Long Time Coming

Get ready for a lot of pictures! We have a summer full of them for the Grandma's and other family that are missing my kids. The last post was just before Valentines Day so here is what we did to celebrated the day...

We made little heart mobiles for everyone to everyone and they and hung them above the kitchen table. They are still hanging up today. I can't bear to take them down. The kids put so much love into them. It is a fun daily reminder of our love for each other. Our family is pretty awesome :) Rich took this picture of a picture of us framed by the mobiles. Ahhhh, how cute!

Next up was Hazel's birthday. I can't believe she is two! (Actually, she is now almost 2 1/2 but who's counting...not me). She is firmly set in her terrible two ways and has inherited quite the bossy attitude from her older sister but she is also the most adorable thing you have ever seen. It is a hard line to tow with her...balancing the terrible with the terrific.

My mother was in Utah for her birthday and we were able to celebrate the day with some of my aunts, cousins and their children. It was a lot of fun catching up. There were quite a few girls and they all were so cute together. Hazel felt pretty special to have so many celebrate her day with her.

Kicking off the spring season was swim lessons. Dexter is doing really well and loves the water. Lucy, not so much. She has a harder time. But I think after a lot of time spent in the pool with Rich and I this summer she is starting to like it better. Hazel and I had a Mommy and Me class and that little dare-devil was hard to keep from drowning. She was 100% confident in her ability to stay afloat and didn't want me holding her back!

We were so happy to have my niece over during Easter. She spent the night and got to wake up with the kids on Easter and hunt for her own Easter basket. The kids adore Halen and she is so good with them. She is going to have her first baby brother or sister in a few short months. I am excited for another cousin.

Then it was time for Dexter's preschool graduation. Why does time have to fly? I know I am going to wake up and I will be at Hazel's college graduation and asking myself where it all went. I hate that. I am doing my best to enjoy simple and small moments with the kids now. That is why I have no time for the blog. I am too busy trying to soak up every minute of my children. But anyway, look how grown up he is. He was sad to leave pre-school but so excited at the prospect of kindergarten.

I know this is not a quality picture but look how cute they are!

Dexter turned 5 the day after pre-school graduation and we had is first ever friend birthday party. I guess Rich and I were so busy entertaining all the kids we didn't take pictures. Which is too bad. He had a few friends from pre-school, church and the neighborhood come. It was a Super Mario Bros. theme and he had a ball! I am not a party planner so I thought I would be anxious and not have much fun but I was wrong. The kids were great and it was a blast.

Soon after that spring soccer started. Lucy was able to join the team this year too. However, she spent most of the time on the sidelines as the cheerleader. She got out there a few times and we were really proud of her but dancing is certainly more her speed. She is girl to the bone. This year Dexter did very well. He knew the game and what to do and we was really, really good. Hazel just loved being able to run away and try and get lost in the crowd. Ugh.

This summer were were able to get passes to the bowling alley for $10 per person which included shoe rentals. Talk about cheap family fun! We LOVED it! We went most Saturdays. I am a REALLY bad bowler (the joke is I bowl in binary: 10110011). But it was great being together and having fun!

Then in July Lucy turned 4. She is such a princess. All sweetness or all attitude. She had a Tinkerbell cake and was over the moon about it. Can you tell by the picture?

Soon after that Dexter started Kindergarten. He is already reading really well for his age and knows addition and subtraction pretty well too. He is a wonderful son and brother. He is thoughtful, sensitive and kind. I am a lucky momma. He is excited to participate in Reflections, which is like a art exhibit for elementary students. He is quite the good little drawer. My mother gave him a few books for his birthday (how to draw anything from a triangle, square, circle books) and I thought they would be too old for him but he is surprisingly very good at it. So, he will being doing some sort of an illustration. The theme is "Together We Can" and when I told him the theme he said he wanted to do "Together we can help all living things". I am interested to see what he comes up with! Anyway, here his is on his first day of kindergarten. Also with his sisters and his best-bud and neighbor Jimmy.

A few weeks later Lucy started her new preschool! 4 days a week at the same school as Dexter. There classes are across the hall from each other. When I told her that the classes would be next to each other she said, "Mommy, when I see Dexter in the hallway I am going to say, 'Hey Dexter' then we will bump elbows and giggle." It was too funny. She loves her new teachers and her class and every day before I leave she has to give me "the biggest and bestest hug ever!" She is another huge blessing in a little package. We got Just Dance for the Wii and she is really good! She beats me every other time! It is so fun to watch her grow up. I know that she was hand picked to be my daughter and I thank my Heavenly Father every day.

And then there was Hazel. That little devil. I mean, look at her she is so determined to be a devil she painted her face red with Aunt Rosemary's lipstick and then slept like that all night!!! (No she didn't just paint her face. It was all over her bed, walls and door. And I did not hear a PEEP! She did this all while being completely silent in her room!) But look at those wild curls and those big eyes. She gets away with murder daily.

Although Hazel is now potty trained and can't tell you how nice it has been. I never even imagined the day when our house would be diaper free and, yet, here we are. It's been lovely.

Just a fun side note. Here is my fun project. Strawberry Peach jam, honey-Cinnamon peaches, salsa and strawberry lemonade. All yummy.

Here is Dexter and his first bit of homework done. Memorize address, phone # and birthday. Count to 10. No problem! He was super excited at having homework. Wonder when that will change?

Rich and I had our 6th anniversary and were able to get away that weekend because my dear, sweet sister is staying with us for awhile. She took them to a contra dance (no-not country) and the kids had a lot of fun.

And this is for my mom. This is the little cloak you sent. So cute!

So we are mostly caught up. Next up Halloween. Dexter- Ninja Turtle. I am not making that outfit but I am adjusting it to make it super cool. Lucy- witch. I am not making that either because I found a super cute and well made costume for $10.99. Hazel- black cat (the witch's pet) and I did make her costume and it is too cute. I'll post pictures sooner this time.

My Funny Valentines

Friday morning the kids were excited to wake up and find little packages on the table from Gummy for Valentine's Day. They loved everything and Lucy was especially excited about the clothes and adorable little purse. It is funny how early the fashion obsession can start. Last night we all watched Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown, another gift from Gummy. She has been on our minds and in our prayers a lot lately. The kids love her and talk about visiting her in California all the time. Whenever I tell them we are going to be in the car for awhile they hope that means we are again driving to California to see Gum. Thanks for the gifts Gummy! The kids loved all of them and are hoping to see you soon. We love you lots. Take care and Happy Valentine's Day!

I had to add another picture I just took. These are the beautiful roses Rich brought home for me on Friday. I didn't expect it, it is only the 2nd time in our marriage that I have gotten flowers and the 1st was shortly after we were married. Anyway, that is really not the point. Can you see what Hazel so cleverly decorated the inside of the vase with?! I have seen people use glass marbles, fruit, raffia and other decorations to color up what would be boring stems but I think Hazel took it to a whole new artistic level! Crayons give a whole new meaning to the idea of adding a little color!

Tiny Dancer

Dexter finished up with his karate class and mostly had fun. And of coarse I didn't get one single picture. I must admit this isn't entirely my fault, I did try, and that knowledge makes me feel less of a loser Mom but still I hate knowing that we have no pictures of him karate chopping the plastic practice boards in half or waving around the Styrofoam nun-chucks. When his course was over I asked him if he would like to continue and he said he wants to do break-dancing instead. Hmmm... we will see...

Lucy still has a couple weeks of dance left and with the guilt still hanging heavy around me from getting no pictures of Dexter, I put the camera in the car well in advance so I wouldn't forget. I think she makes the prettiest little dancer. She has a lot of fun, even if she doesn't always pay attention. She loves to watch her self dance in the mirror, it is so very cute and so very Lucy. I also think she really likes her instructor because where as most the students are eager to volunteer to be the first to "walk the line" doing a particular move (kicks, jumps, etc.) she will lag back and go last every time. She does this because she realizes she will get more attention from her teacher this way. It works every time too. Each time she was last and each time the teacher gave her special instruction and attention to get her moving along. I know that it wasn't because she didn't know how to do it or didn't want to do it, she just wanted her instructor to pay attention to her and has figured out the game. So very sneaky, so very smart, so very precious. So very Lucy!

It's been awhile since we've posted pictures and such and I must apologize to the Grandma's. Sorry! So this post is dedicated to the Grandma's who love our kids but live TOO FAR AWAY!

We've had a lot of fun in the snow this winter. Dexter loves to have Rich make the snowballs, hand them back to him and then throw them right back at Rich, not too stealthy but pretty funny. The kids have been enjoying making snow angels, snow piles and "shovel rides" where Rich will shovel them along with the snow.

These are the ruby slippers Gummy bought the girls. They love them! They wear them as often as possible. Lucy loves to show them off to everyone and gets a lot of compliments from strangers, which she just eats up. We let the girls open the shoes early because we thought they went cute with their Christmas outfits. Despite the dazed and confused looks they did look darling.

The kids also decorated our yearly gingerbread house for Santa with Rich. This year we also went through the toy room and gave Santa 2 big bags of toys that he could then give to other children. (Also because with 3 kids the toys can get out of control and adding Christmas toys to the already out of control mess was not something I wanted to do. Downsizing before adding to the toys seemed like the best thing to do. I also felt like it might get the kids into the spirit of giving a little and they really were happy to do it.) The problem is that on Christmas Eve there was no way I was getting out to actually do the "donating". So we put the bags in the room the kids aren't supposed to be in. But I was doing school work down there a few days after Christmas and Dexter wandered in and saw the bags. He wanted to know why Santa hadn't taken the toys. Oops! Well, I told them Santa left me a note with instructions of what to do with the toys because he didn't have enough room on his sleigh but that we was really happy and appreciative of the gesture. Most of them are broken or little happy meal toys, the good ones I am thinking of sending to my sister, Rebekah, in Africa. I will have to ask her.

The jammies that Gummy sent were a big hit. I think they stayed in them for two days straight after we opened them on Christmas Eve. They loved them! Dexter is still over the moon about his Mario pj's. He is sure that he IS Mario when he wears them. Can you tell by his smile?!

Here a few tidbits from Christmas morning...

I am a bad daughter and have failed to get pictures of the kids in their Alaska socks. They are also now Dexter's favorite socks. It's a good thing that there are two of them! Although, he insists that they are penguin socks. I tried to explain to him that they are Puffin socks, not penguin and where Grandma lives and Mom grew up there are some puffins but no penguins. He told me, "Mom, it's my imagination and in my imagination they are penguins." I can't argue with that.

On the cute front, Hazel is starting to talk more and more. It is so fun. Right now her biggest thing is whenever you ask one of her siblings if they would like, want, need something, she will throw both hands up in the air and enthusastically say "I DO!". Also, she has always loved cuddly, soft, stuffed animals and calls them her "ba-beeeees". Recently she has started this little mantra that she says over and over in her cute little toddler voice, "I are a ba-beee!"

Lastly, Happy New Years! The kids even got to stay up until midnight! (It's a good thing they can't tell time because I lied to them - midnight was really 8:30 pm, an hour past their bedtime). But we toasted sippy cups of sparkling cider, banged on pots and pans, wore silly hats and all the usual stuff at "midnight". This was the first year since being married that I actually stayed up! Pregnancy and sleep deprivation have rendered me useless long before midnight up until now. It was fun. This new year (tomorrow actually) Dexter will start karate and Lucy dance. I've been meaning to get them into something like that forever but just haven't found a good time with Dexter's strange preschool schedule but I found something that will work. The classes only last 6 weeks for now and we will see how interested they stay. If they love it we will sign them up for more. They are super excited.

Don't worry, Grandma's. I am working on making our 2009 photo book to send to you, so hopefully it won't be too long before you see more pictures. Until then, we love you!

We have a new girl in the family now. Welcome Ruby!

This weekend I finally picked up my little girl from my friend Brian. She is a leopard gecko that was born with a deformed tail and trusted to us to take care of. Brian is a great guy and runs a site called geckodaddy.com where he sells some pretty stunning animals. Anyhoo the kids went crazy and our little Hazel nut couldn't get enough of Ruby. She actually laid down on the counter next to the cage and watched in amazement as Ruby slept. Then she laid her head down next to the glass and tried to cuddle with her. It was cute I tell ya... cute. Don't believe me, well then check out the picture


See... I told you so. Anyway we have some fun little kids. Check them out.