Mommy in training

Does this look familiar to all you mommy's out there? Exhausted mommy holding baby while sleeping on the couch, just so that BOTH can get a little rest? I think she's just preparing herself for the future. TOO cute!

(I swear the only time this girl sleeps during the day is in this very spot on the couch.)

Interview with a 6 year old

I promise this will be my last post for at least a few days. I know I have been on a posting roll. Lots has been going on. But I couldn't let Ashlyn's birthday pass without a question and answer interview for the memory books. So here it goes.

What is your favorite color?

Pink, purple, gold, and blue

Who is your best friend?

Grace. But I really like Mailey, Blake and Angela too.

What was your favorite thing about your birthday party?

Doing the potato sack races

What was your favorite present?

My jewelry box and my Thumbelina doll (from Uncle Ty and Kohl)

Did you have a good first day of school?

Yes, I got to wear the birthday hat and everyone sang to me.

What is your favorite thing about first grade?

Recess (I get two of them) and lunch

What is your favorite thing to learn in school?

Science. We get to learn about bugs this year. Even butterflies.

What is your favorite thing about church?

Singing time

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Mom, you already know this answer. I want to be a swim teacher and a gymnastics teacher.

How many kids do you want to have?

Ten. Five girls and five boys.

Where do you want to go to college?

Hm? I don't know. Why are you asking me all these questions.

Okay, I guess I'm done. I love you sweetie. So glad you are part of our family. It wouldn't be the same without you!

Leah didn't want to be left out of the conversation, so here are a few answers from her too.

What is your favorite color?

Pink

What do you want to be when you are older?

A mom

How many kids do you want to have?

Five. All girls. No Brandon's (boys). Just a Dad (I assume she means a husband here). Although I promise she LOVES her brother.

What is your favorite thing about church?

When I get to go to my class (nursery)

Okay, good night Leah. I love you too! And YES, for the 20th time today, I promise we'll have an Ariel Pajama party for you when you turn 4. I guess I'm gonna have to hear about it for the next six months. Whew!

1st and 6

I lived with my Aunt when her youngest started his first day of school. I remember watching her and wondering why she was so sad to see her last child start school. I thought she was weird. She was finally getting some freedom. Some time to her self to do what she wanted. But she didn't look excited. And now I understand.

Because today is Ashlyn's 6th birthday. It is also her first day of 1st grade. The first time she will be at school all day long. The first time she will have her own desk with her own name on it. And the first time she will HAVE to eat lunch at school. And while I know it is not the first time she has been away from me, I still feel like this is a BIG day. Because she will be away from home for a long time every day. She will eat lunch and play on the playground with the OLDER kids. And she will have to start fending for herself and making choices for herself in a way that she hasn't had to with Kindergarten or preschool. I'm excited and nervous for her all at the same time. I took her to her classroom this morning. She got so nervous. She wouldn't let go of my leg to go into class. She just clung to me and cried. I wanted to tell her she didn't have to go. Didn't have to leave me. But I couldn't. Instead, I tried to show her all the fun things inside and tell her how some of the same friends from Kindergarten were in there. I took her to her desk and she started to calm down. I waved goodbye to her, walked out, and back down the hill to my car. I wanted to cry. I should be happy. Should be excited to have one less kid around all day. But really I just miss her. And I'm sad.

But I'm sure tomorrow will be better.....for both of us.

Hello Kitty Pajama Party

You've seen the cake, now here is the story.

Ashlyn has been DYING to have her Hello Kitty Pajama Party all summer long. It's a LONG summer when your birthday is at the end of it. But she was good and when the day finally arrived, she was so excited, she could hardly contain herself. We had had a big party last year, so I told her she could invite two friends to a pajama party and we would play games, do crafts and watch a cartoon. She picked two friends from her Daisy Scouts group, Grace and Mailey. The girls all had a blast together. They ate pizza, had cake and ice cream, colored pictures and even put on a rather good performance complete with tickets for me, Daddy and Brandon. It was TOO cute. And of course, no pajama party is complete without a movie. A Hello Kitty movie of course. We blew up the air mattress and the girls all cozied up on it with some popcorn and blankets. We hardly heard a peep from them for the length of the whole movie, which was only 50 minutes, but still.

For some reason, Ashlyn got it in her head that she wanted to do a potato sack race at her birthday party. So funny huh! But it was her birthday, so a potato sack race we had. After going up and down the length of the living room a few times, she was happy and ready to move onto something else. Ah...the simple things in life.

Eating cake and ice cream. YUM!

Making the candy necklace crafts. I thought the girls would be able to do more of this themselves, but it turned out that Paul and I mostly did it for them while they watched and told us what order they wanted their treats in. Oh well, I think the girls still felt like "they" made them.

Displaying their necklaces. Cute girls huh? It was totally by chance that my girls and Grace had the same jammies. I felt bad for Mailey that she was the only one in different ones. Fortunately, she didn't seem to care. She said Snow White was her favorite, anyway.

Paul has a few magic tricks that never seem to get old with our girls. So when they asked him to do them for Grace and Mailey, he couldn't say no. I loved watching their faces as he "amazed" them with his magic skills.

And here it is. In all it's glory. The most coveted birthday gift of all time. A sparkley pink "jewelry" box (as Ashlyn calls it). It's really just a cheap $10.00 nail "caboodle" box from Target, but Ashlyn has had her eye on it for MONTHS and was seriously SO excited to receive it from Leah for her birthday. It made the snow cone machine that we got her, look like a tin can. No, just kidding. She loved that too. But the "jewelry" box, now that's a special gift. It goes just about everywhere with her and holds all of her most precious "treasures". Boy do I love this girl. She's so stinking cute!

Chowing on some popcorn and watching their movie.

Brandon was such a good helper when it was time to clean up. He carried that bag of trash all the way out to the bins outside.

Friends

Some people don't feel like they need a bunch of friends. Not me. I need them. Especially as a stay at home mom. They help keep me sane on the crazy days. Here are some of my favorites. And here is one of our favorite places to go together (The Cheesecake Factory). It's delicious. We've known each other a while. We all started out in the same ward and since meeting have had 12 kids between us (not including the 8 we had when we all met). Last night we had a LOT to celebrate. Two of us are pregnant (NOT ME), two have birthday's this month, and two came along for the ride (that would include me). We meant to go to a movie afterwards, but had so much fun chatting and laughing, that we just about closed the restaurant. (Boy am I tired today). Thanks for the fun night girls and thanks for your friendship. You're all the best!

Total cake disaster...

My apologies to my dear friend Emily who was the recipient of my cake disaster. So so sad. The picture above was the beginnings of what was suppose to be some really cute little cakes for your baby shower. I just wasn't thinking when I started working. I don't even know what to say. Total cake disaster.

BUT, it helped pave the way for this new idea. Well, it's not MY idea, but the fact that I had a TON of leftover cake from my cake disaster the night before, got me on the internet and helped me find this. I think they turned out pretty good considering I woke up this morning thinking I would be making an entirely different cake for Ashlyn's birthday pajama party (more pictures to come later). And to top it off, these little cuties were WAY yummy and totally fun to make. I will definitely be practicing and perfecting this technique again and again.

Beach Day in San Diego

Yesterday we went down to San Diego to visit Paul's brother, Steve, and his wife Soul (who is adorably pregnant with our kids FIRST cousin on that side of the family. VERY exciting stuff). Anyway, we had a great time. The drive went pretty well and we made good time. We hung out at their beautiful HUGE, new home for a while and then thought we'd hit the beach. The whole way down to San Diego, Ashlyn kept saying she WAS NOT going to get in the ocean. But then, Uncle Steve brought out the Dora Boogy Board he had gotten for her, and you would have thought she was a different person. She was so excited and so brave. She went right out into the water, without batting an eye and had a great time catching some waves. Lucky for us, the waves were small. Brandon, of course had a great time playing in the sand. And I was VERY glad I remembered to bring the sand toys because he stayed right by me most of the time and made a big mess. Leah had lots of fun too, but she definitely had a shorter fuze for the beach and was ready to go after only an hour. So she spent most of the time sitting by me all wrapped up in a towel. After the beach, we headed back to Steve and Soul's house, cleaned the kids up (they were a MESS as you can see), had a yummy BBQ dinner, and played in the backyard. Thanks Steve and Soul, for having us. We had a great time!

This is a side note picture. Anyone who can accurately identify this fruit gets a special prize. Don't know what, but you get something. Since my two little apples were stolen off my tree, I have turned my attention to figuring out what these little things are. I cut one open. They have what looks like, the beginnings of a pit. I'm thinking they still have a ways to go before being ripe, so they must be a Fall fruit. Any ideas? We have two trees full of them and I'm crossing my fingers that whatever they are, they are yummy.