The Celebration Is On Its A Day For Play.........

‎Nine years ago a funny, enthusiastic, clever, energetic, witty, smarty pants, kindhearted, persistent, sensitive and comical lil boy came to join our family.......thank you Carter for the daily doses of laughter you provide to us and helping us to learn patience.......sorry we are slow learners!!
We love you Happy Birthday Carter!!
On Carter's birthday we took him some lunch at school and ate in the cafeteria with him. He still is at the age he likes us to eat at school with him. After eating we all went shopping at the Book Fair since it happened to be going on that week at his school....or as Kennedy calls it the Book Fairy!! He loves reading so he was happy that he got more books for his birthday and to get them from the book fair was extra special!
Then that weekend we went as a family to the Children's Museum of Phx. for his birthday. I'm including with each picture info from their website to explain the different areas that I got pictures at. CLIMBER STATS
Located in the center of the Museum's Atrium floor, the Climber rises 37 feet to the 3rd floor ceiling. It is made of standard building materials and found objects. Constructed of 50 tons of structural steel, the Climber weighs more than all of the structural steel in the rest of the building! The steel framework contains 981 individual pieces.
UNIQUE FEATURES
The Climber is not just a series of tubes and stairs, it includes the following unique features that kids, and adults, can climb into, onto and out to:
Flying Bathtub
Dream Boat
Roof Top
Fish Walk
Recycled Rocket
Whoosh!
This wonderful contraption is a freestanding jumble of connected tubes where children feed scarves in a rainbow of colors into the transparent, air-powered structure. The colorful scarves shoot up through the pipes at high speeds, to heights of 20' or more, and are released in a burst of energy from high above. In contrast they gently float down slowly to land on or be caught by children. Art Studio:
In this creative workshop visitors find an ever-changing array of hands-on art activities. In the Art Studio you will find group activities, like Painting the Castle, and individual activities for your child to share with you like a puppet theatre, puzzles, games and crafts.
Market: Role Play
Opportunities for role play abound as children restock the shelves, ring up the items as cashier, or fill the shopping cart as customer.
Texture Café: Silk and Velvet
In the lively, child-sized Café, customers of all ages order up food for the imagination. First, choose your role: Maitre d', chef, or maybe 'regular' customer. Then, use an amazing array of fabrics and materials to create the meal of your dreams. Whether choosing green velvet for a spinach salad or scraps of silk for spaghetti, children actively engage all of their senses, garnished with creativity, to delight their customers. Tables and booths, counters and stools and a full-service kitchen with ovens, stoves, storage and utensils provide the framework for culinary escapades. Enjoy and bon appetit! Noodle Forest
Oodles of noodles suspend from above. Making a thick forest of textural delight as you navigate this unfamiliar fun terrain guaranteed to activate the senses and inspire the giggles. Pit Stop
Pit Stop invites visitors to "race to the finish" on three levels of racetracks. Children launch innovative race cars from the upper deck and cheer as they zoom overhead and down the vertical drop to the finish line. The child's imagination takes over as he or she climbs into the modified racecar, revs the engine and takes off with tires screeching. A real motorcycle provides another means of "transportation" or just a cool spot to sit and watch the action Book Loft:
Reading together is one of the most important activities a parent can do with their child. This space is more low-key than most - comfy and cozy to encourage children to snuggle in and read a good book. Story times are presented every day in the Book Loft. Outside they had a hay maze for the children to play around and some picnic tables to eat lunch at. There was many other activities that we did but I didn't get any pictures of them.
We spent 2 1/2 hours playing, exploring and laughing. Everyone had such a good time that we used the money that my Father in law sent the kids for Christmas to buy a 1 Year Family Membership that we can't wait to use again! Afterwards we met my parents at Flancers for a delicious birthday lunch for my Dad and Carter. What a great family day.

Feast Your Eyes On This.......

My friend Candace is pretty much a Pie Queen!! She had been talking about making pies for Thanksgiving and I mentioned I didn't know how to make a pie crust from scratch that tasted good and she said come over she was showing a few girls how to do it...and so I did. We...Candace, Marcie, Lorilyn and Brittnie...started out on Tuesday night making the pie crusts so they could get cold over night in the fridge. Then Candace, Marcie, Lorilyn and I wrapped up on Wednesday by actually making the pies. All in all we made the crust for 17 pies and rolled out and baked 12 pies! I made a pecan, pumpkin, coconut cream and banana cream pie!! Candace makes the BEST Pecan Pies ever so we used her recipe and it was heavenly!!
Thanksgiving Day was really great because my Grandma Rachel came over to spend it with my Dad since it was his birthday that day and we were all soo happy to see her since we don't get to very often any more. We had a really nice time visiting and eating the wonderful dinner and finally it was the moment of truth....pie time! My fingers were crossed and breath held......and......everyone loved the pies!! YEA!! I hope Candace does Pie Class again next Thanksgiving because I need a refresher already and mostly because it was fun!!

Food & Friends... Life is Good.....

The Activities Committee put on an adult Italian dinner. They had it catered from a local restaurant called Baci's Italian Bistro. They served Cheese Raviolis, Pasta with Alfredo sauce, Marinara sauce with meatballs, sausages sautèed with peppers,
and onions, bread and salad. Dessert was cheescake that you could choose what kind of fruit to put on top! It was a very enjoyable evening with our friends and especially nice to be with out my sweetheart!

Oh What A Wonderful Life.............

We finally had family pictures taken! The last family photo we had taken was when Carter was a toddler, so we were LONG over due!! We had a wonderful photographer in our ward take our pictures.....thanks Marcie!!

Happy Happy Birthday.........Let’s Celebrate!

My Little Grannie turned 90 years old on Halloween! We got together and had a little birthday party for her. She enjoyed of course having the children around for short periods of time before the noise and craziness would become to much for her...poor lady! We had a great dinner and a nice time visiting. Happy Birthday Grannie!!

What A Spooktacular Time.....

This year for Halloween we were able to go to my Moms ward Trunk-or-Treat on Friday night and then our ward Trunk-or-Treat on Saturday night. Which was great since Sunday was actually Halloween and we were not going to be Trick-or-Treating on the Sabbath. This year Kenna was a Twinkling Witch....meaning her skirt had lights in it!! Walker my lil Star Wars freak was Obi Wan Kenobi the Jedi Master. Carter was a Grim Reaper with a bleeding skull face. This was the first year that Cooper didn't dress up at all!We had a blast at my parents ward party! They had lots of candy, hot dogs, chili, cupcakes and homemade root beer.....YUMMY! They had carnival games for the children to play before the trunk-or-treating too!! SOO much fun!! Walker had the most fun I think though because he spent the whole time hanging out with my brother Eddie and his wife Chris and my nephew Chance who is the same age as him!We had a really nice time at our wards Halloween party the next night. We had our annual Chili and Cheesecake cook off. I didn't make homemade chili or a dessert to take this year because I had been sick the week before and still was a tad bit under the weather . It was so much easier to just buy something instead of making it but definitely not as tasty!! We had fun visiting with our super great friends and letting the kiddos just run and play. Cooper was off on his own all night running around with his friends and Tanner came for a little while and then left to go to his friends Halloween party. Not many pictures from either night since the kids were running in all different directions!A Halloween weekend full of lots of fun and candy!

A Cause For Celebration........

For Cooper and Tanner's birthdays this year they had friends over for a video game party one night and they both wanted to go to Johnny Rockets for a family dinner. Tanner and Cooper sat at their own table. Cooper couldn't put his burger down for another picture! Tanner doesn't eat a ton of crappy junk food so I had been surprised he loved the burgers. I said to him that the burgers are just too greasy and he said "but Mom every once in awhile you just have to have one though"! Everyone had a really fun goofy time. The weather was perfect so we enjoyed the outdoor dining area. The Birthday boys kept tormenting poor little Kennedy until she finally went to sit with Daddy...ugg brothers!!Cooper was easily entertained by the ketchup smiley face the waitress made for him on his plate....then he entertained us with it too!! The little kids had never ate there before and decided that they really liked it. Walker and Carter enjoyed their own table where they visited and colored almost the whole time.Everyone had been taking turns being sick for the past week and a half so we hadn't bought our Halloween Costumes yet so after dinner we went Halloween costume shopping and then to Yogurt Jungle for some yummy fro yo!! Happy Birthday Boys!!

Hair? What hair?

Well after 4 1/2 years it was time to finally cut and trim up what little bit of hair Miss Kenna-Lou had!!My super duper sweet friend _ _ _ _ _ went to beauty school back in the day but hates to actually cut hair so she does her family's hair only. One day when we were talking I mentioned sissy needed a haircut and she said she would do it........just don't tell anyone!!hahaha Kenna was leery of the whole thing but she sat still and was very cooperative and afterwards had a lil shorter hair and we even gave her bangs for the first time! I think she is even more adorable with bangs!! THANK YOU SWEET FRIEND!!!

Scouting............

Cooper getting an award at the Court of Honor............

Infinite Hope......T.O.F.W...........

Time Out For Women (T.O.F.W.) is described as a full weekend of inspirational messages and music. That is a perfect description for it too!!My friends Carrie,Vicki and I went together. Neither one of them had been before so they didnt know what a great treat they were in for! I couldnt have asked for better friends to go with.
The 2010 theme for T.O.F.W. was Infinite Hope! They had many speakers but the one who stood out in my mind the most was Mariama Kallon from war-torn Sierra Leone. She says:
"If it wasn't for hope, I wouldn't have been able to be here with you. Hope is the reason I am here."
Her story was inspirational and to read some of it here is a link:
http://www.mormontimes.com/article/696/Hygiene-kit-gave-hope-in-war-torn-Sierra-Leone
She talked about the personal hygeine kits the church has assembled and donated throughout the world and how when receieving one it was a life changing event and the importance it was to her as she struggled to stay alive in Sierra Leone before making it to America. They had tables set up for a "day of service" to assemble kits. At each stop of the 2010 Time Out for Women tour across America, donated items were assembled into "hope kits" and then given to local women's charities.
I enjoyed listening to Brad Wilcox former seminary teacher and mission president speak also. He has been involved with E.F.Y.(Especially For Youth) for years and after listening to him I can see why that program runs so well for our youth. He says "I wanted to be able to give women the same experience that young people get at EFY."
DeAnne Flynn a mother of seven spoke and had to say "the ultimate patterns are laid out in the gospel, in Jesus Christ's example, in the scriptures". She said sometimes parents might fall short of the kind of parents they long to be. But unless they make a concerted effort — unless they identify and try to align their lives with good patterns — it will be difficult to consistently change.
There were many other speakers but these were a few of my favorites!
We also had great music from Mercy River and Dallyn Vail Bayles.It was a super great girls weekend that I hope to do again! I love my girlfriends they are awesome!

A Super Dee Dooper Birthday.................

For Walker's 6th birthday we took him lunch at school and ate lunch with him. He was so happy to see us and have us eat in the cafeteria with him!! Kenna was just as happy.Instead of a birthday party with friends we had a family party at Chuck E. Cheese. My parents came with us and it was great fun!! Here he is with his birthday crown filled with golden tokens and his birthday cake.He had been talking for months that he wanted to go there for his birthday. I had thought it was because of the pizza and the games then the day before I found out they have a thing called The Ticket Blaster that the birthday child can get into and scoop up tickets as they blow all around them and that was the only reason he had wanted to go there......He loved the ticket blaster it lived up to everything his mind had made it up to be!!We also found out that Cooper is completely terrified of Chuck E. Cheese!! He hid under the table when he came our way. Tanner being the big brother he is later tricked him and got a picture with Chuck E. and Cooper. You can't see it in the picture but Tanner is holding on to Cooper with all his might!! Poor Cooper.....but it was pretty funny!!

Pedal Power........

Rob has taught the boys to ride their bikes with out training wheels by taking them to the park and up to the top of a grassy hill. That way they can go down the hill and worry about controlling the bike and not worry about the pedaling at first until they are more confident with the balancing part of it. It has worked with all three older boys even if they were all at a different age when taught!! Just like his brothers it only took a few times and he was a pro!! Great job Carter!

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie............

One night I came across Carter all snuggled up with Sadie sleeping on the living room couch and even though the dog is not allowed on the couch it was a cute picture so I had to snap it before putting Sadie in her kennel and waking Carter up to go upstairs to bed.

No Homework please...........

This yellow post it note is what Carter brought over to me one night just a few weeks into the school year.

He said "Mom don't read this just sign it please..."
Ummm okay like that was not a big ol red flag!!
So I read it then re-read it out loud to him and and I said "You seriously think I am going to sign this"
He said" I told you not to read it"!!hahaha

Needless to say I didn't sign it but I am sure if I did send his teacher a note it would have read something like the lil note in the corner of the post it.....yeah right!!

Yipeeeee........Pack Meeting...........

Carter loves Cub Scouts and is always happy when it is Pack Meeting and he can get an award for something he has earned!! Way to go Carter!!

The Tooth Of The Matter........

This month Walker and Kennedy both had to go in for Oral surgery.When I was pregnant with Kennedy and on bed rest Walker had been asleep on the couch and had rolled off hitting the tile floor face first. His front teeth got pushed up into the gums and the gums were swollen but they got better and we didn't think anything about it. As time has gone on his teeth are just bad. When the pediatric dentist examined him he said his teeth are coming in way to early and he has really soft teeth. We are wondering if any of it is linked to the problems he had that first year of life with his Tracheomalacia problems. Walker was completely put under for his surgery to remove 3 teeth and put in two spacers. When he came out of surgery he was soo groggy and out of it. He cried I don't want metal teeth!!! He was tired the rest of the day and we just snuggled and rested together. He was a trooper and did AWESOME!!When it came time for Kennedy to get hers done the pediatric dentist realized she wasn't as bad as the regular dentist had said so Kennedy didn't need to go under she just got gas and had a few pin sized cavities filled. She was sooo loopy and funny afterwards for a lil while. When we got home she rested for while then went and played and then rested some more. She did great!

Hi Ho Hi Ho, It's Off To School We Go......

Well the first day of school for 2010 came....YEA!! It was a L-O-N-G summer! Cooper is in 6th grade with Mr. Balsic. Carter is in 3rd grade with Mrs. Needham. Walker is in Kindergarten with Mrs. Letizia.Cooper was happy that several of his friends are in his class this year. Carter knows several people in his class too. Walker started Kindergarten this year and he was my first child to go to full day Kindergarten because 1/2 day was not offered anymore at our school. I was sad to see him go and he was sad to go. He even went as far as to say he would run away and hide under the blankets in my room so no one would find him so he could stay home with me....aww heartbreaking! The first few days were hard then he got in the swing of things made friends and by the next week he loved it!! Kennedy was soo sad that we were actually leaving the boys at school and coming home all alone! She wanted to stay with them at school or at least make them come home with us! She cried and pouted but when we got to IHOP for breakfast everything was all better. Then we went home and played Barbies and pretty ponies, colored, watched a movie, read a book and took a nap. She was happy but happiest when the the boys got home at the end of the day. Next year and she will be joining them and I will be the one crying as my baby leaves me home alone!!

Pitter Patter Of Little Paws.......

So here is our newest addition to our family her name is Sadie she is 6 weeks old and we are in love!! She is a miniature schnauzer and was born June 30th. We got her from my brother Mike's sister Chrissy. Thanks Chrissy!

Here's the dirt..........

So teenager boys are a rare breed! Tanner had his E.F.Y. buddy Jake that lives in Tucson in town visiting for the week before they headed to Thatcher for E.F.Y. Tanner hadn't had his license long and the boys were planning a trip the next morning for Golfland/Sunsplash for the day and so Rob was lecturing them about safe driving, making good choices when you are out with friends, and the consequences that can follow. It was about a 30 minute lecture. So the boys left to take Tanner's other friend Micheal home who lives like maybe 5 miles away. Tanner had been taking a "short cut" for his trip to Micheal's house for the last lil while. It is a dirt road that the farmers use for their irrigation and it goes through a big wash. That night was the first time it had been muddy since Tanner had been driving on it. Well the phone rang at 11:30 and the first thing he said when I answered the phone is "Mom just listen don't say anything...just listen. We are stuck in the mud and need to be pulled out" I said "Okaaaay let me get your Dad out of the shower so he can come get you which is gonna make him real happy" and he is all "I know........." So Rob gets dressed and goes off to find them. I guess the three boys tried for quite awhile pushing the van out of the mud before resorting to calling us but they were stuck nose first with the mud up to the bottom of the door. When Tanner opened the door to get out the mud started just oozing in. Not to mention all the muddy feet of the boys. Took him 2 hours the next day to clean it up.....hahahaha Thankfully only the front was stuck and luckily Rob had bought a tow rope the week before and he had bought the longer one so he had them hook it up and then pulled them out. They broke the front of the van in this adventure. They were only 1 1/2 miles away.....yet they still managed to find a way to get into mischief........Check out the muddy legs...hahahahaha After it was all said and done Rob and I got a real good laugh out of it and I think Tanner learned a lesson too a lil old mini van is not made to be an off road vehicle.....now you know!!!

Amazing Jake's FHE Night........

We took the kids to Amazing Jake's for a summertime FHE night. Amazing Jake's is 95,000 Square Feet of Indoor Food & Fun! It has an all-you-can-eat buffet of Pizzas, Pastas, Soups, a Potato and Salad Bar, Fountain Drinks and Desserts. Amazing Jake's has video/arcade games and a Rock Climbing Wall, an Indoor Go-Kart track, a Bowling Alley, Bumper Cars, a Mini Coaster, 18 Holes of Miniature Golf, kiddie rides including a lil Train, Tea Cups, Frog Hopper as well as a Carousel. So needless to say the kids LOVE it.........but......the pocketbook hates it!!! All of us went but Cooper didn't want to be in the pictures and Tanner had his E.F.Y. buddy Jake down from Tucson visiting so they were off doing there own thing so no pictures of them. We had a crazy fun night and look forward to doing it again.