Tinker-toy Iron-man

Emily got Tinker Toys for Christmas, but I think Isac has played with them as much as she has. He was especially proud of this creation, and has asked me more than once why he never had Tinker Toys when he was a 'kid'. How was I suppose to know that Legos, blocks, Magnetics, and K-nex weren't enough?

Sew, Ganny, Sew!

Ever since my uber-talented, seamstress of a ganny, 'retired' from sewing for the western shirt company Mo'Betta last month, she has had TONS of extra time on her hands (right Ganny?). So what does she do to fill it you might ask, why SEW of course! But now rather than her hard work showing up in Garth Brook's closet, my own darlings are the lucky recipients. And boy have they been spoiled! Here is Emily modeling her new "tom-boy" skirt, which received several compliments at church last Sunday.
And here are the rascals with their personalized pillowcases.
And she has even sent each child an heirloom quality quilt.
Sunbonnet Sue for Miss Emily, which I love!
Dinosaurs, perfect for Isac and looks amazing!
And last, but certainly not least, Mack's "Squirmy the Wormy" Quilt!We already treasure these special creations and look forward to more of Ganny's handmade specialties to make it our way soon!

Memory: It's A GIRL...I mean a BOY

3 years ago today I had an ultrasound to determine the gender of our third.
I was hoping, wishing, expecting it was a girl.
I just KNEW it would be!
I have 2 sisters, one older, one younger.
They are my best friends. So with this baby, who was expected to arrive exactly 2 years after our own darling daughter, I was certain it would be another girl. I fantasized about the future that lay ahead: 2 matching little girls holding hands, giggling together in cute smocked dresses like all best friend sisters do. I dreamed about the tea parties, the teenagers sharing clothes, and the two of them as adults, always there for each other.
BEST FRIENDS.
It was with these dreams swirling around inside my head that I went into the exam room for the ultrasound. As soon as the technician had everything in order I let her know that we were very anxious to know what we were having and could she please check right away. She happily agreed, went right to the spot and got a good look.
"It looks like you're having another GIRL!", she announced.
And there "she" was on the screen, our little girl. Grateful tears ran down my cheeks. My dreams were coming true.
Sisters.
I was on cloud nine as she proceeded to check that all was as it should be with our daughter.
Everything about our tiny baby girl was precious:
"Oh look at her little hands."
"I think she is going to look like me."
"Isn't that nose adorable."

I was gushing with anticipation.

According to the technician, everything was in order, she just needed to capture this last image and then she would print them all and we would be on our way to prepare for our new addition.
"Oh wait a minute....", she said with hesitation, "I think I might have missed something. Yep I did."
And there we were, back between the legs and this time it was as plain as day:
We were actually having a boy.
A BOY.
Not a girl.
A BOY.

My world stopped. This can't be happening.
But wait they were going to share a room, it was already pink, and I expected to reuse all of Emily's adorable girl clothes since the seasons and sizes would line up exactly. What about braiding each others hair, and picking flowers for their mother?
Up there on the screen it was obvious that our precious daughter was actually our precious son. For 25 minutes, the entire ultrasound, Emily had a sister, and I had 2 daughters. My heart was sad. But it didn't last long. Thankfully I am the type that gets over things fairly easy and it didn't take me more than 24 hr. to look forward to a having a third male in the house. A part of me still wishes (and hopes) that Emily had a sister.
But if you asked me today, I honestly wouldn't have it any other way!
Life without my Mack just wouldn't be the same.

And as you can tell from these photos the sibling love is not lacking!







They are BEST FRIENDS.

And the room is still pink.

But I had a coupon!!!

I knew I should have bought the Ovaltine.
Then, at least he wouldn't have needed to take his daily vitamin.

"MOM, come look what I wrote!"

She was so proud.
I guess she is learning something at preschool after-all.
Naughty little girl.


*FYI it is a B.

SNOWBALL FIGHT!!!

Little against BIG
BIG vs. little
Little making BIG
Daddy's hit...the end.
And checkout our 1st 2 snowmen of the season...kinda freaky huh.

Here we go again...

Ryan starts back to school this week.
It has been so nice having him home over the break!
But now the craziness begins again.
We'll see you in May my darling.


1 semester down, 3 to go.

Sunday Naps

Can I just say that I love 9-12 church?
OK...
I LOVE 9-12 CHURCH!!!

Snowbird Tram

5,4,3,2,1 BLASTOFF!!!!!

The 6th grade Rocket Launch was, according to Isac, OUT OF THIS WORLD AWESOME!!!
Definitely rivaled 4th grade Mountain Man Rendezvous and 5th grade Patriot Day. WOW!

Halloween

It's not Thanksgiving yet, so we can still talk about Halloween right? This year was fun because Mack can walk and Emily 'got it' so she was super excited about everything involved. We trick-or-treated the grandparents in the A.M. and then headed up to This Is The Place Village for the afternoon. There were lots of activities for the kids and it was a fun way to spend the day. Next came the neighborhood party (thanks Deans) which is a required tradition. After filling up on hot dogs and chili we headed out and got down to the business of begging people for candy. We made it around the block and were satisfied so we came home to take our turn of handing out our own candy. Here we have a Maril Pokemon, a Ute Football player who was suppose to be a CareBear but decided he didn't want to wear a costume after-all so this is what Mother put on him, and FunShine Bear.
Isac ditched us to go with his friends so that he could maximize his Trick-or-Treat time. For some reason he thought his siblings would slow him down (I am not sure what gave him that idea). This group of boys had a plan...don't they look ready with their pillowcases? He definitely accomplished his goal and came home with quite the haul.Oh and two things I don't want to forget so I will write them here:
A full grown adult, who was all alone (as in no children) actually rang the door bell, said Trick-or-Treat, and when I urged her to take more than just one little Butter-finger, she actually did. WEIRD!!!

Among the many adventures Isac had while he was out, he told me about a house with the bowl of candy on the porch with a sign that said "Don't be a piggy...only take 1 please." So, according to him, he took one, and continued on, while the rest of his friends proceeded to load up their bags. While doing so some teenagers ambushed them with water balloons, but since Isac only took one, he escaped unharmed. I thought it was a rather sneaky trick, but I am glad he was honest and stayed dry.

So that was our Halloween!!! We were on a sugar high for day and Emily is already asking how long until we do it again.

Out of the mouth of Emily

While attempting to get across the grocery store parking lot to our vehicle with both littles walking on their own, I had to remind Emily more than once to do things like:

stay next to me,
watch out for that car backing up,
don't run ahead,
and get back over here!!!

As we were safely climbing into the car, she said in her "Gosh" Voice.

"OKAY Momm, will you stop being a crybaby, I mean a yellbaby".

Ok Emily I will.

Look at ME!!!

And the ADORABLE dress my Aunt Dawn-Dawn made for me. This is one of 2 dresses that I don't scream blood-murder about wearing. The other one is plain black and I think I look like Batman when I wear it. So thanks Dawn-Dawn for making me a dress that my mom and I both think is cute.

Primary Program 2009

This year was a success...Emily's 1st and Isac's last. Each executed their parts (which they both wrote themselves) flawlessly. Emily owned the microphone when it was her turn and Isac was slightly more enthusiastic than last year, but he intentionally mumbled the part about his dad "tickling" and "playing" with him after his classmates teased him about it. We of course thought it was cute. He sang parts of all of the songs and smiled whenever he looked at us. Emily sang with her mouth open so wide, and tried her best to stand and sit on cue and even did her own hand motions along with the music leader several times. It was a memorable program and one of my favorite Sundays of the year.


Emily- The temple makes me feel special because Jesus made it.
Isac- My father goes to work to support the family. When I am disobedient he disciplines me because he loves me. My father tickles and plays with me. Sometimes we do projects together and he teaches me how to do many things.

And this one..

...survived another Scout overnighter! He said it was crazy fun and I guess it probably was to him...I mean really imagine that you are him, up in the mountains, with four other 11 year old boys and leaders who don't mind letting them act like 11 year old boys, surviving on a diet of mainly marshmallows and hot dogs, with no one around to tell him to brush his teeth, or hair or wash his hands, sleeping/staying up all night singing silly songs and telling goofy stories in a tent/tarp rigged up on the branch of a tree because no one thought about bringing a real tent. His idea of a great time.

*I just want to remember that one of his leaders told me afterwards what a funny kid Isac is (as if I didn't already know) and asserted that he was the best thing about the whole trip. I was relieved that they felt that way instead of being annoyed with his phrase of the day which happened to be, "You guys remind me of a song...." followed by a strange song about penguins.

It didn't feel right at the time...

...but he cried to wear it because it had Hot Air Balloons on it. So I told myself it wasn't hurting anything and put it on him. Doesn't he look pleased. The next morning I think Ryan broke the world record for getting the kids (Mack at least) dressed. He commented that when he first noticed, he didn't think it bothered him, but quickly changed his mind and took it off. Maybe I should put Mack to bed in nightgowns more often so that he is always dressed when I come home from work.

And I thought summer was kicking my butt...

...now we have HOMEWORK on top of everything else.

School has been in session for over 2 weeks and I am just now coming up for enough air to post these 1st day pictures. Better late than never right, or maybe I should be embarrassed to consider myself a blogger, either way here they are. Around here, when something's gotta give it is usually computer time, and housework, but we won't get into that since you can't see the piles of laundry on every bed in this house.

We seem to be settling into a new routine with our new work and school schedules. Ryan is getting use to his program. We do see him every once in awhile...although most of the time he is studying or trying to help with random household duties.

Isac is excited to be a 6th grader and King of the Campus this year. He said something funny the first week of school about it. He observed, "Last year the 6th graders just seemed so big and grown up. But when I look at Isaac, and Ben (and his other classmates), they just don't look that cool."
I reassured him that they seem big to all the younger kids and that by the end of the year they will be even bigger. Crazy Kid.
So far in 6th grade, we are having fun navigating new social issues, mastering good personal hygiene (a.k.a brushing our teeth & combing our hair EVERY morning), and learning more responsibility in preparation for Jr. High.
He has our wonderful next door neighbor Mrs. Dean again this year so we are hoping, with her mad skills we'll make it through the year intact.

Emily also had her first day of preschool this week. Because our budget is so tight, and because I realize that once you send them to kindergarten, things are never the same, we are doing a home-preschool with her cousin Sam and one other friend. We will be rotating weeks, similar to Joy School, so that is another item added to my "To Do List".

WowWee...education is so much FUN!!!

I am mostly just bummed that Isac isn't around to buckle/unbuckle the kids' carseats whenever we go anywhere in the daytime now...it really slows me down!

HICCUP

I love it when Mackey gets the hiccups.
He is always confused but thinks it is so funny!