my very own Mr. Clean

Cleaning out the oven is probably my very least favorite chore.

Luckily I am married to the sweetest man ever who knows how much I HATE it and was willing to scrub and scrape the bottom of the oven for me.

He did a great job, its sparkely clean now.

Thank you babe, I love you so much!

A Bad Day

My blog is full of great stories of the kids and all of our different family adventures and just life in general. I'm always saying how great they are or what fun we have; and they are great and we do have fun, but hopefully you know that in each day we have moments of sheer frustration!

In the mist of the fun I'm making mistakes all day long in parenting.

I figured since my blog is our family journal that I needed to included the days that aren't so fun and exciting too.

Yesterday was one of those days when I thought I was going to go insane; Little Miss B wouldn't cooperate to say the least. We were 45 minutes late to our playdate, which I probably shouldn't have allowed her to go by the way she was acting but to be completely honest I needed to keep that date just for my own sanity. We finally met up with our friends at the McDonald's playland and there must have been something in the air because our kids who are usually the best of friends were crabby, wild and out of control. Glad it wasn't just my kid, but I thought she'd get a grip once we got there, boy was I wrong. Miss B who has been potty trained for awhile now, peed her pants so we had to leave early. I could not get her to come at first, then I tried to put her shoes on and she threw a fit because she didn't want her clear jelly shoes she wanted the pink flip flops that belonged to some other kid. I told her they don't belong to her and we could not take them, she proceeded to tell me that they can share and that they are her size and they will trade etc....At this point I was easily irritated and so impatient! I finally just had to pick her up and leave with her shoes in my hand.

She cried for daddy the entire ride home. I wanted to cry for daddy too! HA!! He did not answer his phone which further irritated me...I can never get ahold of him when I need him, he did eventually call me back though.

These are the days when I wonder if maybe that's why I have not been able to have another baby. Perhaps. Heavenly Father knows that I am getting too old and I don't have it in me anymore to be a good mom. I certainly hope that's not the case, but I feel like a complete failure like maybe I am the worst, of the worst, of the worst..........of the worst (haha...just something I recently heard, that I can't get out of my mind, actually it was the best of the best, but I unfortunately I'm not that either. HA!!) anyway....that's just what comes to mind. I don't know what to do with my darling daughter. She has always been such an easy going kid, but ever since school has started she has had tantrums and has regressed in potty training and just seems extra hard for me. It feels like the more time and attention I give her the harder she has becomes. I have 8 siblings and I don't remember my mom ever losing her cool. She always held it together. I'm sure she had frustrating days too but I really don't remember her having bad parenting days. Hopefully my kids won't remember my frustrating moments and days as well!

Today was much better. Miss B was still very independent but my boys were home and they helped A LOT!!!

I really do love being a Mom more than anything else in this world. . We prayed so hard to get little B here (well all of our kids for that matter) but she is truly a little miracle and we waited a long time to get her. I am so glad I finally got a girl, and boy is she girlie! Although she was super hard yesterday, I am glad that I was chosen to be her mommy. I am thankful for repentance and the opportunity I have to keep on trying to be a better mom.

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On a more positive note, today while doing his Saturday work Ky-guy was vacuuming the family room when I hear Miss B who was sitting on the couch reading books scream for her brother he turns off the vacuum and says "what B" to which she says in a very motherish tone "Is that REALLY necessary, its too loud for my books"?! She is so hilarious and really does bring so much joy into our home. We all got a good laugh out of it.

Crafts and Activities

The boys have been back in school for two weeks now. We are finally back into the swing of things. I've organized my craft supplies and made a list of crafts and activities for Miss B and I to do together. Its fun to spend one on one time with her. Here are some of the things we've done so far.

She loves to paint and I love to let her because she is so neat and clean when she does it. Had this been done with my boys we would have had a MESS by the end. :)

I caught Miss B playing with my black berry. She was not very happy when I took it away from her. I told her it was not a toy, but we could make one for her. She was very excited about that.

She ofcourse wanted a pink one, and had to add flowers and stickers so she could dial some phonenumbers.

Her first call was to Dad followed by a call to her boyfriend, Mickey Mouse. As you can see she is wearing her Minney Mouse costume from halloween last year.

This day I had to go grocery shopping and she was right there underfoot as I was trying to make my shopping list. I asked her if she wanted to make a list, and let her cut up the adds I didn't need.

She had a lot of fun with this one.

Our Bishop had a birthday so for it I had her color this little treasure box during the day and we filled it with chocolate. He LOVES dark chocolate so we were sure to add some of those too. I made a card to give him that told him how much we treasure him and all he does for EVERYONE!

When the boys got home they signed the card and we delivered it for FHE.

Here is a super easy game I made for Miss B. I found it only at Make and Takes I think it was. You have to match the paperclips with the color of cardstock.

I was impressed with how well she did. I thought for sure she would need me to help her get the clips on

but it was the complete opposite of that. True to B's little independantness, she did not want my help at all. She has asked to play this game a couple of times now.

Last weekend we took the kids to see Despicable Me. It was such a cute story. The kids all LOVED it.

For FHE I had Miss B help me make little dispicable me treats out of twinkies for refreshments.

They started to fall apart before we ate them, but you get the idea.

Our lesson was on attitude. We talked about what the word despicable means. Then we gave examples of different ways someone acted about something and the kids had to say if it was despicable or not. Like Johnny came home from school and started his homework without being asked or complaining, or Megan didn't get her way and threw a fit.

For Activity J-man had us all sit around the laptop and we watched a whole bunch of the little Minion (that what theses little yellow guys are called) clips. They were hillarious and we were all laughing.

It was a fun night and now anytime some one starts to act up we say "don't be dispicable" I LOVE the way Miss B says it. Its A.DOR.A.BLE!

here is a link to one of the little clips we watched. So funny, my kids were cracking up!

Miss B will start preschool and dance in september. She is very excited about both and asks everyday if today is the day. (Today's activity is going to be a dance/preschool count down) :)

I love spending a little extra time with B and don't know what I will do when she is gone. I miss having babies around, but it is fun to watch them move up to a new stage of life. I am blessed!

New School Year

The boys were excited to go to meet the teacher a couple weeks ago. J-man was very excited to have the same teacher that Ky had last year. So are Ry and I for that matter. Mrs. Hofmann is incredible. She makes learning fun and is so sweet yet firm with the children. We are so happy we switched the kids over to their new school. It's been the difference between night and day.

Here is Ky with his teacher Mrs. Nicle. We don't know her very good yet, but she seems great so far.

Ky told me that she has interesting stories and has been all over the world. He's very excited to spend the year with her and really excited to have 3 of his best buddies with him in class and one little girls has already confessed her love for him. haha.

Here they are on the first day, about to leave for school

Ky is in 4th grade

J-man is in 3rd grade.

Sweet Bee was soooo excited for the first day of school and just as cute as can be.

When I pulled up in the driveway she had a minor melt down and begged me to take her to school at Parkers house. She will be going to my cute friend Staci's preschool, but it doesn't start until September. She did not grasp that. After I calmed her down we did lots and LOTS of different activities to keep her busy and happy. One of which was painting. One of her very favorite things ever. :)

She will also start a little dance class in September. We are very excited and can't believe how fast our babies are growing up.

with all of the new schedules I suppose Ry did not want to be left out (just kidding) but his work schedule will be changing next week. That means no more daddy on Saturdays. :( we are bummed about that, but have enjoyed having him on Saturdays all Summer long. They did a huge re-bid at work and everybodies schedule has changed. Ry and his good buddy will be partners now I'm excited for them/glad he won't be going out there all alone anymore.

I love this time of year. All the excitement with so much change. It's so full of optimism, its the time of year that we review our familiys needs and set new goals, and recommit to be better/try harder ect...We all have set goals and talked about what we hope to accomplish this year. I am excited to work on myself and the needs of my sweet family. We are so blessed and I am grateful to have such wonderful people to love and nurture. I do love my job, although exhausting at times, it's the littlest things that make my days at home worthwhile. Things like contagious giggles, the girly-est girl ever, raised eyebrows, seeing something that the boys are studying click and all of the sudden make sense, watching the kids being silly with each other and helping each other out or just any time we are able to share being together as a family make me glad to be where I am doing what I do!!!!

Here's to another great and exciting school year!

back to school routine

Now that the kids are back in school I decided it was time to come up with new grooming/bedtime charts.

With all of the cheap school supplies I decided to grab a few of these plastic pencil boxes.

I was able to get one for each of my kids for only .50 each.

I filled each box with their very own items needed to get ready for the day/bed.

next I made little charts with all of the things that they need to do.

I made little markers out of clothes pins to keep track of what comes next.

here is the morning chart

and the bedtime one.

its been a big hit with all of the kids and makes morning time school rush so much better.

California Trip

Day One:

Ry's little brother Sean got married last week.

We decided to leave the kids at home and turn it into a little get-a-way.

It was a lot.of.fun.

My parents flew in and spent an entire week with the kids.

I appreciate them so much.

The kids had a blast and made some great memories.

The kids are at such a fun age. They'll only be little once and I am so glad my parents got to enjoy this adorable little stage they are in now.

We drove to LA and it made me extra grateful for where we live. You couldn't go anywhere not even 4 blocks for dinner without getting stuck in traffic. It was crazy, but nice to not be in a hurry or stressed about being somewhere at a certain time.

We stayed in the Temple Apartments. They are right next door to the temple.

They are old but VERY well taken care of. It was without a doubt the perfect place to stay for a relaxing weekend. It was so quiet and peaceful and I had the best nights rest there that I've had in a very VERY long time. The pic. of the temple above was the view from our balcony. It was so beautiful!

Ry and I went to Disneyland to enjoy some of the rides we haven't been able to go on because of the kids height. It was fun. I think they boys will be able to go on all of them when we go back in Oct. It was a ton of fun to be alone and not have to worry about watching the kids, although I it just wasn't the same without the kids. I can't wait to take them back

Day 2:

They rest of Ry's family arrived and we had a lot of fun hanging out with them.

Natalie and Sean didn't want siblings at her endowments for some reason, just parents.

I was kind of bummed about that but we made the most of it.

The rest of us siblings decided to head to the beach.

It was a lot of fun.

We walked the board walk.

Then decided to try out the water.

It was sooo cold.

We all waded in the ocean a little bit, but leave it to Tyson to add a little extra entertainment.

He took off his shirt and ran all the way into to water. It was fun to watch, he definately keeps things exciting.

After the beach we were all starving and went to a chinesse resturaunt by the temple.

It was fun to spend the day with Ry's siblings. Wish we could do it more often.

Day 3:

The next morning we got up early and went to the wedding.

It was beautiful. I loved everything the Sealer said. It was if he was talking just to me.

I love going to wedding and hearing all of their great counsil. Made me recommit to try harder to be better.

After pictures we headed over to Natalies parents for lunch, it was delious.

That evening was the reception.

Mandy's gift to Sean and Natalie was to decorate their room with rose petals, chocolate and sparkling cider. She was kind enough to let Danielle and I tag along. It turned out really cute.

Tyson and Danielle decorated the car. They kept it very nice with Danielle's artistic abilities and it looked so cute.

It was a beautiful wedding and I'm so happy Natalie is now apart of our family. They are a very cute couple and seem perfect for each other.

Day 4:

My brother Ryan works for the Marriott and got us his employee rate on a nice room. It was very nice. We went out to breakfast and then hit the road home. My friend recommended the book "The Hunger Games" so I bought that before leaving and I read it to Ry on the drive. It was really good. I had fun talking about it with Ry. I love when we find a good book to read together.

We we got home Sat we joined the kids and my parents for dinner. My parents took the kids to the movies, the new Sea Life Aquarium and kept them busy and entertained. It was so fun to hear all about their fun time together. It was a great way for all of us to end our summer vacation.