My Baby Just Turned Four!

How is this possible? As trite as this sounds, it really does seem like just yesterday that we brought her home from the hospital and she's been our little princess ever since. There are so many things to love about our Brielle --- here's just a few of our favorites....

Brielle is always my number one helper. She adores laundry. She got roped into picking rocks out of the corral on her birthday and kept exclaiming, "This is so great! I love my birthday!" (making the rest of us look really really bad!) She can usually be heard saying "oh, I'll get that for ya" or "just let me do it". Her willingness to serve blesses our lives on a daily basis.

This kid is a snuggler. She is so full of love and usually more than willing to share. Occasionally she runs out of hugs and kisses, but she usually manages to discover a few she's got hidden around the house before we feel their absence too keenly.

I love how vocal she is. She has no idea that she is not actually twenty five and her vocabulary reflects that. Each day brings a new phrase that we can believe we actually heard from her lips. It's constant entertainment.

She adores her siblings and would do almost anything for them. We often discover her cleaning someone else's room so that they'll have time to play with her, and she'd follow her big sister anywhere!

I love how well-rounded she is. She is such a girly-girl -- crazy about cute clothes and make up and anything princess, but she'll get down and dirty outside with her brothers and she adores her dad's motorcycle!

Now, onto partytime! Brielle has been completely determined, for months now, to have a pink and purple princess party. We kicked it off by delivering these little purses to her friends, with invitations inside.

She chose a lavender tablecloth with pink and purple accents. I made these little paper "glass slippers" and filled them with links so that they could make their own necklaces or bracelets while they ate.

Since I SO don't do cake decorating, I printed princess cupcake toppers and stuck them in cupcakes (chocolate of course!) with lavender icing and pink sprinkles.
I think my favorite party decoration were the pom poms I made to hang from the ceiling. If you find them hanging in my home, different colors for every season, don't judge me. They just made me happy!

When her friends arrived, I had a stand waiting with homemade princess scepters and tiaras with their names on them. I also set out a bunch of dress ups in case anyone wanted to add to their princess attire.

First, we played "pin the tiara on the princess". Then we decided to cut right to all the sugar. We had to have the party just before dinnertime, so I kept it fairly simple with cupcakes and princess punch.

The jewels were a huge hit!

Then it was time for pictures and presents.

I love how tiny she looks surrounded by all her friends. She acted completely overwhelmed when she opened each present and LOVED everything she got!

Including this adorable beach umbrella, which the girls promptly begged to try out!

Then we played a princess treasure hung game with clues like "If Sleeping Beauty came to stay at Brielle's house, where would we find her?" I made it up that morning and was astonished by it's success. The "treasure" was the goody bags that Brielle had to give out to her friends. I'm so mad that I forgot to get a picture of that because it was her favorite part of the whole day!

We spent the remainder of the afternoon reading princess stories while they examined their treasure (This is when I discovered that getting kids to sit still while you read to them is simple if you just give them a ring pop!) and coloring in Brielle's new princess coloring kit!

Easter

I know. Easter isn't exactly a recent event anymore, but it's so tough to blog about the pinnacle of spring when it is totally FREEZING outside! Plus, the real kicker is that my children are experts at evading the super sweet-all-the-kids-standing-together-in-their-Easter-clothes-looking-adorable-picture. I even contemplated faking it the next week, but they've eluded me once again and so I must press on ....
We did manage to have some fun painting eggs with our friends... ...we didn't quite have time to pull out my fancy silk ties, but we managed to create several pink and purple eggs, along with a seriously alarming plethora of Bronco inspired eggs.

On Sunday, we rushed home for dinner and the annual egg hunt at a friends' house. Notice the utter lack of formal attire, mere minutes after leaving church! (sigh!)

Because Brielle so admires the camera, and NO ONE else does! I manged to capture this shot of Brielle helping Kutter find more eggs ... can you tell that he is sOOO not amused that little sis is giving him pointers?

That's all for now, because picnik has decided to hate my guts, but I'm on it ---- ok, so I'll probably give up and just post a couple blurry, uncropped pics in a couple days!

Oh Brother!

I was so excited for Trayson, 7 years ago, when I found out that our third child was going to be a boy! I pictured my two handsome little guys tossing a football around in the backyard, driving monster trucks all over the house, getting in trouble for treating bedtime like a constant sleepover ...

...I guess I had COMPLETELY forgotten what it was like to have a younger brother. I saw this gentle reminder (in paper airplane form!) flying around my house this week, and it's all coming back to me!My only consolation is that their relationship really is so similar to the one I use to have with my brother, so I get to assume that someday he will love and appreciate him as much as I love mine now!

It's finally hit the fan!

We've been flirting with disaster ever since we moved out into the country and acquired many of the trappings that came along with our remote address. The serenity of our little sage-brush farm was very deceptive. First, we acquired the mice that the farmers scared out of their fields across the street. Next, we were overrun with "whistle pigs". Then, we acquired cats to rid our yard of the mice and the whistle pigs.

We did try to be really responsible and keep those cats from multiplying -- honest, we did! We took them to the vet and had them fixed, but outdoor cats in these parts don't survive long and set after set of recently neutered cats disappeared from our yard never to hunt mice again (or so we assume!) Apparently, visits to the vet are the kiss of death at our household and we got really sick of paying for services that seemed completely unnecessary in our dangerous little patch of weeds. I've been actually wondering if it's cruel of us to even adopt more cats since we seem to have such a difficult time rasing them to adulthood, but we decided to give it one more shot.

We got three cats -- the cute little black and white cat did not quite make it, but his beautiful sisters did, and of course, the inevitable happenned ....

...we discovered four tiny baby kittens in the garage on Monday night. The kids are ecstatic! My cats are ecstatic. Me, not so much! Yes, they are adorable. Yes, it's fun to witness our two cats, who until recently were very skittish and reclusive, nestled into a tiny box with four kittens, all of them purring their hearts out in pure contentment. Yes, they bring out the nurturing, protective side of my children. Yes, I want to get rid of them as soon as they're old enough!I'm posting these pictures in the hopes that there's someone out there who is tired of emptying mouse traps and just cannot resist how snuggly these tiny balls of fur are. Just in case you need another look to win you over ...

Oh, and the best part? Cat #2 is looking like she's about to pop!

Family

"Be who you are and say what you feel,

because those who mind don't matter,

and those who matter don't mind." Dr Seuss

I don't know if it's because it's been such a long time since I've been home for a visit, or because I've had too much time on my hands lately, but I've been thinking a lot about what makes my family special (In EVERY sense of the word!)

We got talking about how different families react in similar situations. Some families spend lots of time dancing around the elephant in the room, pretending everything is just fabulous no matter how uncomfortable it gets. Some have huge fights, some have big family counsels and talk a problem to death.

My family just lets it all hang out. We criticize, correct, call each other names, and tease each other to the point of tears. Whenever I begin the long journey to Utah, I find myself looking forward to all the shopping, games and delicious treats that we'll enjoy together. I can't wait to see our kids play together and form bonds. I like having my kids surrounded by all those people who love them as much as I do, and possibly like them even more. It's what gets me through all the packing and that awful drive, but I came to realize on this last visit that the very best part is that I always come home feeling a little bit more "me".

My Loving Fam

Each member of my family actually deserves their own post but, the thing is, we kinda just work better together. That's one thing I love about us!

I love that I pretty much ALWAYS wish I had my family around -- it took me years to learn that not everyone feels that way. I love that, when we do get together, the smallest things become entertaining (like stupid jokes and great food!) I love that, somehow, my parents taught us to stay close to each other no matter how far apart we are.

I love that my kids think anything good they have is from Grandma (even if they were with me when I bought it for them!) and anything we need but can't afford, Grandpa can make!

I love that I actually love hanging out with my little brother -- It doesn't hurt that he found me the coolest sil ever and has two adorable children!

I love that my sister knows me so well that she can shop for anything I need better than I can (clothes, hairstyles, books) that her husband's sarcasm always makes me smile and that her girls melt my heart.

I love playing games, eating good food, watching the kids play together, and totally making fun of each other ALL THE TIME!

A little more love

Last but not least, of course, is our little Ellie bug. I think we all love how much she takes advantage of being the baby in our family. We shouldn't, but we just can't help being completely wrapped around her little finger. She's just so much fun.
I love how vain she is. One of her most favorite things in the world is her long, beautiful hair. She's thinking she's almost as pretty as her new idol, Rapunzel. I agree.

I love how affectionate she is. She could spend hours snuggling on the couch and, if you can't get close enough for that, then she insists on blowing and catching kisses.

I love that she's a total neat freak. Maybe I should be worried about all the therapy I'll have to pay for someday, but for now I just have to love it. She had to clean up her room before we could leave for church last Sunday, because "all these toys are just driving me nuts!". She LIVES to help me do laundry and clean baseboards, and I've even caught her telling her friends they can't play with her toys because it'll make a mess. Maybe she's a nut job, but it just warms a mother's heart!

I love that she's so so girly, but she also loves to hang out with the boys and get dirty and rough.
I love how much she loves her cousins. They are her very best friends. Whenever something good happens, she wants her cousins there. When she's sad, she wants them even more. She has such a special relationship with them, and every time I see it, it reminds of how important my cousins are to me.

We're so glad you're part of our family Brielle!