I Love Being a Mom!

I really do LOVE being a mother. And feel so lucky that I get to be with my kids all day, and they don't have to spend the bulk of their day with someone else. I'm glad that I have and enjoy the opportunity of being at home with them.
Today AJ and I got up, went for a 2 1/2 mile walk and then stopped a the park to play on the way home. We BOTH went down the slide, played on the teeter totter and talked and laughed together.
Later I pushed both he and Micaela on our swing set in our yard.
During this time Micaela informed me........."Mom, when I grow up, I want to be a famous ballerina and a school teacher." I told her I knew that she could be both and would be great at them. And then AJ, stuttering, trying to get his thoughts out said......
"And Mom......when I grow up.........I want to dance with Micaela and be a Grandpa!"
It was too cute.
I cherish my time with my children. They make me so happy!!

2nd Grade is Fun!

When the girls come home from school I love hearing about their day. It brings back memories of my own elementary school experience. When they're at school, it's totally their own little world that I virtually have no part of (other than volunteering, etc). So I love when they share details and experiences. This is one Lauren shared with me on Friday:

"Mom, ya know Austin at school, he's that boy that has liked me since the beginning of 2nd grade?" I said, "Um, yeah, I remember Austin" (even though I didn't REALLY remember him, or that he liked my daugher). "Well, he now sits at my table. We were just sitting there and he was staring at me.......then he said.........'Lauren, you are really pretty.'" "I said, 'what'? cause ya know...... you don't EVER hear BOYS tell GIRLS that at SCHOOL!". "And then he said, 'you are really pretty'. "Then after I heard him say that I knew that he really did tell me I was pretty. I thought it was a little strange. Boys at school don't usually say those kinds of things to girls"

I then asked Lauren, "So then what did you say back to Austin?". "I just said, ' thank you'."

(I guess at least she's polite.)

I must admit, I prefer a boy telling my daughter that she's 'pretty' instead of the one who liked her last year who'd tell her she was the "hottest" girl in the whole 1st grade. I'm not sure I like someone, even if he is only a 7 year old boy, saying that my daughter is "hot".

Oh, jeez, what to look forward to as these girls get older!

MUNCH MOUTH!!!

So it's about 10:30 in the morning. AJ has been awake for about 3 hours. In those 3 hours this is what he's consumed thus far:

first sitting for breakfast: bowl of Crispix and a glass of milk

2nd sitting for breakfast: yogurt and a piece of toast

3rd sitting for breakfast: piece of french bread and an apple

in between these sittings, evidence was found that he also consumed 3 small Kit Kat candy bars. (Of course,this was w/o my permission What kind of mom would I be if I allowed him to eat candy for breakfast!?)

Before lunch I'm sure he'll ask for something else to eat.

I can't imagine the kind of food we'd go through if I had several boys. Like how did my mother afford to feed her 4 growing boys, or my mother in law who had 5 sons???!!!

If I had more than one boy..............I'm not sure I could afford to keep them!!!!

(AJ showing off his huge muscles during our Dec. trip to Disney World)

SCARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No, this is not a still frame from a horror movie, and yes..........apparently I have no shame!!!

I had LASIK surgery on Friday. And I must say, I'm loving my new vision!! My eyes were a negative 10. (Apparently that is really bad, because they kept making a big deal about it at the Dr.'s office. This is about the highest prescription they'll fix with custom LASIK.)

Saturday morning was the first time I've been able to wake up and actually see my alarm clock. I'd worn contacts since I was 13 years old.

I have to give a shout out to my husband, for paying for this expensive, elective surgery. In fact, it was his idea for me to get it done. And for taking Friday off to take me to the surgery, and spend the afternoon/evening with the kids, and making them dinner and playing games with them all night, so I could rest my eyes.

They put lots of pressure on your eye during the surgery, so a lot of the blood vessels in your eyes break, that is why I have huge blood spots on my eyes. I'm not sure if that's more scary, or the fact that I can't wear eye make up for a week! But I do love being able to see!!!!

Little Cheerleaders!

One thing I have noticed about my 3 children; they're each others biggest fans. Even AJ gets excited over the girls accomplishments and the things they're involved in.

I remember last year during dance competitions........Micaela, Lauren and I were all at the dance competition. Lauren had competed 2 dances that day and was on stage awaiting the results, sitting with her team. Micaela had remembered their line-up number. While sitting next to me, in the audience, she kept saying under her breath, "Come on number 54, come on number 54" (okay I don't really remember their line-up number). Then they announced that Lauren's group won first place. Micaela jumped up, totally excited and without pretense.....she ran screaming up on stage and jumped on Lauren. I think she was more excited about the win than Lauren was herself!!

This past week Micaela danced in a competition. Lauren was so into it. She even brought her own camera and video taped and took pictures of her sister. She kept complimenting Micaela on what a good dancer she is. "Micaela, you can even do moves that I can't do, and you're almost 2 years younger than me!"

You might would think that two girls, both into dance (they take at different studios, too) and so close in age that they might be more competitive, or be jealous of one another. But they both seem very confident in who they are, and are genuinely excited for each other.

Even AJ after this competition kept giving Micaela a thumbs up and saying, "Micaela, you did awesome!" He said it so many times she was almost starting to get annoyed. As a parent, it's fun to see siblings supporting each other.

The past couple of weeks Micaela has been working on a school wide story telling festival. Lauren got out of a class to watch Micaela do it for the whole K grade. Micaela's eyes were almost locked on Lauren's the entire time she told her story. She was glad her sister was there.

Then Micaela had the opportunity of being a finalist from K, and perform for the whole school. Lauren was able to watch from the audience with her school class. When they got home from school that day, Lauren complimented her sister many times and said she was brave to get up there and tell a story in front of the school, and kept saying, "After the assembly everyone in my class and my teacher said that you were the best one, Micaela!". It was so sweet. Lauren could have participated in the storytelling festival if she wished, but this did not interest her at all. And even so, she was able to support her sister, since it did interest Micaela.

The girls have also been very helpful in potty training AJ. They're quick to praise him. He always wants to show them his pre-school artwork, and even though things are pasted side-ways, or are scribbled, they tell him that they're very cool, and are excited about the things that take place in his 3 year old life.

I love the fact that our children love each other so much, and can cheer each other on in their little accomplishments in life!

(Micaela showing off her medal after after her dance competition last weekend!)

Dr. Seuss Week

Probably like most elementary schools, ours celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday this past week. The kindergarten kids celebrated all week long. They did some really cute things. One day was crazy sock day. Micaela wore one argyle sock and one striped sock with some leggings and a skirt. The next day was hat day. Micaela wore a cat in the hat, tall red and white striped hat. The next day was Who-Hair day. Here's Micaela and her friend Janessa with their crazy Who Hair. (Micaela wanted to do more with her hair, but she also was competing in the school 'Story Telling Festival' that day, and crazy Who Hair didn't quite go with her story.)

Her K teacher and the K teacher next door dressed as Thing 1 and Thing 2 this day. They went to Walmart together and bought wigs, sprayed them blue and ratted them huge. Then they dressed the same and told a story of Cat in the Hat for their combined classes. They are cute teachers, who put in lots of extra time to make Kindergarten fun!

We love Dr. Seuss at our house. It seems like every week when Lauren goes to the media center, she comes home with a different Dr. Seuss book. My favorite one......... probably Yurtle the Turtle.

Lauren's Baptism

We had such a fantastic day on Saturday. It was Lauren's baptism. The day was absolutely perfect!!!! I worked really hard for weeks to get all the details taken care of, and paced myself, so that the day of the baptism I could enjoy the spiritual aspect of the day. And it paid off. I wasn't stressed about the luncheon afterwards, and was able to go to the church and focus on the spiritual and important aspect of the day.

Lauren was the only one baptized in our ward this day, which is very unusual in a ward of 250 primary aged children (yes, I said 250!). In our ward there's usually 3-4 kids each month that are baptized. It was nice that Lauren was the only baptism this day; we were able to plan the program ( I spoke, at Lauren's request, Uncle Nate, and she sang a duet with her sister and all of her friends and cousins sang the closing song) and everybody who came was there for Lauren, which made her feel extra special.
Afterwards we had a luncheon at our house.

Thanks to everyone who came and supported Lauren and our family. We are lucky to have such wonderful family who live close and great friends, too. Thanks for being apart of this special day in Lauren's life!!!

(Lauren's beautiful baptism french-braided hair. And this pic was taken AFTER she'd gotten wet. Thanks Brandi!!!)

Lauren's (after baptism) dress turned out beautiful, thanks to lots of hard work and a whole week of Nana's life dedicated to getting this made. The top is made of silk dupionni, and the bottom is organza with embroidered flowers with pearl centers. Lauren's main request, "I want a HUGE bow!". It is huge, that's for sure! We all worked hard and conspired to have this designed just perfect for how Lauren wanted it. She loves it!!! I had some beautiful pictures taken by my friend who is a photographer (Becca Nae Photography). When I get the digital images of her shoot, I'll post some of them (the above is one of her shots. I know this is lame, but I took a 'picture' of a 'picture'. I purchased a 20x24 pic, and I don't have the digital image so I took a picture of it:)
The family pic isn't that great, with the sun in our eyes. But it is our family, including me, on Lauren's special day! And it definitely was a special day!

Lauren's Fun Party

We had such a fun party for Lauren's 8th birthday. In the past we have had as many as 21 children invited to her birthday party, and that year every single one showed up!!! That year Lauren didn't even have any fun, either. There were just too many kids!!! And mass chaos!

This year Lauren said that she just wanted her favorite friends to come, s we invited the 5 girls she plays the most with all the time. She had a blast, and said it was her best party ever. This is what we did:

It was a fashion party. When they first came they got to make a flower clip for their hair. Next we went to the 'beauty salon'. I set our family room up as a salon and called it "Lauren's Beauty Shop". There was a nail station (our 14 year old babysitter came to help with that one), where their nails were painted and were able to choose decals. A hair station (my friend Brandi is awesome with hair and did their hair in up-do's or french braided it). We even had purple highlights if they wanted. She added their flower to their hair after she did it. Then I did their make-up. Eyeshadow, glitter, lipstick and blush. When they were all done they were able to get a pink boa that was there's to keep. While they were waiting for their "salon service" I had a table in the middle of the salon set up with paper dolls with all kinds of accessories and clothes cut out so that they could come up with an outfit for their doll and glue it on.

Afterwards we went downstairs into our basement. I set up a party room down there with a stage, and streamers everywhere. For this part of the party it was a restaurant. I had a fun table set up with balloons as the centerpiece and zebra striped napkins and hotpink tablecloth. Our babysitter acted as a waitress and went downstairs and took their order (I had a menu made up with all of the food choices I'd prepared. So she just circled what they wanted and wrote their name on the top). Then she came upstairs and helped me make their plates up and went and served them down in the basement.

Next we all piled in two cars (Anthon and Micaela came and our babysitter). We went to Target for a "fashion scavenger hunt". We broke into two groups. I was in charge of one and Courtney (aka, best babysitter ever) the other. They had a list of fashion items that they had to find in Target. The rules were they had to stay together as a group. They had to find each item on their list (e.g. pink purse, fashion scarf, pair of boots, long beaded necklace, etc. ), one member of the group had to put on the item, and then pose for a picture (each group had a digital camera). The last item on their list was to find the most fashionable person in the store and ask to have their picture take with them. They thought this one was a blast. Then the first group to get back to the front of the store by the snack shop won a prize. They had fun with this and liked being out in public with their boas on and all done up.

Next we came back and we had a huge box of all dance costumes. They were able to get dressed up, and use the stage to do a dance or we borrowed a really nice karaoke machine. Most of them did songs from High School Musical. We had a strobe light and disco ball for a fun effect.

Then we had cupcakes and ice cream, and watched the pictures we took of them at Target as a slideshow on our TV. Then we opened presents. It was a really fun party. I wasn't stressed, everyone had fun, and everybody were friends and knew each other which made it nice. Everbody got along.

I must admit, I kinda like planning parties. Hum.....what to do for the next one????

CRAZY SISTER!!!!!!!
Cupcakes I made. The top was a fruit by the foot that I twisted and rolled up to look like a rose. It looked better than it does in this picture. I was kinda proud of my creation, actually :)

Oh, and in the top pic where all the girls are posing. We didn't place them in this pose, they did this all on their own. This party totally fit their personalities!