No Happy Halloween

Dear Friends and Family,

I regret to inform you that there will be no Halloween pictures posted on this blog of my cute costume clad kids this year.

I was on the Trunk or Treat committee this year and didn't get pictures taken in my rush to make it to the church early and with all necessary items.

When I texted my husband that I forgot the camera, I assumed he would take pictures before he brought the crew. He brought the camera with the crew. It stayed securely stationed in the back of the car all night. I thought he had already gotten pictures, so i didn't get it out.

Alas, no cute Halloween pictures of my kiddos this year.

Sincerely,
Me

P.S. I guess I could dress them all up again and get those pictures.
I'll consider it.

P.P.S. Hannah dressed as Jesse from Toy Story.

Spencer wore the elephant costume I made a few years ago.

Christian decided last minute to be a magician.
I taped an unsharpened pencil with black electrical tape.
Janelle asked one of her friends on the Colorguard weapon line
for some white electrical tape for the tip of the wand.
He wore the circus lion tamer vest and the top hat from the circus collection.

Russell created his own Prince of Persia costume.
I had a tunic leftover from a wax museum costume.
He wore that, 2 of his Dad's leather belts criss-crossed on his chest and I
found 2 plastic swords at the grocery store for $1 a piece.
( I made that purchase about an hour before I was suppose to be at the church.).

Julie went as a gypsy. Costume came from our circus costume collection.

Dry Erase Walls

Spencer used a dry erase marker to color on the Living Room wall the other day.

I found out that dry erase markers DO NOT erase off the wall.

Even with the power of a Magic Eraser.

Life in the Car

My husband gives me a hard time about doing nothing at home on the days that I don't have to go anywhere.

But it's days like last Thursday that make me appreciate the days when I have "nothing" to do.

8am- Julie, Hannah and Spencer are loaded in the car.

• We stop at the post office to drop off a package for Rachel. I had tried to mail this same package the day before but was informed when I reached the counter after waiting 10 minutes that the post office only carries tape for express and priority mail. My package was neither.

• We stop to pick up a dress at the dry cleaners. (I later forgot to load this dress back in the car so I could return it to the person we borrowed it from.)

• We drop Julie off at school.

• We then head to the bank for a withdrawal.

8:45am

• We head for preschool.
• Drop Hannah & Spencer off at preschool.

You would think at this point that it would be time to go home. Well, you would be wrong.

• I stop at Wal-mart to do some of the grocery shopping.

• Head home long enough to unload the groceries from the car and put away the things that belong in the fridge/freezer.

• Off to Kroger for the 2nd round of grocery shopping.

• Come back home to unload those groceries and repeat putting away what goes in the fridge/freezer.

• Off to the library to pick up a book for Janelle's English class.

1:00pm

• Time for pick-up at preschool.

• Head to Todd's work to trade vehicles.

• From there we go to the High School to pick up Rachel's orchestra dress.

• We head to the elementary school to pick up Russ and Chris for dentist appointments.

• Stop by at home to drop off school bags, put away those groceries that are still sitting on the floor, and take a potty break.

2:50pm

• Piled everyone back into the car to head to the dentist.

3-4:30pm

• Every school-aged child has a visit with the dentist.

• From the dentist's office, we swing by home to drop Rachel, Chris, Hannah, and Spencer off so I can take Julie and Russell to piano lessons.

5-6pm

• Get an hour of peace while I wait for kids in lessons. (Actually cleaned the mess Spencer had made in the car while at the dentist's office.)

• Swing by the High School again. This time to pick up Janelle from colorguard practice.

• Made it home in time to supervise putting potatoes on to cook, scarf down leftovers for myself, and then headed to a HOA meeting at 7pm.

• Pulled in at 9:30pm from the meeting and was so exhausted, all I wanted to do was go to bed.

I really enjoy the days when there isn't anywhere to go.


ps: The story within this story goes like this.... Hannah & Spencer had taken a trip to the potty while the kids were in the dentist's chair. They wanted to open their new toothbrushes. I told them they could when we got in the car. So then they wanted to go to the car. I took them to the car, undid the toothbrushes and waited for Rachel to finish in the chair. She came out and traded places with me so I could talk to the dentist about Julie's mouth. I wasn't back in the office for 5 mintues before Rachel came in and said Spencer had wet his pants. (I had told her he had already used the bathroom and wouldn't need to use it again until we got home- so she didn't bring him in to use the bathroom). Julie finished and we went to the car, only to find that Spencer had sat on the bench in the car and wet his pants a second time!!

This is where you look back and laugh but at the time I was ready for tears.

In a Flash

I took my babies with me yesterday to the fabric store.

I have learned that with Spencer in tow, trips to the fabric store need to be an in and out ordeal.

He ends up screaming his protests if I actually get him in a cart but most of the time just flat refusing to ride in a cart. So then he spends his time running ahead and hiding behind the racks of fabric.

So we quickly got the interfacing we came in for, did a quick look at the decorating fabric and headed for the check stand.

Luckily it was a quick wait. Our fabric store is notorious for long lines at the checkout. You can wait longer in line to checkout than you do to get your fabric cut and do the rest of your shopping.

So as I'm standing at the register, paying the cashier, I feel movement on the back of my legs.
High on the back of my legs.

I was wearing a knit skirt and Spencer had been playing with it.

I'm sure the people standing in line behind me got a great view of what was under my skirt as Spencer flashed my backside to them!

He thought my horrified response was soooo funny that he tried to repeat his performance.

We quickly left the store.

The Summer of Swim Team

This was the 2nd year I was the manager for our neighborhood swim team.

We had 85 swimmers on the team.

We won 1 meet, tied 1 meet (with a team we've never beat before)

lost 2 close meets, and had 1 blow-out loss.

But my kids had a great year.

Russell doing freestyle

Julie after her IM (Individual Medley)

She swims 2 lengths of the pool for each of the 4 strokes.

A total of 200 meters.

Janelle preparing to start her race.

Janelle set at the block.

Where is a picture of Rachel, you might be asking????

That would be a very good question to ask.

Since I worked every meet the picture taking was left up to Todd.

The girls all swam at the Smokey Mountain Invitational.This meet is the biggest outdoor meet in the United States.

Janelle got first place in her 2 individual events and helped her freestyle relay team take first in their heat(at Smokey).

She also got to help coach the rookies and the youngest group of swimmers.

Rachel improved tremendously as noted by her coach.

She also took a 1st place in 1 individual event at Smokey and swam on the same freestyle relay team as Janelle.

She helped with the little swimmers as well.

Julie enjoyed swimming with some of her good friends this year as they joined our team.

We joke that we need to put her on a stretching machine. She has sooo much drive but not the height that most of the girls in her age group do.

Russell took first place in his heat in one of his races at the City meet and got to "swim up" for a freestyle relay in that same meet.

He did not swim at the Smokey Mountain meet as the younger kids swim on Sundays.

We hope that next year, Christian will feel comfortable enough to swim with the team.

The Shaggy Look

Russell wanted to grow his hair out.

He said that girls liked boys with hair that could "flip".

It got to the point that he got just a bit too shaggy for me.

I insisted on a haircut.

I think he looks soooo much better.

More sewing....

This spring I got to take a trip to southern Utah to visit my sister.

She had just had a baby.

Her first boy after 4 girls.

She wanted me to help her sew a nursery set for her new "little man".

Her idea of "help" was she wanted me to do the sewing.

She picked out the fabric and the construction was up to me.

After much deliberation in the fabric store and putting back 2 other "groups" of fabrics,

this is the fabric combination she came up with....

I did consult my grandmother on how to make the piping.

My great aunt and grandma helped turn all the ties for the bumper pads.

My mom cut the fabric for the bedskirt so that all the stripes matched up.

She even had to make a last minute trip to the fabric store about a half hour before they closed

because she ran out of fabric in the attempt to match those stripes.

She bought all they had left.

The sheet above is a mint green. We made a tan sheet to match as well.

I hope she likes how it turned out.

I was a little nervous in the faith she had in me to pull it off.

But I'd do it again.

Happy Birthday Russ

This is the second (actually third if you include mine) birthday we had in our family that I am now catching up to blog about.

Russell turned 9 about a week after school got out for the summer.

I don't know if you can tell but he has been losing quite a few teeth.

He has several holes in his mouth where teeth will soon be coming in.

We were sitting in church just this last week when he leaned over and asked if he could leave to go to the restroom.

I told him he would need to wait.

He then showed me his loose tooth.

I gave him a kleenex and within the next 2 minutes he had pulled it out.

Unfortunately, later that day he had it back in his mouth playing with it and he accidentally swallowed it!

He was devastated.

High tops!!!!

Big kid water guns.

Can you hear the man-child whoop of "YEAH"?

Happy Birthday, Son!

I've done some sewing lately

I never would have guessed that I would be doing as much sewing as I did the first 6 months of this year.

Janelle is in the colorguard at her high school. Before Christmas, I had several Colorguard mom's call and ask me if I would be willing to make their girls' dresses for the Winterguard season.

I made 5 Colorguard dresses at the first of the year.

(and Janelle wasn't even part of Winterguard)

Then, a friend from church asked if I could do some sewing for her daughter's bedroom.

I had fun making pink/brown pillows as well as the drapes for this little girl's room.

I made a total of 8 pillows, 2 floor length tab drapes, and a seat cover/cushion.

My girls asked if I would make them each a dress.
I started with one for Hannah.

Actually, I made a few for Hannah in different sizes mostly using scraps I had from other projects.

This red one is the one she is currently wearing.

Janelle asked if I would make one for her for her Band Banquet and Dance. It's a little more formal than just Sunday best(or so she said).

She picked out the fabric and actually watched some of the construction.

Rachel wanted a new dress for the end of school year Seminary dance. I don't remember if I got her dress done in time for that event, but I finished it and she loves it.

She picked out the fabric as well.

She wanted green and it to be the same fabric I made her Glenda the Good Witch costume out of a few years ago(taffeta).

Both Janelle and Rachel have worn their dresses to several functions including a tri-stake Youth Conference dance.

Our good friend is the Stake Young Women's President and she told me after Youth Conference, that she pointed my girls out to Sister Dalton (the General Young Women's President) at one of the Youth Conference dances and told her about their dresses.

I made a dress for Julie as well from a pattern and material that she picked out but I can't find a picture of it. I'll have to post that picture later.

P.S. to my niece Berkeley, your twirly skirt is the next thing on my table for completion. I ran into a bit of a glitch but will get it finished soon.

Double Take

Did you have to look twice to tell who it was??

You wouldn't be the first to if you did.

Yes, that's me (in the red) with Janelle.

Whom others sometimes think is me.

She even sounds like me on the phone.

You know that mother's curse is the real deal.

Not only does my child act like me (not always, Dad)

But she looks just like me as well.

I wanna be a cowboy/cowgirl

Hannah and Spencer had their own little birthday party with their friends this year.

We had a BIG party in their honor when they turned 1 but that was more of a "Thank you" to all those people who helped us get to that one year mark.

So this was their year for a friends party.

But what do you do when you have both a girl and a boy?

A friend of mine suggested a brown and pink theme and this is what I came up with...

Brown bandanas for the boys and pink ones for the girls. And a sheriff's badge for everyone.

We ran horsey relays,

drank out of brown and pink cups,

had strawberry cake with chocolate ice cream

and everyone got to take home a balloon in the color of their choice

(brown or pink of course).

A HUGE thanks to Grandma B for sending me the horse heads so all I had to do was attach them to the sticks, add hair and bridles.

P.S. We will need to borrow the doll hair needle to make a new mane.

Spencer's horse got a new hair-do thanks to the puppy.

3 Years Ago Today

This Post was originally suppose to be posted on Hannah's and Spencer's birthday.....

This is what I was doing 3 years ago today.

About this same time.

This is the story of that day.....

Actually, this is the story of 2 special little ones who joined our family that day.

We knew from early on in this pregnancy that this delivery would be our most eventful.

Hannah came first and tried to make that first cry that every mother waits to hear.

Hers was more like a kitten mewing.

She was immediately worked on to get her intubated.

You see, Hannah was born with a congenital diaphragmatic hernia.

She had a hole in her diaphragm that had allowed some of her organs to develop within her chest cavity.

In turn, those organs pushed her left lung up and her heart more toward the center of her chest.

When Hannah was born, her left lung was about the size of a quarter.

Her intestines and her stomach took up space in her chest.

This was all I got to do to hold her before she was whisked off to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

When Hannah was 4 days old, the doctors decided to operate.

They said she would not get better until they did.

They locked the NICU down for 3 and 1/2 hours while they performed her surgery bedside.

The doctor came to see us and reported that things had gone well. They had put a gortex patch on her diaphragm to repair the hole. The surgeon told us that if she made it past her toddler years without tearing the patch, she wouldn't need to have another surgery.

We are at three toddler years and going strong!

This is that same little fighter today.

Her favorite things to do now are:

Play house with Spencer and Julie

Have her fingernails and toenails painted

Go to church

Go shopping with Mom

When I delivered Spencer, I did something that my first OB/Gyn said I could never do...

I delivered him BREECH!!

In fact, Spencer decided to enjoy the bit of room he had and kicked away from the doctor as the doctor tried to grab his foot and deliver him.

He came only 4 minutes after his sister (much quicker than my first twin delivery).

He weighed in at 7 pounds even.

And helped fill the void of having to leave his womb buddy in the hands of NICU doctors and nurses and not mine.

Spencer at 3...

Likes to:

Go anywhere with Dad

Go swimming

Play with his dog

Pretend to be a cowboy.

I feel extremely blessed to have had these 2 little ones join our family. We truly have felt the Lord's hand in our lives.

Happy Birthday Babies!!

No if, ands, or BUTS

Christian is loving kindergarten and his teacher.

I was a little worried about his teacher.

She's wasn't a very social person with the parents.
(I verified that perception with some other parents at a birthday party last weekend.)

But after working in Chris's class, I find that with the kids she is the complete opposite.
(She also has warmed up to the parents throughout the year.)

Those kids love her and she is FANTASTIC with them.

Yesterday, Christian was throwing his schoolwork at me while I paid bills.

I saw a little note at the bottom of one of his papers in his teacher's handwriting.

I stopped to focus on what his teacher had written, thinking it might be some sort of praise.

Not quite.

Not even close.

Let me explain....

Their classroom letter of the week this last week was "U".

In one of their centers, they are suppose to "write the room". Meaning they find things in the room that either start with that letter or have that letter in them and make a list.
Then they are to make a sentence at the bottom with one of the words.

Christian's sentence read.....

"buts are a body part."

When I asked him about it and proceeded to tell him that what he had written was crude and I agreed with the "not appropriate" comment his teacher had written at the bottom of the page, his innocent comment was......

"But, Mom it had a 'U' in it."

Assignment complete.

Dear Readers

Dear Readers of my Blog,

I know you are reading this because I get an occasional email about it.

But I'm curious as to why you are all so shy about leaving comments?????

Thanks be to my friend Julie who DOES comment.

So I'm asking you as my family and friends to let me hear your comments.

It's not that hard and just because you sign up for a goggle account, so you
can add those comments, doesn't mean you have to have a blog of your own.

I just want to know that you enjoy what you're reading and to hear from you.

Love, ME

Potty Trained!

This is the face of the newest member of the potty trained club.

It's official now: No more diapers!!

I am proud to announe we've had 6 dry nights in a row and

although the number 2 job is still a little dramatic

it's getting done in the right place, now.

Does it make me sad that I don't have to buy diapers anymore?

No, not really although I realize that my babies are growing up

and that they are my last.

But as long as they still like to cuddle with me on the couch in the

mornings after the kids are off to school.

And they still want kisses and tickles from me.

Then I'm okay with the fact that they are big enough

to not use diapers.

We'll see how I feel about them growing up when they attend a regular preschool next fall.

Christian is 6

Christian turned 6 last month.

I wanted to post some things about Chris.

He hasn't quite figured out that a smile is suppose to be a beautiful thing.

He always looks a little upset when he smiles.

We have to tell him a joke that will make him laugh to get a "real" smile

out of him.

For his birthday he got his very own flashlight and measuring tape.

He also got a new chapter book and a puzzle.

Christian is a phenomenal reader.
His teacher even says so.

Mrs. Moody(his kindergarten teacher) sends Chris and 1 other little
boy to the library during reading time to pick out their own books.
He takes AR (Advanced Reading) tests while he's there and the aide
that helps him says he rarely misses any questions.



He loves to sing.

For the Primary program last November, our family was asked to sing.

The Primary kids sang the first verse.

Todd sang a verse by himself.

I sang a verse by myself.

And then our kids sang the last verse.

Christian was front and center and right in front of the mike.

But he knew his part and sang it loud and clear.

Afterwards, a member of the Bishopric said that if he could sing

with Christian he wouldn't mind singing.

Christian likes inventing things with the Legos and his brother, Russell.

They like to play games outdoors with each other as well.

He is a very friendly little boy and LOVES playdates with his friends.

Although we need to work on when we have friends here....

He forgets that he needs to play with his friend and gets distracted

with the things he does on a regular basis.

He is learning how to swim and took lessons last summer.

I'm not sure he's ready for the swim team, but at least

he's more comfortable in the water.

I sure love this son of mine.

Out of the mouth of Babes

I was looking at my cousin's wife's blog the other day. She had blogged about her youngest daughter's affection to the phrase, "Ta-da".

Within a day, Spencer took up the phrase.

It happened after his co-op preschool valentine's party.

When I came to pick them up he ran to the counter where their bags were sitting with decorated cupcakes that 6 two- year-olds had done themselves. He put up his "presenting hand" and said it with a huge grin: "Ta-da".

He said it several times that afternoon and again when Daddy came home. I asked him if he wanted to give his Daddy the valentine he had made. As he proudly handed the construction paper, personally colored heart to his dad he said it again: "Ta-da".

Hannah's new phrase cracks me up.

Although it makes me wonder what else my little ones are picking up as they watch TV with their older siblings.

If any of your children watch Disney Channel's Phineas and Ferb, you are familiar with Hannah's new phrase.

"Whatcha doin'?" frequently comes out of her mouth everyday. Add in her 2-year old voice and a drawl and you can hear it in your head.

She asks me when I'm showering.

She asks me when I'm putting my make-up on.

She asks me when I'm eating, sewing, at the computer, watching TV.

I think you get the picture.

It all makes me smile.

Holiday Haircuts

The girls have been asking to get haircuts since school started in August.

It's just one of those things that gets shoved to the bottom of the priority list for me.

Besides, Janelle needed to keep her hair long during marching season.

She had to be able to get it up in the "required" hair-do for Colorguard.

So after Christmas (and before the New Year), I took the girls into the salon

to get their hair cut.

Before

After


I was tired of the daily ponytail that Julie wore her hair in.

And she needed a "clean up" haircut after swim season.


Before


After

I loved Rachel's long hair.
Especially when she wore it in 2 long Indian Braids.
But alas, she wanted a change.

Before

After


And Daddy was the one who wanted to trim up Hannah's hair.
It was just getting to where I could put braids in it.

Hannah was the first one in the chair.
She didn't even whimper.

Before


Hannah's new "do" is my favorite.


After

Julie and Rachel both had enough cut off to donate to Locks of Love.

They always seem to wait to get their hair cut until they have enough to donate.

We will have to get a family picture done soon before everyone's hair grows out.

Concerts and Recitals

December is a musical month for our family.

We usually start with piano recitals for Julie and Russell.

Then it's band and orchestra concerts. We had 3 this year to attend.



Julie and Russell had been outside playing in the snow just before it was time to leave for their recital.
We had to hussle out the door.
Julie still had wet snow hair.















Janelle had to be fitted for a band uniform prior to her performance.

She also had to borrow shoes from the band closet.
The High School Band performs in their marching band uniforms and Janelle did Colorguard during marching season.








Rachel sat 1st chair 2nd violin for her winter concert.

You can see her on the front row, 3rd person in, just left of the conductor.



We also had friends over for our traditional holiday sing-a-long.

I think the kids were more interested in all the food than the singing though.