Snowfest 2012

 I promise I haven't dropped off the face of the earth. I've just been busy. I've done a lot of sewing lately, and I still have more to do but we managed to sneak away this weekend to the Frankemuth Snowfest for a couple hours. The snow and ice sculptures were really cool, but it was so cold and windy that day that the kids were basically begging us to go by the end. 

This was one of my favorite ones. The sign says Gramma's house.

Sitting on an ice throne

Laila stayed pretty warm all bundled up, but wasn't too happy about being in the stroller.

See, I do still exist!

4 years of Macy!

I have never been more scared to have a baby than I was on the day Macy was born. The thought of three seemed totally overwhelming, but the second I layed eyes on her I was hooked, and she has had my heart ever since.

"I'm one!" And I love cupcakes! Any food really. Macy has always been my eater.

This was the year of Wookie. Macy's alternative for Grandma.

Three was the year I officially said goodbye to my baby.

And on Monday she turned 4!

We celebrated as a family all day since the kids had no school and Josh actually had the day off. We told Macy she could pick anywhere she wanted to go for lunch and she chose Applebees, which is when Josh and I decided that are kids are way too spoiled. We gave the kids the old "Why when we were kids, just going to McDonalds was a huge treat..." lecture and informed them that there would be no eating out for an entire month.

Anyway, after dinner we started off our party by decorating cupcakes.

Which turned into face decorating

Which turned into "Oh shoot, this doesn't come off!" Josh scrubbed pretty hard right away and got his off, but Samm and James went to school the next day with slightly blue and green lips.

Then we played pin the mouth on backpack, because Macy LOVES Dora! Samm drew it for her.

Even mom got to play!

When we finally got around to presents, Macy was suuuuper excited to finally get the happy napper that she has been wanting. And I was suuuper glad it was actually on sale when I went to buy it and didn't have to spend $30 on it.

And after the party was over I went upstairs to get Laila ready for bed and the girls had a little impromptu photo shoot with Dad. Macy adores Samm and Samm is really sweet to her and always plays with her when she gets home from school.

Um, I think they were being cheetah cubs.

Happy Birthday Macy face! We sure love you!

Another Flower Tutorial

It's been a while, but Jenn and I have started posting on The Best Me again. Today I'm sharing how to make this simple and pretty flower clip.

Someone found her voice

Two things I should mention before you watch this. 1) My son does not believe in wearing shirts to bed and 2) Josh was just being funny because he knew I had the camera on.

Adjusting my sails

Some times I make new years resolutions. Sometimes I don't. One year my resolution was to return a friend's wheelbarrow. This year, inspiration has played a large role in my desire to make a resolution. President Thomas S. Monson wrote in the January Ensign "You can't redirect the wind, but you can adjust your sails."

Attitude is everything! Especially since my new year started out with yet another sinus infection/breast infection combo.

Pictures you don't care about, but I'm posting them anyway

Santa was very sneaky this year. He bought me a video camera a couple weeks ago and then last night after he had already left presents for the kids he came back and left these two purple boxes for me. I got a much needed set of pots and a large stock pot. They are so pretty I'm almost afraid to use them!



He was really good to the kids this year as well. Josh and I were just talking the other night about how great life is for us. Sure, sometimes we wish we had this and that, but we never have to go without. In fact, we really have so much more than we even need. Christmas morning is a great reminder of that.

The traditional Christmas morning picture on the stairs. Thanks you Grandma Betty for the cozy new pj's!

James finally got the Nintendo DS that he has been begging asking Santa for for the past 3 years!

Samm is by far my favorite child to take pictures of on Christmas morning because everything is soooo wonderful and exciting!

Laila slept away most of the morning, but I wanted to make sure and get a quick picture of the kids all dressed up in their new outfits from Grandma Morgan before we left for church..."Oh shoot, Laila is starting to cry, lets try it again guys."

"Macy, what are you doing, lift up your head."

"No, don't turn to the side, lift your chin up."

"Macy, stop trying to poop, and smile!"

"Darn it, Laila is crying again."

"OK I give up, that's good enough!"

Laila was much happier after church.

Good gracious she is cute!!!

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas. Samm started lamenting around 4:00 that the day was already almost over and we would have to wait a whole other year for Christmas again, but I'm breathing a sigh of relief. I need a year to recover!

For your viewing pleasure...

America's next favorite dancers. Enjoy!

Go WYO

Even if they did loose, it was still pretty exciting that our team was playing in a bowl game!

Even Laila dressed up for the occassion, which resulted in the question "how old is he?" about 15 times while we were out running errands. I told the first lady that he was actually a she, but after that I just answered the question and didn't bother with the rest. I had too much to get done and didn't want to spend any extra time explaining that my adorable little boy was actually my adorable little girl.

When mom is in bed sick for 24 hours

I woke up Sunday morning with the nursing mother's nightmare and spent the entire day in bed alternating between shivering and burning up.  Laila stayed in bed with me while the other 3 sat in front of the TV and fed themselves cereal and fruit snacks. When I finally emerged on Monday morning this is what I came downstairs too.

I was grateful that the house was at least still standing and all the children were still alive. And even though my poor body was still aching and I felt run over by a truck, the sight of the mess actually made me a little bit happy.

They really would fall apart without me!

I am needed!

Laila's Blessing

Or blessing photo shoot, I guess. We blessed her a couple weeks ago but we didn't have any family in town for it so we didn't take any pictures. I had to have pictures of her in the dress though, so this morning I got it back out and much to Laila's objection, took pictures. This is the dress that my mom was christened in as a baby, the dress my sisters and I were all blessed in, and now the dress that all three of my girls have been blessed in. It should be noted that my husband absolutely hates the bonnet, so I didn't have her wear it for the actual blessing, but I did make her wear it for the pictures, which may or may not be part of why she didn't love the photo shoot!

And just for fun, her are pictures of the other girls on their blessing days.

                                                                         Macy

                                                                     Samm