Here I am!
Well, I guess this has been a long time coming. Imagine, me with a blog. I never thought it would happen. Peer pressure finally made me cave in. I have been reading my friend Taya's blog for a LONG time, and she has been making a full-fledged effort to get me going. NO WAY! Then, one night, I was sitting at a table with some friends, commenting on some peoples' "blog obsessions", and every person at that table had their own blogs. (open mouth-insert foot) They all insisted that it was really easy, (I hope so because I am computer-stupid) and really fun. After gathering their blog addresses and checking them out over the next week, I decided to give it a try. Maybe it will be fun- a creative outlet, something to do in my spare time- and maybe it will be a way to keep people posted on the life of our family, which is sometimes a little crazy!
Well, I have decided that blogging may not be my thing afterall. It seems to be another thing that I can't keep up with, but that is OK. I will post on occasion-maybe several times in one day, and then not again for 2 months. It will work. So, here are a few things that we have been up to in the last couple months:
Mikayla performed in her first piano recital. It was a Halloween recital, so everyone dressed up. Mikayla went as Belle, and did a great job.
Dallin celebrated his 2nd birthday. I can't believe how fast he is growing up.
We got our family pictures taken. It was FREEZING, but I think they turned out pretty good!
Marx turned 7! To celebrate, he got a fun-packed Saturday going out to lunch, going to a lego robotics competition, and playing a Boondocks with Daddy and Timmy. He had a blast!
I think that sums up most of the last 2 months- up until Christmas, and that probably deserves its own Post.
I have decided that I can't even look away when Ethan and Dallin are together. What one of them doesn't think of, the other one does. Her is one incident. I had to go to the bathroom. I know I didn't time it well, but sometimes you just gotta go. I heard pans, but figured that it was something small scale. When I came out about 3-5 minutes later, every pot, pan, small appliance and utencil was covering the kitchen floor. GOTTA LOVE BOYS . . . . . . . and messes!
I think we are done with bribes and potty songs for a while. Ethan is officially potty-trained! He is playing with his final prize. Our method: We took a Little People play set and put all of the little people, cars and small pieces up on a shelf. Every day that he stayed dry he got to pick one. After he earned all of the little prizes, he got the big one. He was so excited!
Alright. I get the message. I haven't posted to my blog for a long time. I shouldn't make excuses, but life has gotten a little crazy. I started babysitting kids and took on a few extra classes at Paper Cottage. Aaron got a new job, but is still also working night audit at the hotel on Friday and Saturday night. Add that on top of all the normal things that go along with having 5 kids, and I have barely even been online. Anyways, I will do better!
WooHooooooooooo! We just got the letter saying hat Aaron has officially graduated from Boise State University. He completed his last class over the summer, and so now he has his B.B.A in Accounting/Finance. We were so excited we yelled and screamed on the front porch when we read it!
After Family Home Evening, we let Marx pick out a game to play. He picked Twister. After several rounds, we knew why. He was good . . . really good. He beat everybody several times. He was so excited by the end of the night everybody was calling him "King of Twister"!
I got a little behind in the last couple of weeks so now I am posting several times in one day.
Just a little update: I WON the Scrapbook queen contest for the Meridian Craft Warehouse! WoooHooo! I was pretty excited! The prize was a $250 gift certificate.
Upcoming news: Ethan is almost potty trained. Look for an update hopefull sometime in the next week!
This is one of those moments when I look around and wonder how I have a 8-year old already. She has hated riding her bike for the last year because she still needed training wheels, but Daddy took them off on Friday, and now nobody can keep up with her. When he went running Saturday night, she rode her bike along with him and put about 3 miles on those 2 wheels. She is so excited!
Dallin is officially sleeping in a "Big Boy" bed. We started the transition almost 2 weeks ago. Everybody was so excited. Mikayla gave Dallin her pillow and Marx gave him his special blanket. Ethan gave him a favorite stuffed animal. They were all so excited. We put Dallin in his bed and before we knew it, he was dragging his new blankie and pillow back to his crib. This happened for a couple nights, and then he started wanting to sleep in his "Big Boy" bed. We still have to put him down several times some nights, but there is no turning back now!
As many of you know, the kids went back to school last Friday. (yes, it has taken me a while to get around to updating here). They were both so excited. I was very sad. I miss having them around. They both LOVE their new teachers and Marx is excited to have 3 recesses and to eat lunch at school. It still amazes me the excitement in their eyes on that first morning as they put on new school clothes and get ready to walk out the door.
Mikayla has been BEGGING to cut her hair for Locks of Love again. She did it the first time 2 yrs ago, and for the last 6 months she has wanted to do it again. We talked her into waiting through the summer and doing it just before school starts. Well, this morning she informed me that today was the day because school starts tomorrow. We called the salon and got the appointment and she was so excited all day. When we got there, she talked to the stylist like she goes to the salon all the time and then she came home and showed it off to all of her friends. She tells everyone that she just wants to help other people and I can see that through her selfless acts.
I decided to enter a "Scrapbook Queen" contest that Craft Warehouse is having. I have never done anything like this before. People can go to craftwarehouse.com and vote, and then the 5 people with the most votes are judged by a panel of judges. They had so much traffic the first day, that they had to put the contest on hold until they could upgrade their server to accomodate it. (It should be back up by Friday)
Ethan was SO excited to have his picture on the page. He just sat and watched me work on it, saying "That's me!" I just love scrapbooking pictures of my kids, and I love when a picture just captures their personality or tells a story. These, for instance, are Ethan's swim lesson pictures. He spent more time outside of the pool than in the water. He did love his goggles though!
We decided that we needed some fun in the sun, so this week for Family Night, we went to Lucky Peak with some friends. We took their boat out, did some tubing behind the boat, had a bar-b-que, and a TON of fun. The kids loved it. They got to play in the water and on the playground. Mikayla and Marx and Aaron got to go out on the tube. It was probably one of the highlights of our summer!
Dallin is such a character lately. After dumping out his macaroni and cheese (or any other meal for that matter), he loves to put his dish on his head. Mom tries to tell him "no", but she just can't compete with the laughs he gets from the other kids.
Last weekend, we participated in our comunity Pioneer Day. Mikayla was the most excited about it. She rode on the float in the parade and practiced her wave.
After the parade, we went to the park, where there was a dutch oven cook-off, games, and a dunk tank. The dunk tank was the highlight of Mikayla's day. We waited in a long line so she could have he chance to be dunked. She barely made it up onto the platform and SPLASH-she was drenched, pioneer dress and all.
My friend,
Taya did this on her blog... it looked like fun. So I'm gonna give this a try since I have never done this before.Here are the directions-
1. Add a comment on my blog and leave a memory that you and I had together.It doesn't matter if you know me a little or a lot, anything you remember! I guess good or bad, but be nice!!If you don't have a blogger account leave a comment as anonymous and sign your name! I want everyone to play.
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. I'm hoping it's more than 1 person! Don't disappoint me!
I have a hard time doing anything half-hearted, so when I decide to do something, I tend to get a little obsessive about it. Over the last several months, we have been rearranging our entire house. All three boys are going to be in the bonus room- the 300 square foot room that used to be my scrapbook studio. That left me with the little 9x10" room downstairs, so I had to do something drastic. I bought shelving and countertops and installed them, and then I recruited the help of my friend, Kara, and we spent hours. . . and hours . . . and hours, organizing, sorting, and of course-labeling. Aaron came home one night at about 10:00 and we were sprawled out on the floor, sorting buttons by colors and putting them in their respective jars. We did the same thing with papers and cardstock and adhesives- you get the picture. Amazingly enough, we just finished it, and I can find EVERYTHING! I love it, and I had so much fun, I have started going throught the rest of the house.
