Emily turns "3"

Tuesday Emily turned "3". She's becoming such a little girl and isn't a toddler anymore. As pancakes is the favorite breakfast food at our house this has become the birthday breakfast tradition. Depending on how old you are turning depends on how many pancakes winds up on you plate. My kids love, love, love to blow out candles multiple times a day. So we give them as many opportunities as possible to blow out candles. After breakfast comes the opening of gifts.

Emily is in LOVE with Tinkerbell. Needless to say her birthday was filled with the little fairy.

Thankyou grandma for Belle, Aunt Tonya for the Tinkerbell dress up, Aunt Camille for the money that bought ANOTHER Tinkerbelle and friends Josh and Jenna for the Tinkerbelle coloring book. Think she's excited?

After dinner she was able to blow out the candles on her very own Tinkerbelle cake. Her cake turned out very very cute I thought. She loved it of course!

Happy Birthday big girl we hope you had a great day. We love you!!!

Articles of Faith

We are succeding in our goal of teaching the kids the Articles of Faith. This is what we created to help us remember the 4th Article of Faith. Everyone made one to hang on their magnet boards to help remind them. Most every morning and evening at meal times we recite the Articles of Faith starting with #1. Both Hunter and Maddie can recite #1-3 by themselves. Emily can almost recite #1 by herself. As the Articles of Faith get longer and more in depth we may have to work on them for more then just one Family Home Evening but that's O.K. They are coming along. The kids are still excited about learning more. They anxiously await for the NEXT family home evening to learn the next Article Of Faith.

Brayden's new ride..

Check out Brayden's new wheels... Hunter and Maddie use to push Emily up and down the hallway too. Now it's Brayden't turn. Hes' getting bigger and doesn't look like it's very comfortable anymore but he doesn't seem to mind it to much yet. Usually he laughs at the thrill or at least has a smile on his face.

Brayden is such a good baby. He is very accomodating to his older siblings whims.

Christmas Advent Calendar

It's that time of year again, Fabulous Friday is just around the corner. We have many different and fun fun activities planned. The Christmas Advent calendar is just one of them. I will be teaching this class. Using a mini cupcake pan, magnet squares which was donated for the cause, scrapbook paper and doo dads. This is what I came up with. Underneath each piece of magent square will be a little prize for the kids.

I wanted to drill holes and be able to hang this up on the wall using some fun Christmas ribbon. However seeing that these pans run about $9.00 a piece I decided not to. I will place it on top of our entertainment center using an easel. I will keep the magnets in a bag stored in my Christmas bucket so that I can still use the pan year round. Halloween is such a big holiday in our home I think I'll be doing the same thing for the upcoming holiday.

Labor Day Weekend

For the Labor Day Weekend we spent a few days visiting family and friends. Brayden started teething AGAIN! Emily loves her Grandma.

It was Peach Day's in Hurricane so we headed to the parade. The girls got a kick of the mascotts that were walking in the parade.

It's been a long time since I've seen Smokey. The girls didn't know who he was.

Hunter and Grandpa were invited to ride in the wagon during the parade.

We have a new Home Depot that opened down the road from us. The kids thought is was great to see this.

Watching the parade was GG, GG Pa, Grandma, Hanna and I along with my parents foreign exchange student, Gabby and my kids.

A close up of Grandpa and Hunter.

Brayden did great watching from his stroller for most of the parade.

Friday night our good friends the Polotowicz Family joined us. These boys have sure missed each other.

Lot's of snow cones to go around.

Love cotton candy!

This a candy cannon. It was filled every 15minutes and then shot off. It was raining candy all over the grass. It was cool to see. I'd love to make one and use it for church activities and future family reunions.

More picts of our good friends.

Look at Kira. She is getting so big. She is soo cute.

More and more

and MORE snow cones. Thankyou Grandma!

Can't have a trip to Grandpa's with out riding the horses.

These cuties were thrilled that Grandpa allowed them to hold the reigns. Grandpa walked beside them but didn't lead the horse. The kids thought this was just great controlling the horse by themselves.

Even Miss Emily had her turn with Romeo.

Hunter has learned to whistle. Being this is new that's all we hear from this kid. He says he could tell Romeo what to do by whistling at him. It was fun to watch Hunter in the pasture. He'd start kicking at Romeo to go a little faster, Romeo would and then you'd hear Hunter yelling Whoa, Whoa. Hunter couldn't decide what he wanted, to go faster or not. It was great seeing my sister Sheri with her baby Jamie who is a little younger then Brayden. I wanted to take a pict of the babes together but apparently that thought stayed a thought. I guess next time...

Labor Day Part 2

Saturday afternoon we drove to Kory's hometown, Alton Utah. The kids spent most of their time outside playing with cousins. These 2 little boys were connected at the hip for the weekend. You didn't see one with out the other. For that matter we only saw these 2 when they decided it was time to get a bite to eat.

Bed time at grandma's found the kids sleeping together on the floor space.

Monday we went to Harmony's (Kory's sister) where the women sat/stood around canning peaches. I've bottled peaches many times but I don't think I've ever seen such a large crate full of peaches. OOOHHH! They were so yummy!

While we were canning the men hung the shelves for the future canned fruit.

We had a great Labor Day Weekend and can't wait to see everyone again soon.

I have teeth...

Last thursday Brayden reached his 4 month mark. I was sitting in the Home Depot parking lot waiting on Kory when something white in his mouth caught my attention. He had his 2 front bottom teeth poking through. One was barely poking through but the other had definetly been there for a few days.

For 2 weeks now we've been saying that he was probably teething. We never see his whole face anymore. He's been drooling so much that I've kept a bib on him. When his bib is on he always has it stuffed in his mouth knawing on it.

If he has a toy it goes straight to his mouth also for more knawing.

If there is no toy than it's his 2 little fists stuffed into his mouth. Through his first teething experience he's done farely well. He's not napping as well but he is still sleeping through the night most nights. By this I mean he goes down at 8:30pm and doesnt' wake up till 5:30-6:30am. I nurse him and then he ususally goes back to sleep for another hour or two. I can't complain about that! For 2 days now he hasn't been drooling and shoving everything in his mouth. I'm hoping he'll have a little break before the next tooth decides to come in.

President Monson's Birthday

On Friday, Aug. 21 the special man turned 82. Happy Birthday President Monson! While reading through the friend over the past few weeks there was an article about our Prophet, President Monson. When asked what he wanted for his upcoming birthday he replied that he would like for us to perform an act of service. So what to do.... Our daddy had a softball game that evening and after many conversations with the kids we decided we would perform our service at the softball game.

The children made cookies all by themselves. I stood on the side lines telling them how many scoops of each ingredient they needed.

They all did a great job.

Brayden sat in his bouncer on the counter watching his older siblings. He wasn't sure he liked the sound the mixer made when it was turned on!

That afternoon the kids made a poster board. It said Happy Birthday President Monson. We serve you by serving others. That night during daddy's softball game the kids passed out their cookies and water to the team players and their families. They had a great time despite the 40 mile hour winds, dust storms and rain, which is why I do not have pictures of the actuall event. Despite the crazy weather that night our kids learned a great lesson about service. They are already talking about the different services we can do next year. For instance drop cookies off at his front door and run, weed his garden, vaccumn his bedroom floor when he is at the temple. We keep telling them what wonderful ideas they have and that we will make a final decision next year when it gets a little close. As my birthday approaches I think I'll be asking for an act of service from them!

1st Day Of School

Today was the 1st day of school. Maddie started kindergarten. She was so so so excited this morning. She kept her eye on the clock and was on the count down. Emily and I took her to school. She ran to the playground, stood in line when the whistle blew and waved at me as she followed her classmates through the front doors. On the way home she told me that she was really good today and didn't talk too much (something we had warned her about). The teacher moved her because another little boy in the class wouldn't stop talking so he switched places with her. He got his name on the *sad face* but she didn't. She hopes to NEVER get her name on the *sad face* just like Hunter didn't last year. She was just BEAMING as she told me that she GETS to do homework tonight. She was given a poem to memorize this week and is just thrilled to do it. She loved her first day and can hardly wait till tommorrow. She must have had a really good time today and wore herself out. She was asking when she could go to bed at 7 pm tonight. She was tired. I hope her excitement continues throughout the school year. Hunter is a 1st grader this year. He SAYS he wasn't excited for school to start, but you tell me! He came into my bedroom this morning at 5:45 (that's right Camille, 5:45 am aren't you jealous) fully dressed with his back pack on and packed lunch consisting of a Capri Sun, small tupperware of cantelope that we put together the night before and a candy cane (yes isn't that crazy, we still have candy canes around). He came in EARLY this morning asking when I could take him to school. He was a little dissapointed to hear he had a little bit before I could take him. To help the time go by I had him help me fix breakfast and together we came up with some other items he could take for lunch. He loves to vacuum so I had him take everything out from under the kitchen sink and vacuum up all the mouse poo (Yes, we've got mice AGAIN!). I think I might be ready for our 1st pet. Definetly a Cat or two! He was thrilled to hear daddy volunteer to take him to school on his way to work. Daddy didn't park the truck he just dropped him off and went on his way. Hunter said he knew where to go and wanted to do it by himself, so daddy let him. I'm not liking this new independence stage.

Hunter was a little dissapointed that all of his LDS friends from last year were not in his class. He says his teacher is nice and he really really really liked eating lunch at school. His favorite part was he got to play outside 4 times. He too was quick to tell me a little boy in his class got his name on the *sad face* but not him. He was pretty proud of himself. Tonight he asked how many more hours till I can go to school. I think he's looking forward to another day at school. I'm hoping he'll sleep in just a little tommorrow!

Family Home Evenings

For Family Home Evening Kory and I decided we wanted to teach the kids "What We Believe". For our last 2 Family Home Evenings now we have had a short lesson on the Article Faith of the week. We help the kids understand it as best they could, do a project with it and start to memorize it. Each night at dinner we practice saying it several times. By the following Monday we hope everyone has it memorized. We have accomplished Article Faith #1. Tonight we did #2. Do you what the 2nd Article of Faith is?

"We believe that men will be punished for their own sins and not for Adam's transgression."

After our short lesson on who Adam and Eve is I pulled out the paints and let the kids go. Everyone was able to paint there own picture. This painted picture is of course Adam and Eve, the tree of good and evil and the serpent who beguiled Eve. Before bed tonight both Hunter and Maddie could recite the Article Of Faith by themselves along with the 1st one. Next monday we will continue in order and do #3. As we get to some of the longer ones we may have to split them in half. Our goal is that after the next several weeks our 5 and 6 year old, mom and dad too will have memorized all 12 Articles of Faith. Repeating #1 so many times even Emily can say most of it. If you have any ideas for future Articles of Faith I'd love to hear them.