Santa is Rich

Jeff and I went Christmas shopping and when we got home Jeff unloaded "Santa's loot" while I went and got the boys from our friends house. It was pretty late when we got home, and we knew the kids were just going to go to bed, so Jeff just threw the presents on the bed (we had just gotten them one present each from Costco-so they weren't in any bags). Paxton went in our room and comes out and says, "I'm sorry, I just saw the presents"....O.H. S.N.A.P! We aren't giving them presents from us this year, so we couldn't use that to play it off...we were totally busted. I told Jeff to tell him Santa brought them early or something...ANYTHING, so Jeff takes Paxton downstairs and this is their conversation.
Jeff, "Paxton, I have to tell you a secret, but you can't tell anyone. We saw Santa tonight."
Paxton, "Santa? Where were you?"
Jeff, "We were at Costco and he asked us to do him a favor, to save him a trip. You can't tell anybody, but Santa doesn't always make all of the toys, he buys some of them."
Paxton, "I know, he's rich! Did everybody talk to Santa?"
Jeff, "Some people did, not everybody."
Paxton, "Did he talk to the bad people?"
Jeff, "No, he doesn't talk to bad people. So..., which present did you want?"
Paxton, "What were they again?"
That kid cracks me up! He also just had his school music program. Apparently they talked about enunciation because Paxton enunciated the heck out of those songs! His mouth was moving so big it looked like he was trying to bite into a triple cheeseburger. I couldn't stop laughing. I tried to get it on video, but the head of the chick in front of Paxton kept getting in the way and for some reason I can't get the little amount of video that I recorded to download.

It's begining to look a lot like Christmas!

It snowed so much last night that the kids' school was cancelled, but apparently that doesn't mean sleep in to the kids. We were bundled up & playing at 7:45.

Safety first! Thank heavens Paxton thought to put those goggles on!

The view of the lake from our front porch.

Our crazy mountain of a driveway worked awesome as a sledding hill. Paxton wanted to stay out there all day!

We made a large snowman that Evan named Max.This last picture is Paxton rolling part of the snowman, but I thought the picture was funny because it looks like Copper was inserted into the photo (he so wasn't). It was such a fun day, I so love playing with these kids!

Some of my family (my mom and brother Brett's family)are coming for Christmas, so we went ahead and got a Christmas tree; otherwise, we may not have since we are moving a week later (to a different rental in the same neighborhood). I am so glad we did, all the kids (including Cooper) were sooo into it!!


We read "The Tale of Three Trees." Cooper kept holding the ornaments up to the tree like he was hanging them and then they would fall to the floor. This picture is his pile of ornaments that he "hung." And we had hot chocolate. Mmmmmm

And finally my attempts at a cute kid pose picture.

A little fall fun

We've had such a fun fall so far. This is the most gorgeous place to be in the fall...the leaves changing on the trees with the lake and the pine trees in the background! I love it! It's been busy. We went to a pumpkin patch with some friends. They had cute rocking horses, a jump pit, and a petting zoo- Paxton's favorite were the baby goats of course.

We made a (much too)quick trip to Boise and were there for Halloween. The kids were all Star Wars characters this year. Ev-a storm trooper, Pax-Obi Wan Kan obi, Ri-Leia, Coop-Darth Vader.
We went ice skating for Hannah's birthday. The kids loved it so much that both boys want to do go for the birthday's. My little Evan is usually one to give up on something if he doesn't get it right away, but he stuck with it and got it down pretty good. Paxton had fun throwing snowballs and pushing the training buckets. Rilynn was dead weight and she made for a good work out! They had cute little sleighs to strap the babies in.

Evan lost another tooth.
And last, we just had Jeff's birthday. This is him with his dirt cake (the only cake he loves).
Here's wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!

Mexican Cruise

Our cruise started a little scary because of hurricane Rick. They were possibly going to re-route us to L.A. and Catalina Islands instead of Cabo San Lucas....blah! Luckily the storm got weaker quicker than expected and went away from Cabo....Thank Goodness!!!
Our first stop was Ensanada. We went to "La Buffadora" (the buffalo snort). It shot water up in the air about 120 feet. Jeff got drenched!
When we go to Cabo we rented jet skis and played. It was so fun, but the salt water burned my eyes so bad I couldn't drive very long...luckily Jeff and I shared a jet ski. The water was the perfect temperature, and oh so pretty.

There were so many things to do on the ship it was crazy! Jeff and Jay got silver medals (they say they are "platinum," which is of course better than gold) in their 3 on 3 basketball tournament and in 3 on 3 volley ball. We also played in a 3 on 3 soccer (I was the only girl). We learned to NEVER heckle a comedian (thankfully not from our experience, but ask me about it).

We played a lot of games. Lisa and I won most of them :) and we ATE AND ATE AND ATE AND ATE some more! I'm sure I gained 20 pounds!

They had these amazing pool tables that balanced themselves out. You could actually see them move, so when the ship is moving, your balls don't roll anywhere.

We rock climbed which was fun. People cheer all around you when you get to the top and ring the bell.

It was soooo much fun! I am glad we came, glad our friends came, and so glad my sister in law was sweet enough to watch our kids! I miss my kids and I am excited to see them! (I'm in the airport waiting right now.)

He's off

I'm slow to post this only because Cooper is a horrible show off. He's been walking for a few weeks, but as soon as I get out the camera to record it, he lays on the ground, rolls around, and acts as is if the camera is causing him actual pain....he's such a stinker!

I'm excited for him, he seems happier w/his new mobility. Good thing he is sooo cute at toddling...I watch him and smile instead of being sad that he's done w/yet another baby stage.

I'm OLD

The thought of thirty hadn't really bothered me until about a month ago I heard someone else's age of 34, and I thought to myself, "Oh, he's quite a bit older!" Only to realize a moment later, that's not much older than me, and soon I'll say I'm 30 and other people will think...oh, she's older! :( Since then I've been a little sad, but now it's come and gone and I'm ok w/ being 30 (aka older).
My birthday presents started in August when Jeff called me (I was in Boise and him in CA) and said, "I just need the final word...we are going on a cruise for your birthday, and I need to know if you want a cabin room or an ocean view." What?! Pretty sweet right?! BUT, I am a tight wad and don't like to remove money from our savings, so I was actually really mad, but I got over the madness and now I'm really excited. We leave for Mexico in 2 weeks!
The night before my birthday I went to enrichment and when I got home the house was spotless (what a great present for a mom!) and the kids picked out and hid my favorite candies (Dove and licorice) and made brownies that said happy birthday. My new friends took me out for surprise breakfast on my birthday. There were 9 of us and I had YUMMY lemon yogurt pancakes. Some of my friends went together a got me a really nice new swim suit for my cruise (yeah I don't have to swim naked)! My sister in law took me to Costa Vida for lunch, and at Young Women's my friend made me a birthday cake w/30 candles. Plus Jeff wrote me a letter- sooo not his style, but oh sooo sweet!
Here is a pic of the new bedding set my mom got me for my bday, is that not super cute!? Rilynn saw it and said, "Ohhhh, that's so nice!"
So all in all...I don't feel old, I might sound old (to those in their 20's and younger), but it was a great day, and I'm happy just where I am!
P.S. Cooper is finally walking! He started really trying about two weeks ago and is such a cute little toddler!

Rilynn at 3

I feel bad I didn't get all of Rilynn's favorites/accomplishments posted on her birthday post, so here they are
Favorite movie-Little Mermaid and Toy Story
Favorite color-pink (ahhh, I love girls!)
Favorite food-green beans, spaghetti, yogurt, bananas, she is my best eater, she always likes any dinner-she's my favorite!
Favorite song-She loves to sing and knows the words to so many songs, but her faves are "If you chance to meet a frown," and "Twinkle Twinkle" but most of all she LOVES to make up her own songs especially in the morning time, about what ever she maybe doing at the time
Favorite book- honestly ANYTHING you'll read to her.
Rilynn's Occupation when she grown up- I'm sure a boss of something...she is sooo bossy!
Best friend-I asked her if it was me and she said, "NO! It's Ethan!"
Favorite toy-I would probably say her babies right now, but she loves guitars, loves to play outside, and barbies (but she just carries them around and doesn't really ever play with them?!)
She counts really good...she only misses 14 on the way to 20 and then can get much higher with little help. She has known her ABC's for a year, but LOVES to sing them, she loves flip flops and she loves to color, paint her nails, try on shoes, and she loves to drag Cooper everywhere-no literally DRAG, by his arm-Thank heavens for sturdy arm sockets! And she now likes to "help Cooper stand and walk" ohhh, it's scary...typically she picks him up under one arm and around the neck...(I guess,) I hope for his sake (and safety) he starts to walk soon.
Ahhh, I love this girl. There is just something special and different about the way a mom feels about a daughter and I'm sooo grateful I get to experience it! Love you Ri!

First Day of School

The boys started school a week ago (on Rilynn's birthday). Paxton was soooo excited, but Evan kept playing it cool saying he didn't want to go. The night before school started he came in our room at like 3:30 crying because he hadn't gotten to sleep yet...poor kid.

We had a kindergarten orientation the day before school and Paxton's teacher rubbed me a little wrong-just didn't seem as friendly or bubbly as I thought a kindergarten teacher should be. But so far he likes her. The second day he came home and said, "I want to go back to preschool." He finally (after much probing) told me it was because he missed his preschool friends (that we can handle). But other than that it is going great. He is in half day now, but will start full day kindergarten on the 8th. I was really sad about this school being full day kindergarten at first, but the idea is growing on me...Paxton really does enjoy school, and there won't be as much fighting, more errands can get done with only TWO kids-I haven't felt that free in a long time! But I will miss my little buddy. :(

Evan's teacher seems very nice-kinda like a sweet little grandma. He has really liked her, and seems happy at his new school. School here starts early-8:00! We had been spoiled in Boise with 9:00. I'm on the lazy side and prefer not to get out of bed before 7:30-that doesn't really work anymore, so wish us luck on that one.

My baby girl is 3

We started a new tradition. Once the soon-to-be birthday kid is asleep Jeff and I fill their floor full of balloons for when they wake up on the morning. Rilynn LOVED it! She ran into our room and asked Jeff how those balloons got there. When I told her they were there for her birthday, she shrieked and ran back into her room to play in them. For her birthday we met some of our new friends at the lake. We had picnics, played, and shared cupcakes. Most of the kids, Rilynn included, just ate the frosting, so we decided next time, forget the cupcakes...just bring a tub o frosting and some spoons!

I made her a barbie cake. She has just newly discovered Barbie's at a friends house and she is loving them. The cake turned out okay, but our house was so hot that the frosting started to melt and poor Barbie had lost most of her skirt by the end of the night. It didn't matter though, Rilynn was mostly excited about having candles-which incidentally started to melt Barbie's hand (poor Barbie had a rough night!)
Rilynn got a few princess things (her other newly discovered passion) and she finally got her own guitar! She is officially ready to start her own rock band now.

Rilynn's tradition held true this year...she got a new nail polish and her daddy did his annual painting of the nails. Okay, really...does it get any cuter?!
Happy Birthday Rilynn. We love you sooo very much!

Brianne's BIG bandage

I told Rilynn my head hurt (I had a really bad headache) and she suddenly disappeared. She comes back a few seconds later and says, "Mom I got a band aid for you." She peels the back off and says, "It's ready...it will make your head better." It wasn't exactly a band aid


If you can't tell, it's a pantyliner.
That pantyliner makes my nose look huge, good thing the story is cute.

A whole new world of fun

My mom came to visit and we had so much fun playing with her. The first day we went to a place called Fairytale Town. It is a park where they've made giant scenes from Fairy tales that you can play, climb on, water Mary's garden, see animals from the stories, etc. They loved it.

That night we went to Leatherby's. It wasn't as good as Utah's Leatherby's (no PB cup:( ), but still really good. What kind of mother gives a one year old an ice cream cone?! Oh, me.
The next day we went to John's Incredible Pizza. It's an all you can eat pizza place they have some funny pizza's-mac and cheese pizza, spicy peanut butter pizza, etc. After you eat you go in a room with arcade games and rides like roller coasters, merry go round, tons of fun stuff.
We also went to San Fransisco while she was here. Talk about FREAK SHOW! It has to be the best place on earth to people watch. We saw this guy wearing nothing but a g-string and had painted his entire self gold. Paxton said, "I almost saw his tenders!" We went on the trolley Apparently Rilynn had been drinking right before that photo. Cooper loved the pole. It was a fun trip and we hated to see her go. We miss her already!