Sometimes it's a Zoo

Sometimes I feel like I live in a zoo...but at least the animals are adorable

Christmas

I figured I better hurry and get this post done so it goes in the right year. We had a pretty packed December this year with birthdays and Christmas events. We had a Christmas Party with Skip's family on the 22nd- and had a special visitor...Santa and Mrs Clause (friends of skip's Mom) come to bring a special present for the kids. Every year Debby would give each of her kids and grandkids new ornaments and that's what Santa brought them. The kids were all so excited that Santa came specailly to see them. Thanks Tabby for setting that up!Poor Evie had shots the day before and wasn't feeling very good- so she wasn't a big fan of SantaLily loves Santa cause she knows that gifts are envolvedAt 6 1/2 Eric is a pro with the whole Santa business
On the 23rd we had dinner with my family. Glenn and Shawna came with their group and we all went to see the lights at Temple Square. I forgot my camera-lame! The kids were so excited to see all the lights but it was so dang crowded! Maybe next time we will try to go earlier...
On Christmas Eve the kids and I decorated cookies for SantaAnd everyone opened new pj's
Christmas morning Skip and I had to wake the kids up once I got home from work so I wouldn't fall asleep and miss it all. I don't think I got a single picture where the kids actually looked at me. But I guess that means Santa got the right presents :-)
Later in the day after a wonderful Sacrament meeting at Church we had Mom, Dad and Ash over for a late lunch. It was a great day! I'm so glad we didn't have to worry about having to jump on a plane to spend the holiday's with family this year, makes things much more relaxed!

Evie turns 1

It's hard to believe that my baby is 1. Evie is one cute girl. She loves music and loves to dance- she shakes her whole little body- adorable!
I love that she giggles the whole time.
We had Evie open her presents before Eric went to school so she had something to play with all day.That night we had dinner and cake. Evie was very lady-like at first. Daintly sticking one finger in the frosting to test things outShe mainly liked the frosting, and kept sucking on her fingers to get all the frosting off.
Evie is such a joy to have in our family. She follows me around all day. Pulls herself up on anything she can and is starting to reach from the sofa to the coffee table. She is a total Daddy's Girl. She gets so excited when Skip gets home and will often crawl down the hall towards our bedroom calling Dah Dah Dah when she wants him. She loves to hang out on Skip's lap to watch TV when it's time for me to leave for work. We sure love our Little Lady!

Santa and Mrs Clause

Skip and I took the kids to the Christmas Village in Ogden to see the lights and all the little houses. Santa has his own little house there too.Santa asked Eric what he wanted...Eric replied-:I want a superhero robot." Lily quickly jumped in with "No Eric you want a monster truck" Yes we seem to have a little miss bossy pants sround here.

Sometimes I just sits and thinks....

Working at night has given me plenty of time to sit and think. It's given me uninterrupted time toread my scriptures...check email...post on facebook...check out my favorite blogs...update my blog...pintrest...read...watch movies/or get hooked on TV shows...and craft to a certain extent. But on some nights that 8 hours drags on, and watching TV or reading can get a little boring. If I could bring my sewing machine there would be plenty to do, but when I'm sitting in the hall outside of bedrooms there isn't a chance of setting up my machine. So I decided that if I'm going to be up all night with plenty of quite time and time to think I may as well put it to good use. So starting in Feb I will be going back to school to earn my bachelors degree! Yay for me! I've been wanting and feeling the need to further my education, but with kids it's not all that easy, and add the fact that every time I'm on the computer at home Evie is either pulling on cords, banging the hutch doors, or turning off the power strip. School would just be an added stress. But now I will have time to work on schoolwork without little bodies around, distracting me. I'm working on a degree in Children and Family Science- that way once my youngest is in school for a full day I can become a teacher and only work when the kids are in school. Plus I'm looking forward to all the classes on child development- a little parenting help never hurt anyone! So here's to adding one more item to my plate- hopefully it will turn out to be a wonderful addition...

4 going on 14

Lily is now 4 years old! She acts much older than 4 and since she is so stinkin' tall everyone always thinks she is older than she really is. We like to keep things simple around here on birthdays- we had family over for dinner and cake. Lily helped me pick out what her cake would look like- and since she calls herself the little cupcake girl- it was made of cupcakesLily can be a little stinker but I don't know what I'd do without my little sweet pea. She is growing to fast and before I know it she really will be a teenager. One of the funniest things about Lily is that she doesn't really like wearing jeans. She calls them cold pants- because they are cold when you first put them on. Give her a pair of stretchy pants and she'll be happy. She is really starting to get into dress up and princess stuff but also loves to play cars and fight with Eric. She's a wonderful Little girl and has quite the personality. LOVE her!

View From The Window

We moved into a basement apartment and this is what I see when I look out the kitchen window...The kids have already gotten to help feed the sheep, horses and chickens. They thought it was the coolest thing ever...untill Lily got poop on her princess shoes...

Halloween

I had a dozen gift baskets to make for a client so Skip helped the kids carve pumpkins this year. Lily was so funny- every time she put her hand into her pumpkin to clean it out she would go ewwww ewwww ewwww.
Eric wouldn't even put his hand in.
This year we had a superhero...
A Ladybug...
And A Little Lamb...They had so much fun trick or treating. Eric would yell to us how many pieces of candy he got after each house. Lily was a little timid at first but it didn't take long before she was sprinting from door to door. Once again another time I LOVE being a Mom!

Lagoon

We got to take the kids to Lagoon this past weekend. Skip got free tickets from the University of Phoenix so the whole day only cost us $8 for slurpies! We had a blast! It was a little cold when we got there but by the end of the day the sun had warmed things up a bit.It was so wonderful that there were so many rides the kids could go on. The kids loved it! And Eric LOVED going on all the roller coasters with Skip...he is one brave little boy!His favorite ride was the Fire Dragon...because it had loop de loops.Evie was in such a good mood. She was totally content just hanging out in her stroller all day people watching. She did get to go on one ride...the merry go round and she loved it.We had such a great day together. One of my favorite parts of being a Mom is watching my kids laughing and having a great time.

Winds of Change

Man the rest of Sept flew by and we are already half way through Oct! There have been quite a few changes in our little family over the past weeks.
*I started working again after 6 1/2 years. I am working as the night staff at a group home from troubled teen girls. It's been an adventure trying to get in enough sleep during the day when I've got the kids home...but I'm a Mom...I can handle being sleep deprived! I am lucky that there is wireless Internet so I am able to watch netflix and cruise the net to keep me awake when I would rather be sleeping. Working nights isn't ideal but it helps me earn money with out having to put the kids in daycare- so I can't complain. I have also been getting cupcake orders to keep me busy. Yay for cupcakes! I just got an order for in Nov...1000 cupcakes this time!
*After 9 years fighting cancer, Skip's Mom- Debby passed away. She will be missed but we are happy she is finally pain free and at peace. I am so grateful for the Gospel and the knowledge the plan of salvation gives us.
*Skip finished up his bachelors degree at the University of Phoenix. I am so proud of him. It hasn't always been easy to keep up with school with kids/work/worrying about his Mom/moving/changing jobs twice/life...but he has stuck with and, and I am so proud of him!
*With $$$$ from my job the time has come for us to move out on our own again!!! It's one of those things that is bittersweet. We are totally ready to be out on our own again, but I'm going to miss seeing my parents and sis each day, but I'm sure they are going to really enjoy the quite! We are going to be moving up to Farmington where we have a HUGE 3 bed apt. Eric will finally get his own room and Little Lady Evie will move outta our room and in with big sis Lily. Eric's new school is AWESOME- so much better than the one he is going to now! Packing starts on Monday!
*Evie got her cast off!
She ended up needing to have a new cast put on after the 1st week because the one she first had on kept sliding down her foot. The saw that they use to cut off the cast scared Evie to the pointing that now anytime there is a noise even close to it...like the blowdryer or vacuum...she starts crying. So this time around be brought skip shootin ear muffs with us to block out some of the noise for Evie. She loved them!
Although some changes are sad- there is always a good one coming along too!

Cup-A-Cakes and a Cast

This last weekend was CRAZY!!! Beyond crazy. Saturday we went to Skip's sister's house for her sons 3rd birthday. While there I fell down the stairs- wouldn't have been that big a deal except I was holding Evie at the time. Poor thing was screaming her head off. I got her to calm down then I had to leave to go make almost 900 cupcakes for a huge event at the Eccles Center in Ogden. Skip stopped by the kitchen on his was home so that I could feed Evie- she was not a happy camper. I HAD to stay and cook cupcakes so Skip took the kids on home. Skip called me later and said he was taking Evie to the ER cause she cried every time he touched her leg. Turns out she broke her femur right above her knee...and now has a lovely cast for the next 4 weeks...want to earn WORST MOTHER OF THE YEAR AWARD...just fall down the stairs and break your child! I feel so sorry for my poor Evie. She hates sitting still and now she is semi-stuck. Needless to say there have been sleepless nights since Sat! Luckily she had her wonderful Daddy to take care of her- while I was off baking and frosting.
Sat and Sun nights were spent in the kitchen with Eva and Ashley. On Sat Eva and I were able to get all but 14 dozen cupcakes done before I had to leave to get home to Evie. Sat night we got down to the frosting Luckily my 2 younger sisters ROCK...Monday was the day of the big event. The tables were set up different than I thought they would so I didn't get to decorate the table with all by cute pennant banners that I made to hang between the cake stands(that my wonderful/talented husband made for me) but it still turned out cute enough.On the Cup-A-Cake menu...Oreo Truffle, Double Chocolate Vanilla, Strawberry Shortcake, Cherry Chocolate, and Chocolate Carmel Next up...using my leftover supplies to make cupcakes for the community yard sale this weekend :-)

New Art

I made this sign for the kids room. Their beds are on opposite sides of the room and they each have their own magnet boards over their beds. There was a huge empty space on the wall...and I had to fill it with something. Originally I was going to do a smaller sign and then put up some frames with a family picture...but we haven't had a family picture taken with Evie in it. So I just made the sign bigger. I want to make sure that my kids grow up knowing that they are loved not only by us here on the earth but by their Heavenly Father.

8 Months

I forgot to post this and now Evie is closer to 9 months then she is 8 months. Evie is such a great baby!She loves to watch Eric and Lily. Her favorite things to play with is the basket of fake food from the kids kitchen- don't even try to take away her piece of bacon! She loves to eat- gotta keep up those thighs. Her hair is starting to fill in so her "comb over" doesn't stand out as much. She talks all the time.She hasn't figured out how to put her knees down so she does push up's. It's really funny to watch her "work out". 8 months has flown by! Before I know it it's going to be her 1st birthday.

First Day of School

Yay school started! Eric has been so excited about going to first grade cause "that's where big kids go"At first when we got to school he told me i could go home now and took off for his class. We were a little early so he had to wait outside. After a couple minutes he was looking around for me- then he ran back and threw his arms around me and asked if he could please come back home with me. He was scared because he didn't know anybody. I told him that it was going to be a very boring day at home and that school was going to be sooooo much fun. He finally agreed to stay and ended up having a great day.Lily, Evie and I went on a date to the mall. We did a little shopping. Had a nice lunch in the food court, Lily rode on the merry go round and in the kids play area. It reminded me how often Lily and I would go to the mall in FL while Eric was in school all day. It gave us something to do when it was so stinkin' hot outside. The girls and I had a fun day together and Lily now thinks that everyday Eric is at school should be a Mommy Lily date and that we "need" to go to the mall.

Park City Camping

We took a last minute camping trip last weekend. We ended up going up past park city for this one. We brought 2 tents this time with the idea of putting all our extra stuff in one and all sleeping in the other...but the kids had other plans. Lily decided that one was a girls only tent and one was a boys only tent.We got the giant marshamallows...seriously they were the size of Lily's hand! It was impossible to eat one with out getting it all over your face!
WE froze our butt off at night, so both girls ended up with colds. But we had fun together as a family and that's all that really matters right :-)