What have I been up to?

So, I feel like I am behind in blogging.....so.....here is a little update. A few months ago I started babysitting my niece one day a week. It works out great that I pick her up from Kindergarten and then Rhett and Laiklie have a friend for the afternoon. A lady in my ward heard that I babysat and asked me to watch her baby 3 days a week also. Since she was willing to let me tote the baby along with me everywhere I go I decided it would be fun to have a baby in my house again.Introducing Jade! Jade is such a sweet little girl. She was born premature weighing a whoopin' 1 1/2 lbs. She will be one this month, but is still in 3/6 month clothes. She is so tiny and so much fun! You might notice the bump on her nose in the picture. It is a birthmark that the doc says will go away as she grows. They may have it removed with plastic surgery when she is older if it doesn't go away like they would like. She has the most beautiful black eyes and hair!
We have also had our family pictures taken recently. This one and the one on my sidebar are my favorites....well, atleast all 4 kids were looking in the right direction anyways.:) You mom's know how family pics go.
When we did our pictures I also had her take some of our hands so I could make this. I am going to have it printed really big to hang in my home. I LOVE IT!
We have been busy with getting ready for Christmas. We do have the tree up, but no pictures of it yet. I will post when I take some. We have 2 Christmas Choir recitals and a Christmas dance recital in the next few weeks. We have been busy, busy - like usual, and truthfully, I wouldn't have it any other way!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I LOVE this time of year. I love Fall. I love the Holidays. I love remembering to take the time to recognize my blessings. I love spending time with family and friends. I love the anticipation and excitement of Christmas. I love the feelings of once again becoming close with the Savior as we reflect on his birth and his life.

We had a great Thanksgiving. We went to Ryan's grandparents home. They just recently got home from their mission and so it was nice to be able to see them again. Just as we were about to leave Ry's grandma called and said that since our kids were the only great grandkids coming if they wanted to they could sit in the hot tub. So....ummmm....the vote was unanimous....it was a DEFINITE YES!!

How could you not have a good Thanksgiving spending it this way?

We also got to go to my parents new home for the evening - which is always fun! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and realize just how truly blessed we are!

The Outfit of Choice

Anybody that knows us knows that Laiklie is as stubborn as they come. She turned 3 about 2 months ago, but you would never know it by the way she acts. You would think I was dealing with a 15 year old!! She is very into clothes.....that is.....the clothes that she LIKES! She LOVES swimsuits as we all know. She LOVES dresses too. About 3 weeks ago I made all the swimsuits disappear for the winter. She has reverted to wearing dresses daily now because of it. The other day we fought for 30 minutes about wearing pants. She had on a tanktop dress and I told her that it was cold outside (20 degrees to be exact) and if she was going to wear a dress she had to wear pants or tights under it. I finally held her down and put on the tights, and she of course, ripped them off. So....she ended up wearing a pair of sweat pants, because those aren't levis. She has decided over the past couple days that any pants that aren't levis are okay. I knew there was going to be issues this morning when there were no more options but levis that were clean. So.....this is the outfit she chose to wear.

Yes, these are the exact tights that she fought me about for 30 minutes the other day. The hot pink and purple hearts look great with the cream and blue top, right?? We high 5'd this morning because she actually put something on her legs and it was no big deal, .....until.....I had to go to town. Ya, she wouldn't put a skirt over the tights, so EVERYONE in K-Mart got to see her pony panties right through the tights. How EMBARRASSING!! And this is just the fight about pants - you should hear some of the fights about her coat. :)

Gobble, Gobble

This is my little pilgrim and indian! Rhett made his indian clothes at preschool this week and Kiana (my niece I watch once a week) was wearing this outfit when I showed up at the school today to eat "Thanksgiving" lunch with the kids!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Can we say "Bad Hair Day!"

I came across these pictures the other day and they made me laugh. I hope it gives all of you a good giggle! Who doesn't need a good giggle every once in a while?

Happy Birthday "Big D"!!

Yesterday, November 7, my big boy Dallin turned 7. Dallin got the nickname "Big D" when Rhett was 2 and insisted on being called Dallin. So, to tell the two apart we had Dallin (Rhett) and Big D (Dallin). The nickname has now turned into just "D." Dallin is one of my very best helpers. He whines sometimes about why he has to do everything, and I just remind him that it is because he is so fast at doing it!! Dallin was my only surprise delivery. I had to be started with all 4 deliveries because I couldn't go into labor on my own. Dallin was scheduled for November 8th and at about 3:30 pm on November 7 I got a phone call from my Doc. He said the hospital was overbooked for the next morning but if I was there by 5 today he could start me. I actually got to feel what some ladies feel going into labor. I hit panic having to make early arrangements for Oakley and hurrying to pack my bag and tracking down my husband. Ryan was still in college at this time so I called his cell phone but he didn't answer - thinking that baby was coming tomorrow so no worries. I called again....no answer. Finally I had to call one of the college's main numbers and they sent campus police to pull Ryan out of class. (How embarrassing!) By 11 pm though, we had handsome man Dallin weighing a whopin' 9 lbs. 2 oz.

Dallin has been so sick over the past few weeks that it was nice to have something fun and exciting just for him. He has been counting down the days until he could get the long awaited........pocketknife!! He had a fun birthday and it was so nice having it on a Saturday so they had all day to play. We are so blessed to have Dallin in our home and love watching him grow!

And back to the couch...

And once again Dallin is sick. He had the swine flu all last week and then felt great last weekend so on Monday I sent him back to school. He has seemed fine all week and then about 2:30 this morning he woke me up and was BURNING UP! I took his temp. and it was 105. It scared me to death. He was breathing funny on top of that, so I ended up sitting by him for a couple hours just listening to him breath. Anyway - we were off to the doctor this morning and after checking him out he has strep throat. I think his little immune system was still just weak enough that he caught this really easily. It was a relief that it wasn't more swine flu type stuff and that we are only confined to the house for 2 days instead of 7-10. HOPEFULLY - this is the end of the sicknesses and not just the beginning!