Announcing the arrival of SKYE WALKER

My brother Jeff, and his wife Nellie had their fourth baby girl last week on the 20th.  They named her Skye Walker and she weighed in at a whooping 9lbs. 6oz. and measured 22 1/2 in. long.  She hardly seems like a newborn.  She is absolutely beautiful and we are so excited to have another niece & cousin and Amy is especially pleased to share her birthday month with such a special girl.  We can't wait to see what mark Skye will make on the world.

Happy Birthday Jared!!

Today is our brother-in-law Jared's 29th Birthday!  Before we know it he is going to be an old man, so we thought we would take a minute and give a shout out to Jared on his special day.  I am and always will be the only daughter-in-law since Ryan is the only son.  For now only one of Ryan's sisters is married, so Jared is the only other in-law.  This creates a special bond between the two of us  at family gatherings because if things start to get a little weird (no offense guys) we can relish in the fact that both of us are just along for the crazy ride.  Anyways Jared is a great guy, an A+ husband, a wonderful dad, and a fun Uncle Vince, even if he is a little fishy!  

Reminders from a 9 year old

Reminder #1 Be proud of what you do.

For Valentine's Day each kid in Isac's 4th grade class was suppose to decorate a box at home to put their Valentine's in at the class party.  Not having alot of time to micro-manage everything Isac does, he was turned loose on this project all by himself.  I thought he was quite capable of doing it on his own.  This is what he came up with.  It is about the size of a briefcase or small suitcase, covered in brown shipping paper, regular tape, and my personal favorite-duct tape.  He cut a flap out of the front and fashioned a handle on top out of duct tape.  Then he really jazzed it up by drawing a big heart on the back in pencil that is barely visible and spelled out his name in stickers on the inside of the flap and put 4 heart stickers in various places.  He was and still is so proud of his 'mailbox'.  He made Emily one out of a shoe box and they had fun mailing letters to each other.  The next day I had a hard time letting him go to school with it.  Kids can be so mean and I didn't want him to get teased but I didn't say anything.  So after Ryan took him to school and I saw the box sitting on the kitchen table, forgotten, I wasn't about to rush it up to the school.  Little did I know Isac would realize he left it behind and promptly return for it.   So the briefcase box made it to school and served it's purpose, and came home filled with cards and candy.  And Isac didn't get teased.  When I asked him if anyone said anything about his box he said totally indifferent "Well I didn't exactly get any compliments on it."  Why was I so worried?  Now I don't think I want to throw the thing away....

Reminder #2 Don't worry about what you wear.

Last week Isac came upstairs dressed in this outfit.  I realize it is not that bad but I have this thing about blue and in my mind there are strict rules about how different shades of blue can or cannot go together.  Not wanting to make a big deal about it, since he was dressed I couldn't really complain, I casually got him a different shirt that matched better.  After I handed it to him he looked up at me and said, "Mom, school is not a fashion show.  You don't have to wear stuff that blends all the way from your shirt to your pants down to your shoes."  I couldn't really argue with that.  So I will just be glad that for now he isn't caught up in how he looks and what brands he is wearing and hope that he can stay that way.  

Our Valentine Sweethearts

We had a nice Valentine's Day and hope everyone else did too.  Ryan had school so he wasn't home all day but the kids and I dined on heart shaped pizzas and then made goodies and took them around to friends, single people and elderly in our neighborhood.  Isac and Emily both enjoyed delivering the treats.  It is tradition that Ryan gets us each a personalized chocolate heart from Mrs. Cavanaugh's and this year Emily was so excited about hers.  Shortly after breakfast she pushed a chair over to the counter, got her heart and went to her bedroom and closed the door.  That is always a sign that something suspious is happening so I asked "Emily where are you?"  "No where!"  was her response.  I opened the door and there she was chowing down on her chocolate.  Funny girl, and she was even "nice" enough to share it with Mack.     

I thought I WAS a princess...I had glass slippers!!

As I was putting Emily to bed tonight out of no where she said "Mommy, you not a princess."  

I was curious as to what exactly that meant so I asked "Is JJ a princess?"  (JJ is my older sister Jen, Sam's mom.)  Emily responded with a giggle "Nooo."  Still confused I asked "Is Dawn-Dawn a princess?"  (This is my younger sister Arin who has no kids.)  Emily's face lit up and she said with a little attitude "Yeah!"  At this point I thought I might be on to something so I asked "Is Aunt Cindy a princess?"  (Cindy is also childless.)  This question got the same response, "Yeah!"  That confirmed what she was trying to get across...I have turned into a FRUMPY mom and I guess Jen has too.  Thanks Emily.

Science Fair

Last week Isac participated in the Science Fair at school.  For his project we took swabs of the toilet, trash can, and a few other places around the house and grew bacteria samples from them.  We then tested which household cleaners would kill the germs the best.  Bleach, Lysol, and antibacterial hand soap all worked but regular dish soap did not.  We all had fun and are proud of Isac (and Ryan) for the work he did.  He didn't move on to the District Fair but our friend  Katrina K. did. Her project tested which toilet paper is most absorbent  with Kroger brand suprisingly winning.  I thought we would

share some pictures of the project. These lovely germ samples came from our Toilet and Trash Can...

I've been Triple Tagged

I have been tagged 3 separate times with 3 different tags and I haven't responded to any of them yet.  But I had a minute tonight and thought I would start with the easiest one from my friend Tammy.  The ABC's...

A- Attached or single: Attached
B- Best Friend: Ryan & my sisters
C-Cake or Pie: Fresh Peach Pie
D- Day of Choice: Tuesday
E- Essential Item: Being able to take a shower.  I know it's not an "item" but I can't live without it.
F- Favorite Color: Green
G- Gummi Bears or Worms: Either...it's sugar right
H- Hometown: Chickasha, Oklahoma
I- Indulgence(s): Reading
J- January or July: July could we get some warm sun...I am tired of snow
K-Kids: Isac, Emily, Mack and does Ryan or my Dad count?
L-Life is incomplete without: Family
M- Marriage Date: December 5, 2002
N- Number of Siblings: 3
O- Oranges or Apples: Oranges
P- Phobias or Fears: I am always afraid someone is under my bed (Michael Meyers) or car.
Q- Quote(s): "You must be the change you wish to see in the world." Ghandi
R- Reason To Smile: Ryan is home and all the kids are asleep.
S- Season: Spring, how much longer...
T- Tag Six: I know there are lots of tags going around so if any of you that check my blog want to participate I would love to read your ABC's
U- Unknown Fact About Me: I'm a Democrat and I consider myself more liberal than conservative
V- Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animal: I like meat as long as I don't think about what I'm eating
W- Worst Habit: Not answering the phone.
X- X-Rays or Ultrasounds: Ultrasounds
Y- Your Favorite Food: good BBQ from various hole in the wall restaurants
Z: Zodiac: Aquarius

Happy Birthday Katie

Today is Ryan's baby sister Katie's 16th Birthday!!  It is hard to believe she is turning 16.  She was 10 when I met her and that just seems weird since Isac will be 10 in April.  Anyways we just wanted to wish Katie a Happy Sweet 16 Birthday and warn anyone who may be driving in Oregon to watchout!!  We love you Katie!!

SPLISH SPLASH Mack's 1st big boy bath

Mack finally graduated to the big bathtub.  Actually let me rephrase that...Mack outgrew his baby bathtub awhile ago and I finally moved him to the big tub.  He seemed to enjoy the extra room...he was pretty cramped before and he loved to splash.  We are going to have to figure out a better way to wash and rinse his hair though.  He wasn't thrilled about the water being poured over his head.  

Emily's First cut and color by Sam

So earlier this week I ran over at my sister Jen's house to pick something up.  It was suppose to be a quick trip...run in, run out.  However, we started talking and the kids wandered off downstairs.  This normally wouldn't be a big deal but Jen is a hairstylist and has a salon in her basement.  By the time we went down there it was too late...Sam had poured a tub of powdered bleach over Emily's head, sprayed it with a water bottle, and caked pomade on it.  Jen had a doctors appointment to go to so we weren't able to rinse it out right then.  By the time I got home it was too late and the damage had already been done.  There were 3 bleached orange spots- a circle right on top, an oval, and a strip across the back, as you can see in the first picture.  When I combed it out hair started falling out in clumps and I thought I was going to be sick.  Ryan was home and I was even more afraid of what his reaction would be when he saw his precious little girls hair in a pile on the side of the bathtub.  Surprisingly he wasn't upset at all, just amused by the whole thing.  Thankfully Jen has awesome color skills and was able to fix the color so that now you would never know it was ever orange.  However when she blow dried it 1 inch sections of hair started sticking up and we realized that the we were so focused on the color drama we hadn't even noticed it had been cut.  We asked Emily while she was still in Jen's chair if Sam cut her hair.  She proudly said, "NO, Emmie do it all by myself."  She proceeded to show us exactly how she turned on the clippers and then lifted the clippers right to the bald spots.   That is the only part that is still noticeable.  We are glad we can say it could have been worse.... 

Christmas 2007

Could Santa have brought anything as cute as this?Stockings are the best part.
We are waiting for the year Isac refuses to wear footed pajamas.  It is surprising it has gone on this long but he still loves them. 
Emily and her new PINK cowgirl boots.  Now she can be just like Woody.
Mack got a Bumbo chair for Christmas and I swear the next day he could sit up on his own with out support.  What a waste...too bad Christmas wasn't in July.  

Is that Rambo?  No it's just Isac showing off his new airsoft guns. 

We apologize for the long delay in posting these.  Ryan got i Life 08 for Christmas and it has taken us a little while to figure out how to find the pics and now we are playing blog catch up.  

Could we please have a holiday where no one throws up

It seems like someone in our household has been sick or recovering from a bug for most of the major holidays for the past 2 years.  This is such a bummer since eating yummy food is such a major part of most holidays.  This year Isac decided to carry on the tradition.  After everyone went home on Christmas, Isac thought it would be cool to keep all of the glass bottles from the sparkling cider, several of which were over half full.  For some reason the thought never occurred to him that he could pour out the remaining bubbly, so he went ahead and finished off all 8 bottles without us knowing it.   It didn't take long for the throw up to start.  Now he shutters at the sight of  a bottle and I don't think he will be drinking any for a long time.  

A few Christmas highlights...finally

We took the kids to see the lights at Temple Square with Ryan's sister Cindy and Fadi.  Then they treated us to dinner at the Gateway.
Emily with Aunt Cindy and Uncle Fadi.  
Isac wearing his rebellious BYU visor.  
We felt like horrible parents dragging Mack out into the  cold, but I think he ended up being the warmest of all.  
Riding the "train" to Temple Square...Isac and Emily loved it.  
Emily posing with Aunt Cindy.  
Mack had lots of fun playing with his cousin Jackson at Ryan's dad's Christmas get together.  We wish they got to see each other  more often.  

Christmas review

A few pics from our Christmas celebration with Ryan's side of the family...

Mack is 6 months old

Mack is 6 months old as of yesterday. It is hard to believe six months have gone by since he was born and I have a hard time remembering life without him. He has his check up tomorrow so I will post his stats later, but I had a minute to get these pictures uploaded...isn't he as cute as cute can be.

First trip to the sledding hill

Last weekend we had all the cousins spend the day together. We painted Christmas ornaments and went sledding. All of them loved the sledding and were so daring. Isac and I had a big wipe out. Emily built a snowman and decorated it with what she had on hand...her hat and Mack's pacifier. That night my grandma Tutu came over to give the kids their Christmas gifts. It was a fun preview of Christmas and the kids all got such neat things. Isac has played with Emily's chimes more than she has and he has already memorize songs. The girls spent the night so we set up the little tent downstairs for them to sleep in. It was so fun having them over. I wish I could be a kid again.

gingerbread houses

A few Sundays ago with got together with some of our neighbors and good friends to build gingerbread houses. We have done this with them every year since we moved in and it has become one of our favorite holiday traditions.