Off to School

Collin still thinks every morning that he'll get lucky and get to go to school with the kids.

Every morning he's devastated...

PPP Family Night

Our school had a family night at Peter Piper Pizza. There were all kinds of competitions throughout the night that the kids got to participate in: hot pizza (hot potato), skee-ball tournament, basketball competition, and the kids' favorite, ice cream eating contest.

Olivia won...(not a surprise if you've ever seen her eat ice cream. Spoons are optional!!

We'll call it a FABULOUS night! we ended up being there for almost 4 hours!(I was working the raffle table for the PTSA) I would think the kids would say that was a success!

Sometimes you need a hand

Sometimes life gets rough...and you just need someone to hold your hand.

Good thing we've got big sisters!

A Better View

Life looks a whole lot different from 4ft high!

No matter how many times I pulled him off, he climbed right back on...

Don't Crib!

The dreaded day happened. It was naptime and Collin freaked out that he was sleeping in his crib, yet again. He just kept crying, "Don't crib! Don't crib!" I put his mattress on the floor and he climbed right on.

Knows Me Too Well

My sweet husband knows me too well. My favorite flower is tulips, and he surprised me on a morning that I REALLY needed a surprise, with some beautiful tulips. I love him so much!

The Truth Be Told

After a LOOOOOONG time of struggling each morning to go to school or even church and of Bubba complaining at various times throughout the day (during times of homework or chores) that he doesn't feel well and that his throat hurts, I decided to take him into the doctor to make sure he has a clean bill of health before I continue to lovingly shove him out the door each morning...

Turns out he has a pretty bad case of STREP THROAT! So we have a few more days home with some antibiotics and hopefully this poor little boy will truly be feeling better soon.

Also had them check Collin out because he's been waking up at various times throughout the night crying. I thought it might just be teething...nope, ear infection.

I feel like I should be awarded a trophy for the Mother of the Year!

Too Old

My baby is getting too old (and too grown up looking) for her own good!

Reasons to Cry

Reasons Why We're Crying:

We wanted to slide down the slide, but not walk up the ladder in the back...

Mom made the chicken nuggets for lunch that I wanted and asked for...

We don't want people to say there are cookies on my shirt (when there are cookies on his shirt)

Well, at least we're not unreasonable!

Cub Scout Fundraiser

We had the best fundraiser with our cub scouts this weekend! We did a spaghetti dinner with an auction. Our part was a .25 store for the kids. It was so much fun putting it together! We got a lot of little trinkets from the after Valentine's Day sales, and the rest from the dollar store. 

We had rubber animals, gel clings, magic scratchers, spinning tops, frisbyees, little cars, bracelets, bubbles, all sorts of candy and the big hit of the night, MYSTERY EGGS!

It was so much fun to have something for the kids to do during the auction. Usually they are running a muck around the room while the parents try and listen for the specific things that they want in the auction, but here, they were spending a quarter at a time getting all their favorite junk! We were definitely a huge hit!

There were so many fun things to be auctioned! Sports items, tickets to upcoming events, the symphony, movies, handmade items, gift certificates, and so so many delicious desserts! The ward really put all their best out there for the auction, and the bidding was phenomenal!

In fact, everything Shayne and I wanted to bid on went for almost twice what we could pay!! We ended up with NOTHING at the end of the night, just kept getting outbid.

The cubscouts were hoping to come up with the $700 that they needed to attend Daycamp for all of our cubscouts in the ward. After the final tally, they raised over $2300! WooHoo!

It was such a fun activity, I think the entire ward enjoyed it!

School Dances

I'm still not ok with my oldest being old enough to attend school dances. It's just not OK. Even more so, she wants to get ready for these dances with her friends, at their house! This is her and her bestie (this year) Ivanka getting ready for the dance. She brought only the essentials: lip gloss, gum, extra deoderant, nail polish and some perfume. (I am afraid for the time when she can wear makeup!) 

She had a BLAST at the dance. She and her little group of friends hung out together the whole night dancing away. 

School Anxiety

Bubba has been having some struggles going to school lately. He's feeling a lot of anxiety and says that his throat hurts each morning before school. Both my girls experienced this in the middle of Kindergarten, and so I informed his teacher and she's been sending me little updates throughout the days showing how he's doing once he gets there. Looks like he's having a grand ol' time in Kindergarten!

Mardi Gras

Shayne surprised the kids with some traditional Mardi Gras food (I'm told they are Paczki? Pronounced Punch-key?) We don't celebrate Mardi Gras but who are we to turn down some traditional delicious danishes...ever?

Big Hero 6

With the new release of Big Hero 6, we celebrated a fun movie with some Baymax bread.

Blah-la-la-la-la

Teddy Bear Picnic

Collin's preschool class had their Teddy Bear Picnic. No matter how hard I tried to get him to take a teddy bear, he would have no part in it. He was taking a Ninja Turtle, and that's final! Raphael had a fabulous time playing at recess and at the park, and Collin thought it was absolutely amazing that he was allowed to take an "indoor" toy over to the park.

Lunch Date

For Olivia's lunch date, she wanted to go off-campus, to a local little diner called Freddy's. She thought it was fantastic to get checked out of school for no other reason than to go get some lunch together. Collin wasn't complaining either...he quite enjoys going on everyone's lunch dates!

Olivia's favorites are the fries...small and crispy.

Just contemplating the deeper mysteries of life...

Artist Life

Our budding artist could paint, color, draw, cut, glue, and glitter all day long. Really, all. day. long.

Fresh Squeezed Lemonade

My children think the ONLY reason to have a lemon tree is to have fresh squeezed lemonade. With lots and lots of sugar!! I usually regret it afterwards, but how can you say no??

Jedi Training

Bubba and his best bud Adrien had to go in the back yard to fight off ninjas and foot soldiers and all sorts of bad guys in their Jedi training. I love childhood, and watching little boys in the middle of childhood nonsense makes my heart happy.

Happy President's Day

Our ward started doing a fundraiser where the boy scouts will come by on all the major patriotic holidays and place a flag in your front yard. I love it. It reminds me of Utah where you would see all the streets lined with flags every holiday. 

Valentine's Day Spoils

I love when the magic of a class party is the highlight of a week! It's sad that Olivia is growing out of the excitement of class parties. I don't even think she dumped out all her valentines to look at them. Izzy on the other hand is still very much loving the excitement of a holiday!

First "REAL" Valentines party

Bubba informed me that today was his first "REAL" Valentine's day. The past five years didn't count apparently. Stuff isn't real until you are in kindergarten I guess..

Roving Chef

Our school district has a program called "Roving Chef" where a chef visits all the schools, takes some of the students on a tour of the kitchen, etc. and then they cook together to provide lunch for the front office. Olivia was chosen as one of the student chefs, and make calzones for the front office. She had a BLAST!!

Great weather

I love Arizona in February. We have the perfect weather for parks and playing outside! We have to soak it up and do it as much as possible because once May hits, we'll be stuck inside.

Valentine's Boxes

This is the first year EVER that my kids had to make Valentine's boxes! I don't know how we've skated past creating these, but WOW they are a lot of work! Especially with pinterest and my kids looking at all these amazing mailboxes that include a band saw and a knowledge of welding...we ended up compromising and They still turned out pretty cute!

Olivia wanted an old-fashioned mailbox with a pull out front to slip the valentines in.

Of course Bubba would want Donatello.

Izzy went for an iPod theme.

Collin didn't have a choice and got the easiest to make, a monster...