February 2010

I'll just dispense with the excuses about how long it's been between posts. I'll just admit to myself that I've lost the blogging bug and that I'm only keeping it up now because it is my family scrapbook, which I eventually want to put into an actual book. I think I'll aim to post once a month, and then I won't feel so guilty. With that out of the way, here are a few little highlights from last month.

Here is the picture the girls made me for my Valentine's present:


And, of course, Spencer had to follow suit:


Here I am with my (count them) four children:


Emma dressed as Abish from the Book of Mormon for activity days. She was supposed to go dressed as her favorite Book of Mormon hero. When she asked if there were any women in the Book of Mormon, this is what we came up with:


Kenna took this one of Dodger and I napping the other day. Okay, so I was awake and told her to get the camera, and then pretended to be asleep for the picture.


And here is Spencer trying to dodge a yucky mommy kiss:

I will digress here for a moment and elaborate on Spencer's latest quirks. After a near perfect potty training experience almost a year ago, he has started having accidents. We kind of got into the habit of pulling his pants down for him, pulling them back up, washing his hand (i say hand, not hands - because of his cast) since he broke his arm. So it's almost like we started over when he got it off. 90% of the time when he yells "I GOTTA GO POTTY!" it is followed by a pee-pee dance and accompanied with an "I CAN'T!" when I tell him to pull his pants down and go. Then out of nowhere I will go into the kids bathroom when I hear them making their routine 6 a.m. racket and find him sitting on the toilet with his pants down, no problem. What is the deal?

He has also started asking to have friends over. He is getting to that age when his sisters are at school and he doesn't just want to kick it at home with me and the dog. We were planning on putting him in preschool in the fall, but the teacher Mackenna had for preschool, who was fabulous, isn't having a 3-year-old class. What to do? (Aside from Joy School).

Here is Spencer cleaning Aunt Amy's toe polish off. I think he might have a future in the business. ("You want nail design?")

Ice-Pickles

Just a few little things.

The other morning the girls made me breakfast in bed, which consisted of a poptart, a nutrigrain cereal bar, and a banana - all drizzled with honey. Quite creative, if I do say so myself.


Today Spencer fell asleep sitting up while watching Cars. Since giving up his binki he hasn't really napped much, unless I nap with him.




I suppose he is pretty tuckered out. He went to a Valentine's party at a friend's house today. And on that note, here is what we decided to do for the kids' valentines this year. I hate giving out more candy, and I hate to stress myself out with something that will go in the garbage in a few days. This was super cheap and pretty simple.


The only other thing I wanted to mention is Spencer's little funny thing he said the other day. I don't know what got him thinking about it, but suddenly he said "Mom, when it's Summer can we have ice-pickles?" I busted up, because I knew he meant popsicles. Funny little guy.

Spencer is 3!

And I have a feeling his threes are going to be worse than his twos. What is that all about? He has been waking up at 5:30 in the morning, crying that he's hungry, or thirsty, or whatever. MAKES ME CRAZY. Anyway, today is his birthday, but since I work tonight we celebrated it yesterday. Here are some pictures of his special day.

This year we did a Toy Story cake. If you want to see more cake pictures, they are on my cake blog, Custom Cake Creations.




Since it is our year off for birthday parties, we just went to Arctic Circle for dinner with a couple friends and family, and then came back to our house for cake, ice cream, and presents.




Oddly enough, this was his favorite gift:





Happy Birthday, baby boy. You have passed both the milestones I wanted to have behind us before your birthday. Potty training, which you did about 6 months ago or so, and getting rid of your i'i (binki). Good job. Now let's work on that attitude!

So much for resolutions.....

Well, that is pathetic. I said on December 1st that I was going to blog more, and I haven't done it since then. I HAVE layed off Facebook quite a bit though, which is good. About a week ago I made a blog book by going to blog2print.com, and it just came today! It is relatively thin since my first year blogging started in August, but so fun to see all the pictures and of course, to read how life was at that time.

So, we've been a little busy. Two weeks ago I started working at the Remote Encoding Center for the Postal Service, which is out by the airport. Training was two weeks of hell - on me, Sean, the kids, the dog, the house; pretty much everyone involved. But now I am on a regular schedule, so hopefully it will be good. I work four nights a week, Friday through Monday.

Also Sean's sister Amy and her husband Justin moved into our basement just after New Year's. Amy just started a new job and they are staying with us until they buy a house in a few months.

I don't have much interesting to say. Here are the family pics my SIL took of us over Christmas in California. Pay close attention to our matching outfits - they are the product of many tears, sweats, and heartfelt sighs.

Back to Blogging

So, I decided to lay off Facebook for a while. I think that is why I haven't been blogging - I don't think you can do both at the same intensity - but my blog is more important. So here's a little update on life.

My mom came for thanksgiving, and while she was here she taught the girls how to crochet. Emma is the one that really picked it up - I think Kenna's still a little young to do it by herself. Since then Emma has been crocheting chains to drape over the tree, her bed, her dresser, her brother. You get the idea. She really loves it - and it's the perfect thing to do for quiet time.


Just look at this smile.


Also, I finished phase one of operation: Death by Christmas Sewing. The girls' dresses are finally done! And, on top of it all, I found long-sleeve shirts at Target for $5 that were almost the exact same color as the dresses. SWEET!





Now I am working on my own dress - I'm pretty scared since I've never made anything for myself besides a Halloween costume. This is the pattern - the black and white dress on the left - out of the same fabric/ribbon as the girls. It will go awesome with my gold shoes from the Military Ball.
Of course, I will be wearing a shirt under it. The last sewing project is night gowns for the girls. Hopefully I can get it all done before the 17th!

Lastly, here are a couple cute pics I snapped of my kids when it snowed the other day.

Spencer's Mishap

This is what happens when your kids ignore the net on the trampoline, which is meant to keep them from falling off and breaking their arm. Were it not for Gannon Hill and all his three-year-old logic we may still be unaware of the specifics. Apparently Spencer was walking around the edge of the tramp outside the net and fell off. When he came in whining and crying about his 'elbow' i gave him a hug and tried to hush him as best as I could. 99.9% of the time his outside adventures end in his crying at the back door, so I wasn't too concerned. I put him to bed and a few minutes later he started crying about his elbow again. In my defense, he was wearing a long-sleeved t-shirt. When I lifted his sleeve up there was an indent in a strange place and when I compared it to the other arm, I knew something was wrong. So I called Sean and he said to take him in.

Luckily I had a brand new bag of sour gummy worms in my purse and that's what kept him happy while they x-rayed his arm. By the time we got to the orthopedic wing he was talking a million miles an hour and flirting with all the receptionists. He told them his favorite color, his dog's name, his favorite movie, etc. Everyone was looking at me as if to question whether he was really hurt at all. When the doctor asked if he was always so talkative and happy, I told him he was on a sugar rush due to his consumption of almost the entire bag of sour worms.

For the first 72 hours we were supposed to keep his arm elevated to prevent swelling, and let me tell you - this was no small task for a busy almost three-year-old. So this is what Sean and the doc came up with:

His arm is tied to a chair that is set up right behind the couch.

Luckily we are past that now, and he can just run around and club things with it. Sean and I can't help but chuckle when we hear him yell from his room after bedtime, "Mom, I got a scratchy!" In other words, his arm itches under his cast and there's not a dang thing anyone can do about it!

Emma's Baptism November 14, 2009

I am so behind! So I am just going to post a few pictures for the sake of my blog book I want to have done someday.


Here is Emma bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 8:00 a.m. during her hair appointment with Melissa. She did a fantastic job!




The finished product:



Grandma Johnson and Spencer:



Uncle Chris:



Tyson & BryAnne Hare & baby (not pictured!), Grandpa Johnson:



Auntie Amy and Kenna:



Our family (no, I'm not pregnant, and you better not ask):













Kenna Jane:



Emma's cake: