What a bunch of Characatures!

Miranda Age:8

Entering third grade. She loves to sing, dance, talk and read. She is a great big sister and loves to help me cook. She also is testing the waters of teenage hood. She loves the Jonas Brothers although I am not entirely sure it doesn't have something to do with "everyone else doing it" type of thing. I keep handing her a towel to dry off her feet and stay a little girl for a little while longer. At least she is still proud to hold my hand in public, well most of the time.

Logan: age 6

He is entering 1st grade. He loves his baby brother and can be found sneaking in and carting Jackson back to his room to play. He and Haylie can often be found playing together. He loves to ride the scooter and climb trees like a spider monkey. He is starting to read very well. He likes to taste test what ever I make.
Haylie: Age 4
Haylie is the older of "the twins" by five minutes. She tends to be a tad more confident, but is a follower. You rarely find her playing alone. She loves to color and is getting to be quite a regular at www.barbie.com. She was able to get a library card this summer since she can write her name. She can also spell most of our family members first names.

Hannah: Age 4

Hannah likes to be near me, my little shadow. She is more independant, but is more like the bossy mother hen. She tries to help me out by keeping all else in line! She is easier to understand when she talks, and she does like to talk. Both Haylie and Hannah enjoy helping me in the kitchen by dumping ingredients into the mixer...but only to be rewarded by yummy treats later.

Lauren: Age 2

Lauren is the prime example of terrible twos. She doesn't seem to mind them but they are killing me. She is all spunk, spice, and everything nice. She loves to be outside and her favorite word is NO repeated at least a thousand and a half times per day. She can usually be found sipping her milk and huggin her blanket and Minnie Mouse, a stuffed animal we bought and it actually gets used! Jackson: Age 6 months

When they are this young thisngs change so fast. When this was done, he was barely eating solid foods, not sleeping through the night...again. He was however doing push ups on his toes, he did have great form. Now less tha six weeks later I can tell you he loves cereal but is not a fan of green beans, peas and prunes. As of today he is crawling. He even babbles "mamammmm" and "da da da"

And this last picture is what our little family caboose looks like!

All characatures are done by Zach Trenholm.

I Love being crafty

After a year or so of telling Jeremy I would like to sew but NEED a new sewing machine, he finally splurged and got me one. Before you judge him please know that I have a very short attention span so investing any sum of money is always a risk. Just look at the dust on my scrapbooking stuff, I am well supplied in case of an emergency! This makes the purchase of a sewing machine an even bigger deal!

I have mentioned before that I have been blog stalking. I came across a blog, Chocolate on my Cranium. It had a tutorial for a crayon roll. So I convinced a friend that we should make this since we only hang out when we have a project. We went a few weeks ago to pick out fabric. She also decided that for her little guy she wanted to use twistables. I am a great follower and decided to do the same. So here is the finished project.

Since we went with twistables we had to make some modifications. The pack comes in 24, but I was only able to fit 19 of them in my roll. Instead of 13 x 5" pieces of material we did 20 x 6, although I would recommend more like 26". I also decided to put a piece of thin plastic over the back so the crayons won't mark it up when they are taken in and out, because of the plastic lining and the plastic on the crayons, the slits need to be a little further apart. The plastics kind of stick to each other in the super snug pockets. I did 1" instead of the recommended 3/4" which would probably work fine if you didn't use the plastic lining. Also I did 28" on the ribbon.

n the picture you can't see where I can not, for the life of me, sew a straight line, or when "pressing the fabric" I melted the plastic, of course after it is too late to do anything about it...there are imperfections but I really am pleased. These will be Christmas presents for the five kids who can color. Yeah for trying something new. I think I am going to have to think of more sewing projects!!!!

In Love...

Last night I went to a friend's house to be murdered in a chocolate spa, it was a game of course. As always when I came home at midnight I went to the computer. My nightly routine goes something like this: Check e-mail, check google reader, check facebook, brush teeth, say prayers, go to bed. So when I walked to the computer and saw a sticky note that said, "watch the video" I chuckled that Jeremy knew me so well.

The video is on Jeremy's "secret" blog. you can see it here. What can I say I am one lucky girl!

Blog Stalking

I should do this for a living I am so good at it. I recently got a new sewing machine so I have been more interested in crafts lately. I came across a few that I really want to remember like this pillow case for a bridal shower...of a good friend...

Bridal Shower Pillowcase

Sihlouette Pillocase Wouldn't that be cute with a temple on it, or even a brach or something?
While this necklace would be harder to make I love the idea. I have a feeling mine would need two rings! I am also not sure this is a DIY project, but if you want to buy it check out this Etsy shop.

These word blocks would pretty cool using modge podge for the letters instead of the vinyl. You can find them here. They make 16 words using only 7 blocks. Pretty cool huh? Off to search some more!

Sneaky Sneakerson!!!

That is code name for Lauren. We had some left over candy from our trip to Ohio. We thought the counter was out of reach but little Miss Sneakerson was up to the challenge and managed to get her hands on them for breakfast. When ever she gets caught this is the face she gives me (the chocolate is not always present):

I am not sure about this face but it is still cute.

This is then trying to smooth over a tense situation, can you see the glint behind her eyes as she realizes mom grabbed the camera instead of scolding her...

Now she is bored with this, it's kind of an "is she still there? Maybe if I ignore her she will go away so I can return to my sneaky yet rewarding behavior!"

No more paparazzi mama! Go away! ~ Lauren

This girl is such a light in my life, that is why I call her a firecracker. I love her to pieces and know I am not helping the situation by letting her know how adorable she really is. If you met her you would be drawn to her it is just her way.

They're GROWING!!!!

I went to the doctor yesterday for Jackson's 6 month check up...I know he is 7 months, but a girl has to fit it in whenever she can. So here's his stats:

Height: 28.3 " long which puts him in the 84th percentile

Weight: 16.3 lbs which makes him in the 9th percentile

His weight for height percentile was off the charts so we have another tall skinny kid! He is doing great in all other aspects though. He got his shots and took them like a champ. He is now babbling "Mmaamaamaa." I love it.

While there we asked about the process for Asthma for Miranda and allergies. Our doctor is so awesome she asked some questions and prescribed her two inhalers right on the spot. It was fabulous. Then as the kids were getting a tad restless I said we would be doing it all tomorrow and so she said that she would just see Lauren today. So Lauren had her 2 year check up. Here stats are as follows:

Height: 2' 3.25" tall which puts her in the 94th percentile.

Weight: 26lbs 9 ounces which puts her in the 36 percentile for her weight for age

Here's the kicker, her weight for height she is in the 2.3 percentile.

Both kids are instructed to be on high fat diets!

A mystery solved.

I was a naughty girl and left the camera on the couch after taking a bunch of pictures of Jackson and the kids. Well some one got it and started recording a video. I am not sure who this mysterious child could possibly be? You will see a boring video of our couch then blue legs walk by...

...oh yep that's who it is...LOGAN! He not only was playing with the camera but he recorded himself doing a flip off the arm of the couch, then grinned at the camera with a mischievious yet adorable twinkle in his eye. Of course he got in trouble for it, and then I told him, if he is going to break the rules he shouldn't record it!

A's vs. Rangers

We love looking for cheap things that our family can do and we absolutely love dollar nights at the A's games, $2 tickets, $1 hot Dogs and $1 sodas. We ate before we left so we got treats instead. The kids just wanted Cotton Candy so Jeremy sprung for the multi-flavored for the kids. We threw most of it away. As soon as Hannah got her cotton candy she asked when we were going home. I told here we didn't drive all this way just for cotton candy. We sat in front of some very nice people, the gentleman saw us taking pictures and insisted that we all be in a picture so he took a family one of us, too bad Logan is only represented by his yellow hooded jacket...beggars can't be choosers right?!

Lauren just wanted to run around but we were able to keep her contained for the most part and happy.

I think Jackson will want to go on our next A's game adventure. As always he was a dream.

Miranda remembered her foam finger. It is the only one that has survived in our house. They arrive in great condition but for some reason the green part ends up all over the floor, such a mystery!

When we first got the cotton candy she would have nothing to do with it. As soon as we finished wiping all the sticky fingers and packing things up she wanted some, so we gave in, it's a baseball game right?After the fourth inning we packed it up it was a little chilly and we didn't want to keep the kids out too late. We were able to see 3 home runs the fourth happened as we were walking out. I guess it was a bad game to leave early we could have majorly scored with free Pepsi. If the A's won and had at least 7 runs they gave out free Pepsi coupons. Oh well. Turns out it was a good game to go, we ran in to the Curtis family from church who were sitting in the next section over. We happened to miss our other friends who were about 10 sections the other way. They won home run pizzas, lucky dogs! Some other kids tried to start a wave and it was a flop. Our section did great but no one else caught on, sorry kids! It was a fun experience to go with the kiddos. It is one of those things we have put off because we have so many young kids, but now we will be making it an annual event! Who knows maybe we will bring the A's some luck, from the sound of things they NEED it! For memories sake here is a picture of Logan's cute mug, see he really was there!

Jackson is...

fill in the blank... but I say adorable AND intelligent. He is 7 months and already loving the alphabet!

Among other things Jackson is rolling over lots and scooting around in circles on his tummy. He likes to do push ups as well, uncle Chris will have to send me some pictures of that *hint, hint*. He is starting to get up on his knees and rock back and forth. He also is loving his rice cereal and has discovered green beans. While I think they smell pretty terrible, it doesn't seem to bother him. Also new in his world are four teeth. They are taking their sweet time coming all the way through, but it is fascinating watching them descend down his swollen gums and finally break through. The body is so miraculous! He really is a cute little guy and extrememly easy going. He is back to sleeping through the night which is great for me but when I miss out on sleep it takes me weeks to recover. One thing thta cracks us up is when we are eating dinner. We have been putting him in the bumbo next to the table. He leans back in it and grabs the door to our hutch, then sits back up to open the door and grins while sending the following mental message with eyes that will melt your heart "look at what I can do, aren't I cute, I can get away with anything." He is getting so big I want to put him on pause so I can enjoy this time a little longer. Knowing he is the last makes me want to treasure it so much more. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed the other babies as well but there is something sentimental about the end, and that is what he is, the end of the babies in our home. Luckily we get to move on to exciting new things like camping, hiking, family baseball games, you know all those things that you put off when you have a little tiny one in tow!

Family Scripture Study

As a family we fail at this miserably. We were going great and then I got pregnant with Jackson. We would get up in the morning and we decided to read the Book of Mormon first. Miranda is old enough to read so the three of us would take turns reading a verse then move on. Sometimes we would stop and explain what was happening. It pretty much left the other 4 kids with nothing to do and they would get quite bored. As a family we need to start this again, which has been weighing heavily on my mind. It was a pleasant surprise when Janelle at Mormonwoman.org posted what she does for family scriptures study. Go check out her post, it has encouraged me to get started! It is perfect, simple and done at a time when we as a family make every effort to be together. Thanks Janelle you are such an amazing example!

Breaking Dawn...

Well I have a story to tell about my own sweet Eddie as he like to be referred to...

A friend's husband and my Eddie decided that this book was a big deal for us and they wanted to embrace it instead of turn away from it. This is really saying a lot since I have been a complete book worm and have read all four books twice in the last two weeks...yes the kids are alive and healthy!

I had received a couple weird e-mails from the Joker who turns out kidnapped Eddie (Edward the vampire from the Twilight Saga). The first was just a picture and the second was a quick video saying to check my mailbox which contained a picture:

Then this is how Jeremy's Friday went:

5:30 am - write letter to April

12:00 pm - lie to wife to plan for the evening...give up lunch break to get fancy paper and joker figure to hold clue, drop off letter at Barnes and Noble so the girls can get them with their copy of the book at the midnight release!

4:45pm - Lie to April again and say I need to work late, then get busted because my car died at the gas station and I need help jump starting the car.

This gets a little less time specific but I will guess

5:15 go to police station to drop off second clue for brother-in-law to pass along (he's a cop not a criminal FYI!) car won't start have to call April and tell her she may need to help but inform her that I don't want her to, but if her and the kids can pray that the car will start...we all did and the car started.

5:30 - sneak around Jack-in-the-Box and shove clue in a bush without looking like he was dropping a bomb off, meanwhile he left the car running.

Somewhere he confirmed for the 100th time that us girls would definitely get a copy of the book and the letter he wrote would be with it. The managers all new and were very giddy (we are lucky wives!).

6:30pm take out garbage and hide first clue in our van.

9:00pm Jeremy's cell phone starts ringing off the hook!

10:20 my friend picks me up and we head to the book store.

12:05 we purchase our copies of Breaking Dawn

12:30 I talk to Jeremy and he asks if there was something n the book, suspicious I look and there is nothing.

Turns out the timing was off in the beginning so the scavenger hunt didn't happen as planned and the Midnight release was a little chaotic and we didn't get the clue to tell us something should be in our book. So we left. I guess after we left our names were paged, to get our books but my friend got us a very low number so we were in line and out with our books too fast!

It was a little disappointing for Jeremy and the trouble he went through, but I didn't know any different. Jeremy had the letter on the PC so I was still able to read it. He just reminded me how much he loved me and told me why he fell in love with me in the first place. I couldn't help but tear up. I am truly the luckiest girl alive!

The next morning Barnes and Noble called and said they had our letters so Jeremy picked it up so I have the authentic material!

Although it didn't work out (we can't say this very often in our lives we are extremely blessed...not that I am saying we would like to say it more often!!!!), I know how much he loves me. I really have been so focused on these books and I am sure it is irritating, he still puts so much love and effort into this because my happiness means so much to him. Seriously isn't that just like Bella's Edward?!