Bed Time

We love summer at our house.

Generally at bed time we can be found in the back yard doing things like this

and this

and posing for a cute picture like this

or this

{I love how Emy is looking up at her daddy...so cute!!}

or we can be found helping Daddy screw in some screws on the back steps 

{did you notice his awesome tan lines...nope those aren't socks!}

I love summer nights and I am already getting bummed out that school is going to start this month. 

What are we going to do when we have to start enforcing bed time again?

This went a lot better in his head

Friday while I was feeding Jursey I could hear Bridger yelling for Macie to go get Mom.  She kept telling him "no, you go get her".  Then he began screaming at her to go get Mom, he sounded a little paniced, so I peeked out the window and this is what I found.

We are building a play house in the back yard (it is a work in progress) and he decided to make a slide with some extra wood.  I was laughing so hard when I found him out there, but I had to turn back around and go get the camera to take some pictures before I could get him down.  I just thought it was too funny to pass up, and this will be a good way to remember how funny it was.

This was our conversation when I got out there:

Me:  Haven't we told you not to do that before?

Bridger: (With a smirk on his face and hanging his head down) Yea

Me:  Now do you know why we told you not to do that?

Bridger: (Still hanging his head down, but starting to laugh) Yea

Me: Will you listen next time?

Bridger: Yea

Lesson Learned?

Probably Not...as you can tell he isn't the greatest at listening to us.

Oh well though...He is great at keeping us entertained!

Bridger's 8th Birthday

(you got a bike for your present)

Dear Bridger,
You are such a good boy and a great helper.  You are a little bit out numbered with so many little sisters but you never complain about it.  You let Macie go just about any where with you and you (generally) are more than happy to let her come along.
You love to tell stories, and we are working on reminding you to start your story with "What if this happened..." instead of  "Do you know what just happened..."  You have such a big imagination and I love to hear your stories.
You love going to work with your dad, and he loves having you there too.  He can't wait until you are bigger and he can really put you to work! 
You are so good at reminding me all the things I need to do, because unfortunately I am so forgetful!  Any time I need to remember to do something I tell you, and sure enough you always remember to let me know in time. 
You are love the idea of becoming a boy scout and so far have loved everything that you have attended...I think you like getting out of our house of girls! 
I miss you when you are gone because you are fun to talk to and are such a good help to me. 
Just a few months ago you asked me to read part of my journal to you and you sat with me in the chair and I read to you all about how daddy and I started dating and got married and about all of you kids.  You sat with me for a good hour while I cried reading to you the most wonderful things that have happened to us as a family, and you sat there with your hand in mine and soaked up every minute of it and kept asking me if I was doing okay as I was reading with tears streaming down my face.  I loved that day and still get teary eyed when I think of how special it was for me to know that you wanted to hear all those stories. 
I love how all day long when ever you walk past me you say "I love you".  I seriously think you say this a good 20 times a day and I love that.  I hope you will still say this all the time when you are bigger...it is okay if you don't want to do it when your friends are over, but I still hope you will say to me all the time. 
I love you so much and I am so glad that all my sweet little girls have such a good big brother to look up to and protect them.  I had two brothers that looked after me and protected me and I am so glad that my little girls have you.
Happy Birtdhday Bud!  I love you!!

As a side note:

I am so proud of you that you made the decision to be baptized.  You were baptized by your dad on June 5th. 

Right vs. White

This morning Bridger and Macie were arguing over if Paisley could eat a cookie.  Bridger was saying it was too big and Macie was saying it would be just fine to give it to her.  Bridger was standing by me and said that it was too big, and don't give it too her, and then I tapped Bridger and said, "you are right".  So he yelled out to Macie, "Mom said don't give it too her, and I'm white". 

I just giggled, and said, "no, you are right" and he said (as he is touching the skin on his arm) "I am too white"

Funny kids!  They make me smile every day.

The other day while Emy and Macie were taking a bath, I asked them what color their hands were.  They held them out and said brown.  I asked them what color my hands were and they both said peach.  Then I told them to turn their hands over (palm side up) and tell me what color they are.  As they were turning them over they both yelled out brown, and I said nope, look again.  Emy got the cutest look on her face and said, "they are peach just like yours!"  Then I showed them the bottoms of their feet, and that they are like mine too.  Emy has been facinated by this ever since.  I catch her looking at her hands and turning them over and over, with a cute little smile on her face...like she is magic! 

Priceless!

On another good note, as you can tell by the picture, my sweet little Emy is potty trained!!!  Yeah!    She has been for about 5 weeks, it is so nice!   But before too long I will have two in diapers again, I will enjoy it until then though.

And these are my other two loves...

Silly Kids

I braided Macie's hair in two french braids and then she wanted a flower in it. So I twisted one of Paisley's headbands up (really tight) at the back of her head, so all that was showing was the cute flower. Then I sent her to school. Thinking she looked so cute...

This was how she came home...still a cute little girl...but not so much a cute hairdo.



On another note:

Last night as we were sitting down to read scriptures, Jay started to talk to Bridger about faith.  Briefly explaining was faith was, and how we haven't seen Heavenly Father but we have faith in him and believe in him. 
Bridger then proceeded to tell Jay that we believe in Fatan too.  Jay said do you mean fate?  Bridger said "no, that one guy with horns---we believe he is real too." 
We had a good laugh and let him know that he meant to say Satan, and yes he is real, but we don't believe what he teaches.



**ONLY 12 MORE DAYS UNTIL WE FIND OUT IF WE ARE HAVING A
BABY BOY OR A GIRL**
...just in case you were wondering

Back To School

So the other day while I was sitting at the chiropractor I was reading an article about how to get your children to talk about their day at school. I thought it was really interesting and felt bad that I hadn't asked Bridger more questions earlier that day when he got home. So I decided I would try it out on him the next afternoon. It when a little like this:

Me: {remembering the wording in the article} So tell me three things about your day {this is suppossed to get them to "really" talk and open up}

Bridger: Why?

Me: {sad, thinking stupid article} because I want to know

Bridger: Uh, I don't know

Me: {remembering the next thing the article said to ask} tell me your favorite part of the day

Bridger: Recess

Me: Well, what did you like about school {putting a lot of emphasis on the word "school"}

Bridger: I already told you...recess {then off he ran to a more exciting place, probably thinking what is with my mom!!}


Oh the joys of communication!

Macie gets home soon...we will see how this little article works on her (today is her first day back at pre-school).

 

Macie's interview update:

Me: How was school?

Macie:.......

Me: Tell me three things you did today?

Macie: Nothin'

Me: You didn't do anything?

Macie: Oh, I know, I picked up, came home and rode the bus

Me: Good Job Mace! That was three things! Did you do anything else?

Macie: Nope.

Chocolate Milk...MMMMM

The kids made their own chocolate milk the other night and this was the end result.

Things I've Learned This Summer

So far this summer I have learned that:

1. I can successfully take all four kids some where by myself and not want to pretend they belong to someone else. They have all grown up so much over the last few months and they are turning in to great listeners...some are already great listeners (Macie), some are evolving (Bridger), and some are still in their own little world (Emy), and sweet little Paisley is just along for the ride.

2. Flip flops are now called floppers. We bought the kids all some flip flops and any time we would ask them to go put on their shoes Emy would tell everyone to put on their "flip flop floppers" and soon it just turned into to floppers. Now all of us, parents included, call their shoes floppers.

3. I have learned that even though twisting Macie's hair is super cute, it isn't a permanent hair do. This I should have known better, but I twisted her hair the week before Easter (all week long too...might I add). Once we do this to her hair she won't let me touch it for a good couple of weeks...I can't blame her though, it takes forever. Well I left it in too long (way too long), and when we finally took it out it took about 2 hours. She hated it (and me) by the time I was done.

4. I have been reminded of my love for yard work. We didn't do anything with our yard (weeds) last year and this year we have finally started. We have our front flower beds in and lots of trees in the back yard. We had two dump loads of gigantic bolders dumped in our back yard, so our next plan is to put those all in place and mix several truck loads of soil pep in our flower beds in the back yard (that makes weeding so much easier). Then one day we will work on putting in the grass! Hopefully sooner than later!

5. I have found that I look foward to Wednesdays. This is the day Jay and I mow lawns all day long (we are up to 34 lawns now). It is actually nice to get outside all day and not worry about my little kids running in the road or falling off of something or running inside to go potty (the kids not me...well, sometimes me) or fixing food all day long (I swear my little kids eat all the time). It is just nice to listen to my music and think without interuptions. Then when I am all done, it is so fun to see how excited my kids are when I get to Grandma's to pick them up.

6. I have learned that the anticipation of waiting for my garden to grow is sometimes hard to stand. I am so excited to see how it will turn out. I wish that a few months ago I had learned about square foot gardening (thanks Jodi for the info), but that will have to wait till next year.

It has been a great summer so far and hopefully I will continue to learn new things each day. I love my little kids so much and each day I am reminded how lucky I am to be their mom. They are so fun and make me laugh all the time.

Another Milestone

Bridger turned 7 years old yesterday. It is hard to believe that we have a seven year old!! He was so cute this year. All he wanted for his birthday was to go to Leo's. Jay and I mowed lawns all day yesterday (that's right 32 lawns in all...so yes...all day) so we took him to Leo's tonight. It was pretty fun. He loved the arcade, and so did his dad!

All in all it was a fun night for all of us. Bridger has wanted to go there for so long and we kept putting it off, so he was so happy for today to arrive. He was such a trooper yesterday with us being gone mowing lawns. He was totally fine hanging out at Grandma's. When we got done mowing lawns Uncle Kirk and bought Chinese (one of Bridger's favorites) and a birthday cake so we had a little birthday dinner and cake with all of them. Bridger was thrilled, and I was glad that he has so many people that love him and wanted to make sure he got spoiled that day. We have a cake to fix for him too, but we will probably do it this weekend.

He even got a really fun present from his aunt Robin...she gave him a new cousin! She had baby boy #5 on his birthday. Bridger was pretty excited that they share a birthday. He also shares his birthday with his great grandpa Judy.

He is such a good little guy and we are so proud of him. He is a hard worker (when he chooses to be) and love to make people smile. He loves to talk and talk and talk and has a very hard time when we challenge him with the quiet game, it is pretty funny to watch him try to be quiet for very long! You would think with all his sisters that he would maybe be a little girly, but instead he has his sisters playing with guns and power rangers. He is such a good big brother and we are so proud of him and happy to have him in our family. He loves music and loves to dance (most of the time in just his undies). He is so smart and helpful too. Lots of times if I need to remember to do something I will tell him and sure enough he reminds me to get it done. We love him so much and wouldn't trade him for anything. We are so blessed to have him in our family and thrilled that our little girls have such a great big brother.

Here are a couple of our favorite pictures over the years.

This is one of our favorite pictures of Bridger and Macie. They were so cute together when they were little. They are still good friends and Macie falls apart every time her brother leaves to go play with a friend.

This was Bridger's favorite Halloween costume. He wore this just about every day for over a year. It was so cute on him!

I just had to add this picture in too....every time I turn my back the kids get into something. He just wanted to paint!!

If only it was always this easy

The other night our kids all fell asleep in the living room. Bridger and Macie fell asleep watching Jay and I exercise and then while Jay and I were talking after we were all done we realized Emy was also sleeping, and of course the baby was asleep for the night (because we are that lucky).

I just had to take a picture of how they all fell asleep. It was just so cute.

Bridger and Macie piled under pillows on the couch



Paisley asleep in Jay's arms


and Emy asleep on Jay's shoe...that he was still wearing.


They are all just too cute...especially when they are sleeping. I am such a sucker for sleeping kids.

Forgery...and a First Grader

Tonight when we were putting the kids in bed I had to move Bridger's back pack off of his bed and I found his planner. I checked to make sure that it had been signed off for the reading that he did today. He is supposed to read an average of 20 minutes each school day. Well today after 10 minutes of reading he announced that he was done and that he didn't care if he had to stay in at recess (sometimes if they don't read, then their teacher has them stay in at recess). I decided that it was okay, it was his decision and he could be done.
Well when I was checking his planner this is what I found...
Jay had signed off 10 minutes for today, and Bridger had forged Jay's initials and signed off 30 minutes for tomorrow. At least he can add...he knew that he needed an extra 10 minutes.
It just made me smile. I hated reading when I was little. I remember when I was in the first grade I would get down the ward directory (to copy down how to spell my mom's name correctly) and hide behind our big green chair and forge her name on my reading assignments. I got away with it until parent teacher conference when the teacher told her it was cute that she would let me practice my writing by signing her name on all my homework.

Sweet Dreams

I don't know how I got so lucky.

My sweet little baby has slept from 10pm till 10am the next morning for the last two nights. She has been sleeping through the night for a few weeks, but just recently she started sleeping an extra 3 hours.

I probably just jinxed myself...hopefully she will continue to sleep well!

I do however get woken up by two very loud and very tired little girls fighting over who gets to lay by mommy when they wonder out of their room in the middle of the night. Occasionally a punch is thrown (not by me or Jay!).

In the middle of the night reasoning with our children is out of the question. Generally Macie wins being by my side so I can avoid a punch to my own face and Emy lays on top of me till they are both back asleep.

Where is Bridger in the middle of the night? We had to bribe him with a Nintendo DS to get him to stay out of our room. He had to sleep in his own bed for 100 nights in a row. He did great and now regularly sleeps in his own bed. Occasionally we wake up in the morning with him laying at our feet. He knows if he tries to lay by us then we will send him back to his own room or have him lay on the floor next to our bed.

So even though I have a little tiny baby who sleeps through the night, I still don't...and honestly I can not even remember the last time I slept all night long. But in the morning the kids are worth it all...just don't ask what I think of it when I have two kids smothering me at 2am.

Lotion Extreme

Sunday morning I told Bridger to get some lotion on his face because it was a little dry. He was in the bathroom for awhile so I went to check on him and this is what I found. Kids will be kids I guess. But we love them anyways.