Our Amazing Amy

Yep... Our Amy is amazing!! She is an amazing helper. An amazing 3rd grader (holy crap!) An amazing chef. Amazing at pretty much everything she does. Yup... she is amazing!!

Amy loves to dance as you can tell by the picture of her dancing to my 90's hair band music on the iPod. :) The "rock on" sign always flashing as the music bumps. There is usually some karate kicks somewhere in her dance routine along with a bunch of ballet. :D

Amy also loves to bake! She made her own birthday cake! I am so glad she loves to do it. Especially with both Grandma and I hovering over her trying to teach her (at the same time) what she needed to do next. She was so very patient with us both. There silently humoring both of us as we passed on our baking knowledge. :D I finally took a step back and enjoyed watching her and Grandma working together to make the cake that turned out fabulous!! She really enjoyed having Grandma there teaching her.

She is also really good at coming up with her own recipes. These are her latest creations. Benyays (don't know how to spell it) but it comes from the movie "Princess and the Frog". She toasted some bread, drizzled it with honey and then dusted it with powdered sugar. Not too bad. I have learned to try her creations with a smile and hope that I can hold them on my face especially with some of her more "creative" creations. :D

She had a great birthday! Can't believe that she is 9! I mean really.... where did the time go? I remember her being Emily's size, Laura's age and going to Kindergarten like Andrew. Now she is in 3rd grade and loving it! She loves her math and writing. She comes home with the most creative stories complete with pictures.

She just got done with track. She did the standing long jump, tug-o-war and softball throw. Her favorite was, by far, the tug-o-war where her school took 2nd. They almost got 1st but her team got tired at the last minute and the other team stole the victory.

She is also doing piano lessons. She just moved on to her second book which she is very excited about. It was really neat for her to look at the beginning of her last book and see how far she had come. Her favorite song for a while was "London's Clock" or something like that. She would go down first thing in the morning and play the clock so that everyone would know it was time to come down for scriptures. Scott on the other hand.... ya... not his favorite. He likes his sleep. "Stop playing that song Amy" would shortly be yelled down the stairs, which just made her play it that much louder. :) That's my girl. Torturing her brothers every chance she can.

Mom... my name is Andy!

So I have come to a horrible realization..... I don't have very many pictures of our Andrew.... I mean Andy! It's not like he isn't there or even quiet. Nope, he is very witty and has quite the way of thinking about things and expressing himself. I just don't manage to get him in too many pictures because he is so very busy. Andy has loved Kindergarten! Thus the reason I think that he has changed from Andrew to Andy. He doesn't mind me calling him Andrew still.... which is good. He will always be Andrew to his Mommy! He just came home from school one day and announced to all of us at dinner... "You can call me Andy now because Andy is short for Andrew."

Andy has enjoyed so many things this year. From going to school and piano lessons (short lived unfortunately), to riding his bike and Beyblades. He is boy thru and thru! Tough as nails (until he needs his mom.) So glad that they never outgrow that!

Andrew is doing so good at reading. He can read most of the words by himself when we are doing our family scriptures in the morning. He is also very good at math. It just blows me away that they are reading, writing and doing math (addition) in Kindergarten. I remember Kindergarten as being a big long play time. Making butterflies or hearts with crayon shavings. Coloring all day long and of course playing outside on the slides. Amazing how things have changed since I was a kid. :D

Laura Lou

Wow.... Where to start with Miss Laura.... She is growing... of course. She loves to have her picture taken! As both my phone and computer pictures can attest to. She sees me take the camera out to capture Emily or various other things and there she is... "Mommy, me! MEEE!!!" "Okay... okay." I say to her. "CHEESE!!" She says and then strikes a pose. Such a little picture hog! But we love her.


Her curls are the best. After the haircutting incident a while ago. (Where a 3 year old aspiring hair dresser named Maddie cut all her curls off to the scalp.) We have done pixxy cuts on her for a while. She is very cute in short hair. But I am glad that her hair comes back curly each time it grows out. It is about time for another hair cut and I am debating about having it done. I love her curls but her hair is hanging in her eyes. Decisions... decisions.

We (okay Jeff) put in hardwood floors while he was home helping me recover from having Emily. It was quite the undertaking. We love them (although keeping them swept and clean is another thing)! Laura found that on the cold days she could hover over the furnace vents and get nice and warm. I remember doing that as a kid too. Only I would twist myself up in the curtains that hung in the front room (much to mom's dismay because I am sure that I almost pulled them down more than once) and shimmy over to the vent. Such a warm little cocoon I had there. It was fun to watch Laura discover this all on her own. And of course when I pulled out the camera to capture it.... well.... a photo shoot then followed.



While Papa and Grandma where here visiting from Utah, the kids convinced them to take them to the school park to play. Laura would not leave the house without her trusty cape that I am sure one of these times that I wash it will totally fall apart. A cute (yellow) pile of strings will be all that will remain of this wonderful cape that Grandma made for Scott when he was Laura's size.

Most of the time this cape and a diaper is about all that is on Laura during the day. It is a sure battle when it comes time to get dressed to go anywhere and she doesn't want to be. So what did I do when I had to take Jeff to the airport first thing in the morning and then rush to the school right after for a meeting (before school started) with Scott's teachers and other school personnel??? I did what any good mother would do! Make her get dressed in clothes fit for public??? Nope!!! I took her in her onesie and the trusty cape! :D Yup... that's me! Mother of the Year! Always has it together! Never seen in public without make up on, hair done beautifully, and the kids looking perfect. Ya.... maybe next year! :) I even got a comment from the Vice Principle at school. Thankfully it was a compliment (I think). She said that it was good to see that not all mothers have it all together that early in the morning. She commended me for not trying to kill myself to have the kids look perfect. Glad my hard work (throwing her in the truck half dressed) paid off. :)

Welcome Little Emily

Okay.... so I really stink at blogging. I want to do better so thus I will try again.

We now have 5 children..... and yes I am crazy! I love the shock factor of saying that to strangers that see me out in public. :D "Oh how cute," they say to me as they look in the car seat at Emily. Laura of course is in the background (or not so background) flashing her darling dimples and talking to everyone we meet. "You have such cute girls!" I of course smile and say thank you. I am humble like that. "You just have the two?" they then ask me. Here comes my favorite part..... I hold up 5 fingers and watch their jaws drop. With "You are crazy!" plain to be seen in their eyes. Yes.... I have 5 children and I am crazy. At least a little bit. You have to be not to go totally insane in the chaos and confusion that usually follows me around. Not that I don't desire a non-crazy life. Oh it would be nice! But the time for that is coming. (At least I keep telling myself that.) :D

So here is a little bit of what has been happening in our family as of late.

Emily is now 2 months old and growing way too fast! She started out at 7 lbs. 8.8 oz. More than a full pound bigger than all of our other kids.

At her last appointment she weighed in at 11 lbs 9.5 oz. I am happy to report that she has cute fat little thighs and a double chin. So glad that they look cute on her. Her favorite thing to do is be strapped to me, asleep in her Moby. (Please disregard the toothpaste splatters all over the mirror. That issue is discussed below. :D )

I love the thing! Yeay for having two hands to do stuff with. I sort of feel pregnant in it. It is hard to do dishes, vacuum and sweep. And almost impossible to do laundry in but the good thing.... I can take it off and have my body back to do all the stuff that needs to be done with little to no pain. (Except for in my butt because as soon as it is done, I turn around and it is all there.... waiting for me to do it all over again. Ahh the joys of never ending housework.)

Emily's newest thing to do is smile. And they are a wonder to behold! She will smile at you and you forget everything going on around you and just enjoy it. I love the smiles she gives where she scrunches up her nose. Those are the best!!

That is all for now for Emily. I will keep taking pictures of the darling things she does and (hopefully) be better at posting on a regular basis! (Fingers and toes crossed!)

Okay, lets try this again

It has been a while since I last posted and since then we have (finally) found the battery charger for our camera. Yeay!!

The kids are growing like crazy. Scott is in 4th grade and doing really well. Amy is in 2nd grade and loves it. (She is still the tallest in the class. Which she loves.) Andrew is enjoying his time at home with me during the day. He turned five just the other day and is already excited to go to school. Oh and by the way, his next birthday is 360 something days away. He started asking when his next birthday was the day after. Silly boy! Laura is now 1 and still as cute as a button. She loves to say "HI" to anyone we walk past in the store. Of course they think that she is just the cutest thing and she eats it up, flashing her dimples. Such a cutie.

I will get some pictures posted soon. We love you all and miss you.

Hello Again

Hooray... Spring is here!!

Well we are getting settled into our new home. Glad to know we are here for a while now. (No moving for a while, yippee!!) I am still trying to get pictures of the house up so that everyone can see what it looks like. I keep thinking, "I will do that as soon as the pictures are up and it actually looks like a home." Well... I still haven't gotten the pictures up and there are boxes still sitting around. But don't worry.... one of these days I will get it all done and take some pictures. We do love it and it is nice to know that this home is ours. (Stop trying to put holes in the walls with chairs and toys, kids!!!)

We got some new bookcases for the front room as you can see in the back ground. They are really nice and holds a lot of books and then some, like our games. I am surprised at how many books we have. There is a lot more in the bookcases then I thought that we had. Makes it look nice though.... almost like a library. Now if we just had some comfy chairs to sit in...... :). Laura had such a good time "helping" me unpack the boxes. Her favorite was the one with toys. Lots of smaller, painful to step on toys. But her smile says it all!




Laura's new favorite thing is bubble baths. The bubbles are fun to slap and see fly. Generates many belly laughs! Besides they taste so yummy... see her little tongue?!?! The kids love to see her splash and so by the time bath time is over, the bathroom is a mess and everyone's sides hurt. Good times!


I just love this one. Her blue eyes are so beautiful!!

All the kids are doing good.

Amy loves her new teacher and loves first grade. She is reading really well and spelling too. She had Uncle Mikey fooled for a while in a chat. he he

Scott is struggling with the more advanced curriculum and keeping up with the kids that are used to the routines, rules and teacher. We are all trying to be patient with the struggles of a new school and getting things with his 504 plan where they need to be to help him with his concentration skills. But I know we will get it and that Scott will remember he loves school. Right?!?! Especially when it doesn't start until 9:30 in the morning. So nice to sleep in.... when Laura permits.

Andrew loves having time at home with just mom (and Laura). We love to read stories and make cookies, watch movies, do laundry, sweep and vacuum to name a few. He is such a good little helper. He is getting good at telling me what letters and numbers he sees and he is starting to learn certain small words by sight and can spell them to me. He is just so smart. Too smart sometimes..."When I say N O, I mean NO mom and when I say Y E S, I mean Yes." Okay, so which is it going to be, Andrew? "N O, mom. Okay!!" Little smarty pants.

Laura is just about to crawl. She has the army crawl down to a fast science. She is getting up on her hands and knees a lot more now and it won't be long until we will have to be teaching her the art of stair climbing and descending. (New experience with that. Never had stairs before.) She can sit up now and has strong legs for jumping. She really likes her Cheerios, chicken nuggets and bananas and of course... chocolate. She is after all her mommy's girl!!