Meet Mimzy!

Well, we did it; Carter filled up his smiley face chart . We got a guinea pig instead of a hamster. The pet store guy said that these are much more friendly and better for kids. So far it has proven to be true. She's pretty good about letting the kids hold her and when we let her walk on the floor she'll come right up to us. She's not so sure about us catching her in the cage, but once we've got her she's nice. The poor thing has been through several names, but I think we've all settled on Mimzy.

The girls, especially Halle, are LOVING the fact that we have a guinea pig. It's been hard to make them leave her alone. Carter loves her too when I get her out and he gets to hold it. I think this is going to be fun. We'll see how much fun after I have to clean the cage, but so far we are all enjoying her.

Twin Day

It's twin day at school today. Of course Bailey is a triplet with my girls, but she wasn't here for the picture. We took them all to Old Navy and let them pick out an outfit to wear. They had SO much fun and thought they were so old. It was really cute and I think their outfits turned out great. Do I not have the cutest kids on the planet???!!! (Hey, it's my blog and I can think and say what I want. I know all your kids are cute too. :) )

Status Report

Well, the report on Carter isn't as productive as I had hoped it would be. He does have 3 smiley faces on his chart, but that's all. We are being pretty strict about giving them to him. If he doesn't stay in his bed until atleast 5 or 6 am he doesn't get one. He is doing better about laying in his bed and trying to fall asleep, but he only stays there for about 2-3 hours. He'll come into our room and need a drink and then refuse to get back in his bed. I'll try to talk to him about the hamster or smiley face, but he doesn't care. I think he's lost motivation. (Kind of like me on a diet. I do good for a day or two (okay an hour or two) and then lose all motivation.) So today we are going to go to the pet store and just LOOK at hamsters to try to get him excited again. Alyssa and Halle are getting very frustrated with him, but Jarom and are saying, "The longer we can put off the stupid pet, the better."

Happy Birthday Payson!

Payson in 2000.

Payson in 2002.

Payson now!
Look how big you are getting!! And so handsome too. Happy Birthday Payson! We had so much fun seeing you this weekend. Hope to see you soon again.

Oops, forgot this one.

Somehow I left out the picture of us dying eggs Friday night. My mom boiled the eggs for us and we set up a table in her kitchen. The kids all had a great time creating masterpieces with their eggs. We dyed 6 dozen eggs and took them all home. My fridge smells just wonderful now.

Easter Weekend

FRIDAY
My friend, Angela, took us to her uncle's house to see his baby goats and lambs. They were adoreable and my kids had an absolute blast. Halle left declaring that she will own a farm someday.

This one kept sucking on Carter's pants. He thought it was hilarious.

Nothing was more fun than feeding the babies' their bottles. Even Kate enjoyed it.

SATURDAY

We had a bbq and Easter egg hunt at our house with Jarom's family. It was a lot of fun and such a beautiful day for it!

All the kids gearing up for the hunt.

All the little grand-daughters, minus Katie's girls.

Some of the silly grand-sons.

Ogden

Chubby Bunny, wait that's just Kate.

A very cute picture of Justin and Amber.

Anna

Halle, Ellie, and Anna after the hunt.

Owen and Carter enjoying some of their loot.

Jamis working hard to discover his treasures.

After lunch, we all helped Brandon and Emily move into their new place in Shelly, then headed back to Gregg & Anna's for sloppy joes and Charlotte's Web (the new movie).

SUNDAY

The Easter Bunny found us, we enjoyed church and had a great dinner.

She's willing to hand her binky away if there's candy involved.

Checking out what the Easter Bunny left.


Sunday evening my folks and Emily and Bryon came to our house for a yummy ham dinner. We had all the fixings (ham, potatoes & gravy, salad, rolls, corn, jello-beans, relish tray, deviled eggs, and rocky road for dessert) and WAY too much, but it was great way to end the weekend. After a quick visit to see my grandma, we lighted the patio fire and enjoyed the chilly night for a little while.

Kate....AGAIN!

My mascara and MY toothbrush. Ai-yi-yi! This kid!!! (To be truthful, I was a little bit angry when I first saw this mess, but she was being so funny how could I stay mad at her?)

I was trying to get her to say cheese, but she said, "Mmmmmm" instead.


Is she not just SO proud of herself??!!

Classic!

So when I took that picture of Alyssa and Bailey playing in their swimsuits, Carter also wanted a picture of himself taken. So I just quickly clicked one to appease him. It wasn't until today as I was going through my camera deleting and filing stuff that I happened to view this picture FULL size and saw what I actually took. I about fell off my chair laughing. I am still sitting here laughing out loud by myself. This is just a classic I will keep forever!!

Be sure to blow it up big to see what I am talking about.

Noodle heads!

The top number is the temp outside, bottom is inside.


Oops, I think these girls thought it said 82, not 62! It's been cold for so long here that as soon as it starts to get a little bit nice the kids think it's summer. They've been begging for me to turn on the sprinklers. Try as I may, I can not convince them that it is really NOT warm yet.

Miracle of Miracles!!!!

Carter slept in his OWN bed last night for the very FIRST time ever!!! I got a FULL 8 hours of sleep. (I think I can count on one hand the times that has happend since I had kids.) HOORAY! This past week we have been working with him on it. He has improved each day. We bribed him with "getting a hamster" and he's been trying hard. Of course it's been killing the girls, they want a hamster SOOOOO bad. They've been great cheerleaders. Every morning they come running into my room like it's Christmas morning, to see if he's in my bed or not.

Monday night Carter laid in his own bed and watched a movie. (I know it's not Super Nanny's bedtime technique but it works for Carter, so sue me!) But then he came out and had to fall asleep sititng by me downstairs. I put him in his bed and he stayed until about 2 am.

Tuesday was a bit of a fight. (He was starting to get wise to the game.) He watched his Little People movie 3 times and still came downstairs to see what I was doing. When I tried to get him to go back, he started crying and fighting, etc. He had found Alyssa's bubbles she got from the dentist wouldn't put them down. Finally I told him that I bet if he went and got in his bed that the Easter Bunny would see and bring him bubbles in his Easter basket. So off he went and got in bed all on his own. Again he got up at 2 am.

Wednesday night I asked him if he was going to sleep in his big boy bed and he hopped right in it and said "Yeah, I gonna get a hamster." He stayed until 5 am. I was excited that he went to bed on his own and stayed for so long, so we made a smiley face chart and he got to put his first sticker on it the next morning. He was pretty proud of himself.


Last night we had no problems tucking him in. He wanted his Teddy Bear and Little People movie, but stayed in bed and fell right asleep. He didn't wake up until 7:30 am!!! Halle came into my room to wake me up and said, "Mom! Carter slept in his big boy bed!" She was SOOO excited about it.

So I think we might be on the right track. He has to sleep in it all night for 3 more nights before we can get the hamster. (What are we thinking!!!???) But this is the BEST it has ever been for him to go to sleep. KNOCK ON WOOD! Here's hoping the trend will continue.

"No fair!"

I was looking through my pictures to see if I had anything new to post. I saw this cute one of Carter and Kayson and said, "I wish I knew how to fix the red-eye in this." Then I just kept browsing my pictures.

Carter kept asking me to show him different pictures at random. He would name all the people in the picture and then ask for new one. So when I pulled up the picture below, (I know I have already posted this one, but bear with me, the story is funny.) Carter said, "HEY! No fair!" "What's no fair Carter?" I thought he was going to tell me he wanted to play the game or something but he said, "Natawee can't have red eyes, only me!" It totally cracked me up. I don't even know how he noticed them, but it was the FIRST thing he saw. ( You might need to click on the picture to make it big if you can't see them.)
Sorry Natalie, I know how much you would love to have the red-eyes, but Carter has claimed them. :)

Cowboys!

Over the weekend we were privileged to have the company of our friends the Eakins. Our kids had a ball playing together. Here's Carter, Halle, and Torbyn playing cowboys. Alyssa cut out paper hats and boots, and wrapped toilet paper bandanas around their necks.(The inguinity of kids!) They looked a little bit like "Pope" Torbyn and "Pope" Carter, but they thought they were rootin-tootin cowboys. It was hilarious.


Notice the "unicorn" stallions they are riding.

Crazy kids

Remember wearing olives on your fingers? The joys of being little. Now my fingers are so big and fat the poor little olive splits in half.
Halle's static hair!! WOW!

Happy Birthday Jamis!!

Happy Birthday Jamis! What a big kid you are. We miss playing with you. Hope you are having a GREAT day!

Happy Birthday Emmy!!

Happy birthday lady!! We're so glad you guys will be sticking around. Thanks for all of the Friday night spritzers!! See you tonight.

Bluetooth

I got a new cell phone over the weekend. It came with a bluetooth ear piece. I am REALLY dumb when it comes to techno-gadgets so I don't really understand what "bluetooth" is. Carter must have overheard me asking Jarom about it and when he saw me opening the package he said, "Mom, what's that? Is it my looth-tooth?" It was SO funny!! This kid constantly has me cracking up.

His latest thing is to say, "Yes sir!" with a hand salute that goes over the back of his head, whenever I tell him to do anything. I'll tell him to put his plate in the sink and he'll salute and say, "Yes sir!", then off he goes. It's so blasted cute! I have NO clue where he has learned this one.

SPRING break???

It is spring break for my kids. They get the whole week off. AND, yes, that is snow you see in the picture below. Of course it has to snow the week the kids have to stay home! (I just love Idaho weather.) Carter was so excited when he saw the snow and said, "Mom, is it snowing? It IS snowing!!! It's CHRISTMAS!!" He was so confused when I told him it's not.

Here's Halle playing outside in her coat and boats. She's been so excited to play house now that we got the backyard all cleaned up and ready for spring. Good thing kids are resiliant and don't mind the weather.

More mischief from Kate.

This is what happens when you don't clear the salt shaker from the table fast enough after dinner.
She was so proud of herself, and was just having a ball swishing salt everywhere. If you notice, the salt shaker is upside down in the cup beside her. (Full of water, mmmmm....)

Happy Birthday Grandma Eva!

Today is Jarom's grandma's 89th b-day. Last night their family had a little celebration for her complete with karaoke. This lady does NOT act like she is 89! She is healthy and going strong and we enjoy spending time with her and hope she will be around for many more years. I am sure she won't look at this, but Happy Birthday, non-the-less!