Snow

Can anyone guess when this winter wonderland day of snow was??? My three little snow bunnies!
Max couldn't decide if he wanted the snow, or his binki in his mouth. This time he got a handful of both without knowing and the binki got put in backward. Funny kid.He looked like a baby polar bear in his white snowsuit, crawling through the snow.
Peter just wanted to stand aroung and eat handfuls of snow.
Shophie made countless snow angels, and was surprised that when she got up that there was grass under the snow. She could have stayed out all morning, but came in when the rest of us did because she didn't want to play outside by herself.

Did you guess? It was this morning. We woke up to a couple of inches of real winter snow. I thought that if we were going to play in it it had to be right away, because I'm thinking and hoping that it will all be melted by this afternoon. So, right after breakfast, still in jammies, we geared up and went out. We were waiting on Pete. It turns out that at the last minute he decided to change into clothes. No socks. And we could only find one of his winter boots. So he ended up outside in fun winter gear, but with bare feet and running shoes!! So it was no wonder that he didn't want to sit or lay or really play in the snow this morning. But he said he still had fun. I realized that through the winter when the kids would play in the snow that I had always kept Max inside. Poor boy hasn't played in snow - ever! He had his first (and last till next year) taste of the fun white stuff. It's almost April. There is something wrong about waking up on a spring morning to snow!!!

Making Cookies

So, tonight we decided to make cookies. The kids all picked out their own cookie cutters and sat around the counter as we rolled out the sugar cookie dough. You may be thinking, oh what a fun activity... Think again! The half hour of cookie making was less than picture perfect. There was flour throwing, flour in eyes, crying, taking cookie cutters, not getting enough turns to cut the cookies out, waiting for them to bake, eating too much cookie dough, only being able to eat ONE cookie tonight, and the list goes on and on. But it was actually Rich that said 'oh, we need a picture of this' Is he turning a new leaf? And then our camera was wigging out and I feel bad now that I was giving him a hard time about not knowing how to work the camera. Did I mention that we need a new one? We've already been saving up for 3 months, but still don't have enough money. Anyway - back on track. So Rich took this great picture of our cookie madness last night, so I had to blog about it. When in reality I was waiting for it to end and move on to happier things to think about like how easy the kids went to bed last night. Not one fuss or peep. After a story, scriptures and prayer we piggy backed them up the stairs and tucked them in, and that was it. Love those nights!!!!!

Getting to Know You

1. What is your occupation? I am a stay-at-home mom. Which means I am wife, mother, chef, taxi service, laundress, maid, mail man, and so much more...
2. What color are your socks right now? My feet are bare! My favorite way to be (except in the winter - can't stand my toes to be icy cold!)
3. What are you listening to right now? My family is watching the movie Hairspray. Other than that it is surprisingly quiet.
4. What was the last thing you ate? a piece of cinnamon sugar toast before I took my nap.
5. Can you drive a stick shift? Yes, that is what my mom had when I learned to drive. And I drove that car till I went to college, and then 2 years after being car-less at college I bought my very first car. A 1990 Honda, Accord. It was a stick shift.
6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Pink.
7. Last person you spoke to on the phone? My friend Tawna as we were arranging last minute things for us to get together last night. We ate dinner and watched a movie at their house. And to our surprise all the kids actually fell asleep - together!
But really - I rarely talk on the phone. I love to gab away, but don't like to be the one to make the call. So give me a call!
8. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Love her!
9. How old are you today? 28, and not believing it. I feel like I am 22. 28 still seems old to me.
10. Favorite drink ? Water. That's really all I drink. Though I do enjoy a root beer every once and a while with pizza or at the movies with my popcorn.
11. What is your favorite sport to watch? My idea of sports is refereeing a wrestling match between my kids. We don't watch much sports in our family.
12. Do you color your hair? Yes. My natural color. It may surprise you to know that I have quite a bit of grey hair that I'm not ready to fully embrace.
13. Pets? NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Rich's brothers who live with us have a chiwawa named Casey. The kids love him. But the whole thing has taught me that I really don't want a pet, ever... Sorry to all you dog lovers. I will just have to love them while visiting at your house.
14. Favorite food? Just one?... I do have my limitations. But I love most food, especially breads. I used to be a really picky eater, but it turns out I was just not giving the unknown food a chance. Rich has changed that in me. Gotta love that guy!
15. What was the last movie you watched? I am Legend. Last night we watched it while the kids were upstairs watching a kids movie. This movie was well - a little scary and tense. Can't say I'll ever watch it again. It was not what I expected. But it did get some good screams and hand squeezers out of me.
16. What was the last book you read? Rich and I are reading the work and the Glory 5. The series is incredible.
17. What do you do to vent anger? Take a nap, going shopping. The biggest way would probably be that I throw myself into major cleaning.
19. What is your favorite season? It's here, SPRING! Love the flowers popping out. The fresh sent of grass, and no more sweaters and shoes!
20. Do you want your friends to email you back? N/A
21. Who is most likely to respond? N/A
22. Who is least likely to respond? N/A
23. Living arrangements? We still live in Rich's parents house.
24. When was the last time you cried? I choose not to answer this one. I am pregnant so I have been crying a lot lately. When the baby on the cheerio's commercial says da-da, when I'm happy, when my kids cry. And other times too.
25. What is on the floor of your closet? shoes, a dirty shirt that somehow didn't make it to the hamper. A 'secret' box of presents for the kids that we use when I buy early birthday presents and stuff. A suitcase from Rich's last business trip.
26 Who is the *friend* you have known the longest you are sending this to? N/A
27. What did you do last night? Went to a friends for dinner and a movie.
28. Favorite smells? A delicious meal (or cookies!) in the oven. Fresh cut grass. Flowers. A clean room. Smelly candles.
29. What or who inspires you? My Husband and family.
30. What are you afraid of? Someone showing up at my house unexpectedly and my house is NOT clean.
31. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? Cheese burgers & fries!
32 Favorite bread? Fresh from the oven!
33. What is on your key ring? Car key and remote, house key that doesn't work, office key and office mail key, old gym passes that expired 1 1/2 yrs ago (why are they still on there anyway?)
34. How many years at your current job? Just over 5 years - and still counting. This job is a life sentence, in a good way!
35 Favorite day of the week? Friday. It's daddy day for one of the kids. And Rich only works 1/2 day.
36. How many states have you lived in? Texas (where I was born), Idaho, Arizona, Iowa, Pennsylvania.
37 Favorite holidays? Birthdays!!!!! And Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
38. Ever driven a Motorcycle or heavy machinery? No, and no desire to ever.


I got this in an email a long while ago, and wanted to put this on my blog instead of just in an email. I finished answering all of the questions and was about to post it when my favorite baby came over and turned the computer off! I was NOT saved when I came back so I gave up. I thought I'd try again today. I decided to stop the train with me and not forward it onto anyone. But if you feel like it, go for it. It's kind of fun to play 'getting to know you.'

Smart Peter

For some reason Sophie was really frustrated this morning when she thought Peter was making another one of his 'bulations'. He said that this time it wasn't a bulation. The guy taped to the wall was Jesus, just like when he died on the cross. I was intrigued with what he knew about the story so I let him act it out with his guys. And sure enough he knew what he was doing. The three guys up there are taped, just like they were on the cross, and below Peter set up more guys, like Jesus' friends. I was proud of Peter for remembering the story as well as he did. Sometimes I think he doesn't listen in church or FHE because he doesn't look like he is, but some how the knowledge sinks in. Kids are smarter than we give them credit, sometimes.

(PS-he also randomly recited the days of the week the other day - I had no idea he knew all of them in order, but he does.)

Good job Peter!

Kindergarten Open House

Sophie had been anticipating this since we got the papers in the mail a couple weeks ago. She has been dying to go to school, and today we got to tour all 3 kindergarten classes, meet the teachers and register her for school in the fall!! My baby is growing up so fast! Her favorite part was that one of the teachers was handing out pencils that change color in your hand (do you all remember those cool hyper color t-shirts! They reminded me of that.) Hers went from purple to pink. And she was so excited because she got to go with mommy and daddy all to herself! That never happens. So now we just have to wait the summer out and we will be walking Sophie across the street for kindergarten everyday!!!

Little Miss Bossy Pants

Do you all remember these books? I loved them.

This is Little Miss Bossy...

Or maybe her name is Sophie...

Yesterday I was cleaning up in the kitchen and Sophie was with me. She decided she wanted to go watch a show on TV and went over and sat on the couch. Peter was already in the family room playing with some toys.
As soon as Sophie sat down she said to Peter "Will you go get me a drink of water and a blanket?"
He said "no".
She said "But I'm sitting down and you're not, PLEASE will you get me a drink of water and a blanket??????"
He again said "no, I don't want to".
Then it escalated a little with a firm couch slap "PETER, go get me either a drink of water or a blanket...right now..."
SO I stepped in. "Sophie you can get up and do it yourself. Why should he have to do that for you? You were just in the kitchen and could have gotten your drink." S
ophie replied with leg kicks on the couch this time "BUT HE WON'T EVEN GET ME ONE THING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Then the tears sprang loose. She ended up marching upstairs in her rage. No blanket, No drink of water, No TV show. She went to her room to cry and calm down and eventually she found something else to do.

This, unfourtunatly, was not the first bossy incident. Any helpful suggestions for what to do to cure her of this before it spirals down and out of control??

Preschool Field Trip

I was really excited when I arranged this field trip to Krispy Kreme for Sophie's preschool. We had all the kids come early, with car seats. I had another mom, my friend Biffy (Holly's mom) help me with driving. So we took all 7 kids (plus our three little ones) and we watched them make doughnuts. Nothing different than you see every time you go get free doughnuts (maybe that's just us). But they loved it. Plus they each got a hat, balloon and yummy hot doughnut. Max loved it too, even though he had no idea what was going on. He hated the hat and wouldn't leave it on, even for a little picture. But he sure loved the doughnuts! Rich fed him one at home, bite by bite, and he couldn't shovel it in fast enough!

In the picture from left to right:

(Cameron, Madison, Peter, Sophie, Holly, Emily (Holly's little sister), Kaimen (face covered by eating his doughnut), Cade and Brooke.

The funny thing was that by the time we were done and back at my house we still had an hour of preschool and I had nothing planned. We watched an alphabet movie and then I just let them play in the basement. I was not the best teacher today. But for some reason taking all of those kids on the field trip wore me completely out!! It was a lot of fun for the kids though. Who doesn't love doughnuts! I HAD to buy a dozen assorted to take home, but the problem was that when I picked up Rich for lunch when all the kids went home and we opened the box - there were only 11 doughnuts NOT 12!!!!!!!! Who could have possible eaten that other doughnut? Rich thinks I did, but I'll never tell...

Pictures are Back!! And Max in the fridge...

You don't realize how much more fun it is to blog WITH pictures until you do it WITOUT pictures. Make sure you scroll down to see all the pictures I added!!!Max has taken advantage of the times when I leave the fridge door open too long, hops in and finds what he wants. Usually yogurt!! What a funny and cute kid.

Cub Scouts.

Rich has recently been called to be the new cub scout master at church. He has been having fun getting to know the leaders and all the fun boys. He had to think of a fun activity last for the boys to do. The theme was recycling. So Aaron (his brother) helped us with this fun idea. Make paper swords and hats out of newspaper. The object of the game was to use your paper sword to knock each others hats off. The boys loved it! He is great at this calling!

The Shuffle Walk

This morning Peter went to his playgroup. It was at the neighbors house, 3 doors down in the culdisac. He decided he wanted to walk over by himself. He's such a big boy... Well I was watching him out the window to make sure he didn't get side tracked by a dog or rock or something else. I was standing at the window totally laughing the whole way! You see, Pete got flip flops for Easter. Last year he had a pair with straps on the back to hold them on his feet. This year - no strap. Just regular flip flops. Which makes walking hard for Peter. He was shuffling the whole way over. Bent knees and feet not leaving the ground with arms bent like he were at full running speed. He was slowly motoring along until he finally gave up when he reached their drive way, took the flip flops off and ran to the door. How will we make it through the summer? Barefoot probably! Peter cracks me up everyday!!!!

Run away Max

I was teaching preschool for Sophie's class today and I thought it would be fun to be outside and play some fun games like Red Rover, and go go go - stop. It was near the end of our class time so we played out front in case some moms came early. Well, Mr. Walking Max thought this would be a good oportunity to practice his long distance walking skills. I would get the kids all lined up to play, turn around and he would be half way across the culdisac! Not walking on the sidewalk, but right down the middle of the road. I tried to just turn him around and have him walk back home, but as soon as I would turn him he would walk in a circle and go back in the direction he was headed with his finger out in front of him pointing the direction he wanted to go. So I would bring him back to find him doing this over and over... Each time I would go chase after him the kids would follow and that meant a lot of NOT playing the fun games. That Max has a stuborn mind of his own. Looks like we need to go on a real walk later today...

New outfit!

Sophie's grandma made her this cute Strawberry Shortcake outfit yesterday. She has gotten so tall since last summer. We tried some of her old shorts and things on her and they all fit around the waist, but look like daisy dukes or something. She is all leg when she wears them, so we gave them away. But that has made for a lack of things to wear in this beautiful warm weather we have been having lately.

THANK YOU GRANDMA, SOPHIE LOOKS SO CUTE IN HER NEW OUTFIT!!

Happy Birthday Baby Alive!

Last night before bed Sophie informed us that tomorrow (today) was Baby Alive's birthday. She got this doll for her birthday and it is her favorite one. She can feed her a bottle of water, she wets her diaper, and Sophie changes it. So along with the birthday announcement came the forceful request that we go and buy birthday presents for her (baby alive, or Sophie....) and she also mentioned that we had to dress up cute, just medium cute she said. Not super fancy. Sophie was still a little under the weather when we got up and I asked if we could postpone the party and she answered with a tear filled NO! How could I refuse? So she was feeling better later in the day and we headed to the dollar store for presents. We sang her happy birthday, took pictures and ate fun dip in place of cake. What a great day!

Also, Peter spent his afternoon using his wild imagination making his bulation on the wall. It is a combination of masking tape, little guys and a small plastic parachute. He was so proud and protective of it, especially every time Max would become interested in what Pete was doing. Gotta love this kid!

PS-I'll be adding pictures once I get a USB port splitter for our computer. Right now there is only one USB port and we use it for the mouse. So no printer, picture downloads, or anything requiring and extra USB port. For now. Hopefully I'll have it up and running before the weekend.

Easter Pictures

Rich got a great surprise when the Easter Bunny brought him more than he expected! Enchanted DVD and a new eye mask!
Sophie, Peter, Max and Sam & Natalee (cousins) had a great time finding their baskets the Easter Bunny hid around the house for them.
And these two pictures are what Peter did all day with his easter candy! Stuffed his mouth!!!
Happy Easter!
It was Max's 2nd Easter and he loved it! I don't know if he or Peter are the bigger candy lover!!

Sophie was the proud finder of a golden egg in our family Easter Egg Hunt!! ($1 was inside!)
The neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt is SOOOOOOO much fun!

We had a great day today! Long and fun!!

I'm Back........

The other day we had family in town. One of them was our computer wiz brother, Rob... And he is amazing! He fixed the computer, after much hard work! I am forever grateful. Especially since my computer was dead - and it had pictures and my 2007 blog/scrapbook on the computer, almost finished!!! My deepest fear was that they were gone forever. All that hard work for nothing, and priceless pictures that could never be replaced! But he did it! He got them off and now I am a happy woman.
I'll write more soon, and get you some pictures. But it's Easter Saturday and I can't right now. Just had to share the good news!
HAPPY BLOGGING!!

Feeding Himself Yogurt

Well, I try to keep Max as clean as possible while he eats. I push his sleeves up if he has long sleeves, put his bib on, and give him the least messy food possible. I ALWAYS feed him the obviously messy things like yogurt, applesauce and mac & cheese. But today he grabbed for the yogurt spoon and I was in a really good mood and gave in. He did a little better than I expected, but not much...... He would get the spoon in his mouth but it usually was either already dumped, or was the wrong end of the spoon or upside down. Of course by this point the bib had been ripped off and there was no point of putting it back on. He was having the time of his life!! And he was so cute to watch! But I'm not ready to let him take the wheel on all self feedings...

Kid Fun

Max loves to push chairs, boxes and anything that will be pushed around the table. well, today the kids thought it would be fun to push HIM around the table on this tub of Mr. Potato Heads. He loved it and would babble up a storm as they pushed!!! Hours of fun!

Picnic at Castle Park

Today was a great day! We surprised Rich at the office by picking him up for lunch for a picnic at the park (one of my favorite summer activities!) The kids wanted to go to Castle Park. You can kind of see in the background that the park looks a little like a castle. I bought bubble wands for each of us and we quickly became the entertainment for all the kids there! Max loved to crawl away from us every chance he got, Sophie showed off her new pumping skills on the swings, and Peter had fun just running around. It was a great time!! We ended up not eating much lunch, playing was more fun...

Max can Walk!

Today is the day, and I am so excited!!! At lunch I was holding Max's finger while talking to Rich. Max was watching Peter play with his Cars and he let go of my finger and took 4 steps over to him, just like that!! No big deal, right?... And we had him do it again and again and he took more and more steps! I was amazed! It was like he has been practicing behind my back! He obviously still crawls too, but he has been walking all afternoon! The day has arrived and not a day too soon! In fact, if you know my house, Max just right now walked from the couch in the family room to all but 2 steps from me typing at the computer near the kitchen! I tried to count the steps, but it is too many to count! He is such a big boy, and this was a big milestone!! The best part about the whole thing is that Rich was home to watch the whole thing. He wasn't there when Sophie and Peter took their first steps. So we were extra excited today at lunch when Max took his first steps!!!!!!!

SURPRISE!!!!

Well, guess what! We're having a baby! And it's a boy! That's right, we've been keeping it a secret for quite some time now. I am 16 weeks along, and due in early August. I've been doing a lot of tummy sucking in and trying to keep it a secret from everyone, even family. But now the cat is out of the bag now, for everyone to know! If you're trying to do the math, I'll help. Maxwell will be 18 months old when new baby boy comes. We're all excitied, and happy. The pregnancy has been going really well for me too. We had hopes for a little girl this time, but I guess there are other plans for our little, and growing family. Maybe she will still come, one day. But we're happy to have this little boy come. I think it means our clan of boys will gang up on us with all the sneaky trouble they will be getting into... Boys will be boys! Sophie's reaction was "I really wanted a girl, but I'm still happy that we're having a boy!" Peter's first reaction was "can I have a cookie now?" (we brought home cookies with blue frosting and balloons to tell them). They have both been hugging my tummy saying it feels like a pillow... We'll try to keep you posted with all the fun goings on as we prepare for our life to change for the better, once again. (our computer is still down, but I can check up on things occasionally)