Just call me SCOOTER!

Here's a fun video I took of Zach today! I can't believe how blessed I am to have such healthy and strong kids. They also each have their own hilarious personalities! Zachary is 7 months old today! He is scooting all over the place, and his first tooth fully surfaced just the other day! Cayden has this idea that we could freeze Zach (he actually came up with this idea when Addy was a baby) so that he'll stay cute and little forever. I can see how that method would make sense to a 5-year old..but I've tried to explain to him that would be a very bad idea! It's funny because Cayden was a very good baby, Addy was an even happier baby, and here comes Zach who is even happier and content! He's been sleeping through the night since he was 4 months old (thanks to the book "Baby Wise"). Whenever he wakes up in the morning, or from naps, I slowly peak over his bed and he starts laughing and kicking his feet like CRAZY. People have said that he's the kind of baby that makes you want more babies, and I agree...so watch his video with caution, he just might melt your heart! :-)

One less stress in my life...soon!

A long time ago I wrote a post about my frustration with a little girl that'd moved next door...I'm so happy that they are moving away! I know that's not a very Christ-like attitude, but unfortunately I had a run-in with the grandma this morning that left me so mad that I was shaking! I was looking out the window around 11 a.m. after picking up Cayden from Preschool. I noticed the grandma (she's not old...probably in her early 50's) take her trash cans from the curb next to ours (it was trash day that morning)...but she also grabbed one of our lids. I was holding Zachary as I walked outside and said "Ma'am", and as nicely as possible told her that she'd taken one of our trash can lids. She then told me how I'd stolen it from them a long time ago. She then starts saying swear words and preceeds to tell me how my husband was digging through their trash this morning. A smirk spread across my face as I started imagining it...my husband has the biggest phobia EVER when it comes to taking something of someone's that's been left out for the trash...so he wouldn't even THINK about TOUCHING something in a trash can. I told her that but she insisted that her and her daughter watched him this morning, thinking to themselves how we must be desparate and be looking for food. HA! She ended up giving me the lid but as I walked away I couldn't hold my tongue, and said "We were thinking the same thing about you guys" (regarding the comment of being too poor for food). DANG IT, I stooped to her level. I kept walking as she repeated "WHAT??!! WHAT did you say?!!" at me. She then went into dangerous territory. She said how I was a bad parent because I "make" my daughter walk home from school when there are dangerous people out there. Oh yes. She called me a bad parent. It took everything I had to put my trash cans inside our back yard, and not turn around. Her now 6 year old (4 when they moved here) runs around the entire busy street, half dressed with no shoes, and goes in people's back yards and steals things....but my 9 1/2 year old is too young to walk 1/4 of a mile home from school when we already know exactly where the "bad people"that she is referring to live and there are none even close to the street that we have her walk home on...and she only walks home on the nice days...and because the doctor wants to make sure she's getting plenty of exercise (and did I mention she has a nice new bike she can ride to school)!!?? And about them claiming Tyler dug through their trash...did I mention that a few months ago Shaylee was freaked out because she caught the grandma looking through OUR trash cans that were against our house!? I never went over and said anything to the grandma though since I felt sorry for her...and she didn't end up taking anything anyway. AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Alright, I'm done. I'm not shaking anymore. It's a beautiful sunny day and the kids and I will definitely have to go for a walk in a little while!

9 year-old Heartbreak

Today Shaylee was acting more emotional than usual. Finally we got to the root of the problem....she is having trouble with her friends at school. She cried as if the world was coming to an end, as she told me how her best friend Emma hasn't played with her in over a week, because one day Shaylee was playing with another friend at recess "too much". Shaylee is an extremely emotional and dramatic child...but it hurt so much to see her anguishing over this. I held her and wanted to tell her that that in a year she'd forget this all ever happened...but to a 9 year old girl...this was the end of the world. I hope that she can survive all that the future holds for her...and that she will choose to be happy! I love that girl!

Potty-training underway!

For the last couple of months, Addy (23 months old) has been acting like she's ready to potty train. This last Saturday I decided to buy her some girly panties (SO weird to do laundry and find those tiny things!) & she has been doing great!! She's had a couple little accidents each day (since Saturday), but that's not that many considering she drinks a LOT of water so she needs to use the restroom quite a bit! I am SO proud of her! She loves the attention...especially when she gets to put a sticker on her Elmo Potty Chart that came in a Elmo coloring book she picked out. She even wakes up with a dry diaper in the mornings so I think that she'll do fine with night-training, too! Yay!

Happy Valentine's!

Finally...my Valentine post! Tyler did this special dinner for me a couple days early because when he has a surprise, he seriously can't handle waiting. Personally I'd prefer for him to wait...but he makes sure he does something else for the actual holiday...so it just means I get more gifts! :-)

First, he presented me with this (I cropped out the top part since it was personal):

After I signed the "form"...he escorted me to the front door where I found this:

Then he gave me a Menu (he had printed online menus for a Chinese Restaurant, a Pizza place, and Steak Express) for me to pick where I wanted him to place our order:

I was then escorted out to our van, where I saw this:

Some of the pictures have a blur spot...I didn't notice it til I'd already taken a few pictures...I'm sure it's from Addy's dirty little fingers!!

After we were seated, Tyler gave me this (I was thinking maybe he'd ask me to marry him again...but when he didn't...I realized that he'd probably have been too afraid of what the answer would be this time, haha!) :

Oh and he picked the ring out himself, which is what I wanted...and he did absolutely perfect. It cost way more than I would have liked him to spend...but he told me not to worry about it so I'll just be grateful!



Tyler had the video screen set up in the van but the movie kept skipping and stuff after the first 5 minutes, so we ended up moving the romantic set-up into the living room (this was a late dinner so the younger kids were all in bed but we let Shaylee stay up long enough to take a couple goofy pics).

This one is kind of funny...it looks to me like we are holding on for dear life.

It was a perfect night, and even though this post was pretty late...I wanted to document it. I also recieved roses and chocolate in the mail the next day...a sweet "I love you " book & card the day after that...I'll stop gushing now. Tyler did great this year. He'll have a hard time ever topping it. All I did was write him a poem (it wasn't half bad!) & give him a Willow Tree statue of "Promise". It reminds me of Tyler and me!

*I forgot to add...the dinner date was a pajama date/sleepover (the perks of being married!) so that is why Tyler is in his awesome Grinch pjs and I'm in my favorite "Minnie Mouse" pj bottoms!!


Here is what we did for Shaylee's class for V-day...I got the templates from Martha Stewart's website. I was too lazy to do the earbuds though. Cayden was okay with just doing super hero cards for his class...thank goodness...because you KNOW I procrastinated making these until like 10 p.m. Thursday night!! I had Tyler cut out the templates while I cut out the colored paper...I gave him a little crap about not cutting very perfectly but luckily he didn't take offense :-)

Family Photo - Bloopers and all!

So, Tyler's mom bought all of her kids & their families sweaters for Christmas so that we could take a picture to give to her. It only took us almost 2 months but we finally did it! So here they are...our bloopers and all! Anyone with kids should be able to appricate the humor in the multiple shots...IF they've ever tried to take a family picture...especially with their own camera & tripod instead of a pro! I'm too lazy/busy to edit my photos 90% of the time...I'm in the "it's good enough" stage of life :-) I can't wait to post about V-Day in my next post...since it's been more like Valentine's WEEK for me!

Notice Addy's cute belly in the above picture?

Gotta move quicker than that honey!

I think this one is my favorite.


This one turned out pretty good, too.

Since we don't get enough "couple" pics, we figured we better take a couple now, too!

Look at all those "innocent" faces! :-)

"Superstar"

Addy has discovered the "pick my nose & show what I found to mom" stage.

Some January & February pictures

Wow it's been too long since I posted on here! Here are some pictures taken over the last few weeks.

During the kids' naptime today, I hemmed some Corduroy pants for Shaylee, and appliqued a flower on some polka-dot corduroy, then appliqued that to a $3 shirt from Target, then straight-stitched around the flower, THEN zig-zag stitched around the polka-dot corduroy. Since I already had the two fabrics in my "stash" & got the pants for free...$3 was my total for this outfit! I TRY (doesn't always happen) to do a project each day during naptime...but half our house is packed up to move so it's been frustrating lately. Hopefully we'll be moving in the near future so that I can get my sewing stuff organized!!

On Friday nights the kids take turns picking a movie & watching it in their room. Sometimes they build a fort on their bunkbed to sleep in, and sometimes they snuggle on the floor!

We've all been sick around here...& this picture of Addy & Cayden fully expresses how they feel!

I can't get enough of this little guy. He seriously melts my heart!!

Do these guys look like they are up to no-good? Ya, I think so, too!

Just look at that face! Don't you just want to chew on those cheeks? His skin is SOOO soft!