It's Gone!

It happened!  It's gone!

My little girl is growing up.

How can this be happening?

She's not even in Kindergarten yet!

Sigh. . .

I would be super sad but I have a feeling other good things are coming.

So let the years go by.

(Maybe they could just go by a little slower?)

It's Mini!

He's so proud of his "mini pencil."

It's great how little things fascinate you when you are young.

And just for the record now it's a "mini-er pencil".

Going Too Fast

This can't be happening.

My baby is losing her baby teeth!

She's still a baby, isn't she?

Ok, maybe not, but she's my baby!

I really think we should keep our baby teeth until we are 10.

These little ones are still our babies when those teeth fall out.

But in true Isabel style she is once again keeping up with her brothers and sisters.

She's not about to be left out of the losing teeth thing.

So of course, we had to take a few pictures before that bottom right tooth disappears.

Hoarders

"You're so mean!" 

He was not happy that we were cleaning out his room.

First his toys,

now his clothes,

this was not a good day.

He would save EVERYTHING, even the candy wrapper from a candy bar that he got from church, if I let him.

But I don't so that makes me mean.

I really have his best interests at heart.

As funny as it might be I would hate for him to end up on an episode of "Hoarders".

In the middle of crying and complaining he came up with a solution.

"Can we at least take a picture of me with it before you get rid of it?"

What a brilliant idea!

 I need to listen to my children more often.

I swear they teach me how to be a better mom.

He was still sad about saying goodbye.

But he gave them up.

It was progress.

Progress, that's all I ask for.

Love This Quote

So I made this picture to put in a frame. 

It's to remind me that I have to live up to what I have promised. 

I want to because I have an angel and I want him with me.

Dress Up

She loves playing dress up.

Especially if she can dress up in my wedding dress.

3 Months

It was three months ago yesterday that we met our Mikey.

So we spent the afternoon with him at the cemetery.

The pinwheel was spinning like crazy while we were there.

I still like to think its his way of saying, 

"Hi Mom!  I know you're here and I'm so happy to see you."

 The kids left him some drawings and some notes.

 "I wish you were here".

"I love you very much. I would like it if you were here".

"We love you our angel Mikey".

He's got awesome brothers and sisters.

I know he knows that.

And I know he watches over them.

Flash Mob

Things to do before I die #79: Be a part of a flash mob
CHECK!

This is also my first time blogging from my phone so its kind of a test run.

Coming in June

Labrador Puppies!!

This was our puppy but now she's going to be a mom.

This is Dexter.  He's the dad.

Can't wait for June!

If you're thinking about a lab we should have some well behaved, very cute ones for you. :)

Listening Treats

The only thing I liked about conference when I was little was not having to go to church.

But somehow, an entirely different attitude has been instilled in our children.

They surprised me by waking up on Saturday morning anxious to begin their conference weekend.

I was only planning on having them watch on Sunday but they weren't really happy with that.

They wanted to watch it all!

I was pleasantly shocked.

So we revised.

With only five minutes until conference started we had to come up with some last minute ideas.

After a little searching on Pinterest we had a fabulous conference weekend.

Here's a few of the creative ideas we used:

1. They had their conference packets to color.

2. We hung up all the apostles on the wall.  Every time one of them spoke they could draw a picture of what they were talking about and hang it up on that general authority's poster.

3.  We had listening treats.  I had six little containers full of candy, each with a different word taped to it.

Some of the words were, faith, family, endure, Jesus, missionary, temple . . .etc.  Everytime they heard that word they would get a treat from the the jar. This one was a favorite and really got them to listen.

4.  During the songs we ran through the house screaming at the top of our lungs.  You know to get some energy out.  I'm sure anyone walking by our home thought Mom was going crazy especially if they caught a glimpse of me with my arms flailing through the air as I yelled and ran with my kids.

5. And of course, there was our standing tradition of watching conference underneath the trampoline. The weather was perfectly sunny, breezy and cool.

I only heard a few of the talks since there was so much excitement in our home.

And I'm happy with that.

I can always watch them later.

But to help my kids enjoy listening to the wonderful gems that we get at conference time, 

that is priceless.