Lesson learned..

The other morning while Kylee and Craig were at school, Ainslee made this sign, all by herself, for the Wii. Craig, if not supervised, has a tendency to hog the Wii and Kylee likes to be in charge of who goes next. I think Ainslee finally had just had enough! Funny, coming from her, since this is something she also needs to work on. And to think I need to remind her about sharing her things! Oh, the lessons they learn when we think they aren't listening!

New Photos, Finally!

Yes, I finally attempted to update my own children's photos! We got a couple of decent ones even as windy as it was. The last two times I planned to do it, it rained! Wind, however, did not stop us this time. Thanks to Jen for the AWESOME do's on my kids! She is AMAZING at hair!

(I am still working on posting photos to my last post.)

Blog reader vs. Blog poster

So, my inspiring cousin who is blogging daily while in the Ukraine adopting her son is able to blog daily and her posts are so fun to read. Even when she thinks she has nothing eventful to blog about I find her posts incredibly entertaining! I on the other hand have decided that I enjoy reading her blog and other people's blogs more than I do posting. Not that we haven't had things going on around here, or pictures to prove it. I feel like what I post with those photos should be worth reading. So for my own journaling purposes this is what has been going on the last little while. Feel free to skip the boring parts. (photos to be posted later) Kylee, Ainslee, and Brynlee are still all in dance and have a recital coming up. Craig started baseball and LOVES it. Stephanie, you'll be happy to know that he is once again a Dodger. Kylee's school choir sang at the choir festival at Tuachan. My sweet friend, Stephanie, came to visit me for "5" minutes last week, and I loved every minute of it. Ainslee had an Easter egg hunt at school. We had an Easter egg hunt in the rain at the park. (By the way, Des, it was AWESOME!) The Easter bunny came to visit. Craig had a birthday and turned 7. Brynlee's new favorite song is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and she can sing all of the words. (Better than Hot n Cold which she was singing prior!) Her new favorite book is Brown Bear, Brown Bear, which she can also recite. Just the day-to-day stuff! Life is good!

Tagged...

Instructions: Go to your picture file, go to your 6th folder and post the 6th picture and explain!

This picture may seem silly, but this is where Paul and I were last year for our anniversary(which is tomorrow). We had lunch there the day after we arrived in paradise. Oh, how I wish I was in Hawaii right now!

I tag: Alisha, Andi, Andrea, Christi, Desi, Jen, Jennie, Jessica, Kathy, Lindsay, Lisa, Melody, Mindy, Stephanie, and Tammi!

Really?

So, I just had to post this little story, so that I can remember cracking up trying to picture my cute husband losing it! Last night we watched this show called "What would you do?" They set up certain situations to see how people on the street react. This particular episode, they left a "baby" in a locked hot car parked on a street with a bunch of little shops. People reacted, some more than others, some not at all. The "mother" came out from one of the stores and got an earful. She said she did this all of the time and she could see her baby from where she was at. People got angry, even more so when she walked away from the situation to another store. Then the people were let in that they were just actors. I asked Paul what he would do. He said that he would break the window open with a brick and then call the police. SO, today, he calls me after going to the bank. He tells me that he pulls up next to this car. He gets out of the car and sees that there is a 2 year old in the car alone! The windows were rolled down and the car is running! NO MOTHER! The mother is in the bank! Paul goes into the bank and flips out! He yells "Who left their baby alone in the car?" This woman pipes up and says "I did. I do it all of the time. I can see him just fine."(Which I don't get, since you have to go through 2 double doors to get into the bank and the teller windows are further inside) What an idiot! Paul yells at her that even if she could see the baby, if someone were to jump in the car, she would never see that baby again, because she wouldn't be able to get there fast enough. He follows her out to the parking lot and proceeds to tell her anyone could just hop in the car and take her baby, she shouldn't be a mother, etc., etc. and she drives away. He was so shaken up! I could hear it in his voice. He wishes he would have called the cops. I was laughing a little when he called me, even though it's not funny, mostly in disbelief that someone could be so ignorant, but mostly because I was trying to picture Paul standing in the middle of the bank yelling at this lady in front of everyone. I also couldn't believe this happened after just watching that show. Paul said he didn't want to be one of the ones that didn't respond. He responded all right! He was so upset he couldn't even count correctly when he was trying to make a deposit! I am so proud of him though! What would you do?

Super Scholar Kids!

Last month Craig was awarded the super scholar award from his class. Yesterday, Kylee was awarded the super scholar award from her class. I am so proud of them both! I love their desire to learn and do their best! Maybe I should start handing out awards at home for super cleaner! Just a thought.

To Blog or Not to Blog...

When I originally started blogging, I did it so that I could feel that I was doing a better job of keeping some sort of journal. I intended to do it at least every week. Well, I do a better job of blog stalking other people's blogs than I do posting on my own. So there goes that idea! I blog as good as I keep a journal. I guess I get distracted rather easily, wanting to keep up on what's going on with those I love. So, I don't really feel it's a waste of time. I am going to try to better at posting something, so I can look back at my blogs and not have the same feelings when I look back at missing pages of my journal. (The first few days of the year there's something; it's the rest of the year the pages are blank!) I also feel that I have to post some photo, which obviously is not the law, just in my mind! So if what I write is boring, maybe that's how my week was. But I will blog on!
This past couple of weeks was normal day to day stuff. We did attend Paul's cousin's wedding and that was fun for him to see some of the family from his side. I am so glad I married my best friend. We cherish the little time we get to spend together. I love him as much if not more that the day I married him!
The big event was that Brynlee, who has been perfectly capable of being potty trained, decided that she wanted to be! All of the time! I just let her decide on her own that diapers are gross, (not to mention, expensive) and that she is a big girl. Yippee! She wants to do what the older kids are doing. She is such a ham and will do anything to make you laugh! She knows what she wants when she wants it and will tell you. She has the most infectious laugh and I just love her so much!

Kylee is still going to dance class, and should be in an acting class for as dramatic as she is! What will I do when she is a teenager? I love her to death though. She is such a great help and is very responsible when it comes right down to it. She is so smart and a lot of fun!. She is preparing a talent for activity days. She loves to be with her friends but also with her siblings who she takes such good care of.

Craig is the sweetest, kindest, most mellow child ever! He is so good to his sisters! Brynlee loves him and Ainslee and he are the best of friends. For Kylee's talent show, I asked if she was going to dance, and Craig sincerely said, "She should sing, she has a great voice". (Which was a very kind thing to say.) He also cracks us up with some of the things he says. We were eating ribs for dinner one night this week and he asked if ribs were made from humans or animals! He is so funny. He brings the trash cans up without being asked and is just so willing to do what is asked, especially if it earns him time on his DS. He'd play 24/7 if allowed. He keeps the balance in our family with 3 girls! I just love his guts out!

Ainslee has been not feeling so well. She has had a fever and this nagging cough for a couple of days. I have a doctor's apppointment scheduled for Wednesday for a routine well check and I will have the doctor check her tonsils. They are really big, and she really struggles sometimes, even when she is feeling well to breathe at night. I don't know if this is a contributing factor, but we'll see. I hate seeing her feel so yucky! I absolutely love and adore her. She is so bright and full of life! So when she's down it makes me so sad! She keeps everyone in order. She always knows whose turn it is for prayer and gives the best prayers. Sometimes I need them the most with her!

I know this post is going on and on, but I want to remember these little tidbits in my kids' lives because they grow up so fast. I love my husband and kids so much! I just don't want to forget!

Kiss me under the mistletoe...

So Jen and I had this great idea to do photos of Brynlee and Gabe under the mistletoe (for their picture montage at their wedding reception). I knew exactly in my head how I wanted it to go but Gabe and Brynlee had other ideas. Needless to say, it wasn't what I had planned. Maybe better luck next year. They are still so cute together!

Happy Birthday Cuz!

Happy Birthday to my closest cousin, Wendy! I just wanted to wish her the best day ever because she is one of the most incredible people you could ever know! I am so grateful to have her in my life! I have always looked up to her since I can remember. I have always wanted to be like her growing up. She is like the older sister I never had. She is such a great example to me as a wife and mother, and for SO many other reasons. Not to be all mushy, but she is one of the most beautiful, sweetest, kindest, most caring, and fun people I know. She is truly special to me, and always make you feel special. She is full of life and deserves the happiest birthday ever! Happy birthday, cuz! Love ya bunches!

Balloons

I am posting this photo for Steph, who wanted to see the balloons Santa leaves. As a family tradition, Santa not only leaves presents, but leaves red, white, and green balloons EVERYWHERE! You have to wade through the sea of balloons to get to the goods. The kids love it, the mom, not so much. It's better now that the kids are older, and I don't worry about a baby choking on a popped balloon. It does make it more festive! It's the one thing Paul remembers as a child during Christmas. And Santa is about making everyone happy. So he leaves anywhere from 100-300 balloons, depending on how tired he is delivering all of those gifts. The Easter bunny leaves them, too. My favorite part is the kids helping clean up and racing to see who can pop the most! Balloons, balloons, everywhere! So fun! :)