Christmas morning...

We had a nice relaxing morning at our house. We opened presents, ate cinnimon rolls, layed around in our new Pj's and then got ready to go to G-ma & G-pa's house. We had a nice day over there and a wonderful dinner. We came home at 6:00 and the kids watched the grinch and then went to bed. Everyone was tired after a long, wonderful day... Now time for the clean up!

Christmas morning...

The kids were beyond excited! It was a great morning!

Santa definatly came to our house...

When Tristin & Daisy woke up at 4:15AM, they came running into our room yelling, "Mom, Dad, Santa came and he left FOOTPRINTS!" I stumbled out of bed to find the kids examining the evidence left behind. They were in complete awe and I watched as they talked back in forth about it. "It must be soot from the chiminey, look, he left a big glob over here." Tristin said.
As they squealed with delight I reminded them that it was really early and to go back to bed for awhile. (Trav & I didn't fall asleep until 2:00 AM)
I heard them talking in their room and they were so excited. Somehow they managed to wait until 6:10, so we got up and the fun began. It was a wonderful Christmas and we were definatly spoiled. Thank you family for making it so great!

Making Gingerbread houses...

I think we ran out of time when G-ma & G-pa came, because usually we make our gingerbread houses with G-ma, but this year we were solo. The kids had fun like always and Willow was in heaven with a tray of candy before her eyes!

Making popcorn...

The kids were so excited to watch the popcorn & then make it!

Christmas Eve...

It was nice to have a relaxing day at home in our pj's with nothing to do except watch Christmas movies and eat pounds of popcorn! it's our new tradition to make carmaled popcorn on Christmas Eve, so after searching all over for a popper, I finally settled on this beauty. Daisy was SO excited in the video to see real popcorn, it's amazing how the microwave has ruined some of their childhood, convincing them it's the only way it's prepared!

Grace and her funny faces... Happy Birthday!!!

I think these are the earliest pitures of Grace I have saved in the computer, and yes, these are Grace, not Willow. Here are a few of her silly faces in honor of her 4th birthday. (I meant to write yesterday, sorry)
I love this girl because:
* she is non predictable. I never know what emotion will surface at any given moment.
* She is passionate about not wanting to clean her room.
*She loves her Daddy and his rock-a-byes at night.
*She actually loves to help fold laundry and make beds!
*she is strong willed.
* She takes her shoes and coat off every single time we get in the car, which means we have to wait for her to put them back on every single time we get while running errands.
*She loves to dance and sing around the house.
*She is funny. A little goofy, and just plain different.
*She loves to do her own "side pony"
* She'll argue every single time I do her hair.
* She will pick the oppisite of anything you say
She loves Primary at church and talks about Sister Fleshman all the time.
*She will pick the oppisite of everything you say choose, or ask her to do.
* She loves her sisters and Brother.
* She loves Taylor swift & Hannah Montana.
* She loves sugar.
* She loves doing homework & going to preschool.
* She loves baking, doing art projects and helping Mom.
* she ADORES bath time still. We LOVE our hot baths together!

Grace makes everyday better, more exciting, more challenging and definatlly rewarding. I love her little spirit that is too big for her body, her attempts at putting make up on and the moments that she hugs me and says, "I love you Mom."
I can't belive that 4 years ago, we were blessed with this little fire ball! I couldn't love her more!

Happy Birthday G-ma Edith & Grace...

Yesterday my sweet girl turned 4, while her G-ma Edith turned 71! We went over last night with Hannah Montana plates & napkins and ate cupcakes and ice cream. We sang and Edith opened a few presents we brought over. The cousins played and danced with the Wii and had a blast. I am so grateful for my Mother in law who has a heart of gold. She is remarkable, loving, full of faith and a true example of selfless service. Happy birthday girls!

Grace feeding her baby...

Yesterday I asked Grace to help me with something and she replied, "Not right now Mom, I'm feeding my baby." When I walked over to see what she was talking about, this is what I found...

Family Pictures...

Sunday mornings are a joy at our house. No matter how prepared or unprepared I am- they are the same. I am never ready, 3 girls need their hair done, food is all over their clean dresses, someone forgets their church bag, I am always angry because I have to repeat myself a thousand times, we are rushing out the door, Grace has blue shoes instead of church shoes, someone has toothpaste smeared on their face, coats are flying, tears are falling and I'm panicked trying to get us out the door on time...
sound familuar???
On Sunday, I wanted to get a picture of everyone before church, so in between the chaous- this is what we got. Nothing super, but at least it's something, right?

Grace the thief...

A few days ago we were at the Dollar Store doing some amazing Christmas shopping with the girls. Later that day I saw Grace playing with an ugly green balloon that I knew I had not purchased. When I asked her about it,I found out that she had stolen it from the store...
So, we had the talk about stealing, she wrote an apology letter to the manager and we put the slobbery balloon in an envelope to return to the store later.
Today was the big day to return and confess with letter and balloon in hand.
The manager was very poilet and listened to Grace quietly admit her wrong doing while hanging her head and trying to hide behind my leg.
The lady told her how proud she was of Grace for doing the right thing. She told her she was very brave and she was very happy she returned the balloon. She also told her stealing wasn't right and she hoped she would never do it again. The manager was perfect! As I was watching it all happen, a lady in the check out line was watching as well and we made eye contact. She gave me that - "You are doing the right thing look" and that's when I started to tear up. We thanked the manager and walked away both glad it was all over.
As I was buckling Willow in the van, the woman from the checkout came over to me and said, " I just had to tell you that you almost made me cry back there. You did the right thing by having her do that. You have to teach them while they are young." I agreed and thanked the woman.
I smiled as we drove away but my heart hurt for Grace too. "Mom, I'm really nervous," she said before we went in. " I know," I told her, "but I'm right here with you."
We talked about how when we make a wrong choice we can make it right by apoligizing and praying for forgiveness. Heavenly Father loves each of us so much and is so forgiving, I'm glad that a ugly green balloon reminded me of that today.

Singing Happy Birthday to Grace...

Birthday madness...

Everytime we have a birthday party, I look around at all the kids and wonder- How in the world do we all fit in this tiny house??? Somehow it all works and they all have a blast. Grace picked a Hannah Montana party, so we had a few rock stars show up for the event. They looked so cute and grown up. I wish we could keep them small for awhile longer.
(Thanks Annikan & Angie for your help. Thanks for hanging out Jen, I'm so glad you stayed!)

Grace's 4th Birthday party...

Grace's birthday is actually on the 22nd, but with a lot of her friends out of town for Christmas, we decided to have it a week early! She waited and waited for months for her Hannah Montana party. She was tickled when she saw the decorations going up and even squealed once with delight. That was all I needed to make it all worth it. The count down began at least a week ago- that's all the girls talked about!
I think she and her 10 little friends had a great time. They played games, danced around the house, ate food, opened presents, colored and then went home on sugar highs dressed in crazy rock star clothes and blue wigs!It was so funny to see some of the outfits- you could tell the outfits the Mom's picked out from the ones the kids choose themselves.
Grace was spoiled with presents and had a great time. I am so glad. I just want my kids to have a special day that is all about them. I want balloons, decorations, food, tons of kids running around and treats. I want them smiling and laughing and having the time of their lives. I want my kids to get excited for thier special day and hopefully remember a tiny bit of it when they are older. I want them to know they are loved and if a bunch of clearanced Hannah Montana birthday stuff does the trick, I am one happy Mama. I love you with all my heart Gracie, Grace. Happy 4th Birthday!

Potty time...

With all my kids, 1 year marks the age that the potty seat comes out and the fun begins. I never expect them to be potty trained in a week, but we sit and make a huge fuss for months and months, so that by the time they are actually ready- they are used to the whole routine. My goal is to have them trained by at least 2 if not sooner, so I have 10 more months. I'm huge into rewarding super behavior, so every time she sits down she gets a chocolate chip! I know it was completely by chance, but she actually went potty while she was sitting there. After she realized there was a connection between sitting for a minute and getting a chocolate chip- she wanted to do it over and over (isn't that the whole point? Love it! Marshmallows work great too!) I say, whatever works!

Aunt Tawnya comes for a visit...

The last time my step sisiter came to visit was almost 8 years ago, so we were all excited when Aunt Tawnya came to Boise! We tried to let her relax a little too, but the girls insisted on seeing her almost every second she was here. Auntie came over for pizza and games, let the kids go swimming at her hotel, ate dinner together Saturday night, went shopping, out for ice cream and had lots of fun.It was really nice to have a little time with her and actually carry on a conversation for more than 10 minutes. I'm really happy she was able to come and relax for the weekend. We love you Aunt Tawnya!!!

Willow's first pig tails!

Even when Willow is dressed in hot pink covered in flowers- people still say, "Oh, he's so cute." Or "How old is he?" Now, I completely agree that she could go either way- but when I have her decked out in 8 shades of pink, I walk away really puzzled. I gave up on flowers in her hair because she just ripped them out, yes, even after gluing them to her head with Elmers. But Tuesday was a huge victory moment. I tried little piggies, and they worked! And she kept them in! (probably because I wrapped those rubberbands about a billion times, they weren't going anywhere!)
Anyway- we thought she looked pretty cute all grown up, so we did them yesterday too!

Annikan's "actual' birthday at Rosie's...

We got together at Rosie's house Tuesday for a Shelf Reliance Party (Which was AMAZING by the way. The food is INCREDIBLE!!!) and then we had a birthday lunch for Annikan- you know because food the night before just wasn't enough! Here are the girl's hanging out watching a movie.