May

MAY

So of course we can't go long without a head injury from Dallin. Honestly I don't even remember how this one happened but he gashed his head again, but he's still kickin!

May also brought my little sister Sarah, her hubby Pedro and her cutest little Chloe home to us from Brazil after a much to long two years away! Yeah!

Chloe and Mayci got to spend some time getting to know eachother! Maybe when they are a little older they'll enjoy eachother a little more! For now they don't quite know how to share or keep their hands to themselves, so there is a combination of smiles and screams between them for now!

Ragan graduated another year of preschool and is off to Kindergarten now! WOW how time flies. We just love teacher Natalie!

I helped my friend Ashley make a cute Hello Kitty cake for her daughter's birthday. I think it turned out pretty good.

April

APRIL

James found a new love. SOCCER. He played on his first official soccer team, Washington Terrace community soccer. They didn't win much but he found something he loves and wants to pursue. For Christmas he asked to get money to be able to play comp soccer, so hopefully Santa can come up with enough! ;)

And then of course in April is Easter. Here is the family all dressed up for Easter Sunday. (Dallin is hiding, and grumpy as is usual for holiday photos???)

Not sure why the long faces, but I still think they're cute!

At least Dallin shares my excitement for coloring eggs!

We tried something new this year and went to the easter egg hunt at Rohmer park. If you ask me it was overrated. We had to get up early and rush over to the park only for about three minutes of "fun." But hey the kids seemed to like it so we'll see if we venture out again next year.

April's hair events:

Mayci got her first haircut...yes she's in the tub....no I won't do that again, it was not fun to try to rinse down the drain.

Ragan decided to be her own hairstylist. Most of you have seen the result of this but this picture helps us remember just how beautiful it was! Right to the scalp! Oh my!

This last hair picture I stuck in here to point out how much Mayci's hair has grown in the last six months! She practically looks bald here compared to now. Refer to October to see just what I mean!

And I have to include some random pictures from each month that I just can't pass up posting. This is Mayci's first time playing at the park. I don't know if it was a positive experience or not? :)

March

MARCH

March is my birthday, and I had a great one. Pete bought me a big fluffy robe and treated me to my very own in home spa! He gave me a pedicure and a two hour massage...HEAVEN!

Then my sweet friend Barbara Hincks brought me these beautiful flowers. I LOVE daisies and I especially loved the colors of these ones! They lasted for almost three weeks. Beautiful.

Then of course we had a traditional green breakfast for Saint Patrick's Day. I love traditions, and cute kids!

This last picture is soley because it made me smile. I love seeing my kiddos help and enjoy it. I love that Ragan makes faces while she feeds babies, just like her daddy. :)

"The Joys of Motherhood"

Mommy log for March 1, 2011

-1 missing husband (he has clinicals on Tuesdays from 5AM-8PM)

-1 sick mommy

-3 of 4 sick kiddos

-1 teething baby

-6 poopy underwear messes, one of which was splashed throughout the bathroom (no I'm not exaggerating)

-1 leaky kitchen sink

-0 knowledge of how to fix sink pipes

-again 1 missing husband (who has already "fixed" the sink at least five times....anyone know a free plumber?)

-1 very full sink of dishes

-1 extremely messy house

-0 desire to clean the house

-0 desire to work out even though I need to because I am so not winning my biggest loser competition

-0 groceries in the house for dinner

-0 desire to go to the grocery store with 4 kids!

-1 easy (from a jar) spagetti dinner

-1 speed clean before Daddy comes home

-too many to count times Mom has yelled today and felt bad about it

-1 sleeping baby (yeah)

-3 sleeping kiddos (whew)

-1 sleep deprived hubby home

-1 exhausted mommy

-1 happy home!?

Maybe tomorrow will be better! Anyone else hate Tuesdays?

A scrapbook page

Normally I post these in galleries and on my scrap blog but this one has far too many credits for that. I don't feel like listing them all, but I wanted to share it somehow cause I loved how it turned out. I scrapped these pics a long time ago (it's James if you can't tell) but I was never satisfied with the result. So yeah I love this!

Valentine's Day and the Big 30!

Today is Pete's 30th birthday! I can tease him about it cause I still have a year to go! ;) I can't believe we are that old! But he's still got it, don't you think! Look at that handsome man! He may be missing a few hairs, but he still has those to die for dimples and beautiful eyes! I love my Petey! He is the best man any girl could ask for! I can't wait to grow even older ;) with him! What a hunk!

VALENTINE'S DAY low down: (the order is backwards, I don't feel like movin them all around)

For family night we had a cute lesson from living scriptures, on loving one another. The lesson included this cute idea of making a valentine for Jesus to hang up as a reminder that we are his disciples, and he loves us. The kids loved this idea. Here is the link to the lesson, and you can subscribe to receive weekly lesson plans http://www.ldsfamilyfun.com/fhe/lessons/fhe_loveanother.htm

Here are a few of my favorite Valentine's that are my world! James and Pete were at school, so I didn't get all of my valentines' pictures, but these ones are darn stinkin cute! (in my opinion ;))

As is tradition at our house, we had heart shaped pancakes and red cinnamon syrup for breakfast! I love this tradition, I think I'll get more creative with my shapes next year...we'll see

When I got back from the gym at 7am (Pete was up till almost 3am after work to do this) this was waiting for me. Each of the hearts said something he loves about me. This was especially meaningful to me, because I've been bugging him lately because he couldn't name anything he liked about me off the top of his head. We call it his emotional constipation getting in the way. Well in his note, he said he'd need to take an emotional laxative to name more than this! Too funny! I love my man! Thanks sweetheart you made my day, week, month, year! Love you!

Sunday night, we worked on school Valentine's with James and Ragan. They turned out pretty cute. I found the idea on http://www.meckmom.com/

A few other happenings that I haven't mentioned yet....

Ragan was able to get back in dance. She was beyond excited. I made a trade for doing a haircut day at the day care that is part of the Bravo dance academy in Clearfield. I love being able to trade hair for things I can't afford, especially when it makes my kiddos so happy! She's so darn cute!

James finally (after at least 6 months of loose teeth) lost his first tooth! It was drama, trauma and more drama to get him to let me pull it. I started to pull and it made that gross crack sound and started bleeding a little and he was done! (see picture below)

But once I got him to settle down enough to get my fingers in there again (it was hanging by a string) one pull and it was out and he said "OH!" and then was so happy (see picture below!)

(February 7th 2011)

Funny enough it must have been the week for teeth because Mayci got her first tooth, possibly even the same day! I would show a picture, but it's more in feel it than see it stage right now! She's been sick with a big time cold, so we didn't even notice any teething symptoms! Poor thing! But she's been happy as can be, she's such a good baby and such a sweet girl!

About Time

I know that it's been too long since my last post when even Pete is asking why I haven't posted! So here's my last two months. I think the reason I haven't posted is that December is overwhelming to post about, for me and for you who have to keep up with our craziness! So bare with me with all the pictures, I condensed them a bit so it wouldn't get too crazy...here goes in no particular order...

A sweet moment caught on camera, James is becoming quite a good reader.

Our sweet Mayci is growing up too fast.

Ragan got this cupcake kit for Christmas. She and Addison had so much fun making these cute mini cakes, and eating them of course!

These cupcakes are what I made for Ragan for her preschool birthday party.

This is all the fun details of Ragan's fairy princess themed birthday party. I forgot to get a picture of the streamer entrance at the bottom of the stairs...Ragan was so cute, whenever someone came to the door she would grab their hand and say as they went through the streamers, welcome to my fairy land! I wish I had remembered to get that picture! Oh well! The best part of the night that made all the hard work worth it was when she was laying down on the floor as the bubbles blew all around her, she said, "This is the best birthday ever!"

James' party was a hit too! He did a How To Train Your Dragon theme.

I painted the dragons from the movie on cardboard and made masks out of them. Each of the kids got to take a turn putting on viking garb and fighting their favorite dragon (aka Pete). They had so much fun! The cake was fun of course, but my favorite part about it was the insides. It was red velvet cake with raspberry filling, so it oozed "dragon blood" as you cut into it! It was a big hit! Thanks Chelsea Hulet for helping me with it. I am not quite adept at making fondant look good yet! I'll get there!

Of course, I can't forget Christmas. We love our ginger bread and tree trimming traditions! And I think this is the first year that I have actually gotten pictures of my kids with Santa. We had Santa at our Ward Christmas party, sadly the word got out through the older kids who it really was and they told all the younger ones and ruined the fun! I wish I would've had Mayci pay Santa a visit too, I think she was sleeping.

So that's our crazy December and our not so crazy January! Life has slowed down a little around here, I say a little cause it's always a bit crazy. It seems the older I get the shorter the days seem and the less time I seem to have to accomplish anything! Pete is in his second semester of Respiratory school and still loving it just as much. I think he'll probably keep his 4.0 status this semester too, although working has made it a little harder to find enough study time. But he's doing awesome and loving every minute!

James is doing well in school too, he's had a rough time getting back into the swing of things after Christmas break, but we've had a chat and he's back on task! Oh he lost his first tooth today! It was quite the traumatic event, but he survived! I'll have to post pictures later, I haven't uploaded them yet.

Hmm what else, I have been tinkering with the idea of going back to school for graphic art. I feel like now is the time, but it just doesn't seem to be working out financially, so we'll see.

I guess that's all the news I have from us for now!