January in iPhone Pics

I took actual camera pictures one day this month.  The first.  Thank goodness I pull out my iPhone to take pictures daily so I at least have some recollection of what happened this month. 


This month Alexis lost the very first tooth of all the girls. Boy oh boy was Maile ticked. Daddy offered to loosen one of hers up, she wasn't too keen on that. Alexis on the other hand was thrilled, especially since the tooth fairy pays well for the first tooth! I took this pic of her on a day she stayed home sick, the hair looks lovely!

Speaking of crazy hair, the school actually did something fun for the kids and had a crazy hair day. I like controlled crazy, so this was what we came up with.

Zach and I actually went out for a date night. We ate out and then ended up watching a movie on the couch...party animals I tell ya! It was nice spending time with the hubster and not having to wake up at the crack of dawn to feed kids...thanks Mom for taking the kids!

This month I decided each kid needs some serious one on one time so Maile got to go first and she jogged up the Mountain's Edge hill with me. According to her it was the best day ever...mission accomplished I would say.



Last but not least if you have not been living in a hole that past month you have had to have seen the amazing sunrises and sunsets that we have been blessed with this month. And yes I can now say that I have watched the sunrise for 3 weeks now!

Hope everyone had a happy January!

New Years Eve

Since Zach and I have been together New Years has always been pretty low key, usually getting together with friends and letting the kids run around and play.  This year was no different, our friends brought their kids over, we grilled some food, did some leftover fireworks and sparklers from the 4th of July, had some dessert, did our New Years toast at about 10:45 and Zach and I were sound asleep by midnight.

Are we lame or what!  The party part is fun and we really have been gearing these parties to our young children but the fact that someone calls at midnight and it wakes me up is pretty darn geriatric if you ask me.  There is logic to this, we always are up pretty early on New Years day so we can get out to the mountains in enough time to get decent parking. The extra sleep is good but I am thinking next year we will just have to pull a card from our high school days and skip the sleep for a bit of excitement! We shall see how that works out! Anyhow here are some pics of our knee slapping good time!

Christmas...

...it was here and now its gone, just the way I like it.  I always have so much anticipation for the holiday season and  I love the warm feelings I get during this season, but I always love when it is over . 

Christmas eve we headed to my sisters where we celebrated with a full house of family and friends.  The best part of the evening by far was the food, our traditional Italian spread was delish as usual.
  

By the end of the night my pretty girls were tired and ready to sleep and "Santa" got to work putting together the trampoline. (Never again, might I add)

Christmas day started nice and early.  The girls loved their Santa presents spent the entire morning playing with Daddy on the tramp while Mommy got in a much needed nap.

That afternoon we headed to my Mom's for a huge Christmas dinner.  It was so special getting to spend our first Christmas in my mom's new home. 

The only part about Christmas that was missing was Zachary.  He spent the Holiday with his Mom and her family in California.  He had a good time and didn't mind coming home to a pile of presents to open!

Pretty December Weather

Today we went to the park and it was absolutely beautiful outside.  One reason I can stand living through our extremely hot summers is I know the winter will be mild and we will get to have days like we had today at the park.  I met up with my sister and her kids and we tossed the football, played some soccer and just took in the outside air.  Hopefully the weather stays nice like this for a while so we can go have some more fun at the park!  The pics are from my iPhone so excuse the quality!

Is Santa Real?

My girls have been questioning the validity of Santa the past few weeks so we took a trip over to the Bass Pro shops to pay him a visit. Just when I thought I got them back to believing Santa breaks character right in front of my kids!  He started talking about his kids to me and my kids sure looked puzzled. In the car on the way home Maile says "I didn't know Santa had kids?!"  Apparently neither did I but I was able to throw them off by talking about North Pole Elementary School and how that must be where his kids go to school.  Anyhow, with no help from Santa it seems I have little believers once again and hopefully all is well until they are a little older.
 

Natty Is 15 Months

Well my little SILLY Natty is getting so big, I am a bit sad but everything she is doing right now is just so dang cute I cannot complain.
Right now Natalie is huge into imitating her big sisters.  She knows how to push the stool to the sink to brush teeth, she sits and does homework with them, she wants them to help her accessorize, she knows how to throw a fit like them and the list goes on and on.
Over the past month or so Natalie has really started talking she has added be-beh for Becca, Bu for bus, uh oh, ya for yes and she is still signing please and all done. 
Natalie currently has two top and two bottom teeth and is getting a few more random ones right now...a molar and one of the bottom ones next to the ones she already has.
Natalie who used to be my great eater had decided to be a bit more picky, she still will eat good but I can only feed her certain things now.  Of course fruit is a favorite and she also loves soup.
There are some pretty cute things she does that I don't want to forget so I am going to get in down on this blog...
-Lately when I ask Nat to look at the camera she just scrunches up her face.
- If Natalie wants something on a counter she will get something for her to step up on.
- Natalie goes down the stairs on her butt in a worm like motion hitting the back of her head on every step...we really need to help her find a better way.
-Natalie likes to hoard her paci's...she had three when I got her from her nap today, one in her mouth and one in each hand. 
-Natalie likes to wave hi to everybody we see at the school, and she likes to give random people hugs.
- Natalie is my exercise partner, she will get one of my three pound weights and lift it if she sees me doing it.
-Natalie loves to dance and sing.  Any time she hears any music she is dancing and I caught her blah blah blahing along with the words too.
-Natalie is funny.  She has some serious comedic timing and thinks she is pretty funny too.  Out of all my kids I am pretty sure she was blessed with the best sense of humor.  Ever since I can remember she has tried to make us laugh. 

I am having so much fun spending time with Natalie while the girls are at school.  I feel so fortunate to have her in our family, she was the perfect last child and everyone in this family is so thankful for what she has brought to our family!

Thanksgiving

We spent this Thanksgiving with Zach's brother and his family.  Nick and Rochelle cooked up a huge feast for us and it was very yummy! It was a nice evening and I missed seeing my family but it was nice not having to jump from location to location. 

During the past few weeks surrounding Thanksgiving I have been trying to teach my kids how to express gratitude. I would ask them what they were grateful for and they would respond with something I would expect 6 and 5 year old to say.  What is hard is trying to help them understand that it is not just the big things we need to be thankful for.  This is defiantly going to have to be a work in progress and not one that we approach once a year, but every day.

I realize I must be the example and show much more gratitude in my everyday attitude, I know I spend way too much time stressing about silly stuff when I should just be thankful for all that I have which is so much!

I am thankful for my husband.  Good times, bad times, I know he loves me no matter what and that is all that matters.

I am thankful for my children.  They make me a better person each and every day.  I love learning from them and I love teaching them and I only wish I could be on my A game for them everyday!

I am thankful for my family.  Did I ever get lucky to have such supportive people to call my family.  I am truly blessed for all they do.

I am thankful for my friends.  I have amazing friends.  Such strong, amazing moms who set such good examples for me everyday!

I am thankful for school.  Not only do I love seeing my children learning I am also so grateful for the opportunity to go back to school myself.

Things are not always easy but by taking a minute to jot this stuff down, I realize just how lucky I am!

Proud

My Mom has spent her entire life taking care of people.  She is a giver and would give you the shirt off her back if you needed it.  A few years ago she decided that she was going back to school.  Mind you she still had a full time job, was a full time Mom to my sister Samantha and still managed to fulfill all her Grandma duties of spoiling the Grandbabies.  I am so amazed by her determination to finish and so proud that as of Monday she is officially an RN at UMC in the Labor and Delivery Department.  I foresee many good things in the future for my Mom and she has been and still is who I look up to everyday!

In May my Aunt Susan threw my mom a huge party for her graduation and my sister's and I put together a pretty cool desert table for the occasion. 

My Mom got exactly the job she wanted...it was worth the wait!!!

Halloween Festivities

My four girls all dressed up in their costumes for the school trunk or treat. They were really excited to finally get to dress up, and of course get their first candy of the Halloween season.

Natalie was so stinking cute in her fairy costume. She was twirling around in circles, it was adorable!

Next was Trunk or Treat for our ward. I love seeing all the costumes that the kids are in, there are some seriously creative and talented women in the ward and they always impress with their costumes. It was a fun night except when Maile got lost. That was just scary, good thing for the awesome Missionaries who found her and brought her to us. She went to the car when she couldn't find us. Smart girl. Hopefully I will get some pictures of actual Halloween soon, I was in such a rush I forgot my camera, so now I just have to wait to get some from my mom and sister. To be continued....

Happy Baby

This is the face of a happy, not teething, not sick Natalie.  I miss this face.  I hate teething and sickness.  I miss my fun baby.  I miss sleep too. Here's to hoping she feels better soon. 

Pumpkin Patch 2011

We love the pumpkin patch. It is always a good time, I love seeing all the kids run around and have fun together.  It is also fun looking back at previous years pumpkin patch pictures and seeing how our group has grown!  I am pretty sure we are at a final count of 14 kids between our three families.  Such a cute group of kids we have!

My kids know the drill.  Sit for pictures, smile nice and then and only then will you get your ride tickets.  It's a system that works pretty good, I am not allowed to ask them to be still for pictures after that.  So all we get are the goofy ride pictures that Daddy takes a hundred of.

 Natalie was loving the pumpkin patch.  She was dancing, picking up pumpkins, riding the rides and of course waving to everyone!  I am pretty sure Zach and I are smitten with this one right now!

Always a good time!  And a post about the pumpkin patch wouldn't be complete without a shout out the Mommies who make all this fun happen year after year! Thank you ladies for always being game to have fun!

School Photos

 Maile

 Alexis

Rebecca

Happy 30th Lezlie

Birthday Girl Lezlie, Me, Anna Bananna 

My older sister turned 30 this year, very exciting except for the fact that it means I will be 30 next year.  I got a chance to hang out with my sister two nights in a row first night to see a movie and the second night to hit up the town.  I was really dreading going out, (don't really like dressing up right now) but of course I would do anything for my sister.  So after a late, late dinner we went dancing/clubbing.  It was fun even though I was so out of my element.  Of course my sly sister sweet talked the bouncer and our whole group got in free and then to our surprise we got an impromptu concert by none other than LL Cool J himself.  I am not a huge fan but my dear husband grew up listening to him so I knew I had to get some video for him. It was exciting, we happened to be at the right place at the right time and were in the front row of where the stage was.  At one point he pointed to around where I was standing and told us to come on stage, I didn't want to but apparently he gets what he wants because the bouncer I was next to yanked me up with a bunch of other girls my baby sister included.  Even though I really didn't want to be up there but I took advantage of the situation and  after he was done performing I tapped on his shoulder got a hug and some video of me and him (all for Zach of course) :).  Needless to say I had a really fun time with my two sisters and it was fun showing Zach the pics/video's of LL when we got home.  He thought it was pretty cool even though I woke him up at 4 am.  You probably won't catch me out at a club for a long time, if ever again,  but I can say I love hanging out with my two sisters. 

Me (dork), LL

Springs Preserve

I just found these pictures on Zach's phone and am so glad he got some of this day.  It was a rare day that daddy was home and able to do something fun with us.  It was our first time at Springs Preserve and I had no idea all the fun stuff it had for kids to do.  We had a really great time and the weather was perfect. 

Grandma Fayeannette

Zach's mom was came down from Sacramento two weekends ago for a visit.  The kids adore Grandma Faryeannette and she sure knows how to spoil them. Nothing like a trip to target to pick out a toy to get a bunch of kids excited! (9 kids...it was pretty crazy!)  This trip I got to spend extra time with Grandma Faye and we really had fun together!  We look forward to another Grandma visit, the kids love having her here and it brings Zach's brother and his family closer since they come over the whole time she is here.  The kids were loving all the time they got to spend with their cousins.

I have been longing for another cloudy day like this...

Birthday for Two!

Alexis and Rebecca had their 5th birthday about two weeks ago. On their actual birthday I took cupcakes into their lunch at school, we all went to the park and then Aunt Susan came over with presents and helped us sing happy birthday to the girls.

Friday was finally their PJ sleepover party that they have been asking for since last year. It was CrAzY with about 18 kids aged 1 year up to 12 but it was so much fun. We danced, played, ate tons of treats and then calmed down (kinda) and watched a movie while we waited for parents to come. The girls looked so happy the whole time that I am so glad we did it and I will say it went pretty well for having so many kids!

The Birthday Girls

Auntie Amanda, Auntie Sam, Paige, and Grandma (the best helpers ever!!)

The kids, Chloe, Alexis, Rebecca, Illiana, Seth, Alex, Aidan, Lennox, Natalie, Lailie, Jacob, Josie, Maile, Leila, Cooper and Urijah!

Party Time

 Natalie had a small little family party last night and she sure had fun. She played and played with all her cousins, ate some bundt cake and opened some presents.