X had a birthday shout hooray!!

My X turned 2 yesterday! To start the day off she got her first "bike" which she loves and Riley steals.
We decided to take the kids to the zoo for her B-day. We went to the Tucson zoo (which I have to say I loved for these reasons: it is smaller than phx, the animals were so much closer here, it only cost $18 for our whole family instead of $14 per adult in phx) It was pretty cold but we bundled up and took the wagon they got from grandpa w/ us and had them covered in a blanket.
Lexi decided she wanted to walk. She was so funny she would stand in front of the fence and do a little dance! It was so cute. There were these peacocks that wandered around and at this one point they were in the giraffe spot and she couldn't get enough of them!
Every time she would see an animal she would say "hi". This is her making friends w/ the peacock.
Towards the end she decided that she wanted to pull the wagon! It was pretty funny!After the zoo we went home and had pizza and cake! It was a fun day!
Happy B-day Alexis!!

Christmas with 4 small kiddos!

Christmas Check List!

Get up at 5:30 a.m. - check
Lexi goes to wake up Lydia to give her a present - check
Have tired baby (nobody should have to wake up this early!) - check
(Can't blame excited little kiddos I used to do the same thing and would have this year but Eliott and I opened presents on christmas eve after kids went down)
Seth gets games - check
Riley goes tree diving for my stocking - check
Lexi eats way too much candy from her stocking - check
Lydia eats her present - check



Lyddie is a happy baby - check
Lyddie goes to take a nap before normal wake up time - check
Lexi eats hungry hungry hippo ball - check
(bad explanation as to how to play the game: okay after the ball goes into the middle you have to hurry and eat before anybody else does! Innocent 2 year old takes that as race your chubby little hand around the hungry hippos that your sibling are moving to get the little white ball first and throw it in your mouth in one motion! She was so proud of herself for winning until we fished it out of her candy filled mouth! Funny yet sad!)
No major fights - check (for reals! amazing I know!!)
Everybody has a fabulous day and then takes a nap - check!!!

A little Seth humor...

So my dad isn't into holidays of any kind (birthdays included) but we have come to an agreement that he will pay for a gift for the grandkids and even give it to them as long as he doesn't have to shop. So this year I picked out gifts for all the grandkids and went shopping for them. Well I still want my kids to think it is from grandpa so I hid the big giant wagon box in the garage next to the water heater. Seth came out to get in the van yesterday and he starts peeking around the box, which is behind the double stroller and squeezed next to the bike. (not exactly an easy place to get to) So he starts asking what it is and I yell to him that Kayla has a present back there so not to go back there (not a lie, kayla's present is there just next to the giant towel covered wagon box). So he asks me if I hid it so he couldn't see it so he couldn't tell her what it was. I answer yes she would be so sad if you told her what her present was. (I love that he is only 5 and thinks that his 10 month old cousin would be sad if she found out what she were getting for Christmas, it made trying to hide stuff easier) Anyway so I have other presents up on a shelf, also disguised in my genius towel camo. When we got home last night he gets out of the van and Eliott is behind him and he points up to the shelf and looks at Eliott and says "there's another present up there" and keeps walking. I guess next year I actually have to hide the presents. At least none of the ones he discovered are from santa. And the one on the shelf is Lexi's b-day present. Anyway funny kid!

A little Riley humor...

So I was in my bathroom one day doing my hair and I look down and Riley is pointing to something in the cupboards under the sink and asks what it is. So I answer her and then keep doing my hair when it clicks that those cupboards are "child proofed" so i ask her what she is doing and how she got it open and she responds:
"I just pull them open a little and then push these little things down and it opens"
Silly me, why hadn't I tried that! So much for child proof.
Then the other day I was at the kitchen table and she was using my bathroom to go potty and she was gone for quite a while so I ask her what she is doing so she replies that she wants some lotion and I told her she needed to come ask first, so she comes and asks. After I say yes she starts walking back to my bathroom and I catch a whiff of something, gosh what is that? I know that smell! For the life of me I can't put my finger on it! hmmmm.... So I call her back and start smelling her to figure out what it is, she didn't have the smell anywhere so I start smelling inside her nose. Haa there it is, now what is it?!!
Dang it! She smells like VEET (yes that's right the hair removal lotion) that she managed to get out of my "child proofed" cupboards (I have for reals lotion in a place she could get to but noooo she decides to talk the hair removal one) So I run in the bathroom and check and luckily for both of us all she did was open it and smell it. She still has all her hair intact! She is such a turkey! A clever turkey!

(I know this post would have been much more entertaining had it ended w/ loss of hair and a horrible picture to match but just for me can you contain your disappointment at my happiness in having hair on my little girl!)

Christmas Cards!

Alright I might be behind in this but if you want an awesome Jen-made card w/ an awesome family picture (i mean come on how could it not be awesome w/ my cute kiddos) send me your address. You can comment or email me. If you don't have my email there is a link on my sidebar.

Merry Christmas!!

(by the way if nobody gives me their address I might be a little bit sad about that)

Tents, Snow, Trees...

We started this thing last year where we go cut our christmas tree down. We as in my side of the family. We had so much fun last year that we decided to do it every year. This year was last weekend, it was a blast! We were cutting down in Heber so we packed everything up and left Friday. (Eliott had church responsibilities to attend to so he stayed home w/ Lexi and Lydia) So when we got to heber it was freezing cold and raining. So we had to set up camp in the cold and rain and leaky tents and the funny brothers I have, had heaters for their tents. well two of them did the tent we slept in didn't. But it really wasn't that bad. So it rained all night long, what I thought was rain, at some point it turned to SNOW! We woke up at about 6:30 to go to the bathroom, or to the tree I should say, and everything was covered in snow! it was sooooooooo much fun. So we played in the snow in the morning and had a blast. Seth and Riley were really good considering they had never been that cold. Seth even made a snow man and of course his first reaction to the snow was to throw a snow ball at his sister. So after breakfast and camp was packed up we loaded all the kids in the car and shot halloween pumpkins. It was so fun, I haven't shot a gun in probably 15 years. But it was fun. I definitely prefer my brother's rifle to all the pistols there. I couldn't hit anything w/ the pistol but w/ the rifle I rocked! (and actually I might have hit something w/ the pistol but as soon as i pull the trigger my eyes close, I know not very safe!) I even blew up a pumpkin and pieces shot in the air. So after shooting we went driving through all the snow hunting for our trees. When we would spot the one we wanted we would stop and chop it down. So when I saw mine I unloaded Seth and Riley and we went to chop it down. In fact I chopped mine down. Yes that is my hiney in the picture using the chainsaw to chop down my tree! It was pretty cool! So then we drove around getting the other trees, Zo didnt' strap them down so mine blew out of the back of the truck and James stopped to pick it up for me (thanks James!) We stopped and helped a minivan out of the snow (he was from canada on his way to mesa, and basically a moron, who would drive through this stuff in snow) The highway we came up to heber on was closed so we had to drive along the mogollon rim roads to get to another highway, no place for a minivan! anyway! we had a blast and then when we got back to mesa zo threw the tree in the back of the van! at least my van smelled good the whole way home!

(okay I know some of the pictures are sideways but it took forever to load them all so I wasn't going to spend more time trying to fix it, so turn your head sideways!)

I can't wait till next year!

So Funny!

So my brothers have been down in my neck of the woods a lot lately. They are building a house about 15 minutes away from mine so the last few weeks they have been crashing on my floor as they finish the touch ups and what not on this house. So tonight they were over and I had to finish a project I was helping w/. I had to basically put a scripture on a poster board (for the young women's rooms for all the building in our stake) but make it cute! So I was working on it this evening and my 2 very adult brothers decided they were bored. So they wanted to help. So I put them to work. Zo liked inking edges of paper and manning the glue gun. And James is a huge fan of all things sticky. They said that it was lame the whole time, but I think this picture speaks for itself.
They were awesome helpers and I managed to finish all 7 boards and the 4 inserts for the presidency's binders. This was just too funny to me not to post! (in fact when they realized I took a picture I hid the camera just in case they deleted the picture then when we finished I ran in here to post before it could go anywhere!!)

The finished product! Thanks guys!! Don't hate me for posting this!!

Funny guy!

Okay so Seth is learning to read and I borrowed a book from my dad called "my parents married on a dare". Well Seth sounded out the title and then asked me what a dare was, this is the conversation that followed...
me: it is kinda like a challenge
him: (blank stare)
me: well kinda like if somebody said to you "i dare you to jump off the stair" kinda like that, like "let's see if you can do it" Does that make sense?
him: (light bulb clicks) OH I get it. But that isn't a very good thing cuz when you get married you are in church clothes and you aren't supposed to jump off stairs in church clothes.

Oh my goodness I had the hardest time not laughing! Then I had to explain that a dare could mean other things too not just jumping off stairs.

Another one...
last night I was eating a bowl of ice cream and he came out of his room to go potty and came to get one more hug before going to sleep. While hugging me he looks at my ice cream so after the hug...
me: you're going to ask for a bite of my ice cream aren't you?
him: are you going to say "yes" if i do or no?
he got a bite!

i love the way they think!

My Hubby!

So today is our 8th anniversary! I am not good at sappy stuff so suffice it to say I love this crazy man and am glad we got married 8 years ago! (insert more sappy stuff if you so desire)

So the deal in our house is that he plans some sort of anniversary date while I plan Valentine's Day. So I knew that he had made plans for Friday morning and that we weren't going to the valley. So I assumed he would take me to Denny's for breakfast and then maybe to our newly opened Harkins. (which would have been okay but kinda lame considering our past anniversaries, (he is really good at the anniversary game)). Anywho, Carly came down for pie on thanksgiving and while we were eating she mentions something about how late it is going to be when we get there. Well that is when I said "wha what?" So he had planned 2 weeks ago for Carly to come stay the night and we got to go to Tuscon and stay in the Marriott. It was the best. The bed was seriously so comfy and we had no midnight visitors and we got to sleep in a little, and enjoy breakfast out, we haven't gone to breakfast in forever and that is my favorite! So it was awesome, we came home and then later that day we were gonna go visit some friends. Well while he was getting ready to go his phone rings and I proceed to answer. The girls then asks to talk to Eliott, who I say can't come to the phone but I will take a message, so this was the message:
can you please let him know that the drill repair guy is done w/ his drill and he can pick it up whenever he wants.
okay a little confused, but he did take the battery for our drill to work w/ him earlier that week to see if it needed to be replaced, although he never told me it was being repaired. So I go to ask him if it was being repaired and he looked confused as he told me no, so I tell him the conversation and he just looked at me and then it clicks "she said JEWELERY" that's right! My wedding ring has had a loose diamond for I don't know how long so my finger hasn't been married for quite a while. So the best husband ever got my ring fixed for me and he took me to a hotel and he got a babysitter! what more could a girl want!!
Love you babe!
(by the way this is the most recent picture I had of him, but it fit his goofball side, so I left it!)

My New Friend...

So this is my new friend.
Blogging friends meet Bar Keepers Friend
Bar Keepers Friend meet blogging friends.
Now that you have all been properly introduced let me tell you a little bit about my new friend. I met her in the grocery store (I go to walmart) in the "comet" section. My friend Wendy told me how awesome she was so I went to seek her out and then there she was. It was love at first use. Yes I totally "use" this friend, I try not to do that to friends but her I do. It is pretty much a one sided friendship. But I truly love her. She cleans my glass top stove like no other. If you have never heard about this little friend you should seek her out. (okay seriously I just put a little on my stove top and use a little green scrubby and rub, not even using elbow grease, and wa-la my stove is clean!)
So I encourage you all to make friends with her and use her!
That is all for now. Thanks for coming!

Tagged again!

1. What time is it? 12:37 pm
2. What's your full name? Jennifer Rae Reynolds
3. What are you most afraid of? Not raising my children in a way that helps them become the people I hope they become.
4. What is the most recent movie that you have seen in a theater? Harry Potter
5. Place of birth? St. George, Utah
6. Favorite food? pizza and chicken marsala from olive garden
7. What's your natural hair color? brown and as I get older it gets more red in it. (mostly in the sun, but still it is fun!)
8. Ever been to Alaska ? nope
9. Ever been toilet paper rolling? heck yes I have!
10. Love someone so much it made you cry? not really a cryer sorry!
11. Been in a car accident? we were rear-ended on the way to church when I was prego w/ lydia but the only thing that happened was that the other car wiped a layer of dust off our bumper, so is that really a car accident?!
12. Croutons or bacon bits? Croutons for sure!
13. Favorite day of the week? saturday i guess
14. Favorite restaurant? no window - olive garden, window - chick-fil-a
15. Favorite flower? gerber daisy
16. Favorite sport to watch? gymnastics when it is olympic time, other wise i can sit through baseball but never ever football, and i never choose to watch any of them
17. Favorite drink? pink lemonade
18. Favorite ice cream? Mint Chocolate Chip ... from baskin robins, although blue bunny used to make "exquisite mint" ooooh it was so good but now it is gone.
19. Disney or Warner Brothers? Disney
20. Ever been on a ship? a ferry to catalina is the closest. oh wait we went to visit some war ship in san diego.
21. What color is your bedroom carpet? gray (yuck!)
22. Before this one, from whom did you get your last e-mail? costco
23. What do you do when you are bored? i love to scrapbook, blog, read, and sleep, so if I ever get bored i might do those but I am too busy to be "bored"
24. What is your bedtime? 10ish, depends on the night
25. Who will respond to this e-mail the quickest? I'm not doing the email version, but I TAG ...everyone!!!!
26. Who is the person you sent this to that is least likely to respond? people w/ out blogs or the random person who was blog hopping and came across me and for some random reason read my random things. (by the way, hi random blog hopping person!! leave a comment!!)
27. Who is the person that you are most curious to see their response? Everyone! I love reading & learning random things about people.
28. Favorite TV show? Office,and right now we are watching all the seasons of "lost" so we can catch up and watch the new season when it starts, (we thought it was lame when it was a new show but our friends talked us into watching them all in a row, and we love it!)
29. Last person you went to dinner with? Eliott i think, that seems like the most likely person so ya, Eliott!
30. What is your favorite vacation spot? what is a vacation?
31. What are your favorite colors? Pink (so weird it was never my favorite growing up, but I am totally in love w/ pink now!)
32. How many tattoos do you have? none, but I have freckles!
33. How many pets do you have? None for now but i have people working on me to get a dog.
34. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? does it even matter? why is this even a question? they are both here, let it go!
35. What do you want to do before you die? live at least one more day
36. Have you ever been to Hawaii ? i think this falls under the category of "vacation" so that would have to be a "NO"
37. Have you been to countries outside the U.S. ? france and italy (okay i know i was sassy about vacation but seriously this was in high school)
38. How many people are you sending this e-mail to? Just putting it on my blog.
39. Type the first word that comes to mind to describe yourself. right now... um i have to say a little bit cranky.
TA-DA, ALL DONE!!
now copy and paste, but first you can comment!!

Pay It Forward!

So I found this on Carly's blog and thought it looked fun. Plus I am feeling crafty, now that my house is somewhat clean. So anyway...
"I will send a handmade gift to the first three (3) people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange.You may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog. (So, you must have a blog to participate.) I can't wait to see who I will be giving to. To join, just cut and paste this on your blog and comment away. So get posting!! 'Tis the season for giving...and blogging :)"
So if you want to recieve an awesome "jen-made" gift leave a comment.

So Pathetic!

This was last week when Riley was sick (she is better now) I think she was waiting for breakfast. She was talking to me and then a few minutes later I find this!


And this one is of Lexi, the day before I found out she had pneumonia. I took her to Mesa that day and ran errands w/ her. I feel a little bit bad that I made her do that now knowing how sick she was. On the less abusive side at least I didn't leave her w/ a sitter, like the other girls! (i like to justify my "mom of the year" moments until they seem less "mom of the yearish"!!)
And last but not least on the day I took Lex around I put her hair in her first "real" ponytail! Whoo hoo!! I was so excited and she looked so stinkin cute! I love big girl ponytails!

Relief!

Seth had his primary program today so Eliott's mom came to watch. After sacrament meeting we went home. She made stew for us for dinner so she came over after church to drop it off. While I was trying to get the kids lunch and Lexi was screaming she came up w/ a brilliant plan. She took Riley and Seth home w/ her and she will bring them back tomorrow! Man I love that woman!! So now I only have 2 kiddos. Granted it is the sick ones, I tried to get her to take lexi but I can't imagine why she didn't want too!! Did I mention that Lydia has croup? Man life is fun!! But for the next 24 hours I only have 2!

So much Fun!

Okay so not really! Yesterday I had Lydia's 9 month check-up. Well they now draw blood at that check-up. So I had this brilliant idea to have somebody watch my other kiddos so that I didn't have to chase kids around the lab and could really focus on Lydia while she was being tortured (seriously it is one of the saddest things to see, they strap them on this little board thing and have 3 straps going over her little body) Well that was my genious plan until my kids decided to get sick, and I couldn't take them to my friends house because they would then pass it on. And not to mention Lexi has been doing nothing but laying on me since Tuesday or Wednesday. So I call and get Lexi an appt at the same time. Well we get in there and when the doctor listens to Lexi's chest she tells me that she wants an x-ray, it could be pneumonia. So I then take my to diapered kiddos to the back of the clinic to get x-rays for X and blood drawn for Lyddie. We did the blood first and then a nurse came and took Lex to get the x-ray. I gotta say it was really sad having somebody else take her back there especially when I could hear her crying. So then we go back in the room and in comes the nurse... Lexi has pneumonia. So weird! Then they got flu shots. It was torture day at the doctor's office. I really wanted to take a picture of the Lydia being all strapped down but I felt bad so I didn't. I think the only thing sadder than that is picturing Lex getting her chest x-ray. Seriously there is some mid-evil stuff going on. For those of you who have never seen it, they put the kid on this little seat, like a bike seat and then bring a plexi glass tube like thing around them and lift their arms above their head and close the tube thingy. It is so sad, Seth had it done at 4 months old, pure torture. Anyway so life over here has been a little crazy, Lexi just wants to be held all day long. She never cuddles so I am totally enjoying the cuddle time, but a few minutes to do dishes would be nice. My house is a disaster. Any volunteers to come clean??!! On the up side, somebody must have known I needed help, because Seth and Riley were fabulous at the doctor's office. They behaved so well it was wonderful! The end!

A little bragging going on...

Okay so I went to find Riley a dress for Halloween and I thought they were all cheesy and to expensive for being so cheesy. So I decided to take a yellow bridesmaid dress and turn it into a Belle dress. So... I did!
I came home from walmart one day and finished it that night. With out a pattern. And I really made it a top and skirt instead of a dress but still! Oh and the picture of Belle doesn't' do the dress justice it was way cuter and poofier in person! Anyway here is a before and after!
I made Seth's costume too, but I have to give "kudos" to Kristine, I just copied her on the lighter tan part of the costume. Then later I made the robe.

Halloween!

And now the moment you have all been waiting for! My fabulous Halloween post!
Okay so I think it is fabulous! We really only have one Halloween activity and that is our ward trunk or treat. They always have a potluck chili night and horse rides and this year they added some games. It was a fun night. My little kiddos dressed up as:
Lydia - Cinderella
Alexis - Snow White
Riley - Belle
Seth - Obi Wan
They were all so cute! (a little pat on the back if you will... I made Seth's and Riley's costumes.)
We first did our trunk or treating then Seth decided he wanted to ride the horses. We went over to hang out by the horses and Eliott took Seth and Riley over to pet one that was just standing there and Riley decided she wanted nothing to do w/ it so she came over to stand next to me. I was hanging out w/ my friend Wendy (who owns the horses) and while we were talking there was no line so Riley decided again she wanted to get on one so she actually did (totally blew me away since last week she wouldn't ride the pony!) so she took a ride and a little while later we look over and Steve (Wendy's husband) had put her on again and she was totally fine! It was so cute. And of course Seth loved it. He even rode one time bare back. So all in all it was a fun night till we were walking back to our car from the horses and Seth discovered that somebody had taken his bag of candy. He had put it under the front of a car while riding the horses and then it was gone. It was such a sad thing for him to have to deal w/ (better now than later with something more valuable or more important I say!! but still so sad!)
Anyway and now the pictures...

Halloween...

Coming Soon! Stay tuned, I am off to visit my niece and will try to get back to my blog just as soon as my house resembles a house and not a pig sty!

I can't believe it!!!

GASP!!! I am so honored to be receiving this award! First I would like to thank all the little people. I especially like the conductor one that rides in front on the little train.
Second thanks Lindser-Lou! My awesome blogging buddy that nominated me!! Whoo hoo!
I pick...
Random Thoughts Nichole
Hula Dancing Nettie
Chicago Living Erin
Baby growing Kristine
New Mom Tawni

(I mean, come one how do I just pick 3 that's not fair, I love everybody!)
Congrats!! Whoo Hoo you won! Now you get to pass it on!!


P.S. I am completely aware of the level of cheeseyness that this falls under but it is still fun!!

It's a long one!

Well let's see...
I had this picture and it was to funny not to post. As I have mentioned before I love sleeping babies. Well the girls get to start the night w/ their door open but if I see or hear them then it gets closed until we go to bed then we open it. The other night they ended up w/ their door getting closed . When we we to open it this is what we found. They had moved their pillows and blankets and all the junk on their beds to the floor by the door. It was so funny. I do have to say that at least they put it a little bit further away from the door. They usually fall asleep right behind it so when we check on them we have to push them w/ the door in order to get in the room.

Okay now for our long weekend. My brother is building a house down in Casa Grande so when he has to be there for a couple days he crashes at my house. Well this past weekend he stayed Thursday and Friday nights w/ one of my other brothers. Which means play time for my kids. On friday morning I come out of my room and here he is playing ring around the rosies w/ my kiddos and the niece and nephew I was watching. It was just too cute not to take pictures. They all had so much fun playing w/ him.

So much fun in fact that Derek was exhausted. Or he was exhausted from the fact that he wanted to go home. I guess he had never stayed w/ out his mom or dad so he was a little hysterical at times. At dinner one night he lost it so bad he started dry heaving at the table and I thought he was gonna blow so I made Eliott in charge of that one. Anyway it really was very sad but I was making Riley's halloween costume on Friday (which it so stinkin cute. just wait for the pictures of Halloween!) and he wouldn't leave my side. I looked over at one point and the poor little guy had fallen asleep on the rocking chair. Now how on earth could that be comfy!?!

So then on Saturday morning we drove up to Mesa to drop off the extra kiddos. And thanks to Kristine she told me about an awesome yard sale w/ scrapbook stuff so I went there while Eliott drove them home. When he came back to get me we headed to a fundraiser thingy called the "Buddy Walk" it is a thing for Sharing Down Syndrome Arizona. Eliott's best buddy's Mom is the founder of this organization so every year we attend the Buddy Walk. It is a lot of fun. It is like a little carnival thingy. The past few years they have had pony rides. Which Seth loved. Last year Riley rode too but she wanted nothing to do w/ it Saturday. Lexi loved them as long as she could sit in the stroller! Then they got to play the cheesy little carnival games and win prizes. And they had a "train" too. Over all the kids had a blast and we always have fun seeing the Johnsons! After the park we went to see Carly in her new (to her) house. It was super cute and I know she is gonna have a blast living w/ girls. It made me miss (kinda) my college days and living w/ girls. It really is fun even though you have the drama. Anyway, so after a long day and all of that we finally got home. This was the first time Lydia played in the tub so we had to get a picture of that of course!















(and for those of you that have asked, my neice is recovering slowly. But still recovering. Luckily her tumor was not cancer but she still has to do radiation because they didn't get the whole thing. Thanks for caring!)

Too Funny!

Seth and Riley were just looking at church magazines and seeing pictures of Jesus and Seth asks me: "mommy, when are we gonna die, cuz I really want to see Jesus"
Me: "I don't know bud, nobody knows when we are gonna die"
Riley "I am gonna die in just a few minutes, and then I am gonna see Jesus"
I loved it, they are so stinkin cute and funny!
Just thought I would share!!

What a week!!

Well let's see last Tuesday Eliott left for a work trip to Florida for 8 days! So I had things planned for everyday so I wouldn't go crazy. The first few days were fine, then I went to Wickenburg to stay w/ my brother and his wife and kid for the weekend. On Friday night another brother called to tell us that their 7 year old had a seizure at school and long story short she had a tumor in her brain. So we went to his house in Mesa on Saturday to visit then back to Wickenburg Saturday night, then back to Mesa on Monday. I went to my friend's house and made her some Harry Potter costumes for her and her husband then went to stay the night w/ my brother and his kids. On Tuesday they did the surgery on my niece and to keep busy while they were doing that we went to my other friend's house and made Seth half of his halloween costume. Finally they finished surgery around 9 at night. She was in there for 9 hours or so. It didn't go fabulous but she is still here so that is a plus. She isn't moving as well as they would like so to allow for my brother and his wife to visit I took home their 2 youngest to stay w/ me for a few days. So my week has been crazy!! For the last few days I have had 6 kids under the age of 5. But at least they all play well together. On a good note I found out one of my good buddies just found out she is prego! She has been trying for years upon years! I am so happy for her! Congrats Girl!!
Anyway I think I am little stressed out and needed a vent, so here it is! Maybe my next post will be more fun!

Blah!

okay so the site I got my background from was doing something not quite right, so all my cool stuff disappeared and now i am going to have to fix it so bear w/ me while I work on it!
Thanks!!

Sleeping Babies!

I love sleeping kid pictures. They are my favorites! Mostly because they just look sweet but also because if the kid is sleeping then they don't need anything from me!! Anyway the other day Seth was playing in my room while I was spending way too much time blogging during nap time and when I looked over at him this is what I found! He had put a pillow in the basket and fallen asleep. Now how can that be comfy?! Well I took a picture and went back to blogging, and shortly after that he woke up went to the bathroom and came back. He laid down in his basket again and fell asleep! When I took this picture he woke up but he had fallen back asleep. He is so funny!
















Before we go to bed we always check in on the kids. This one night though Carly was over and
looked in on them and told us to come check out the girls. This is what we found! Now Lexi has had her own bed for about 9 -10 months now and they have never slept together. It was so sweet that they just crashed I couldn't resist taking their picture!














And now on to Lyddie! She is a funny goober, almost every time she falls asleep this is how you find her. She always has her thumb in her mouth, although she doesn't suck it, it just has to be in there! And she smothers her face with her blanket and then she rolls half way over and criss crosses her feet into the bars on the crib! She is such a funny baby! I have tons of these pictures because I just can't get over how she does this when she sleeps.

Picnic!

Last week the kids wanted to have a picnic in the backyard. So we busted out the picnic blanket and made lunch. They had a ton of fun. Until half way through lunch they saw some ants and of course flipped out and ended the picnic. But it was fun while it lasted!

Blog Hopping Pays Off!!

Hello, my name is Jen and I am a blog hopper...
Well this time I found some interesting info. You know how we do this blogging thing and think "this could count as my journal or scrapbook" well I found through another site some links to sights that make books out of your blogs.

"The first is Blog2Print (http://blogger.sharedbook.com/)
This one is in Beta right now so it may have some bugs but it is REALLY easy to use. This one also allows you to include your post's comments if you want. It allows you to choose all posts within certain dates to include in your book. It starts out at $19.95.

The second one is www.blurb.com (http://www.blurb.com/create/book/blogbook)
This lets you download software for free that creates a blog book for you. It starts at $12.95 for 40 pages to print a book. I like this one because it allows you to easily deselect posts like this one that you wouldn't necessarily want in your book."

I just copied and pasted what she had on her blog, if you want to look at it yourself it let me know and I will give you the link to her blog, but I don't know if she would want me to put it up here for all to see. Anyway I was pretty excited when I saw this cuz now it really can be my journal!

That's all!

What?

Can somebody please tell me when it was that my baby grew up? He came home today from school with his school pictures. He looks so big and handsome I actually cried when I saw them. I never thought I would be an emotional mom like this. What is happening?! I am not even prego and really can't even blame it on being postpartum. Oh well I guess I am just a wimp! Anyway I just had to put his sweet picture on my blog.

Again!

Somehow I have managed to slide under the radar so far on the whole "7 random facts" post, but somebody finally got me...

1. I like to eat pudding, applesauce (things like that) with a baby spoon (not the rubber kind though, I mean come on!)

2. I can't hear or say the difference between an "e" and an "i" in words such as ten and tin and pen and pin. It all sounds the same to me and if I try really hard to say the "e" it comes out sounding more like "ee". Eliott laughs at me!

3. Somehow somebody in my growing up ward got the idea that I cater weddings, so I am a wedding caterer lately (3 this fall)

4. I love to work with my brother and learn new things (he does construction). Like insulation, I got to do the kind in the ceiling last summer and a few months ago the kind in the walls. I also got to put the door trim on and all the baseboards. And sometime this month I get to help him tile and grout and stuff. He loves it cuz I have fun doing the things that he doesn't like to do. But it is just so fun to learn new things!

5. I hang my clothes w/ the hanger backwards and I color coordinate them in the closet, I have done it for years and don't look forward to the days that my girls can hang their own because I love it like that and they won't keep it. I mean come on it is so nice, you say... mmmmmmmm
I wanna wear pink today and you just look in the pink section. It doesn't get easier right?

6. I love games! Any kind really but I am totally addicted to word games (except scrabble, for some reason I kinda suck at it). Boggle is my all time favorite, I will never say "no" to playing that and I can play it for hours. I love it!!!


7. I love to read but I am really addicted to cheesy LDS romance novels. I have a ton and reread them. I just love that I can pick one up and get a good love story w/ out any "heaving bosoms!"

That is all! I usually don't name names at the bottom for people to be tagged but I have to this time, because Kristine and I have been talking about this one for awhile trying to come up w/ our 7 facts so I tag...
Kristine
Carly
And of course my usual, "Everybody else that wants to-you know you want to do it!!!"

Just some random stuff...

Let's see, first... we noticed Lexi was starting to get a little bit of a buck on her front teeth so we decided to see if we could break her of her thumb sucking habit. Well first we just started telling her she was a big girl and didn't need to do it anymore and when we saw her suck it all we would say is "who's my big girl?" and she would pop it out. So we did that for a couple days and it didn't really seem to be working all that well cuz she figured out she could control it, so I finally found the yucky thumb stuff but the problem is it is supposed to be bitter but your bitter tasted buds are up front and you suck your thumb in the back so that didn't work. So we kept up the whole big girl scheme half-heartedly. I realized the other day that I don't remember the last time she sucked her thumb. Once we left her alone it was done. It took only maybe a week. Wow I have no idea how we lucked out so well!! Anyway thumb sucking story over.
Next Lyddie has decided she is a big girl and can finally sit all by herself!!
Whoo hoo (it is about time!) the other kids sat around 4 or 5 months but she is 7 and a half!
Last is another Lexi thing...
It is so funny we will be sitting in the room and she will all the sudden stand up and started playing duck duck goose w/ everyone. If she can't reach the top of you head she will move your face until she can and say "du" and move on. Every once in awhile she will touch you and start running at which point we assume she says goose. Nobody even has to be paying attention to her for her to play her little game. It is so cute! I think it is funny the things your young kids do when they have older siblings, I mean Seth would never have done that, he didn't even know the game!
Anyway that is just some fun random things going on at my house these days!

Tagged again...

This one is a "love/hate relationship" one.
I was supposed to come up w/ 5, so here they are...

1. Food
2. Clothes
3. Money
4. Exercise
5. Walmart

I tag everyone! Muhahahaha!

Oh Riley...

So this is Riley's idea of taking a nap. She likes to play for a few minutes before she sleeps but this was a little bit excessive. She had also taken out all the kids piggy banks out of the closet and emptied them on the floor. So when I went to get her after naps I saw the mess and told her that I would love to have her join us in the living room when the mess was cleaned. So I closed the door and a little bit later I came to check on her and this is what I find... She had totally fallen asleep! But I mean who could blame her that is a huge mess she made during nap time, who wouldn't be tired after all that? Needless to say she finally finished cleaning it 10 minutes before bedtime, so she could eat dinner. Once again,
Oh Riley!!

LYDIA JANE

This is Lydia.
She is 7 months old.
She loves to sleep.
She has almost mastered sitting up.
She loves to roll around on the floor.
She loves to play with her toys.
She love to sit in her exosaucer thingy.
She loves to play with her brother and sisters.
She loves to smile.



She loves daddy to play "pig on a stick" with her.
She loves to laugh.
She has tons upon tons of rolls.
She has a very serious side.
She is so sweet.
She is so heavy.
She loves her pink blanket.
She loves to go for walks in the stroller.
She has 1 tooth.
She loves to eat green beans.
She loves to grab her toes.
She likes to sleep on her tummy.
She likes to scoot around the room on her tummy.
She loves to look in the mirror.
She will grab your hand if it is anywhere near her and shove it in her mouth.
She is so squishy.
She sucks her thumb when she wants to sleep.
She pretends not to eat when anybody tries to feed her but me.
She is too big for her infant car seat.
She is my Lyddie girl!
I love her!

ALEXIS ANN

This is Alexis.
She is 1.5 years old.
She loves to suck her thumb.
She has amazing eyes that smile before her mouth does.



She loves to play with the stroller and shopping cart.
She loves to help with Lyddie.
She loves copying whatever her big brother or sister does.
She loves to take a bath.
She loves to play outside.
She loves to help put away dishes.
She is a sweet girl.
She has an amazing talent to discover whatever it is Riley wants and get to it first.
She is best buddies with Seth.
She has a crooked smile.
Her crooked smile can melt anyone's heart.
She loves her aunts and uncles.
She loves to read books.
She eats food crumb by crumb with her forefinger and thumb.
She takes forever to eat.
She trips alot.
She likes to ride in Riley's car seat.
She loves to sing "wheels on the bus"
She makes everybody think they are her favorite person ever.
She has so much love.
She is my sweet Lexi Ann!
I love her!