Baptism Gift

I am teaching the CTR 7 class in Primary - which means they will all get baptized this year.  I wanted to give them a little gift - so here's what I came up with.

I'm going to print it as a 5x7 and frame it.

(I am just learning how to do any digi-scrapping....so all you pros out there (Kim), don't look too close!)

General Conference Tips

I came across this website with TONS of really good ideas and tips for General Conference weekend with kiddos.  I really want to be more on the ball this year and do some prep work to get a few things ready.  We always do conference bingo and I usually have a packet for each kid to do.  Oh yeah - here's a link to Sugardoodle for a few different packets, too.  That first website has SO many cute ideas.....I'm really hoping to not only keep the kids quiet and entertained, but to have them understand the importance of conference and have it be something they look forward to (and not just because it's a day "off" - even though that part is GREAT).  I like the idea of explaining to them that topics are not assigned, that we can try and look for subjects mentioned several times, and to pray for the prophet and general authorities in the days leading up to conference.

Anyway.....just thought I would share.  I'm curious to know anyone else's ideas or traditions for conference?

LOVE this kid!  Isn't he yummy?

(I know I'm not supposed to have a favorite kid - and I don't!  BUT..... he doesn't talk back, he doesn't fight, he doesn't tease, and he doesn't refuse to do chores!  He is just the most smiley, happiest thing ever and he is always just so happy to see me......he is my lifesaver.)

Spring Break

This year Matt's spring break fell on the same week as Kaden's, and since Matt is working weekends right now - we took advantage of his days off mid-week!  We gave the kids their choice (within reason) of what they wanted to do.  Bailey chose the train park: 

We had lots of fun riding the train and carousel, swinging, having a picnic, feeding the ducks, and enjoying the GORGEOUS weather.  Other highlights of the day included a trip to the dollar store (Matt's favorite) and dinner with Oma and Grandpa.

The next day, Kaden chose bowling:

Notice the names on the scoreboard. Someone was nice enough to dub me "MOM IS A DORK".

I, however, don't think I deserve the dork title in our family.....

EXHIBIT A----

and EXHIBIT B---

I will admit I have my dorky tendencies, but I'm pretty sure that I'm NOT the biggest dork in the family.

Bai and Lex holding hands in great suspense.....

 .....and then jumping up and down with joy!

Slick shoes and a nice slick floor of course equals twirling for Bailey.

And Lexie didn't really care - so I chose the movies for her! :)  We went and saw "Tangled" at the dollar movie - so cute!  We loved it.

It was a great couple of days and a much needed break from real life!

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

 Lunch! 

(Forgot pics of breakfast - the leprechauns left green sprinkles on our cereal!)

 Those darn leprechauns got ahold of our drinks too!

(Christmas clearance makes for some excellent baking - red for v-day and green for st. paddy's) 

Bailey seems to be the only one who cares about wearing green!

The Hungry Bag

Awhile ago I was complaining to a good friend about constantly battling my kids to pick up their things.  She said that when she was little, whenever there were things left out - her mom would bring out "The Gunny Sack"!  It was complete with a scary song and all.  I think her exact words were, "That song invoked the fear of hell in all of us."  Love it.

So we adapted the idea a little....and now we have The Hungry Bag!  And believe me, at the sight of this bag, my kids start runnin!

Every night we put on loud dance music, set a timer, and do "5-Minute Pick Up" and put away everything as fast as we can. There are nights where their cooperation is lacking, to say the least.  They always have the option of not cleaning up - but everything left after the timer goes in The Hungry Bag.

The Hungry Bag is always excited to eat toys, shoes, markers, or whatever.  It is not picky.  And the only way to get them out of the bag is to do a job to earn them back.

This little bag also comes in handy during the day when the girls don't want to clean up their coloring supplies or barbies.  When Kaden doesn't want to pick up legos, etc etc. Usually the mere threat mention of The Hungry Bag does the trick.  They have tested it a few times.....for some reason they didn't like the result too much.

Thank you, Jen, for the idea.  I'm sure no one else's kids have such a hard time cleaning up after themselves, but I thought I'd share....just in case!

Happy Birthday Lex!

Happy Birthday to our spunky, sassy, fun-loving, red-headed, hilarious, sweet, little leap year baby!  I can't believe she is already 3!

We usually celebrate her birthday on Feb 28th, but I was a little unprepared this year.....so we got to celebrate March 1st!  She opened presents from mom &dad and grandparents first thing in the morning.  (Three year olds are so easy to please!  I'm enjoying it while it lasts!)

 She's a girl who knows what she wants: "Mom, I want pancakes with ta-berries and cream stuff.  And I want caramel on top.  And I want chocolate milk!"  You got it Lex!  Whatever you want.  Better enjoy it today....tomorrow is back to reality!

Lexie's little party at the park.  It was great - 4 little friends, cake, presents, and swinging....all wrapped up in an hour.  Now that's my kind of party!

Kolten apparently enjoyed the party...

 Playing with her new tea set, and cake server set.  She is in HEAVEN!

One of my friends has a tradition of making a birthday video every year for her kids.  I LOVE this tradition and told her I was going to steal the idea.  Thanks Kelly!

Birthday Video:

Happy Birthday Matt!

You are a great husband and dad - we love you, are proud of you, and appreciate ALL that you do!

(He is probably going to kill me for posting some of these :)  But I just love them all - shows the many different faces of Matt.  And they all remind me of different times in our life)

A few things we love....

Bailey got The Ladybug Game for Christmas - super easy, and super, super cute!

Kaden got both of these for Christmas and I HIGHLY recommend both of them!  No Stress Chess has several ways of playing from very beginner to advanced.  Great for kids and adults (like me) who don't know how to play chess. :)  I have really enjoyed learning to play.

A friend recommended these snap circuits - I had never heard of them, but they are awesome.  If you have a kid who loves legos, k'nex, and building - they will LOVE these!

And our latest new love, the movie "How to Train Your Dragon".  It is my favorite kids movie I have seen in a long time!  And Lexie is OBSESSED....she begs to watch it 3 times a day and talks about it all day long.  She is always saying: "Mom, on how train dragon....." and tells me all about it and then laughs hysterically.  She is obsessed.

The first time we watched it Kaden commented several times on the music and at one part said, "This sounds kinda like Kung Fu Panda."  Come to find out, same guys did the music for both movies.  Anyone who knows Matt and his love of movie scores is probably not surprised that Kaden picked up on this....he definitely is his father's son!

Say It Isn't So!

Kolten is 6 months old today - and that makes me so sad!  He has been SUCH a good baby and I have really really enjoyed the last 6 months.  He never really even had that hard newborn phase like I have had with my other kids.  I wish I could slow time down and keep him a baby longer!  Time just seems to be flying by!  I guess I will just do what I can: enjoy him at this age, take lots of pictures and video, and try to figure out a way to bottle his delicious baby smell so I can save it forever!

Who Knew?

Who knew that such a little thing could make such a big difference?

Mornings with Kaden have been a little rough, to say the least. So we got him an alarm clock and let me tell you.... Best. Thing. EVER!  Most mornings he is up, dressed, hair combed, and shoes on before I even get out of bed!  

(I'm kinda ashamed to admit this.  But a couple days ago I had had a rough night with Kolten and didn't hear my alarm.  Kaden came and gave me a kiss and said he was leaving for school.  I jumped out of bed freaked out that I overslept.  But he assured me he had already eaten toast and yogurt, brushed his teeth, and packed his backpack!  It was cute that he was so proud of himself, but I felt like a big jerk.  Seriously, when did I become that mom?)

All I have to say is thank goodness for alarm clocks! (his, not mine!)

Valentine's Crafts

Alright, I got blogger to cooperate and upload photos.  Just a couple Valentine's crafts I did today.

This is small - bout 2 inch blocks.  I want to like them, I'm just not totally sold.  It looked a lot better in my head than it does in real life.

 This one, however, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! :) ha ha ha. Seriously, I am happy with how it turned out.  And the best part?  I didn't spend anything on either craft - it's all stuff I had around here! 

I think it needs some embelishments...I'm just not sure what. I'm gonna leave it up for a couple days and see how I feel about it.

Out of Space?

Ok - I'm trying to upload pictures (of a darling Valentine's craft I just finished!) but anyway....blogger won't let me upload anymore pictures.  I am getting a message that I am out of space and that I can pay to upgrade to more storage?  Anyone else have this problem?  Seriously, I haven't done THAT many pictures!

....more to come on my Valentine's decoration and on my bedroom remodel

Generosity

Right before Christmas I told the kids we needed to clean out the toy room a bit and make a pile of things we could donate.  Kaden, my hoarder, immediately started stressing.  I explained to all of them how its good to give to others, how we have PLENTY of toys, yada yada yada.  Then I sent them upstairs with a box.  They were up there for quite awhile and I could hear debates on what they could get rid of.  So I was thinking that my little lesson had sunk in......and then they came down with their box of toys to donate

Yeah - we might have to work on this one.

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

We had a great Christmas this year - it was quiet, relaxed, and low key.  We had Christmas here at our house with Matt's parents and sister.

Candy Trains 

 Putting out our reindeer food

 We always have to include a bag of goodies for Santa to take back to Mrs. Clause :)

The sleigh left tracks in our front yard when Santa took off! 

This is what the rest of the day looked like - relaxing, playing with new toys, and watching some new movies. It was great.

A few days after Christmas we got to have Mason over!  It was so good to see him!  We sure miss he and Jodi since they moved to Utah.

One of the biggest highlights of Christmas this year were the videos that Santa sent to us!  We emailed our lists to him this year and he actually sent each of us a personalized video!  The kids have all watched theirs at least 800 times.  Super cute.