Fun, Fun, Fun!

Our family finally got a little excitement last weekend when my mom, Hayley, Adyson, and Sienna came by for a little visit. It is always so much fun to watch how quickly the kids just jump right into their little friendships! The girls were in dress-ups within the first five minutes, and it only took about five more for Ady to get Kutter to play house with her. It just cracks me up to watch those two get along, when their worlds are so, so different!

The kids had tons of fun just playing together. They seemed to really enjoy the relaxed rules that Grandma brings with her -- especially getting to sleep in the front room all together and watching movies until way past bedtime. Can you tell that Ady got to pick witch movie they watched?

These visits always remind me how lucky I am to have the family that I have. Not many people can say that their mom and their sister are their best friends! It was wonderful to spend some shopping time together (ok, and some eating time, too!) and to stay up a little later than we should because we have so much to gab about!

This is one of my favorites of these two. They are "surfin' USA" on my rocking chair and ottoman!

Trick or Treat?

What a CRAZY Halloween! Hayley would say that it's totally my fault for waiting til the last minute to get the kids' costumes. She's probably right, but I pretty much do that every year. They are just such a headache! My kids have inherited my incredible lack of decision-making abilities, which really doesn't help. Breje was going to be the white witch, Hermione, or Ginny Weasley; in that order, before we ended up with this spooky concoction. (This, thanks only to Sienna, who is definately better at decisions than me!)
Trayson was nice enough to wear last years' costume, so he was easy, but Kutter was a little twerp! He'd been talking for two weeks about how he desperately needed a dragon costume. He knew exactly what it looked like and swears that we already had it somewhere. I finally gave up on getting him to wear something I could just throw together and took him to Walmart to buy the dang thing! He was absolutely thrilled with it until, lo and behold, we run into his buddy who just happens to notice that this dang dragon has eyelashes! Now, this dragon's eyelashes cannot hold a candle to Kutter's actual eyelashes, but it doesn't matter. Nope, this dragon is now a girl dragon and Kutter points out that he is definately not a girl! No way was he gonna wear that costume! We had to hike all the way back through the store and trade it for this pirate costume, because it was definately manly!
I don't know what we would've done if Ady wouldn't have been willing to share her witch costume with Brielle! Fortunately for me, she did, so the entire family made it to the trunk or treat at church and we were only about 10 minutes late! We fought the crowd for some chilli and candy, then made a quick trip into town to do "real" trick or treating (Kutter was completely unsatisfied without doorbells to ring!) Whew! Maybe next year I will listen to Hayley and start a little earlier . . . but probably not!

Tagged again!

Five things I was doing 10 years ago.
1-Chasing a 1-year-old around my house!
2-I was living in my first nasty, spider-infested base housing in Oklahoma!
3-Feeling homesick a lot!
4-Waiting for Jody to get home from pilot training everyday, then helping him study!
5-Just starting my scrapbook obsession!

Five Snacks I enjoy.
1-Krispy Kremes
2-chocolate covered peanuts
3-chips and salsa
4-A big, icy coke!
5-Anything chocolate!

Five Songs I know all the Lyrics to.
1. Anything by Bon Jovi
2. Madonna
3. All Disney show themes!
4. Learning to Fly, by Tom Petty, a favorite of my kids'
5. I'm embarrassed to admit that I could probably churn out a few New Kids on the Block songs still. The 80's were such a scary time!

Five Things I would do if I were a millionaire.
1-By a big, giant house that my whole family could gather in and still be comfortable. (in Logan!)
2-obviously, pay off our debt.
3-I'm taking the whole family on a cruise!
4-Invest.
5-Shop somewhere other than a clearance rack for a change!

Five bad habits.
1-I'm seriously cheap. It's bad.
2-I yell at my kids way too much!
3-I ramble.
4-staying up late for any reason. I am a night owl.
5-I eat way too much junk food!

Five things I'd never wear again.
1-Do you remember those heat censor shirts we had in the 8o's? The ones that left handprints? I thought they were awesome!
2-Stretch pants
3-Anything flourescent
4-Maternity clothes!
5-Overalls

Five favorite toys.

1-Computer
2-Camera
3-My scrapbook stuff
4-Vinyl
5-Books!

Five things on my To Do List Today.
1-Go to church
2-eat a bunch
3-nap
4-play with my cute neices
5- take tons of pictures!

Five people I tag!
1-Amber
2-Michelle
3-Milisa
4-Sydney
5-Angie

A Few Firsts at Five Months!

Brielle turned 5 months old on Sunday, and she's been dying to show-off some of her groovy new moves! She's rolled onto her back before, but I have to admit she's always had a teeny little bit of help from Mommy. On Friday, she rolled over completely by herself, and seemed thoroughly impressed by her new talent. She did it over and over, grinning the entire time!
I think I can . . . I think I can . . .

I did it!

She's also incredibly impressed with her newfound ability to sit up all by herself. It's still a bit shaky . . . if anything in the room moves, anything at all, she gets distracted and rolls right over. If all the conditions are perfect, however, she sits there and just chatters like crazy!

I can't resist sharing the latest Kutter quote. I told him that he was silly, yesterday. His response? "If you insist!"

Pickles!

Yeah, pickles. We were at a friends' house for dinner and Jody thought it would be very entertaining to give Brielle her first taste of pickle. We sat back and waited for the nasty face, but . . . nothing! In fact, she went absolutely nuts for it! Jody could barely hang onto it and was worried she'd suck it right down into her throat, but she just screamed when he took it away. What a strange kid, right?!

Kutter is so Goofy!

Kutter has been so silly lately. I caught this picture of him the other morning while watching cartoons. He didn't want his special new trucks to miss "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse". Doesn't he just look like this is the epitomy of happiness to him?!

"Hey, Mom, take our picture! " He's been really hamming it up for the camera lately!

Birthday Boy!

Kutter turned four today and, boy, did he have a great birthday! He got to start celebrating early on Saturday at Joe's Crabshack, where he was thrilled to have the waiters sing to him! Sunday was a party with Grandma and Grandpa. We were planning on buying him a cool cake on Saturday, but ran out of time (see previous post!) Grandma Linda came up with the ingenious plan to stack the chocolate donuts on a plate and top it with a candle. Huge success! Grandma and Grandpa gave him a great new shirt and a huge Mac truck (from the movie "Cars"). Uncle Travis and Aunt Hayley sent him a fun Kidnex set (fun building stuff). He was absolutely thrilled!


We were able to have another little party for Kutter tonight for family home evening. He got a football field cake and a little help blowing out the candles from Trayson. He was way excited to open his present from Grandma Kay, which he knew was the dinosaur book that he had begged for from Deseret Book! He couldn't wait to get his hands on it!




The rest of us got him a fun semi truck that makes tons of obnoxious noises, lights up, and drives around by itself. (yeah, I'm gonna hate that toy by tomorrow!) We also got him a "My First Book of Mormon Stories" board book and the movie "Over the Hedge". He's thinking that he can't wait to turn five!

Funny side note:

Kutter challenged me to a race the other day and, when he thought I was going to win, starting weaving back and forth in front of me. I soon realized that this was not just clumsy running, but an actual strategy! When I asked him about it he said, "Yeah. You're supposed to zig-zag like this so no one can pass if you want to win the race. That's what "Car's" says!" I had no idea how much he was getting out of that movie!