For all of you who have been waiting so patiently, I have finally decided to sit down and blog. Okay it just boils down to the a I have a few minutes before we are going to stake conference. I have a lot of back blogs to catch up on. I have them titled so i don't forget what needs to be documented. So be prepared, but don't hold your breath

So as for these past few weeks I had been in the "stock pile get ready for winter" mode.  Neal and I made and canned many bottles of salsa. I had a friend  come and show me how to can peaches this week. I have over stocked my cereal supply ( for any of you that have seen my cereal supply knows that's a lot of cereal!) And I have been using my crock pot to make shredded beef and pork. Plus cleaning out my closet and pantry and the organizing the our food storage. I have been so busy that I forgot that I was supposed to pick up Brooklyn and Jordan from school. Now I don't pick them up every day, for my excuse, but I did remember right when they were getting out of school which meant that I was 15 minutes late picking them up and Mae had to say "Stop bossing me around Momma!" as I'm telling her to get into the car. Also soccer has started here and so now our Saturdays are taken up mostly by soccer games and this season we have all three girls on a team and Neal is still coaching Jordan's team. Aaaahhh the fun of running a household. I'm sure for most people that is just a walk at the park but for me, I am exhausted!!!

school programs

This week(end of May) was a week of school programs. 

Mae had her preschool graduation. These pictures were from the slide show that the high school kids put together. They are always surprised when her personality come through. She is very reserved and observant at school.

Jordan had her Kindergarten graduation with the frog hats and many songs. Jordan is in the purple shirt on the left side looking at the camera.

And Brooklyn had her recorder concert ( that is the approved instrument for 4th grade). Brooklyn had a special treat because her Uncle Shaun and Aunt Shannon were here interviewing for a job and they were able to be here for her concert. 

Marker Eater

WARNING TO ALL HIGHLIGHTERS...

MY SON WILL EAT YOU. 

RUN AND HIDE!!!

Yes, Owen has found out that he can pull the lids off of highlighters. I have found him many times with his mouth bight green, pink, or yellow. Not only can he take the lids off of those marker but than he bites off the tips of the markers. Owen has a very nice little collection of markers with no tips or the felt piece is just completely gone. I have found a few marker tip on the floor but most of them (I'm guessing) have see the inside of his stomach. I know, not a healthy snack, but Owen really enjoys the taste of those markers.

 I have to say one thing for Crayola. those lids are not easy for babies to pull off. 

Its the other brands and the marker that have the highlighter lids that he can that off. I guess I should count my blessings that the Sharpies have not fallen victim to... 

MY SON THE MARKER EATER.

Jordan's time to shine

Happy Mother's day to all you wonderful mothers and mothers-to-be. I look up and love you all. You all have helped me to be a better mother to my children.

Thank You!!!

Warning: I hope you like teeth. If you don't I'm sorry.

Now on to my subject of the week JORDAN! She has won the spot on the blog because of her teeth losing ability. I guess this story really begins when she was about 6 months old. She, as all little children do somehow fell and knocked on of her bottom front teeth. It was bleeding and wiggly and I remember calling dentist and asking if we needed to do anything. Of course "NO" but I had to ask. But he did say that that tooth would probably be her first tooth out. Now fast forward to Jordan age five. One day we noticed that Jordan had a very loose tooth , yes the tooth she had bumped years ago, So Neal asked her if he could get it out she said "OK." So off they go to a different room (because i just can't watch!) Three minutes later Jordan comes down with a tooth in her hand. No crying. No screaming. A little blood but nothing that an OtterPop wouldn't solve. Neal said "she was amazing! She let me push and pull hard at her tooth without any complaint. I don't think it was quite ready to come out but its out." So the end of the story is that now she has a little bruise on her tooth from her 6 month old bump. OH WELL.

Jordan 2nd tooth was all done by herself. She twisted a pushed and pop she had her tooth. 

Now if I remember right #3 was soon after the 2nd tooth but this tooth just disappeared after dinner one day. she had it in her mouth before dinner and after dinner Jordan got up from the table and went to play with Brooklyn when Brooklyn announced "Jordan your tooth is gone!" Jordan was little upset only because of not having a tooth to give to the tooth fairy. So we wrote a note to tell the tooth fairy "That we just don't know where it went." Jordan and I both signed the note" because if you have your parent sign they must believe the note" said Jordan.  So that was the tooth count for quite a long time until yesterday...

We have been trying to encourage Jordan to wiggle her top tooth and she would but she just wasn't in to it. Well yesterday as we were walking off the soccer from watching Brooklyn game (which they won!) The parent who brought snacks was nice enough to give a Gatorade and cookie to all of my girls. They were very excited about that. we were walking back to the van when Jordan said "Momma, my tooth just came out!" WHAT!? what happened is that she hit her mouth with the Gatorade bottle and the angle was just right to knock that tooth out. So a soccer win and a tooth out. What a great Saturday!

Jordan is just amazing at the tooth thing. She makes it look easy. I think the moral of the story is "Do not use pliers to get your kids teeth out. The teeth will just come out by themselves."

Kids having fun with the camera

 Jordan said "That one is the super best one I took!"



Classic grumpy and check out Owen giving Brooklyn kisses
These picture are the girls having a super good time taking pictures of themselves. That is all the explanation I can give. 

This  is Owen is his new Easter outfit. Its a 12 month outfit and already the collar and sleeves are too tight on his fat little neck and wrists.
I have no idea what Jordan is thinking. At least they all look cute in their dresses.

This year for Easter we did it low key because the whole week leading up to Easter Mae, Jordan and I were very sick. So I wasn't as prepared as usual. 

We did have an indoor egg hunt...raining weather... and we invited friends over to enjoy dinner with us. I think the best part was that the girls understood more about the real Easter and not just the Easter bunny. At night time prayers Jordan prayed that she was" thankful that Jesus died so that we could live." Deep thoughts for a 6 years old.  

It was just a great day to ponder about the true meaning of Easter.

finding a little humor

This is just a funny event that happened last night...We were having FHE and Owen really hadn't been to happy for the evening (no big surprise there). Owen than had a bust of energy and decided to try walking across the front room. He did pretty well walking half way and than crawling the rest. The girls loved watching Owen learn a new skill. 

Than he was tired and Neal was assigned to change his diaper. Well Sunday Neal announced that he was all done changing diapers that "it wasn't his job any more." So the girls needed to step up. That did not go over to well in my book. So he was asked to just change Owen's diaper before he went to bed. Neal decide to do the lazy man way and just change Owen's diaper while Owen was standing up next to him. Neal got the diaper off and did a little wipe and while he was trying to figure out how to put on a new diaper Owen decided to point and pee right at Neal. 

I call that sweet justice!!!!

Spring Break

 Neal and Owen at the Airplane museum
 Owen enjoying some time out of his stroller
 A ferry ride around Seattle

 The kids at the Seattle Zoo

This year for spring break we decided to go explore Seattle. Just a nice little 3 hour road trip.

We had a lot fun fun. The girls only request was that we go to the zoo, so that was our first stop. than we took full advance of our hotel's swimming pool for the rest of the night.

The next day was our big sight seeing day. we saw the aquarium (which was so crowded that the girls really didn't enjoy it). Than off to a ferry ride where Mae fell asleep. Than a short walk over to Pike's Market where they throw the fish and sell a lot of cool things. The girls saw pussy willows for the first time at the market. Our last stop for the day was the Science museum. Owen really loved this place because they had a toddler place that he could get down and crawl around. He really loved playing in the Helicopter and pushing buttons that lit up. Now as we are heading back to the hotel we discover that Mae has a raging fever and a croup sounding cough has started. So our last stop for the night was to the drug store for some cough medicine.

On Wednesday, our last day in Seattle we stop off at the flight museum which had some really cool airplanes there and some fun hands on things for the kids. And of course Mae was running a fever and coughing like crazy but she had taken some medicine before we left the hotel, so she was a trooper. But Wednesday was really MY spring break... I found a great deal on tickets to the Broadway play Wicked playing in Portland Oregon. So I convinced Neal to extend our road trip by a night so that he and I could go to the play. My sister was also willing to make a little trip to Portland to babysit the kids for us. (thanks Megan) It was good have have someone there who knows our kids. 

Than of course on the ride home we had two sick kids and a baby who was done being in the car to end off our trip. Those last few hours in the car really make it special to be home. 

mashed potatoes, moose and hand jestures

Wednesday we woke up to this moose in our back yard eating off of our bushes. As you can tell this little guy was not afraid us us at all. The girls really enjoyed seeing him in our yard.

So this week started off with St. Patty's Day. Ever since is served part of mission in Ireland and I was there on St. Patty's Day I feel it my duty to celebrate somehow. So we have all green dinners. Okay I won't change the color of the meat but everything else is fair game. This year we had a Shepard pie minus the green beans with broccoli on the side green jello and limeade. Always a meal to look forward to.

The other fun things this week has been that Owen has decided to communicate OR maybe its just that we have figured out how he is communicating. He started to uses some  baby sign . "All done", "hello", and "good bye" and yes you can tell the difference between those two with what he vocalizes. He refuses to sign "more" but he will say MA in a very demanding tone which we have figured out means "more now!" All of our hearts have melted by seeing his chubby little hands wave at us. We are not above him preforming.

Sorry this blog is a little backwards. I'm still trying to figure this all out :)

So maybe as one of my first official blog spots I should write about one of my favorite things. MY SON Owen... Now I love my girls they are just a joy to me, but I will say that this boy of mine has me wrapped around his chubby little hands.

So first off Owen has to be hands down my most difficult child. He doesn't like to nap. Its a good day when I can get him to take an hour nap in the morning and an hour nap in the afternoon. But as proven yesterday, if we are out and about and he can see that no one else is napping he doesn't need a nap either. He really one like three food fruit, cheese and spaghetti. Anything else is comical to feed him and just a waste because he just won't eat it. He learned at a very young age what the shaking of the head means "NO." Also I don't know if this is a boy thing or not but the boy can poop like a champ. 

He is a huge mommas boy.  It has been proven many times over and over that I'm really the only one that he prefers. Yes he has acted like Neal is beating him when Neal took Owen from my arms to let me cook dinner or do other things that moms are required to do with two hands. He is keenly aware of when I leave the room. But when I came back into the room the welcome is all worth it. Hugs and wet open mouth slobber kisses await me almost every time I am back in his possession. He is my only child that has ever like to snuggle. He will just come up and lean on me or lay on the couch or in bed with me. I have a soft spot for the snuggles.

I really haven't figures out why he is the cutest, most, lovable boy at his worst times, but I think I might all come down to that now I have my boy I can now indulge in my train obsession.

This is the latest picture (12/08)of the fam. Since than we have lost 4 teeth and hopefully lost a few pounds. 

I thought that I should finally start a blog (thanks Jen). I don't really know what I will say or what will be put on here but I hope that you all enjoy it and enjoy the family.