Seeing Stripes

 A month ago I bought some fun fabric to make the girl's quilts, thinking that I would make them and then start on the room.  But I sold Callie's crib one Friday and then things got crazy and their room is now painted and done besides some odds and ends to hang on the walls.  I decided to do stripes, thinking that it wouldn't be that hard.  It was hard.  I was almost in tears and ready to call a professional.  I will never do stripes again, but I love how it turned out and so I will say it was worth it.

Bye-Bye purple!  Annabelle was really sad to see the purple go. 

Pretty and Pink!  I was a little nervous with how dark the pink turned out.  But I love how it turned out.

 Stripe Lines.  This was a really hard part.  I tried using a laser but both Greg and I struggled with it.  Luckily a neighbor ran over with a chalk line tool and Greg and I were able to make the lines very quick and they look so straight.  

All Taped Up!  We used frog tape and it was great!  I learned that you shouldn't put your tape on the chalk like though.  The chalk brushed away before, but after being under the tape it didn't.  Oh well, live and learn!

I wish I would have taken a picture in between these two steps.  I first painted the light pink over the tape so that it would seal the tape better and not let the darker pink under.  It was a great idea and I am glad I did it.  Then another great picture would have been the dark pink on, with the tape.  I was SO nervous to take the tape off.  I really didn't know what to expect.  In my mind it looked good, but after a lot of hard work I was worried.  When I pulled the tape off I was SO happy.  I think it looks GREAT!

 We got the bunk bed and the girls love it!  Callie sleeps fabulous in it and I am so relieved!  I am working on the bedding and hope to have it finished in the next couple weeks.  I got the curtains at Target.  I was thinking about making some, but these go with the bedding so I was happy to not have to worry about sewing more.

 We found this cute old dresser on KSL and I love the way it looks.  I plan on putting two magnet boards over their dresser.  That way they each have somewhere to display all their work.  Before Annabelle would find a pin and put her artwork on her wall.  

I love the way the room turned out and am excited to finish it this summer.

Dance Festival

The end of the year is always filled with so many crazy things.  Annabelle did a singing recital with the kindergarten and Nathan did a play with the fourth grade.  Both did really well.  After Nathan's his teacher came over and told me how he "stole the show" with his dramatic interpretation of being the "Northwind."  Callie made it hard to get pictures, but I did video both events.

 

 

I love the dance festival at the school.  Annabelle was so excited to be in it this year, after watching her brothers the last 4 years.  The morning of it was raining and really windy.  The school sent a message to everyone saying that they wouldn't cancel the event until right before.  And it cleared up!  The weather was surprisingly GREAT! All three kids did fabulous and knew all of their parts.  In Nathan's picture he is waiting for the music which had some technical problems, so he has a goofy look.  He did a Glee song but I can't remember the title.  Ryan did the Genie song from Aladdin and Annabelle did "I Just Can't wait to Be King!" from The Lion King.  Greg had fun watching all 5 of these videos with us over the weekend.  I wish he could have been there, but leaving work is hard in the middle of the day.  At least I could be there.

Ryan

 I got to go on a walking field trip with Ryan a couple weeks ago.  I had lost my voice that week, but luckily only had a few kids to watch.  We walked to a local grocery store and went on a tour.  We got cookies, meat and cheese, and a fun goody bag with treats to go home with.  Callie came with us and was pretty good.  I love being able to help the kids and be with them at school.  Greg also helped in Ryan's class recently with Career Day.  According to him and Ryan it was a success.

I opened the outside freezer the other day and found 3 BIG water balloons, completely frozen.  The boys had fun breaking them and playing with the ice.  It reminded me of a time years ago when my boys froze water and sprinkles in a Popsicle cup and it turned out really gross.  I love their creativity, even if I don't love the mess.

Girls

 The three girls in our home have a lot of fun together.  I don't know what Callie and I will do when Annabelle goes to school all day like the boys.  A couple weeks ago the boys had a father-son camp out and so us girls had a little fun.  We went out to dinner and got yummy cookies to share.  We like to get a few varieties and then cut them up so everyone gets to taste.  Our favorite this time was a mint chocolate cookie, YUM!  In the morning the girls came into my room and we cuddled and watched TV.  Then I made breakfast in bed, which was messy, but a fun little experience to remember. 

 Annabelle had to do her first report and since it was open on the directions we made a diorama.  Neither one of my boys has had a project like this and they were both impressed with what Annabelle made.  She made the clay dog all by herself and painted the box also. 

 This girl is so creative in her clothing.  We had a book from the library recently about a girl who liked to mismatch her clothes and was very unique.  On this morning Annabelle told me she was just like Marabelle (I think that was her name).  You can't see the socks, but Annie also thinks it is fun to wear two different colors sometimes.  I love her outfits!  You can kind of tell that her hair is curly.  We had braids for 2 days and she was SO excited to have curly hair (without the "burny thing") that I let her have it for 2 more days.  I know, I am horrible when it comes to washing their hair, but it is a pain!

The girls also love to build things with blocks just like the boys.  Annabelle took this picture by herself and was SO proud of her tower.

Mother's Day

I have mixed feelings on Mother's Day.  It isn't really feasible for me to sit around and do nothing.  First of all I have 4 kids and if I didn't help everything would take forever.  Second, I wouldn't be happy if I couldn't be a part of things.  I like helping and doing.  Greg made my new favorite pancakes for breakfast.  I could eat SO many of those!  We were only a couple minutes late for church (normally Sunday's are cereal mornings) and I was able to enjoy the talks amidst the children around me.  The 3 older kids sang to me and I got a yummy candy bar which I shared when we got home. 
Every year I ask the kids to take pictures with me.  Every year Annabelle throws a fit for 1 reason or another.  Callie decided to join in so I got only 1 with all four kids. 

 But these ones are pretty good as well.

The rest of the day was fabulous!  I loved not having any meetings, any travel to relatives, or any relatives coming to our home.  Not that I don't enjoy those things, but it was REALLY nice to have a Sunday without anywhere to go.  After Callie went to bed I told each of the older kids to pick an activity to do with me and only me.  First Ryan and I put together a puzzle.  Then Annabelle and I painted with water colors.  And finally Nathan and I played 30 minutes of Monopoly (we have to set a limit on that game).  It was a lot of fun to focus on the 1 kid and play with just them.  I think they all liked it and we may have to do this more in the future.  For dinner Greg did a whole chicken on the BBQ while I made some yummy potatoes and veggies.  We rested a bit after dinner and then decided to try and fly a kite.  Greg took us to a big field and we got the kite up high.  The kids thought it was great and ran all over the field (which is probably why they all went to sleep right away, except Callie, but that is normal).  We were pretty close to Utah Lake and we trekked through some long grass trying to get close enough to see it, but we didn't make it.  We wanted to show the kids the Lake so we drove around until we came to a marina to show them.  Since there was no beach and I was ready for dessert, we just looked out the windows and then headed home. 

 

 

 

 

 

I love being a mom.  It isn't easy and I am ALWAYS trying to learn how to be better (despite what Ryan said), but it is the best job in the whole world.  I have become who I am because of my role as a wife and mother.  I love that I get to be a part of these 4 wonderful spirits' life.  I get to be there for them at all times, learning and living through them and with them.  We have a lot of fun when we are all happy and getting along.  Driving around tonight we had some kid songs playing and all the kids were singing along, loudly.  Sometimes that would be obnoxious, but tonight it was just fun and hilarious.  We laughed and enjoyed being together as a family.  Those are the moments I will remember and treasure.  Those are the moments I want my kids to remember.  Those are the moments that make motherhood an amazing journey.

Extras

 Both of my girls sleep with their hands under their heads.  Not all night, but sometimes.  I think it is adorable.  I kind of woke Callie up the other day when I took a picture, but I wanted to remember it. 

 Callie is in a big girl bed!  I bought some fabric to make the girls matching quilts and the next thing I know I am putting her crib on KSL and then it is gone right at nap time.  She has done pretty well, though it is weird seeing her walk into our room in the morning.  I am hopefully going to paint this week and then we will get bunk beds. 

 We spend a lot of time outdoors lately.  At the park or in our backyard.

 

We got our garden put together on Saturday.  Now I just have to remember to water it.  I love fresh veggies and luckily our kids eat a bunch of it also. This year we have peas, carrots, green beans, beets, jalapenos, zucchini, crook neck squash and a little flower like squash.  I can't wait until this is all green.

 I found my old dress that I wore around the age of two and Annabelle wore right at 2.  Callie was really excited to try it on.  Seeing the pictures together (too bad I wasn't facing the camera) makes me realize how different my 2 girls look from each other.  Such cuties, and definitely sisters, but they definitely have their own adorable look. 

 

 

GiGi Bonnie

 When I was home in April I mentioned to my Grandma that she should come visit soon.  A week later I got a phone call saying that she was coming for a week and could she stay at my house for the week.  I had a busy schedule that week, but it was really nice having Grandma around.  Someone to chat with and drive around with.  I love that my kids got to know her a little more.  I was able to teach Grandma a little about indexing and I always love having one more to cook for.  I love my grandma, my only one still living, and I pray that she is around for a long time to come!

Space Derby

This was our first year having two boys participate in the Cub Scout derby.  And the last (sad).  This year we did the space derby and the boys, all three, had a lot of fun.  Making the ships was the first step.  Greg helped a little, but they boys did the majority of the shaping on their own.  The painting was a lot of fun, but tedious as usual. 

On the night of the derby we tried to explain to the boys that we needed to cheer for each other and not be upset if we didn't win.  With so many boys in our area it was a bit chaotic.  But our Cub master built an awesome track and was very patient with the boys, and their dads.  Nathan lost his first two races and Ryan won his.  The competitiveness in Nathan made him a bit upset, but we just reiterated how much he needed to support his brother.  Ryan ended up coming in 4th.  I am glad that there were no tears and in the end we were all happy with our ribbons and the delicious cookies. 

11th Anniversary

 

Greg and I spent the morning of our anniversary outside getting yard work done.  I love yard work.  I love how my yard looks when we take the time to work on it.  We showered and got a little fancy so we could go up to Salt Lake City for a yummy dinner at Ruth's Chris.  We'd heard it was the BEST steak house around and it didn't disappoint.  Not only was the food fabulous, when we told them it was our anniversary, they brought out rose petals and gave us a free dessert.  With the rose petals on the table every water, water filler, buser and manager that walked by our table wished us a happy anniversary.  It was a great night!

 

On the way home we were at the top of the Point of the mountain when things got interesting, Greg's car ran out of gas.  We were blessed that we were able to coast to the next exit and Greg didn't have to run too far to the gas station.  I was lucky enough to sit in the car and watch the "super moon" rise up over the mountains.  I tried to take a picture but between Greg's dirty window and my not so cool camera, I didn't get much of anything.  Despite the car troubles we had a great night and are so grateful that we have each other for ever and ever.

My Callie Girl is 2!

 The day has finally come when our little Callie turned two.  She has been surprisingly very excited about this day.  For a couple weeks she kept saying, "My Birthday?"  Then when we would tell her that it was coming soon she would respond with, "Candy? Presents?"  Except they weren't really questions, they were more like comments.  Like she was telling us what she wanted and expected. 
We didn't disappoint.  Knowing that a 2 year old doesn't care much about anything we gave her some new duckies for the tub (she sleeps with them and loves them more than anything), a coloring book, a Sesame Street plate, an Abby fairy stuffed animal and some Sesame Street books.  Oh, and some candy.  We sang happy birthday multiple times that day and made sure Callie knew how much we all loved her. 
Callie is growing at amazing speed.  She talks SO much.  She says things like, "Mommy, help me now." or "Annabelle not sharing with me."  She also sings her ABCs and can sing along to many primary songs.  Tantrums have started and sometimes she will lay down on the floor or go hide in a closet.  She isn't too loud about it, so we just ignore and try to distract her.  We are anxious and nervous to move her into a regular bed.  Anxious to make the girls room a little less crowded and nervous since she is my baby.  Yesterday I bought some bright, fun fabric that I will turn in to quilts for the girls.  I can't wait to begin that project.  Callie loves to climb and read books an play with toys.  She is a great companion for me in the morning.  Whether we are out running errands, helping at the school, or just playing in the playroom (her preferred choice), she is mostly happy and fun to be with.  Her and I go to a mom and me class at the library that has been a lot of fun.  Sadly it is over for the summer and I will miss that scheduled time with her.  We will have to find something else.  Callie loves her siblings and is always trying to be like them.  She follows them around and mostly they all get along.  Daddy has the magic touch with Callie and can always calm her down if she is upset.  He gets a BIG hug whenever he walks in the door from being gone. 
While I can't believe this little girl is already two, I just can't get enough of her.  She is such a joy to our family and We all love her to pieces!  Happy Birthday Callie!