Wii Changes Lives...

...Truly, it does - if you are listening to Rylee and Lana.

A few minutes ago, we were in the kitchen and I asked them what they want to do this afternoon. I asked if they wanted to have a movie party or do pedicures or have a Wii party...you know, just throwing out ideas.

Rylee says, "I think I would like to have a Wii Party. Before we got the Wii, I loved watching movies. I never wanted to like get up off the couch and just jump up and down or anything. Now that we have Wii Fit and other Wii games, I love to jump around and exercise."

Lana chimes in with, "Yeah, the Wii is totally changing our lives." Hehehehe!!! I loved it!

Did you hear that, Wii people? If you want to use this testimonial, it will cost ya.

My Baby Turned Two!

I can't believe it has been two years since Kate was born. It's so sad to say my baby is two years old now.

I can't believe that two years ago, she was so tiny...

Or that just a year ago, she looked so much like a baby still...

And now she has turned into a little girl.

Here she is opening her presents with her sisters and brother helping, as always.

See what I mean when I say she looks so big? She LOVED her new little car.

She has so much personality, and is so much fun. She is always smiling and making us all laugh with her funny expressions and sarcasm. The girl is a complete show-off. I love it!

She was so cute all day. Any time someone would sing the "Happy Birthday" song, she would start giggling. That's what she did the whole time we sang to her when we did her cake. Then she didn't want to blow out her candle. She just looked at it and giggled. It was stinking cute.

Here's the big birthday girl who isn't too big to still fit in a gift sack. That makes me feel a little better about her turning two.

Thank you, Stephanie and crew and Mom and Dad for coming over to see her yesterday and make her day even more special! We love you all!

Now that she is officially two, is there a way to freeze her at this age? It kills me how fast these sweet little things grow up.

Happy Birthday, Kate! We all love you so much and we are so happy that you are in our family!

4th of July Rundown...

Sorry, this is going to be REALLY picture heavy.

The day before the 4th, we had a little parade with the kids and marched to patriotic music. They loved it! And now because of Stars and Stripes Forever they know what a piccolo is. Do you see Rylee trying to play hers in the background? I'm not sure if eating it is the correct way, but she had the general idea. :)

Then just before bed we painted Ryee and Lana's nails. Lovely, don't you think!?

After we painted their nails it was time for bed. Rylee had the hardest time going to sleep though. Bill laughed and said I have succeeded in making the kids love the 4th like I do. They don't have that much trouble getting to sleep on Christmas Eve. I LOVE it!!!

Our day started when the kids woke up to the house looking like this:

They were so excited to wake up to this. Hayden woke up and noticed everything and started saying, "What's this? What's this?" I took him over to the table and showed him his new outfit for the 4th and his visor that he had made. He was so excited that he had to get dressed RIGHT THEN. The poor kid barely had his eyes open, but still wanted to get dressed. It was a good thing he wanted to get dressed because we all needed to hurry and get ready to go to the parade.
Here is Rylee at the parade, all dressed in her patriotic gear:


The girls are always so excited to "take their hats off when the flag goes by" so I just had to take this picture. So cute!


Lana, Rylee, and Hayden watching the parade. If you look, you can see my mom and dad in the background and Bill with Kate on his shoulders. Do you like Hayden's stylin' visor?

My dad with Kate. The kids always love it when my parents come with us to the parade, and the extra hands are always nice!

Our family just after the parade.

My parents with all of the kids! I love this picture!

After the parade, we came home and started filling up the swimming pools. We weren't sure if we should because it was really cloudy that morning (perfect for the parade) and looked like it was going to rain. but we decided to chance it! It ended up beautiful that afternoon!

We had some friends come over that evening for dinner and fun. Check out the food! I even made a flag out of jell-o, thanks to the mold that Bill got me for my birthday last year. It rocks!

The adults enjoyed eating while we watched the kids eat/run around/beg to play in the water!

PINATA TIME!!! The kids were cold after swimming, so we gave them a quick bath and got them in PJ's. Then it was time for the pinata while we waited for it to get dark.



Notice Amara's daddy bracing her so she didn't fall off the stool. He had to really duck though to avoid a good hard whack to the head.

Corbin whacked it hard enough to knock off one of the cones on the side of the pinata.

The cones made great patriotic party hats! This one's for you, Alesha!!!:)

Rylee trying with all she had to bust that thing wide open.

Tayah had the most amazing facial expressions while she hit the pinata. I don't think I have ever seen a kid pull so many different faces. I love it! (And ya gotta love Lana jumping in the back!)

Bill helping Kate with the pinata. She was hilarious. She just kept laughing and laughing at the pinata. I didn't know they were so darned funny!

After the pinata was done, it still wasn't dark outside, so we came in to play a little Rock Band. Alesha, Bill, and I opted out of the singing. But Rylee was eager to try it. (See...I always knew that teaching my kids Bon Jovi would come in handy someday!) She was really into singing Livin' On A Prayer.


How cute do these two look?! I loved watching the two of them. You know, Alesha, they are close enough in age....I'm just sayin'!

Bill trying to play the drums with Hayden being a big helper!


Check out Alesha on the guitar. I told her she looks awesome with a guitar. She totally should have been a rocker!;)

Jared had us all very entertained with his vocals. He really got into it! It was so fun to have fun with friends and do something we normally don't do.

We hope you all had a fantastic holiday! We are so grateful to live in this country and for all of our freedoms. Thank you to all who helped make our holiday a wonderful one!!!

Countdown Update

Our Countdown is going so well! My kids are all really into it, and Hayden has been a riot this year. He is WAY into it. He doesn't remember it much from last year, so he thinks this is just the coolest thing.

Two days ago we listened to Janeen Brady's Take Your Hat Off and decorated foam hats for the parade. Lana told me that she loves to take her hat off when the flag goes by. So cute.

Hayden really concentrating on where to place the stars on his hat.

Lana pulling who knows what kind of a face? What a goofball!

Rylee modeling her hat so far...

We had to finish the hats in the evening because we needed more glitter glue and Kate still needed to put stars on her hat. (She was taking a nap when the other three kids did theirs.)

Finishing off the hats with glitter glue. Now this is the way to do crafts with the kids - all of us in P.J.'s!

The finished products sitting out over night to let the glitter glue dry.


Yesterday, we made the candy firecracker cups. The kids couldn't wait for this one. I put candy in baggies for each of the kids so they could stuff their own cups.

Kate wasn't interested in stuffing her cup. She just wanted to eat the candy. She wouldn't even finish a piece and would be opening the next one. Whatever. It wasn't worth a fight.

All of the kids wanted to munch on a piece of candy while they made their cups. And yes, we know it was stinking hot outside, but Rylee was cold after coming in the house from swimming. Hence, the nice winter robe.

Hayden, licorice to munch on in hand, doing a fantastic job stuffing his cup. He did such a great job! I was so impressed.

Lana enjoying her sucker as she thought about stuffing her cup.

Kate still not even thinking about putting the candy in her cup. She just enjoyed eating. I don't even think she watched the other kids put the candy in their cups.

Lana and Hayden finishing theirs up and trying to figure out how to get every single piece of candy in their cups.

Rylee with her finished cup.

Lana with her creation.

Hayden was so proud of his. He really took me literally when I told him to hold up his cup so I could take a picture! What a sweet boy!

Kate's finished product...

...as she leaves with more chocolate on herself than she had in the cup. And imagine that, she is opening more candy. Guess what mean mommy hid the rest of her candy right after this picture?