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.

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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.

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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. :)

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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!
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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.

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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!

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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!

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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.

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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!

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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. :)

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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.