A Few Randoms

As usual, I have a few random pics to share:

Before our campout, we went to Cabella's to dream shop. The girls insisted I take a pic of them with the giant moose. lol 

They also wanted a pic of them pretending to be dead cavemen. Weirdos. But I do like how Shyla is mimicking Amber and Jade. =)

These two troublemakers are just like twins! What one does, the other copies. And their favorite activities include pulling all the movies off the shelves, coloring on walls/furniture/books/showers, stealing everyone's shoes, and getting into the pantry. Naughty, naughty!

This is how Amber and Jade "help" me get our camping gear ready to go. Helpful - right?

Love this cheesy-pig face! Hahahaha!!!

Chase Ballpark Tour

Back in July while the girls and I were in New Mexico, David took his employees to a Diamondbacks ballgame. Because he bought 9 or 10 tickets all at once (the employees paid him and he bought them all so they could sit together), Chase Ballpark decided to invite him to tour the facility and consider buying season tickets. He brought Amber and Jade along and they received the VIP treatment! The girls thought it was cool walking on the field and in the dugouts. David liked all the amenities that would be included with season tickets. We're not at that point in our lives yet, but maybe someday....

I sent my camera along with David who gave it to Amber who sucks at taking pictures. The only real decent one is the one and only pic David took. Guess it was too much to ask for.... lol

I think there were 20+ pics on my camera that Amber took. This is the only one NOT blurry or of a wall. Hahaha! Maybe some photography classes are in the future...

Meet Periwinkle~

Amber sucks at saving money. She starts with a goal - in this case a parakeet - and she'll save until she only has $5 left to earn.....and then blows most of it on junk food and soda or a new book or some random toy she HAS to have. Amber's been saving for a parakeet for pretty much this entire year. And today, she finally got one! We have been going to Goodwill every other Saturday for 50% off day lately looking for a cage since there's no way she'd be able to save enough for the bird, food, toys, and a new cage. This morning, she scored a good one for $5! Woohoo! So we headed to the pet store for the food and supplies (I told her she had to have everything ready BEFORE buying the actual bird!) and found out she had enough for it all. Well, the birds were 10% off but only till Tuesday or Wednesday. I made a deal with her - I'd buy the bird, and she has to babysit for free 3 times. No matter how long David and I are gone. We shook on it and I bought her bird. 

One of the few times I've witnessed Amber willingly clean something....

Periwinkle!

Goodbye!

Zach is started medical school in Dominica and on their way there, they stopped here for a week long visit. We had so much fun hanging out with them! Too bad I had to babysit most days they stayed with us..... Oh well. We made the best of it anyways. 

Rai Pie the baby whisperer

Logan - the cool dud playing the guitar

These girls define "frenemies"

Tickle Torture!!

We will miss you guys while you're gone and look forward to the day you come back! 

Preschool

Paisley started preschool today! She has been over-the-moon excited for the past week and she FINALLY got to go today! She wore her new school dress, her new school shoes, her new hairbows, and her new backpack. lol The little girl I babysit is going, too, so we walked to the very end of the street - nearly 1/2 mile - to drop them both off, picked up their teacher's 2yr old (I'm babysitting her in exchange for free preschooling), walked home, then did it again 2 hours later. Paisley had a blast and was eager to show me the picture she drew of her family. =)

Ready to GO!

Shyla baby is pouting cause I didn't let her in Paisley's picture. lol

We walked alllll the way to the very end of the street! 

And I dragged 70lbs of kid along.....

Happy Birthday, David!

David turned the big 35 this year! We celebrated with baked spaghetti, garlic toast, corn on the cob, green beans, chocolate fudge cake, and ice cream. Yummy! We were so lucky to have Zach and Tai in town to help us celebrate. =)

He decided to open his presents upside down....

Two t-shirts! Score! lol

First Day of School!

Well, it's that time of year again - when stay-at-home mothers everywhere sigh with relief as they realize they've made it through yet another  crazy summer and can send their bored-to-tears kiddos back to school! Or is that just me? lol Either way, Amber and Jade are happy to be back in school with friends and things to do and I'm happy to have some peace and quiet without constant whining and complaining about being bored. =) Here's my pretty girls:

Amber's in 6th and Jade's in 4th this year 

Happy Birthday, Paisley!!!

We FINALLY made it to Paisley's real birthday! After an insane week of babysitting and errands, Thursday rolled around and we all breathed just a little. Paisley had her 4yr well-check first thing in the morning - she weighed in at 28lbs (3%) and is 41in tall (75%). The NP asked me if I was concerned about her being so thin or if her previous pediatrician ever said anything about it. So I explained that that's just how my girls are built. No matter how much they eat. But she's healthy and grows and poops, so I've never been worried. lol Paisley got 2 shots (she was going to get 4 but the MMR was out of stock and she didn't need the varicella since she had chicken pox at 4mo) and then we rushed home to get ready for her Princess Party. 

First we had a tea party. I made butter and jelly mini-sandwiches and Princess Punch (pina colada mix with strawberries and water/ice)

Next they decorated princess cookies. I found a cookie cutter pack with a shoe, castle, and crown! Score!

Paisley's cookie decorating skills have improved drastically since Easter!

Present time!! 

 

I also found treat pops and thought they would be perfect for this princess! Amber convinced me to buy trick candles which spark - Paisley was too nervous to get very close and had a hard time blowing hard enough to blow out the candles. lol 

She did find it funny when they kept relighting, though! =)

Happy Birthday, Paisley Waisley! We sure love having you in our family!

Party Time!

This weekend was a blast! Really, it started Thursday night when David and I went to a 10pm showing of Wolverine. I had a difficult time waking up Friday morning, but made it through the day. For our Friday night date, David took me to PF Changs and then we saw RED 2. Food was delicious, movie was hilarious, and we had a good time together. =) This weekend was an Alex weekend and since KaylaAnn and Paisley's bdays are so close, we had a combined party for them! Saturday morning we had a million (almost) errands to run, then I cleaned up the house and cooked some food up. Papa and Grandmommy Sarah came over, we ate, the girls opened their presents, we had cake, and then we watched a movie using Alex's cool projector. We've been watching a movie outside, but since the lawnmower broke 2 weeks ago, the grass is super duper long and I was concerned about the number of creepy crawlies hiding in it. So we hung a blanket on the bookcase and used that as our screen instead. Here's some fun pics:

Paisley's blinged-out Kindle Fire

This is how Uncle Alex changes lightbulbs

And this is how David shows his superiority! lol

I couldn't find David anywhere, peeked in Shyla's room, and found them both sound asleep in each other's arms! Sooo sweet!

Present time!

Pajama pants from Amber - Amber sewed them herself!

Hair clip from Jade - she did extra chores to earn the money!

Pink princess dress from me 

Tea set from Papa and Grandmommy Sarah

Princess cupcakes!

Cute "matches" girls!

All dressed up for church

My beautiful, happy, almost-birthday girl!

Carole's Birthday

Carole (David's mom) died December 2003. Since then, I think we've only gone to visit her gravesite twice. Well, the day the girls and I got home from Albuquerque was Carole's birthday (July 7th) so David and Dee met Alex and I at the cemetery. There was a lot of squealing as David was reunited with his girlies! I think they all missed him as much as he missed them!

New Mexico

The girls and I were able to drive to Albuquerque for the 4th of July weekend. Unfortunately David had to work and couldn't come, but we made it there and back safely. I was nervous driving there by myself with Shyla not in diapers....but thankfully the dvd player in my van kept the girls entertained and Shyla was good about telling me when she had to go potty. We made it 7 hours without a single accident (pulling over 3 times off the highway and stopping at 3 actual places) and then she had 3 in the last half hour. So lame. lol But I'm still pretty proud of her. =) On the way back, David was very anxious and lonely so I put a diaper on her and just drove. However, she was still dry everytime we stopped for gas/lunch/stretch. Here's what we did in New Mexico:

Here's everyone waiting for the parade to start. It was hot and we had zero shade. We also didn't think to bring water or snacks for the kids. lol But I think they still had fun!

Tai gave her chair to her friend and sat in the tiny umbrella stroller. It was pretty funny cause right when this pic was taken, something snapped! So then Alex and I were able to tease her about breaking it. lol

Hahaha! I totally didn't even see Alex's face when I took this! Sooo funny!

The three oldest (Amber, Logan, and Jade) had to sit on the floor but here's the rest of the kiddos.

Jenga!

Okay - so I didn't take very many pictures. But we went swimming a lot and I helped Tai organize her girls' toys/clothes and we went shopping almost every day (haha Tai!). Other than that, Alex and I spent the weekend hacking Tai's facebook page and writing random status's - which she was quick to delete. Boo! But it was fun trying anyways. =)