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?

Macie's Missing Tooth

Macie has had a slightly loose tooth for a few months.  She started complaining that it was hurting really bad and I would look in her mouth to comfort her every time.  Then just last week I noticed her adult tooth was trying to peek through just behind her baby tooth, so off to the dentist we went.  She was so excited to go too...he has a phone there with makeup in it in his toy chest--she was so excited to pick that out this time.   Bridger kept asking me if he could PLEASE tell her what the dentist was going to do and I would nicely and quickly stop him every time.
We got there and the dentist said he could pull it or we could try to get her to wiggle her tooth out (remember it was only barely loose) so we opted to have him pull it.  She wasn't scared one bit and even told me I could leave the room she was in, so I decided to go since I had all the other kids there with me.  Bridger was in the waiting room with Emy and Paisley and I figured that wasn't going to turn out too good if I didn't hurry right back.
She came back out just a few minutes later with gauze in her mouth and a huge smile on her face holding her make up phone.  If only everything was that simple.  Unfortunately Emy cried for the next 45 minutes because in her words she "didn't get nothin' ".  It was awesome!

Macie just before we left for the Dentist

Macie's new smile, missing tooth and all

Macie's Special Day

Macie's preschool class has been taking turns each week spotlighting one of the students. This week it is Macie's turn. She has been talking about it for weeks...
What will she wear (she is very obsessed with clothes)?
How will she have me fix her hair?
What treat should she take to share with the other kids?
and the big one...
What will we put on her poster?

We planned to make her poster today because she was out of school. We printed out several pictures and tapped them to her poster. Then we told a little bit about her and I asked her what she liked to do and wrote those things around the pictures.
She told me she liked to:
jump on her bunk bed,
play with her brother,
ride her bike,
swim,
and lots of other cute little things.

But maybe the most important thing she told me was that she liked to draw. I got her posters all done (we made two just out of file folders so they would fit in her backpack), and she insisted on me allowing her to draw a picture on it. I hesitated thinking it would ruin my beautiful posters (terrible--I know), but I told myself that it was her posters and it was for "her special day" so if she wanted to draw on it then it would be fine.

She drew on it for a good 30 minutes while I did dishes and picked up the kitchen. Several hours later when Bridger got home from school she ran on got her "drawing" to show him (I still hadn't even seen it yet),

and said,  "Look Bridger, you are blind!"



She laughed and laughed and then I saw the picture and I had a good laugh too!

Not only did she scribble out Bridger's face so he can no longer see, but she gave me a mustache and Jay a toupee.

Now I am debating if I should reprint all the pictures and make a new poster...I can't let all the 5 year olds think I have a mustache and Jay has horrible hair!

Sew Fun

One of my good friends brought me over some of her scrap material {super cute scrap material too!} a few weeks ago, and after a trip to the fabric store to buy some more material to add to what she had given me I found a pattern on Etsy and made these darling dresses for my darling little girls.

I love sewing and this was a good napping alternative...I had been wanting (or taking) a nap every day--stinkin' pregnancy-- and this helped keep me awake and give me something to look foward to doing for a couple of days.

I have lots more fabric left...now I just need to find the time away from vinyl to sew!

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

Macie's 5th Birthday

Dear Miss Macie,
You have grown up so much over the last year.  You are such a good helper and great big sister.  You may not always like to share...but secretly neither do I.  You are a beautiful little girl and I am so thankful to be your mommy.   I am so thankful to our Father in Heaven for allowing me to be your mom and that you get to be part of our family for ever!  I wouldn't have it any other way!
You are such a tease and like to pick on Bridger.  I think it is pretty funny to watch you two play together.  You can hold your own with him and generally you win if you are fighting over something.  You are a tough little girl and you are so fun to watch. 
You love to dance...but not so much in a dance class!  You have great rhythm and have some pretty sweet dance moves.  You are so talented and so good at anything you do. 
You love clothes and often refuse to wear something to school because you have already worn it once before!    It makes me laugh and generally I can convince you to put clothes on about 5 minutes before we have to get you out the door to get on the bus. 
You love to play and have fun with your cousins.  You learned how to ride a bike over the summer and we were so proud of you.  You learned how to do it just a day or two after Bridger.  You are so determined at all you do.
I love that you will still snuggle with me and let me hold you.
You still let me call you all sorts of fun nick names like, Miss Macie, Macie Moo, Sister Sue, and Sue.
We love you so much and can't wait to see what fun things you will learn and do this year!
Happy Birthday Sweet Pea!   I love you!!

Share the Love

I loved conference and the uplighting talks that were given.  We started our own "warm fuzzy jar" with our little family.  I have been wanting to teach our kids about service and this will be such a great way to do it.  We decided that each night at the dinner table we will each tell what we did to serve someone else that day.  We will write on on a strip of paper and then put it in our jar. {I have plans to decorate it of course...so I will post some pictures later how it turns out}

Today I was getting Macie dressed for school and she was falling apart because her clothes didn't match.  I reassured her that jeans go with anything.  She was crying and throwing her clothes all over the living room refusing to put them on.  She wanted pink pants to match her pink shirt!!  I let her know that her pink pants were dirty and jeans really do go with anything.  I was getting Paisley dressed while all of this was going on and I was trying to tell her that no one wears all pink pants with an all pink shirt...it would just look goofy.  She yelled YES THEY DO!!  and I said no they don't...trust me!  She said, Well, Paisley is!  And I looked down at what I was putting on Paisley and just started to laugh...it was an all pink shirt and all pink pants.  I am such an AWESOME mom!   We both laughed and later (after Dora of course) she must have decided that her jeans would work.

So over the weekend I made a little blog button for my vinyl website.  It would be awesome if you wanted to put it on your blog!  (It is over there on the right hand side of the page) I am actually offering a 25% off coupon right now if you want to post it on your blog then email me back where you did it, I will email you back with a coupon code just because after all, I am an AWESOME mom!
If you need directions of how to post it on your blog, then go here
I just made some super cute monograms too that you can check out here too. 

Now I better go use my time wisely and keep working on my stuff for the craft fairs...the first one is only about 2 1/2 weeks away.

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.

Macie + Bee sting = 911

Today Macie came to me and said "Mom this itches I need a band aid" I turned around to see what she was taking about and touched her arm where she was pointing to and it was super hot and super swollen. I asked her if she got bit by a bug and she said yes. I called Jay because her arm was so swollen and I didn't know what had bit her. Her arm was about twice the size of her other arm. We decided to call the Dr to see what they suggested to do and I got put right to the nurses voice mail. So I called the next best thing...my mom. We had decided to just watch it and see if she did okay and then all of a sudden she said her throat hurt, and then immediately she started to make noises like she was clearing her throat. Her eyes got all big and teary and I could tell she was scared. I told my mom what was happening and she asked if I needed to call 911 and I said I didn't think so and then Macie just kept make more noises like it was hard for her to breath. I asked her if she could breath and she shook her head "no". So I told my mom I was calling an ambulance and she said she would be right over. I called 911 and began to explain what was happening and just then I could hear someone knocking on the door. It was our neighbor, Blayne, and I opened the door and just yelled, "Blayne, Macie can't breathe!!" But just as quickly as she started having trouble breathing it started to get better. I let the 911 dispatcher know that I thought she was okay but they said that they would still send an ambulance to check her over. They said to watch for the ambulance and if things got worse to call right back. They wanted me to send someone out to the street to flag the ambulance down too, so I sent Bridger outside to wait for it. He had no clue what was going on because during all of this I had three of my sisters kids here plus my neighbors daughter over and they were all playing the wii. It all happened so quickly I didn't get the chance to let them know anything was wrong. Bridger walked outside to the street to wait for the ambulance and asked me why they were coming. I let him know that Macie was having problems breathing but was okay now. He just said okay and it didn't even seem to phase him.
Macie was doing fine at this point, but she wouldn't talk so I knew she still didn't fell the greatest. The fire truck and ambulance pulled up and I took her out to them and we climbed in the ambulance to have her checked out. (Poor Blayne...I left him holding Paisley, who was screaming, and he had 6 other little kids running around to watch)

The paramedic listened to her breathing and he said that she had a strider (which he then explained meant trouble with her breathing). He wanted to have her monitored at the hospital to make sure that she was okay because he said he didn't know if her allergic reaction was over with or not, so to be safe he wanted to take her to the hospital to be monitored for a little while. He asked her what happened and she told him that she got stung by a bee. She had been playing outside about a half an hour earlier and I had no clue she had been stung. (Later that day she told me that when it happened she just cried a little bit but kept on playing!!)

My parents showed up and relieved Blayne of our crying baby and watched all the other kids while Macie and I headed to the hospital in the ambulance.

They checked her over and I explained what had happened. The doctor was so nice, I was feeling so embarrassed that I had called 911 and he told me that I did the right thing and that she needed to be monitored. He said that with allergic reactions breathing problems can happen so quickly that you need to get help fast.

The doctor prescribed a steroid to help with the swelling in her arm and prescribed and epi pen so if she ever gets stung again we can give her a shot to help with her breathing. That will relieve some of my worry if it ever happens again, so hopefully I never forget it!!

I still can't believe how fast it all happened. From when she asked for a band aid till I called 911 was maybe about 90 seconds. It was just so scary!!

I asked her tonight what to do if she ever gets stung again and she said go tell my mom. I still can't believe that she didn't let me know when it happened. She is a tough little girl!! I am so glad she is okay!

You can kind of see how swollen her arm is in this picture

 

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.

After a Hard Days Work...

We have LOVED our nice weather we have had the last three days. Our kids have loved being outside and running around in the yard all day...and when 8pm rolls around Jay and I are loving it too.

They fell asleep watching a show in our room.

Jay came to get me to show me how Macie fell asleep and I told him to run and get the camera, and in the two minutes it took to get the camera, Emy had climbed up by Macie and fell asleep too.

the end...of dancing

At the beginning of the school year we decided to enroll Macie in a dance class. We thought she needed an outing each week and she was always dancing around the house and has loved moving to the beat of music ever since she could walk, so we thought it would be the perfect fit.
She did great the first couple of weeks, then slowly and slowly she lost more and more interest each week. I had paid for her dance costume, so we wanted her to stay in for the recital, but it wasn't looking good. She didn't like the dancing any more. She would just scoot herself around on the gym floor while all the other girls danced, I would try bribing her with a treat after class or a trip to the store if she would just practice with the other girls. After a couple months of this, I decided that as soon as they had their first recital we would be done.
Saturday was her recital and she did great! She agreed to dance if she never had to do it again and if we would take her to Speedi Mart to buy some pink gum. I was surprised at how well she did considering her lack of interest and participation in practice. She is glad to be done and has reminded me at least once a day since then that she never has to go to dance again.

She sure looked cute in her dance outfit though!!

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.

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.

My Daily Conversation with my 4 Year Old

Macie: Can I kick you in the face?

Me: (Giggling) No

Macie: Please can I kick you in the face?

Me: No thank you.

Macie: Ummm...can I kick you in the leg?

Me: No

Macie: Ummm...can I kick you in the nose?

Me: Nope

Macie: Ummm...can I kick you in the nuts?

Me: Only boys have nuts

Macie: Please can I kick you in the nuts?

Me: I am not a boy

Macie: Ummm...Please can I kick you in the shoe?

Me: We aren't supposed to kick

Macie: Where can I kick you then?

Me: (Generally laughing pretty hard by this point) If you kick me, then can I kick you?

Macie: Ummm...No thank you.

Macie Turns 4

Macie turns four on the 21st!
And just how is she spending her big day you might ask...she is under anesthesia in the good care of her dentist getting
8 cavities (8 that we know of...maybe more) fixed. So we are giving her a new smilefor her birthday, and a few gifts of course.
Well just a little bit about our big girl...
We adopted her on Jan. 31st when she was just 10 days old. Bridger was so proud to be a big brother. We let him hold her just minutes after the adoption agency brought her in to us and he wouldn't let us take her from him for almost a half and hour. He was so excited to see her. (Now he might delight in a day away from her!)
She as such a little baby, she was only 5 lbs 10 oz when we got her, but she quickly grew in to a chubby little baby...and oh so cute! She was always happy and always had a smile on her face. She was such a perfect, sweet little baby and a joy to have in our family.
She was sealed to us for time and eternity on Aug 5, 2005. It was our 5 year wedding anniversary too, so it was a very special day for all of us.
She is full of energy and is learning so quickly. At times she tests my patience, but we always end up hugging it out...eventually. She is a very determined little girl and very smart. She loves to dance.
She also enjoys going to school and riding on the bus. She loves to listen to music and sing into a spoon for her microphone and dance around the kitchen while we clean. She loves to make things "all clean and shiny" when I ask her to put things away and then she has to come show me how nice it looks (this is just a new phase and I am loving the extra help, she actually does a great job putting things away).
She is a great big sister...most of the time...Emy might disagree. When Macie gets angry (at anything or anyone) she takes it out on Emy, but maybe she is just teaching her little sis how to be tough, right? When those two girls get along they have lots of fun together wrapped up in blankets eating popcorn and watching Dora or playing in big brother's room getting into everything he wishes they wouldn't touch while he is away at school.

Macie is so sweet with her new baby sister, Paisley. She is always kissing her and rubbing her head so softly (which we were very surprised and relieved with). She loves to rub her face across Paisley's little spiky mo hawk while I feed her.


One thing Macie can't get enough of is her daddy's attention. She is always climbing on his lap and saying "tickle me and kiss me" and wanting Jay to tickle her till she can't breath and kiss her under her chin...but she will never lift her head up because she knows his whiskers will tickle her face...but yet she wants him to continue to try to talk her into letting him kiss her. It is pretty cute to watch.
We can't wait to see what another year will bring. Happy Birthday Macie Moo! We love you!

Macie's New Hair Do...So Cute!

I have been wanting to get Macie's hair done for a long time now, but I couldn't find anyone in town to do it (I didn't look very hard either), but our friends have their daughter's hair done down in Utah...but they pay $150 every time they get it done. I didn't have the extra $$ nor did we want to make a trip to Utah just to have her hair done.
Well I was on the internet the other night looking for directions on how to braid or twist or add extentions to African American hair. I found a website that sold DVD's showing how to do this. I showed it to Jay and then debated about it for a few days. I would get on the internet and watch the short little clips they had every day, and finally we decided it was worth the $59, to buy the DVD. If we didn't like them then we got a full refund...so I would only be out shipping.
Well, we got the videos last night and I watched one of them this morning while I ate my cereal. After the 10 minute video I decided to attempt it, thinking I would just practice and maybe try in a week or two after I practiced a little more each day.
Well, my practice twists turned out pretty good so I kept on going...and FIVE hours later...we ended up with this



Macie sat really well for about 2 1/2 hours and then I could only do a few twists randomly through out the rest of the day or she would get really angry and squirm around too much. I think she did great though...I was getting pretty squirmy myself. Hopefully they stay in for a while...if not, then I will just try some more. I think they look pretty darn cute, and I saved $100 by doing it myself!