Oh, Christmas!

Christmas Eve with the kids in their new PJs that grandma sent. They put out Brownies and Eggnog for Santa. Al & Cam wrote letters to Santa and Char colored a picture.

Aleah's favorite things were the desk from Aaron & I (I repainted it - cute, huh? :)) and the sewing machine Santa brought.

Of course, Cam's favorite things were his transformers - he figured them out very quickly. You can see Charlieman in the background on his new rocking horse.

Charlie loved everything he got, but the trains were his favorite. He got a Little People train set too.

Aaron and Clay both got new Skull Candy headphones, so did I (teal and silver :)). We spent all day updating our iPods with the new DefLeppard & AC/DC CDs I got and $75 worth of iTunes music Clay got (from gift cards). We were all very excited to hit the gym this week with our new gear.

Hope you all had a great Christmas!

Snow fall

When we went to Sundance a few weeks ago they were making snow and it was melting because it was in the 50s.

A week later it was a winter wonderland - except that we had a lot of projects to do that day and trying to move trucks and load things when it is a blizzard is not fun.

Of course the kids didn't mind at all. Cameron spent over 3 hours just playing outside. He didn't want to come back inside, but I was sure his little nose and fingers were about to fall off.

Aleah loved the snow until she got hit in the head by her brother's snowball. It was time for hot chocolate and marshmallows and some alone time then.

An now we have even more snow - at least if finally feels like Christmas is here.

Christmas time :)

The kids could not wait to put up the tree and the ornaments. They did most of it all by themselves - and we only broke one :).

Charlie is obsessed with Batman. He already had Batman sunglasses, but when our neighbor gave him a cape; that clinched it. He wears them nonstop and says things like ,"I Batman!...fear me!" and then flies around because he doesn't understand that it's superman that flies not Batman. I guess if it has a cape it should fly :).

Aculis had it's annual Christmas party at Sundance. It was so fun. Clay kept the kids overnight.

We let Charlie put the Angel on top of the tree this year. He was so proud of himself.

Aleah tested for her Orange Belt last week. We find out on Wednesday if she passed, but I'm almost positive that she did - she's great at Karate.

I totally have bloggers guilt. I can't believe I haven't posted in over a month. I've been so crazy busy - as I know most of you are this holiday season. But I've put some pictures on and I have some more to put on later. I hope everyone is doing well and no one and gone completely insane with all the shopping and family - try to slow down and enjoy the season. Aleah Giving her first Oral Report at School - It was on Parrots and she did a great job!

Jadey was here for Thanksgiving! Aleah spent every moment Uncle Clay allowed with her.

Charlie man had his first set of stitches - 8 to be exact. Cam was chasing him around the house and he tripped and bashed his head into the coffee table - I am not one of those 'pull-it-together-in-a-time-of-crisis' moms and I nearly had a nervous breakdown. Good thing Aaron was there. Charlie only cried for a few seconds; then he saw me freaking out and stopped immediately, put both hands on my face and said, "Okay, Mommy? Okay?" He didn't cry the whole rest of the time - with the needles or anything - amazing.

Uncle Clay took Jadey and Ali ice-skating - he is a brave man. They had so much fun.

Cam - this boy has me swinging on both ends of the emotion line within minutes. He was being a complete naughty boy, flying his superman into his brother's head, so we took it away and put him in time out. Within minutes he had come out and said, "Look, Mom!" He had built a new superman out of legos - it had a cape and everything. I was so amazed. He has such a talent when it comes to seeing things in his head and being able to build them out of legos.

Random Stuff

Aaron helping Charlie do a 'slam dunk' at Aleah's soccer game.

Once Cam saw Charlie doing it, of course he wanted a turn.

Ali is the one in blue sleeves at the far left. This was her last game of the Fall - she will miss soccer, but we are excited to have our Saturdays back.

Well, our lives have been very scrambled the last few months. Me working every night has been hard on everyone. Thank goodness I only have a week left and then I will only help out 'when needed' at the gym. Aaron's life has been chaos as well. He lost his job over a month ago, but started a new/old one yesterday. He is back at Aculis and very excited to be there. As soon as they found out he was looking for work, they called and wanted him back; but it took a while for all the details to go through. Aaron was so tired of being Mr. Mom and was ready to be at an office again - and just when he was getting good at dishes and laundry too :(. At least his football is done for the season and school will be done in 4 weeks - wow, we might actually have a normal schedule again.

Halloween

Pic 1: Gothic Girl - I tried to get Ali to smile and she explained that "Gothic Girls don't smile; they have attitude." - I know 9 year-old girls that have attitude also.

Pic 2: Werewolf Boy - Cam loved the fake teeth and painting his toenails/fingernails black the best - I thought he was more cute than scary, but he didn't appreciate me telling him that.

Pic 3: Monkey Man - Char has wanted to wear his costume for weeks, so when I told him the night before Halloween that as soon as he woke up tomorrow, he could wear it; we had no problem putting him to bed.

Pic 4: Witchy Women - my kid's said, "But you're a witch every year mom!" Well, that is mostly true; I change it up every once in a while, but it is the costume I love most; and, at least I'm not lame and don't dress up at all...Aaron.

Pic 5: Trick-o-treat - Aleah was great about helping Charlie get to the door; I have hardly any pics of Cam trick-o-treating because he was usually 2 doors ahead of us. I ended up taking his candy bucket so that he would have to run back to me after each house to deposit his loot.

Pumpkins

This pictures downloaded backwards for some reason, so the first ones are the finished pumpkins and the last are of them cleaning them out - weird. Anyway, the kids (this includes Aaron) were very excited about pumpkin carving this year. Aaron's SpongeBob SquarePants turned out amazing. Aleah got a little frustrated with her skull at first, but it was very spooky when she had finished. Cam really wanted a Spider-man, but since that was $5.00 to download, he had to go with a free spider instead - but he worked hard on it still the same - mom had to come to the rescue at the end when he got frustrated with carving and just started poking random holes all over the pumpkin, but he was very proud of it in the end. Charlie was dying to help at the beginning, so we let him stick his hands in the guts a few times and that cured his desire to touch the pumpkins. And when we lit them up and stuck them outside - they scared the pants off him. Now, Char will be quietly playing somewhere in the house when, suddenly, I will hear screaming and his little feet running as quickly as he can toward where I am. Then he will start yelling in a panicked voice, "Scareee Punkin, Mom, Scareee Punkin!"

Witches Everywhere!!!

Pic 1: Charlie not happy about being dressed-up like a withc, Pic 2: Ali after her hair was done, Pic 3: Ali & her friends after their hair & nails were done, Pic 4: On their hayride with the witch; Pic 5: Dancing with the witch after the costume parade


Aleah's birthday party was so much fun. We spent 4 hours at Gardner Village and the girls would have stayed longer if I hadn't promised their parents I'd have them home around 7 p.m. Aleah chose 3 of her friends to have their Witchy make-overs done at the day spa. They then had a hayride with the witch and she told them scary stories. We continued on to the

petting zoo and pink hot chocolate. After that it was time for a picnic, presents, & cake. Finally, there was a costume parade and then the girls danced for over an hour with the witch and lots of other kids that were there. We all had so much fun.

Rexburg

Picture 1: My sister Sharee and I at Gardner Village, Pic 2: Clay & Aaron at Big Jud's with their Head-sized hamburgers, Pic 3: Aaron and I "makin'-out" in front of Harmony 310 where I lived in college.


The last few weeks have been crazy. I flew my sister Sharee to Salt Lake for her Birthday. I wish I had more pictures of her, but her stay got cut short when her children got sick and she had to rush back home. Children=horses in Sharee's world; kids=Bowdie & Patton (her sons), but all are treated = in Sharee's home; well, actually I think the children are treated better, but the rest of the family try to love the kids enough to make-up the difference :). Anyway, we had a great time while she was here and visited a lot of craft places because that is something else Sharee is really into and good at. We also went to Rexburg while she was here. Our brother Ken's oldest daughter, Cora, was getting baptized, so we loaded up the van and headed out. It snowed...at the beginning of October...it snowed...it was freezing...oh, how it brought back the college days memories. Rexburg is where Aaron and I went to Rick's College; where we met; and where we spent the beginning of our marriage. The first year I was there, it snowed in August and it didn't stop until the end of April. The people that live there really love snowmobiling. Aaron and I had to take everyone to Big Jud's where he had his picture on the wall more than once for eating the pound size burger, fries, & shake all by himself more than once. Our children were very impressed. We also took a short tour of the campus and some pictures at the apartments that we lived in. It was also fun to hang out with our family and eat lots of food.

Aleah is 9!!!!!!!!!

(Picture 1: Aleah being the most fabulous Goalie ever, Pic 2: Aleah & her side of the haunted castle, Pic 3: All the kids decorating the castle and Charlie 'supervising')

I can't believe I haven't posted in over 3 weeks - what a slacker! We have been so crazy busy. But it was Aleah's 9th birthday yesterday and I had to tell everyone how wonderful she is. She's such a big help around the house and does most things I ask her without complaint. Her aunt Sharee was here last week and bought her a hamster for her b-day. She loves it & named it Ruby; besides the one time she tried to give it a leash out of yarn, she she is a very good pet parent. She is in Karate & Soccer. She is so good at Karate that she now has to spar with the teacher because she beats up the other students to badly. She is the full-time goalie in soccer. She chose that all herself even though I wish she'd switch it up once in a while. But she is the only one that is not afraid to dive head-first into a bunch of kicking cleats to grab the ball. She's made some amazing saves that Aaron swears is ESPN worthy. And when I went to parent/teacher conferences on Monday, her teacher couldn't say enough wonderful things about her. She's in the advanced class again, and her teacher said, "She just knows so much; we start talking about a new subject and she already knows everything." I guess that comes from reading encyclopedias since she was 4 and everything else she can get her hands on.

Anyway, for her party we are taking her and a few friends to Gardner Village to dress & play with the witches; I can't wait to post pictures of those.

Time moving too fast

(Picture of Charlie & his Barf - yes, it's name is Barf because it looks like it's neck threw-up and people have said it is a rat, elephant, dog, rabbit, or something else - Barf has to go everywhere with us and it is a very sad time when we lose it or if it needs washed.)

Well, I feel like I shouldn't blink or my kids might be 30 when I open my eyes again. Aleah being in the 3rd grade is hard work - I didn't realize what level she would be up too already. Her math takes me much longer to check and her spelling :( - some of the words I have to look up to see what they mean.

Cameron being in the 1st grade is just exhausting. He hates homework and it takes us over an hour just to get spelling words written and reading done - but I do have to say he has come a long ways in the last year. He's reading a lot of words now and he's doing rather well at math.

Charlie being two isn't as bad as with the other kids but he misses them so much during the day. He gets upset every morning when Dad takes Cam & Ali in the car and he has to stay with mom. This morning he ran outside with me and kept say, "I go too, Mom. I go too!"


I volunteer at the school for lunch recess duty - that's interesting. Cam loves that I'm there and comes to give me hugs & kisses in between running around with his friends. Aleah will come to say hi, but then is off and will pretend like I don't exist - I tried to give her a hug yesterday, and she said, "Please don't embarrass me, Mom."

I want them all to freeze at age 4 where they can do most things by themselves, but still think Mom & Dad are the greatest people on earth and we are all-knowing, all-powerful, & all-important.

I am now married to a triathlete!

Pic 1: Aaron is to the far left, cheesin' for the camera at the start of his mile long swim, Pic 2: heading out on the bike for 15.2 miles, Pic 3: Leaving for his 4.2 mile run, Pic 4: crossing the finish line with Cam & Ali behind him, Pic 5: HE DID IT!

I am so proud of my husband! I think he's still amazed at himself for doing it. He's extremely sore today and walking like he was hit by a truck, but I haven't heard him say, "never again will I do that" yet, so I'm guessing it was a good experience.

What a crazy life I have

Pic 1: Aleah next to her "Lady Potato Head" that she entered into the fair, Pic 2: Cam next to his "Pirate Potato Head" that he entered into the fair, Pic 3: Cam, Charlie, & I on a helicopter ride,






Pic 4: Aaron trying a FRIED Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich and FRIED oreos - yes, he had a stomach ache all night.



Sorry that I haven't posted in so long. After the kids started school, our crazy schedule started. I started working nights (M-F, 4 - 8 p.m.) at the gym daycare to cover for a friend that went to Greece for 12 weeks. Aaron has school or coaches Football 4 nights a week, and Aleah has Soccer or Karate 2 nights a week. So, there has been a lot of juggling and a lot of help from Jessie & Clay to watch the kids and get them where they need to be at night. The day time isn't much better. I watch 3 kids 2 days a week; I HAVE to fit in exercise 6 days a week; Housework and errands have to be done in the morning because I have to pick up Cam at 1 p.m. and then get his homework done & dinner made before we go back to school and pick up Aleah at 3 p.m. It's a good thing Charlie is such an amazing kid and just goes along with whatever I have planned for the day. Now I'm suppose to fit volunteering for my kid's classes into the week as well; am I a mom or a super-freak that knows how to squeeze 36 hours out of a 24 hour day? Probably, I'm a little of both. I guess I will just have to get done what I can and expect those around me to understand that "I can't do it all" - even if they believe I should...Aaron. Well, I have no more time for blogging - I am on to dishs, laundry, groceries, & maybe I will even get the floors swept today. Have a wonderful Day!