What nice lizards

This is my newest creation. I am getting much quicker.

Cute things the kids do and say.

We were singing songs and it was so fun to watch the girls get excited over Joseph learning the actions. We song "wheels on the bus" and he would do just what his sisters did.

Emma when we were hiking the other day said "The lizards maid the steps. That way it is easier for them to get to their homes. What nice lizards." Emma is learning her sounds and it is so cute to watch her try to teach Joseph what she is learning. Joseph knows A says aah thanks to Emma and the letter factory.

Joseph when he is all done eating always says, "I all done" He stills signs it even though he can say it also. Joseph also signs bed when he is tired. He seems to know it means that you go to bed soon after but he always says a different word with the sign. Dad, blankie, Mom, drink... It is always changing.

Jared started to cry yesterday and said it was cause he was waking up too early to go play basketball with his dad. Ryan goes at 6 three days a week. Jared said, "Maybe I should only go once a week now." What a responsible little young man.

I had a conference with Jareds Teacher yesterday and she is so impressed with him. He is reading above a third grade level and loves to teach the class what he knows. She is such a good teacher and really helps him to excel. I just was so pleased after the conference. She confirmed again to me how responsible he is and he disciplines himself.

Sarah had a dramatic event happen this week and I think she handled it really well. We invited all the little girls in her class but one. I didn't realize this until after she handed out the invites. She told me that her and this little girl weren't friends even though she has tried to be friends with her she just runs away. I asked her how this little girl might feel being the only one not invited. So she asked me what she should do. I told her I thought she should invite her but that it was up to her. She said, "I'll do what you think is best." Don't we as parents love to her that? Regardless I wanted her to make the choice. She decided to call her on the phone and invite her to the party. About one minute after she got off the phone the little girl called back to invite her to her house to play. I talked with her mom invited her to the park the next day.

Along with the invites to Sarah's party I sent a little note asking the mom's if they wanted to come to the park for a play date so that the mom's could get to know me and feel comfortable letting there girls come to Sarah's party. This little girl was the only one who should up and Sarah and her had a great time together. I did have a better understanding of why this little girl might not think she would want to be friends with Sarah. She hates princess/girlie anything. She likes Star Wars and "boy" things. She asked if she had to get dressed up and if she did could she dress up like a prince. Sarah is such a girlie girl. Yet they still had a fun time together.

The kids were helping clean the house Saturday morning and they all got really into it. Joseph even wanted to help the kids take out the trash.

I do love my crazyness

The past few weeks have been a little crazy for us. After Disneyland we stayed in California until Saturday. Then the kids and I drove home. That was an interesting drive. Our Quick potty stop turned into an hour long affair. The bathroom we first tried to go to was closed. We didn't figure that out until we all got out of the car. Sigh. I stopped and stayed with my parents so that I could visit with my Aunt and Uncle while they were there. I got home Sunday and I did the super mom thing till Tuesday night when we had to drive back to Vegas to pick up Ryan from the airport. Ryan's Brother Trent and his family and his Brother Sean and his family came to stay with us Friday night. We all went to the parade of homes. So fun. If I had a million dollars I could still not buy most of these homes. Sean and Allie left Sunday and Trent and Sarah stayed till Tuesday. So by Tuesday we were almost back to our normal routine. I love having family come and stay with us. It doesn't stress me out like it once did.

On Tuesday I realized that the kids have a ton of school off in March and the best time to have Sarah's b-day should be on the 3rd. Ok, that's fun. I love to do parties but I like to have more time so that it is not stressful. I made the cutest invites. I burnt the edges and rolled it into a scroll it said

Hear Ye! Hear Ye! You are hereby invited to the celebration of

Princess SarahÂ’s 6^th birthday party on

March 3^rd at 4:00pm till 6:00pm

To be held in the ballroom of the ------- Castle

Come dressed in your finest

dress up/princess clothes

and be prepared to be made

up for the ball.

We will be having a princess feast and games of the highest degree.

Please RSVP by Monday so that we can plan

for the royal party.

My mom found the best party website birthdaypartyideas.com

Any and every party I do was inspired by the lovely people who contribute.

I told her she could invite all the girls from her class and a few others. So far 10 have RSVPed and I am nervous that they will all come. 17 girls isa lott. My neighbor is going to come and help and I could notappreciatee her more. I let her invite that many because I anticipated a bunch to not be able to come. My aganda is:

Arrive and get on make up

Go to table and make bracelets/rings and get crowns - Take picture

Play Kiss the Frog

Make goblets?

Eat dinner of...

Play Balloon Fly

Play princess bingo using princess dinner mints.

Have cake and ice cream

Play Pass the poisoned apple

Open presents

Freeze dance

Read Cinderella story and have the girls pass their goodie bags as I read the word Cinderella.

I want to make this cake.

We shall see how it turns out.

I am going to make little purses and fill them with cute little dollar store finds. I found out the local bakery will die their bread pink and purple for me so we can have colored sandwiches cut into flower shapes for our dinner.

Our Snow Canyon day

We had the pleasure of holding yet another open house. I really have yet to see the point of an open house but I do what I'm told will help sell the house. So on Saturday we had to be gone all day long. It was a very nice day and so we went hiking in Snow Canyon, about 20 minutes from our house. We all had a great time even if we did get a little sun burnt.I stayed behind with Joseph. It was so great. He wanted to look at every bug and every rock.

The signs tell you to stay on the trail but how do you convince a two year old of that.

Joseph had his arms out like he was being a dinosaur and he was making growling noises. He run up to them and "got" them.

Emma and Joseph were both pointing to things for us to check out.

This bridge just seemed like the perfect picture op.

Sarah was getting tired and so was I. We walked just a little to far forgetting we had to
walk all the way back.

Joseph was hiding rocks in his pocket and was delighted to show them off to me.

I want to turn this one into black and white, blow it up, and put it on my wall.

Climbing up this huge rock was so fun but once we got to the top I had to quickly turn back around. Way to high for my liking.

Nearing the top of the mountain. The view was so pretty at every angle.

I don't know if you can tell but this is Jared at the very top of the hill. He is such a dare devil and he loved it up there.

All and all we had a great day. We went to lunch and then to the movies. We saw Nannie Mcphee and I thought it was so cute. Joseph even sat still for almost all of it. I think we exhausted him.

More birthday fun.

We had a fun little family party. Ryan's brother Trent, his wife Sarah, and their kids Reeghan and Paeton were visiting. We made cars out of food items and wood ones decorated with foamies stickers. The kids had a great time.Ryan helped Joseph blow out his candles.

He was so excited about his car.

Sarah is about to eat her creation.

My niece couldn't help but give in to the temptation of eating one of the donuts.

How can you really concentrate with out your tongue out?


The kids show off their car creations.

A work of art.

Happy Number Two!

Joseph is two today!

I made him a birthday cake last night and they helped me make the frosting. Joseph loved that I put the bowl on his high chair so that he could watch it mix. Then I let him have a mixer.I have to say I love making birthday cakes. Especially when they turn out.The kids were so excited for Josephs birthday. We all went to the store last night to pick out what we would get him. The kids had the best time watching Joseph get excited about the presents. I think they woke him up at 6 and played with him in his room till we got up. Emma came in our room several times asking if Joseph could open his presents yet.

This tractor was a favorite. It plays music and moves in all sorts of ways. He would open a present then come back to it to push the buttons.

Here is the loot. Ryan was so excited to buy him all of these cars. He loved cars when he was little. His mom told me that he used to sleep with them at night. He would even tuck them in.

We are going to have a little party tonight for him. We are going to make little cars out of food items and decorate little wooden ones with stickers. It should be fun. More pictures tomorrow.

Our Disneyland adventure

Our trip was so wonderful. There was not a line in sight, except for Indiana Jones and Soaring over California. Emma was tall enough for almost every single ride and we all had the best time. It was such a bonding experience for us all. This was our first family vacation that felt like a real vacation. Every other time we go out of town it is for some reason or another and we are usually visiting family. Which is fun and we love it but this was nice because we were able to just be us and grow even closer together. Ryan had never been on the big boat ride since it normally has a big long line.
This was at the time of day when everyone was waiting for their second
wind to kick in.
It was nice to just relax.

Joseph and I went on the Winnie the pooh ride 4 times in a row. He loved it. We stayed close to whatever big ride the others were on so that we could reconnect easily. Joseph is trying to get into the honeypot.

We get to toon town and Emma is so excited to see the characters. She runs up to pluto and this little girl is trying to get her picture taken with him so we tell Emma to move. When it is Emma's turn this little boy would not get out of the way. Then when it was this little boys turn to get his picture taken the mom was all upset Emma hadn't moved yet. Whatever. Mommy claws almost came out, but what, we are at the happiest place on earth.

Snack and potty break. He was so excited about all of the big rides and just wanted us to get going. It was fun to watch Jared. He is at the age where Disneyland is finally really fun. It was great.

Here we are again at the pooh ride. He had climb up onto the grassy area and I thought he was being so cute I let him walk up there. Then the employee's announce over the speakers. "Please do not let your children climb on the greenery"

Joseph was mad because he didn't want to share the car with his sisters.

Anxiously waiting for the materhorn. They all loved it.

Emma is always all smiles.

Joseph was loving on these tires. I had to pry him away.

My two little monkeys in their cage.

"Going on a trip in our favorite Rocket ship" Pat pat pat.. It's from the little Einsteins. We got to watch it several times in the car this trip.

Joseph loves cars and he was thrilled in the beginning to go ride the cars. He even drove, until he bumped into the side then he made me take over. He didn't like the jarring back and forth. The other kids missed out on autotopia. It actually had a line and they were in space mountain. Emma did not like space mountain at all. Too dark and too fast.

Jungle cruise, the three of us got to go on it while the other guys were on Indiana Jones. What a goofy ride. We do we feel the need to hear the same jokes we have heard as a child? Yet we keep coming back.
Emma had to have her picture taken in front of the castle. She waited almost all day for this moment. So cute. This picture is one of my favorites.

Another favorite picture. We are almost to the top of the tree house.

This was in bugs world. The worker took a fascination with Sarah and was teasing her. She thought it was funny.

More bugs world fun.

aren't we cute?

Can I just tell you how much I hate the ferris wheel? And as if a normal ferris wheel isn't bad enough this one rocks you back and forth.

Jellyfish jumpers off we goooooo!

I look so pregnant here. Joshua just wanted to make his presence known.

Grr... Don't mess with me!

Anxiously awaiting the funny we know is coming.

Aurora was hilarious. She asked me to retake the picture. I think there is some sort of strike rule on how they are supposed to pose.

Here we are going on Monsters Inc for the 4th or 5th time while
we waited for the kids.

We went inside this animation area while everyone else was on tower of terror. I don't even think he knows who Goliath is. He didn't want to go up to him on his own so I had to hold him.

On the tram excited about going to California adventure park!