4 Years Old....cue the tears!

Ok so my baby girl Maile decided to grow up over night and now she is a beautiful, outgoing, stubborn and sassy 4 year old little girl. This is the hardest birthday that I have had to to deal with so far, it makes me sad that I will never have those baby years back with her, she is only going to get bigger. But I can say I am thankful for that too. It is so exciting to see her discover herslef and the world around her. Maile is my silly girl who loves to goof around with her Daddy and brother. She also loves to boss her little sisters around and is pretty much at the helm of most destruction around this house. I adore Maile so much, even if I am hard on her. I know she is growing into an amazing person and I feel so lucky to have been blessed with her in my life. Happy Birthday Maile! I love you more than words can describe!

Sisters

For the most part my kids are probably like most kids when it comes to interacting with their siblings. More often than not they are fighting over toys, hitting each other, pulling hair, tattling on each other ect. They do play well together for all of 10 minutes before someone ruins the fun by stealing the others toy or something else to that extreme. With all that said I can honestly say that some days I think it is just hard plain frustrating having three girls (think attitude city) so close together and I don't always handle it well. This all leads me up to the main point of this post. Even with all the fighting, yelling and crying they really do truly love one another and some of the things they do and say prove just that. I love when I hear concern for one of their sisters like, "Maile are you ok?" or "don't worry Betta (Becca)" or "I will get your doggie, Lexi". These little sentiments that I get to hear fill me with love and give me hope that one day they will love each other as much as I love my sisters. I remember when we were kids and then teenagers how much we fought but now I feel so lucky to have such great sisters. I know Maile, Alexis and Rebecca love each other dearly and so I hope I can guide them to show that more often than not.

Our July 4th

I could be repeating myself from last years post but I have to say that the 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays. I just have the most fond memories about this day from my childhood that I get so excited for this day every year. I really hope that my kids will have those same type of memories and be able to pass them on to their kids too. We started the day sweating like crazy, making super long trek to the parade out in Summerlin. (We will get their earlier next year so we can park closer! ) Even though we got there somewhat close to starting time we still got pretty good seats. Nothing like a curb and some sidewalk! Actually is wasn't bad and it was a perfect spot for the kids, they ended up getting tons of treats and were able to run out to see the floats and balloons. I am so glad we decided to skip sleeping in and get up early for the parade because the kids loved it and Zach and I got to hang with our good friends for the morning! Next we headed home for some lunch and a nap. We have to make sure that we have some downtime during the day or else we would never make it for firework time if we didn't! After naps it was time to go to Auntie Lezlie's and Uncle Dustin's for a BBQ. It was delicious! After dinner we loaded up the trucks and headed out to Boulder City for the firework show. We got there at about dusk and the kids were able to run around for a bit and play with some sparklers before the big show started. Last was the grand finale of the night. The firework display was amazing. The best I have ever seen, even better than last years. It is so worth the drive out there because it was perfect! The kids all loved the fireworks and only were "scared" of the loud noises. Overall we had an amazing day. I am so thankful to live in this country that allows me the freedom to make choices. We truly are so lucky to be American! I am also so thankful for all my family and friends who make day's like these so fun. I hope everyone had an amazing day!

Happy Birthday Grandma

Happy Birthday Mom aka Grandma. My mom is pretty awesome so she defiantly deserves to have fun on her birthday and we did just that! Lezlie and Dustin had us all over to celebrate and it turned out great. The kids played and played and so did us big kids. Nothing like a fun game of Taboo. Good food, great company and lots of fun hopefully made this a special day!

Playgroup

What a fun day. Overcast weather, playing all morning, super good lunch, rain on the way home and a long nap! Wish everyday could be this fun!

Daddies are the Best!

Seriously in my house Daddy is the favorite. I love seeing their faces when he walks through the door and how excited everyone is to tell him about our days. They love to follow him around to see what he is doing and they want to be right at his side. It makes me so happy that I married a man who is so devoted to his kids. He would spend every moment of everyday playing with his kids if he had the chance. I love the example of hard work and dedication that he teaches our kids. Zach truly is an amazing Dad! He is everything for our kids that I cannot be and that is what makes our family so great!

So this day was a day for the Daddy of our house! We woke up with a Maile in our bed and without any prompting she tapped her Daddy and told him to have a happy fathers day. It was the sweetest thing I have ever heard only because it was so genuine, she remembered all on her own that is was his day and it was the first thing out of her mouth. So after we woke up and gave Zach his cards it was off to church. It was a great day and Zach got lots and lots of treats to bring home! After church we came home ate lunch and then the kids and I left to go swimming at my Dad's and Zach got to relax all afternoon all by himself. With four kids and busy work this can be the most awesome gift! At my Dad's we just hung out in the pool and the kids got to enjoy their Grandpa who by the way is such a fun Grandpa, my kids are so lucky to have him! Overall this day was a great day and I hope Zach knows just how much I appreciate him in our lives!! Love you honey!

Family Night Out

Saturday night we took the girls to the district to ride the carousal and the trolley. The weather was great, a little warm but still nice and the whole evening turned out to be a lot of fun. I love getting to go out all together as a family and especially when the girls are in such great moods!

Diaper Freedom

Yesterday Zach and I decided that we would not be spending any more money on diapers. Lexi and Becca are now proud members of the big girl world where they get to wear awesome underwear. We took them to Wally Mart and let them pick out some new panties and I also picked up the frog potty that will be for emergencies in the car. They went all night without any accidents and even woke up dry. They also went to nursery today and had no problems! Becca had her first accident right after we got home from church, and then another tonight but at least Lexi is going strong. (I kind of knew it would happen this way, Lexi has always shown more interest in potty training) All I know is that no matter what I refuse to give in and buy diapers. I can say though that I am so proud of my babies...or big girls. They are getting so big right before my very eyes and I am excited but very sad at the same time!

Soccer Champs!

Last night was my final soccer game of the spring season and it was for the championship in our bracket. We won!! After a really rough start this season, 3 losses and 1 tie we turned things around to win every game after that. I think it just took a few games for us to get to know each other's playing style's and now we got it down! Soccer has been a really great outlet for me to relieve some of the stresses of every day life. I always look forward to our games on Thursday night! Only thing I realized last night after I was laid out on the floor with the wind knocked out of me and my neck and ribs in pain was that I need to calm down just slightly, I am a mom now and can't afford to really injure myself. Next season starts in one week and I can't wait!

Fun Friday and Saturday

This Friday was pretty awesome. First my Mom came and picked up Maile, she was going to be spending the night with her. Next, my step mom Marj came and picked up the twins for their sleepover. Finally Zach and Zachary got on the road to go to their father and son camp out. And then I was all alone. I really didn't know what to do with myself so I ended up just relaxing and enjoying not having to do all the usual routines. I ended up sleeping really poorly, every noise made me jump but it was defiantly worth the hours I got to myself!

So, Zach took Zachary to the father and son camp out, late but none the less. They had a good time sleeping in the car and then they got to go canoeing and all that fun stuff. Zach took the camera and I was hoping to get at least one good picture of them but to no avail I got about 250 pictures of Hoover Dam and the surrounding scenery and a couple of other peoples kids but not a single picture of Zachary.....MEN!!!

So while every one was away my good friend Danielle, her husband and I all took part in the New Nevada 5k race in North Las Vegas on Sat. morning. It was a pretty fun run and the weather was great. I beat out my last 5k time by about 40 seconds coming in at 26:20. I placed 42 overall and took home second place in my age group. After taking a few weeks off from running I am re motivated to get back into it. Something about finishing a race just makes me want to do it again and again! Next race July 4th. Now I just have to actually train so I can shave off more time!
After the race I got to come home and spend more time by myself and then Zach came home and we both got in a good nap before our Cowgirls came home. First Lexi and Becca came home and yes they were spoiled the whole time they were away. They got to go to Ihop for breakfast, the district for crafts, and finally to a movie. Next, Maile came home a few hours later. She got to go watch Auntie Sam's school play and then went to Ice cream with Grandma Liza, Great Grandma Renee, Aunt Lezlie, Aunt Sam and Leila. What a lucky girl!! I am so, so thankful for the time that our kids get to spend with their Grandparents, so thank you for being such a huge part of their lives!!

Summer Lovin

Just one of the reasons we love summer!!

Tan Lines

Well it is officially summer, you can tell because my Hawaiian children are tanner than tan already after only a few trips to the pool. I am only slightly jealous. The rec. center pools are not open yet be we are fortunate enough to have some really awesome friends who let us come swim at their pools. Thank you of course! It seems like my girls are going to have to take some time to get used to pools again, they are a bit timid when it comes to getting in the water, but then again it could be that the water is freezing, but any case I really hope they get more into it as time passes. I know I have been enjoying myself but I am just exhausted as the girls at the end of the day! Did I mention my housework has been slacking majorly?? I am going to use the summer as an excuse. Yay summer!!! PS: Shea and Zoie wish you were here the day I finally brought my camera! Get well...now!!

A Decade of Experience

I know this post is way late but I feel like I haven't really had the time to upload pictures. Anyhow...Zachary is 10! It is crazy, it feels like just yesterday that he was 5 and I was introduced into his life. Now he is a young man who is so smart and sweet. No longer a little boy, but a big brother that I can count on to always lend a hand. So this year was a non-party year, meaning we just keep it small and have some family over for cake and ice cream. We really ended up having a good time, it was fun just being able to hang out and play games! We love you Zachary!!