Scarecrow Day!!

Emm had an Activity Days Awards ceremony and part of the fun was she and I each getting to paint each others' faces like a scarecow. It was a wonderful day where I could get to spend time with just myself and Emily.

Emily and the pumpkin that we decorated :)

It was Jase's 35th b-day and we had the family over to celebrate!

The girls made him this hat and they were so proud of it and were so excited that he wore it for them. I know he probably was a little nervous about wearing it, but it totally made the girls' day as you can see in the photo below.

The kids got Jase this really cool dragon figurine and I lucked out and picked him up a Greg Olson print. Greg Olson was at Costco and was signing his work, so I picked up one for Jase that he signed on the front and back, wishing Jase a happy 35th and then one for our family which he signed and then on the back wrote something special to our family.

A Lazy Sunday Afternoon

It was a beautiful Sunday after church and we decided to take the kids to the school so they could ride their bikes around. It was 87 degrees and for mid Oct it was still pretty warm.

They had a blast which was why we went in the first place. We stopped at the park on the way home so they could play some more.

Some of our friends showed up a little later on and we chatted and the kids played together.

Tori on her bike, we are trying to convince he that the training wheels have got to go!!

Hudson zippin around!

Max is so excited that this year he can bring his bike and ride around with the kids. Last year he was still too small and didn't really get the concept of what made the wheels move!!

Emm and her pink bike! She, like Hudson has picked up bike riding very well and loves to jump the curbs and zoom all over.

Post Soccer Practice...

Tori had decided that she wanted to change over from dance to soccer and so far she seems to love it. It is great for her high energy little body!!!

After practice I let the kids play at the park and on this night it was a beautiful warm night and the kids didn't want to leave!

I can't believe my baby is getting so big!!

The four turkeys!

Tori and her pink skull t-shirt with the bow on its head, she loves this shirt!

Somehow, this suits her more than a delicate dance dress, haha.

Hudson Gets His Bobcat Award in Scouts!!!

On Tuesday night Sept 15th, 2009 Hudson had his frist pack meeting and was awarded the Bobcat award for doing a lot of hard work and was able to move into Wolves.

Jason was unable to be at the meeting because of work which stunk. Hopefully he will be able to be there next time!!!

It was a really neat ceremony. Deb was instructed to paint certain symbols corresponding to the color of feathers that we put into his headband. After all of the symbols were painted, Hudson then painted a white line down his mom's nose.

We are all looking forward to all of the fun that he will have in Scouts over the years!!!

Walking over the bridge to join his den.

Hudson and his den mates!!! He is together with a really great group of boys and two good leaders. He is very excited about it, which is what is important to us the most!

Emily and Hudson Get Baptized :)

On Saturday Sept 5, 2009 Emily and Hudson were baptized.

They were baptized and confirmed by their dad Jason.

The elders who taught Emily were Elder Mooso and Elder Pierce. They are great guys and we all got to know them pretty well :)

Gram, Grandpa and Uncle Ty came to the baptism. Auntie Katie was out of town on her Alaska cruise so she wasn't able to be there.

A friend of our family as well as one of the primary teachers Sundee Neff gave the talk on Baptism and another of our friend and the ward mission leader Mark Nielsen gave the talk on the Holy Ghost. They both did an amazing job!!!!

It was a fantastic day and we were all really excited about it!

The kiddos with Gram and Grandpa Thomas

Deb and her turkeys!

Tori and Max waiting for the baptism to start!!! (nice smile Max, haha)

Hudson's 8th Birthday!!!

Hudson asked for a Star Wars birthday party at home for his 8th birthday!

We had a lot of fun getting things ready for this. We made light sabers for each of the kids to take home made out of pool noodles and duct tape(yep one more use for duct tape!)

We put some balloons in the trampoline and put some droid stickers inside and then if they popped the one that had the droid sticker (droid plans) then they got to pick from the bag of prizes. Usually for birthdays we fill the trampoline with balloons but it was just too hot and as it was the balloons were popping in the heat!

We had lightsaber wars, pin the explosion on the galaxy in 3D (that is what the goofy glasses they had on in the first picture were for) and then of course the pinata!

Originally Hudson thought he had wanted a baseball party so I picked up a baseball pinata for him. Of course, being a kid, they change their mind every ten seconds so in a way it worked in my favor. I took all the little white baseball tissue paper off the outside of the pinata then painted it grey and then Jase detailed it to look like a Deathstar. At least when the kids came to the party they knew what it was so it wasn't a total failure!!

Overall it was a great day and I hope everyone had fun!!

The kiddos eating pizza dogs and Yoda punch!!

The cake!!

Blowing out the candles with bunny ears!!!

The Deathstar! They first hit the pinata with their lightsabers and then we brought out the pinata bat!!

Emily beating on the Deathstar!

Max giving it to the Deathstar!! I see some breeching of the outer structure...

Hudson and his Star Wars helmet that he got from his Nana and Papa!

My New Family Home Evening Board!!

For a while I have been meaning to either buy or make a Family Home Evening Board/chart so that my kiddos can know who is responsible for what on our FHE nights. It has been a little hairly lately since Jase is crunching for his game so our FHE night moves weekly, haha. Hopefully that will change soon!

I decided to make one for myself. I went to Hobby Lobby and bought my wood, pegs and stars and picked out the colors I wanted to use.

I went online and ordered the vinyl lettering from a lady in Utah (go figure!!) and then one day Emmy and I proceeded to create our board!

I used the drill to make the holes for the pegs and the holes in the stars. My dad would have been proud, haha.

Emm and I then painted it two different shades of burgandy to give it the color that we wanted. I used the olive green color on the stars because I wanted them to accent the colors that I already have in my kitchen and living room on my window treatments.

In the end she and I were very happy with our end product and finished it off with a quick spray of lacquer(sp) which i did inside...not a smart move! It was too hot outside and I didn't want it to dry too fast or attract any little bugs which would have been immortalized on our FHE board forever, haha.

It was a fun project to do with Emily and I hope she had as much fun as I did making it. I will always smile when I look at it, remembering who I made it with and the fun we had. To me that only makes it more special.

First Day of School :)

Today was the first day of school and the kiddos were extremely excited to be going back. I am sure that tonight they will be exhausted.

Jason said that Tori was so eager to get to school and then when it sort of sunk in, she started to walk slower and a her look changed a bit. He said that Emily was a great big sister and took her hand when they went through the gate and showed her where she needed to go.

Can't wait until they get home so they can tell Max and I all about it and then tell it to their dad tonight when he gets home from work!!

Tori meets the kindergarten teachers!!

Tori and I went to her school today to meet the kindergarten teachers and for the teachers to evaluate the kids before they placed them in classes.

This was a first for us and apparently the school as well. Some other schools and districts have the kindergartners come in and meet the teachers, see the classrooms and meet some of the kids they will be going to school with before the actual first day.

Tori was sooooo excited about this. She wanted to wear a dress and look pretty.

The teachers took the kids to the classroom and the parents filled out paperwork and then watched parenting movies...it was odd but interesting. Not my way of parenting but oh well, haha.

Needless to say the kids are super excited about school starting and i'm not sure how i will handle having only Max at home with me...whatever will i do, LOL. The house will be so quiet!! Almost...heavenly?!!!

Just over a week and a half but who's counting.....

Balloon kids!

No matter where we go it is pretty common to see some balloon person making balloon animals/people or whatever and OF COURSE our kids are practically on their knees begging for one. I am such a sucker for this since I think balloon animals are pretty cool, especially what they do now a days! Jason on the other hand thinks they are cool but can't stand the fact that, yes they are free but you need to tip the balloon maker and with four kids...hmmm.

We were at diner at On The Border on July 3rd enjoying some yummy Mexican food and the lady came to our table and of course I gave in and let them pick out what balloons they wanted as Jason growled from across the table at me, haha.

Tori picked a really cute pink dragon with purple wings and yellow fire coming out of its mouth, Max chose a puppy (of course), Emm picked an alien with a purple ray gun and Hudson chose an alien with a black ray gun.

They were all happy with their choices even if they only lasted for a day or two...well I think Max's was already untwisted by the ride home!!

Coop Gets A Bath!!

Cooper our puggle was in need of bath and I didn't feel like packing him into a hot truck to take him to the groomers chancing that he might 'puke' on the way.

So, Emmy and I decided to give him a bath at home. I had bought some doggie shampoo a while back and she held him and squirted him down with the hose and then we sprayed on some foamy soap which actually smelled really nice!!

He was a good boy!!

Let's just hope he will stay out of the dirt for at least an hour!! During the summer our grass takes a beating. I don't seed it with summer grass so it tends to die and makes our back yard a dust bowl. Add to it the upcoming monsoon season and we are looking at a mud bog which turns to hard clay within an hour of a massive rain storm!!

Foamy doggie, even his tail :)

Coop shaking it out, haha. Action shot ftw!!

The after shot. Still a little damp but a happy, sweet smelling puppy.

Father's Day

I thought i would try to be a 'fun mom' this summer and do some cool crafts with my kiddos and one of our crafts was for them to each decorate their own apron. They love to help me cook and bake things so I thought what the heck, why not. Well when we were making theirs I asked them if they thought Dad might like one for when he bbq's or cooks, that isn't a girly one. They all thought it would be a cool idea so we decided to make one that would have their handprints on it so we could all look back over the years and see how they have grown. I also had them sign their own names and so they can also see how they used to write!! (well except for Max)

Jase thought it was a neat idea and seemed to like it.

It's kind of neat, both our girls are right handed and from what it looks like Max is going to join Hudson in being a lefty!!

Emily holding it up just before we brought it up the stairs to Dad for Father's Day. We also got him one of his favorite movies!!

Tori giving Dad some 'loves'. She loves her Daddy and she also loves her new dance dress that we have to force her to take off so it won't be ruined a week after her recital :)

On Sunday evening we also went over to Gram and Grandpa's to celebrate Dad's Day and we brought Grandpa two six packs of his favorite rootbeer, IBC. It has become a sort of standing gift each year!! We had a great time over at their place for a bbq and a visit with them as well as Uncle Ty and Auntie Katie.

Dance Recital 2009 :)

The girls had their end of the year dance recital on Saturday June 20th at the Mesa Arts Center. They both did very well and had a great time!!

Emily had three dances she was a part of and Tori had one. For Emmy's ballet number Jason had to join her and for a part of the Josh Groban song, "So She Dances". They danced together and were awesome! It was really wonderful to watch. Jase was sooooooo nervous he wasn't sleeping for days if not a week before!! I felt really bad for him when I told him that the entire 2000 seat theater was sold out!!!

Tori and her tap costume. They did their number to 'The Curly Shuffle' She did really well :)

Emily and her friend Nicole before dress rehearsal for their tap number.

Emm and Jason before their dress rehearsal for their number!!

Emm and some of her musical theater buds doing one of their numbers.

Emm and her tap/jazz class just before they went on for their tap number the night of the show!!

Waiting backstage to go on!

Tori and Jason backstage with her flowers from her daddy :)

Emm and Tori after the show was all over with their AZ Desert Dance shirts that the studio gave them for the finale as well as their flowers from their dad and their medals from the recital. It was a very long day but it was a lot of fun.
Next year Tori decided not to do dance. She wanted to do soccer!!
Emily tried out for and got a spot on the company dance squad so she and I will be very busy when dance starts up again next month. It is kind of nice to have the month off!!

A Zoo Trip Becomes a Water Day!!

Last Thursday the kids and I went to the zoo with our friends.

Sundee and I used to teach preschool together two years ago so Georgia and Tori are friends.(as well as being in the same primary class at church) Hudson was in the same class at school as Mallorie and the kids usually walk home with Mallorie so they were excited to get to spend the day with them! We went to visit the animals but it was such a nice day without much wind that the kids wanted to play in the water areas!! The first area we hit had a cave and some small water slide that the kids could play in and a splash pad.

Georgia, Mallorie, Emily and Hudson playing on the splash pad.

Emmy and Mallorie in the caves!

Max cheezin it in the caves!!

This photo was taken during our lunch break. I asked Hudson and Mallorie to stand up by the rhino for a photo and Mallorie put her arm around Hudson and he got all embarassed. It was priceless, she turned to him and said, "I'm your friend and friends hug!!"

After lunch we took a train ride around the zoo to finally check out some animals.

Back to another splash pad!! After lunch and the train ride the kids wanted to try out the other splash pad. Sundee and I decided why not let them get cooled off before the ride home. We hung around long after the zoo closed at 2pm until a guy told us we had to leave, lol.

In this photo Max and Hudson are waiting for the water to spurt out...

And here it comes!!!

Georgia was so cute!! She stood over the top of one of the blasts of water and it was almost like a Marilyn Monroe moment...

Sundee and Sabrina playing in the water!!!

The ride home. Max was one tired lil dude!