Happy Birthday Lana Darlin'!!!

Our sweet little red-head is a big five year old. Lana is such a sweetheart and as I said in the last post, she is trying so hard to be a good girl all day, every day. She melts my heart and she is my little buddy lately. She loves to be with me and I love having her company. Her giggle makes me laugh and her sweetness makes my day.

Since she is turning five, she got to have her first "real" birthday party. She wanted to have a princess party, and so a princess party it was!

Last Friday, we had a house full of lovely princesses! Lana dressed up as her favorite princess, Snow White. I had to laugh because her hair is SO the opposite of Snow White's jet black hair, but she looked darling anyway.

Since Lana was dressed up as Snow White, we did a variety of games with a Snow White sort of theme. We played a "Poison Apple" game that is played much like hot potato. The girls passed the apple around the circle as we played princess music. When the music stopped, the princess left holding the apple was "out," but to prevent big princess tears, we let them pick a prize when they were out. It was a lot of fun. They wanted to play this game over and over and over again.

Then we played a game where I gave each little princess a wrapped gift. They sat in a circle and I read the story of Snow White. Each time I said "Snow White" they had to pass their gift one princess to the left. Then at the end of the story, they got to open the present they were holding. They loved it! (Notice my brother, Prince Charming, hanging out on the couch - probably wishing he could have a present too!)

I had to chuckle when Lana was opening her gifts. Those girls were piled in as close to her as they could. So I held the camera above them and snapped a shot just to see if I could even see the floor in front of Lana, or if it would be a bunch of little princess hair-dos! Yep, that's what I thought. :)

Although the girls were lovely princesses, we had to let them get out their female aggression in a productive manner by beating the crap out of a pinata. Yes, you do see pull strings on this pinata, but where's the fun in that? C'mon, even dainty girls love getting out a bat and whacking something open - especially if there is candy inside!

See, look at Rylee and that concentration on her face. Better get out of the way when she swings!

We had a lot of fun at Lana's party, and thank you to all of the sweet princesses who came to help her celebrate. They were all adorable!

Now, fast forward to today (her REAL birthday!) She woke up this morning to decorations and presents. She was so excited!

It wouldn't be a birthday in our family unless there are at least a couple of extra sets of hands helping with the presents! This picture cracks me up because Lana looks so excited, Hayden just can't get the paper off fast enough, and Rylee looks so intense. Lana loved all of her gifts, and has been playing with them all day.

Of course, she had to have a new birthday outfit. I LOVE her in this turquoise blue color. I had so much fun picking out this outfit. The brown skirt, little white leggings, pretty shirt, and flip-flops just seem so cheery! I LOVE her birthday because it is just on the verge of spring, so I can buy her flip-flops, skirts, and short sleeve shirts. Here she is looking so old (boo) in her new outfit. At least her favorite hairdo is two braids, and that is what she requested today. That keeps her looking a bit more like a little girl.



Happy Birthday, sweetie. We love you and all of your personality and sweetness so much!

My Sweet Little Cleaning Fairy

Yes, you read the title right. I now have my own, personal, sweet little cleaning fairy. Her name is Lana.

I have to tell you that the past couple of months, she has been trying SO hard to be such a good girl. She will tell me in the morning, "Mom, I am going to be really good today." And then she does it. She cleans up her messes without being asked, she helps her sisters and brother, she obeys, and is just pleasant to be around.

This morning, I was trying to shower and get ready for the day and, as usual, Hayden and Kate were making messes. As I am starting to blow-dry my hair, sweet little Lana comes in my bathroom and says, "I want you to come see every room." I knew what that meant, and I was so relieved. I am getting some sort of icky something and am just not feeling 100%. So to have my sweet girl surprise me today was such a treat.

I followed her into her room, where she had been playing Barbies earlier today. This is what I found:

Then she was beaming as she opened the door to Hayden's room. She had fixed his covers on his bed because they were already messed up because two little monkeys had been jumping on it after I made it. Hmmm...Wonder who that could be? She even put all of his stuffed animals neatly in the corner of his bed. And, oh no, it doesn't end there...


She then leads me to the family room where there had been a bunch of foamy puzzle pieces all over the floor as well as the pieces to a huge Dora floor puzzle. I wasn't looking forward to sorting through those and putting them away. You know when your head hurts and the dumbest tasks seem so hard? Yeah, that was me this morning. So I was thrilled to find this:

Do you see any puzzle pieces? I don't either. Whew. What a good kid. I gave her a big hug and told her I love her and what a big helper she is. Then I had to go finish my hair before Hayden and Kate ripped all of her hard work apart.

When I got done with my hair, I came out into the kitchen to find my sweet little Lana washing the few sippy cups that were in the sink.

She looked up at me with her big blue eyes when I walked into the kitchen and said, "I'm doing the dishes now!"

She was even smiling as she washed. What a good girl! And check her out! She's obviously observant. She knows that to me the dishes aren't done and the kitchen clean until the sink is washed out and dried.

After she finished her list of jobs that she did for me, she said, "Mom, I wish it was my week so that you could say what you love about me is that I helped you clean." (We all rotate having turns being spotlighted in the family where, among other things, everyone has to say one thing they love about the person being spotlighted after we say family prayers at night.) How cute is she?! I told her it doesn't have to be her week for me to love that about her. I told her I love it about her today even though it isn't her week and that I would blog the pictures so everyone could see what a good girl she was today. She is still beaming.

Valentine's Day 2009

Our Valentine's Day began with a treasure hunt for the kids. They had to follow the trail of hearts to find their prizes. They were such good sports even though they were sick.

Here is the whole bunch of them finding a clue in my bathroom. That baby doll looks kinda freaked out, don't you think?

I decided to exercise my crafty side (believe me, that isn't a very big side) and make new pillow cases for Hayden and Kate. As you can see, Kate wasn't too sure about any of this. She just wanted to snuggle. Poor girl. She did finally get excited about it after she found the sippy cup in there as well. Then she asked for some chocolate milk and got comfy on the floor with that and her pillow. Of course I didn't get THAT cute picture.



Hayden was the most excited about the Spongebob fruit snacks at first. We had put some fruit snacks, popcorn, and the new "Space Buddies" movie in a basket for all of the kids to share. They really needed something to do since they were so sick.


Aw, look, he loves his pillow!



Rylee got a new little Valentine's Day outfit and I made her some bows to match. Gotta love that genuine smile!

Lana also got a new little Valentine's Day outfit and bows to match. She was so excited. It was darling!



And of course, there is the tradition of "heart attacking" the kids' rooms. Excuse the mess. I had sick kids all week. 'Nough said. Hayden's room looked just like this. He didn't care much about it though since he can't read all of the hearts that have things we love about the kids written on them.



The girls couldn't wait to get on their new outfits, so here are the pics of that:





I made Rylee and Lana pose for a picture together because they were arguing. :) Can you tell Rylee is totally faking that smile? Lana just thinks the whole thing is funny.

And as soon as I was done taking this picture, they turned to watch their new movie. It sure had them entertained, though I really don't know why. I thought it was pretty lame. But if it keeps them happy while they don't feel well, then who cares, right?

I was a big slacker this year. I usually make a nice dinner on Valentine's Day or we order the heart shaped pizzas, but I didn't bother since everyone was sick. I figured the good food would just go to waste if I made it. So I just made home-made rolls and we had deli sandwiches on them. It worked.

And then it was time for the traditional heart-shaped cake for dessert.


They sure liked the cake. It made Rylee and Lana feel the love, finally.



We had a great day, even though the kids were sick. My parents came over to visit for a while and the kids all loved seeing them. And like a dork, I forgot to take a picture of this too! Will someone find my brain for me, please?

I hope you all had a fantastic Valentine's Day!

The Sick Room

My family room has now officially turned into an infirmary.

Last weekend, Lana started to get a cough. By Tuesday night, it was horrible. Rylee stayed home from school on Tuesday because she said her ear hurt. Of course, all day she acted fine and I was ticked at her for missing school. Then Wednesday, she says she still doesn't feel well and that her ear really hurt. Lana still had a nasty sounding cough and I was honestly more worried about her. I thought she may have bronchitis or something. So Bill stayed home for the morning and took the two big girls to the doctor while I stayed home with the other two kids.

Boy did I get to eat my words. The doctor looked Rylee over and said she looked fine - ears and all. But then for some strange reason, he decided to do a throat culture on her. Wouldn't you know it, the girl has strep. So he does a throat culture on Lana too. Nope, no strep. She just has a bad cold and we just have to keep doing what we are doing. So after being mad at Rylee for "faking it" she has strep after all. She kept saying, "Mom, it's weird. I walked into the doctor's office with an earache and I came out with strep." What a goofball.

Lucky me, the doctor told us to keep Rylee home for the next 36 hours. So we set up camp in the family room.

And just for added fun, Kate and Hayden are both coming down with it too. Hayden is being a trooper through it so far and just wants to play. But Kate is so sad and clingy. Poor baby. This is her yesterday morning just sacked out with her blankie on the floor. Look at those sad little, glazed over eyes.

Give her a little bit of chocolate milk and she perks up a little bit.

Rylee and Lana have wanted to sleep out in the family room for the last couple of nights. Rylee loves the recliner and Lana loves the couch. So we put the humidifier between the two of them and let them inhale those lovely menthol vapors all day and all night.

Notice Lana's two boxes of tissues propped on the back of the couch. She insisted on them just in case she runs out.

Keep your fingers crossed that I don't come down with their gamboo just in time for them to get their energy back!:)

Happy Birthday To Hayden

Hayden's birthday was this past weekend. He was so easy to buy for this year. He loves anything "Cars" and so a "Cars" theme, it was.

When he woke up, he was already wearing one of his presents. You see, the boy goes through so many pairs of pajamas. He loves to wear PJs all day and he changes them so many times that the night before his birthday he had no clean PJs. So he got one of his presents early. He LOVES his new "Cars" jammies.

Here he is opening a present while Lana anxiously waits to give him another one. She couldn't get him to open them fast enough. He obviously wasn't complaining.:)

He got some more "Cars" toys and "Madagascar 2" on DVD. He LOVES that movie. It is on constantly at our house now.

He also got another pair of PJs. This is the video of him opening those and a "Cars" toy. He is so funny when he sees the box that the PJs were in. He says, "Clothes," because he knows we always wrap the clothes in that kind of box. But do you see any disappointment on his face when he realizes it is clothes? Nope. He is so easy to please. He loves to get anything - even clothes. He's just like his daddy that way.

We also found him one of the old school Big Wheels. He loves that too! I just can't wait for it to warm up outside so he can really ride it.

The highlight of his day was when his cousins and grandma came over for cake and ice cream. Notice the change of PJs. As soon as he was done opening presents, he had to put on the Mickey Mouse ones. :)

He had the greatest birthday ever just getting to spend time with his best buddy, cousin Brielle. He LOVES her to death.

Finally, he got to dig into his cake and ice cream. He carried around a plate for an hour before everyone came over because he was so excited for cake.




This picture of Hayden and his cousin, Isaak, cracks me up. Something in this picture does not belong. Yep, Hayden looks so funny with a binkie sitting next to his baby cousin. It's so cute though. They are binkie buddies!

Happy Birthday, Buddy! You are such a fun boy and we love you to pieces! I just can't believe you are already a big three year old. My birthday wish for you is that you just stop growing and stay the way you are right now.

Oh Man, I Have To Do THIS Chore?

Usually my cleaning day is Monday, but it really drives me crazy lately to clean on Monday. My kids make messes faster than I can clean them up and it takes me all day to get it done. So I cleaned last night instead. Wow, was that easier! It goes much faster if you can clean after kiddos are in bed! It was so nice to wake up on a Monday morning and have the housework almost done. All I needed to do was vacuum and finish laundry - you can't very well wash sheets when the kids are sleeping in their beds.:)

As I started vacuuming I realized that I REALLY needed to clean my carpets. And guess what? I had time to do that today since the rest of the cleaning was done! (Can you tell I was excited that it was done this morning?) I started cleaning the carpets and decided to take the cushions off of the couches and vacuum in there as well. You never know what treasures you'll find in there. No, I'm not rich. I didn't find money in there - just a bunch of skittles. Nice.

When I took the cushions off, I realized they were kind of goobey (I know that isn't a word, but it's the best way I can think of to describe it.) So me and my lazy self decided to just flip the cushions and deal with the goobs another day. I flip them and, oh crap, I've already done that trick. That means I have to actually clean the buggers. So an hour later ta-da!



Aren't they purdy? (No, that front cushion isn't stained. I did have another cushion leaning up against it before I took this picture and it messed up the pretty cleaning lines it had on it.)

And while I was busy cleaning the cushions, the kids were in the other room keeping themselves occupied by lining up about a thousand cars on the back of the couch and then jumping on the cushionless bugger. Hey, whatever keeps them happy.


So you can now come visit my house and I won't cringe when you sit on my couch for fear of what may stick to your bum when you stand up. :)

Wow, my life is boring when I am blogging about cleaning couch cushions. Note to self: Must.Get.Hobby!!!

Rylee's Big Day

Saturday was Rylee's big day!

She was so excited to be baptized and confirmed. We didn't have to be to the church until about 3:00 in the afternoon, but Rylee woke up at 6:00 and came in to wake Bill and I up. When we didn't hop right out of bed, she got all upset and walked out of our bedroom saying, "You need to get up! We have my hair to do and everyone to get ready for my baptism. UGH!" Bill and I rolled our eyes and went back to sleep for a few minutes.

The time finally came to get her ready. Once she was ready, I could just picture her singing, "I feel pretty, oh so pretty..."



We were all excited for her, so we decided to dress up for the occasion. ;)



And Bill was ready to baptize and confirm his first baby girl!



We had to get a couple of the classic shots that you always take before a baptism. The one of daddy and daughter outside the church before changing into their white clothes.



And the pictures of Rylee and her daddy all dressed in white before the program began.





Rylee thought it was so much fun to walk around the church house in her bare feet. Silly girl. The baptism and confirmation were wonderful. So many people came to support Rylee on her special day. It meant a lot to me to have so many people there to make Rylee feel so loved.

After we left the church, we had a little get-together at our home to celebrate the day. Rylee wanted baked potatoes, so baked potatoes it was. (I wasn't complaining. Those are SUPER DUPER easy!) We had so much fun having so many good friends and family members here that afternoon.

Thank you to everyone who came and supported Rylee. She felt so special and loved all day. Her baptism day was everything she had hoped for.