A Flower Party

My little lady turned 5 today! She wanted a Flower Party...

The flower party was complete with a home-made pinata... which was perfectly engineered by dad to appropriately release the candy from the secret trap door inside. It was crafted to sustain a certain number of blows - making the game fun, but not last for hours (as it did with big brother's 6th birthday party). She loved spending time with her friends!

~ This little guy started the day by dumping a bowl of powdered sugar on his head. He thought it was funny. I didn't! He made up for his naughtiness by sleeping through the entire birthday party.

It turns out he is a sweetheart after all...

Christmas ~ Unwrapped!

Play doh has not been allowed in our home for the past few years, until we discovered how much the little guy loves it! He will stay occupied for minutes ~ for those of you who know our little guy, being occupied for a few minutes without getting into trouble is good!

Our 2nd grader thinks he is smarter than a 5th grader (he probably is),

let's try it out and see if mom and dad are smarter than a 5th grader!

Two brown eyed, brown haired little ladies...

"Alexis" has been blessed with a roller blading adventure each day.

More Holiday Memories...

It's hard to believe the picture on the left is 30 years old.

(I am on the left in the left picture and on the right in the right picture)

Losing teeth...

Tooth #8 came out last night -

The toothfairy did not leave any money under the pillow...

At first we thought she must have forgotten ~

This note was found next to his toothbrush in the bathroom!

(along with a crisp bill, of course)

Holiday Memories...

2006

Trying to get all three kids to cooperate was a daunting task. This year our pictures were taken by a professional ~ not that it made a difference!

2004

A few days before the holidays we went to NYC with my parents and my sister. We let the kids fill up their own bucket of chocolate at the Hershey Store... It didn't take long before someone got into it! A cute chocolate mess!

2002

Here I am 9 months pregnant and ready to pop!

The little lady was due the day after Christmas,

we are glad she waited a few days longer...

Gingerbread Houses

We made our own "Gingerbread Houses" out of graham crackers and frosting.

The best part was eating them after we made them!

~ YUMMY ~

Cupcakes...

Zeeny and I made 200 cupcakes for a Christmas Party.

- 8 cake mixes -

- 2 dozen eggs -

- 6 lbs powdered sugar -

I thought our cupcakes looked pretty spectacular!

This picture shows only half of our cupcakes!

Our Artist...

He was one of eight kids from his

elementary school to have

his artwork chosen by his art teacher

to be displayed at the school district's

administration building!

Last week they held a gallery reception

where we were able to walk around

and look at all of the artists' work!

We are very proud of him...

The Grinch...

The other night all of our kids watched the movie,

"How the Grinch Stole Christmas!"

In the middle of the night our little girl comes into our room and says she had a bad dream. She hops in bed with us for a few minutes and then says to me,

"Mommy ~ the Grinch was trying to steal Me!"

A Very Happy Birthday!

What a great day for a birthday!

I spent the afternoon at a salon with a friend ~

tasted yummy chocolate croissants,

enjoyed Mexican food with my husband

and shared an Elmo cake with the little man!

(if you didn't know - we share our birthday)

It's hard to believe that he's two already!

Thanks to all for your phone calls, emails, gifts & cards~

I've got the best friends and family ever.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Growing up we would always go around the table and talk about the things we were thankful for. We've tried many times to do the same, but it seems we come up with the same few answers ~ family, friends, church, health... This year we sat down as a family and came up with our list of 100 things we are thankful for this year!

1. Our little family in NY
2. Grandparents
3. Aunts & Uncles - Sisters & Brothers
4. Cousins
5. Great friends who've become like family
6. Our Faith
7. The priesthood
8. A husband who honors the priesthood & blesses our family
9. Primary teachers
10. The Scriptures
11. Grandma Smith's Book of Mormon challenge!
12. Church leaders
13. School ... and pre-school ~
14. Mrs. Cooper & Mrs Hays
15. Spanish class
16. Ms Laura, Ms Crystal & Ms Debbie
17. The ABC's
18. Health Insurance
19. Reliable Vehicles ... with the hopes of a Mini-van!
20. Animals
21. Our bodies and skin
22. Our home
23. Good steady employment
24. Clothes - especially ones from Bryanna!
25. Times when my kids play nice together
26. The opportunity to be a Stay at Home mom!
27. Play Station 2
28. Traditions!
29. Temple ordinances
30. Electricity
31. Tamagotchi's
32. Friday Pizza Day
33. Warm comfy beds to sleep in
34. Our new generator
35. A great neighborhood
36. Day and night
37. My dust-free Treadmill - and those who inspire me to use it!
38. Different seasons to enjoy - especially spring and fall
39. My husband's patience & strange sense of humor
40. Water
41. The Computer
42. Dates without children ~ A rare occasion!
43. Earth
44. A relaxing pedicure
45. Cute baby brother... who'll be 2 in 5 days
46. Serving in Primary
47. Watching my kids learn in Primary
48. A husband who can fix anything!
49. Books that help my husband fix everything~
50. Holidays
51. Birthdays
52. Netflix
53. Air - even "country air"
54. A good book and a quiet corner
55. Airplanes that take us to our family!
56. A yummy bakery
57. Warm coats and gloves
58. Decorating our Christmas tree together
59. Long phone conversations with friends & family
60. Elmo
61. Care Bears
62. Walmart Birthday cakes!
63. Old Navy's Velour pants
64. The smell of cut grass & the riding mower to cut it!
65. Girls Night Out
66. Tulips and daffodils
67. A nice home cooked meal
68. The ocean
69. Camping...
70. Hotels!
71. Family Vacations!
72. The outdoors
73. Grocery Stores
74. Fruit Smoothies
75. Board Games
76. Magic Tree House books
77. Mom's crepe maker - weekly crepes for breakfast!
78. Train Table
79. Shrek
80. Internet & Email
81. Jokes
82. Gift cards!
83. Police officers and fire fighters
84. Doctors and nurses
85. Food Storage
86. Hot lunch at school!
87. Peanut butter pandemonium ice cream
88. Sports
89. The sandbox dad built
90. Our big yard
91. A nice Hot bath... without interruptions from kids!
92. Target
93. The ability to serve others
94. Duck & Goose Hunting Season
95. Mail and the excitement it brings to my kids!
96. Vanilla Egg Nog
97. Tooth fairy
98. Big beautiful brown eyes
99. Our freedom & the USA
100. A holiday to remind us to be thankful!

Mac and cheese, please...

Apparently our little man didn't like what he saw me

cooking for dinner the other day so he decided he'd make

something on his own. Dry macaroni noodles were everywhere!

I still find noodles tucked into corners of the kitchen...

they blend in with my floors, which makes clean up tricky!

No more Dust!

This is a picture of the corner of my treadmill, which has been doing nothing but accumulate dust lately... It's been weeks, probably even months since I used it! But I managed to convince myself to do it today ~ and I actually enjoyed it! I downloaded some of my favorite songs onto my Ipod, organized of course by tempo so I could walk a song, run a song, walk, run, walk, run... 10 songs in total, which was close to 40 minutes! My little monkey was even cooperative, although he probably thought I was a bit nuts - especially when I would belt out part of a song.

Festival of Trees...

Yesterday the kids and I spent a few hours at

church participating in a service project,

we were helping make pine cone ornaments

for a Christmas tree our Relief Society is

decorating to be auctioned off to charity!

~ the pine cones turned out so cute,

I think I'll make a few of my own!

One of our first dates back in 1996 was to

Festival of Trees!

It's hard to believe we are in our 2nd decade.

(don't we look young... )

Sizing up...

As I was cleaning up today, I noticed two pairs of shoes sitting side by side in our hallway. The shoes belong to me and my seven year old. For a minute I thought I could probably fit my foot inside his shoe! I guess it is proof that my guy is going to be taller than me real soon.

I'd really love to have a special shoe nook or a breezeway...

someplace other than the entryway hallway for us to line up our shoes.

A Field Trip

Our little pre-schooler had her first field trip today.

I didn't go with the pre-school on the field trip so I don't have pictures from today... These are pictures from our family trip to the museum with my mom & sister in June 2006. We love the children's museum and will likely go back sometime this winter.

Snow? Seriously...

This morning when I went outside to take

the kids to school, we noticed something

white falling from the sky.

That's right... it was snowing this morning!

It only lasted a few minutes ~

but, we count it as the first official snow fall!

Halloween

Boba Fet

He likes to play Star Wars with his dad and wanted to be something from Star Wars for Halloween. By the time we got around to buying a costume, this was the only thing left that actually fit him. In the beginning he wanted to be a "good guy" from Star Wars, but when he saw this costume he loved it! How soon before he out grows it?

A Princess

She really wanted to be something "pretty for a girl" this year, since last year she was a dragon for Halloween. She had a pretty white dress given to her from a cousin so we bought a pink boa, gloves and some jewels to complete the princess look!

The Dragon

This costume has now been worn by all three kids. It was a little big this year so don't be surprised to see it again next year. In the beginning he was a little hesitant, but when he learned he could get candy in his costume by saying "tick teet" he was a happy dragon!

We love trick or treating in our neighborhood. It takes just about an hour to get all the houses and the homeowners always do something special for the kids on the block. Some houses had "gift packages" they gave out just to the kids who actually live on the road. Other homes had two treat buckets, one filled with candy and one filled with animal crackers, fruit snacks, etc. or the little ones!

Dad was dressed complete with his mullet wig, high-tops, and beat up flannel shirt. The kids loved that Dad was dressed up too this year!

Pumpkins

We love carving pumpkins...

This year we were going to use glow in the dark to paint them

But, mom never picked up the paint ~

Which was good because the kids loved carving the pumpkins!

We did have one pumpkin we didn't carve ~

This one was covered in stickers, markers, glitter and paint!

Silly girl...

There is a road near my house with two small hills... Everytime we drive on the road, my two little ones roll down the windows, put their arms in the air and pretend it is a roller coaster. Today as we were driving home on the fun road, the windows were down... the arms were in the air... and my normally timid 4 yr old hollars,

"Mom... Put your arms in the air and SHAKE YOUR BODY!"

Cookies...

One of the many reasons why we love Halloween!

32

~ There are thirty two days until I am thirty two ~

How is that for being aware of the calendar...

Which means, there are only 32 days until my baby is TWO!

Pumpkin Patch

Monday was a great day for us to visit the pumpkin patch!

The weather was perfect and we had the hay mountain all to ourselves.

Lots and lots of pumpkins...

What a fun day!

~ except for the twisting of my ankle... OUCH!

and no cider donuts!

To Mr Britters...

So my cute little nephew (who just barely turned one) broke his leg the other day. When I heard he broke his little leg I just wanted to cuddle and snuggle the little guy... Infact, my grief for the little guy became so real I could feel his pain!

Actually I twisted my ankle at the stinkin' pumpkin patch!

It is swollen and black and blue... very attractive right?

I know, I know ~ I deserately need a pedicure!

Game Night

This is why the kids like watching soccer games.

Oh wait, they don't watch their big brother play ~

They run around wild on the playground!

~

Why are there no photos of the game?

(without a good camera it's hard to take an action photo in the dark)