Thank You

We had a super cool thing happen this year, so I wanted to share my tale. Andy & I had just put the kids to bed, the night before Christmas Eve, when our doorbell rang. I was expecting some friends to stop by to drop something off. So I happily went to answer the door. Upon opening the door I was surprised to see no one there. I got there pretty quick too, I was in the hallway, right by the door when the bell rang. I looked down and sitting on our mat was an envelope with our family name on it. Andy & I opened the envelope and were surprised to find a gift card and cash within. We smiled at each other. Thankful for whoever left this for us and for our blessings. About an hour later the doorbell rang again. I thought, ah, there they are. So I opened the door again and again found no one there. I looked down and this time there was a wrapped package on our mat. I yelled for Andy, completely in shock. There was a tag on the gift, that again had our family name. We brought the present inside. I asked Andy if we should wait or open it now. He told me to open it now. That was all I needed. I tore into the gift. As the first piece ripped off the box we were shocked to see the writing "Wii Sports" We looked at each other again mouths hanging open. Let me ask you this...Who gets doorbell ditched a gift card, cash and a Wii system? We went to bed that night, later then usual, feeling very thankful and very loved.

I have no clue if either of these people read my blog, but I had to do what I could to thank them so...Thank You.

Christmas Presents

I was telling Andy that I can't wait for next Christmas because I'll finally be able to have Christmas presents under the tree. It's been a few years since we've been able to do that. The other day we received a package from Andy's parents with Christmas presents in it. I put the presents out as a trial. Besides a ripped off bow, he did pretty good. So a couple of days later, after the kids had gone to bed, I wrapped a few to put under the tree. I thought if I didn't call attention to it he wouldn't notice. I was totally wrong. Willson came downstairs, looked at the bottom of the tree and his eyes lit up. He whispered with awe and excitement "presents"

His little hands immediately began working. He was trying so hard not to touch them. He just kept getting more and more excited. His eyes glowing and locked on the gifts, his smile huge, and his hands moving faster and faster. Finally the excitement was too much and he looked at me and said "I smell it!" I burst out laughing and before I could do anything else he was on the floor smelling the presents and giggling. A little sniffing didn't hurt them a bit!

Thanks Aunt Becks!

My sister, Becky, wanted to come out and buy some Christmas clothes for the kids. Because of work, she wasn't able to make it, so she sent some money, the weekend my parents were here, and my mom and I had a blast picking out stuff!

I cannot tell you how many pictures I had to take to get a halfway decent one. The funny thing is, it was Mason who messed up most of them.

I made some hair bows to go with their outfits.

We tried to get individual shots, and this is what we got from Willson. I still think it's adorable.

Yummy Dinner

Last night we had an interesting dinner. Andy made some burgers and we had some fingerling potatoes, left over from the Relief Society Christmas dinner (it pays being on the committee). Willson upon investigating Savannah's dinner asked "Vanannah you have barbecute sauce?". This made me giggle. Then we, of course, had to talk Savannah into eating her potatoes. After she tried them she exclaimed "Fingertip potatoes are so yummy!"

Hum, barbecute sauce and fingertip potatoes...Yum!

A little bit wrong, but oh sooo right!

The other day, some friends were telling me about this new donut shop in town. It sounded pretty hoity toity, but intriguing at the same time. I told Andy about it and he was intrigued too. Imagine my surprise when Andy showed up with donuts this afternoon. He presented me with my absolute favorite, pink frosting, which I haven't had since we left CA. Then he leaned over to show me what he was sampling. It looked like a maple bar, but there was something on it. I thought maybe some kind of nuts, so I asked him what it was. It was bacon. Yep, bacon on a maple bar. I gasped and ewwed. Then he reasoned with me. When I have bacon with breakfast, what do I do? Um, smother it in syrup. When we buy sausage, what kind do we buy? Um, maple and brown sugar. I still was not swayed. Finally out of sheer curiosity I relented to just trying a bite. Holy Crap. It was so good and so right. Seriously.

Try it. You'll love it!

Christmas Decorations

My mom requested pictures of our Christmas Decorations...

What??

Last night we were watching the movie "Evan Almighty" with the kids. Love that movie. At the end of the movie it shows a white dove so Andy asked the kids why that was there. Savannah immediately replied with the correct answer and Delaney agreed saying...

"Yeah, God is a Pigeon."

My goodness. I needed that laugh.

I got Tagged

Look what happens when you play on the computer...

Five North American Cities I Would Seriously Consider Living:
1. Seattle WA
2. Folsom CA
3. Nauvoo IL
4. Cameron Park CA
5. Carmichael CA

Five Songs To Which I Know All The Words:
1. Paul Revere - Beastie Boys
2. With or Without You- U2
3. The Last of the Famous International Playboys - Morrisey
4. Better That We Break - Maroon 5
5. Somebody - Depeche Mode

Five Foods I'd Wish To Have In Unlimited Quantities On A Deserted Island:
1. Pizza
2. Pizza
3. Pizza
4. Pizza
5. Salt & Vinegar Chips

Five Chores I Should Be Doing Right Now Instead of Blogging:
1. Dishes
2. Laundry
3. Changing a diaper
4. Cleaning my room
5. Playing with my kids

Five Childhood Friends I Would Love To See Again:
1. Elisabeth Emerson
2. Anne LeBras
3. Laurie Simpson
4. ?
5. ?

Five Friends To Tag:
1. Sarah
2. Melissa
3. Jenn
4. Kristin
5. Debbie

Christmas Projects

As most of you know, we are having a homemade Christmas this year. I have completed several of the projects. I didn't want to post them on this blog, since my Savannah reads it. So, I started a new blog, just for my homemade Christmas. If you would like to view my completed projects, there is a link right above our family picture. Enjoy! I know I am!

Baby Shower

Last weekend I went to a Baby Shower for a good friend of mine.

Those of you who know me,

know I can't wrap a pretty present to save my life.

Seriously, I'm that bad.

So, shocker of all shockers

I managed to pull out a pretty package

I was so proud of myself that I had to post it

so I can go back and say

"Remember that one time I wrapped that pretty present?

That was awesome"

Then no one can dispute the validity of my claim.This is what was inside of the package....

My absolute favorite part!

Newborn sized tutu.

It was seriously too cute for words.

forgot to post this...

Someone loves Elmo & Dancing

What a perfect gift

Thanks Grandma & Grandpa

(that's not sarcastic, btw)

Name Choc-o-late

We've recently been teaching Willson that when someone says

"What's your name?" he answers "Willson"

He's been doing really well with it.

Usually you get a yelling and jumping "Willson!"

(Yeah he never stops moving)

The other day he was cranky

or just sick of me asking him what his name was.

At first he just ignored me

then I was more persistent.

Finally he looked at me

I said "What's your name?"

Willson replied "Choc-o-late"

I said "What?!" (laughing)

Smiling at me "Name choc-o-late"

Guess Who's 2

Today is my sweet baby's birthday! I don't know where the time has gone.

My little man loves to move!

He doesn't stop, ever!

He loves his Mommy and Daddy,

Fanannah (Savannah), Mason & Delaney,

Elmo,

Choc-o-late,

and anything that requires him to move.

He won't pose for pictures for more than 2 seconds.

I have to beg for hugs and kisses,

but when he's in the mood to give them, watch out!

He loves all men.

When the Elders come over we can't keep him off them.

He loves to say his prayers.

He's getting so good at them.

He has the loudest "Amen" you'll ever hear.

After Delaney we thought we were done having kids

Then Heavenly Father whispered,

"one more boy"

Then He sent us Willson.

Love you Willson.

I made him Elmo cupcakes for his birthday

Night Owl

Savannah loves to stay up late. That's how she rolls. So last night when I discovered her light on WAY past bed time I went to investigate. A few weeks ago she was having nightmares, so she slept with it on. I walked into her room and found her obviously faking sleep. She pretended to sleepily sit up. I decided to play along. I asked why her light was still on. She kind of shrugged. I asked her if she was having bad dreams. She said no. I asked her what she was doing. She sat there for a minute and then tentatively pointed at her nightstand. I scanned the night stand looking for books, stories she was writing and found none. The only thing there was her scriptures on top of a pile of friend magazines. I asked her again what she'd been doing. She again pointed at her nightstand, more confidently this time. So I asked her if she was reading her scriptures. She nodded and added that she was reading some stuff she got from Primary too. Before I could stop myself I blurted out "Really?" She quietly nodded again. How could I get mad at that? I calmly and quietly reminded her that we have bedtimes for a reason and that she needed to go to sleep. She quietly agreed and prepared to go to sleep. I turned off her light and walked out of her room feeling thankful for my sweet daughter.

I Like Pie

Savannah and I like to play this game that originated from her friend Allie. Allie is a really funny kid. She came up with saying "I like pie" randomly. We've turned into a game where we take turns saying things we like, always starting with "I like..." The "i like's" involve everything from food, people, books, tv shows, movies, etc. We were playing it on the way to school this morning. The kids were naming all different flavors of pies that they liked. It was cute. Then all of the sudden Willson was yelling something. I listened real hard as he yelled "I like pie!"

My Baby

We've had sickness in our home.

At first we feared the dreaded swine flu.

Thankfully we were wrong.

The 2 youngest members have been afflicted.

This has ended up in lots of crankiness,

especially from the youngest.

He has been following me around the house with

"hold you" and lots of screaming.

Also lots of "I need Chocolate"

In an effort to make him happy,

I showed him my blog.

He likes to look at the pictures.

He was pointing out who people were.

When it came to his pictures I said

"Who's that?"

To which he replied

"Willson going Church"

I love how he associates all his button up shirts with Church.

The other day I put one on him.

He said "I go Nursery. Playdough. Roll it, make it ball"

Then he proceeded to show me how to roll it.

So, in the midst of all the crying and snot

and constant demands for my attention

I am reminded how smart and fun my little man is.

I'm holding him while typing this

and he's turning my head to face him and saying

"I need choc-o-late"

How can I refuse!

Andicapped

Well, he did it.

My sweet husband started his own blog.

(With a little help from me)

Here it is...

www.andicapped.blogspot.com

Halloween

Here's a picture from Halloween. We had dinner at our friends house and then took the kids trick-or-treating.

A good time was had by all.

I have more pictures, on my phone, that I will post as soon as I figure out how to get them from the phone to the computer.

You might live in Washington...

if it's raining

if it's 53 degrees out

if you decide to go to the Library

if you choose to wear

jeans

t-shirt

flip flops

if you have wet hair

if you aren't even a little cold

Then you just might live in Washington

I <3 Kids

I should have posted this long ago, but life got in the way...

We had some friends over to play. The kids were in the backyard digging, of course. I was in the Kitchen baking. I heard them singing, through the open window, and smiled to myself.

Then I realized what they were singing and my heart smiled.

Listen closely...

*How Firm a Foundation (they've been learning it in Primary)

HaiR bOws, hAir BowS, haiR boWs

I'm finally getting around to posting my "handmade" gifts

for 2 of the 3 who accepted my offer.

My friend taught me how to make hair bows

and I had SO much fun with it.

Sarah just had a baby girl and

Debbie is going to have one any day now,

so I went to work.

I didn't get a picture of the bows I sent Debbie,

but a lot of them were the same as Sarah's.

Watch out for all the pictures...

Goodbye, Get Out

When I was a teenager my mom was dropping off one of our friends. As a joke she said "goodbye, get out". I've always thought this was hilarious. So, when I drive my kids to school, we do all the kissy faces, I love yous and then I say "goodbye, get out" and Savannah says "goodbye, stay in." Today when we got home we pulled into the garage and I said "goodbye, get out" Savannah paused, confused then smiled, then Willson said "goodbye, get out."

we were bored...

Savannah

Mason
Delaney
Willson
He saw Laney doing it.
He couldn't hold still long enough.

I finally get to post this...

I received confirmation from my sister that her girls received these, so I get to post it now. Fun Halloween bows, handmade by me. Love it!

Loser

The other night we were laughing and joking at the dinner table. Delaney pulled this out...That just made me laugh harder.

Embarrassing

Last night Andy I were visiting and laughing and for some reason he quoted something from one of the many dumb books that I've read, that he makes fun of me for reading. So I laughed at him and asked him if he'd read it. He admitted that he's read a little bit of it, just to check up on me. He further admitted that he does this occasionally with the books I read. I laughed so hard. I think he might secretly enjoy dumb teen romances. At this point though I don't know what is more embarrassing. Me for admitting that I've read it, or Andy for checking up on me. What man do you know can say he's read, part of it anyway, the following book...

Christmas

So, I was recently called to the Activities Committee for our ward, along with my Enrichment Committee calling. I went to my first meeting last week. We were talking about assignments for our upcoming Halloween party. When asked what my talents were I told them that I'm really good at showing up. I can also follow directions really well. I'm not terribly good at coming up with party decorations, but I am really good at seeing someones vision through. That being said, I've been blog stalking a few places that have really good ideas for gifts. Christmas this year is going to be slim, so I decided I want to make our Christmas gifts. I'm super excited about it! I love to make things for those I love. I've seen lots of great ideas. Yeah, I'm going on blogs of people I've never met and using their great ideas. I'm struggling with what to make for Mason though. Girls are so much easier to make things for, so if anyone has any handmade boy ideas I would really appreciate it.

Tastes like Chicken

I was on the computer, I think I was actually blogging at the time. We had just pulled out our Halloween decorations and with them two really cool rubber spiders. Willson fell in love with them and was carrying them around, biting and pulling on them. Since we were in the Family Room together I wasn't worried about a thing...

That is until I heard him screaming "Eww" and saw him running back and forth behind me. I whirled around, thinking we had a diaper issue. Instead I found Willson had bit the head off the spider and I now had pellets all over my floor. We were expecting guests within minutes, so I hurriedly ran for the vacuum. Willson continued to scream "Eww" and run through the decapitated spider mess. I quickly vacuumed and as I was getting ready to put the vacuum away, Delaney said that she thought she heard someone knocking. I ran to the door and our friends were there. I apologized, said I hoped they hadn't been waiting long and explained that I had the vacuum on because Willson bit the head off a spider.

When I saw her look of horror and disgust I realized what I'd said. I reassured her that my son was not psycho and that I merely misspoke. Moral of the story, when you're frazzled, watch what you say.

Look what I made

So, I'm really excited about this new project.

I made tutus for the girls Halloween costumes.

"Pinkalicious" for Delaney Witch for Savannah

Love them!
Now we're going to do them for our "Super Saturday"

Conversation

This morning Willson and I had a conversation.

It went like this...

Willson walks into the room no longer wearing pants.

Me: Willson, did you take your pants off?

Willson: Naooo

Me: Okay, where are your pants?

Willson: I no know. Pants. Take off.

Me: Oh, you took your pants off?

Willson: Naooo

Sadly Lacking

Last Saturday, while I was enjoying the Relief Society broadcast, Andy was at home with the kids and the Elders and was enjoying his own sort of broadcast.

Lately Willson has been taking the kids underwear (clean from their drawer) and putting them on over his diaper. Usually he ends up with both legs in one whole and the whole thing around his waist. He's so proud of himself that it's hard to find fault with it.

So, Saturday night he decides to take it one step further, with the poor Elders there.

All the kids are upstairs playing. Having completed the dinner portion of the visit, Andy and the Elders are enjoying a nice conversation in the Living Room.

Willson joins them wearing only Care Bear underwear around his waist.

The Elders throw their hands over their eyes and commence shocked laughing.

Andy grabs our, sadly lacking inhibitions, child.

Andy fixes the underwear and lets the Elders know that he's now covered.

Sets Willson down and the first thing he does is grab the underwear and yanks it aside, with a primal yell.

He is immediately scooped up and returned to proper diaper attire.

Yep, that's my son.

Hair Bow

My Blog has been sadly lacking as of late.

For some reason I'm lacking inspiration.

Maybe some sort of writers block.

So, in lieu of a good story, I am providing this picture.

I just learned how to make hair bows.

So cute, so fun and my new favorite project.

Pinkalicious

My mom found this really cute book called Pinkalicious.

It's about a little girl who loves pink and

helps her mom make pink cupcakes.

There is so much pink in the cupcakes and

the girl eats so many of them

that she wakes up to find herself completely pink.

So for Delaney's birthday, my parents sent her the book,

pajamas and all the items to make the cupcakes,

including a jar of maraschino cherries, all the way from CA.

Today Delaney and I made the cupcakes

while the big kids were at school.Delaney took a bite out of her cupcake and said...

"It is Pinkalicious!"

Post-nap

Last Saturday this is how Willson got up from his nap.

He thinks removing his diaper is fun.

He has figured a way around the duct tape,

that graces all of his diapers.

He actually brought a diaper to me,

still in tact, just no longer occupied by his cute butt.Then he walks around saying (and dancing)

"I naked, I naked..."

Yes, my boy loves his nakedness.

I caught a tiny bit of the naked dance.

He just wanted to smile and say cheese

when I pulled out the camera.

Delaney

My baby girl is 5 years old today. Where does the time go? I still remember the days spent with her in my arms, screaming for hours on end and then pausing and looking at me and seeing Heaven in her eyes. She is an amazing girl, with an even more amazing heart. If you want to see Heaven, look in her eyes. I love you Lane. Happy Birthday.

The Youngest's Newest Trick

Broken Toilet latch...

(guess who broke it?)Awesome.

Finally

The kids started school today.

Hallelujah