Silly Brinny

This is a little girl that seriously cracks me up! This is what she wore to bed tonight....boots and all! WITH the promise to Liberty that if she could wear the flower to bed she would give it back in the morning so she could wear it to school. Her MOST hilarious thing she does lately, is wear deoderant....EVERY day! Hahahahaha!! Emberlyn started wearing it about a month ago and I guess has told her sisters all about it.....I'm assuming Brinley thinks its SO cool that she must do it to! Really, I love this princess!!!!

1st lost tooth

We have waited a long time for miss Liberty to loose her 1st tooth! The baby girl is gonna be 7 in 3 months and is just now loosing her 1st one!! I was getting a little worried because her two bottom teeth have been loose for a long time AND her big girl teeth have already come in behind her baby teeth, but thank goodness Daddy had a pair of pliers teasing he was gonna pull all her teeth out and POP...out it came. I was cracking up, even more so when Libs started to act like she was gonna cry, then realized it didn't hurt so then she started giggling. She's such a cutie pie! Happy 1st tooth fairy visit Liberty!!

Family Pictures 2011

Ok, here is the disclaimer....none of these are edited yet, but I was dying to get them put on here. Seriously could my family be any cuter??? These are some DANG cute kids! I'm so happy how these turned out! I spent weeks ordering and shopping for clothes, planning outfits, making bracelets and blinging out sandals...ya know....stuff that NO ONE will ever notice but me! But, it was worth it! We got some great shots (afew more to come....I took afew with my camera of the boys I just have to download them) and it was worth all the stress leading up to it!

CRASH and Burn!

Seriously! OUCH!!! You just look at this and wince thinking about how much this must have hurt, but yet here is my Brigham smiling about it the next day! He is the king of horrible accidents, with no dramatic story behind it! He was riding his scooter and fell on the sidewalk out front, poor kid! It will probably take awhile for the skin to heal all the way.....its funny how I can look at a pic of one of my babies being hurt so bad but still think "awwww, hes so cute!"

Valentines Day 2011

This is what I woke up to Valentines morning, I'm pretty sure the little kids were even more excited than I was! I got to enjoy my balloons for about 10 min before the little kids divided them up and decided which one was "theirs" The one that played music when you tapped it was the hot ticket item!

 I was the MOST thrilled with my real gift.....my wedding ring!! Devin surprised me by going and getting it from the jewelers. I took it there over 9 months ago when a side stone fell out and you know how life is....shoes for the kids are more important than picking up your ring from the jewelers. So I was beyond happy to have it back; it was the perfect present!!!

I'm not sure how many years ago we started our annual Valentines Day family dinner, probably going on 5 years? I had kind of a flash into the future this year, of all my kids being married with their own families and continuing this tradition. I figure Grandma and Grandpa can babysit on Valentines so all the moms and dads can have a nice date night and then on like the Monday before Vday or something still have our traditional dinner. Am I weird that I think of those things? Probably....but I love thinking about what life will be like 15 years from now with my family...I guess because I love hanging out with my own brothers and sisters so much!

 This was our pretty little table that I decorated while the kids were outside playing with their friends. I was gonna make super cute cookies, but after all the junk they got at school, plus the candy I put int their cups I figured they didn't need any more sugar. I LOVE and adore my family, and I think even more I LOVE that this once romantic day that just Devin and I celebrated has turned into a day of making sure my kids know just how much their Mom and Dad love them.



Brigham @ the mall

Somehow Brigham got to go on a Mommy and Daddy errand to the mall to get new workout shoes and it didn't take him long to find the escalators. Daddy was super nice and let him go up and down for about 20 min while I tried on shoes! His favorite was for Devin to go down the down side and for Brigham to run down the up side. He would laugh hysterically at beating Dad even going the wrong direction, it was quite funny to watch.......for me and everyone else! What a cutie pie!

Brinley and miss Sally

 Crystal calls baby Elise all sorts of nick names, and Miss Sally has stuck for me, I love it! The girls heard me call her that one day and said "MOOOOMMM! Her name is Elise!!!" like "come on, dummy!" LOL I love this little girl and wish she would stop growing! We went for a little shopping trip one day and this was her sassy outfit....yes she has on leg warmers!! I almost died when I saw her....not sure the last time I saw anything SO cute!! It makes me REALLY miss having a baby girl!

My new BFF

The past 6 months life in our home has changed with Brigham being in school; it has left a lot of time for Brinley to hang out with mommy and daddy. This little lady has become my MOST favorite person to hang out with!! My other girls have been a little different when it comes to running errands especially.....they beg and beg to go and then 20 min into running around the spend the rest of the time asking when will be done and when we can go home. THIS little lady will literally follow me from store to store for hours and hours and every time we get back in the car ask "where we going next" I LOVE it!!! She is such a fun shopping companion and I have adored my one on one time I get to spend with her! I am going to be devastated when she goes to school next year....I keep telling her "Brinley, please don't go to school, who is going to hang out with me??" She just giggles and flashes her cute smile at me. It makes me sad at the same time, that I don't get to spend this much one on one time with each of my kids AND makes me understand better the special relationship my mom has with my baby sister Cassie. I don't want my baby girl to grow up, and she is doing it WAY too fast!

Happy Birthday Daddy

1st off I'm so tired of my camera on my phone....it takes GREAT pictures.....as long as everyone is standing completely still! grrrrr! Devin is kind of funny when it comes to celebrating his birthday; he really doesn't care if we do anything ever, doesn't really care if he gets gifts, he really just lets us put on the birthday celebration for the kids sake. They LOVE it! They love singing, they love wrapping gifts, they love baking a cake, its almost as much fun for them as their own birthdays! So, we had fun wrapping up daddies gifts (clothes...so practical I know) and helping bake him a cake. I think Brigham and Brinley sang happy birthday for weeks after. We love our daddy, and we appreciate everything he does for us. We actually love him being a full time college student, they get a little less time with mom because while daddy is studying mom is usually running errands or working sometimes, BUT I think all of us would agree that it is going to be really hard to have to go back to life with Dad at a full time job, not getting to see him every day!

He is such a good Dad, and we love him so much! Happy Birthday!!!!

Spring Break

This was a CRAZY break for me and the kiddos. My mission: get to the gym, get us ready for family pictures and play play play. The kids mission: if I had to guess would probably be sleep, play and NO chores LOL! I think they got plenty of play time, and by the looks of my house, not as much chores as mom would like...but oh well!
One of our fun outings was meeting up with my sister and her 3 girls for a movie date, checking out the puppies at the mall and even ice cream at McDonalds (by the way....who ever thought it would be a good idea to have a playplace at a fast food place that doesn't have a door that shuts?) The kids had a blast and for the most part were really good. I even played the "cool mom" card and allowed my older 3 boys and their friends to go see a different PG movie so they didn't have to sit through Tangled with all the little kids. I LOVE my kids and LOVE LOVE hanging out with my sister!!!!!

My baby boy turns 3

So this is another new first for me....I have a 3 year old and NO baby in my house. Different days I feel different about that subject...but that's for a whole other post. This post is about my baby Ryker turnimng 3....... gosh I love this little guy. There are days that he drives me BONKERS....like this morning when he threw a wooden spoon and it smacked Brinley in the face, then grabbed his bowl of cereal ate 2 bites and then tossed the whole bowl on the floor THEN lets the milk that was in his mouth slowly spill down his face and his shirt! REALLY? I don't even get this kid sometimes. BUT then there is the other Ryker....the super cute, super sweet, super cuddly Ry Ry. My favorite thing in the world is when he manages to be up late and climbs into bed with me and Devin and cuddles, or reads a book to US, or shows me all his belongings that he brought into bed with him. He has this whole family wrapped around his finger and he totally knows it too! Here are afew things Ryker is all about these days;

* LOVES books!

* loves his teddy bears, stuffed doggie, and Barbies (I know...hes so weird LOL)

* he LOVES shoes...probably because he spends a lot of nights cuddling with us and watches mommy surf shoe websites! He will say "ooooohhhhh, mommy....look at da shoooes! Pretty shoes!" He will find the girls shoes and come find me to show me his silver sparkly shoe on one foot and the black shiny one on the other!

* loves being outside with his brothers and sisters. He is pretty fast on the pink and purple tricycle pushing with his feet because he refuses to use the pedals. (really, should I be worried about this kiddo?)

* he gives TONS of kisses and every day Brigham leaves on the bus he will stand with me and blow kisses and wave "Bye Bigam"

* LOVES his family, but he really loves his big brother Austin. He will yell HI AUTIN every day when he comes home from school and especially if Austin is gone on a campout he will ask for him and is so excited when he gets home!

* HOT or COLD...you don't get in between, he is either all hugs and kisses or he is chucking stuff across the room OR having a meltdown because the kids sang him Happy Birthday??

* His smile melts my heart and will save him from trouble every time!

* we are working on putting a stop to the climbing on the kitchen counters, and up the shelves in the hall closet

I really really love my baby boy, hes my buddy, hes my cuddle bug and I love when I get to spend one on one time with him. I couldn't imagine a day without him and I adore the love that this entire family has for this little man!

The WORST night!!

So its been 3 years since I have had a little baby, so I am used to getting my sleep at night. Well, last night I think my dog Maddy wanted to die! I don't know what her problem is...ok really I think I do; its called being extremely SPOILED!!!! She gave birth to 4 sweet puppies Saturday night and has been so great with us and the kids and things have been great....until last night! She is has gotten her energy and strength back and is torn between wanting to spend time with me and Devin and taking care of her babies. This is how my night went...

She almost always sleeps with us (remember I capitalized the word spoiled....ya theres a reason!!) and last night she REALLY wanted to be in bed with me and Devin while we were watching TV but every time one of the puppies would whimper she would jump off our bed to see if they were ok then 2 min later jump back up in bed with us.(and we have a REALLY tall bed that she has to jump up onto my cedar chest then onto the bed....you would think she would have gotten tired at some point!)  After about 10 min of that Devin said, I'll fix this....and he put the babies in bed with us and everyone was happy. When we were ready to go to sleep he put all the dogs in their bed (which is in our room) ALL night long Maddy would come to my side of the bed jump on, lay down for 5 min, hear her puppies, go to Devins side, jump off check on the babies, then back to my side to jump back onto the bed and lay down for 5 min. Literally ALL night!!! So finally at 4:00 I couldn't take it anymore so I went into the little kids room with a pillow and found a Little Mermaid sleeping bad to snuggle up with. I look up and see the TV mounted to the wall and think "Holy COW if that thing were to fall down it would probably kill me...we really gotta move the bed!" then I couldn't fall asleep bc I kept thinking about the TV falling on my head! 20 min later I hear the little "click, click, click" of Maddys feet on the wood floors coming to find me!! You have GOT to be kidding!!!! She does the same thing, lays with me for 5 min then off to find her babies. So 2 or 3 times of that I'm done and I pick up and head downstairs to lay on the couch...she HEARS me from the other room and chases me down the hall AHHHHHH!!! Here it is 4:30 in the morning and I'm in the hall hollering at my little dog to leave me alone and go away with a pillow and a freakin Little Mermaid sleeping bad...seriously I just want to sleep! I never get mad at this dog, she is always wonderful and I'm just about to loose it! No joke, 15 min later she comes down stairs and jumps on the couch; I hide under the sleeping bag and am yelling at her "Maddy seriously go away and leave me alone your not sleeping with me" She finally jumps off the couch and slowly marches up the stairs like I have just crushed her little heart! I'm so tired this morning BUT I can laugh about it bc it is just because she is so spoiled. She LOVES me and Devin and as I'm laying in bed with her going round and round between us and her babies the scene from Overboard flashes in my head where Goldie Hawn is laying on the couch on her yacht talking to her mom on the phone and her mom says "But if you HAVE a baby then you cant BE the baby" HAHAHA Maddy is still trying to hold on to being the baby and I love her for it.....I guess!

A MUST blog to follow

Devin and I took Love and Logic parenting classes years ago from the MOST amazing lady! She has a great blog and is having an incredible giveaway right now that you MUST check out! Love & Logice....and Keri Maughaun changed our lives with our kids!
http://www.kerimaughan.blogspot.com/