Jeff and Bree

Sis is 5

2011-08-20T14:24:00.000-07:00

playing on a beach just outside of San Fransisco p.s. she is wearing a swimming suit

Rilynn is my little breathe of fresh air. She is my most content child and loves to be by my side, no matter what we are doing. Since she is the only girl, I am grateful that she is a girly girl-loves skirts, pink and purple, shopping, shoes, etc., but on the other hand; she is not afraid to get dirty-she loves to be outside playing anything and is our best hiker. She and Cooper play better than any two kids I've ever seen. She did swim team this summer with her two older brothers and is so good at freestyle and breast stroke. She has just started kindergarten (which is KILLING me :( ), and she LOVES it. Her obsession with horses has not dwindled as I thought it would...she dreams of riding and owning them. The best part of her whole summer is when we went to Boise in June. My brother Chris's friend let us ride their horses and Rilynn hasn't quit talking about it. She was most excited about a miniature horse named Bobo

Here are Rilynn's current favorites.

Best Friend- Ethan and Carley (a little girl in her class)

Favorite food- macaroni and spaghetti (she is a carb junkie)

Favorite Movie- Spirit (a horse movie-surprise, surprise)

Favorite book- Any book she can get you to read to her!

Favorite toy- her baby dolls and make up

Favorite song- Mama Mia

Favorite color- Purple

What she wants to be when she grows up- a cowgirl

Hero-Phyllis Livingston

Seriously how cute is this picture of her "dive" at a meet (thanks Adamson's!)?

Boy Update

2011-07-07T11:48:00.000-07:00

Three of my four favorite kids have ~~recently~~ had birthdays and I want to document their last year. First off, EVAN.

Evan came along way this year. He was on honor roll 2 of the 3 trimesters at school and started a program for reading and in just a few months his reading level went up by one whole year! He played soccer last fall and found he is really good at goalie. He was also in a 4th-5th grade show choir where they preformed "Lion King." He and 3 other boys sand a song "He Lives in Me" and did sooo good. He is changing from little boy, to a little guy. It is fun, I can have real conversations with him, and he is becoming quick witted like his dad. His favorite thing he did this was was going to Disneyland. Here is a run down of his other favorites:

Song-Big Time
Singing Group- Big Time Rush
Color-Black
Books-Diary of a Wimpy Kid series
Food- nachos and mint chocolate chip ice cream
Movie- Rio
Toy- Bike riding, Wii, and hang out with friends
Best Friend- John Pallinger and Logan Jenkins
Hero- Dad
When he grows up, he wants to be an inventor or an army man

PAXTON

Paxton is my kid that is most homesick for Boise now. He constantly tells me that we need to move back because he misses all or our family there :( He does really good in school and absolutely LOVES it! He had a wonderful teacher this year and is reading pretty good. He played soccer last fall and really liked it, and in Nov. 2010 he lost his first tooth. He still loves anything outdoors-riding bikes, swimming, jumping on the tramp, basketball....

Song- Big Time
Singing Group- Big Time Rush
Color- Red

Book- Kung Fu Panda 2

Food- Watermelon and cheese pizza

Movie- Cars 2

Toy- Spider Monkey (from Ben 10)

Best friend- Alyssa

Hero- Iron Man

When he grows up, he wants to be a fireman

COOPER

Cooper has calmed down a little, but is still our craziest. He would sit and read books with you all day, he talks a lot, loves to sing, and best of all he still takes a 3 HOUR nap! (Oh loveliness for mom!) He would rather be outside than do anything inside and more than anything he loves to play with his sister, they are so cute together and have such a sweet closeness. He is now saying everyone's names right, but up until just a month before his birthday he called Rilynn "Yah Yah," Paxton "Paxy," Evan "Da da" (Jeff was Daddy), and called himself "Booper."

Song- Itsy Bitsy Spider and Twinkle Twinkle

Music Group- Just like his brothers he loves Big Time Rush

Color-Blue

Book-any

Movie-

Toy- Buzz Lightyear action figures

Best Friend- Laker Livingston and Haefan Skeehan

Fashion Police, we have an emergency

2011-01-12T21:23:00.000-08:00

Paxton has always let me pick out his clothes and not cared, recently he has decided that he wants to pick out his own clothes for school. Here are some examples of his chosen attire.

Ummm, yes, those are shin guards...

He was sure these looked great together since they were both red, white, and blue...and the medal??? I don't think I even asked...

This may not have been soo bad if we were going swimming, but we weren't.

"But Mom, they are both stripey!" (plaid)

We sure do love this Paxton boy (but it isn't for his sense of fashion). If your wondering (I'm sure my mom at least is ;) ) I did not let him go in any of these outfits, I "guided" him to things that matched a bit better.

This boy is obsessed with silly bands. If you don't know what silly bands are, they are these rubber bracelets that form into shapes when you take them off. Anything from food, to animals, bugs, he's got them all and Loves them all. We've had to limit him on how many he can wear. His dream is to have them go from his wrist to his shoulder.

My New Year's Resolution

2011-01-05T00:42:00.000-08:00

Dear Blog,
You have been very neglected, I know, and I'm sorry. I've got a few ~~excuses~~ reasons, 1st my computer screen was broken thanks to a certain little boy, ~~Cooper,~~ whom I will not name, 2nd we seem to be having a long run of bad luck (no major health issues or anything like that) but I didn't want to be a Negative Nancy blogger, 3rd I've started working part time and I'm having troubles balancing, 4th I've been in a kinda weird funk that I can't totally explain-kinda tired, kinda lonely, even though I am never alone, just kinda blah, I'm hoping it's just a combination of our bad luck and homesickness for my friends and family in Boise. BUT, I'm pretty sure our bad luck has to be about out....so "Nancy" is hopefully soon-to-be gone; and therefore, my New Year's Resolution is to be better about blogging and to quit ignoring you. I usually ~~fail~~ struggle with my annual "resolutions," but this is one bad habit I am determined to break- especially since it is my only form of journaling (shhhh don't tell anyone ;) ).

Cooper Boy

2010-08-24T21:07:00.000-07:00

Cooper's birthday was actually in June, but here is his (late) birthday update. My mom came for his birthday and we went to Monterrey Bay Aquarium. It was so cool, but Cooper was absolutely terrified! If we would approach the glass to look at anything he would start crying and say, "No, No!"

He's obsessed with trains and horses, and he got both for his birthday. I've never seen him play with something so much! He even had to sleep with his train! We went to Six Flags and they have a kiddy area called Thomas Town that is all about Thomas the Train. It took two people to get him off the Thomas train...one to loosen his grasp on the handle and one to pull him out...he was screaming bloody murder....he loves trains!

Cooper is still extremely feisty and strong willed, but he gives more hugs and kisses than anyone. He can make me want to pull all of my hair out and melt my heart all within 5 minutes. He loves kids he especially gets excited to see his friends Laker, Luke, and Brooke. He loves the movies, "Spirit", "Up", and "Thomas the Train". He loves to eat hot dogs and any sort of pasta, yogurt, watermelon, and bananas. He thinks everything is a finger food; he'll hold a utensil in one hand and shovel in the food with the other hand. He is starting to talk a lot more. If he wants something he chants, "I want that! I want that! I want that!" He loves to hide and say, "I see you Mom,!" He loves to ask, "Why, Mom" about any and everything. He and Yah yah (what he calls Rilynn) are best friends they play together all the time, if she is hurt he hugs and kisses her, they are pretty cute. We love him and feel so blessed to have him in our family! Happy late birthday Coop!

School's out for summer!

2010-06-14T21:56:00.000-07:00

Paxton had his kindergarten graduation last week. They sang "Skita mereenk" and received diplomas, then they had cake and lemonade. I'm so sad he's going to be a first grader, :( but he is so excited!

The kids just had their last day of school Thursday. Evan is a little sad about the end of the year. Evan's teacher is retiring so he is going to miss her. He actually asked her for her phone number so that we can have over to visit. They both got great report cards and ended the school year on a very positive note.

We are hopefully moving this week. It has been a bit of a roller coaster getting this house. HOPEFULLY our last move (for a while) will be Wednesday night or maybe Thursday. Buying a house in California has been a much different experience than the two houses we bought in Boise. I thought building was stressfull, but I think this house was our most stressful yet! I will be thankful when it is finally over! I will post pics of the house soon. Cross your fingers that we will have a smooth transition!

Paxteroni

2010-05-13T19:54:00.000-07:00

This is how most of my current pictures are of Paxton. He thinks it is hilarious to cross his eyes and stick out his tongue in every picture. Here is a better picture of him on his birthday. And yes the candles are in a tub of ice cream... this child is just like his dad...he does not like cake and this is what he wanted instead.
My little "Pac Man" is 6. He still has curly hair and all his cute little perfect teeth. He loves to cuddle, be tickled, and he loves to tease. He is so fun and says the funniest things. He had always been my mischievous one, but not as much any more...although he did get busted using his fork to fling food at other kids in the cafeteria the other day with his two friends. He is a really good student and his teacher raves about how bright and well behaved he is (with an exception of the food incident). He loves to be doing anything outdoors and believes it is never too cold to swim. He has done really good with the move(s) and has made a lot of friends...he has even become something of a ladies man and has a "girlfriend," Karsyn (she held his hand on the bus....uh oh). The thing he was most excited about for his birthday was to have his balloons on the floor when he woke up in the morning... he was picking out balloons 3 weeks before his birthday.
Paxton's current favorites are
color- red and blue
friend-Gavin
movie- Astro Boy
when he grows up he wants to be- army man, fireman, ninja,and jet pilot,
book- I Spy, Astro Boy
song- Kung Fu Fighting and I am a Child of God
food- watermelon
hero- Spiderman
TV show- Ben 10, Sponge Bob
Happy birthday Paxton! We love you!

Overdue photo shoot

2010-05-11T15:02:00.000-07:00

We are still here

2010-05-05T21:25:00.000-07:00

It has been forever since I've posted, but with good reason...we got a virus on our computer (from facebook)and it has been such a head ache. We are hoping it is taken care of, but I am still not sure...the hacker apparently had access to everything I've ever done on the computer... SCARY!!! I seriously can't believe there are people out there who have nothing better to do with their time than hack on to my computer...I mean really, I am not that interesting, nor do I have much money to steal, nor am I that hot that someone would want to stalk me (ha ha). AHH! So, I will hopefully be posting again soon, but not positive.
Any way here is our good news, we bought a house! It is in the subdivision we are already in, so no ward or school changes. It has a lake view and it is on the (corner of) the golf course. We are excited! Hopefully if this lame hacker stays off my computer I will be able to post some pictures.

My (not so) little Evan turned 9 in March (big sigh :0( ) and I owe that sweet kid a post. It was a big year for him... he got baptized, he moved 3 times, he rode on an airplane for the first time, and visited many new places, these were just a few of his highlights. The move has been the hardest on him, but I would say in the last 1-2 months he has finally settled in. He's got some really good friends now and loves his school. He is still a sweet heart, but has started to develop a "smart-alic" side to him. In his 3rd grade program he was Posiden. He had a really big speaking part and sang a song with just two other boys, he did soo good. Once he got the part down, he kept wanting to ad-lib...he was pretty sure he could say the parts better than the writer of the play.
Evan's current favorites are.....Color-black
His Best Friends- Alex and Jeremy
His favorite movie- How to Train a Dragon
When grows up he wants to be an inventor
His favorite book is "Star Wars the Clone Wars"
His favorite song is "Eye of the Tiger" and "Right Round"
His favorite food is-pizza, tacos (meat and cheese only), and ice cream
His favorite toy- Wii (his life line), and his star wars millennium falcon
His hero- Thomas Jefferson (he just did a big report on him and had to dress like him to give the report...so cute)
His favorite TV show- this one I've always done before, so wanted to do it again, but it was really hard for him to come up with one since we don't have TV, but he said at Grandma's he likes "Ben 10"
I was getting all sad he was NINE when my husband so kindly pointed out, "Well, just think... next year he'll be in the double digits!" Oh snap! That is old! He is such sweet guy. He is really helpful and we love him to death.

HAPPY ST. PAT'S!

2010-03-17T18:32:00.000-07:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day from us all! Hope your day was as fun as ours! We had our traditional green breakfast for dinner (we've done this for 8 years), all green M&M's, cute new green shirts from Grandma Sharon (thank you Grandma Sharon!!!), this year we added rainbow cupcakes (I found in Family Fun), and some dang good shopping
I have to share my shopping from today. I don't know how I lived without CVS! I love it! This is what I got (there are two lip glosses you can't see very well)....
I paid $4.20 and saved $70.79 PLUS I got $6 off my next purchase...so I came out ahead! YEAH!

Our week

2010-03-05T09:25:00.000-08:00

This Sunday we went on a little adventure after church. Jeff had heard about this bridge, but we weren't really sure where we were going. Turns out it wasn't very far and we can't wait to go back! It is the "worlds longest single span wood truss covered bridge." It was so cute and the river under it was beautiful! I was wising I had a really cool camera that I could play with the pictures from this place, but alas, I still have my crappy camera that is trying to die, but I still got some cute pictures.

Evan got his wolf the other night and was super excited to become a bear in boy scouts. This is Jeff and Evan doing their "wolf cheer."
The other night I was cutting Jeff's hair and Paxton said he wanted his all cut off *tear, sob, sigh* so here's the new Paxton-with no curls.
Apparently Cooper feels I'm not feeding him enough lately because he is helping himself to things! Those cinnamon rolls were ones I had made for young women's. Good thing they had burned a little, so I had to make something else anyway.

And here's one of Rilynn because we can't leave her out

Good week

2010-01-23T09:35:00.000-08:00

THIS

PLUS THIS
= $19.04

That's some good shopping this week

New Year's letter

2010-01-14T14:23:00.001-08:00

About the time I should be starting to work on a Christmas letter, we decided that we would be moving a week after Christmas. So, I decided to to write a New Year's letter.
This year started out with a trip to McCall's ice festival. On the last day we were there, Jeff kept getting phone calls from people he worked with saying they had just got laid off and wanted to say how much they had enjoyed working with him. He got so many calls we started feeling a little uncomfortable and come to find out, he lost his job as well. It wasn't long before we heard about a possible job opportunity in Sacramento. In March they flew us out to check it out, and we decided to take the leap.

At the end of March we went to the Oregon Coast with my family for a week before we all went our separate ways (us to CA and my brother's family was moving to OR) we had a blast. Jeff started his new job (a manager of a Chevron/Quiznos) in Auburn California in the middle of May. The kids and I waited until school was out and moved down in June. We LOVE it here! We've been to San Francisco twice, Santa Cruise, and of course Sacramento. It is beautiful, if only California wasn't so stinking expensive it would be perfect!
Evan is 8 and he started 3rd grade and is enjoying it. He is video game junkie. One of his favorite things right now is scouts. He misses his friends in Boise, but is making new ones and loves being closer to his cousins that live here.
Paxton is 5 and has started kindergarten. Kindergarten here is all day, and he loves every minute of it. He's starting to do a lot of reading and loves to tell me all about his day when he gets home. He took swimming lessons this summer, although he has always been a little fish, he is a much safer fish now.
Rilynn is now 3 and is a social butterfly, everyone is her best friend. She is girly, sweet, sassy, bossy, and tough all rolled into one little body. She started a little joy school just one day a week, but she wishes it were 5 days a week. I'm pretty sure she really one cares about the socializing part though.
Cooper is now a year and a half and is the biggest handful I've ever experienced. He climbs, breaks, dumps out, and destroys anything in sight. On the other hand is is my biggest cuddler I've ever had. He also has very cute dimples that save his life daily. He such a fun baby to have.
Jeff loves his new job. He's playing indoor soccer and basketball each once a week. He's such a fun dad and had alot of fun playing with the kids at the lake in our neighborhood this summer. He has made a lot of new friends and has many "man dates" with them. In August I was visiting Boise and Jeff called and told me he had booked a Mexican 6 night cruise for our 10 year anniversary and for my 30th birthday. We went in October and had an amazing time. Cabo San Lucas is beautiful and a cruise was such a relaxing yummy calorie filled way to spend our time. I can't wait to go on another.

I am staying busy with four kids, it's the best job I could ever hope for. I work in Evan's class once a week and as an art docent in Paxton's class. I am in the young women's presidency which has been so much fun. We miss our family and friends in Boise, but we are loving it here. I truly feel very blessed everyday.

I hope you all are doing well and this year brings you much happiness!

Santa is Rich

2009-12-18T16:30:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-12-07T17:15:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-24T19:19:00.000-08:00

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

2009-10-24T12:27:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-09T16:20:00.000-07:00

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

2009-10-01T08:54:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-17T09:02:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-27T22:00:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-20T22:48:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-05T22:00:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-01T08:50:00.000-07:00

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!

Wonderful One on Father's Day!

2009-06-22T08:53:00.000-07:00

Jeff and Tim shared father's day with Cooper's birthday celebration over at Tim and Barbara's (my sister-in-law). Here was the cake. It was supposed to be a lion, my boys said it looked like a flower :(

The balloons, cake mess and presents. He loved the cake and kept trying to share, but no one wanted any. He was more interested in the golf ball and wii remotes then he was in his presents.

Afterwards we sang songs while Tim played the guitar with Paxton and Rilynn's help.

Notice Rilynn's guitar is backwards and Paxton was in "rock star" mode with his shirt unbuttoned. He loved us to sing to him and would dance to it, here is the video. That is Paxton feeding him at the end.

I can't believe my last baby is one! :( He is up to 3 on his tooth count. He pulls himself up on everything and walks along furniture, but not really close to walking otherwise. He is very strong willed and he screams bloody murder when he doesn't get his way. He loves to eat everything and we actually have to hide food from him, or he never quits eating and just gets angry if you don't keep it coming. He sleeps good at night and two good naps a day. We love him to pieces. Happy first birthday Cooper!

We're Here

2009-06-11T09:10:00.000-07:00

I think my camera is officially dead, so we have to get a new one before I can post pictures-yuck!. We started our move Saturday and it rained THE WHOLE WAY! I literally didn't turn off my windshield wipers from Boise until a half hour away from Auburn (I thought it never rained in NV?). Rilynn threw up when we were only about 15 minutes away from Auburn, but other than that the kids traveled pretty good, thanks to Grandparent gifts. When we got here, there were about 7 men we had never met from the ward here to help us unload. One of them had brought us dinner (smoked steak tips-mmmmm) and another family had brought breakfast. Wow, how sweet. We had only been here like 5 minutes when Paxton decided to take on the huge/steep driveway on his scooter...guess who won...Not Paxton! His whole forehead, nose, lip, and both elbows have a mean road rash goin on!

The house is okay, big, but pretty awkward layout. I guess we just need to figure it out, but whatever the house lacks, the neighborhood makes up for it 10 fold! The gated neighborhood we are in is amazing. It is all built around a lake and was originally built to be a vacation resort neighborhood, but people liked it so much they started just living here. It has a big lake (that we can see from our front porch) and people are always boating and skiing on it, it has several little parks around the lake that are sandy little beaches and play grounds, it has a swimming pool w/a cute kiddy pool, a golf course, tennis courts, it is seriously cool.

Our ward was small, but sooo friendly and it is made up of just our neighborhood. It seemed so foreign to have to drive any distance to church, it is probably a 15-20 minute drive. They seem to have a lot of activities, so hopefully that will help us to make friends fast. Paxton is already invited to a birthday party this Saturday, Yeah!

Anyway so far so good...keep your fingers crossed.

Change is in the Air

2009-06-03T07:34:00.000-07:00

Jeff finally got us a house to rent! Yeah! I think the house is in Auburn (maybe a town called Grass Valley), but it is really close to Jeff's store! So it is official...this weekend we will become Californians! Jeff flys home tomorrow and we'll leave Friday (maybe Saturday).

Eight is Great

2009-05-22T13:03:00.000-07:00

Evan turned eight in March, but since we were out of town for April baptisms, his dad baptized him on May 2nd. He was so excited! When he went for his baptism interview he was all nervous, I asked him why and he said, "I just hope the bishop will let me get baptised!" He also said some other funny things I posted on the side bar. He had lots of family and friends there to share his special day. When he went up to the front of the room to be confirmed he looked so excited and so proud I thought he might explode. Since we are between houses we just had the luncheon at in the nursery room right after, and it actually was perfect; good food, easy clean up, and no stress! The next day in sacrament meeting they had him come to the front and he was smiling so big that he had to stop and stretch out his cheeks-then right back to beaming. Evan makes me so proud, he is so knowledgeable when it comes to Book of Mormon and Bible stories and has such a desire to learn and know more about them. He is a very black or white child...either it is a good choice or a bad...there doesn't seem to be any gray in his eyes, and honestly it is pretty rare that this kid knowingly makes a bad choice. When I get back to my own computer I'll try to remember to post some picts of him in his white clothes. Kinda fun...Evan was baptized in the same building I was baptized in.
Here are some of Evan's favorites at 8.

Favorite color: black

Best friend: Jeremy Erickson

Favorite movie: X-Men, Never Ending Story, Karate Kid

Favorite TV shows: Curious George, Cyber Chase

Favorite book: The Magic Tree House series

Favorite songs: Right Round, Hey Hey Hey Goodbye, I Want to be a Rock Star

Favorite food: finger steaks, fried chicken, pizza, fettuccine Alfredo,

Favorite toy: Wii, legos, Nerf guns, bike

Hero: Jesus

What do you want to be when you grow up: An Army Man

Paxton is 5!!!

2009-05-06T14:28:00.000-07:00

Life's favorites according to Paxton

Favorite songs: We will Rock You, Me and My Gang, Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam

Best friend: Raymond Erickson

Favorite food: watermelon, dino buddies (chicken nuggets), green beans

Favorite book: I Spy Books

What do you want be when you grow up?: Be a builder with Dad and build houses

Favorite color: Red and Blue

Favorite toy: bike, super heroes

Favorite movie: Bolt

Favorite TV show: Caillou

Paxton's hero: Black Power Ranger, Dad

Thing he is the most proud of: He can ride a bike without training wheels

This last year Paxton has changed and grown so much...I can't believe he's almost ready for kindergarten! He is excited for school and very prepared-he aced everything on his registration tests! Paxton is so sweet with babies and he and Cooper seem to have a special little bond. He is definitely my strongest willed child and could possibly make me go gray before I turn 30! On the other hand he is also my most cuddly child and has the most patience when trying to help someone with something. For Paxton's birthday Grandma Sharon took us to "the bird place" (Red Robin) where they sang to him and then we went bowling at the sub-by Paxton's requests. We went to the sub and they took his picture and put it up on the scoreboard. He was pretty excited. His favorite thing he got for his birthday was a batman castle Grandma Sharon gave him. He has played with it for hours on end.
Happy birthday Paxton! I love you so much and am so grateful you are part of our family. You make me smile daily and remind me what is really important in life. I am so glad that you are you!

We've got action!

2009-04-27T21:53:00.000-07:00

There is actually a little too much action right now and I REALLY should not be blogging, I should be packing since we are supposed to be out of our house tomorrow-well really to be out today was the plan, but thank heavens we had a little wiggle room on that.

ANYWAY, I just had to post a quick update on Coop. Last week he was very busy, he started crawling!!! It is kind of a belly flop that turns into an army crawl. He also started cutting his first tooth!!! It isn't all the way through, but it is coming with grace...no fever, cold, and not much grouchiness! YEAH! And finally we also discovered this last week a new favorite food of Cooper's-dill pickles. He loves them. He holds them and sucks on them like they are a sucker.

Here's a few pictures of the kids "helping" me pack. When I left the room the newly mobile Cooper decided to "help" me look at this whole roll of wrapping paper

Rilynn is loving helping me "label" all of the boxes Rilynn is also being "helpful" by entertaining Cooper aka dragging him across the floor by his feet

Cooper thinks it is hilarious, but sadly, the poor baby got a rug burn on the back of his head:(
And lastly the kids have been "helping" me discover new uses for the dolly

Easter

2009-04-16T21:31:00.000-07:00

I tell the kids to sit down because I want to get a picture of them in their Easter clothes. Paxton runs over grabs the biggest rock he can find and poses like this
Can you tell he had school pictures this week?
The kids looked soooo cute on Easter, but sadly, this was the best picture I got.
Notice Paxton posing again? If you look really hard you can see his rock under his right foot.
I hope everyone else had a great Easter too!

Cooper hasn't stopped aging

2009-04-06T21:49:00.000-07:00

Maybe this title needs some explanation... my sister in law Jenae and I were talking and she said something about Cooper being 7 months so I corrected her and said he was 9 months. She mentioned my last blog update on him was when he was 7 months so that's how old she thought he was, SOOOO here is month 8 and 9 and yes I know I am a slacker. His growing has slowed down a lot. He only weighs 20 and 1/2 lbs (only a 1/2 pound more than he did at 6 months. He is mostly in 18 month clothes. He sleeps really good at night-from about 8 p.m. to 8:30 a.m. HALLELUJAH!!, and takes 2 good naps a day.

He loves to clap and believes he is unbelievably tricky by doing so. What's really funny is sometimes he'll miss the hand to hand connection and whack himself in the face. :(

He still doesn't crawl, but was apparently inspired by his cousin Ainge-who is crawling. Ever since we saw them he is constantly getting up on all 4's and doing the rocking and lunging thing.

He still has no teeth, but this doesn't slow him down. He loves to eat and he doesn't believe 2 packages of baby food are enough and will tell you so. If you are eating around him he continually says, "Mmmmm Mmmmmm" and wiggles his whole body until you give him something.

He went on his first airplane ride (to California) and saw the ocean for the first time (Oregon Coast).

He really enjoys a cute little round of pat-a-cake and on the not so cute side, he has found a magnetic draw towards his "manhood" every time I change his diaper.

He has actually gotten a lot more happy and content since he has been able to sit up really good; therefor, making life a little easier equalling a much happier mom.

He still gives the best hugs of any baby I've ever held and melts my heart every time I look at him.

Spring Break Fun

2009-04-02T21:23:00.000-07:00

For spring break we went with my family to the Oregon Coast. It was really fun...really wet, but really fun. It was a little sad though, people kept getting sick. Jeff, me, Rilynn and my mom were the only ones that never got anything. We started off going to Multnomah Falls. We hiked all the way to the top of the falls-it kicked my butt.

The first beach we went to Rilynn totally fell in the water and got rolled by the waves. It apparently traumatized her, the rest of the trip she was scared to go in the ocean and kept saying, "The water is gonna get me!"
The fact that it was wet and cold didn't slow my crazy boys down. They played in the ocean like it was 95 outside, but really it was actually like 30 degrees.

We went to the aquarium and the kids loved it. They got to pet some little sharks and sting rays.

We had professional pictures taken-hopefully we'll get them soon so I can post them.
The boys and I went on a tour of a lighthouse. I thought it was interesting, my boys on the other hand, wanted to skip the educational lecture and race up the stairs

It was fun to be with my whole family (I'm already missing Brett's kids again) and especially with us moving away it will be nice to take those memories with us. Thanks mom for such a fun trip!

California here we come

2009-03-19T15:07:00.000-07:00

Well, Jeff was offered a job in California and they flew us down to Sacramento Sat-Tue to check it out. It's pretty official, we are moving !!! Jeff will probably go in May and the rest of us in June, after school is out. It was really pretty there, and not at all what I expected (I was picturing L.A., San Diego, etc.) It was so mountainous, green, and a lot of open land! We aren't sure which town we will live in for sure, but we are kind of hoping for Auburn-that is where he will be working. Auburn reminds me a lot of Idaho City meets Park City-Beautiful! We are feeling pretty good about it all. Everything seems to be falling into place and I am so grateful. Our good friends, the Barney's, are going to be able to take care of our house for a while which makes me feel a TON better about the whole thing.
Cooper was the only one that went with us and he did pretty good on the airplane-as long as we kept shoving food in his face. Here he is at the airport
and on his first airplane ride-notice the licorice all over his face

He was so sick of his car seat by the end of the trip (he's not a big car seat fan anyway), so we'll see how next week goes on the Oregon Coast...wish us luck!

Love this chick

2009-03-08T21:17:00.000-07:00

Our little Rilynn just turned 2 1/2. She is so fun and all girl! She LOVES new clothes, fingernails being painted, new earrings, and oh boy...nothing beats a new pair of shoes! (Have I taught her good or what?) She is a great talker and talks all the time-no really, ALL THE TIME! She never shuts up. I guess it's just born in us girls huh?! She talks in full sentences and pretty much says everything like anyone else, but of course does have some of her own unique things. Some of our favorites are
instead of saying she forgot she says she "gotfor",

she only calls Cooper "Cooper Boy,"

if you ask her if she wants something she say "uh, sure,"

I make her go to the bathroom right before she goes down for a nap; so just to protect herself from that dreaded nap, anytime I take her to the bathroom after about 10:00am she tell me, "I don't want to go nap time!"

She loves her baby dolls and copies everything I do with Cooper with her dolls. Every day after I feed Cooper baby food she goes and gets her baby, tea cup, spoon, and feeds her dolly. She even cleans the baby's face off with the spoon after each bite. She burps, rocks, bounces and changes her babies diapers-she has wasted a bizzillion wipes cleaning up fake poop and pee.

The emotions have already started (I thought we had 11 years until that started). If you look at her wrong the water works can be turned on like its a switch.

Books; She will accept Mom and Dad, but if Grandma Sharon, Uncle Evan, or Aunt Jenae come in the door she will run to the book closet, pick 3-10 books, and climb up on their laps. She would read from sun up to sun down if only an adult would cooperate.

She just found her first favorite movie-actually two movies, "Lion King" and "Mama Mia"

I wanted a girl SOOOO bad and I have enjoyed every bit of it! The other day my Grandma said, "You two have such a great relationship, I can tell you will always be close." I hope she is right, that is truly my biggest dream.

I love this little chick!

Sleep Time

2009-02-27T16:02:00.000-08:00

"Paxton, go get ready for bed!" We go upstairs and this is what we find:

Apparently both Great Grandma and Cooper were ready for a nap. Rilynn hadn't had a nap and just curled up on the chair and went to sleep.
Three bugs in a rug. The kids ready for bed in McCall (notice Rilynn trying to copy Evan's awesome peace sign)

Thankful Thursday

2009-02-19T18:46:00.001-08:00

Last Friday our family had our little end of the world shaken, but everything was put into perspective on Sunday. There are some amazing people in our ward who just tragically lost their daughter. We went to the viewing Sunday and as our hearts broke for this family we realized that we have so much to be thankful for-even during our trials.
First-I am so thankful for faith, the gospel, prayer, and eternal families.
Second- I am so thankful for my 4 children that are all healthy (minus Cooper's current ear infection), happy, and who are currently racing to see who's fastest (poor Rilynn doesn't stand much of a chance).
Third-I am thankful for a husband who is constantly positive and keeps me smiling and laughing even though we are in a crappy spot right now
Fourth-I am thankful for family and friends who are so quick to jump in and offer help, prayer, fasting, any and everything even just phone calls of concern and comfort.
Fifth-I am thankful that I have realized that all of the things I am THE MOST thankful for are not things.
There are a ton of other things that I am thankful for, but since Rilynn is currently holding the phone, and possibly calling Japan, I better call if quits w/the top 5-this is why I usually don't blog while my children are awake.
p.s. I am also thankful for bedtime

Thank heaven for bibs

2009-02-09T15:52:00.000-08:00

I know it looks like Rilynn fed him, and I should probably save some of my pride and blame it on her, but really it was me feeding Cooper. He finally got the eating thing down, and now eats 2 jars in a sitting. The problem with this???, he loves to spit while he eats!

The sad thing is that his second jar was applesauce so you can't even see the whole mess it made! BTW can you see the yelling he is doing for not getting the food in faster?
Yah, we won't be using these bibs more than once between washings!

Super Cooper is 7 months

2009-02-01T00:03:00.000-08:00

Super Cooper (Paxton's name for him) is now 7 months here is a glimpse into his life.
1. He is sitting up good, but doesn't catch himself when he starts to tip.
2. He loves to wave at people, but is easily distracted by how tricky that little hand is and then he proceeds to either eat his hand or yell at it in excitement.
3. He has discovered peek-a-boo and thinks its the greatest, next to his feet, which he also loves to play with and try to eat!
4. I shouldn't write this, I may jinx it, but the last week he has slept better. We actually moved his pack and play into our closet and he has slept good, I'm wondering if it was partly that he is a light sleeper and his dad's snoring woke him up (Jeff can sound like a fog horn sometimes).
5. He is pretty much on a two nap a day schedule and is very dependent on his binkie for those naps. Rilynn and Cooper's naps don't match up at all-he naps in the morning and late afternoon, she naps early afternoon...I guess it keeps me "unbored."
6. He tried apple juice for the first time and LOVED it. He hasn't really tried anything he hasn't liked, but he's only had veggies to eat.
7. He is a steam roller! He rolls everywhere and in no time flat. This week he just started trying to pull his legs up under him into a crawling position.
8. He loves his siblings and lights up at the very sight of them.
9. I keep thinking he's gonna change more, but he is still a miniature Paxton-it is even starting to look like his hair maybe curly.
10. He's a back archer...he does this constantly! If he wants to turn, if he's mad, if he's playing, if you try and put him into his car seat.
11. He jibbers and jabbers a lot, but only says Dada.
12. The little guy is such a cuttle bug and gives the best hugs ever. He also has the sweetest smile and will share it with anyone willing to look his way.

Booyah!

2009-01-31T22:29:00.000-08:00

I TOTALLY SCORED! I scored on my all girls team tonight! Okay, in reality, it was just dumb luck, and the ball kinda bounced off my hip and into the goal (I've never been so thankful for big hips!). There really was no skill involved, but I'm taken the point and I'm rockin' it! Really all luck probably came from the team socks...cute right?!

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

2009-01-29T22:52:00.000-08:00

So, now I'm bragging about another kid...sorry, I just have great kids! ;) Evan was the "star student" this month (the student of the month). His school picks kids according to different "character" traits for student of the month. The last 2 years he has gotten it for honesty-which he totally is, there really isn't a sneaky bone his body (let's hope that lasts into his teenage years). This year he got the award for respect. Here is an example of his respect/a confession of my horrible mothering skills...I wrote the wrong day on the calendar for his breakfast/award ceremony, so we totally missed it. When talking to my mom on the phone about it, I said, "I guess what really mattered to him was getting his donut and shirt and his teacher got them for him." To this Evan says, "No, what really matters is I love you." Okay do kids get any sweeter than that? Love that kid!

That pose in the second picture???...100% his idea :) Still not sure what it is all about.

Bragging is not becoming

2009-01-22T19:38:00.000-08:00

I know that bragging is not becoming, but I just have to. We all usually see a tease/feisty/mischievous side of Paxton, but there really is such a tender side to that little guy, and he can be incredibly sweet! I just got his progress report home and it said, "Paxton plays nice with all students at school. He has a couple friends whom he chooses to play with most days at preschool, but it is not uncommon for Paxton to choose to sit down next to a child who is younger or disabled and choose to help them learn to play a game or puzzle. Paxton is a very sweet, patient, empathetic child who is a wonderful role model for all the students in the program!" Ahhhhhhh!

Plus about two weeks ago, Great Grandma was talking to Paxton about his new room and said she heard it was nice, but couldn't get up the stairs to see it. To this Paxton offers, "I'll hold your hand Grandma!" Ahhhhh! Doesn't that just melt your heart?

Then he probably belched. :)

Check her out!

2009-01-21T18:04:00.000-08:00

My "aunt" (she's closer to my age and I feel more like she's a sister in law) was in town and we tried to take our kids bowling. Both the places we tried to go to had really long waits, and they were headed back to Utah so we couldn't wait (sorry Ty). While we were attempting to bowl we found out the sub has the best FHE...only a $1.50 a game and $0 for shoes on Mondays! I talked to Jeff and we decided to head back down for FHE. We all loved it, but you have to check out this video of Rilynn!

Okay, I just realized I am totally lame and recorded this sideways, oops. It is still worth viewing though.

Don't mind the little bummy hanging out of the pants.

This was Rilynn's first time bowling and she couldn't get enough! After she threw the ball she would yell, "I wanna do it again!"
Jeff (Kung Fu) won, but team "hot chicks" (Rilynn and I) were close behind! X-man (Evan) and Power Ranger (Paxton) were probably closer, but for some reason the computer kept scoring Hot Chicks spares that we really didn't get.

Check out their form!

Cute shoes

Knuckles

her hair turned out cute huh?

Dad won't let me stick my head in the ball return! :(

Let's get physical!

2009-01-12T08:17:00.001-08:00

Jeff has been playing indoor soccer for a little over 2 years and now he has gotten the rest of the family on board (w/an exception of the 2 year old and 6month old). We just finished our first session of indoor soccer. This session Jeff started on 3 teams-a men's, a co-ed, and another co-ed team Jeff put together about a year ago with people from our ward (called Nodacult). Jeff does really good. His all men's team moved up a league because they got 1st place.

The super star is Paxton. Indoor soccer is his specialty. Holy cow! In his last game he scored 10 goals!!! He probably averaged 4-5 goals per game for the season. I think indoor was much better for a 4 year old than outdoor, because there is no out of bounds-Pax quickly lost focus outside this fall. Don't play dirty against him though...he's got an aggressive sports side and he WILL retaliate (and he's not very discrete, he sees the "punk" who did it and sets his sights). Jeff gave him a speech on how its good not to let kids push him around on the soccer field, and started coaching him on how to get back and get away with it. Okay, probably not a totally appropriate conversation with a 4 year old, but when you have a competitive dad... :) lol

My camera didn't take very good pictures in the soccer place for some reason, so I don't have a picture of Evan or me.
Evan enjoyed the season too, but was pretty crushed after his last game because he didn't get a goal during this session. He did really improve through-out the season though. He played goalie a few times and did good, but was really hard on himself when he would get scored on.
I loved playing, but stunk pretty bad. I always thought I was a coordinated person-then I tried to play soccer. Well, to say the least-apparently I am on the UN-coordinated side. The new session just started and I am feeling Evan's same desire to score. Cross your fingers (I need ALL the help I can get). The best part is playing with Jeff, it is fun to be out there with him-and he scores every game so he kinda balances me out for never scoring right?!

6 months already!

2009-01-06T21:00:00.000-08:00

This last month has been big for Cooper Boy (Rilynn's new name for Cooper). He has gotten so good with his hands and fingers-making them hold toys, pinch my face and neck (maybe I can try to blame my double chin on him "stretching me out?"), and pulling my hair. His favorite word is dada and the kids are thoroughly convinced he says hi. He has just started waving bye-bye and tried his first food on Christmas day-sweet potatoes that Santa brought him in his stocking.

He is ginormous. He weighs just over 20 pounds and is wearing 12-18month clothes. The kid gobbles down an 8oz bottle faster than I could gulp 8 oz of diet coke. He still has adorable dimples that you could just eat up. There is one thing that hasn't changed this month, he still stinks at sleeping. Any advise?

Holiday fun

2009-01-05T20:32:00.000-08:00

I know this is long...bear with me

I feel like this year the holidays flew by faster than ever...we didn't get to do a lot of the things we normally do. We still had a lot of fun though...here's a glimpse into a few of the things we did.

Decorating the tree was fun. Rilynn was the most into it. She asked for the next two days to put more on the tree. Pax loved to hang the ornaments up as high as he could.

Jenae had a great plan to decorate sugar cookies for Santa. It was so fun. Us, Jenae, Ethan, and our surprise guests Colton and Dakota cut out and decorated cookies.

Paxton was my most focused. Rilynn was determined to do it all by her self (it made more of a mess than actual cookies), but her and Ethan sure did enjoy eating the frosting and candies that were supposed to going on the cookies. They were very efficient at that! The three oldest boy had fun too. We learned a lesson, next year use a table cloth...flour gets stuck in the grooves of the table.

We spent Christmas Eve at Chris and Jessica's. The kids had fun playing while we had fun playing Cities and Knights of Catan. Rilynn and Braxton are such cute little buddies.

This was the way home from Chris's. They were actually lucky because the roads were the worst roads I've ever been on. They were so covered in snow I was petrified! We got home with no problems though (it just took 2 hours).

This is one example of not getting everything done like normal. We just made our gingerbread house tonight for FHE. The kids didn't care that we were late. They we more than happy to indulge in more candy.

Rilynn loved to decorate the tress. Paxton loved doing the frosting and Ev was very precise on where he put the candy pieces. Cooper slept. Great Grandma even came over and joined us at the table and watched the kids work away.

These are the kids with their presents from everyone. Can you say spoiled?! They sure did make out good!

HIP HIP HOORAY!

2008-12-31T10:40:00.001-08:00

It is finally done! It has taken two years, a few different plans, many headaches, and a lot of help from family, but the upstairs is finally finished! The boys officially moved up to their new room last Saturday!!! There are still a few odds and ends left to do-hang up the fan, paint the closet door (that will have to wait for spring), and get all of their BSU gear hung up and then it will be the proper Bronco room. They are so excited...Evan says he is sleeping better up there. :) Paxton said,"it's awesome."

Jeff has always said he wanted to buy an old house and fix it up...we've learned after this project that we are not so much up the "fix it up" type. We aren't so great at it and I can't stand the continuous project part...I want it to be done and not always "in the process." So, now Jeff is saying we'll just have Zach Evan's (a builder whose houses we both love) build for us and it won't need any fixing up. Sounds good to me!
This is the cute plaque my mom got my boys last Christmas and we just got it hung up. We knew I was pregnant, that is when we decided to move the boys upstairs, so we were waiting to hang it up in their new room. Isn't it cute?

Away in a Manger

2008-12-17T21:24:00.000-08:00

It has already been such a crazy month with parties, shopping, and life, but we have had a fun December so far! We had our ward Christmas party/talent show last weekend and Paxton was the donkey in the nativity. (I thought it was a pretty good match...aren't donkeys supposed to be a little on the stubborn side?) I know that I am a little biased, but I think he was the cutest darn donkey ever! He got a little wiggly and kept playing with his ears, but did pretty good. Although Rilynn didn't perform on stage in the talent show, she did announce to everyone that she went pee in the potty (she yelled it to Jeff from quite a distance). She also thought her church shoes on the gym floor made the best sounds as she tapped and danced around. I had to remove her shoes part way through the program to keep her quieter. She kept posing and saying, "take picture of me!" Oh, the talent we Waters have! (Evan wasn't there because he was at a friend's birthday party)

The night we got the decorations out everyone was helping set them up and really excited about it, then suddenly all of my help disappeared. I went to the hall to find Ev, Pax, and Ri all sitting on the ground putting the Christmas stockings on their feet.
Cooper has loved the Christmas lights. He just stares and stares at them. The other kids were most excited about setting up our nativities. One of them was set up so it appeared everyone was in a long line waiting to see baby Jesus. The other was set up the exact opposite, everyone was in a very tight circle, but they did have baby Jesus in the very center.

Evan had his school Christmas program this week. It was 'Twas the Night Before Christmas" themed. It is so different from when I was a kid. Our music teacher, Ms. Haine, played the piano while we sang. Now the music teacher just leads the kids and there is a whole orchestra playing in the background thanks to the music teacher's handy little Ipod which she has hooked up to speakers. It was a really good program though. Rilynn kept waving at Evan and he couldn't resist smiling and waving back at her every single time.
It has since snowed more, but the first day it snowed it wasn't really that much, it didn't even cover the whole ground. Evan was sweet, he was really excited for Cooper to see the snow since "he has never seen it before." Paxton and Rilynn were really excited too. They were all bundled up, outside, and ready to "build a snowman" by 9:15 in the morning! Rilynn lasted all of 1 minute before it was "too cold" and she was back inside. It took ten times longer to get them ready than they actually lasted outside. Needless to say, Frosty will have to wait for another day.

Booper is 5 months

2008-12-03T15:47:00.000-08:00

Booper (as Rilynn says) has been 5 months for a little bit, but this is the only journaling I do ( I know I'm horrible), so I still wanted to journal on his 4th month. He is such a happy guy and lights up at anyone just even saying hello. He started rolling over...from his brothers and sister's reaction you'd think he's magic. They love to lay him on his tummy, sit around him, and wait for him to roll. When he rolls the "audience" all start laughing hysterically and cheer for him. This baby loves to suck his thumb and has become quite the little chubster, his thighs each have about 4 rolls. Cooper thinks he can sit up by himself and is always pulling himself forward, but then tends to kiss the floor. We love every chubby inch of him, but he is still a little stinker at the whole sleeping at night thing (or lack thereof). At least he is cute to look at when I am up with him 3 times a night.

P.S. on a side note, we just had Rilynn tested and she was negative for Celiac Disease! YEAH!! So she can eat pizza, cookies, cake, bread, crackers, ANYTHING!

Don't Blink

2008-11-20T23:48:00.000-08:00

So, I'm not sure if I'm just crazy and obsessive, or if other mom's feel this way too (maybe I am just getting old), but sometimes I feel like I don't want to blink because I am going to miss something with my kids. I don't want to go to bed because when I wake up they will be a day older and I feel like they are growing WAY too fast! I want to capture time in a bottle and hold onto it forever. Every time I turn around they've learned something new and gotten bigger. I love being a mom and I love my kids...this is where I've always wanted to be- a stay at home mom, with my little kids, a husband/father that is beyond measure, and I really couldn't ask for more (except time to slow down). I am so thankful we get to be together forever!
I was going through picture and found some funny ones of Rilynn...more moments that remind me I don't want to blink because too soon these days will pass, well---I guess then these pictures will be good for ransom or something!
Love the church shoes with this particular ensemble!

Edward & Bella?

Yes, that is butter she is eating w/ a spoon!
She gets her "fashion sence" from her dad

Shampoo mohawks and Super Chick
This video is when she was potty training, she obviously wasn't scared of the "big trouble" she would be in if she had an accident. Everytime we put on her panties we had this exact conversation and she would always turn her head to the side like this when she said "big trouble."

My New Ride

2008-11-18T18:32:00.000-08:00

So, it isn't brand new now, but it was two months ago on my birthday, I just didn't have picts and I had other things to write about. But on my birthday my husband was amazing! He found a wish list I had made my mom, took it, and got everything on it. He also made dinner plans (PF Changs-yum) with two other couples, got a babysitter, and then when we got home from eating I opened the garage and found a new bike...not just any bike a pink cruiser!
Now this would be fun and exciting for anyone, but I had still been riding my bike that I had gotten in 5th grade for getting straight A's...needless to say I was overdue for a new bike. Well now I had a bike, but I have all these kids that can't ride yet, so I got super lucky and found this great two kid bike trailer/stroller on Craig's list for the exact amount my dad had given me for my birthday! :) We've totally been "cruisen" the neighborhhod a ton and lovin every minute of it!
P.S. Only 3 more days...do you have your ticket for Twilight?

My little skunk

2008-11-05T14:27:00.000-08:00

So, you know since about 18 months Paxton has been a little skunk! I have had many people say he has gotten so much better...to that I say, no-he has just evolved, gotten smarter (aka sneakier). Take this picture for example.
Now I know you can't really see what's going on, but what you can't see is Paxton with the dog chain in one hand and his sister's belt loop in his other, and he is trying to connect the two. That's right, he is trying to chain up his sister. She was cooperative at first, but once she realized what was going on, she naturally began to resist. So to this, Paxton grabs her shirt and continues to try to chain her up. Don't worry, I am not a horrible mom, I didn't let him finish his goal,I quickly grabbed the camera took a couple picts, then I hurried and put on a straight face, went to the back door, and informed Paxton that it was not appropriate to chain his sister up with Skeeter's dog chain. He is still a skunk, but boy, do I LOVE that skunk!

Happy Halloween/B-day!

2008-11-02T10:00:00.000-08:00

Halloween was great this year! Ev didn't have school, so we had the whole day to play! Ev was red Spidey, Pax was black Spidey, Ri was a BSU cheerleader, and Coop was a little blue monster. We went and saw all 3 Grandmas. My mom took us out to lunch and she gave the kids enough candy that we really didn't need to do any more trick-or-treating. That night Jenae's family came with us to our ward trunk or treat. There was a man there dressed up as a slice of pizza. Rilynn was so scared of that walking pizza! Even this morning she said, "Mom, I staired (scared) pizza." We went to a few houses afterwards and then back to our house for Jenae's b-day cake. Happy Birthday Jenae!

Cooper is 4 months

2008-11-01T18:50:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know this is late, but when you are a little unorganized, have 4 kids, and a holiday; something is bound to be late. We went to his 4 month check up and he weighs 17 1/2lbs, putting him at 90% for ht, wt, and head-I guess if his head is going to be big at least it is proportionate:)! He has the cutest chubby thighs in the whole world (I wish my chubby thighs were considered cute). He is starting to try to sit up and plays with toys. He also loves to goo and especially if you'll goo back. He is so patient with his brothers and sister who are constantly in his grill and trying to hold him. October was a naughty sleep month-he was waking up about 3 times a night, but the last 3 days has only been once a night so we'll keep our fingers crossed. Our 4 month photo shoot was cut a little shorter than planned, it must have been a bit exhausting.

Pumpkin Patch, Potty Training, and Peanut Butter

2008-10-18T21:14:00.000-07:00

Well it started last Sunday evening, we went to change Rilynn's diaper and they were all gone... so we got out a pair of panties and the potty training began. We spent most of the week on lock down in the house, but I am proud to say she has done it! She is pretty offically potty trained!

During the potty training process there was much bribery used-one being gum. They all got gum when Ri went potty. Well Paxton didn't spit out his gum one night and woke up with gum all over his hair. Thank heavens for peanut butter! Paxton wanted me to wait until after pre-school to use the peanut butter to get it out so he could show all of his friends the gum in his hair...boys are so wierd! (I didn't let him)

Saturday we went with my family to the pumpkin patch. Thank heavens for fun Grandma Sharon! They got fun pumpkins and played in the bounce house. There was also a petting zoo there; I feel bad, being a mom I feel like I should like petting zoos because the kids do love them, but really I think they are stinky, dirty, and gross, but I did get cute pictures. And like I said the kids of course LOVED it.

Cooper

2008-10-11T07:36:00.001-07:00

Well I am trying to start a blog, but I am computer illiterate so here is my attempt. Here is our Cooper boy, he is such a sweet pea. He is now 3 1/2 months and getting so big so fast. He is in the 90% for height and weight. While I am writing this, Paxton is squishing Cooper's face and Coop doesn't even mind. Well, I'll see if this worked! If anyone has suggestions for how to do this, let me know!