Happy Valentines Day Aunt Moo!!

Kendal made a Valentines card today for Aunt Moo. She did it all by herself. So Happy Valentines Day Aunt Moo! We love you and miss you lots!

Oh yeah, she had to wear her swimsuit while she made it. I think it helps with the design process.

Funny Things Kids Say

Brandon and Kendal were racing from the van to the front door and when they got there this is how their conversation went:

Brandon: I'm the first on there, I'm the winner!!

Kendal: ...and I'm the rotten egg!!

She seemed so excited and thrilled that she got to be the rotten egg. That's a first.

Brandon Has a Kid In His Bed

Last night was a rough night again. A little while after Kendal fell asleep, she came and climbed into my bed. I took her back into her bed and it was back and forth for awhile. Finally about midnight, Derek went in and laid with her for an hour. She fell asleep and then a little while after he left she came back into my bed. So, I took her back into her room and laid her with Brandon in his bed (they share a room). I only heard from her one more time after that and that was only to get her a drink of water. I'm at a loss as to what to do. The monster spray didn't work. After I sprayed, I told her there weren't anymore monsters and she said, "yes there is, they just came back." I told her that once you spray they don't come back and she said, "yes they do." That went well...

Christmas

Okay, it's sad... I haven't scrapbooked about Christmas...ever. So, for my kids... here goes.
Christmas this year was too busy. Because I do vinyl lettering, Christmas is my busiest season. I thought I would have a few days rest, but I didn't. The reason I didn't was because other people are just like me and wait until the last minute and my vinyl cutter broke so I was having to drive to my mother-in-law's in Washington every day to cut vinyl. So, up until Christmas Eve (when I had the stomach flu) I was cutting vinyl. Next year it's not going to be like that. My cutter will work and I won't get the stomach flu (like I have any control over that:).

Other than being really busy, it was great. We put the trees out the day after Thanksgiving and they turned out really cute. I do the three trees so the kids can each decorate a tree. Each year, I take pictures that I've taken throughout the year, get them printed (3x5) and attach them to the tree with little red, glittered clothespins. The kids love to hang them up and remember the things they did throughout the year.


On December 15, we had our ward Christmas party. Because my husband is a chef, he and I got to cater it. It was really fun cooking with him, he's a much better cook than I am. If I had my choice, he'd cook every meal for us. For the party, we did prime rib, turkey, homemade mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, homemade rolls, salad, and slush. The ward members brought the desserts. It turned out great, everyone had tons to eat and lots of fun.

Each Christmas, we make reindeer food for Santa's reindeer. We scatter it on the front porch and the next morning the kids go out to see that it's all gone and that the reindeer have left their footprints behind.
Christmas day we went to Derek's mom's house and then to my parents house. It was fun to see everyone and spend time with them.

So for next year, I'm planning on being more organized and less busy. We'll see how it goes.

Halloween

I know it's January, but I want to write about Halloween so I don't forget it. This year, Kendal had decided she wanted to be Snow White. That was easy enough until I bought the pattern, pulled it out, and realized I might be in over my head. Luckily I have a mom who's a seamstress and can make just about anything. It took her about 1/4 of the time it would have taken me to make her dress and as you can see, it turned out perfectly.

Brandon, on the other hand, was a little more difficult. He decided early on that he wanted to be a zombie. I showed him pictures of costumes on the internet and then he changed his mind because a zombie would be too scary. So, we talked it through and he decided on a non-scary zombie doctor. So, I bought a scrubs pattern, sewed him up some scrubs, tea dyed them, ripped them up and then splattered them with paint. Easy enough and not too scary.
After getting all ready, Derek was a Zombie doctor also and I was the witch from Snow White, we headed off to the church for the Trunk or Treat. It was something I started last year because where we live the houses are pretty far apart and I was tired of getting in the car, driving a short distance, then getting back out. The first year we had about twenty cars but this year we tripled that amount. I was so excited that it was finally getting bigger. Next year I hope it will be even bigger.

Next year I think I'll get started on the costumes earlier so that maybe I can even make Kendal's...if I give myself a couple months. I should probably get started right now! :)

I Have a Kid Sleeping In My Bed

The last few nights have been pretty rough. On Monday night, we watched an episode of Goosebumps. For those of you who don't know, these are the shows based on the books by RL Stine. They aren't really scary, but sometimes they scare Kendal. This particular one about the slime monster scared her. Monday night she crawled into bed with us. I took her back to her bed 5 times, that I can remember. Then last night, she again crawled into bed. This time I was too tired from the night before to take her back to her bed. I should have though because I still didn't get any sleep with her kicking me in the back. :) Tonight we'll have to make some monster spray to spray around her room to get rid of the monsters. Hopefully that will work.

Snow

It's so surprising to have snow in Hurricane. It gets cold enough, especially with the wind, but it only snows about once a year. It snowed on Monday, but not quite enough to make a snowman. Sometimes I wish it would snow really hard so the kids could see what snow is really like. Derek and Kendal went outside to have a taste of the snow and she loved it!

Kendal

It's amazing to me how big my baby is. She will be four in June. Every night I try to rock her and I ask her if she'll stay small and be my baby. She says, "No." When I ask her why, she says, "because I am a big girl."
She just started ballet a few weeks ago and it amazes me that she's even that big to take ballet.






I can't wait to see how my baby grows up, I love her so much!

Brandon

Brandon, as of this date, is 6 years 5 months old. I can't believe in August he'll be 7. It seems like just yesterday I was bringing him home from the hospital. He's such an amazing kid. He's so kind and thoughtful, especially to his sister. The freckles on his face make him look like he might be up to something though. But he's usually not.
Right now he's in first grade. He has a wonderful teacher, Mrs. Davis, who is so good with the kids. She's really good with Brandon. Right now he's reading at above a 5th grade level and we're never quite sure what we need to do to keep him interested in class, but she's been such a help along the way. I'll be sad when he moves on to 2nd grade because I'm going to miss her.

I can't believe that Brandon is so big. They grow up too fast...

For My Kids...

I figured it's about time that I started doing something to keep track of all that goes on in my life. I haven't written in my journal successively for awhile and the last thing I scrapbooked was Kendal being born. So this will be my way to keep track of what happened in our lives. For my kids...