Russy's Third Birthday

I think that three may very well be one of my favorite ages. They are still so darn cute and fun and say such funny stuff, but they also understand so much more so you can reason with them, and best of all they understand and get so darn excited about things like their birthdays. It has been so fun to have Russy counting down for his birthday and talking about "Guess who's birthday is coming up?! Russys!" He even said that after his birthday had passed, it was too funny. He got so excited about being able to open presents and have all the attention on him. Since he isn't in preschool yet I always wait until their fourth birthday to do a friendr party so we just had Grandma and Grandpa over for cake and to watch Russy open his presents.

 

We got him some legos that we thought he would like building, but I think they are still just a little too big for him. He just dumps the entire bucket out but doesn't really put too much together and he and Anne just make the biggest mess with it. We had to put them up for a while but I'm sure he will be really excited when he is bigger and we bring them down for him.

I had asked Russy what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday a couple of months ago and he told me a football cake, which I was thrilled about because that is pretty easy to make. Jane tried to convince him to have a firetruck cake which I wasn't too happy about, so I convinced him that he really did want his original pick of a football cake. I didn't want to buy a new cake pan so I just looked on pinterest for a good idea for making a football cake. I thought it turned out pretty cute, and Russy loved it so that is all that mattered.

The funny thing was he was so into his presents and everything else that he didn't even end up eating his cake that night. Kevin didn't know this and when he took Russy to bed Russy said "but I didn't get any cake!" Kevy thought he was just being silly so he didn't let him have any. But he ended up having plenty the next day. It was a fun little day for our blond bear! We sure do love this crazy boy of ours and we are so grateful that we were blessed with him!

 

Bishop's Pumpkin Farm

We had to make our annual fall trip up to Bishops pumpkin farm especially since we missed last year. I knew that Russy would really enjoy it because he was too young the last time that we went. And sure enough he thought it was a pretty cool place. We were able to go up on a friday afternoon after the kids got home from school since Kevy has his flex Fridays. It was nice too because stuff is a little cheaper on weekdays then it is on weekends there.

I look at these kids of mine and I am completely blown away at times that they are all mine. What a dream come true it is to be a mom.

SAnnie may look like she didn't like the slide but she really did and got right back up to go again.

Russy was very timid on the slides because they are huge and very long, but once we got him to go down once it was all over. He just kept going down and then running back up to the top to go down again. He loved it! We had to make him stop because he would have spent hours doing just that.

One of the favorite things that the girls did was the sunflowe maze. They got to pick their own sunflowers and they really enjoyed that, and getting to take them home.

Russy liked using this digger thing. He is such a boy and so into tools and stuff like that.

Annie is such a big shot lately. I swear that that girl thinks she is 10 years old. She thinks she can sit wherever she wants and climb on what she wants to. When we sat to eat dinner she had to stand up on the bench and of course fell and wacked her head twice because she wouldn't let me touch her.

I think all of our favorite thing to do was go on the train. They have the cutest little train there and Russy LOVED it. He was sitting by Kevy and he told him "this is the best train ever!" He is at one of my all time favorite stages because everything is so exciting and he says the cutest, funniest things. After the train ride it was getting dark but we had a few tickets left so we went to ride the carousel. But there weren't enough for everyone so Nellie sat off with kevy so I could take the little ones. I thought it was the sweetest thing for Nellie to do that. She even told Kevy that she felt the spirit when she did it, which just makes my heart so happy! The kids were so grateful for us taking them and spending our time and money on them. Which of course makes me want to do it even more. We had such a good time.

 

 

Nellie's Baptism

It is hard to believe that our little Nellie girl has turned eight and it was time for her to be baptized. She had been looking forward to this day for a really long time. She was so excited that it was finally her turn. It was hard for her when Lizzy got baptized because she wants to do everything Lizzy does when she does it.

Another thing that she was really looking forward to was getting her new scriptures and her new white dress. I am happy that I am able to sew so that I can make what the girls want for their dresses. I hope that it makes it a bit more special that I made it for them rather than if we were just to buy it. We hired my friend Jenae to take pictures for us and she did such a great job. Nellie was so excited to go to the temple and take her pictures. She was absolutely glowing with happiness in her pictures. I love too that she loves her scriptures so much and you can tell in her pictures. These are just a bunch of my favorite ones.

 

The day of her baptism was great. It was nice that some of Kevy's family was able to come and take part in the day. One of my favorite pictures is one with her dad.

I'm glad that both sets of grandparents were able to be there.

Being baptized and receiving the Holy Ghost is such an amazing gift, and I am so glad that Nellie had such a desire to make those covenants. It was such a special day for Nellie and I hope that she will always remember it.

 

Visitors

We had a great time when some of Kevins family came to visit for Nellie's baptism. They didn't stay very long but we sure had a good time while they were here.

Brinlee came and the girls all had a good time having one of their girl cousins here to play.

The kids always love spending time with Grammie. Here my kids are all inthralled with her ipad. Probably because we don't let the kids play on ours at all.

We had to take them to one of our favorite spots, even if it wasn't quite season yet. We drove up to Apple Hill and even though it was a very slow day, it was so much fun. It was actually kind of nice to not have the crowd that is usally there. We were still able to get apple donuts and fudge and enjoy the beautiful scenery and let the kids run around. It really ended up being such a fun trip.

My babies thought these ducks were the funniest things ever with their funny feathers on their heads.

 

Annie loved having her daddy throw her up in the air.

Aunt Kelli really loved Annie and just wanted to eat her up. She keeps offering to take her, and Annie has been a little crazy lately it has been tempting. Well not really! Even though she has been hard and crazy, I couldn't live without my crazy lady!

All the girls. With us that always means there will be a lot!

And the boys, meaning there won't be many.

Russy was trying to help Anne look at the camera but that wasn't going to happen. I don't think she looked at the camera much that day.

there was a fun little play area that the kids had a good time playing in.

Russy loved the truck that he got to ride on. Big surprise right?

I love how Brinlee was trying to get Annie to look with no avail.

Annie found this cute little car to ride in. It was such a fun weekend with family. It was nice to have some come and visit us! We had fun hanging out and playing games and just being together! We would love to have them come again!

 

The First Day of School 2014

It was sure great to start school again! Even though we had a great summer it was just time to go back!! Since it is so warm here for so long we don't usually do much school shopping, but we do like to get the girls at least one new outfit that they can wear on the first day of school and of course new shoes.

The girls got to find out their teachers the night before and Lizzy and Jane both got the ones they wanted and Lizzy even had her best friend in her class too! Nellie didn't have a specific teacher she wanted so it was all good. The night before was like Christmas Eve the girls were so excited they could barely sleep and Lizzy especially was up really late.

the next morning Lizzy woke up feeling nauseous. I really thought it was lack of sleep and anxiety because there was also a bit of drama with one of the girls that was going to be in her class, so I tried to get her to go, but she decided not to. It was so sad that she missed the first day of school because she was really looking forward to it. Sure enough later that day she was feeling fine and was so mad at herself for not going. Nellie and Jane were really excited to get to school. I really dread the whole first day of school thing because there are a million parents and no place to park so I have to park blocks away, then I have to find a way to deal with the babies while getting the big kids and all their supplies to the classes etc. It is a nighmare!

 

 

Nellies teacher is really nice and I could tell immediately that she would be a good fit for Nellie.

Jane was exctied to wait in line with the other kids and I asked her if she was nervous and she said uh no! Like I was such a weirdo for asking. She also told me that she thought she might be the tallest in her class, which was pretty cute becuasee she may just be the shortest in the class.

I got Jane all settled into her class and then I was thinking "Ok we can go now right?" but none of the parents were making any attempt to leave. It was ridiculous. There are too may helicopter parents and I just want to say to them "you aren't helping your kids! Cut the cord and let them figure stuff out on their own. They will be fine!"

The next day Lizzy woke up and she said she felt a little nauseous again, but I made her go becuase I knew it was just anxiety she was feeling. She went and ended up being just fine and things even got straightend out with her friend.