"Officer" Hayden

This picture just makes me want to laugh my face off every time I look at it. I was changing Avery on my bed, when "Officer" Hayden wandered into my room. He looked so hilarious I couldn't stop laughing, and the more I laughed the more he hammed it up and acted even sillier. It was so funny I had to grab my camera and snap a quick picture of him. He is such a silly boy, and totally cracks me up!

Cousins

Jacob called me around noon and said that he was heading over to PV mall with Natalie and Preston, to let Preston run around at their inside play area, and to see if I wanted to meet them. Of course I did! Since they were only here for a week, I wanted to get every minute with them that I could. I hurried Amelia and Hayden through lunch, nursed Avery, and we were on our way. Even though we only got to hang out for an hour or so it was worth it, because after they go back to Idaho I don't know when I'm going to get to see them next. I didn't get any pictures of them playing in the little play area because I was too busy talking to Natalie, but here are some cute pictures of them "driving" the ride on ice cream truck. I just happened to have 75 cents on me (what happened to those things being a quarter?!), so they got to ride it one time. They thought it was so fun. It was really cute. It was nice getting to spend time with them. One of the things I miss about being in Utah is that I was only a few hours away from Jacob and Natalie and I felt like I got to see them pretty often. Now that I am like 16 hours away, they have only been down here twice in the almost year that we have lived here. I miss seeing them all the time!

Easter Weekend, Pt. 1

The 6 older kids spent the night at Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Dave's house last night. Their aunt Jessica usually spends the night on Fridays and then watches all 7 kids while John and I are at our Saturday morning math classes. However, this weekend she had the Pony Express ride to Salt Lake, so the kids went to grandmas. Hayden didn't get to go of course, since he is only 6 months old and nursing. I asked my friend to watch Hayden while I was at school, but she went to a wedding last night and had her phone on silent. So that means she never woke up. So Hayden ended up going to my Algebra class with me. I was a little nervous about it, but he was great and my teacher and class loved him. It's not something I would make a habit of, since he made it a little hard to take notes. I liked having him with me though, since I miss him while I'm at school.

After school, we headed over to join the kids and Sandy and Dave's house. It was fun. The kids helped out Sandy around the house, since she just recently had surgery on her neck, and I helped make éclairs. In the 12 years that I have known them, eating éclairs has been one of my favorite Easter traditions. I was so excited that this year I got to learn how to make them myself. When Jessica and everyone else got back from Pony Express, she and her best friend Chelsey did an egg hunt for the kids. They had a blast. I was super excited because when I put Hayden out on the front yard, he sat for a really long time for the first time. Before that he had sat, but only for maybe 5 seconds before falling over. Here are a few pics of some of the kids from the egg hunt. :)

Hayden sitting with his egg.

The boys searching the farm for eggs.

Amelia found one on the porch. Love how she's in jammie pants. haha!

Tyler looking over by the goat pen. This picture cracks me up because it looks like the goat is standing on his head.

Brooklyn looking in the back of Jessica's truck.

This Is What We Do With Naughty Kids

We have a huge roll of industrial plastic wrap (for when we move), and Em and I tried using it to cover the dining room table. After we gave up on that (totally didn't work) Hailey thought she would grab the pieces off the table and wrap Martha in them. Em and I decided that was a great idea. So she rounded up Hailey, Martha, Corlie and Brooklyn and I wrapped them with the actual roll of plastic. It was hard to do 'cause the roll was so heavy and awkward, but it was fun to have them all wrapped up and captive. We decided next time we should do all the kids, then we can just go stick them in the other room and then have the night to ourselves. Now that's a plan!

Hmm. Martha doesn't seem too impressed.

Me wrapping up the kids.

Help! Let us out!

Christmas Eve. Pt. 2

Every year I get the kids Christmas jammies that they get to open on Christmas Eve and then wear and look all cute for their Christmas morning photos. They looked so adorable, I had to be sure and post pics of them before I head to bed.

Snow!

These pics are from the other day. I forgot I had taken them, so I don't remember when. Some time during the beginning of this month, because they were right after my Halloween pics on my camera. The kids enjoyed the snow, how ever little of it there actually was. It didn't last past 10am, but they had fun playing in it before school. We don't have any now, but I bet they will have a blast once it starts coming down and staying. And I'll enjoy watching them from the living room window. :)

Halloween Part 1 - Dressing Up

This morning the kids got all dressed up for their Halloween parties at school. (Well, except Amelia who's not in school, but I did let her wear her costume to Wal-Mart.) Tyler and Hailey were nurses because they wanted to be like their dad (say it with me, awwww). Austin was Buzz Lightyear, Camren was Peter Pan (and made the cutest most perfect one you ever saw), Brooklyn was Sleeping Beauty (the costume was to big, but I let her wear it anyway because she wanted to wear it so bad) and Amelia was - of course - Cinderella. For Amelia and Brooklyn, it wasn't any different than any other day, because they probably wear those dresses 3 out of 7 days a week. I don't normally let them wear them out of the house though. Anyway, the kids are super excited because tonight I am having my best friend Emily and her kids, Hailey's best friend Mya and her twin (Austin's friend) David, Hailey's friend Aubrey and Robyn and Joe (and Henry) over for a Halloween party. So I have a lot of final shopping and cooking to do. I'll be back later with party pics.

Silly Little Girls

I sent Brooklyn to go get something to wear to school for yellow day (they are working on their colors). I waited a little while and thought that it was awfully quiet upstairs. I snuck (is that a word? cause my spell check doesn't think so) up the stairs listening to see what was going on. I heard Brooklyn and Amelia talking the laundry room, so I tiptoed over to the laundry room to see what they were doing. I walked in to the image below, the two of them laughing and sitting inside the dryer. I thought it was so funny that I had to run downstairs and get my camera. I am so sure Brooklyn thought that was what I meant when I said, go find something to wear, right?

Peanut, Peanut Butter (and Jelly!)

I thought this was so sweet. It's my 5 year old Brooklyn (in yellow) teaching my 2 year old (3 next month) Amelia (in blue) how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. This is probably their favorite thing to eat, and I thought it was so cute. Brooklyn had offered to make Amelia a sandwich when she made her own (yes I let my kids fix their own food unless it's dinner and they love it) and then decided that she wanted to teach Amelia how to do it instead. Amelia was so excited about it and is now eating it feeling pretty proud of herself, as she should .

It makes me happy to see my kids helping each other and teaching each other new things. It makes me think I must be doing something right.

Amelia Pics

I just wanted to put some of my favorite Amelia pics on here. She is so photogenic and probably my favorite one to photograph because she is also the most cooperative. She is getting so big and will be 3 in 2 months! Enjoy!

Princess helper in the basement.

Cutie in green.

Hanging out on the lawn at Thanksgiving Point.

What the Kids Have Been Up To and A Bunch of Other Junk

I know I haven't said much about the kids lately. They were being so silly on Thursday. Ok, so a favorite game at our house is American Idol. How you play is 3 people are judges (my mom, husband and I) and the kids are the contestants. The kids go up one at a time and it goes something like this"

Judge: So tell us your name and where you are from.

Child: My name is Plankton and I'm from Alaska.

Judge: Ok Plankton. What are you going to be singing for us today?

Child: I'm singing "Oh baby, I really miss you when you're not here"

Judge: Great! Let's hear it!

Child proceeds to rock out and improvise some crazy song we have never heard before. Then we go around and each judge tells them how they did and vote on whether they are going to Hollywood or not. Sometimes I like to be like, that was awful. My dog sings better than that. You should go home and never sing again. Hey, you have to have some variety. Every contestant can't make it through. Then if they made it, they get their ticket to Hollywood (a coloring book page) and run into the living room. When they come back, we are now the family instead of the judges, and we all jump around and scream "Woo-hoo! You're going to Hollywood!". Then we repeat it with the other 5 kids, and keep doing it til they get bored. It is a lot of fun and if you haven't done it before, you should totally give it a try. :)

They really enjoyed having my mom here to play and read with. Hailey cried when she left with my dad last night, even though it was only to go stay with him at the hotel (he just got in yesterday) and we will see them today. I tried to tell her that, but she was devastated that they weren't going to stay at our house. Sorry, but grandma and grandpa don't want to sleep together in the full bed I have in our guest room. It is not big enough for a couple, especially one that has a king size one at home! But they are going to the Lehi rodeo with everyone today, and since it is about 5 minutes from my house I am assuming I will see them over here in the next little while.

I bought the kids new bathing suits yesterday. (Well, not Austin and Camren, cause they already had ones that fit passed down to them). They were totally excited about them and had to put them on and prance around in them. Hailey and Brooklyn cracked me up cause they came running into the family room and had to prance around singing and wiggling their little butts in their bathing suits. They thought they were hot stuff! Amelia wouldn't take hers off. Even when I took it off to change her diaper, she had to have it right back on. Finally she decided she was cold and wanted to put her regular clothes on, only to notice her bathing suit sitting all alone on the couch and decide that she needed to wear it again. Yeah. So it went back in the bag and out of sight.

I went to a new clothing store yesterday. Well, new to me anyway. It is called Justice. It is like Limited Too (my favorite girls clothing store EVER!) but cheaper. Yay for me! They have basically the same type of clothes. The girl who worked there said that they are made at the same place. Kind of like Gap and Old Navy. So I can get basically the same type of clothing that is so cute I can't stand it, but I can get more cause it is half the price. Good thing my husband is not reading this! There is one in AF by Target and he would be horrified to know that I have one so close to our house. I went yesterday while I was out with my mom, so he doesn't know I have been into the store he has been trying desperately to keep me away from. (Insert evil laugh here.) I also found a fun kids toy store over near there called Red Balloon Toys. They have a lot of really cute and educational/ developmental toys. Reminds me of what you would find at the smaller pricey-er toy stores in like, San Ramon or something out in CA. They had a great selection of things, especially their awesome display of all things playmobile. I am a total fan of that stuff. It is durable and encourages a lot of great imaginative play, which a lot of toys these days don't. There are too many toys out now that practically play with themselves for you. How lame is that. There are barbie houses that talk and make all the sounds, along with the barbies with their pre-recorded phrases. All the boy toys make sounds or talk or something, unless they are an action figure. Even the little plastic microphones come with a couple tracks recorded on them. (If you know somewhere that has them without sound, let me know. I want a bunch. That is something my kids are dying to have.) Anyway, I will definitely be going back there. Especially since it is Camren's b-day on Tuesday. I can't believe that he will be 6. But I will save a post about that and him for Tuesday. :)

Well, John is on his way home, so I better get off of here and go fold the laundry and act like I have been doing something. Or maybe pay attention to the kids. I know. I can have them fold it with me, then I can do both. Hee hee! I am so great at coming up with ideas. I know they will love that. Actually, scarily, they will. They love doing any and all cleaning with me. Or without me to impress me. Seriously. It is the only thing I don't have to fight them to get them to do.

EDIT: John got home with the carpet and it is awesome. It is really nice carpet and it is in great condition. There is only one faded area, where it was under a window, but when we cut it down, it is the right size so the entire faded spot will come off. Yay! I can't wait to get it down there and have the rooms done. My family leaves Monday night, so we will have both rooms done by next weekend for sure. We haven't worked on it while my mom has been staying with us cause I wanted to visit while I could.

Say What?

On Tuesday:

Brooklyn: When grandma was babysitting us while you were at the new house, she gave us celery with peanut butter on it!

Me: Oh yeah? (I hate celery and peanut butter - together or not.) Did you like it?

Brooklyn: (LOUDLY) Oh yeah! It was soooo good I wanted to pull my hair out!

I don't know where she comes up with this stuff! It cracks me up. It reminds me of when Hailey was about 3 and I said something to her and she turns to me and says "I'm gonna cut you like a salad carrot!" What a freak! I can guarantee you she didn't ever hear that from me!

The funniest thing about Brooklyn and the celery? My mom said she didn't even eat any of it! She is such a wierdo sometimes. I can't get enough of it!

Then there's Amelia. On May 16th my baby brother Justin got married.

Me: Amelia, Justin got married today.

Amelia: Oooh! That's nice.

I just thought it was so funny. Not a comment you would expect from a 2 year old. Totally cracked me up!

Here's another one, this time from Austin when I had Robyn's baby shower:

Austin: How long is mom going to be at the baby bath?

John: The what?

Austin: The baby bath.

John: What's a baby bath? Do you think they are going to give Henry a bath while he is still in Robyn's tummy?

Austin: Um . . . no?

John: It's called a baby shower.

Right. That cleared it up. I am sure that he just thought we were going to shower Henry in utero instead. Nice.

That same day driving on I-80 by the airport:

Austin: Wow! Look at all those planes flying! It's like it's airplane day or something!

Yeah I never claimed to be raising rocket scientists. There's a reason for that.

Show Me Your Buffalo Face

My brother Justin told Brooklyn to show him her buffalo face and this is what he got. I think this picture is soooooooooo hilarious so I had to put it on here! This one is definitely going in the scrapbook!