Track Break Updates

We've been MIA for a bit.  With track break, we're all off schedule.  I figured I should post something before we head off for our Disneyland trip. 

*****

Kylie's in year-round school, so we're off the whole month of November- which has really been fun... it's only Nov. 9th but I've been putting her to work!

Some painting, Kacey too after naptime... hence the hair :)

And our (their) creations:

~Apples~ Autumn~ Falling Leaves~

hard to see with paint but it's still cute

*I love hearing the Christmas music ringing through my house!!!  So fun, we're listening to songs in the car.  It's funny to see the songs the girls like- Kylie loves Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree, and she always asks me to turn it up. 

I've also begun, well next to finished my family's Christmas shopping.  It's been lots of fun, great deals are to be had.  First time I've ever found coupons for toys... wow!  I feel relieved to be all done, like I can fully enjoy the Christmas season without something hanging over my head--- which is what I fully intend to do. 

Also on that note of enjoying the season- avoiding the hussle and bustle, if you usually get a Christmas present from us this year.. anticipate a New Years gift instead.  I had a friend do that last year, and she was able to get a lot more things accomplished with her kids, and baking and decorating, making holiday crafts, doing new traditions, because she put stuff aside and put what matter most first.   And avoiding the post office at all costs before Christmas will definitely lower stress levels.  So, I think it's a great idea to slow down the holiday craziness and enjoy the spirit of the season a bit more. So we'll try it :)

Playing Catch-Up

Fall Family Picture at the park

Last Sunday, Afternoon Pictures

Kadyn and I are missing.  She was running a temperature for 2 days, I just couldn't get her below 100.  It finally broke Sunday evening.  No other symptoms until...

Late Tuesday night/early Wednesday morning.  She didn't sleep a wink, she was sooooo irritable.  Life was not good.  We ended up getting really nervous, freaking out... your mind can do crazy things when your concerned about your baby.  Long story short.  Off we went to the ER.  They gave her a crazy diagnosis, ear infection and a couple other things.  Gave me 5 different medicines to dope her up on, over the next week.  Insane.  I made a dr appt with my ped later Wednesday afternoon.  She didn't have an ear infection or anything else the stupid ER dr diagnosed her with.  My ped told me to give her baby Tylenol and trash the rest of the meds I was given.  Idiot dr.  I'm highly annoyed, the dr spent all of 60 seconds with us- with no other patients at the ER, it was empty... there's just no excuses and hopefully this isn't the last you'll hear about it from me.  We're taking it further... this isn't going to fly.  Anyways...

******

So long story... well long... she's doing much much better. 

(And don't go to Centennial ER.)

*******

Friday's Trunk or Treat!!!

Please don't ask what Matthew is... I'm still not sure.  He said that he's Cal Noorda (a friend in our ward) going through Med school a few years back.  (?)  The lovely 4 of us are witches... as I ask my husband, "You didn't know you lived with 4 witches, did you?"  He politely smiled and said, "I'm not answering that... I'm not saying a thing!" :)  Smart Man.

Aren't those jackets darling! :)

Fall Photos

We got photos done of the girls today...

There were ducks... the girls were scared to death.  We'd get them seated and a duck (or 50) would come over, start making noises... Kacey would go running and screaming.  (Besides that it interrupted alot of our picture taking, it was funny.)

Yes, we're a walking Gymboree ad.

Oh, and we just got her ears pierced a few days ago.

Mainly, good times were had by all.  But we did have a meltdown.  I love Kadyn's face here.  Right after this picture, Kylie walked off, she's like "I'm done, I'll be in the car."  Attitude already!

This one's my favorite: Kadyn blowing her nose.  I love this sweet child!!!!

Thankful Thursday

Moments of Peace...

so few and far between, but really nice when they happen :)

(you like how there's a Kohl's bag draped over the backseat... we must have tuckered them out!)

Sunday Afternoon Pictures

The weather was nearly 90 today, beautiful day.

*****

Rough day though... if you saw me, yes I was on the verge of tears most of the afternoon.  I spent most of the morning deciding if I wanted to go or not, with my parents to the Vet... decided against it.  Sooner remember her like this.  We explained to the girls that Tay was going to live with Heavenly Father.  Kylie came to the conclusion that Tay would take a plane to live with Heavenly Father again.  I said that was most likely the case.

Taylor 1/20/98 - 10/18/2009

Until we meet again :)

Stick with Grandpa Duffitt, he'll give you the best food!

Sunday Afternoon Pictures

How do you know it's Fast Sunday?

Momma's super cranky, that's how!  When I realized that I'd fasted about 7 hours longer than Matthew (longer than necessary really), I downed about 4,000 calories in about 20 minutes... I was starved!  Did I mention it took Matthew FOREVER to get home today after church clean-up... and the fact that I was hungry didn't help.  I'm not nice when I'm hungry.  Luckily, we had Chili's leftovers!!!

Wow, look at Kylie.... she looks so old to me. :(

Yes, new dresses... part of my Gymboree fun shopping times! 

Okay, now we've entered the dreaded phase... the every Sunday, "how much longer does she have until she can go into Nursery so I can actually listen in church without standing in the hallway with a tired, mobile baby??? phase."  That and I was hungry, as stated above... so I was slightly irritable too. :)  But don't be confused, she may be gorgeous... but she's one stubborn little thing.  I think (please, I hope I'm wrong) more than Kylie was at this age.  Ugh, the toddler years...

Daddy/Daughter Dates

Daddy/Daughters Date Night on Friday.  They went to see Toy Story 1 & 2.  Kadyn and I went shopping! :)  It was really strange for the girls to be gone for  nearly 6 hours during the late afternoon/evening.  I was thinking about it; I don't think I've ever been away from them that long- other than when I'm in the hospital giving birth or last year when Kylie and Matthew went to Disneyland.  It was odd, anyway they had lots of fun and ate hot dogs, nachos, pretzels/cheese, popcorn, and soda galore. 

Here's to the Legacy.

This is a blog post from one of my roommates from BYU, Nicole (Dirle) Shiffler.  She has two young girls (not in school yet) and she just had twin girls... she's amazing and this post is incredible!  Nicole, perfectly said!!!

http://exclusivelyshiffler.blogspot.com/2009/10/easy.html

Genes

Some things are just genetic, it's just in there somewhere in the DNA.

Kylie: "YAY, YAY, I've got Sketchers.  Look at my new Sketchers Kacey.  Do you like them?  They're new.  Mommy bought them.  Sketchers, sketchers, I love sketchers!"  She did this all day, and she showed everyone her new Sketchers.

*Love of shoes, that's SOOOO Matthew.
I love shoes too, but Matthew-- and Bryan more so-- overpower me.*

Kylie: "Here Kacey, you can have this.  This is fake money, it's not real, you can play with it.  Here, you can take it, I'll take this.  This is real money, here take all the fake money.  I'll take all the real money."

*Yup, that trait I claim.*

Thankful Thursday

... on Friday, but whatever.

****

I LOVE going into my girls' bedrooms at like 9:30 at night, they're all fast asleep. It's amazing, I look at each one and think: "where has the time gone?!" And "how on earth did you get sooo big!"

I was looking at Kylie last night while she slept, my goodness, I blinked and she went from Kadyn's size to this huge nearly 6 year old. She'll be taller than me by 5th grade. I just know it! And Kacey, wow. She looks the way I think Kylie should be- size wise, age wise. I feel like I'm 3 years behind and life should be 3 years earlier... no way everyone's this old and this big. And somewhere in my mind, I'm still shocked that I have a 3rd (baby girl nonetheless, how blessed am I?). I think I should still be pregnant with Kadyn, but nope... a year has passed since I had her!!! WOW, reality check Nicole :)

But I love going into each of their bedrooms and watching them sleep peacefully. They're sweet little cheeks and mouth, so precious. I'm always astounded though at how big they may be, but how Kylie and Kacey still look like they were when they were little babies as they sleep. That I'll never understand. And every night, I vow tomorrow to be more patient with each one and be a better mom, to be less worried about what doesn't matter... because before I know it, they'll be in college. And let's face it, that's gonna be a bad day. Survived the first day of school, but the hits keep coming.... and college seems far away, but after these 5.5 years I know it's right around the corner.

Sunday Afternoon Pictures

Sunday was our Primary Program, so my parents came to watch Kylie. It was really wonderful. I'm always amazed how the leaders can oraganize and plan so well to get so many kids all in unison and have it work out so nicely. I wrote out Kylie's part for her, and we'd practiced it a couple times. She did so great, how she can remember "modern day revelation" and "eternal destiny" I'll never know... then she stumbles over "of." She did such a good job, we were so proud of her!

*Matthew had stake meetings ALL morning :( so he never made it home for any of our pictures. Catch him next week!

Thankful Thursday

For this post, I am anticipating being thankful.... because someone is going to leave a comment with an answer to a problem, and I'm going to be very thankful.

*****

So, we have this little lizard that lives in our entry way (outside not in). And everyone (my husband) keeps telling me "lizards are good, they're pest control, blah blah, it's more scared of you." You know what... I'm pretty scared of him. Yes he runs like heck when he sees me, which is usually daily. I scream when I see him, neighbors must think I'm on something. We're trying to be nice, we call him Larry. He's only about 4 inches long. But you know what, Larry has a friend. And Larry's friend is bigger and fatter which makes me think Larry is a Libby, and Larry's friend should be named Larry. And sometimes when I walk down my driveway (like to get the trash cans, like today). I see a little lizard run through the rocks. NOT COOL LARRY/LIBBY whoever the heck you are. I want them gone. I don't need lizard pest control that's why I pay $40 a month for a nice man to come and spray as pest control. So other than me going Commando on this lizard and chasing him with a kitchen knife... any ideas????

Sunday Afternoon Pictures

One and only picture today, then the camera battery died! :)

**Not much time for blogging lately. I'm bogged down with driving to and from school/preschool, getting my errands rushed through and done on time for pick-ups, then there's PTA $$$, and 2 big Enrichments within a month of eachother... and I've been on a huge kick of decluttering, donating, and throwing away with stuff in the house. It feels great!

Kadyn's ONE!

I can't believe my baby's 1. Time flies... I was laying in bed last night, playing the "a year ago this time, I was..." game. Amuse me... but last night the same movie was on tv, that was on a year ago (The Wedding Date- Debra Messing). I know because I was in labor all night, and I watched it in the hospital in between contractions. So I stayed up last night and watched it again. :)

*****

I made fun little ice cream cake cones for her birthday, and of course a mini baby cake just for her to dig into...

We went to Famous Dave's today with my folks for lunch to celebrate, you know because she loves barbeque! :) It was super fun and yummy.

Yes, I'm behind her trying to snap my finger up in the air to get her to smile and look up at Matthew's phone. We had a relaxing day... by the pool! :)

MY baby girl!!! Look at that top tooth coming in, it's huge!
She's a little nervous, we were all singing.

The girls inherited my voice. When she realized there was icing on the candle, she totally bit right down.
Look at how sweet and daintily she's picking up her little birthday cake.
Very careful, not to make a mess.Right now she's thinking, "this is pretty good."Let me get in there...CLEAN ME!
*****

Sunday Afternoon Pictures

Kadyn and I stayed home, on the mend. She got sick the night Matthew got home. She ate off my plate, from what I thought I got food poisoning from. But we're both much better! Big thank to everyone for your concern and all your phone calls :)

Thankful Thursday

I'm probably more sick than I have ever been. I think I had food poisoning for longer than anyone should have food poisoning. I lost 5 pounds in 12 hours, and the pain afterwards was just unbearable. Did I mention that all this began about 3 hours before Matthew had to leave for a business trip to LA?!! Did I mention this was a big week for me?--- The Enrichment I've been preparing 2 months for, and a PTA Meeting where I should've presented the yearly budget. Ugh, I missed everything.

********

My sweet, wonderful mom has done everything for me! She's been on top of my housework, school pick up/drop off, lunches, tuckering out my girls so they'll nap, so I can nap... even coming back over to make dinner for the girls (because food is just not a good thing to me right now) and do baths.

Mom, you're the greatest! :)

Sunday Afternoon Pictures

We've had a great weekend guys, thanks for coming to visit! The girls are going to be heartbroken when you all leave.

Kacey's 3!!!

Kacey's spent the last 3 days celebrating her 3rd birthday, which is officially today!

****

Thursday, she was treated like a princess at Preschool. I brought cupcakes in and she shared with all her friends. They sang to her and she got pretty bracelets!

Then, day 2 she got Uncle Bryan, Aunt Rosie and Uncle Aaron for her birthday- she's been saying that all week! And we partied at Claim Jumper, in my previous post. Super fun!

********

Today, her actual birthday... we went to Cici's with my parents. Happy group!

Pretty Girl.

Kadyn LOVED the balloons!

Kacey got a ton of presents, too many to name... but thank you to everyone who remembered her. She loved everything.

I searched high and low and found "Goofy's Son" (1 and 2) on dvd. She loves it, but a while back Daddy erased it from the dvr. She was heartbroken, oh my gosh.. traumatic! So she was so excited to get it... and now she can watch it anywhere in the house!

Uncle Bryan and Aunt Rose got her way cute stuff, but this bag is adorable! It's a castle with doors, that open. Kylie and Kacey play with it constantly.

I started feeling really badly for Kylie. It's not her special day, she knew that. I could see in her little eyes that she'd remind herself it was Kacey's birthday... not her toys to play with. Kinda sad. BUT Uncle Bryan and Rosie got her some special princess school supplies, even though it was Kacey's birthday :) So that was really nice.

I can't believe my little Kacey is three.... my baby who didn't sleep through the night until she was 18 months. My baby who cried for the first year of her entire life (no lie), who never slept but for a few moments in the swing, who never, ever, ever took a bottle... My baby who could understand everything I said, even at a super early age. The doctor was amazed by her comprehension at 12 months and her ability to follow directions. My baby who would melt into my chest, crawl into my body if she could just to be held closer and tighter. My baby who crawls in our bed every morning just to get her cuddles and share my pillow. My sensitive, fragile little baby.... she's a big girl now, she's in preschool for crying outloud. When did this happen!! Kacey, we love you more than words can say. You're a very, very special little girl.

Yummy!

Why do we not go to Claim Jumper more often?

So yummy! We had the best time, laughing and eating.We sang Happy Birthday to Kacey in honor of her 3rd birthday tomorrow.And we ordered desserts- 5 to be specific. Kylie, Kacey, and Uncle Bryan each got a cupcake. Matthew and I had the best lemon deliciousness you could ever imagine. And Rose and Aaron shared the whip cream covered football.... it was enormous. Aaron let us down, he only ate half. (To which he's going to say, BUT I ate all that food beforehand, I could eat it all if I hadn't eaten a huge dinner!)

*** So we came home and decided to do a nighttime swim in the pool. OH MY GOODNESS, if we only were video taping it... we'd win the big bucks on America's Funniest Home Videos! Bryan going down the little kiddie slide into the pool... HA! We didn't think it would get funnier than that... but then Matthew went down. The noises and faces they unknowingly made, I have not laughed that hard in a long time. THEN Bryan had to go back down, and he accidently took the slide with him in the pool. SOOOO hilarious! It's been such a fun night, we love it when you guys come visit!

Send them!

It's on everything from Cheerios and other cereals, to Ziplocs, Betty Crocker, Huggies, Hefty, Cottenelle, Pillsbury... they're everywhere!

It's an awesome program for the schools! If you have them and want to help, send them to me!!! I'm PTA Treasurer and it will do wonders for our budget. And if Kylie's class racks them in, her class gets rewarded! :) :) :)

Kacey's First Day of Preschool

Kacey started with Mrs. Tate today, she was so excited! I can't believe that 2 years ago, we were starting Kylie with this. Time flies.

****

Afterwards, I asked Kacey if she wanted to go back on Thursday. She yelled, "NO." Which instantly put a pit in my stomach. But she quickly responded, "I want to go back NOW. Not Thursday." So a very successful day. Tate's awesome, I love that preschool. She's so good with them, they learn so much! This year the class is all girls, I'm sure Kacey feels right at home. Showing off her Crayola Princess Bookbag. She's only worn it non-stop for a week now since Kylie started Kindergarten! Ugh, since when did she get so big!!!MY BABY! I was so in denial, I didn't want to leave her. She's all, "Bye Mom." Didn't even look back. :( Matthew had to pry me away.


That's an arm full! Luckily he has good balance.

My cuties.

One of Little Miss Kylie. She got a penny today for good behavior, had 5 pennies to give to exchange for a pencil, and she said the Pledge of Alligence all by herself, correctly, and got a little mini flag to take home! (She knew the Pledge from practicing it from Mrs. Tate's preschool... "indivisible" was something we had to work on a bit!) Good girl, I'm so proud of you!!! :)

Sunday Afternoon Pictures

I love how Kadyn's holding onto Matthew's ear.

The most random things happen in our Sunday Afternoon Picture Collection!!!

The girlies. I know, I should've worn pink.

I don't do black for my girls. I don't think they own one thing, top or bottom or dress that's black.

Kacey doing a curtsy.... random. (?)

Kadyn loves to clap... she's even starting to stand all on her own. That is until she realizes that she's doing it, then she falls :)

New School Year Organization

My little projects that have been in the works now for a bit, are all finished!

*****

With Kylie in Kindergarten (which by the way Day 2, not as successful... she doesn't like Big School, she likes Little School -aka Preschool- and she wants Ms. Tate back... Good times, tomorrow morning should be fun!), So with Kylie in Kindergarten and Kacey in Preschool, they both will have homework. I got this idea out of a Parents Magazine to make a "Homework Station" with a tripod board and decorate it with all their school supplies. It also separates them, so their homework time will be productive. Kylie goes, "Mom, this is totally awesome!"

Too bad I can't spray it or something to keep it neat and new looking forever, I can only imagine how "loved" it's going to look. But I can't complain, it was super cheap due to my alter ego, The Finance Lady. :)

***

Next item for organization, life in general. Hmm, responsibilities keep loading on. So I bought this, and Matthew diligently put it together after a long day's work and evening 4 hour class. My anticipation was crazy when it came UPS yesterday afternoon. The boxes were huge and I opened everything up, Matthew knew I'd bother him until he put it up!!! He did a great job getting it all level. Props to Pottery Barn because they make it all even numbered and easy to work out the measurements-- it's not funky like a lot of things I've made him hang before.

Close Up

*It's not crooked, the photographer is. It's like 10:45 pm at this point... me being up since 6 am.

Sunday Afternoon Pictures & Kylie's First Day of School

Okay, our new spot for Sunday Afternoon Pictures :)

*********

And, I survived the first day of school! I was okay~~ really I was, all this morning. Getting up and ready was no problem, Matthew made a special breakfast for Kylie (toast with the marshmellows from the Lucky Charms decorated on top), Kylie had a special Father's Blessing last night (which put me more at ease) So, I was good to go. Then it hit me on the drive to school. :( My baby, my first child... she's in kindergarten, from this moment on, she will always be in school. We will always have first days, this is huge... and the tears began.

Yes, I dress them the same every day.

Nice quick family shot.

The girls from class :)

Kylie already knows 7 kids, I'm so glad Matthew got us switched into this class.Kylie at her desk.The classroom and Ms. Messerli singing and signing a goodbye song. Yes, by this point I was fighting back all my tears.

*Kylie was so happy!!! I think it could have been worse for me, I didn't feel so badly about leaving because I ended up staying in the school to do some PTA stuff. It was easier for me also because I knew how happy and how utterly excited Kylie was. After school, she told me all about the songs they sang, how they learned the weather and dates, she colored a star, and she did all the sign language from her song. It made it much easier, on me. :)

Thankful Thursday

So do your kids ever just say something and you think, oh how cute I hope I remember that forever?!!? So this is my effort to remember it...

1. Kylie: "Mom, when I grow up, I want to be a Mom just like you."
Me: "Okay."
Kylie: "But Mom. I want to stay with you."
Me: "Okay."
Kylie: "I'm going to stay here and live in the blue bedroom." (the blue bedroom is our 2nd master, it's the biggest bedroom second to ours.)
Me: "Okay." (can you tell I'm in the middle of something with another child?)
Kylie: "But Mom, you need to tell Daddy to paint the blue bedroom pink. Okay, pink... and then I will stay there."
Me: "Alright Kylie, whatever you say." :)
I thought that was really sweet and clever of her to come up with that. I'll want to remember that when she's counting down the weeks until college.

2. The compassion of a child... We were in our pool and Kylie was doing summer saults in the water, not paying attention to what she was doing, and she totally clocked me on my back/shoulder. It really hurt. So I made her sit on time out and always remember to pay more attention to the people around her. I sat down on the wetdeck and Kacey came over and said, "It's okay Mommy. I kiss it. That's a great idea." She kissed my shoulder. "See, it's all better now." Sweet thing. It still hurt though. ;)

3. I was cleaning Kadyn's closet, and I was sitting on the floor with Kadyn crawling all around. And she used me to stand up. Then I slid away a bit. And her hands were out straight, balancing herself, standing all by herself. And she stood there with a look of excitement in her eyes as she realized what she was doing, and that it was all on her own. Then she fell on her bum and started laughing. It was cute.

*Oh and I forgot to post Sunday Afternoon Pictures. We tried changing the scenary up a little bit... maybe next time Matthew can move his suit jacket.

D*I*S*N*E*Y*L*A*N*D

Silly girls, they were so excited! This was our first "are we there yet?"- type of trip. :)
First day in CA Adventure with Minnie.

A picture is worth 1000 words... car story at the end if you're interested.A Bug's Land

Kylie and Matthew on Big Thunder Mountain.

Just relaxing, it would be a great picture if I wasn't moving my hand. Sorry. For all who don't know, that's my Mom. She's awesome. We got adjoining rooms so the girls could drive her nuts instead of us. It worked :)

Love this, the big 2 (by that I mean Matthew and Kylie) went on Tower of Terror and we found Sully. I've got like 20 pictures of this, so precious...

He didn't hug anyone else :)
Matthew and all 3 girls on the carousel... Kadyn's first ride.

Kylie was finally tall enough for Screamin' in CA Adv. Matthew stuck folded napkins in her heels and she had on huge soled shoes... but finally!!! She loved it, front row and all!!!!

The group on the Tea Cups, pink of course... every time!

(Matthew and his stupid cars hat, you wouldn't believe how many people look at him... us, me... and I'm like, yeah hi people, yes my husband is crazy.)

Too sweet.

I love this one, she is giggling up a storm!!!

The whole family on the carousel.

US on Dumbo- Kacey's favorite.

The End :)

******

Car Story---
I decided I wanted to start our car every day while we were there, even though we weren't going to be driving it. Our DVD drains our car battery, why we have no idea, but we just got a new one a month ago so we weren't too concerned... but still, I thought I'd keep starting the car. Good thing I did, because it didn't start the day after we got down there and I'm glad we didn't find that it out the day we were coming home.

SO, I called AAA hoping it was the battery.
Waited for the guy to come. Nope, it was "something mechanical, with the engine" the guy told me. Good times. What can I expect, we bought the car right before we had Kylie. So, we had it towed to some random shop, where we were completely at their mercy, or stuck in Anaheim forever. I was grateful, only 600 bucks and we were on our way. I've had a bad feeling something was due to go wrong... only I thought it would be a couple grand. So I was pleasantly surprised with this... and NO Matthew, no new car. Remember the "I think I'm going to throw up" by daughter #2 on the drive down to Disneyland... case and point, no new car just yet. :) The car is better, we got a new fuel pump (?) and it got us home safe and sound.

WHOA, flashback!

I can't believe someone took pictures of this... way way back when, like '03 I think.... Matthew's youngest brother Aaron (who we're trying to marry off, hint hint) was in a dunk contest at BYU. And, if you marry a BOYD or even know a BOYD than you know that once a BOYD enters a dunk contest, a BOYD must win the said dunk contest. Creativity is always a factor in winning, so I think (if memory serves me correctly) Matthew came up with this little number for Aaron.

***That's me, Kaylan, and Amy laying on the ground being "dunked" over. Aaron made the basket, and cleared us-- I know Amy was thankful about that since she's on the end where he'd be landing... :)And he won the dunk contest! :)

Sunday Afternoon Pictures

Sometimes I think it's the bloopers that are the best! (notice Matthew's hand and the toy in mid air)

Okay, we got 1 where everyone's looking at the camera.

Me and my girls!

Saturday Afternoon

So it was barely 90 yesterday, we had no clue what to do. Saturday is "family pool day," and the pool went from 92 degrees to 80... it was freezing so that was out!!! So we took the girls to the park to play and have a picnic. (no worries, we were able to get in the pool at about 4:30... the water had warmed back up to 90)Kacey was more interested in the picnic than playing frisbee.Pretty girls, I can't wait until Kadyn can stand and walk. I have so many pictures of the 2 older girls, I can't wait until I can tell all 3 to go stand by the tree so I can take a picture.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

I did such a good job with all the secrets, but I couldn't keep Kylie's little mouth shut~~~she outted nearly everything bless her little heart!

*******

Extended Version:

So 4 days ago, Kylie's on the phone with Grandpa (Matthew's dad). Kylie proceeds to tell him that Daddy's getting the Wii Game, but not until Tuesday because Tuesday's his birthday. She knew she couldn't tell Daddy, but she didn't know she couldn't tell someone else when Daddy was still in the same room. So, cat out of the bag. We played the Wii all weekend. Side Note: I am freakishly good at Wii bowling. No lie, Matthew cannot beat me. This does not sit well with him :)

****

Okay, the day's festivities began with breakfast in bed... However, the girls snagged all his marshmellows from the Lucky Charms before we got upstairs. And they wanted all his food so we had to come downstairs at the table to eat. But he woke up to a breakfast tray and us singing Happy Birthday. Truth be told, the record labels aren't knocking down our door.

Grandma (Matthew's mom) flew in today, so that was fun. We did some shopping and ate at Red Robin- where they sang embarrassingly to Matthew. Came home to Matthew's CARS cake/cupcakes. It was all I could do to talk the girls out of getting him a Hannah Montana cake!!! So we all agreed on CARS. I would've loved to see his face though if we got the other one.

Us singing again...

Blowing out the candles... Happy Birthday Dear!

OH, how can I forget the presents?!?! It was a good year this year for him. A new Kennith Cole cologne, a set of Michael Jackson cds, an hour Deep Tissue Massage... and obviously, he got the Wii and sports resort and mario cart (?). He's very happy. I banned video games the first month we were married when he woke up at 2 am one morning to go to the bathroom and never came back. 3 hours later I found him playing video games in our living room. Yeah... no. He's been banned for 7 years now. However, (revenge is sweet), he's got to deal with Kylie begging every 3 seconds to play and Kacey trying to play his turn with him. So it all worked out very nicely.

Sunday Afternoon Pictures

Little different style today, we let the girls take a majority of the pictures instead of setting the timer... I think we had too much time this morning :)

You can tell Matthew's nervous in this one because Kacey has the camera.Look at Kylie, we told them to smile... so she's making Kadyn smile.
Okay, I had to take one of all my 3 girls.

This one is for the sake of the haircut- funny story. My girl just had a baby, I didn't want to intrude but I needed a hair cut. So, I went to someone else... she did a good job, she was cautious though. After the whole day went by, there were sections I wanted fixed. So that night, I held them out and Matthew cut. :) He seriously got a little too happy about it, chopping away... but I still think it ended up fine.

Thankful Thursday

Aww, look at that face!

I can hardly believe that a year ago, she wasn't here yet. I can't imagine our home (and her big sisters) without her. Today, I'm so thankful for my precious little bebe. She's sleeping through the night, she eats so well, she's easily entertained by her sisters. Her favorite words are dada (go figure, I think he sits up at night and just repeats it to her), diaper, what, hi, up/yup. ONLY, and I mean only, when she cries, does she says Mama. Sometimes it even sounds like I want Mama... it always has, even at like 3 months. Anyway, she's so preciously BEAUTIFUL~~ it just makes my heart melt!!!! OH and I love her sweet little baby breath, especially when she's all cuddly from waking up after naptime!!!!!!

*(and shhhhhhhhhhhh to all you who say she looks like Matthew, she looks like me!!!!) :P

Sunday Afternoon Pictures

********

We got Kylie's information for Kindergarten. Elementary school is year-round here, so you get on different tracks for school. All of Kylie's friends are on one track, Kylie is on another. And when I say all her little friends, I mean ALL. Every single other child we know in Kindergarten is track 4. Us- track 3. Mainly because all of her friends have older siblings and they try to keep siblings all on the same tracks... so they get first dibs on track requests. Somewhere in the mix, we kinda got lost :( Kylie seems fine with it, she said she'll ask everyone's name. But I feel kinda badly about it.

Happy Anniversary to...

- a man who knows me through and through
- a man who can always make me laugh
- a man who can handle an outspoken, always right/never ever wrong wife
- a man who supports me fully when I set my mind to something
- a man who gets completely giddy as he scrubs in as I'm about to deliver another baby girl :) and who I know could undoubtedly handle the delivery without my doctor there... I would trust him fully! (no home births for me though, I need the drugs!)
- a man who works full-time to support my clothing and shoe obssession
- a man who runs with the dog every morning so she's better behaved for me during the day
- a man who knows when to challenge me but knows when to back down and give me my way... not many men know how to do that in an appropriate balance! It's never 50/50.
- a man who knows me well enough to bring me home the small tolietries and little ketchups and mustards from his hotel stays from his business trips
- a man who's reading the Twilight series because I love it and so we can talk about it
- a man who knows that when we go to the movies, it's always my choice
- a man who gains the baby weight with me :)
- a man who never asks what I weigh (hehe, those 2 go hand in hand)
- a man who always tries to empty the dishwasher as a surprise because he knows how much I hate it!
- a man who forever has a female (of any age: 5, 2, 10 months, or me) telling him what to do, what to wear, what to eat, all the things he can and can't do.
- a man who for 7 years has wanted my side of the bed, but has never gotten it :P

Happy Anniversary to the only man I know that can handle ME as a wife, and 3 little me's running around the house!!!!

I love you :) And thank you for all you do for our family.

Sunday Afternoon Pictures

Did you notice the lighter color wall in the background?! We've been busy little bees. I really think it makes the room look brighter! Matthew's been doing all my painting (all over the house), it's been fun... for me, since I just sit and await the end result. It hurts my wrist when I start, so it's easier for him just to do it :)

*******

My sweet little sailors!This is our chaos of morning time before church. Matthew decided to document it for us I guess. Everyone's dressed, hair's done, toe nails are all freshly painted (the cholorine in the pool takes it off pretty fast so the girls are forever bugging me to repaint their toes)...

**Notice my grout--- on my hands and knees again scrubbing for hours with a toothbrush. Sadly, I think this is going to be an every year event. At least this year it's done. See I don't paint, but I scrub grout.And here we are quickly trying to get some hot chicken parm- fresh from the oven- down everyone's little mouths. I love a food that all my girls will gladly open their mouths really big for. (example: Kylie!) Kadyn's in the back in her high chair finishing her lunch- she also had chicken parm fresh from the food processor. Kacey looks dazed :) What is that face?! It's so funny, I couldn't crop her out... and yes, Matthew's walking around taking pictures of us all as we're pressed for time trying to run out the door.

Yummy Strawberry Jam

Today during the younger girls naptimes, Kylie and I made jam!

She was so excited about it, and she was such good helper. I gave her a plastic knife and she now knows the proper way to cut a strawberry.

Kylie was also in charge of the masher. (better her than me)

And... Voila!

We have JAM!Baby Kadyn woke up at the very end :)

We were licking our fingers, the jam tastes so good!So, somewhere along the lines I got the numbers mixed up. I needed less fresh fruit and more pectin. (I love the summertime fresh fruit sales!) So I've got loads more fruit left and we'll be making a pectin and jars run first thing tomorrow morning.

******

Next on the list is another batch of strawberry, then a batch of blueberry, then a mixed fruit batch (of everything leftover!).