Ah-Yaaa!!

A little while back my nice Cannon Rebel Lens shattered. I dont know, but it sucked because it was onto my point and shoot. I love my point and shoot, until it dropped and kinda broke. Then at Christmas I got an iphone, so this is the evolving of my pictures over the last year. Well I finally went in and got a new lens for my camera - therefor I have some semi better pictures again! I am no pro, and I dont even  really know how to use my camera, also I have no editing tools so they are just raw and how I take them. BUT they are so much better!!

 

So this last weekend, my sis needed to leave town with her hubs for a few days (4 nights) and so we had the kids come over here. We had 8 kids (9 on days I was nannying) with us and it was a jammed and loud house!! I dont know how moms do that many kids. It actually doesn't interest me in the least bit. If anything, this weekend reassured me that I am VERY happy with 3 kiddos!

 We played Tennis, parked, ate pizza, watched movies, did gymnastics, ate Mcdonalds, and had a lot of fun with everyone. I sure love my nieces and nephews! Brian does too, which is good considering I went to a different Ward Conference that day to teach and he had to sit alone for Sacrament mtg with all 8 kids! He is a hero.
Drew and Natalie were actually really good at Tennis. It was their first time, but they picked it up pretty quick and were fun to play with!

 THEN, Natalie lost another tooth. This makes 6 total. She is still missing her 2 fronts, and then bottom outside 2 as well. It is cute to hear her say certain words. She likes to sing and say "all I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth" and listen to the little whistle! She is so sweet.

 

Natalie was in Gymnastics a little while ago, probably 8/9 months now, and has really missed being in it. I got her all signed up at WOGA and she loved her first class last week. Cant wait to see her succeed some more and learn and grow. She has a real talent, which might sound silly considering she is 6, but really she is so good. We will see where it goes!

It's always about the food

Here's the latest in pictures. We got to have mom come for a bit, I LOVE my bestie momma! It's always laugh Attack central with us 3! We took mum to coasta vida(yum!) for her first time. It was great but it just made me want cafe rio. It's like having almost the right size shoe but not quite.

Then it's off to snow cone heaven at Bahamas bucks. I could go there everyday! I just love having Libby's kids around living 2 minutes away. They have a lot of fun together. Includes in that is having FHE together a lot. Last week was a dance party with "just dance 4". Everyone tore it up but especially momma and Courtney!! Go girlies!

Another year wiser

My wonderful, amazing father was here at Christmas. His birthday was last week and we knew that we couldn't be with him for it, so we decided to throw him a small surprise party for his big day. He was shocked and after we all yelled surprise (and there were "60" signs everywhere) he still whispered to my mom "who is this for?" Haha i guess he's really 60!!

So the big surprise was a special book we put together for him. The goal was to get 60 letters of love and memories for him to read, I got 70. I was so impressed by all the help I got from those that love him. I already knew that he was an amazing man with so many accomplishments over the last 60 years. What I didn't know was how many more stories there were and impressions that have been made on other people. He is inspirational and has lived such an incredible 60, we can't wait to see the next 60!!

We had Brazilian food, a fabulous bundt cake, and some fun presents. It was a really fun party, and I'm so glad we could do it for him when we were with him. Even if it was 3 weeks early! Love you daddy-o!!

Gone bad

Sometimes I try to be crafty, but it just doesn't work. I love pretending like I'm artsy and creative and can do cool things. So I was looking for a new piece of artwork and didn't want to spend an arm and a leg on something new. I decided to take an old canvas that we had hanging in her old house and repaint it.

It started out with a classic gray coat. I thought it would be modern and trendy and cute... Then I made a turquise then a pink then the splattering started. It was fun until I stood back and realized it was hideous and straight out of 1982!
Then came the brush smears. "Ya! This will make it better!" Wrong. It was ugly. I was planning to start over and paint over it all with a brand new look.

I put It in the front closet to wait. The next day boots and Courtney decided that that was their new playroom. After swinging on the coatrack numerous times, he let go and landed right on the fabulously 80's painting hand painted by yours truly. Well bye bye! Looks like I will be buying something to hang!

You artsy people out there... Any tips?!

Another Monday

Here we go, starting another week. Trying to squeeze in getting my normal day to day things done amongst all the other things I am doing that also have to be done. I don't see myself having time to cook this week, so I will go ahead and pass that on to someone else, thank you very much!  We plugged in the external hard drive and were watching family videos since we have been married. It was so fun to watch. Brian took the computer away from me though after a while because he said I was going to want to have another baby after watching ours.

There was some truth to that. My babies are some cute babies and I love to go back and think about how they were. My memory sucks and I already forget their sweet baby coo's and giggles. Their chubby cheeks and silly unstable walking. I have made 3 wonderful miracles who I love so very much and I am so blessed to have them. LIFE wouldn't be complete without them, that's for sure. HOWEVER, the thought of having another one makes me cringe. I know that my anxiety came on after I had Courtney. Not that it was her that brought it, cause it wasn't. But just having 3 little people around brought out craziness in my children, and made me a little on edge. I am JUST now learning how to handle my own feelings and anxiety. Maybe one day we would consider bringing another little one in, if that is in the plan... but for now I am just happy and overly content with who we have in our family.

It also helps to have sweet cousins around to come and play and hang out to fill voids I may feel. When Natalie goes off to school we always welcome our little visitors to come and be silly with us!

BIG News around here, The smarty pants Drew. He was in his school's spelling bee and he was determined to win. Well, win he did! It was so hard for me to not be so nervous and scared for each word. I found myself cheering inside when others got their words wrong, and thinking that it was rigged and he was getting the tough words that no one else was getting. I can see how Olympic parents must feel!! I remember laughing at the gymnasts mother for her antics.... I am so sorry I did that. She was just feeling what I am sure I was feeling! And he isn't my son, and it was a spelling bee!! haha Anyway soo exciting for this smart little nephew of mine! I love you Drewy! I could NOT have passed that Bee at all!! I also have to say, the national Spelling Bee on ESPN is one of my favorite things to watch on TV. I know there are a lot more Bee's he has to win to get there, but It would be awesome if he were to get there!!

So it snowed on Christmas and usually here it snows once a year, so I thought that was it! Last week I was SHOCKED to wake up to a white yard! Boots was in heaven and before breakfast, and actually forgoing breakfast, he stayed outside for hours playing in it. Maybe he was meant to live in Canada! Courtney joined him for about an hour, but she got chilly. I don't think he got cold once, just loved being out there. It melted that afternoon, which I am so glad because I really don't have the correct clothing and gear for all of my kids to be in the snow.

It's a good thing she's cute

Courtney is a very sweet little girl. She is rambunctious and loud and hilarious. Always making us smile and laugh at everything she does. Her goal in life is to get her brother and her sister to not be able to stop laughing. It works all the time and Brian and I always join in!


Related, yet unrelated, I have been trying to teach my children to help each other out. Boots is usually the first to give up anything he has to make his sisters happy. Natalie is usually horrible at helping her siblings. And Courtney she's just silly.


Tonight there was a moment that was so sweet to me. The kids were all coloring at the table and Brian and I were in our bedroom hanging some curtains on the windows. Courtney came in and was chatting like she often does. I saw a crayon on the ground and asked her to pick it up and bring it back to the kitchen table. I went on doing something else and forgot that I had asked her to do that. A moment later I noticed that she was vigorously coloring on something. When I looked up I saw that it was all over the door and all over the wall, bright purple crayon!!!! I yelled, I got upset, and then I sent her to her room. Her little tears melt my heart every time, and it's so hard for me to stay mad at her. In fact, I rarely get mad at her. I turned to explain to Brian what had happened when the kids came in and were curious about what the commotion was all about. We both nodded our heads and knew that the day would happen When one of my children what color all over one of our brand-new walls. I got even more frustrated when court turned around to run upstairs and she knocked over my ironing board and iron on her way. It fell to the ground and chipped my wood floors. I was even more frustrated.


Well I decided to go back into our bedroom and help Brian Finish the curtains. All of a sudden I saw Natalie and boots at the door to our bedroom. First they handed Courtney a paper towel and told her to start cleaning. I started to laugh. Courtney started to whimper at how difficult the task was, And realizing that it wasn't coming off. Natalie then showed up next to her with the Lysol wipes. She passed them out to herself and to boots, and they both started to clean the wall and the door. They worked for about five minutes, Side-by-side giggling and switching jobs. They didn't quite get it clean but they worked really hard. It was so sweet to see them pitch in for their baby sister Who didn't know any better. It softened my heart and made a very sweet story for the night.


I love my children. I love my sweet Courtney. I am learning that my children are more important than crayons on the wall. They are more important than hot irons falling on my floor. I have them in my home in my care and I am so blessed. I get to do fun things with them, teach them good things, listen to their prayers, Watch them sweetly interact with each other, and grow together as best friends.


We've had sharpie on microwaves, cupboards, friends walls, and even on faces. I've had melted crayons in cars I've had crayons on walls I've had pen and pencil on most any surface you can think of, And stickers on my car windows that won't come off. These things frustrate me so much, But do they really matter? The answer is no. I hate crayon on my wall but I love Courtney and that is more important. I quickly forgave her and gave her sweet kisses and hugs. Now just to buy that magic eraser!!

Hippity haps

Life just never slows down. I feel like since December it has gotten crazy and not slowed down. I have been nannying for a little boy, 15months old every day since beginning of December. It's amazing how one little added body in your house can change the way life runs. I am already up with Natalie at 650 anyway but he gets here at 730 and its tough!
Then add on to that, I am so close to finishing my school. I am just short of completing my credit hours till I can take my final and get my real estate license. Again, add the stress onto my life.
How do you mothers do it? Have the full time job and are a full time mom? It is hard work. I am looking forward for this season of life to pass, but the key is finding joy in it right now. Working on that...
The WORST part is that I had the flu for 2 entire days last week. I couldn't get out of bed or move at all, unless it was to run to the bathroom. Uh I'm glad that's over and I'm back to normal, that is the worst. Ever. I am so blessed to have a hubby who can be home when I need him to be to help me out. Seriously he's the best.
To go along are Just some random pictures from this week. Nothing special just life. Ipadding in bed, walks in the rain, and just playing... Cause I don't think I've left the house in weeks(it feels like!)

Boots Man

I was giving Brian a hair cut this morning and I always do Boots at the same time. As the girls watched, they each decided they wanted their hair cut too. Natalie wanted bangs, and I added a very small trim since I have NO IDEA what I am doing when it come to girls hair. Last time she had bangs she hated every day of it, so I am hoping this is different because I think they are so cute on her. Courtney took some convincing, but she was sporting such a great mullet, that something needed to be done about that! Here are my 3 fresh faced beauties!!

Yesterday we had Char and Tay over for a princess day. We made crowns, had a tea party, did makeup and watched Cinderella. Boots was a good sport to be the one prince at the party. Yes he picking his nose in this picture, 87% of the time you can catch him doing this. The kid hates stuff in his nose, can you blame him? ha

 

Now, I have a boots-ism to share... He is very particular about a lot of things. One of which is his bed. He hates the flat sheet and insists that I leave it off, So he sleeps with a fitted sheet and then just his minky blanket over top. He also does everything in his bed, included is eating. Every morning he sneaks down to the kitchen and gets a snack and stashes it upstairs until he is allowed to come out of his room (8am he watches his alarm clock so closely and doesn't miss the instant it turns) but because of this, he gets grease marks and crumbs all over his bed. He also cries into his pillow and blows his nose on his pillow when he gets upset. Well it was disgusting the other day and I took the sheets off to change it. He was not happy about the new sheet I had put on his bed but let it slide...until he saw me change the pillowcase. He was ticked. I put him to bed and tossed the dirty ones in the bathroom hamper. Well I went to kiss him before I went to bed and looked in the bathroom first and saw the old fitted sheet laying on the floor...then I looked in his room and saw the new clean pillowcase on the floor, the old one back on the pillow. He was so insistent of what he wanted and he got it. I quickly washed the other stuff and put it back on his bed the next day so he wouldn't have another night without his favorite. haha it made Brian and I chuckle.  

 

I cant seem to get Les Miserable out of my head. I have been to the movie 3 times as of last night and I would see it again tonight if I could. It is by far my new favorite movie of all time. I have been singing the songs non stop, and have them playing around the house all the time. Why do I think that secretly I can sing like a Broadway musical performer? I cant. But even on the 3rd time, I bawled. I think I cried more the 3rd time actually. It is juts so moving! I wont go tonight, I will try to wait until it comes out on DVD, but it will be difficult!

Court court

Courty cakes is our little firecracker.
She is always talking and repeating and never ever stops... Until last week she got sick. She layed around and didn't say much, she didn't move much except to adjust the couch or floor position. Sick kids are so sad and really pathetic. I however, enjoyed tons of cuddles and loves from her droopy little body. I sure love her. I am so grateful for her health and that we are back to normal. We are blessed.

Can the holidays pass without sickness though? I think not! Oh, one sure thing I learned from this experience? She does not take the time to chew her food. She straight up swallows whatever she can as quickly as possible.