No Such Thing As A Free Lunch... Er, Dinner

As many of you know, I HATE cleaning day. Mondays are my cleaning day, and my kids have to play, be nice, and entertain themselves that day. I basically do as little as possible in the "mommy" department on Mondays, and do a lot in the "maid" department. I throw food at my kids like animals in a zoo on Mondays, and that is about all the care I give them (okay, I change diapers too, but only because I don't want the stink messing up the nice clean smell I have going in the house!;)

This past Monday was no different. As many of you know, on Monday nights after I have spent all day cleaning, I REFUSE TO MAKE DINNER AND MESS UP THE CLEAN KITCHEN. Am I lazy? Yep. But I hate messing up the clean floors, clean counters, etc. So Monday nights are usually pizza night. We have pizza delivered from Dominos almost every Monday night. I have been trying to not do that as often, but I caved on Monday night (surprise, surprise) and picked up the phone to order dinner.

When I told the guy on the phone that I wanted to order some pizza, he said, "Oh, it looks like you are eligible for a free medium pizza."

I was kind of taken aback and said, "Why do we get a free pizza? I haven't called and complained or anything about pizzas we have received in the past. We LOVE you guys!"

He said, "No, the free pizza is because you are one of our best customers." I laughed and laughed and told him that was great!

That figures. I am not a very lucky person, so this was kind of a fun surprise. But seriously, do you know how many pizzas we have bought from them? I'm so glad to know that you have to buy about ten thousand pizzas from a company before you are considered a "valued customer" who deserves a "free pizza." You see, they said it was free, but there is no such thing as free.

Just F.Y.I., that same day we got a letter in the mail from them with the coupon for a free pizza (I just hadn't gone out to the mailbox yet that day) and a note saying to look for "other red envelopes" in the mail. Oh, goody, goody. I can't wait!

I'm not complaining about the free pizza. It WAS a nice surprise. Definitely better than a kick in the pants. But just once, I would like to have someone call me and say, "You just won free pizza for life (or a million dollars, or a month long trip across Europe, or a vacation to Hawaii, or a new car...you get the idea) just because YOU'RE COOL!" :)

That was a great little end to my least favorite day of the week. Do you think that if I called again next Monday to order pizza, I would get the same response? Doubt it, but it is a good excuse to call and be lazy for dinner again on cleaning day!

A Trip Down Memory Lane...

Okay, I have seen this on Jamie's blog and on Stephanie's blog (both in the last day), so I think I better play along...

So, what you do is you leave a comment with a memory of me (or someone in my family.) It can be serious, an embarrassing moment, whatever you feel like writing. Then I will assume that you are playing along with the little "Memory Game" and I will come over to your blog and leave a memory of you on your comments as well.

If you feel like playing along, post these same instructions on your blog and keep the memories going. I think it will be fun to see what happens and to find out what silly memories people come up with.

Let the games begin...

Etiquette From Four Year Olds

Yep, I have learned a thing or two from these two goobers today.

This morning, Peter Pan was on for the thousandth time in a row (Hayden's current favorite) and it was the beginning when Peter Pan flies into the bedroom. Lana sees this part and says, "That's wude. He should knock before he comes into their house. It's not nice to just come in like that." She is so funny.

It was just a couple of weeks ago when we were watching Madagascar and the part where they sing "Happy Birthday To You..You look like a monkey, and you smell like one too." Lana heard this, and we are all chuckling over the lyrics and she says, "That's wude." Apparently it isn't funny to sing the monkey version of the song. Hehehe.

So, today, as Lana and Tess are playing they are dancing to the Wiggles. I start singing the lyrics the wrong way (like I always do - hey a mom's gotta spice things up once in a while.)
Instead of singing "Do, do the move they call the Wiggle Grove," I sang, "Do, do the move they call the Wiggle poo." But this time it was Tess that corrected me. She said, "Hilary, please don't talk potty talk." Oops. Steph, will you ever let your kids play over here again???

These girls are so funny. They are trying so hard to have perfect manners at their sweet age and to do everything the right way. I catch Lana and Tess telling their big sisters to "stop and look both ways" before they cross the street. They are SO SWEET!

And I guess I have been put in my place today by a couple of four year old kiddos. I guess I better control my potty talk. (Hey, give me some credit. I may have bad manners, but I can spell! I spelled "etiquette" right without the dictionary!)

It's So Much Fun When Grandma Comes..

When Grandma comes, Hurray!...

My dad's mom has been in town visiting at my parents' house this past week. It is always so much fun to see her. Since she was in town, my parents were nice enough to host a BBQ with a bunch of us on Sunday...

I LOVE my dad's family. They have always been so sweet to me and my little family and it is fun to see my little girls go crazy over my uncles that I adored as a kid.


This is Rylee and Lana attacking my uncle, Bill, as soon as we walked in the door. When I was a kid he used to always call my sister and I little frogs, and it is fun to see him tease my girls in the same way. They LOVE him! Look how sweet my grandma is. I love the way that she just eats up watching family interact and enjoy each other.


I tried to get my grandma in a picture with all of my kids but I only succeeded to get the girls in there with her. I love this picture though. My girls loved seeing Great Grandma again.

And this would be why I couldn't get Hayden in a picture. He wanted to play outside with Brielle the whole time. When these two are together, we seriously don't hear from them. They are just gone having a fun time together.

What a bunch! And this isn't even everyone who was there - these are the only obedient ones who followed my demands to get in the picture.:) It is fun to see my dad and his two brothers in the picture. My uncle, Bryan, is the other one that my girls ADORE! Lana will snuggle him until we make her leave him alone. It is adorable! I love this picture - a whole bunch of aunts, uncles, cousins, my parents, and my grandma (and Kate).

I LOVE this picture. My grandma just loved Kate. It was so sweet to see how much she loves each one of the grand kids and great grand kids. She is wonderful around them, and it was so fun to talk to her for a while at my parents' house. (Thank you again, mom and dad, for hosting the BBQ! It was so much fun.)

Unfortunately my grandma left today to go home, but I told her that we want her to stay with us next time (if she dares stay with our three ring circus!) We love her and I love that my kids love to see her. They have already colored pictures that they want to mail to her. So sweet.

We love you, Grandma! Come again soon! We miss you!

I'm So Proud...

Hayden has learned how to do those 24 piece puzzles in the past couple of weeks. Now we can't keep him away from them.


He has watched his sisters do the bigger puzzles, so he thinks he has to do his puzzles on cookie sheets like they do. I am fine with him using the old cookie sheet that I was going to throw away, but now he uses EVERY cookie sheet in my house! This may not be such a bad thing...If all my cookie sheets are occupied by puzzles, then I don't bake as many cookies. It does stink to be washing cookie sheets all day every day just in case I get the urge to bake some cookies!:) It is funny though because he even thinks he needs a cookie sheet when he is doing the puzzles on the kitchen table. Silly boy.


As you can see in the pictures, we REALLY have a hard time getting him to take a break from puzzles. This morning, I got his diaper changed and was trying to get him dressed when he took off running for the kitchen to continue "playing puzzles." So I got out the camera!

If you prefer not to watch the video, that is fine. I was going to video him putting the whole puzzle together, but it takes him about five minutes or so, so I just taped some of it. But he is so cute, and I love to watch him look for the right piece.



And he's almost done...

Just a couple more pieces...

And TA DA!!! He's done! And he is so proud of himself after he finishes a puzzle. He usually says, "I did it! Good job!"

Oh, and excuse the scratching. Boys will be boys. They gotta itch what scratches, er scratch what itches...you know what I mean. Hand washing followed. :) What a cutie. I am such a proud mom (because of the puzzle abilities, not the scratching - just in case you needed clarification!)

My Baby Is A Year Old

I can't believe that in just a year Kate went from this:


To This:

This girl has so much personality, and we love her so much. I can't believe she turned one. Some of my favorite things about her right now are:

~ She will totally cheese it for the camera. I LOVE it!

~ She gives me full on, wrap-her-arms-around-my-neck-and-squeeze hugs. And she does it all day! I LOVE her little hugs!

~ When she wakes up in the morning, she has to lay beside me with her arm wrapped around my neck. Oh, again, LOVE the little baby snuggles!

~ Kate loves her brother and sisters. She lights up when she sees them.

~ Kate gets excited when her daddy comes home from work. I look forward to seeing that reaction every day.

~ Kate likes to play the "back and forth game" right now. She will go to anyone, and then come right back, then go back to the other person.....It is the funniest thing. She would play that game all day long, I think!

~ Kate gets so excited when she stands up holding our hands. She thinks she is big stuff.

~ Kate growls (as you heard some of in the previous post) and it makes us laugh all day long.

~ Kate loves her babies. She is so sweet to her dolls. She snuggles them and says, "Ooohhh," while she rocks them.

~ Kate loves to "be soft" to everyone. (She rubs people's heads and faces. We had to teach her this one because it started with hitting and scratching heads and faces.)

~ Kate is our little puppy dog. She makes puppy dog sounds sometimes and she has been known on occasion to carry her babies in her mouth while she crawls around the floor. Cute thing!

~ Kate is into pointing right now. She will point to who or what she wants. Why is it so darling when they do that?

Kate, we all love you so much and have had so much fun with you this past year. We look forward to what the future brings with you! Happy Birthday, Dolly!

Now, bear with me. I have to put pictures of her birthday on here. It was so much fun, and this is our family journal, so I gotta do it!:)

Kate handing me some tape from the doll she just opened. Ew, sticky!




Kate trying to open the next gift while making sure she doesn't put down her doll! I Love her face in this one (kind of a, "Hmmm, wonder what's in here," face.)

"Aw, man, just some dang clothes."

"Oh, well, as long as I have my baby I am happy."

The sweet birthday girl and her sweet daddy. (Oh, and we better not forget the doll!)

Kate in her new big girl car seat. *Sniffle, sniffle.* I am so sad that she is already moving into a bigger car seat. She is getting too big too fast. She is obviously pretty upset about it. Oh, and she ended up in a onesie most of the day because she kept getting food all over herself! So, pardon my lack of dolling her up. I tried, and it just didn't last. Oh well.

Kate sitting on my mom's lap as they open the gift that she brought for Kate.

Kate and my dad. She was so tired by the time we had her little party. I think that if I would have let her, she would have just gone to sleep right here. But, oh no, the fun part was yet to come... CAKE!



Aunt Tai was trying to help Kate have fun with the cake, but everyone laughing just upset the poor birthday girl. She REALLY needed that afternoon nap.

I called Target to order her cake because I love their cakes, but they had some dude working there who had no idea what he was talking about, so I resorted to making a cake myself.
She wasn't too excited about the cake. She just wanted to go to sleep!

See, by the time we got her out, she was not happy!

And my poor sister, Brooke, had frosting all over herself. Look what a good aunt she is. She didn't even care that she had super messy hands. She just wanted to take care of Kate. We love Brooke!

And at least other people enjoyed the cake! McKenzie, Lana, and Kailie went to town on the cupcakes! So fun!

Brooke and Andy with a bunch of the kids! I LOVE this picture!

Hayden was so excited to be able to play with his favorite cousin, Brielle! They are such good buddies. I LOVE watching them together.

And Mike and Isaak were matching and looking so comfy together. So I just had to get this shot. How adorable!

And we were so excited to have a special guest at Kate's party. My great grandma (my dad's mom) is in town for a week to visit, so she was able to come. We love her and are so excited to spend some time with her. She is the grandma who makes all the blankets for my kids when they are born. Those blankets have all became each one of my kids' favorites. They LOVE them! And we all love you grandma! (And Rylee loves to be a goof ball. She is showing off just a bit for my grandma and my dad - and the camera!)

We had such a great day. We love you, Kate! Happy Birthday!

You Know Those Things That Go Bump In The Night...

Well, this is what we hear in the night...(Don't panic when you don't see anything. I was sneaking into a dark room to just capture the sound.)

It was too cute. I could hear Lana arguing with Kate before I went in there with the camera. It went something like this:

Lana: Ka-a-a-a-te, stop talking so I can go to sleep!

Kate: Grawawawadadadada.

Lana: Kate, please!

Kate: Graaaaaawaaaa.

So that is when I grab the camera and just sit barely inside their bedroom door so that I won't be seen. Pretty funny. And as you will hear, Rylee said, "Mom, you gotta blog this." And since I always obey my kids, that is just what I am doing.

It was cute to have Hayden come in saying, "Okay Kate?" he has to check on his baby sister. So sweet. Then it is all about cheesing it for the camera as soon as he realizes I have one. Silly boy!

The giggling before bed is what it is all about. I LOVE it!