Sunday night fever

Sundays are exhausting. I also love Sundays. It is just a weird day because Church with 4 kids is inTENSE. But I love afterward having the whole rest of the day to cook good food, rest, and not have anywhere to go.

Today we attended our Stake Conference. For parents of young kids, that translates into 50 extra minutes of making your kids sit still and be quiet. But, we made it.

On Sundays, we have a no movies or computer policy so we are forced to interact and use our imaginations for entertainment.

The kids made a huge mound of blankets and pillows in the boys' room and jumped off the top bunk into the cushy pile. Here are some sweet pics we got..

The one of Mack above is our fave. (click to enlarge)

the other alpha female (and our $1 high heel re-do)

Pretty, smart, and imaginative girl with

Really unique style all her own
Energy out the wazoo with a serious
Shoe obsession that started at age 2
Loves to rock out to music and
Is social to her core, an
Excellent student and a fun daughter!

Preslie Rules!


It is so fun to have a 9-year-old daughter. It is challenging at times, too-- mostly when she tries to act like me (we both want to be the boss!) I see a lot of myself in Preslie but she is also unique and came packed with a lot of punch of her own. I love her individuality and her creative ideas. I admire her determination; when she sets a goal, she cannot be deterred. I remember when she was 5 years old, she found an old Disney coloring book at my Moms and decided she was going to color every single page in that book. She brought it home and colored and colored until there were little indentions on her hand from holding crayons so long. I can't find the picture I took of her asleep with a crayon in her hand and the coloring book underneath her.

Her latest goal is to learn to do a head stand and raise both legs into the air. She's very close to being able to do it.

One thing Preslie and I share is our love for a bargain. We love to go to yard sales together and visit our little thrift store in town regularly. Preslie recently bought a pair of navy blue pumps for a buck (she wears a women's size 6 shoe!). Since she has nothing navy blue to wear with them, I suggested we paint them a different color. We decided on black because she grew out of her black dress shoes, and we already had that color spray paint.

Then we wanted to up the cuteness factor by spray painting the soles pink (we had that color already, too). Check it...

Here we are ready to spray paint the soles...painter's tape works for shoes, too.

And here is another shot of the finished product and a super cute girl to go with it.

"Mom, I peed my undies"

That is how my crazy-busy-fun day ended tonight. But I'm getting ahead of myself. I will back up to last evening when my husband packed up and took the 2 boys and his Dad on the Fathers and Sons campout. I have to say that I LOVE the Fathers and Sons campout. It was so quiet after those four boys left. Preslie was at a friend's house and Quinn and I had the place to ourselves.

First things first: dinner. I dumped a can of refried beans, a scoop of salsa, and a big dollup of cream cheese into a bowl, nuked and stirred. Dinner was served with a bag of corn chips. Quinn liked it too. (Oh, I forgot to mention I am back eating dairy again and Quinn seems to be doing fine. Hooray! ..for her AND me) Preslie came home and finished off the dip while we surfed the net looking at cute girl high tops (she is constantly spraining her crappy ankles so time to invest in some shoes with support). I will mention how nice and relaxing it was to not be interrupted by a certain small person that thinks he needs to be playing computer games every minute of the day.

Preslie and I camped in my room, read a little Fablehaven 5, then crashed so we could gain our strength for some serious yard sale-ing bright and early. I was impressed that Sleeping Beauty emerged before 9 am the next morning... we were actually on the road around 8:15, hit 3 great yard sales, scored some cute clothes and shoes for the girls and a sweet ceiling fan.

The boys had just beat us home and just in time for a family to come buy our car. We are down to one car with not enough seatbelts. We keep going back and forth on what to buy for our family vehicle now: minivan or big SUV. A hard choice...it's apples to oranges really. And of course it all boils down to staying in our budget.

After that, I grabbed Quinn and Mack and ran to pick up my Bountiful Basket. We scored corn-on-the-cob, mangos, blackberries, onions, tomatoes, artichokes, lettuce, cantaloupe, etc. After some fun on the nearby playground for Mack, we drove home with our yummy produce.

Then I walked down to my neighbors to pick up my share of the applesauce she and I bottled yesterday. 40 pounds of apples came out to 16 quart jars of applesauce. It didn't seem like that much to me but I was happy to get more experience canning. And it turned out delicious.

Dax made the 2 boys have a nap while I put a load of camping clothes in my new and completely AWESOME washing machine then made a salad to take to a friend's surprise birthday party. We all piled in our old Rodeo and drove to the party. We had a fun time even though Mack totally shoved one of the little girls that was there as hard as he could and I am SO glad she didn't smack her sweet little head on the TV that was an inch away.

We hit Wal-Mart on the way out of town for a few things and then home. Preslie was so tired, she could barely get to bed. Mack did a bit of cutting with some scissors he found on the table while I put away groceries and Hunter ate a yogurt.

I changed Mack's undies and put the boys to bed.

What a day!

light of my life

Look how stinking cute my baby is. Holy Moley. She makes me happy. And so does this weather we enjoyed last week.

Here is my Mother's Day snapshot. Two out of five with eyes open... I'll take it.

I had Quinn dressed so cute for church and 5 minutes into Sacrament meeting, she blew out. Luckily I had an extra one of Mack's dress shirts in my bag, and it just happened to be pink. Mother's Day came around at the perfect time as this Mama has been a tad burnt out lately. The kids were sweet to me and Dax spoiled me with yummy meals and even did dishes. It was GREAT.

little good things

Lots of little happy things to celebrate in everyday life. Many don't have pics to show for them, but still good stuff...

My first time doing Bountiful Baskets- I like it! A great way to get more veggies into our diet. A great way to get out of a meal rut also..

Quinn is big enough to ride in the bike trailer. Now for the wind to go away and we can go on some rides all together.

My friend Val was in my neighborhood for her husband's work and it was so fun catching up! Not too many people get out my way but we love it when they do. If I'd taken pics, I'd have got one of Mack and Val's beautiful girl Annie. Mack kept telling me, "Mom, don'tcha think Annie's just way cute?"

Dax has been working super hard in all of his many roles. I am so happy about the things he has been accomplishing. We've also been cooking it up the past few days(using our fresh stuff from our Bountiful Baskets)..no pics of the gourmet bacon swiss avacado turkey burgers or the Cafe Rio pork salads or the homemade pasta sauce that was so delish that I called neighbors to come eat with us.

And my brain has been flooded with project ideas. I love every second of it and have enjoyed improving my sewing skills in trying new things. Here are a couple of my April projects..

my first jean bag- fun and easy. Preslie loves it! I knew there was a reason I was saving all those holey jeans..


My 25 cent yard sale skirt. It was many sizes too large so I took it in using a skirt I had as a guide.


My first attempt at making long sleeves into short sleeves. I was pleasantly surprised how well they turned out.


..simple things but things that make me happy!

Quinn at 9 months.

• has no teeth
• doesn't crawl
• does scoot by digging her heels into the floor and simultaneously scooting her bum and leaning forward onto her hands- sounds awkward and it is, but it works!
• jabbers mah-mah-mah, dah-dah-dah, sometimes bah-bah-bah
• jabbers while twisting her tongue sideways
• so good-natured and sweet
• can give kisses on command (open-mouthed with tongue out)
  
• loves her sibs and her dad, but loves Mom the most!
• is not sleeping through the night
• likes to eat baby food, water, table food, and any little crumb, leaf, paper, styrofoam ball she finds on the floor.
• is growing bristle-y curls on the back of her head!
• turns pages of books while doing a cute moaning noise
• can clap her hands to "Patty-Cake"
• makes an Indian sound with her fist to her mouth

Quinn is a doll and a joy to have in our family. We just love her to pieces and think she is so adorable! I can't believe we are already on the home stretch to 1-year-old!

building character

Hunter came home from school and said, "Mom, you know how I was saving up for a Nerf gun? Well, I can't get that now because there are these kids who need school supplies and don't have any so our school is collecting some to send to them. I'm going to spend my money on that. Can we go to the store today?"

This, my friends, is payday for a Mother. I just hugged and kissed that cute Hunter face. I love his sweet and compassionate heart. I am so proud that he instantly put off his own desires to provide for someone else.

Preslie also needs to be recognized for reaching a huge personal goal a few weeks back. She started earning and saving money last July to buy an American Girl doll and I was just as excited and giddy as she was when she finally reached the $100 it took to purchase the doll.

It takes a lot of strength to save that long and not just buy other things that come along. There were many times that she wanted a cute pair of shoes or this or that and she had the money but held onto it for something she wanted more. I am proud of her for learning to delay immediate gratification. It is hard to do and something even many adults struggle with.

*proud Motherly sigh*