Around the House . . .

Life has been crazy these past few weeks, as I'm sure it has been for everyone. I have been terrible about posting. I should be going to bed as I have yet to get a full nights sleep but since I have been doing RS stuff for the past 2 hours, I thought I'd take a break and relax before going to bed. Here are just some everyday pictures of our family around the house.

When I am busy on the computer, McKenna loves to get a book or magazine and sit on the edge of the treadmill and read. (It lasts for about 1 min.)

The newest addition to the household: We painted chalkboard paint in the playroom. The girls were so excited. The first day they could write all over it they played school with Daddy. (I would have had pictures but it was Sunday afternoon and I was taking my Sunday nap that I don't get very often anymore.)
Alexa

Just a regular night around the dinner table.

Maya

Liv

Yummy

What a mess!

McKenna does this new thing when you go to take her picture she squats down like this.

Brenden - Couldn' resist adding this picture.

Time to Relax!

It's official. We have a child old enough to mow the lawn. One less job for us to do. Now we can sit back and relax. Actually, we'll just have more time to do MORE jobs.

Does she look like a pro, or what?

This was her first time and her mom that gets a little "OCD about the direction of how the long gets cut was pretty impressed with how straight her lines were, not to mention they were going all the same direction.

My Sweet Olivia is 8!

8 years ago our dear sweet "Little Lady" was born. She took a while to come but we were so happy when she did. This precious girl does things her own way. No matter how hard we tried to get her to talk she wouldn't do it. We would get an occasional Mama or Dadda but that was it. Finally when she was around 2 she decided to start talking. The first thing she said was, "I wanna watch a show." From then on she never stopped.

Olivia has always been so easy going. She is just content with whatever is going on. But she can have somewhat of a temper if you aren't careful. We are just grateful it is few and far between.

Although she is one of four girls she is as different as can be from them. Olivia is the only one with blue eyes, the only one with blond hair and the only one who is left handed like her mommy.

Although she can be shy at times she loves to be goofy with her friends and sisters.

Olivia is so fun to have around. Like I said, she is just easy going. If there is something she wants to do and her sisters want to do something different she is the one to go along with what they want to do without any arguments or upsets.

Olivia has become such a good student. She loves science and is doing so well at math. She is in a group that gets an extra math homework sheet to try at home called Super Star Math. She is loving that and I think it is building her confidence in knowing just how capable she is. Everyday after school she goes straight to her room and does her homework without even being told. She is taking after her big sister and LOVES to read. Olivia also has a quirky side to her. She's not like all kids when it comes to food. She isn't one to like fruit snacks or fish sticks. She likes the real stuff, especially her daddy's cooking. She wants the real Mahi Mahi. She likes tomatoes and doesn't want the Ranch dressing - she likes the vinegrates or anything new. She is willing to try any type of food and really takes her time tasting it to see if she likes it. She is a good big sister and is always trying to do her best.

Here she is on the big day. She wanted to wear her Red Sox shirt to school and when she got there, found out that her good friend, Drew was wearing his also. That made her day.

Since we always have so many birthdays this time of year, we get a little tired of the traditional cake. This year we did a GREAT thing that I hope will become a tradition for her birthday. We took a graham cracker pie crust and 1/2 gallon of ice cream. We put the ice cream in a bowl to soften enough to be able to mix it. Then we took the girls halloween candy bars and broke them all up and stirred them in the ice cream. Then we put it all in the pie crust and back in the freezer to harden. We also added some choc. cookies crumbled on the top. It was a win, win situation. We got rid of Halloween candy and didn't have any cake or ice cream left over.

Since Livie's old scooter got "lost" in the move, she got a new one for her birthday.

Happy Birthday, Olivia. We sure love you and are so glad that you are a part of our family.

Prop 8 Demonstration

I am sure that you all have seen a lot of news about the protesting of Prop 8 in CA. I just saw this on another blog and thought I'd post it. It is amazing to me that those that want tolerance have so little of it. These people are so hateful. I'm sure not everyone that voted No is this way but with all the protesting going on, it makes me wonder.

I'm not a feminist but. . .

The one thing that I have noticed and don't like about the south is that there are a few men who are a little chauvinistic. I noticed it in AR and I notice it here. Don't get me wrong, I think men and women definitely have different roles in this world. I feel like my role is to be a wife and mother and to take care of our home and raise my children the best I can. Tim's role is to "bring home the bacon." and fix things I can't around the house. And treat all us ladies like the ladies that we are. There are just some jobs that I don't think women should do i.e. sports announcing, construction (The house that was being built behind us was framed by 2 women and it took almost 3 months to do.) President of the United States (although in 4 years I might have to change my mind depending on who's running.) just like I think their are jobs men shouldn't do. (preschool teacher, hair dresser, President of the Women's Republican Committee.) I guess some would call me chauvinistic. The reason I bring all this up is that although I may be a woman, a stay at home mom at that, doesn't mean I don't know anything.

The other day our 3 hall lights that are hooked up to a 3 way switch stopped working. Tim and I tried the switches and concluded that there was something wrong. I called the electrician who wired the house and told him that our hall lights weren't working. Here's how the conversation went:

Casey: Hi! We live in **** and you did the electrical work for our house. Our upstairs hall lights aren't working.

Elec Guy: Did you check the light bulbs?

Casey's thoughts: Are you really asking me that? Do you think I'm an idiot?

Casey: No, but I don't think that all 3 light bulbs would go out at the EXACT same time.

Elec. Guy: Did you check the breaker switch because sometimes the switch might trip.

Duh! Like I don't know that's a possibility.

Casey: No, because wouldn't there be other rooms or lights attached to that same switch and wouldn't those not be working either? Everything else works.

Elec. Guy: Not necessarily. I don't know if there are other rooms attached to that breaker.

Casey: Well, I'll go check just to make sure. (To my NOT surprise, it wasn't tripped) There are 3 other rooms attached to it and no it's not tripped.

Elec. Guy: Is there a GFCI switch in the hall bathroom upstairs by the hallway?

Casey: I don't know, I'll go check.

Casey's thoughts: You are making me go all the way upstairs to check the GFCI switch in the bathroom where everything works. Of course, it's no the switch because the only thing not working is THE HALL LIGHTS!!!!

Casey: No, there is no GFCI switch in this bathroom.

Elec. Guy: Oh! Ok. Well, let's see, we'll have to schedule an appt. to come out.

Casey's thoughts: I could have told you that 5 minutes ago before you made me hike all through the house checking everything.

Elec. Guy: When did you close on your house? Is it still under warranty.

Casey: Yes, Dec. 27.

Casey's thoughts: Would I even be calling you if it wasn't under warranty. I'd fix it myself.

Conclusion: Just because I'm a woman doesn't mean I don't have any common sense.

Thanks Livie, for your "Random" questions!

I want to hurry and get this down before I forget. I want my girls to remember this. Tim has been out of town, McKenna has been sick, I've been trying to catch up and figure out my new calling and we have 50 people coming to our house for an EQ social on Saturday night. Needless to say, I almost skipped out on reading scriptures with the girls. I was busy getting some work done and was about to tell Livie to brush her teeth and go to bed when out of my mouth came, "go get the scriptures and why don't you guys read to me while I am finishing this up?" So that's what we did. I finished my task and then sat down with them to finish reading. We were reading in Doctine and Covenants. The girls had read about three verses and I have to admit I wasn't paying close attention. When I sat down I tried to hurry and read through what was read to "catch up" with them in case they had any questions. During the short pause Livie started asking me a question. Now, if you know Livie, her questions could be about anything. And usually not what we are talking about. I listened impatiently ready to push the question aside. She asked, "Do you HAVE to go to Achievement days?" Here we go, I thought. Let's just get on with this so you can go to bed and I can get back to work. But instead I said, "Why do you ask?" (It's amazing how the spirit can guide me to be a kinder, gentler mother when the impatient one is right inside.) She proceeded to tell me how her friend that will be turning 8 was asking and saying that she didn't really want to go. I told her, "No, she doesn't HAVE to. We don't HAVE to do anything. We DO those things because we have a testimony of them and we love our Heavenly Father so we DESIRE to do the things that are asked of us. We don't HAVE to go to church, but we do because we love the Lord and we want to choose the right." Alexa pipes in, "So we don't HAVE to go to school if we don't want to?" DING DING DING!!! All of a sudden everything became clear. All the things that we had been trying to explain about the election and trying to undo what they had been told at school about the election, all related to the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Since socialism as been such a big topic in this election we were using so many examples and trying to teach all of this to the kids. So as we sat there, We discussed what Satan's plan was to make everyone be righteous, no choices at all. Then we talked about the Saviors plan that he would suffer for our sins so that we could make our own choices and make mistakes and then Livie pipes in, "and then we can repent." (They do listen.) I told them that the Government makes laws and we HAVE to follow them. We HAVE to pay taxes, we HAVE to stop at the stop lights, etc. I told them that is how socialism is, the Government makes all the decisions for us and we don't get a choice. I explained that when we have faith and we have a testimony of the Savior and the Atonement, we WANT to do the right thing and we WANT to go to church. We WANT to go to Achievement days. After a few minutes of this we started reading again. And as we read I realized the chapter we were reading was all about AGENCY. Every verse we read led us right back to what we had been talking about. So not only did we have a great discussion but as we sat there, we had the scriptures to testify to us all that we were talking about. Thanks to Livie and her "random" question and the Spirit keeping me from being impatient it was one of the best teaching moments a parent could have. They seemed to really get it. And yes, they got to bed 1/2 hour late and I am again behind on my chores.

HAPPY ELECTION DAY!

Did you get out and vote yet? We sure did - at 6AM. Can you tell? Lucky Tim took the picture so he doesn't have to be in it. Dave thinks I'm a little blog crazy but you know he loves to be documented on here.
Even thought this election has been so stressful and frustrating I still love the feeling I get when I walk up, sign my name, get my ballot and start voting. I get butterflies in my stomach and love the feeling that I am a part of something big - that my opinion counts for something. I actually feel patriotic (even more so than when I pay taxes.)

Happy Halloween

Family Night

Carving Pumpkins

Halloween Night

Maya - Just about the cutest clown you'll ever see.

McKenna - The Little Turtle (can't beat a free costume from a yard sale.)

Livie - Little Red Riding Hood Alexa - Our very own Sarah Palin look-a-like. We figured the dems would take away her candy but the Republicans would giver her extra. Well, no one took her candy away but she did get some extra from a few people (surprising since those republicans are so selfish.) On Halloween night, we were invited over to our neighbors behind us for a little Halloween party. He is a chef so you can imagine how good the food was. We then went trick or treating and then back over to their house for a few games and some s'mores. Fun filled night for all. Our ward had a Trunk or Treat last week also. They had a cake and pie contest and Alexa won one of the awards. Here's her certificate.
I forgot to take a picture of the cake before it was eaten. But here it is. She made a pumpkin cake out of two bundt cakes and then used Toblerone for a jack-o-lantern face.

Our crazy cousin, Hadyen - Can you tell he was Harry Potter? Check out that cool scar.

Sarah and the clown The turtle - not so slow. Do you see the hand to McKenna's left? That is a little baby that is younger than mcKenna but about the same size. McKenna screams everytime she comes near her. Little does she know that in about 2 seconds she will not be this cute turtle anymore, she'll be screaming again.

McKenna Walking

I just realized I never posted this. (Story of my life these days.) McKenna started walking at the ripe old age of 15 months. No matter what we tried, she refused to walk. She took 4 steps at the most for us. One day I was working at the computer and turned around to see her walking all on her own. It just had to be on her time, I guess. She hasn't looked back since. You might notice that she was walking a little sideways. She did that for a few weeks until she figured out it was easier to walk with one foot in front of the other. (sorry about the recording, I can't ever remember to hold the camera right.

Another Random Post

There is no reason why I am posting these pictures together except to document them. Tim took them and so I will post them. Dave borrowed a mattress from us. Who needs tie downs when you have Brenden?

The girls thought this was soooo cool.

My favorite thing is to watch my babies sleeping. I realized that McKenna is 17 months old and I have yet to take pictures of her sleeping. Does that look comfy or what?

Oops! Some Birthday pictures I forgot

My kids have informed me that we have a tradition in our house that they love and I, well, I will have to enjoy for the next who knows how long. I decorate there door to their bedroom for their birthdays so when they wake up in the morning they open up their door and they feel like the party has started. Here are some pictures of Alexa in front of her door. I could only decorate the top half because McKenna would have enjoyed the decorations way too much.

Is that a sweet face, or what?

I had to capture this moment of her getting her birthday phone calls from the grandparents. Does she look like a pre-teeny bopper? AAAGGHHH!

Alexa turns 11! YIKES!

My little Alexa is now 11. I can hardly believe it. It just

seems like yesterday when she looked like this:

Alexa wasn't one that wanted to come when we wanted her to. She had her own agenda. She was late and we were worried because Tim had to start his new job up in WA and we had to move. He already was going to go up and start without us. After ALOT of convincing the dr. agreed to induce me. I was 5 days late and we only had a few days before Tim had to leave. So after the longest 27 hours of labor, Alexa was born. She was absolutely beautiful and BIG. She weighed 9 lbs. 14 oz. No one would guess that now by looking at her. I can not explain the emotions that we felt at that time. If you are a parent, than you know exactly what I mean. To all of a sudden be responsible for such a tiny helpless soul makes you realize the unconditional love you have for that child. It was a glimpse into how our Heavenly Father must feel for us.

Alexa was born late Friday night on October 24, 1997. We came home from the hospital on Saturday, moved out of our apt. on Monday, and Tim left Tuesday to go to WA. I stayed back with my parents to get a handle on being a new parent, recover, and wait for Alexa to get old enough to travel. She was so healthy and such a good baby. There was only one concern. She didn't know how to nurse. She didn't even know how to suck on a binky. Which is actually pretty scary if you think about it. If she can't suck, she can't eat. My mom and I spent many hours trying to get her to eat. She kept losing weight which actually wasn't too bad because she started off so big it wasn't as drastic as if she were only a 6 lb. baby. Finally after 10 days of struggling and trying to keep her awake (by this time she was so lethargic from not eating enough she didn't have enough energy to stay awake and suck.) she finally figured it out and from then on ate like a pro.

Here are a few pictures of her from years past. Here she is trying out her new roller skates she got for her birthday.

Goofy as always.

"Cheese"

Ever since I can remember Alexa has loved books. The girl can not get enough. I have found books hidden in the cupboards in the bathroom because she was sneaking them in while she was supposed to be cleaning it. She takes a book where ever she goes. Even if we are going to the store that is 5 minutes away, she still brings a book. Here is a picture of her at 7 months looking at her books. She would sit there for probably an hour just looking through them. My mom would tell me to be careful because at that age she might rip the pages. I don't ever remember ripping any pages out. She just loves books.

One day she asked if she could walk on the treadmill. I came back into the room and here she was on the treadmill reading a book, of course.

Ever since Alexa was little she always wanted a brother. Poor thing, she never got one. In spite of that, I think she really loves her sisters. I know they love her. She is such a good big sister. She plays so well with them and takes such good care of them. She is turning into a very good babysitter. The other night we had to go to Stake Conference so I let Alexa babysit. I told her that they could all have an ice cream sandwich after their baths were done and they were ready for bed. Maya wanted to watch TV instead and so when it came time to go to bed, she told Alexa that she wanted her ice cream. Alexa responded, "No, I asked you if you wanted one earlier and you said no, now it's too late and you need to go to bed." Poor Maya will kow now not to mess with Alexa. And I know that she is getting more and more responsible.

We love Alexa. She is such a joy to have in our family. She makes us laugh and smile when she's around. She loves to pretend with her sisters and little kids. She loves the color purple. She is a great student. She is always coming up with new ideas - like writing her own newspaper, or wanting to teach an art class to little kids. She enjoys drawing and likes to bake and learn how to do things in the kitchen. She is taking piano lessons now and is excelling so well. (I think it's in her genes - many a pianist in our families.) She enjoys sports but mostly she enjoys playing them with her dad. She loves playing with her cousins and loves their dog, Molly. She knows that I won't get them a dog so now she's asking if she can get one if she pays for it herself. She is very tender and compassionate to those around her. She is such a good example to everyone and always has a desire to do what's right. She has always been a little on the tomboy side but the older she gets, I think the more she is turning into a young lady. She is so beautiful on the inside and out. I can't wait to watch her grow and how much more we will grow to love her these next 11 years.

A few weeks ago Alexa had a birthday party with her friend, Ashley from our ward. Their birthdays are so close they decided to do it together. It was great for me. They did all the planning. We had it at Ashley's house. I just had to help with the invitations, buy some pizza, and bring a few prizes. (I highly recommend parties like this for everyone.) Since it was close to Halloween they dressed up in their costumes. They had a haunted trail in Ashley's woods in her back yard, had a scavenger hunt and played a few more games. The plans had to change slightly because it rained the entire day but we made it work. They all had a great time. Here are some pictures from the evening.

The birthday girl, Alexa

The other birthday girl, Ashley

The Party Goer's. They are all fun girls from her Achievement Day class. I was there leader up until a week ago. I am sure going to miss them.

McKenna, the cutest baby at the party.

The relaxed moms at the party. They sure get easier when the kids get older (and you only have to help with 1/2 of it.)

McKenna and me at the party. Tim took this picture of us outside. The few moments when it wasn't raining.

WE LOVE YOU, ALEXA