Back into Food Storage

Hey Everybody! Yep, I'm back at it...again! Anyway, found this link on a friend's blog, tried it and really am impressed. This lets me know exactly how long we can survive on what we have. Pretty impressive! Best of all....its FREE! So, go ahead and try it out! Great way to get started and keep track!

Popcorn Poof Hair

So, she looked so cute today with these little popcorn poofs on top! So grown up! This picture doesn't do it justice! I was so proud! See the next post to see what it looked like after nap time.

Updates

So, since I have so many kids now ;) I thought its about time for them each to have a little moment in the spotlight. Starting with the baby.....

MASON CHRISTOPHER - 8 weeks
Our little Mason boy is really chunking up! He weighs almost 12 pounds now and today is his 8 week birthday! He is sleeping 6-7 hours at night and is the best little guy! He is great at smiling on demand and is starting to coo. He is so good! We can't remember life without him!

CHLOE - 2
The hair says it all huh. I spend time every morning combing her hair to have her take it all out at nap time and wake up with it like this. She got this dress up outfit for Christmas and while she is all decked out in these pictures, the shoes are her favorite part. She wears them all the time with everything. She has an obsession! She is at such a fun age though. VERY independent. She even insists on going potty all by herself now (good and bad). She talks non-stop and is pretty smart. She refers to Mason as "bubbers" and often asks when he's nursing if he is having chocolate milk or regular milk. When I say regular she points to the other side and says, "Oh, this one is chocolate huh." She adores her big brother and does anything and everything he tells her to. If he wants her to go downstairs in the dark, she'll do it. She is our sugar and spice and on most days we'll keep her.

LOGAN SETH - 3 1/2
I can't believe my baby is almost 4! He is a big primary boy now and loves it! He has wonderful teachers and he is constantly asking questions about the things he is learning. He LOVES to be with his daddy and reminds me at least once a week that when he is big like daddy he is going to go to daddy's school with him. He takes such good care of Chloe and Mason. He knows almost all of his letters and their sounds and loves to have Chloe sit on his lap and "read" to her. It is too cute. He loves to play and tease and stall bedtime for at least 45 minutes. He likes to sing and spin and talks constantly (am I seeing a recurring theme in my kids?). We tried to watch a movie the other night as a family that he hadn't seen and 15 minutes into it we had about 100 questions already. It was a LONG movie!

We are so grateful for such good kids. They are so much fun and teach us so much. Life would not be complete without them.

A little FUN!

So we've had some crazy weather these past few weeks. One of the highlights was a day in the upper 50's and daddy having a day off! So, we did what any family would do and took our kids to the park. Logan loved to ride his bike around and Chloe would run circles up and down the slide.

However, not all days are full of daddy being home and sunshine outside so we have to improvise. With Grandma's help (okay, grandma made it and I helped some) we made the kids a teepee for Christmas. Fortunately, Chloe's tunnels she got last year can lead right into it! Its been a blast for them and a lifesaver for me!

Pictures

Six weeks old today! Wow, I can't believe how fast it is going! It is getting harder to remember what life was like without him! He is still such a good baby and is surviving life with two very loving older siblings. He is roughly weighing about 10 pounds already and smiles all the time! The only imperfection I've found with this perfect baby is that he doesn't care for the camera, hence the few shots. The older siblings taking part and holding, squeezing, kissing and mauling him might have contributed to that imperfection though.


I LOVE feet pictures! Especially when it is my kid's feet! They all have these little fat, square, squeezy feet!





I love these kids so much! They keep getting cuter, smarter and so much more fun to be with! They do come with their adventurous side but I'm learning to relax some and enjoy the ride. I'm starting to realize that these ages don't last forever, and while somedays I'm grateful for that ;) most of the time it makes me want to hold them just a little bit longer. Have a great day everybody!

And Finally Christmas and all that Comes with It

Someday I'll really learn how to put these in the order I want them in. Anyway, Christmas! We had a great time in Arizona with family and as always, the kids were very well taken care of! This is a picture of them opening the teepee mom made with some much needed help from Grandma. They love it! We didn't get the pipes that make it stand up like a teepee until we came home so we didn't have to haul six-six foot long pipes home but we showed them how it works with the Wilkins that was at Grandmas. So much fun!

This is Chloe's present from Santa. A high chair and a new baby! As a kid we had cabbage patch dolls so this is Chloe's first. The high chair was mine when I was a little girl and we thought it'd be fun for her to have it now. Cute huh!
Logan got a Smart Cycle. A bike that plugs into the tv and has games with numbers, letters, shapes, spelling, etc. He really likes it! He is learning how to pedal now. At first he had one of his naive cousins pedal while he steered! Smart kid!

After the morning at the Skinners we headed down to my parents and as always had a blast! The kids loved playing with cousins, having papa find candy in their ears and just being with everyone. Times like that make me sad for them not getting to be there more often.
And what family Christmas would be complete without a nativity? (And yes, Mary does have a black eye)
Mason had the staring role. He did it perfectly even though he had to stop in the middle of his dinner to make his debut. He's a natural!
The big brother got to play Joseph or Bofus as well call him at our house. Hopefully soon we can get some video of Logan singing "When 'Bofus' Went to Bethlehem". And yes again, his blanky was a part of the show.
And for the second year in a row, the cute little sheep! She wasn't a huge fan but did it anyway as long as she could sit on Grandma's lap.

These next few are of the spur of the moment talent show with Seth's family. Chloe declined to participate but Logan sang when Bofus went to Bethlehem, the entire song all by himself. It seriously brought tears to my eyes.

And last but most importantly not least we were able to bless baby Mason in my parents ward with our families there. It was such a sweet blessing and an overall great day.
We had such a great trip and are looking forward to a new year full of lots of new and exciting things!

Some Winter Fun

Of course we couldn't go to Arizona without riding the horses. Caden (a cousin) rode Lucky and the kids got to ride Poncho. The LOVED it! Logan got to go first and Chloe was so heartbroken thinking she wasn't going to get a turn. Daddy saved the day though and they all LOVED it! Look at the awesome Arizona Christmas weather! Perfect for riding and playing outside.

Snow doesn't stop us from being outside though. The kids got a sled from some awesome friends for Christmas and daddy was talked into taking them out to pull them around in it. It was a blast! They even built a ramp and it was so much fun! Logan wasn't too happy about his little crash but jumped up and went again!