Advent Calendar

This is our advent calendar I made last year. I used little tins
that I can fill up with candy. This year I'm changing it up a bit. Instead of filling
the tins up with candy, I thought I would make
it more of something to help the kids think of Christ
during this time of year. So I found this really cool activity on lds.about.com
http://lds.about.com/library/bl/puzzles/christmas_advent_calendar.pdf
It has scriptures, activities and a puzzle piece for each day in December.
Each day the kids will get to open a tin read a scripture, do an
activity and put a piece of the puzzle together.
By Christmas the puzzle will be complete and the kids
will have made the manger scene. I hope
this will help my children remember the true meaning of
Christmas

Still not ready!

Thanksgiving done..............check pies eaten............check Christmas set up.................check changed blog background..................check staying up all night to get some awesome deals...................check! one sleepy mommy.................check nap...............?

Where do I begin?

Where do I begin to list all of the things I am thankful for? I have truly been blessed with so much. I have a beautiful healthy family who I adore! I'm so grateful to have a loving hard working husband who has a heart of gold. I'm thankful for my mother and for the strength she is to me. I'm blessed to have the best friends in the world!!! I'm thankful for the gospel and for all it is and gives me. I would be ungrateful if I didn't thank the person responsible for all of this and that is my Heavenly Father. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

I miss him

I can't believe it has been a year already. It seems like yesterday I was laughing with him, my brother, my only sibling. Now all I seem to do when I think of him is cry. I wish I could talk to him and hear him call me sissy. He always called me that. Even in front of his friends. He never was ashamed to talk like that about me to them. I was his sissy and the one he could tell all to, knowing I would NEVER judge him. I knew I could always talk to him about things as well. Now I have no brother and I will never get a chance to be an auntie. That really hurts. I'm not sure why God has taken him away from us, but I do know it was for a reason. I know I will see him again. I know I will hug him till we fall! I can't wait for the day I can do that!! As for now, I will think about him everyday and think about what he is up to. I hope he knows how much I love him. Till we meet again little brother. I love you!

Giving thanks

Tonight for family home evening I wanted to let the kids have a chance to think of some things they are grateful for. So I decided to cut strips of paper and have them (me) write those things down. After we wrote the things we are grateful for I put them in a pumpkin jar. I'm going to read them to everyone on Thanksgiving. But then I got to thinking, maybe instead of throwing the strips away in a few days, we could make a paper chain with the strips and use it on our Christmas tree!! In our home we have two Christmas trees. One in the living room and one in the family room. The one in the family room is the kids tree. That tree has fun toy ornaments and ornaments that have been passed down over the years. It will be a perfect tree for our "thankful chain"

What a bond

I realized this weekend how much Avery and Bailey love each other. Avery got hurt on Saturday and cried like I have never heard her cry before. I tried to comfort her and she calmed down a little bit, but wouldn't stop crying completely. Bailey came over and Avery reached for her and as soon as she was in Bays arms she stopped crying!!! It made me cry! Not that I couldn't get her to stop crying, but because they have such a loving bond. Avery loves her sissy. Bailey has taken over with Avery. She carries her around the house, She changes her, feeds her, plays with her and even rocks her. She has turned into a real mother hen. I hope they continue to have this special bond as they get older.

Moon Cheese?

We were telling stories last night as a family. We each get a chance to make up a story about anything we want. My story was about a couple of kids that got to fly up in space. I asked the kids what they thought was up in space and Bay said "cheese." I was taken back and tried not to laugh and asked her why she thinks that and she said "well the moon has holes in it so it must be made of cheese!

Bay age 7

Big Girl

Avery has mastered pulling herself up onto things!! Here we found her
standing up in her crib! She was so proud of herself.

Avery has been trying to climb stairs lately. I'm super sad about it!! I feel like she is growing up on me so fast. I look back on pictures of her when she was born and it's hard to believe she was ever that little. I miss my little baby!

Giving Thanks

Be thankful that you don't already have everything you desire.
If you did, what would there be to look forward to?

Be thankful when you don't know something,
for it gives you the opportunity to learn.

Be thankful for the difficult times.
During those times you grow.

Be thankful for your limitations,
because they give you opportunities for improvement.

Be thankful for each new challenge,
because it will build your strength and character.

Be thankful for your mistakes.
They will teach you valuable lessons.

Be thankful when you're tired and weary,
because it means you've made a difference.

It's easy to be thankful for the good things. A life of rich fulfillment comes to those who are also thankful for the setbacks.

Gratitude can turn a negative into a positive. Find a way to be thankful for your troubles, and they can become your blessings.

Ha Ha

Today I looked at Avery while she was getting into something and called her a little turd. I then hear Carson say "No, Carson is a turd not Avery. I'm a turd" He is right though, he is a turd!

Kids say the funniest things

I love to write down things my kids say that are funny and cute. I have decided to keep track of them on my blog.

Bailey (age 7)
Logan, I have a bigger brain than you because I'm older and have a better remember.

Avery is now crawling around and keeps me very busy. I swear the second she is on the move she becomes a human vacuum. I find mostly legos in her mouth. I'm constantly telling the boys to keep them off of the floor, but who am I kidding? I've been really sad about her crawling. She is only 7 months old and I don't remember my other kids crawling so soon. I want her to slow down and stay a baby forever! I think I feel this way because I know she is our last little one. I know I will miss having a baby in the house. I can see why some people have 8 kids.

My costume

As many of you know I LOVE Halloween.
It's my favorite time of year.
This year our ward had an adult Halloween party.
I decided to go as a queen bee. Poor Morgan went
as a worker bee. I have to get the picture of him on here next.
He wore a tool belt, a hard hat that I glued antenna to and even wings!
When I decided to have him wear a stinger, he said I was
going to far! I'm lucky he even wore some antenna LOL
It was all worth it in the end because we won the
costume contest.

Here is my Halloween costume.

My beautiful homemade wings.

Avery's first hair cut

Before

Avery needed a hair cut really bad. I swear she was born with a wig! She was 5 months old when I finally decided to cut it.

Avery getting the mullet chopped

She did so good sitting in her bumbo.
After


It looks like she has a bob!

HaLlOwEeN

Halloween in my favorite holiday. I try and make it a really fun Month.
On Halloween day we made slime! It's really easy and the kids love the mess!
Of course we had to be in our costumes : )

In your first bowl you add 2 bottles of glue to a 3/4 c. of warm water.
Then add food coloring and mix well.

In your second bowl, mix 4 teaspoons of borax
to 1 1/3 cups of warm water

Add your borax to the glue mixture but do not stir.
Let sit for 1 min. Then you have slime!

Here is what we had for our Halloween dinner. Mummy dogs!