This Cresap Family

Goodbye, January!

2012-02-01T21:08:00.000-07:00

This has been a very, very mild winter. Even for us here in Arizona. I made the girls new coats for Christmas and felt like a horrible mom 2 weeks before the holiday sending them to school in their thin hoodies as it was FREEZING (well, for here anyways) knowing perfectly well they had much warmer wrapped prettily under the tree. And then they got to wear their new coats for exactly 2 days after unwrapping them. And since then it's been in the 70's pretty much everyday. And as much as I absolutely adore this weather, it really makes me dread the coming months and especially summer. Cause let's be honest - summer here is no picnic to begin with. But if it's in the 70's for the majority of "winter", what's it gonna be like in another 5 months? Horrid. That's what. Anyways, here's the remainder of January pics.

Bestest best friends!

Paisley found her baby pettiskirt when I was going through the baby bucket and insisted in wearing it for the rest of the day. lol And even though it looks like she is, I promise she isn't laying on top of Shyla....

My littlest doll

Getting pretty good at push-ups =)

Have a wonderful February!

Happy Happy Birthday, Smamberkins!!!

2012-01-30T15:25:00.002-07:00

Wow! Another year has gone by already and now my little baby is 10!!! I'm still in denial. Nothing ages me faster than my one and only Amber Smamber. Boo....

For Amber's birthday this year, I wanted it to be extra special since she's now double-digits. Months ago I decided I was going to take her, Jade, and two friends ice skating and get an ice-cream cake. Unfortunately, due to Shyla's arrival via c-section, I wasn't able to go ice skating yet. So I had to send David with the girls. So no fair. He doesn't even like skating. Another big BOOO! But at least he was semi-willing and all the girls had a blast! I even got him to take the camera along and promise me more than 3 decent pictures. And he did! So here they are:

After ice skating, David brought the girls here for cake and presents:

I let Amber open my mom's present Friday night cause I knew what it was.....

Perfect for ice skating!

Baskin Robbins makes the BEST ice-cream cakes!

Big box of Legos!

The newest Diary of a Wimpy Kid book

Build-A-Bear giftcard

TWO big ol' dart guns

Later in the evening, we went to the mall so Amber could use her giftcard:

And on Sunday - her real birthday - she chose steak, mashed potatoes, broccoli, homemade bread, and pumpkin pie for her special dinner/dessert.

Hey! Save some for the rest of us! =)

I sure love this girl! Amber is bright and funny and very, very active. She keeps us all on our toes! Amber is also a great big sister. She's very good at making her two littlest sisters happy. Love you, Amber Smamber!

Some More January Randoms

2012-01-30T14:51:00.000-07:00

Enjoy!

Mmmmm! Who likes corn on the cob? These girls do!

Here's a cute picture of my chunky redhead. Love this baby!

Amber modeling a new dress

So sweet

Funny kids (David, too!) playing in Target

We found an authentic Hawaiian restaraunt! Tastes just like what we used to eat in Hawaii. We will definately be going back on a fairly regular basis!

Took Shyla out of the carseat at the mall then turned around to see Paisley already making herself at home. What a turkey!

I really love all the crazy faces babies make. I really wish I knew what she's thinking here....

David's Pinning Ceremony

2012-01-27T17:32:00.000-07:00

David is FINALLY done with nursing school! All that's left is the NCLEX exam to get his license. Last Saturday he had his pinning ceremony. It was so great to celebrate his accomplishment with him!

David won the class nominated Outstanding Student award

He was also the student speaker

The girls "pinning" him. His pin is on the blue ribbon around his neck.

Blurry....I know. But I was juggling a baby and trying to get a decent shot around the people sitting in front of us. Plus they wouldn't hold still.

Lighting the candle

Reciting the Florence Nightingale Pledge

Congratulations, David! I know the past two years haven't always been easy, and I hope you know how proud I am of you for sticking it out! Love you lots!

Train Ride, the Park, and Randoms

2012-01-20T19:43:00.000-07:00

We've been busy, busy, busy this month. Here's what we've been up to: David finished nursing school and has his pinning ceremony tomorrow. Can't wait till he takes his boards and gets his license! Things are definately looking up for us. Our tenants signed a new lease, we are moving in March to a different house hopefully within the ward boundaries, David will be starting his BSN program online soon, we've been reading the Book of Mormon every night, I've been healing quickly and have been able to be more and more active - which means the house actually doesn't look like a disaster zone anymore, and we've all gotten used to being a family of 6.

Two weeks ago, we went to the mall. Our mall has a train that drives around on the second floor and the girls always beg to ride it. David just happened to have cash on him and generously allowed them to ride. I had to go to cause Paisley isn't old enough to go without a parent.

This past weekend, the weather was just gorgeous so I bribed Amber and Jade with a picnic lunch at the park if they would clean the kitchen - vacuum, mop, scrub counters/table, do the dishes, and make the lunch. They decided that was a good deal and got it all done in time for us to walk to the park. After a sandwich/cheetos/juice box lunch, the three oldest had a fun time playing.

And the randoms:

Amber built this fort. I thought it was actually a pretty neat hangout.

Our van has a dvd player and David got the girls wireless headsets. Paisley LOVES hers and always asks for her "ears" when we get in the car.

Getting a bath from Daddy and Paisley. Shyla is my first baby that really likes baths. She lays there kicking and squirming but sooo happy to be in the warm water.

I just think this picture is so typical of my girls....

Shyla working on her upper body strength. See her red hair?? It's even redder in person. =)

Shyla's Photo Shoot

2012-01-12T15:04:00.000-07:00

My friend, Allison, who takes the wonderful pics of my family, needed a baby to practice with. And me, being the nice person I am, happily volunteered my baby. It was a win/win. So here's the adorable pictures she took of my super sweet little Shyla baby. =)

Shyla's First Joke

2012-01-06T08:39:00.000-07:00

Background Story: Growing up, all bodily functions were taboo. We didn't burp, fart (not even armpit farts), have b.o., etc. And even to say the words spelled certain doom. I'm not really sure how, but in the 11 years of being married to David, our family word has become "poop". Believe me, it was very uncomfortable for me to join the game for quite awhile. Not so much anymore. Dave and I ask our girls questions like, "What do you want for dinner? What do you want for your birthday/Christmas? What's your favorite subject in school?" and a lot of the time their answer is simply, "Poop." They ask us the same kind of questions: "Where are we going? What's for dinner? What movie are we going to go see?" And they get the same simple answer. "Poop." Or if we're feeling creative, "Poopoo McDoopoo. Poop Sandwiches. Poopie McPooperton." Weird, I know. But it's our family thing.

Fast forward to this morning around 2am: Shyla's wide awake. Me? Not so much. She's on my chest, eyes wide open, picking her head up, practicing push-ups, kicking with her legs, squirmy-mcsquirmster. Both amused and aggravated, I ask her, "Shyla, where are you trying to go?" She looked right at me, and pooped. "Poop, Mom. I'm trying to go poop."

Adjusting

2012-01-04T10:00:00.000-07:00

It's been a full week since I came home with Shyla now, and we've had to make quite a few adjustments around here. The first, and hardest, is that I'm not able to do the housework. It's been driving me a little crazy. Not that I love cleaning....cause I really, really don't....but it makes my day so completely empty not being able to do the things that need to be done. Plus, I was bitten by the organizing bug and can't unleash it on anything worthwhile. Boo. Another pretty rough adjustment is I can't pick up Paisley. She's actually done better with this than I thought she would. She hardly ever even tries to make me hold her. Maybe once a day and that's when she's half asleep and needs to be taken potty. When she does try, I just remind her of my ouchies and she will just hold me hand and walk with me or climb on the couch and sit next to me instead. Such a big girl. She's also back to taking herself potty which is nice cause I was sick of accompanying her when she doesn't need any help at all. The most major adjustment in our home of course is Shyla herself. But she makes it pleasant and easy. All her big sisters adore her and volunteer to hold her for a minute so I can go get dressed or whatever. Even when she's peacefully sleeping they beg to pick her up to snuggle. School starts on Monday and I'm not really looking forward to losing my two big helpers. Especially cause they're so great at entertaining Paisley. She's gonna be one sad cookie when they leave Monday morning....

My girls helping get the house cleaned up after a week of destruction

The extent of Paisley's regression. I'll take it!

Catching the last rays of afternoon sun - soaking up some good ol' Vitamin D

Happy New Year!

2012-01-02T12:55:00.001-07:00

We had a fun New Year's Eve here at home. David took Amber and Jade to see "We Bought A Zoo" during naptime, then came to pick the rest of us girls up and headed to Target to spend the girls' Christmas moolah. Amber and Jade ended up not having enough $$ for what they wanted, so they are saving up. Paisley bought some play-doh and I helped Shyla pick out a cute puppy toy. Once home, David helped me make our traditional chow-mein dinner. We then had fun with sparklers and firecrackers while the girls had unlimited access to all treats in the house. Paisley probably ate about 1/3 of the big bag of M&M's I opened up. haha She didn't want to hold a sparkler and she hid behind Jade in the "car" during our firecracker show. Silly kid. She got to stay up till 8:30 - lucky girl! Jade played her new computer game and Amber played on the laptop. David and I watched Star Wars. And we all made it to midnight - well, except Paisley and Shyla, of course!

We can buy firecrackers in any store here, but we're not allowed to set them off in Peoria city limits. We do anyways. lol

Church moved to 1pm this year so I have an extra 2 hours to get myself and all 4 girls showered and ready. We totally would have been on time, too, but David likes to wait for the last minute to get ready and then underestimates how long it will take him to dress. *sigh* At least I did my part! We only stayed for sacrament meeting and that was enough for me. Maybe next week I'll be able to make it through all 3 hours.... After church, the girls - and even David - helped me "kill Christmas" and now our house looks so empty. Paisley very kindly shared her now one-color play-doh with Amber and Jade. And that's how we started the new year here. =)

Jade was snuggling Shyla before bed, and apparently Shyla was hungry. She actually "bit" Jade and tried to nurse! Hahaha

Minivan and More Shyla Pics

2011-12-31T12:40:00.000-07:00

Here we go - another incredibly creative blog title. Goooo, me! On Wednesday, I was released from the hospital with strict rules about what I can and cannot do for the next 2 weeks. When David picked Shyla and I up, he also brought the other 3 girls. Well, we drive a small suv with only 5 seats. So Amber and Jade were forced to squish into one seat. I literally had to shove Jade in and slam the door before she fell back out. It was a very tight squeeze. For the past month, David has been trying to sell his Saab on craigslist with no luck. We were relying on the sale of his car for the money to buy a minivan and since that didn't work, David and I decided we were just going to have to trade in the Santa Fe and deal with keeping a car payment (we were soooo close to paying it off!). After dropping all of us girls off at home, David went to find us a good deal. And he did! He came home with a 2007 Chrysler Town and Country Touring model - my absolute #1 dream van! I about screamed from excitement! And not only did I get my dream van, but our payment is actually about $70 less than what we've been paying on the Santa Fe. Our interest rate went from 14.7% to 4.5% and it's only a 4yr loan. David got a warrantee to cover the length of the loan - one that covers absolutely every part of the van: the ac, power seats/windows/doors, transmission, everything, free oil changes for 2 years, and free exterior detailing every 6 months. Town and Country is known for their awesome stow n' go seating and it does totally rock! Since we need all the seats up for our family, we can use the seat storage to hold whatever we need it to. I'm so very excited to actually be able to drive it in 8 days!

David and I have owned around 13 vehicles total throughout our marriage - 7 were white. I'm sooooo glad my dream van is NOT! =)

And here's some more ultra-adorable cute pictures of our new sweet baby sister:

The nursery used something sticky - probably karo syrup - to stick the red bow on her head when they cleaned her up for me. I wish they hadn't though cause it made it difficult to breathe her baby smell... You can see in this pic how red her fuzz looks

The tail-end of a yawn

Can you see how looooong her foot is?? It's pretty hard getting them into her footie jammies!

Paisley thinks she's big stuff cause she's the only one touching Shyla =)

Baby Shyla

2011-12-26T19:10:00.000-07:00

Early this morning, David and I snuck out of the house. Though we told Amber and Jade we were going shopping first thing in the morning, we were really headed to the hospital for a scheduled c-section! I was originally scheduled for the 30th, and when I rescheduled for today, we didn't tell the girls so we could surprise them with a new baby sister. We arrived here at the hospital at 7am, got all checked in, did a bunch of paperwork, some bloodwork, and the waited. And waited some more. Finally at 10 the nurse walked me back to the surgical room. I got my spinal and laid down on the bed. And thankfully, my arms were not strapped down nor did I have an oxygen mask on my face. I did still have a moment of panic as the spinal spread through my body paralyzing me and making it difficult to breathe, but David had given me a blessing beforehand and I think that helped a lot. I felt more focused and lucid throughout the proceedure. Especially once they let David in the room. Once I was cut open, my doctor said it's a good thing I didn't have a vbac as my uterus was "eerily thin" and could have easily ruptured with the intense labor contractions. So as frustrating as it was to not be able to go into labor myself, I'm glad in this case that I didn't. Shyla was pulled out at 10:30am and is just the sweetest baby. Her hair has a definate red tint to it and she really doesn't look much like my other 3 babies. She's so precious!

Sweet baby girl weighs 7lbs 14oz and is 22in long

After some time in the recovery room, I was taken to post-partum with Shyla. David went and picked up the girls from home, took them to lunch - I think he told them I was shopping with my friend - and brought them to the hopsital to "do a serve". He brought them into the room while I was holding Shyla and it took half a minute for them to understand what was going on. =) Paisley let out a classic Paisley squeal of delight and climbed right up on the bed to meet Shyla. It was adorable. She kept stroking Shyla's face and giving her kisses. Hope the love lasts! Amber and Jade took a turns holding her as well once they got over their shock.

So now we are officially a family of 6. Welcome, baby Shyla Beth!

Christmas Eve and Day in Pics

2011-12-25T21:25:00.000-07:00

Here's a ton of pics from our wonderful holiday weekend:

The adults had a chime concert

Santa's elves delivered Christmas Eve pj's

We read The Night Before Christmas and sang Christmas songs

We must have been extra good this year cause Santa brought a LOT of fun stuff!

Like dum-dums...

A hermit crab...

Cologne...

Disney Princess dolls...

And baby things for Shyla!

Jaders got a Nintendo DS with some games

Amber framed this gorgeous artwork for David

I got a couple homemade Christmas cards from the girls.

Grandma sewed matching jackets for all the grandkids

Paisley's shopping cart

Nikki got repaired and cleaned

Happy Birthday, Nana!

Amber got her own camera! It takes stills and video!

We had a terrific time with family! Everyone got what they wanted - except Jade who did NOT get a puppy (lol) - and was very happy opening gifts. Thanks, Shelley and Greg for spending the weekend with us! We always love when you are able to. Merry Christmas, all!

A Week of December Delights

2011-12-23T16:55:00.000-07:00

We've had a very busy week full of December fun! Let's see.... last Thursday the Andersen's came to help us decorate Christmas cookies. I made 5 dozen sugar cookies and frosting in red, white, and green. I also had sprinkles, frosting writers, and chocolate chips to use. We had a lot of fun being VERY creative!

On Friday, Dave and I kept the girls out of school and we headed to Mesa to spend the afternoon baking goodies with Nana. We made peanut brittle, more sugar cookies, and walnut fudge. Mmmmm!

I finished decorating/cleaning Shyla's room at some point.

And made yet another Rapunzel dress for one of David's co-student's daughter. I like this one the bestest.

Last night (Thursday) David and I went to the Lefler's annual Ugly Christmas Sweater party! We had such a great time. Pretty much all of our ward friends were there, the food was delicious, and the white elephant gift exchange had me almost peeing my pants from laughing so hard! Neither Dave or I won the ugly sweater contest this year, but we still had a blast! Thanks, Lefler's!

While we were partying, someone ding-dong-ditched our house and left several very heavy presents on our doorstep! We opened them up early this morning to find some food storage items, diapers for Shyla, treats, and some little presents for the girls. What a wonderful Christmas surprise! We are truly grateful to our Secret Santa for helping us get our food storage going! We are blessed.

Once we were all dressed, we had breakfast at IHOP (yeah, it's our favorite). Then Jade went with David to do court runs and serves for the day while I took Amber and Paisley to get their nails painted. Afterwards, I helped Amber hang the snowflakes they made with the babysitter last night up in her bedroom.

And now I'm all caught up....till tomorrow anyways!

Oh, one last thing. Shyla's joining us on Monday morning!!! I have a c-section scheduled for 9:30am Monday the 26th. I'm soooo excited to have her out and with us finally! But not so much for the c-section. I'm not a fan. I'd much rather not have one. But since Shyla baby's being so stubborn and not coming on her own, and I'm impatient to begin with, it's time to force her out. Look for pics on Monday! =)

A Couple of Things

2011-12-15T06:46:00.000-07:00

Just a couple pictures that aren't related to anything going on around here:

I made the girls new Christmas stockings - one for Shyla, too! I will probably put their names on them eventually

Paisley ~~torturing~~ feeding Tiny

Amber finished her very first 300 piece puzzle. She did it 100% by herself!

That's it for now. Hopefully soon I'll be able to blog about Shyla being born. We'll see. She apparently likes being squashed inside me..... But she's heads down - so no c-section unless I run out of time to go into labor naturally - and weighs around 6 1/2 lbs.

Amber's Christmas Talent Show

2011-12-14T08:47:00.000-07:00

For Activity Days last night, the girls put on a talent show for us parents/family. Amber played the piano a couple times - once for 2 girls singing, once for 3 girls doing gymnastics, and once for her own talent. She did great!

Paisley Is So Stubborn!

2011-12-12T07:12:00.003-07:00

My friend is the music lady for Primary and nursery. For nursery, she has bags of props for all the songs they sing and she allows the kids to take turns choosing a bag. Paisley's favorite song by far is the "duck song". She chooses is every time. Now, my friend used to have several different ducks in the bag that didn't match at all. One was a big "mama" duck and another was a little keychain duck that quacked when a button was pushed. The quacking baby duck was Paisley's favorite. She'd get all giggly holding it and would sing her little heart out. That is, until my friend decided all the ducks should be the same and took out the specials. Since that day, Paisley has refused to sing any of the songs. She just sits there. She'll still take her turn choosing, and will choose the duck song, but when she can't find the quacking baby duck in the bag, she promptly sits back down and won't sing. It's been a few months now. Yesterday after church as we walked into the house, I asked Paisley about class.

"Did you have fun in class?"

"Yes."

"Did you color?"

"Yes."

"Did you eat your snack?"

"Yes."

"Did you sing?"

At this point, Paisley lifted her head off my shoulder, looked me in the face, and very seriously said, "No. No mama duck. No baby duck."

Hahahaha!! So our theory on why Paisley won't sing has been proven correct. What a funny, stubborn little thing I'm raising!

Super Fun Weekend

2011-12-11T07:55:00.000-07:00

David and I went out Friday day to celebrate our anniversary. We dropped Paisley off at a friend's then went to see "Breaking Dawn". It was pretty cheesy, but we both survived. lol We were going to get lunch after, but neither one of us was very hungry, so we did a little Christmas shopping instead. I always enjoy spending time with David.

Saturday we spent as a family. We started early with breakfast at IHOP (mmmmm!!!), then headed to the mall to make Shyla a Build-a-Bear from all of us for Christmas. We also got David some new shoes - he's had his current ones for 3yrs and they're falling apart - and took the girls to see "Arthur Christmas". Paisley was predictably difficult as it was past her naptime, but with lots of popcorn and trips to the bathroom, we managed it. The girls had a lot of fun and are excited for Shyla to fall in love with her new (and only) animal. Amber and Jade both worked on puzzles till dinnertime then had fun helping me feed a fire outside with old bills and checkbooks. I sure love our weekends together!

Our 11th Anniversary

2011-12-11T07:47:00.000-07:00

Thursday, December 8th, David and I celebrated our 11 year anniversary. David woke me up around 2am and after learning he had a present for me, I quickly forgave him. I also immediately felt bad cause every year before I've always gotten him something but since he always complained about it, I didn't get anything this year. Such a bad wifey! Anyways, he brought out a gift bag - tissue and everything - and inside I found a homemade card and several small boxes. My favorite kind of small boxes. Ones that usually contain jewelry. Here's what I got:

Amethyst and diamond pendant

Amethyst and white sapphire tennis bracelet

Amethyst and white sapphire ring

Amethyst and white sapphire earrings

LOVE the card! Makes me laugh =)

David is so good at picking beautiful jewelry for me! He likes buying sets so I always have matching pieces to choose from. And he says his goal is to get me a set in every color. I highly approve of this goal. So far he's bought me pink sapphires (necklace, earrings, and bracelet), emeralds (necklace and earrings), aquamarines (necklace, earrings, and ring), 2 diamond tennis bracelets, a blue sapphire ring (for my very first mother's day ever), a pearl bracelet, and now amethysts. Love how sweet he is! I'm so grateful to have been married to David for these 11 years and am looking forward to many, many more - and not just for the pretty sparkly gifts he gives. =)

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas!

2011-12-04T21:59:00.000-07:00

We finally got around to decorate for Christmas this weekend. Well, we started Thursday when Amber and Jade got home from school. They were very excited for it to be December, but I didn't have the energy to drag the Christmas buckets out from the shed and clean out the living room. So they did both. =) They had a blast setting up all our nativity scenes, hanging the stockings, and finding homes for our various Santas. David put the lights on the house last night, and we set up the tree this evening. I even wrapped presents and put them where they belong. Now I just need to finish my sewing, clean the kitchen, bake a billion cookies, and oh yeah - have a baby! My doctor think my amniotic fluid is low cause at my last appt I measured 3cm smaller than I should. So I have to go in on Thurs for an ultrasound (yay! another peek at Shyla!) to measure her height and weight and also the fluid levels. And if they are too low, I'll be scheduled for another c-section next week. And if she's too small cause the cord is too small and she's not getting enough nutrition, she'll be coming out next week. So pretty much, I'll be having a baby next week - fingers crossed. =) Lots to get done before then!

In other news:

Jade won "Amazing Aztec of the Month" at school.

Sweet girl fell asleep watching football with David after church

I finished Jade's Christmas coat. She's gonna love it!

Musical Instrument Museum

2011-11-30T21:25:00.000-07:00

Today I went on my very first field trip as a parent. I went with Amber's class to the Musical Instrument Museum! It was so cool. There was a LOT of displays and information. Our tour was pretty rushed so we only stopped at a couple country's displays with our guide. It was great spending time with Amber (something that doesn't get to happen very often) and seeing her interact with her friends.

Thanksgiving Weekend

2011-11-25T15:11:00.001-07:00

Here's what we did this weekend:

The weather's been nice

This is at my cousin Amy's house where we had Thanksgiving dinner. Paisley was sharing with Grandpa Robertson. =)

On Friday, David wanted to take us to a pizza place he passes in downtown Glendale all the time. As we got closer, it became evident there was something going on. We had to park a couple blocks from the pizza place since the street was closed to all traffic. Well, right across the street from the resaurant, a whole carnival was set up in a park filled with lighted trees! So of course after dinner we went on some rides and bought fresh doughnuts and hot chocolate. What a fun impromtu family activity!

Paisley was quite excited to go on the "dapple ride"

Another Post

2011-11-23T14:47:00.000-07:00

My brain is turned off at the moment and I'm not writing a better title, so there! =P

I finished Amber's Christmas coat. I really like it and hope she does, too

I finished the inside like Paisley's - not a single seam showing anywhere! Had to modify the pattern to make it this way. The way the instructions were, there would have been seams all over the place!

Jade and Paisley chillin after school. I love how they're both smiling, but not at me. And Paisley's controller isn't even plugged into the playstation. lol

Goofy kid handed me my camera and asked for a picture. Cute little ragamuffin!

Some More Family Pics

2011-11-19T20:08:00.000-07:00

So when I got around to trying to post more family pictures, my stupid computer wouldn't even recognize there was a cd in the rom. Stupid computer. I ended up loading the cd on the girls' computer and saving them to a thumb-drive to get them back onto the laptop. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Anyways, here's some more of my favorites. =)

Christmas Dresses and a Coat

2011-11-18T11:10:00.000-07:00

Hmm...not a very creative title, but to the point at least. I finally finished all three girls' Christmas dresses this morning. I love them! And the girls love them, too. Bonus! Amber and Jade are at school, so they obviously can't model their dresses for me. But Paisley had no choice. lol Here they are:

This is Amber's. It's more green than blue outside of cameraworld. The shrug is fully lined in the same green taffeta.

Jade's has a shrug, too, I just wanted to show the dress. Amber's and Jade's are exactly the same.

This year, the girls are all getting new coats for Christmas. I've only done Paisley's so far. Amber's is next up on my list. Here's Paisley's - and it is adorable on her!!

Zebra "fur" on the outside...

Hot pink satin on the inside! Even the sleeves are lined. Not one single seam is showing anywhere.

Family Pictures

2011-11-14T11:00:00.000-07:00

Okay. Here's the promised pictures. Only a few of them though. Only my very, very favorites. Which was really hard to choose cause there's a lot of great ones! Allison did a GREAT job!

I've tried 5 different times to finish downloading a few more pics, but my dumb computer keeps quitting. So, this is all you get for now. Sorry!

Paisley's Newest Phrases

2011-11-10T08:44:00.000-07:00

I always find it funny when my kids use phrases they've heard from their mother. Cracks me up. Mostly cause I don't swear so there's no danger in them letting something slip. Nothing worse than "crap" or "suck" anyways. I can handle that. Anyways, here's a couple gems Paisley has picked up:

"I need chocolate!!!" - this is usually yelled as a sippy cup is chucked at my head and is also very quickly followed by a very, very cheesy "Pleeeease??" lol

"What the?" - when she's surprised by something or confused why something is happening

"Don't talk to Daisy!" - haha this is when she's in trouble and doesn't want to hear it. She always has a major scowl on her face and her arms crossed. Btw - she calls herself "Daisy".

"Just go do it, *name of sibling*!" - when she's feeling bossy

"Noooo!!! Not Daisy's bottom!" - when someone's chasing her through the house pinching her bum. Or just threatening to. She's usually giggling and grabbing her bum with at least one hand to protect it.

She calls her nipples "bumps" and if anyone mentions anything about bumps in general, she lifts her shirt up as fast as she can and starts pinching them. So weird!

Also, if there's any lull in conversation in the car, she'll probably start yelling something about either duck poo or dragon poo. Amber started her on the duck poo....not sure where the dragon poo comes from though.

This kid cracks me up. =)

Early Christmas

2011-11-09T20:05:00.000-07:00

David and I were wandering around Goodwill today and he found this totally complete and working sewing table - machine and chair included! I thought it was just a cute desk, but he opened it up and flipped the machine out. I started opening the drawers and was surprised to find one stocked with assorted thread, bobbins, and needles for the machine, another had the original owner's manual and accessory kit, and a third held some knitting needles, tracing paper, and a mallet. Not sure what the mallet is for.... Everything is in pristine condition - even the booklet. There's no fuzz or dust on the machine, no stains in the book. We plugged it in at Goodwill to see if it worked and sure enough, it turned right on and the needle went up and down when the pedal was pressed. So cool! And only $50! What a steal! The machine itself is a Sears Kenmore 158.17570 which means next to nothing to me other than I know Kenmore is a good brand in general. I trust their dishwashers and laundry appliances. lol The desk is solid and sturdy with minimal signs of wear, but Dave and I are still going to sand it down and refinish it. Upon furth investigation, I discovered it not only does basic straight/zig-zag/buttonhole/zipper stitching, but it also has several decorative embroidery design plates! And.....a button plate to machine-sew buttons on! Woohoo!!! Merry Christmas to me indeed! Thanks, Davey!

This is how it was in Goodwill. I thought it was a cute desk for one of the kids' rooms.

But then David unfolded it and popped the machine out of the middle! That bad boy is heavy, too!

The instruction manual is funny. The very first page starts with, "Dear Homemaker, You have just invested in a very fine zig zag sewing machine." Hahaha!! On another page, it says, "You will find that much of your sewing is in the mending category." Oh, how politically incorrect this little booklet is. I LOVE it! All those gray discs are the different embroidery designs. I just flip open the top of the machine, pop one in, and sew away! There's even a few that use an optional double-needle with 2 different thread colors! Can you tell I'm excited to play? =)

October Randoms

2011-11-05T07:08:00.000-07:00

Obviously this post is for the random happenings (or non-happenings) from October. =) I know you think I'm funny.

She had so much fun playing with Amber and Jade's Petshops. Paisley has started collecting things in purses lately. It's pretty funny to see what she finds is worthy for her bag sometimes. I've found scraps of fabric, broken pencils, rocks, and lots of random toys.

One of the "big" rainstorms we had last month killed Raphael's home. We're in the process of building him a new one before it's too cold and he freezes.

Balloon volleyball! Believe it or not, all three girls had a blast playing together for over an hour before bedtime!

Paisley likes to "help" me sew. She sticks all my pins into fabric scraps after telling me what color they are. She always so proud of herself for "helping Mommy"

Today we are getting our family pictures taken by the fabulous Allison so I will post those once they are done being edited. =)

Trick or Treat! Smell My Feet!

2011-10-31T21:52:00.000-07:00

Gimme somthin good to eat! =) We had fun collecting candy from the neighbors this year. Especially Paisley. It's fun that she's old enough to understand what to do and why. At every house, she'd walk up with Amber and Jade yelling, "Candy! Candy!" till someone opened the door - then she wouldn't say anything. lol The girls got a LOT of candy this year. I'm thinking cause there weren't that many kids out so people who bought tons of candy were just trying to get rid of it. We just put out our candy bowl full of leftover candy from last year, Christmas, and Easter. It was empty when we got back, so I guess it was good enough for the kids who came by. And now all our candy is fresh! haha

Some Crafting/Sewing

2011-10-30T16:30:00.001-07:00

Here's some recent projects:

These are two of the costumes I sold this year. I was very disappointed with how few I made - I was planning on having the extra $$ for Christmas presents. But I only sold 10. Sad. On a side note, 3 of them were repeat business from last year, so I guess that's good....

I was not super thrilled with how the lion costumes turned out. There were two of them and no, it's not supposed to fit Amber. It should be on Jade, but she refused to let me take a picture. Anyways, the costume itself is fine, but I couldn't find fur the right length/color so it frustrated me. I went to 3 different stores! Good grief!

Shyla's baby blanket

Adjustable doll diapers to fit multiple-sized bottoms

These are cute little pouches. The roof flips open like a flap. I'm using one for Paisley's paper and crayons at church. =)

I LOVE this skirt! I used a scrap of fabric for the skirt part and some tulle I had laying around for the fluff. Made the waistband adjustable - just pull the ribbons and tie!

As you can see, Paisley adores her caterpillar jamas. She freaks out every time I pull them out of her drawer to wear!

I haven't sewn anything for Amber and Jade lately, but will be making new dress-ups for both of them for Christmas. Plus Christmas dresses. Besides, they don't grow as quickly anymore or wear stuff out as fast.

Trunk-or-Treat

2011-10-30T16:21:00.000-07:00

This year for our ward's Fall Festival, we decided (well, really it was David's idea....) to build a tent for the trunk-or-treat. And since we were all to be dressed as Mario characters, we felt there was really only one option for the theme of our tent: Mario World! lol After hours and hours of work creating different scenes from the game, building the darn tent, finding the right music, and then actually putting it all together in the parking lot, I really think everyone liked it. At least I know I sure did! We even brought Raphael, our tortoise, to be Bowser! haha Here's some pics from our fun night:

Mario was pretty excited about all the sugar!

An "easy" level at the entrance to the tent. Like my koopa? I really do! Jump high to get the Star Coin!

A strawberry plant came out of the tube when David pulled the rope. He even made it so it came forward at the kids!

Watch out for the ghosts!

Bowser! Now the strobe light is on so it's doing funny things to my camera. ~~Paisley~~ Mario was really excited to see ~~Raphael~~ Bowser in the tent!

Uh....the koopa's gonna bite your bottom!

Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, and Bowser

One Great Day

2011-10-22T20:35:00.000-07:00

Today was great. The end.

lol Just kidding. Not the end. =) Today actually started last night with a tough choice for Amber. She had to choose between running in her last cross country meet with the entire Peoria School District, or participate in Peoria Pride - a service project program our stake encouraged us to take part in. After explaining we'd support her decision no matter what it was, and many tears on her end as she wanted to do both, she chose to serve instead of run. Amber has such a big heart! So this morning we got up early, put on some old clothes, and headed to the house our ward was assigned to clean-up. We were given neon green? yellow? mmm....bright t-shirts to wear at "headquarters" then walked down the street to the house. Turned out the house needed to be painted (the outside walls and trim along with the block fence) and landscaped. David started by digging a trench for the border bricks while the girls and I painted. Paisley and I mostly stuck with painting, but Amber and Jade wandered over to the gravel pile and helped shovel it into wheelbarrows. Amber helped David spread the gravel, and Paisley found a dog in the backyard to play with. lol Pretty soon all my girls and the Pratt kids were playing in the backyard with the dog while the grown-ups finished up. Took 4 hours to get everything done, but I didn't hear one complaint from any of my kids the entire time. Kinda a miracle. I was very impressed with how well they all helped out cheerfully despite the hard work.

After lunch, showers, and Paisley's nap, we ran a few errands then headed to Peter Piper Pizza. Amber and Jade both earned free pizza and token coupons for their good grades during the first quarter, plus Dave and I really wanted to reward them for their hard work and cooperation at the house. We then went to our favorite frozen yogurt place and watched "Monte Carlo" at home.

I'm so proud of the choice Amber made. It makes me feel good knowing she'd choose to serve others over herself. AND do it cheerfully. She didn't even mention her meet she missed the entire day. Not once. She DID mention how much fun she had making someone's house beautiful again though. Love you, Amber Smamberkins!

Paisley's Imagination

2011-10-18T08:54:00.001-07:00

For a two-yr old, I think Paisley has a great imagination! This morning I was in my room getting dressed while she was in the family room using washclothes as blankets for her baby and a unicorn. All the sudden, she's running into my room yelling about a dragon outside. She hides behind my legs, and keeps saying, "Dragon outside, Mommy! Outside! Dragon! Oooo, scary dragon outside! Hurry! Hide, Mommy!" hahahaha So I play along. Then she whispers, "What was that? Hear that, Mommy? Shhh....hear that? Is dragon gone? Go away, dragon!" She takes my hand and pulls me out into the hallway, stops and listens for a minute, then starts cheering cause the dragon was gone. We get about halfway down the hall when she stops and says, "Oh, no! Baby dragon outside! Baby dragon coming! Hide, Mommy! Baby dragon! Oh, no! Blanket! No, dragon! Paisley's blanket!" And she ran into the family room to save her blanket from the baby dragon. What a silly girl!

Another Week Done

2011-10-17T07:43:00.000-07:00

I've gotta say....I love how quickly the weeks are passing. We're getting so close to meeting Shyla I can't hardly wait! =) This week we had fun playing outside - despite the rise in temp:

We said good-bye to our cousins who moved to New Mexico:

And we started a super secret family project that will NOT be revealed until the day I reveal it. lol

I LOVE that Amber's using her spyglass backwards! haha

Happy Birthday....Someone!

2011-10-13T16:09:00.002-07:00

Long Overdue

2011-10-13T14:39:00.000-07:00

A couple ~~excuses~~ reasons why I've neglected my blog lately:

1. Until recently, I had no camera. Thus, no cute pictures to post.

2. We are really boring and everyday is basically the same as the last.

3. I've been lazy. And busy. At the same time. Make sense? You know it does...

4. My computer is sooooo super duper retarded. There's some major issues with it.

K - so these are my legitimate reasons. But they don't all apply anymore, so I guess I'd better get caught up. Last weekend, David was so sweet and bought me a new camera! I wasn't planning on getting one for a couple more weeks, but he insisted and in truth, didn't really have to twist my arm too much. =) So after a morning of yardwork and organizing the carport and shed, he had the idea to go miniature golfing at Castles n' Coasters. I mentioned how I wished I had a camera, and ta-dah! We stopped at Sears and picked one out. I got a Nikon CoolPix S4100. It's plum. And it was $50 off. Yay! After golfing we got frozen yogurt for dinner and picked up a pizza for dessert. Amber and Jade thought it was pretty silly. So that was our fun family Saturday.

On Monday, Amber and Jade were home from school for Columbus Day so we cleaned up the backyard and fixed their bikes (they both needed some grease in the chain). After scrubbing and scrubbing turtle poop/pee off the porch, I expressed my frustration to David about how the dumb turtle always comes and does his business on the porch and makes it too gross for the girls to play outside. And being the sweet guy he is, David built a turtle barrier around the porch! He used the boards we bought for my garden that we never were able to fill with dirt so it didn't even cost anything. The boards are a foot tall so Raphael can't climb over them. The most he can do is pace back and forth and stare longingly into the porch. lol I also told David that since we're taking away his shade, we should build him some kind of shelter. So he used the broken tiki torches and an old cardboard box to build Raph a house - which is used every afternoon and night! Success!

Next up - costumes. So I was looking at my blog from this time last year and realized I did the most sewing at the end of September/beginning of October. This year I've been pretty dissapointed with the lack of orders. As of today, I've only had 6. Last year at this point, I'd had like 30ish. I guess the economy is hurting more people this year than last. Thankfully, we've done all right this year and aren't super struggling like we were last year. I don't have any new costume pics to post as I didn't have a camera till Saturday and I haven't completed any costumes between then and now. But I will shortly. I'm 90% done with my own girls' costumes. And on Monday I'll start working on a lion and Little Red Riding Hood.

K - now here's just some random pics that don't really have stories with them. Other than I have cute kids...

Sleeper blankets and hats for Shyla

And some cute shoes

My cute 2yr old licking the beater

David and Jade helping Amber stretch for her cross country meet

While I cook dinner, Paisley enjoys playing in the sink

Amber has been learning more about cooking lately. She's great about helping cut veggies!

Rapunzel, Rapunzel, Let Down Your Hair...

2011-10-05T06:53:00.000-07:00

Shelley was nice enough to email me a couple pics of Celeste in her Rapunzel dress. So here's my favorite one:

I made another one exactly like it for my Hawaii friend (though she's not in Hawaii anymore). Hopefully she gets is today and it fits as nicely as Celeste's. =)

Tis the Season....

2011-09-30T18:00:00.001-07:00

....to be sewing. Fa la la la la, la la la la!

Halloween season isn't quite in full swing yet, but it's started! I've already sold two Rapunzels, Fawn from Tinkerbell, an adult witch, and a pirate costume. One Rapunzel and the witch are from repeat clients from last year. Yay! The other Rapunzel is for a good friend whose daughter I partly claim. I'm also making a Rapunzel dress for my niece, Celeste. Her birthday is on Monday and I'm a bad auntie cause I should have mailed it today, but it won't go out till tomorrow. Sorry, kiddo! Anyways, at this rate, I'll have enough $$ saved up for a new camera in no time at all! Which will be nice to have to take pics of the costumes I sew. Until then, use your imagination. =)

Cross Country

2011-09-24T10:56:00.000-07:00

Amber started cross country at school this last week. The season actually started a couple weeks ago, but the school never sent home any info so I wasn't aware Amber was even old enough. Seems like when I was in grade school, school sports were only for 5th grade and up. But here in Peoria, they're 3rd+. Practice is before school Mon-Thurs and today was Amber's first meet. Everyone else's second. She was very nervous - I think David was more nervous for her though - but we assured her as long as she did her best, we'd be proud of her. After waiting through 7/8th grade girls and then boys, and 5/6th girls and then boys, it was finally her turn. She went and lined up with the 3/4th graders, got pushed to the back (we're working on her assertiveness), caught up to the front, got pushed into a cone, was tripped coming around a corner, but still came in 14th out of about 45 girls. Gooooo, Amber! She was very proud of herself and felt good after the race. She pushed herself hard at the very end and passed a few girls. David and I gave her some tips for her next race and she's confident she'll do better now that she know how far she has to run. I guess her coach doesn't have them run much in practice. One lap around the field, some stretches, and a game. And she didn't even have them warm-up this morning, either. Lame. So Amber's just going to have to push herself to run as fast as she can without stopping every morning doing her one lap and hope she can build her strength and endurance enough to do better next time. I wish I had pictures to share, but my camera is still dead and won't do anything. I will be getting a new one asap.

Because I Have Nothing Better To Blog About.....

2011-09-21T18:09:00.002-07:00

....I'm blogging about the house we are going to build in the next year. David and I sometimes have a hard time agreeing on houses cause we both like different things and styles. He prefers big, spacious, "showy" houses and I prefer practical houses with enough space for everyone but not so much space a child could get lost (or make a huge mess without me knowing about it....). On Saturday, I woke up super grouchy and weepy - not really sure why - and after running his errands with all the girls, David picked me up and we all went looking at model homes. Since Dave will be graduating early January and can work as a nurse at that time and continue doing serves, we'll be making enough to afford to buy another house. We still have our house in Buckeye being rented out and probably won't be able to sell it anytime soon, but with his dual income and minus our car payments (which we are working towards getting rid of), it's very possible for us to have a home built sometime next year. Anyways, every place we looked at homes, he liked one house the best and I liked another better. Until we found this one:

http://www.pulte.com/templates/av/index.html?plan=../../communities/az/peoria/tierra-delrio/plans/av/yucca

The floorplan is great, there's enough rooms for everyone (Amber and Jade have the two rooms with the jack-and-jill bathroom, Paisley and Shyla will share the other room). We'll have the "bedroom 6" option and the full bathroom downstairs built and use the bedroom as my sewing/craft room. Unless we have baby #5 at which time Amber will move into the downstairs bedroom and baby #5 will take over her upstairs room. We'll have the bay in the master and the dining room extended, both covered porch options, and keep the big loft upstairs for the girls' hang-out room. There's an HOA in the neighborhood, but it's less than what we pay in Buckeye and they'll landscape the front yard. We just choose from available options. We'll choose the one with the most grass. lol The girls and I have been praying every night at bedtime for David to get a good job right after school. I'd really like him to not have to go months looking/waiting for one cause that would suck big time. So, that's our plan. =)

Ah, Crap!

2011-09-14T06:51:00.000-07:00

My camera just called it quits. How sad. And we're on a spending freeze....so no new camera for me until further notice. Nice timing. Guess I'll be saving my piano $$ for the next couple months. Grrrr! I have some cute stuff on it to post, too. Cute baby Shyla things - jammies, shoes, blankets, etc.

California!!

2011-09-06T12:34:00.000-07:00

We just had the BEST weekend! Jami took us all to Disneyland!!! Originally we had planned on going to the cabin for the weekend, but when I called to confirm timing and such with Jami on Monday, she changed the plans to a trip to California. Soooo fun! Jami, the girls and I left Thursday night and got into Anaheim at 1:30 Friday morning, and David drove all night Friday and got in at 2:30 Saturday morning. On Friday, we went to surprise Shelley and Greg in Oceanside. We got to see their pretty house and the girls had fun sliding down a hill with all the neighborhood kids. David surprised us Saturday morning sporting a mohawk! haha He only kept it Saturday and shaved it off that night. David and I decided not to tell the girls where we were going and to totally surprise them once we got to the park. We had a couple close calls....but my wonderfully gullible girls remained in the dark until we actually walked into Disneyland California. Love them girlies! We spent Saturday at California and Sunday in Disneyland. As I'm pregnant, wasn't allowed to ride the super fun rides so David took Amber and Jade on the ones we could convince them onto. Amber really loved Star Tours and Indiana Jones, and she hated Thunder Mountain and the Mattahorn. She was actually in shock for a good minute once the ride was done before she brok down sobbing. I blame David for this - he had her sit in the very front of the very front sled. No way to anticipate drops and turns. Poor girl. Jade hated all the roller coasters. Oh, well. Paisley was a maniac on Alice's Teacups. She helped spin the wheel and just giggled her head off! Here's a butt-load (approximate, not actual) of pictures to look at:

Having fun in the hotel pool

Sliding down the hill at the Hill's. =)

Safe landing!

The one and only time Pie went down

Not so safe for Jade and Celeste! lol

This is where they finally found out where we were. Look at those smiles!

This is basically what both girls looked like after nearly all the roller coasters David took them on. NOT their Mama's girls....

Jesse!

Amber loved this ride, Jade - not so much

Maybe if Paisley pulled her own weight....

"It's a small world, afterall...."

Making Jade's dreams come true...

Amber was quite happy Ariel recognized her dress! And then later in the parade, Ariel saw her again and said, "I like your dress!" So sweet!

Storytime with Cinderella

Welcome to Jade's World!

Paisley saw these ribbons and ran screaming down to them! Cinderella and her "lady in waiting" laughed and handed her some ribbons.

Star Tours! Amber loved this ride, as well as Indiana Jones. Wish I could have gone it with them.....maybe next time.

Shelley and Greg were completely surprised when Jami and I called from Anaheim so they didn't have their own hotel room. Luckily, Jami had gotten David and I a one-bedroom suite with 2 beds in the room and a pull-out couch in the living room.

Good morning, Cupcake!

What a Funny Girl I Have....

2011-08-26T20:46:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to write this down before it's lost from my scattered brain.

This afternoon before Amber and Jade got home from school, I read Paisley a few books then turned on Bolt for her so I could go sew in the other room. A few minutes later, she comes into my room with another book for me to read. I told her I was sewing and to wait till I was done and I'd read it to her. Then, as she walked away, I heard her mutter, "Wissa do it. Wissa read book." Well, I'm Wissa. For some reason Paisley has yet to associate my name with me when David or anyone else calls me Lissa. She thinks "Lissa" is another person completely. And apparently this other "Lissa" reads books to her when Mommy won't. lol

I Love My Girls

2011-08-22T15:01:00.000-07:00

This is just a quick little post. I really, really do love my little girlies! Don't know what I'd do without them. And the more I think about it, the more excited I'm getting about adding another one to our sweet (though occasionally quite emotional) family.

I can always count on Jade to willingly entertain Paisley for me. Such a great big sister!

Oh, there's nothing better than a babydoll in her eyes!

My biggest girl getting her homework done - on a Saturday afternoon even!

You have three awesome sisters looking forward to you coming, Shyla!

How David Saved the Day

2011-08-22T14:57:00.000-07:00

So I started sewing for Shyla. You'd think after 3 girls - and sharing clothes with my sis-in-law who also has 3 girls - there'd be plenty of clothes to go around. Well, there isn't. This is because of the 6 1/2 girls between us, Amber is the only other winter baby. And since we were dirt poor when Amber was born and it was nearly 10 years ago, there's not many of her baby things that were worth saving year after year after year. So all the "new" cute baby clothes are for warm weather. And this is why Shyla has pretty much nada to wear and why I'm sewing for her already. The first thing I made is baby bunting. It's like a miniature baby sleeping bag with a hood. Because I refuse to turn the heater on during the winter so our house can be pretty dang cold. I'm talking 54 in the mornings. Brrrr! (and yes, I know all you from up north are laughing at me....but 54 in the house is COLD to us here in Az!) The great thing about the bunting is I didn't buy any new fabric for it. I used light blue fleece leftover from pj bottoms I made last year and leftover cotton from some dress or top I made one of the girls at some point. And the binding I had in my supply box from last year's Halloween costume fiasco. The problem was this: I didn't start sewing till late afternoon, took a break to make dinner, play with the girls and get them to bed, then didn't continue till like 8pm.....after my brain was 1/2 gone. I didn't have any problems till the very end. And then my brain really shut off for good and I could NOT make any sense of the directions at all! Let me tell ya - this never happens to me! Ever!! So I put it down for the night and decided to sleep on it and maybe I'd get some inspiration on how to finish the darn thing while I slept. As I talked to David about it, he decided he wanted to take a look at the instructions. After a lot of resistance on my part, I finally gave him the instructions and the bunting. And after much arguing and explaining why certain things wouldn't work, and a lot of debate on how to make it work, he helped me see the light and I was able to finish with no more problems. Thanks for talking me through it, Dave! =)

I got to #16 and that's when I complete lost it. lol

Math Problem

2011-08-21T14:38:00.000-07:00

If Shyla weighs about a pound.....
Why have I already gained 10?

What We Did Today

2011-08-18T16:30:00.000-07:00

Today went pretty smoothly. The easiest morning so far this week. Hopefully the girls can get into a good routine getting ready for school and keep it nice and easy like this morning. We'll see....

Amber wore her new glasses to school for the first time today. She was so excited! And once she was dressed and her hair was curled, she couldn't stop looking at herself in the mirror.

Paisley's new dress. She loves it. It has elephants and tigers on it. =)

Jade taught Paisey how to slide today. So fun!

LOVE Jade's face!

First Day of School!

2011-08-15T14:46:00.000-07:00

Amber and Jade are back in school! They were both a little nervous last night, so David gave them blessings to help them be calm and do well this school year. By this morning, they were both ready to go. Here's my cuties:

David's 28th Birthday?

2011-08-15T14:37:00.000-07:00

My poor Grandma Robertson doesn't always have the best memory.....but she has never ever forgotten to send any of us a card on our birthdays! David thought it was pretty funny when he opened his card this year and read, "Happy 28th Birthday!" Apparently he's even younger than I am now! lol

For David's birthday this year, he requested his favorite Mexican breakfast (eggs, beans, potatoes, tortillas, and salsa) and chow mein for dinner with chocolate chip/walnut cookies for dessert. Growing up eating chow mein on New Year's Eve and at family reunions, I'm pretty sure I've never eaten it without rolls and some kind of jello. But when I suggested these sides to him, he flat-out refused. I ended up making some crab ragoons instead (and almost ruined them by putting them in the oven cause I didn't want to fry them....oops!). Oh, and instead of chow mein noodles, he wanted ramen noodles with the chow mein goodies. Easy enough. It actually turned out quite yummy and there were no leftovers at all. Zach & co. and Lila were able to come help us celebrate. Lila made her yummy chocolate chip/toffee cookies and I promised David his cookies another day.

I used my month's piano $$ (thanks, Pottles!) to buy David's presents so he couldn't spy on me by checking our account to see what I bought. Yeah, I'm pretty sneaky. haha I got him a gift certificate for an hour massage - an hour on the table - and a shirt from Kohl's. He had bought himself 2 pairs of shorts and 2 shirts the previous week so I didn't feel bad about only the 2 gifts from the girls and I. He made fun of me for the gift certificate, but I know he'll enjoy using it. He's ALWAYS trying to force one of us to give him a massage! And he's ALWAYS complaining about his back hurting.

Happy 33rd Birthday, David! All your girls (including me!) love you tons!

Are You Hoping for a Boy?

2011-08-12T11:04:00.000-07:00

I get this question A LOT from everyone you knows I'm pregnant. I never really know how to answer it either. Cause I am truly happy to have each of my three girls and if I say, "yeah, really hope this one's a boy" it's like I'm saying my girls aren't good enough. Which totally isn't true. But on the other hand, I wouldn't mind at all having a boy thrown in the mix. I think it would be fun. However, I'm not quite sure a boy is in the stars for us. Had my ultrasound this morning. We're having GIRL #4! Good grief! What a lot of little girls! lol I chose her first name. She's going to be named Shyla. I'm graciously (lol) allowing David to choose her middle name. He chose Amber and Jade's first names, I chose Paisley's first name and Amber's middle name. Jade and Paisley have hand-me-down middle names so no one really chose them. So it's fair for me to choose Shyla's first name and David gets her middle name. Now that I posted her name on my blog....I DON'T want to hear ANYONE naming their little girls Shyla until AFTER mine is born! I'm serious! Nobody be stealing my name! We will be welcoming little Shyla to our family sometime between Christmas and New Year's - the suckiest time to be born. Poor kid's gonna have birthday issues. Ah, well. Nothin to be done about it. At least I get another winter baby to snuggle and keep warm! Sooo much easier to snuggle a baby in the winter than in the 110 degree summer. And since fleece and flannel are both on sale at Joann's, I'll be stocking up to make her warm pj's, hats, and a jacket or two. =)

To See, Or Not To See....

2011-08-11T11:31:00.001-07:00

This has been the question for most of the year as far as Amber's been concerned. lol She's been complaining about not seeing the board at school very well, but since we had no insurance for her or Jade since last summer, there was nothing I could do about it.....until now. Amber and Jade FINALLY got put back on our insurance so I've been taking care of their check-ups before school starts. Last month was the dentist, and this morning was the optometrist. Jade came along for the ride just to be sure her eyes hadn't changed. Turns out Amber's left eye is slightly lazy and making her right eye do all the work. So she took a trip over to the kids' glasses and picked out a cute pair that fit her face well. Jaders eyes are perfect - much to her dismay. She really wanted glasses, too. Oh, well. We were at the office for just under 2 hours which equals pure torture for Paisley (and me, too!). Thankfully, we made it out of there without breaking a single pair of frames and no super huge meltdowns, picked up McD's on the way home, and now my lovely 2yr old is sound asleep. What a morning!

When Amber was brought into this room and saw the big eye instrument by the chair, she got extremely nervous and forced me to stay in there with her. Silly girl! =)

Jade, of course, was all smiles and giggles.

Amber's glasses she chose. We will pick them up next week. She only really needs them for classroom work and reading, so she'll wear them in her class and take them off for recess. Hopefully this will help keep them in one piece till next year...

Goodbye.....

2011-08-10T10:50:00.000-07:00

*sniff* *sniff*

Goodbye hair....I'll miss you. Hope some child really, really appreciates my 22 inches of reddish hair.....

My braid sitting on a 10x14 envelope

Don't ask what possessed me... I'm still not sure. At least my hair grows super fast.

August Randoms

2011-08-10T08:24:00.000-07:00

This month has been going by fairly quickly - which I appreciate as it's still waaaay to hot outside. And since we haven't been doing anything new at all, I don't have many pictures to share. But I do have a couple:

Amber and Jade like to tear apart puzzle sections so they can "practice" putting hard puzzles together.

I pulled tooth #4 out of Jade's mouth the other day. It had been loose for the entire summer. I think I was more than fair about giving her a chance to get it out herself....lol

Paisley's cereal of choice? Honey Bunches of Oats with Almonds!

Our Last Week of Summer Preview:

2011-08-08T07:48:00.000-07:00

So this week is gonna be somewhat full of activity.

Today: well, there's not much going on today. Just grocery shopping. We'll probably swim, too.

Tuesday: Amber has an activity day swim party in the evening and we have to go to Phoenix to pick up David's papers for him in the afternoon.

Wednesday: Mmmm....so far I don't think anything's happening this day, either.

Thursday: Meet the teacher night

Friday: ULTRASOUND!!!

Saturday: nada

Sunday: David's birthday

I need something to occupy my children Wednesday and Saturday. Anyone wanna come play?

Last Post on Pie's Bday

2011-08-08T07:43:00.000-07:00

So I meant to post this last week right after it happened, but I ran out of free storage for my pics and had to purchase some more. (Now I know what you were talking about, Diane!) $5.00 later, and I can put my pics on here again. Yay....

On Paisley's actual birthday, we went to see Smurf's. I wanted to take her to see Winnie the Pooh, but we were able to go see it Saturday instead cause David wasn't sure he would be able to be home on Monday. Well, he was, so we saw Smurf's. It was cute. And weirdly funny. It reminded me how strange the smurf set-up is. One "papa", 99 sons, and 1 daughter?? And they're all siblings but papa? But I clearly remember a baby smurf......so how did that happen??? (David just told me Gargomel created Smurfette to trap the smurfs. So she's not related to anyone....) Anyways, the kids liked it and Pie was a minimal pain. Afterwards, we went to Johnny Rockets for dinner. And she was a much, much bigger pain. lol The kids went C-R-A-Z-Y!!! But she stayed on the booth with us so I can't really complain too much. They sang to her, gave her a special balloon, and a bowl of ice cream - which she didn't touch. She's weird that way. Then we went to the pet store (Paisley's favorite) and looked at all the cute puppies. Here's some pics - I'm posting them mainly cause I paid for it so I'm using it dang it! lol

Happy Birthday, Paisley!

2011-08-01T08:22:00.000-07:00

Today my sweet baby turns 2! Paisley is such a funny little thing. I don't know how we got along without her fo so long. She really is such a joy in our home. Always quick to laugh and play games, she loves to snuggle and play "chase", wash her hands and brush her teeth (with anyone's toothbrush!), and she's always ready for a good book. She the best little mommy to her many baby dolls. They are all very well cared for and loved. I like watching her wrap them in a blanket, rock them, sing to them, and give them kisses. Paisley says the funniest things, too. It's still a little hard to understand everything she says, but she never stops trying to tell you something important. I think it's hilarious when I take a bite of food and she sticks her face right in mine and asks, "Zit num? Yes? More bite? Yes?" and then proceeds to jam another bite into my mouth. Or when she tells me her baby needs to go poo/take a bath/ go to sleep. I love tickling her till she yells "Stop!" and I tell her, "You stop" and she giggles and says, "No, you stop!" Love, love, love this funny little girl. She gives the best tight squeezy hugs and tells me, "Mommy, I neeeeed you!" when she wants to be held. And she says, "Love you, too" after I tell her I love her. Thank you, Paisley, for deciding to join our family! We sure needed you in our lives!

Paisley's 2yr stats:

Height - 34 1/2 in (75%)

Weight - 22 lbs (2%)

Paisley's Party

2011-07-28T07:11:00.000-07:00

Amber, Amaia, Jocylain, Hope, Railynn, Jade, Paisley, Faith, Honor, Courage, Justice, and Logan

Even though Paisley doesn't turn two till Aug 1st, we celebrated her birthday yesterday with as much family as could make it. It was also the last Cresap get-together we'll have for awhile since Dave and Tera are headed to North Dakota this morning. It was great to get all the cousins together for the afternoon/evening - they really have such a fun time together! Paisley had a great time swimming with everyone, dinner was yummy, she loved all her presents, and the cake was pretty dang cute, too. Here's a bunch of pics:

Papa and Grandmommy Sarah brought Sploosh balls to play with in the pool. The uncles had a lot of fun chucking them at the kids

Ham, scalloped potatoes, green beans, and rolls. Yum!

A monster cake for our monster girl!

Pineapples and Bicycles

2011-07-27T08:03:00.000-07:00

What in the world do those two things have in common? Umm...absolutely nothing! lol But it just so happens that the same afternoon I finally planted my pineapple plants into pots, Amber and Jade desperately wanted to ride their bikes in the street. I think they're missing a few nuts upstairs as it was 108 that day, but I let them. Cause I'm nice - sometimes. I think they were out there for 10min before calling it quits on their own. And I'm still the nice Mom cause I let them. Everybody wins! =)

Super Sleuth Jr.

2011-07-25T17:50:00.001-07:00

This girl has some super sleuthing powers! Paisley's the first of my kids to EVER find ANY present before it's time. Today she found her big birthday present. I had it in the empty "baby" room with the door shut. I had just assembled it last night and since she never goes in that room on her own, I figured it'd be safe in there till Wednesday when we have her party. Well, I was wrong. She snuck in there while I was finishing dinner and I found her with a baby "fast asleep" and her sitting on the rocking chair happy as a clam. Silly girl. So I moved it into her room and she's been having fun with her babies since. Happy Early Birthday, Kiddo! =)

More Cousin Fun

2011-07-23T09:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was such a fun day with family! Tera, Dave & co. along with Zach, Tai & co. came to swim and visit. Before Zach and Tai got here, the older kids had a blast chicken fighting in the pool. It was so hilarious watching them trying to knock their cousin down into the water! And I'm proud to say my girls won against their cousins. lol Gooooo, Cresap girls!! =)

Amber and Faith. At one point, it seemed like Amber was trying to drown poor Faith! This match-up took awhile to have a winner, but after a little "help" from David (in the form of tickling Faith) Amber finally knocked her off Dave's shoulders.

Jade and Hope. These two girls were a good match - only 1 month apart in age and basically the same size. Jade nearly lost her swimsuit, but managed to drag Hope into the water in the end.

While I was taking pictures, Amber was good enough to help keep Paisley from drowning herself.

We even had a visit from Julia Roberts! lol

Courage and Faith. These siblings were both determined not to let the other win! David and Dave were in danger of making out at times! Hahaha

This is not a swimming picture. But it is something Paisley LOVES to do everyday. This poor cat is declawed and has no basic survival skills whatsoever which makes her an easy target for all the little kids to pick up and ~~carry~~ drag around the house. She just cries and licks her torturers. Ooooo....scary!

Baby Update

2011-07-21T21:31:00.000-07:00

Well....I'm just about 4 months along now. And still no real visible baby bump. This is the smallest I've been this far along with any of my babies. Which I'm totally fine with. My babies get smaller each time - which I'm also okay with. I finally got to hear it's little heartbeat this past Tuesday. For some reason, this was the first visit my doctor even tried to find it. I think that's weird. Cause with the other three, it seems that was one of the things done at the first several visits. But my little blob's heart is working! Yay! lol I have my appt for my second trimester ultrasound on Aug 12th. That's the big one where we get to find out if we're having a boy or a girl. So stay tuned for that. Other than that, nothing new. Haven't felt the little shrimp move yet, I've gained 5lbs, and the summer heat is killing me - but that's not related to my pregnancy. I've always hated summers here. Okay - so, to sum this post up: nothing new, no moving yet, heart works, watch for Aug 12th post. =)

Family Fun and Swimming Lessons

2011-07-17T07:23:00.000-07:00

We've really enjoyed having Tera and Dave in town these past couple weeks! Last Wednesday, we all headed over to Zach and Tai's house to visit and see their new baby, Amaia. What a little cutie! Fresh babies are always so fun to snuggle. Can't wait till I have my own! =)

David is apparently gonna eat the baby....

Towards the end of the evening, all the kids (there was 11 of them!) were getting pretty loud and wild, to Tera sent them outside and challenged them to build the best rock/trach castle. This one was Jade's.

And this one was Amber's.

And now here are some fun pictures from the girls' last day of swimming lessons for this summer:

I never was able to convince Paisley's teacher she was able to swim.....I may have to bring video proof of it for her teacher next year.

Amber was BRAVE to dive off the diving board!

And I'm proud of Jaders for jumping off at all! She was terrified!!

K - time for a couple more family fun pics. Just my family, though. Yesterday morning, Amber got David to go outside and play some basketball. Both Amber and Jade made a couple baskets - which I of course did not get pictures of. Oh, well!

After shooting a couple baskets to warm up, they started playing a game. It didn't last very long - the water works started pretty quickly. Someday my girls will stop being so wimpy.....maybe. lol

Hello, Friends!

2011-07-12T20:40:00.000-07:00

I just realized that I haven't blogged in awhile. I'm gonna have to backtrack a bit to get caught up. So this is going to be one looong post with tons of fun pics to look at. Yay! Here we gooooooo......

K - first a few randoms that don't really go along with anything else we've been doing:

Amber and Jade thought it would be fun to wash my car. At noon. In the hot Arizona summer. All I can say about it is they sure were fast about it....lol

Really, is there anything better??

My new baby. Our old washer was somewhere between 15-20yrs old and finally called it quits mid-load. Luckily, we had enough put away in savings to go buy a new one from Sears.

David introduced Paisley to nectarines. I think they're gross. This is because I grew up with a couple peach trees in my backyard and sorry.....but there's no comparison between fresh-from-the-tree peaches and hard-as-a-rock things they call peaches and nectarines at the store. Paisley however, doesn't know the difference and loved it.

My sweetie girls dressed up for church. I curled Pie's pigtails! And yes, she brought her bright purple platypus with her. Spoiled little thing.

Next up: one really fun evening of swimming. This actually happens more often than not. Mainly cause it's seriously too hot to swim in the afternoon and I burn regardless of the spf number in the sunscreen. Pink skin sucks. Period. Anyways, I pulled out David's and my old snorkel gear from Hawaii and we had fun teaching

Amber and Jade how to use it. Jade's pretty good with the snorkel. Amber...not so much. She panics and forgets she can breathe through her mouth. lol

Last, but not least, David's sister Tera and her family came to visit us from Ohio! They're mid-move from there to North Dakota, had some time to kill, and lots of family here in the valley. Jade has had a blast with her cousin Hope who's just 1 month younger. Poor Amber doesn't have a single cousin on either side anywhere near her age, but she still had fun playing Mario on our Wii with Courage and Justice. Zach and Tai brought their kids over to play and even Papa came up from Tucson! The kids all had sooo much fun swimming with Papa and all the cousins!

One....Two....Three....GOOOO!!!

Papa throwing Courage. Notice all the other kids have cleared out of the pool....

While Tera and Dave are in Arizona, we are babysitting their dog, Charlie. As you can see, Paisley LOVES him. And her cereal of choice? Honey Bunches of Oats with Almonds.

Princess Power!

These kids have some mean Wii skills....

You may or may not have noticed my absence here on our blog. This is mainly due to me being stuck in that awkward "bloated" stage of pregnancy....where all your normal clothes are too tight but maternity clothes just hang. I will make an appearance once again as soon as I actually look pregnant. =)

4th of July Fun

2011-07-05T08:25:00.000-07:00

We had such a great day yesterday celebrated our wonderful country's birthday! The day started with a ward breakfast bright and early. Pancakes, eggs, sausage, and oj. Yum! We had a visit from Thomas Jefferson through a time machine, a bike parade, then lots of water activities to cool down. Paisley was completely worn out by the time we left. =)

We also had a visit from Tera & family! We haven't seen them in YEARS so it was great to spend a couple hours catching up. They are with Dave's family now, but will be coming back tomorrow-Saturday to play with us! We can't wait! While they were here, we did a few fireworks for them. The kids all really liked the show.

Later, once it was dark(er), we did the rest of our fireworks. Paisley only got to stay up for a handful of smaller ones, which is a good thing cause some of the big ones were pretty scary! Amber and Jade even ran away screaming from one of them! Too funny!

Super Fun Swimming Videos

2011-06-29T20:37:00.000-07:00

David's Post

2011-06-29T20:24:00.000-07:00

Lissa keeps telling me I have to contribute to the blog. You can thank her later. Today is Wednesday. We did stuff. It was fun. I dedicate this post to Lissa. She inspires me.

David

"Camping" and Some Randoms

2011-06-17T09:18:00.000-07:00

For the past month, Amber and Jade have begged me to set up our tent in the backyard and sleep out there. I've been dragging my feet doing it cause, well, I don't think sleeping on the ground in the hot Arizona summer is very much fun. Don't get me wrong - I LOVE camping. But I prefer to go camping somewhere much cooler. Somewhere the temp is UNDER 102 at 8pm. But after all the pestering I could handle, I finally gave in and set the tent up last night. It took some time as I couldn't find our small tent, only our big 2-bedroom with a "porch". And I don't think I've ever set it up before. But as you can see, I managed to get it up. I'm not joking about it being 102 at 8pm last night. I checked. It was hot. I ended up bringing a fan into the "porch" with a long extension cord to the outdoor plug - it really didn't help much. Amber decided she was too hot around 10 and went in and slept with David. Unfortunately, Jade didn't make that same decision so I was required to stay out there with her. And it finally cooled down. At 4am. I think it "cooled" to 75-ish. I put a blanket over my feet and finally fell asleep. So needless to say, we're ALL taking naps today! I'm surprised I'm functioning as well as I am......

Our campsite. Complete with a Jeep and spare bike tire.

Amber sweeping out the tent. Yes, Pie is nakey - she just got out of her bath and ran outside before anyone could catch her.

Goodnight, girls!

Does this look like a comfy way to sleep?? This is around 2am. I couldn't sleep and I was amazed at how Jade was sleeping.

K - so that was our camping adventure. Now here's some randoms:

Amber made an apron using Fry's bags.

I taught Paisley how to draw circles. Can you see them? She even says, "Circle, circle" as she draws.

This is Jade in swimming lessons. On Wednesday, her class was in the deep end (12ft) and her teacher told them to try touching a brick at the bottom. Jade was the only one able to touch it. So he told her to try picking it up. Now, the brick was 10lbs and the deep end, like I said, is 12 feet deep. He didn't really expect her to be able to. But Jaders went down, down, down, picked up the brick, and brought it all the way back up to the top! We went and got a box of munchkins from Dunkin' Donuts on our way home.

Paisley has finally gotten used to swimming lessons without me. She's cheerful now about going to class, socializes with the other kids, and even giggles while splashing her teacher! And yesterday, we even saw me and instead of freaking out like she has before, she smiled, pointed at me, told the girls next to her, "My mommy!", waved at me and giggled when I waved back. She's passed all the required skills to move on to Preschool B, but has to stay in Preschool A because she's just so young. PreA is for 2-5yr olds and I have to get an age overide every 2 weeks to keep her in there. But PreB is for 3-5 and there's no way they'll overide Pie's age to make her 3 in the computer. Oh well. She doesn't care.

Zoo Trip

2011-06-10T07:07:00.000-07:00

David successfully dragged me out of the house Wednesday. lol He had the day off from school and didn't have anything to do till 3 and had the idea to take the kids to the Phoenix Zoo. At first I protested - the girls have swimming lessons, I was going to go to Fry's, it's hot outside, I'm tired - but I was quickly outvoted by everyone, including Paisley who ran around the house in her panties chanting, "zoo, zoo, zoo, zoo, zoo!" So I gave in, got everyone dressed and slathered in sunscreen, told David to pick up water bottles and capri suns, grabbed a couple towels, and off we went! It was hot. We were sweaty. But we all had fun anyways. We visited the Stingray Bay and fed the stingrays raw shrimp and fish heads. Paisley LOVED feeding them, but freaked out when David helped her touch one. lol Amber and Jade enjoyed feeding them as well, but preferred David or I to help them. After wandering around for awhile, we had lunch, wandered around some more, played in the water at the splash pad, did more wandering, tried to go to the petting zoo - which closed right when we got there - and by this time Amber and Jade were worn out and complaining about the heat and their legs hurting. Paisley was a trooper. Even without a nap she had a blast running around, yelling at all the animals. I think she walked more than she sat in her stroller. Afterwards, we stopped at McDonald's for much deserved ice cream. Yum!

This horse was HUGE! And it was funny cause Paisley didn't want to touch it and started freaking out, flapping her arms at him. And he walked away. Awww! Poor guy was sensitive! hahaha

Paisley's saying, "Here, turkey! Here, turkey!" and patting her legs like you were call a dog.

Look! I'm Teaching Them Something!

2011-06-09T09:29:00.000-07:00

Hahaha! I stopped at Joann's the other day and picked up a couple kid "cross stitch" projects for Amber and Jade. Jade loves it. Amber complains about it (but I think she secretly likes it cause she works on it more than Jade does). And they're both impressed with my "super-hard" cross stitch pattern.

I accidentally got Amber a slightly easier one than Jade. Oops!

Just Keep Swimming....

2011-06-03T17:37:00.001-07:00

Just keep swimming....just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. What do we do? We swim, swim, swim!

Really, that's all WE do! haha So you get to see more fun pictures of my little fish. Lucky you! =)

This is what we do when we're not in the water:

Jade helping with dinner. She's squishing the meat/egg goo for hamburgers. Thanks, Jade!

Amber and Jade made this "library" the other day. The two dolls on the left are kids there for storytime.

I think Jaders is their mom?

Because Amber is clearly the librarian reading to the kids....

Paisley LOVES oatmeal. She'll practically lick her bowl clean!

I love this crazy kid! She's got one of Jade's socks on - just one. And she's under the desk coloring on paper (for once). Such a turkey girl!

In other news, The girls are doing awesome in swimming lessons. Jade is moving up to level 3 next week, Amber would be moving on to level 5 but she needs to work up her endurance a bit more, and Paisley got the "OK" to move on to preschool A class - meaning I won't be in the pool with her. Kids normally have to be 2+, but since Pie has already mastered nearly all the skills taught in the preschool level, the pool manager did a system overide to get her into the class. I think that as long as she can't see me and know I'm not an option, she'll be fine. She may cry for the first 2 min, but just like with nursery, I'm sure she'll get used to it quickly. Especially since she loves swimming so much! This is my hope, anyways.....

In baby news, I haven't been sick at all. Just super tired. Like I've said...lol. I'm starting to associate non-sick pregnancies with the kid ending up with adhd. Cause I wasn't sick at all with Amber or Paisley and both (especially Amber just cause Pie is still young...) exhibit signs of adhd. With Jade I was sicker than a dog and she's an extremely mild tempered kind of kid. Paisley reminds me a LOT of how Amber was at this age. Her emotional high's and low's are quite extreme and she has a hard time with sudden changes. Oh, and she has a super hot temper like Amber Smamber (and her mama....). Luckily, it doesn't show it's face very often and she's extremely sweet inbetween tantrums. So we shall see who this next kiddo favors - Amber and Paisley, or Jaders. I'm (secretly) voting for Jade. ;)

Memorial Day: Cresap Style

2011-06-01T07:55:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid, we had a ton of really great family friends who we took the opportunity to party with basically every holiday. And since we had a pool, we had a lot of super fun summer swim/bbq parties. Now that David and I have a pool, I want our kids to have similar experiences so we throw several summertime swim/bbq parties. To kick off the season, we hosted a Memorial Day party. We had a blast with everyone who came! I loved how even the dad's were in the pool throwing their kids around and being chased by others. We had bbq chicken, hot dogs, potato and pasta salads, chips, cupcakes, and cookies to eat. There's a firepit in our backyard, but it's too wide to hold any grill tops, so David made a stack of bricks on the far side and used the oven racks as a grill top. Very clever! He had also spent the entire day weeding the pool area. I had asked him to take care of the big tall weeds, but he went beyond that and got rid of all the crabgrass as well! Now it looks awesome out there! Thanks, David! =) I wasn't able to get very many pictures cause I wasn't smart enough to charge my camera the night before and it was dead for pretty much the whole time. Sad. But here's the ones I was able to get.

Jaders doesn't usually stay in the water long enough for me to get pictures of her. She said her heart was too fast and she needed a break.

David tormenting Amber and Taylee

Don't feel bad for them...they got their revenge! They chased David around the pool squirting him with the noodle. Amber aimed and Taylee blew. Too funny!

After dinner treat! These are some happy girls! =)

A Peek Into Our Summer

2011-05-28T06:32:00.001-07:00

We've been pretty dang lazy for the past week. Me especially. If I were to go around and take pictures of my house right now, you'd be just as disgusted as I am. But, I don't have the energy to do that....nor near enough to actually clean anything. So the only jobs that get done on a consistant basis are the jobs assigned to my girls (dishes, feed cats, scoop litter, scrub guest bathroom) and the laundry our of necessity. However, the laundry only ever gets washed, never folded and put away unless some unlucky child is in trouble. This is all gonna change this weekend though. We're throwing a Memorial Day swim/bbq party on Monday so I have declared this weekend "family clean-up weekend". Everyone is thrilled. Including David. lol Anyways, here's what we have been doing:

Amber and Jade like to snuggle and really wanted to have Paisley with them, too. So we tried it. And it didn't work. An hour after putting them to bed, Pie was still hyper and giddy; Amber and Jade were moaning and groaning at her to sop jumping on them. Paisley was moved to her own bed and there she sleeps every night. Also, despite losing one of her naps each day, she's still waking up at 5:30 every morning! So I'm gonna be moving curtains around and putting the darkest ones in hers and Jade's room.

My Grandma had a puzzle like this but with witch halves on each side. I LOVED that puzzle and would pull it out nearly every time we went over to her house. While at the mall, we went to the game store and I asked about the puzzle. Well, witches aren't pc, but they did have one just like it with hearts, diamonds, spades, and clubs. Amber was the first one to solve it! Way to go, Amber!

This is how we know Paisley is tired and ready to take a nap/go to bed. She gets her cup and blanket and the starts rolling around on the floor with them.

Having a wii has been a curse and a blessing so far. It's fun to play - for about 10min - then these two can't stop fighting over it. "It's MY turn to pick!" "You picked that one just so you win!" "I said level 2, not level 4!" "I wanna be player 1! You always get to be player 1!" It's obnoxious. And I'm usually too tired to do anything more than walk over and turn it off and send them into seperate rooms for awhile.

Hahahaha! I sent Paisley to go get dressed yesterday. This is what she came out of her room wearing: 3 skirts, a pair of shorts, and her pajamas around her waist. Silly girl!

Besides the above, we've been doing swimming lessons at the community pool as well. Amber's in level 4, Jade is level 2, and Paisley and I do a parent/tot class which she basically screams through. Which is dumb. Cause she LOVES the water and begs to go swim everyday. And once in the pool, she kicks around it using a noodle....with no help. Yesterday she was on her noodle (which she calls "my noonoh") while I was swimming laps. She kept repeating "kick, kick, kick" cause that's what I tell her in swimming lessons. She was trying to chase me and thought it was hilarious when I would swim underneath her blowing bubbles to tickle her bum. So I don't know why she screams at the community pool....very strange.

I've also been reading more. I've been rereading The Lord of the Rings series - starting with The Hobbit. I'm about 2/3 through book two. I keep trying to convince someone to watch the first movie with me, but no one ever wants to. Boo. I'd like to have Amber and Jade do a summer reading program through the library, but I'm too lazy to go back and forth to return/get new books. Plus, I don't know where the library is. lol I need to get out of this crazy funk! This is the most draining pregnancy I've had yet. And all I can say is that it better not be a warning of how this kid will be once born. I'm hoping I'm just getting old and tired....not that his baby will forever be an energy-drain. hahaha

Oh, My

2011-05-23T14:55:00.000-07:00

Okay, we're onto due date #3 now. lol I went in today to do an ultrasound cause last time the baby was too small to measure accurately. Well, the ultrasound tech was a big jerk. JERK. First thing she says when I walk in the room with all three girls: "They can stand in the corner and tell them to make sure not to touch any of my cords." Uh, how about you tell them nicely yourself? They are old enough to understand when someone is talking to them. Next up: "Is your bladder full?" Uh, no....no one told me it needed to be. "This is obviously not your first pregnancy. Haven't you had ultrasounds before?" Uh, yes, but the last time I needed a full bladder was 10 years ago. And I was specifically told to have one. "Well, I'll just have to see what I can do then." At this point, Paisley started crying cause she was shoved into a corner and she wanted mom. The tech sighed rather loudly and stated she couldn't work if "the baby" was going to be fussing the whole time and suggested I leave them outside the room. Uh, no. I'm not gonna leave my kids outside by themselves. How stupid is that to even suggest?? I got up and said something about it being a stupid suggestion and I can go reschedule, but she said, "No, this will only take a second anyways." So what's the point in making a big deal about a fussy toddler who clearly wants her mom?? Get your work done so I can go calm her down! Duh! The ultrasound literally took 3min. 3 minutes of the tech basically holding her breath like she was going to explode at Paisley or something. Talk about upsetting! Anyways, baby is measuring a week ahead now, so my new official, on-the-chart due date is.....ready? January 1st. How lame. haha

Baby is a much bigger kinda speck now. At least you can see there's a body shape and a head shape....lol

A Few More

2011-05-21T07:31:00.000-07:00

So the last post wasn't letting me add any more pictures. Let's try again....

Oh my gosh! That only took 30min to get these last two pics to load! Grrr! I'm done now. lol Thanks for such gorgeous pics, Allison!

Family Pictures

2011-05-21T07:04:00.000-07:00

Our friend Allison recently started her own photography business and offered 50% off for all May clients and I felt it was too good a chance to pass up. I'm glad I booked her! We had a great time taking them and she did an amazing job! Here's the proof:

A Long Time Comin'

2011-05-19T09:46:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted many sewing projects lately. Not cause I haven't had any - but mostly cause I'm not very good about taking pictures of them once completed. But, I think I have all the dresses pictured now. Just need to get tops and skirts. haha Here's these for now:

I adore this dress! But I think it's funny Amber insisted on wearing the hat which is too small for her....

I may or may not have posted this dress already. It was Jade's "birthday" dress.

This was an Easter dress for a friend's daughter. The next one was for the baby.

LOVE this bubble dress for Pie. It's quite cute on her, but she wasn't in the mood to model for me today.

Can't see very well, but the fabric is swiss dot with little yellow dots.

Paisley's Easter dress. It ended up being my favorite. =)

I just realized there's two more dresses of Amber's I don't have pics of. But her clothes are hard to take pictures of unless she's wearing them - they're just too tall. lol So I'll force her to put them on once she gets home from school....in like 1/2 hour. I have a dress in the works for Jade and will take a pic of it once it's done.

Family Fun and a Few Randoms

2011-05-17T18:46:00.010-07:00

I just love weather we've been enjoying! It's not too hot yet, but very warm and just right for swimming. I'm totally dreading next month though as it will definately be triple-digits fulltime. Booo! But, we've been making the most of our days off and the beautiful 90's.

I taught Paisley how to use a noodle. LOVE the splayed out legs! Good for balance! =)

David started teaching Paisley how to "monkey walk".....she's still working on that.

Now here's some randoms:

Mmmmmm! Bread!

Paisley loves to dress herself. Here she's sporting pajamas around her waist, Daddy's socks up to her thighs, and her own shoes. Special....

We got to babysit little Boone yesterday. All three of my girls enjoyed playing with him!

Especially Pie. =)

I totally forgot to post this! Jade lost another tooth (I think it's #3?) back in April. This one came out fairly easily....probably because it'd been loose for a couple months at least. I finally just got a tissue and yanked it out. She didn't even cry. Not until AFTER it was out. Hahaha! The sight of blood scares her.

Amber's spring picture. Isn't she getting so old? =)

Jader's spring picture.

I know I don't have much of Amber and Jade today, but school is officially out at 10am Thursday so I'm sure they'll be making a more regular appearance on our blog. Us girls all start swimming lessons for the summer on Monday: Paisley and I in a parent/tot class, Amber will start in level 4, and Jade in level 2. I really wish Paisley was old enough to be in one of the preschool classes where they actually learn how to swim - cause I think she's ready - but kids gotta be 2+ and Pie won't turn 2 till August. So she and I will be blowing more bubbles and "kick, kick, kicking" our way through the summer.....again.

Oh, Darn!

2011-05-13T14:49:00.001-07:00

I had my first obgyn appt yesterday morning and was excited to see my little bean and have an actual real due date determined by a doctor and the size of my bean. Well, apparently my body is weird and doesn't work the way normal bodies do, so I didn't end up getting pregnant till two weeks after what I had thought. So now instead of being 8 weeks due in December, I'm only 6 weeks due in January. Bummer. And my bean is only a speck. lol But it's there and it's little heart is pumpin away, so I have much to be grateful for. =)

There's my speck! hahaha

So Sweet

2011-05-10T06:33:00.001-07:00

Paisley has three mommies. I'm her #1 mommy. But if I won't do something she wants and her sisters are home, she'll go to Jade first and then Amber. But she rarely gets to Amber cause Jade is her little "slave". Seriously. And Paisley knows it, too. It's so funny to see my tyrannical 21mo old bossing her 7yr old sister around. "Jader! More milk!" "Jader! My blankie!" "Jader! Call Daddy!" - This last one is when she has my cell phone and I refused to call David for Paisley cause I happen to know he's in class and can't talk. But Jade will call everytime Paisley commands....till I take the phone away and monster girl throws a temper tantrum. Oh, two - you were bound to happen eventually I suppose. Anyways, this is one of those times Jade complied with Paisley's demands - "Jader! Read book!"

Swimming at Nana's

2011-05-10T06:28:00.000-07:00

This last Saturday I took the girls over to their Nana's house to try out her new pool. We had a lot of fun cooling down and eating pizza. And of course I'm the only one who fried. My shoulders are still tender.... I swear - if skin transplants were a real option, I'd sign up so fast.....

Mother's Day

2011-05-09T10:52:00.000-07:00

My family made Mother's Day so special this year! Not only did I get some pretty awesome presents, but David and the girls also made a super fabulous breakfast, too. Here's what I got:

Scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns, toast, pumpkin bread, and orange juice. Yummy!

The tennis bracelet is 1/2k. The ring, necklace, and earrings are all aquamarines with diamonds. Sooooo pretty!

The petunias are an inside joke between Davey and I - and it's probably best if it stays that way. haha

Jade's card

The teacup had a tea bag inside. When Jade gave it to me, she promply removed the tea and threw it away. =)

From Amber. She says she didn't have time to finish it at school, but I love it anyways.

She also made me a bookmark so I don't leave my books on top of the couches anymore....and also so I don't freak out if someone moves said book and loses my spot.

I adore my family! They are the greatest and I absolutely LOVE being mom to my three girls. David, thank you for making me feel so special! I sure am one lucky girl!

2011-05-03T18:12:00.000-07:00

It's May. And I don't have anything fun to post. But I feel like I should be posting something..... Hmmm....

This is the soonest I've ever found out I'm pregnant. Which means it's gonna be my longest pregnancy. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I wish I was further along, but I'm truly just grateful to even be pregnant to begin with. It seems a little petty. So, forget that wish. I haven't been sick at all so far. Just tired and hungry. I've been trying to have very small snacks every couple hours to keep my stomach from being completely empty and that works most of the time. But I feel like I'm eating too much and undoing all of my hard work losing all the weight I did this past year. *sigh* I'd still rather have another baby, but wouldn't it be nice to keep both?

School is almost done for Amber and Jade. Two weeks from Thursday. And the last day is only 2 1/2 hours long. How lame is that? Why even have school?? Dumb. I'm not really looking forward to the summer break. We have no plans/$$ to go anywhere or do anything so I'll basically have the "privelege" of listening to the girls whine/complain/argue/fight pretty much all day. But, at least I don't have to hurry them up to get ready each morning. We're going to be doing swimming lessons again M-Th at 9:45am so at least we'll have that. Hopefully I can keep our pool clear this year - unlike last year with the chlorine-resistant algae that took it over (it loked like a swamp for most of the summer. booooo).

I just bought a bunch of strawberries and blackberries to make jam. Can't wait for the raspberries to go on sale! And I'd really like to have a canner so I can bottle salsa. But until we get caught up on everything we're behind on (and save some serious $$ for a minivan!) the canner is not a priority.

I sometimes wish I could secretly get rid of all our cats without feeling guilty about it. Like I could get rid of them then have my memory regarding the event erased so I can be just as sad as the rest of my family.

I need more books to read.

I think this is the end of my thoughts at the moment. Maybe something cool will happen this week and I'll have something more interesting to post. But I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.....

Funny Jade

2011-04-27T21:03:00.000-07:00

Today after school, Jade was reading her reading books for homework and writing a report on one of them. The one she chose was about space camp. I asked her if space camp sounded like something she'd like to do someday. Surprisingly, her answer was a VERY firm "NO!" When I asked her how come, I was not expecting this answer:

"Because they wear ugly outfits and I don't like wearing ugly clothes."

Hmmm...... good reason.....

After a little pause, she finished with, "I think I'd really enjoy Princess Camp though. You can send me to one of those. Wait, is that a real thing?"

Hahahaha!!! I love you so much, Jaders!

2011-04-27T00:11:00.003-07:00

Our Easter Day

2011-04-25T13:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was both wonderful, and not-so-much. The not-so-much was pretty much due to Paisley getting little sleep the previous couple days, skipping her morning nap, then not having the opportunity to take an afternoon nap. So for her to go from 4-5 nappy hours/day to zero....it did a lot of damage to her normally cheerful personality. We dealt with waaaay too many temper tantrums from that little one! Other than that, our day was great! We started the morning with a visit from the Easter Bunny who had not only filled the girls' baskets, but also managed to find our eggs in the fridge and hid those as well! Amber, Jade, and Paisley had fun hunting for them before breakfast.

She thought the jelly beans were funny cause in the movie HOP, jelly beans are Easter Bunny poo.

Sweet Jade was a little upset that Dave and I didn't have any candy, so she offered to give us half of hers. Little does she know - David and I frequently raid the kids' candy bucket! hahaha

Paisley quickly figured out how to peel wrappers off her candies. Unfortunately, she also discovered she doesn't like Crunch candies - but she sure tried every last one in her backet just to be sure! There were a LOT of bitten-into chocolate eggs put back into her basket. Silly thing!

I think this picture is funny cause there's an egg on the dvd rack right in front of her face but she didn't find it! lol

While they were hunting for eggs, our Easter Rolls baked in the oven. And guess what....they came out hollow! I reinforced the lesson taught on Saturday night as they were made and expressed my gratitude for both Heavenly Father's and Christ's sacrifices for us.

Here's the girls in their pretty Easter dresses!

After church we headed to Mesa to have dinner at Jami's. She had another egg hunt for the kids plus baskets full of treats and games. Dinner was DELICIOUS!!!

On our way home, we all tried to keep cranky Pie happy. I struck this pot of gold: