Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Family Pictures 2012

I am so grateful to have a wonderfully talented sister that takes our family pictures!! And all it costs me everytime is whatever I'm into making at the time... this year is a knit maxi skirt (my new obsession) and some earrings and a necklace. Darn good trade if you ask me. I asked Natalie to come help with pictures--she's great at being goofy, so I was hoping Abby would smile...but it was not to be.  Abby was AWFUL!! enough that the adults were getting really frustrated,,,,well on the way home we stopped at Brookside for a well-deserved Pepsi and while waiting in the drive-thru Abby pukes.  I mean pukes like none of my kids have puked before.  Nat is sitting right next to Abby and in her 5 week pregnant sick state thinks she's gonna lose it too.  We are boxed in and the line is moving slowly.  Nat and I change seats, she gets some paper towels for me, Abby screams, we finally get the pepsis, and the car stinks for the next week.  At least we knew why she was so horrible for pictures!
Loving our little Abby-Kat!! She is 2 and is full of "it".  She is shy around others, but lets it all out for our family.  She speaks very well, until she gets really excited and has something very important to say then we look at each other like, "was any of that english".  Lately her favorite sayings are, "mommy, wanna rock a minute" when she needs some snuggle time.  She loves to tell her brothers to, "stop it!" Spencer has taught her, "I'm sexy and I know it" with a little dance.  She will take monster naps, but not want to go to bed until 10:30, and the next day no nap and go to bed happily at 7:30.  This would drive me nuts with Cameron, but by #3 I have learned to just go with it.  I'm up late every night anyway, so 10:30 is ok, since she is so adorable and behaves so well, because she knows if there is one misstep it's back to bed.  She LOVES to be read to and we go through about 20 books before nap time each day.  I love to hear her "read along".  Oh we are enamored with this little one!



This kindergarten year has been so good for Spencer-he is 6. He has blossomed with his reading and LOVES school.   I love watching him when I am mothers helper twice a month.  He is a little clown, but when teacher speaks, he listens and obeys--now if we could get him to do it that consistently at home.  He is getting a bit of attitude and shows his frustration, but we have had long talks about respect and control and I see him really trying to control his emotions.  He loves his mommy and asks to snuggle several times a day. 


I swear Cameron is a little man. He is 8 1/2 yrs old and is understanding things way beyond his years....good and bad.  We have to watch what we say, because he understands many words, and what he doesn't understand he can figure by context.  He's always been a reader especially at night, but lately I hear the tv on and I will go check and he's on the couch with his back to the tv, reading.  School is really easy for him for now, but I'm wise enough to know it probably won't always be like that and it will be really interesting to see how he handles it.  He is trying to figure out how and who he fits in with at school.  There aren't many boys in the neighborhood that he can play with and sometimes he gets tired of having to arrange playdates, so many days he just chills or plays with Spencer.    I am enjoying his sense of humor and wit lately.. he's just like his daddy!









This was one of the last pictures we took...look at abby's little face--pure misery. Poor baby!





Richele caught on of Grandma's bubbles in the picture...made me laugh.


Tuesday, April 17, 2012

St. George

In March we went to St George with Grammy, Grampy and Shell, Greg (the Cooks-haha).
We stayed in a great condo with tons of room and a huge kitchen (very important to not be on top of each other as breakfast and lunch are being prepared simultaneously). I didn't get any pictures of the Ranger ride, or the 3 1/2 hours each day the boys spent in the pool, OR the Gypsum mine that I gathered a slew of gypsum that I have had a ball making jewelry from. Not so good at chronicling our lives in photos...oh well.

The outdoor patio looked out over the pool. Abby would yell "Hi" to passer-bys, and her brothers.


Grampy and Mini-me watching TV

Abby was such a trooper. It was a 3 mile round trip to the lava tubes and Abby walked most of the way---that's a long way for those little nubbin legs.


LOVE this picture...just need Mantha and Alex and I would have this framed!!


Inside the lava tubes. The kids were so excited that Daddy packed their headlamps.








Goofy smile


Chilling on the patio.

Saturday, March 31, 2012

Christmas in the Spring

Here are some pictures from Christmas. Which means I should be on track to have Easter pictures posted in the fall sometime. I have discovered I do not enjoy downloading pictures!!! That's the reason for the spotty blogging.

Abby LOVES her bed.
Such a good Daddy!! Tea time with Abby.
I could make a mural with all the pictures of at least 2 if not all 3 kiddos snuggled with Grammy in the lazy boy.
Not the best backdrop for a family picture, but it works
I had quite the fight with the boys on our christmas tree this year. I wanted a skinny and sparse tree, they didn't. I won, they didn't. It felt good!! The ornaments were made from squares of a quilt that my great-grandma Hannah Jacklin made. We all got a few squares of Hannah's quilt at the Family reunion last summer (thanks Reva Beth), and I thought ornaments would be perfect. I will love pulling them out every year.
I love their handwriting. I thought I kept the notes, but can't seem to find them. bummer



Chad spent a few cold evenings in the garage working on Christmas gifts for me. He fired up Mr. Heater and let the kids roast marshmallows and made them hot chocolate. Best daddy ever!!



Wearing our crowns from English Christmas Crackers. Spencer wasn't too happy to have his pictures taken with his on.


Abby put on her own headband and walked around with gloves on her feet all evening...so silly.



Making gingerbread houses...such a fun tradition. Grampy didn't get a bit of frosting on anything other than the house and I don't think Grammy got a bit of frosting on the house!!! So hilarious!


Projects, Projects, Projects

Just realized that I never posted this. Here are a few of last summer's projects. I really enjoyed sanding, painting, sanding and staining in the shade of the garage while the kiddos played outside. Now that spring is here, I am excited to come up with a few more
projects for the upcoming summer. Chad loved that other than moving the furniture he wasn't involved in another of my big ideas.



Mom gave us some of her old particle board furniture to play with. They need to be primed better next time, but I sand and rough them up anyway, so the occasional scratch blends in.




Our new piano/computer/sewing room. I absolutely LOVE it. Often in the evenings I am sewing, Chad is composing his music, the boys are on the computer and Abby is busy tearing apart the bookshelf. Fun family together time.










This room was under $50 to put together---had most of the furniture, all the paint, just had to buy a few containers and frames. Love doing things cheap!!!





Richele and I sanded and stained her kitchen table. Dad broke out the shiny white tile and placed the better looking stone tile. He's so good!!!





I asked Chad to throw away our old patio furniture a couple of years ago, but of course he didn't. This is one time I'm grateful for the pack-rat in him. My neighbor sands and paints furniture for flea markets in the summer. I love to walk across the street and purchase things "i must have" or get ideas for myself. It took a heck of a lot of sanding, but this was one of my favorites of the summer.





I painted the metal silver and painted them orange, yellow and purple. Then painted over it all with white and sanded much of the white off. LOVE IT!! For this summer I will find a fun rug and pillows to match the fun colors.





Got this idea from Pinterest. I love my fridge being free of pictures and papers, but I want the boys to display what they like. Just got some frames from the dollar store, painted them and added magnets to the back. I had more frames, but they went below the "destruction line" of Abby, so this will do for now.





Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Six year old little man!

Pencer-poo is SIX!! And he still allows me to call him Pencer-poo. I don't imagine that nickname will last much longer. He is still an interesting kid--doesn't allow many people to know him very well. I think Mom, Dad and Grammy are the only one who TRULY know him. And to know this kid is to love him. He still loves to snuggle with Mommy every chance he gets. Still won't give kisses to Daddy. Loves playing(and fighting) with Cameron and when Abby says his name it sounds like she is saying "princess"---and he doesn't get upset, even when Cam teases him about it. He has absolutely taken off in school, doing better than I ever imagined he would. I am so thrilled that he is loving learning.

Made his own VIP poster for school.


Telling his classmates about his poster.

Love that smile!!! He normally shies away from attention, but he was loving his birthday song.

Six year interview:
I am a: boy
I like to play with: Matthew
I am happy when I: play with toys
It makes me sad when: Cam teases me
I am scared of: ghosts
When I grow up I want to be: a policeman
Mom gets mad when I: don't clean up
Who loves me most: mom
I don't like to eat: salad