake up. It's more relaxing and enjoyable that way. Anyway, when I went down with Aleeya and Emerson there was a family sitting at the table next to us with some young boys all around the table. I didn't think anything of it, until they were all seated and I counted FIVE boys that looked exactly alike just different sizes. The Mom was running around getting all their plates and trying to keep them from disturbing everyone around. She had this look on her face like, "OKAY, now it's MY turn to eat, so stop asking for stuff!" (I know that look pretty well). I thought, how does she keep all these kids straight and tell them apart for that matter! She just had a ton!
I tapped her on her shoulder and asked about her boys. No twins, all hers and the oldest was 6! (Her youngest was older then Iris and I hadn't seen a family like our's before in action and even closer in age). 5 boys WAS Brooks' plan for our family before we started having kids......obviously I didn't follow the plan to well. It was fun to talk with her for a while and I think she was grateful to know that at least someone wasn't sitting around her judging her and thinking "can't you control your kids?!?"
Then it dawned on me, I betcha that's what people think when they see me. Like HOW would I be able to meet all their needs, interests, love, etc. But that never occured to be before, since my kids ARE so individual. I know their favorite foods, smells, clothes and favorite way for me to snuggle/scratch the (Bronson- loves his neck scratched, Camden-back, Emerson-face, Aleeya, full body with emphasis on the arms and legs and My sweet Iris just loves to be held anywhere). I know exactly who will eat what in the dinner and how much of the food to put on each plate. I know their favorite books and all the things their scared of and what they want to be when they grow up. I guess I just didn't understand before I had kids that I DO have enough love, attention and time to give to all of them and it doesn't result in a "Mass raising" of kids, because throughout the day, I DO get one-on-one time with each of them, as they each require different needs. It was nice to be reminded of that and that raising all these different personalities is quite fun and an adventure in itself.

Saturday morning Brooks and I just switched off at the temple in Raleigh. (while the kids were back at the hotel swimming some more). It was so wonderful, calming and nice to "re-group" for life in general. When I was getting an interview to go in, President Fisher told me something that his dad has always said about the temple (his dad is now in the Presidency at the temple), "The temple helps you change". Simple, I know. But I'm always in need of change and in MANY areas and I felt His help while inside in the temple. What a wonderful weekend.

Potty-trained

It's official. This girl with the crazy bedhead is officially UN-potty-trained.She's a piece of work this girl, and is now wearing diapers again. I started in August or September and potty trained. It was slow at first and it was hard to find her "price" as to what motivated her, since NOTHING worked with her like it did my boys. But we found it, (trust me, we tried EVERY creative reward AND punishment in the book!) and she no longer would stand up at the potty, holding her belly button and "pee" out of it like her brothers. Infact, she would go three weeks w/o an accident. Then there would be a few days that she would look at me and just matter-of-a-fact say, "pee-pee" and it would start coming down her leg......as if she COMMANDED it to come out then just to get me.

One HUGE philosophy I've always had with potty training is that you do it with the PARENT is 100% committed. And I was, by-gone. It was me vs. her and I was going to win.

Well, you can see how far that got me. In December I just decided, since you would never know when Aleeya would just pee out of spite to me (like when I wouldn't get her something at the store), that it wasn't worth saving the money (since I haven't spent more then $2 on a pack of diapers in over 7 months) on the diapers and always carrying extra clothing with me.

So I UN-potty-trained her. I felt like I was 100 pounds lighter. My errands were less stressful and I was actually walking around the store with my five kids smiling when she would say "pee-pee" to which I would respond, "Just go in your diaper!"

Granted, I'll probably reap the consequences from it later, but taking that out of my life right now feels great. I'm thinking if I send her to kindergarten the first day with a diaper, that she'll just rip it off and potty train herself. Right? It could happen.

So as you can see, both she and I are a lot happier now. :) (Isn't she a doll face?)

(Yes, she IS standing on our table)

Few other things that have gone on since last I blogged:

-Bronson won his 1st grade class spelling bee (over the 125 words we studied ALL Christmas break), went on to the 1st grade finals and got out on the word "know". Darn silent "k".

-Brooks' brother, Bronson visited us for 2 days on his way home from Peru vacationing and so kindly shared the flu with me and just today I'm starting to feel better!

-I'm in a new Healthy Habits competition right now with $120 buck-a-roos on the line which is DEFINITELY motivating me.

-At a local grocery store last week I got 50 boxes of Special K, 50 boxes of Special K bars and 12 bottles of V8 Fusion for 7 dollars over the course of a week. Yes, our food storage is WELL stocked up now.

Here's my sweet Iris with a sweet baby, Olivia at a game night at our house. They just LOVED sitting by each other

And at that SAME game night, Emerson came out wearing his Scooby Doo costume.....like this. Then when we told him to take it off and go get PJs and he DID. Boy, did he ever. He got those one with the feet in them that zip up. He got it all on and tried to zip it up but couldn't for some reason. So he came out in front of everyone to get help from me or Brooks. Well, that "some reason" might have something to do with the fact he had taken off his underwear........need I go into details.

(Talk about entertainment, ALWAYS over at my house)


We're off to hotel tonight, Bronson's birthday next week, lots of fun coming soon!

The BEST babysitter

Anyone knows the fastest way to a woman's or man's heart is through their belly right? Well, I think Aleeya and Will Ward found love in my kitchen. I was in the other room and heard some giggling and "talking" and then more giggling.....and a little more. When I saw the plate that the gingerbread house go flying past the door in the kitchen I knew what I happened and just listened. They were having the BEST time trying to down the gingerbread house that they worked so hard together to get down.

I couldn't stop their fun, now I could I? Will, I'm SURE thinks I'm the best babysitter in the WORLD! Any of you who know Nikki.....she won't mind, right? I don't think she really wanted him to take a nap later anyway. :)

Reminiscing Christmas

Since Christmas is WAY over, decorations have been away for a while (except my Christmas cards), it seems silly to post about Christmas but here's how it went down.

CHRISTMAS EVE

-made the grapefruit drink and breakfast casserole for Christmas morning-had to run to TWO (count them 1, 2) stores, one being Walmart......which as it turns out the WHOLE city of W.S. had been invited there too. (Note: I WAS prepared for Christmas and shouldn't have had to go but some people at work gave Brooks some gift cards for the kids for Christmas gifts and they DEMANDED it be spent on "frivelous" things, regardless of the fact that my kids might need Sunday shoes or shirts or whatever. So I obeyed and had the HARDEST time spending it on toys that were NOT USEFUL)

-We went to an AWESOME party with a ton of friends over at the Ward's house. The food was great, the house was busting out with people and I was in heaven there! We did that last year too, and it was just as fun this year!

-Then boys all slept together........

-after they fell asleep I sent Brooks to sleep and turned on our noisy bathroom fan so he wouldn't hear what I got him for Christmas. He said I shouldn't get him anything for Christmas (I think he forgot who he was dealing with), but he has wanted a rug for our living room FOREVER! So I got him an 11 X 11 rug. I found a carpet remnant place and had it bound on the sides, picked it up from the place (in the mini-van, jimmy rigging the seats, carseats, etc. while someone watched my kids), dragged it into the garage, and hid it for just this very moment. I pulled that heavy thing up the stairs, moved all the furniture, Christmas tree, and presents out of the living room. Then I laid down the run and moved everything all back in.....and DEFINITELY had to take a shower after, because it was quite the workout. Too much effort you say? Nope, the surprised look on his face the next morning was worth EVERYTHING.

CHRISTMAS DAY

-Bronson: "How did Santa KNOW that cotton candy was our FAVORITE treat?!?!?"

Santa EVEN knew that Emerson LOVES Scooby Doo and sometimes IS Scooby Doo! But don't tell him they were out of his size in the North Pole and had to send 2T. He just thinks he has shorts!

Iris LOVED Aleeya's necklaces and candy still in wrappers. So easy to please that little thing, who I'm completely in love with her at this stage now!!!!
(Notice the AWESOME rug!)

Thanks to our friends, the Gassers, (who wanted to get rid of their kitchen), Aleeya was entertained all morning and has been every since with her kitchen.

Check out her breakfast: cotton candy, sucker, Nerds, cookies left over from Santa, sweet tarts, licorice and water. But I always liked it when I was younger eating all my treats and fun things I got for Christmas that morning with no rules. And no, she didn't get sick later.

-My favorite tradition of mine for Christmas is curling up with a new book my MIL always sends me each year and reading all afternoon until I finish it in my bathrobe or curled up in a blanket. Well, I did just that BUT I did it in style......in the one thing I asked for for Christmas........a NEW BATHROBE!!! But it just isn't any bathrobe, it's the Yacht of ALL bathrobes. It's heavenly, and I wore it ALL day! Brooks definitely did well, on top of that, he threw in tickets to to go Hairspray in February together! I can't WAIT for that date.

-Later on we went over to ANOTHER friend's house for dinner, played games, chatted and the kids, once again, were in heaven with their friends.

I just love Christmas and I couldn't have asked for a better one!

Not sure why this is so amusing to me.........

This is Christmas Day and the snowman that was made the week before......... Granted, he is missing his abdomen and his head (which might have something to do with the proximity of that there bat.......), but seriously the snow everywhere else is GONE, and this guy still remains. Even now on January 4th, part of him is STILL with us......he's like the little neighbor kid that never leaves!