Catching up!

The other night at enrichment we were all saying how we've been behind on blogging so I thought it was about time I catch up a little. I normally like to blog when I have some pictures so sometimes that's why I don't blog. This time I don't have that as an excuse because I have plenty of pictures, I've just been lazy, well just busy I guess!

First of all here's a little clip of Hadley laughing, she's so cute! I was talking to my sister and her family on skype the other day and my niece said, "Hadley has elf ears." I just laughed, I love my kids little ears, I love things that add character.

Madison turned 7, Dec 3rd. I can't believe that I have a 7 year old, that is just nuts. She wanted a MP3 player for her birthday so we got her a little pink one. She seems like she's too young to want an MP3 player but I guess when I was her age I had a walk man, I remember thinking that was pretty cool. We also gave her the new barbie Christmas movie which we've already watched about 5 times. We went out to eat at Fazoli's with Steve's Mom, Tre, Kaylie and Rod for her birthday, she loves the alfredo there and can eat about 2-3 helpings. Afterwards Sherisse came over to our house to give Maddie her present, a cool game called Hyper Dash, the kids all had to have a turn with that. Earlier in the day we had gone to the toy store so she could spend her birthday money from her Auntie Fay. She ended up getting a tinkerbell barbie and Oliver and Lilly barbies from the Hannah Montana show, pretty good for only $20, (she's learnt to be a good bargain hunter like me). My Mom also gave her some money so we went the next day and got her this nice big keyboard. She has wanted to take piano lessons but we haven't started yet so I'm going to try and teach her a little. It came with a book so we've done a little bit already, she's so cute, she wants to learn all the time. She really is a lovely girl and is always so helpful, well maybe not always but most of the time. She loves to help with Hadley and I love that too, she's such a good girl and I feel blessed to be her Mom. I'm just nervous about her getting older, I hope she keeps being a nice girl to everyone. This past Sunday one of the girls from the other ward came up to me and told me how impressed she was with Maddie because she was so nice to her son at school. That made me feel so happy to know she's being nice to others, I guess I'm doing something right even though I feel like I'm all over the place most days. I love you Maddie, you're the BEST!

Steve's Mom has this cool old bouncer at her house, it's actually from Grandma Johnson's house, she used it with her kids. Anyway all my kids have used it so last Sunday they put Hadley in it. She didn't quite get the bouncing part but the other kids sure loved it. They all watched her and of course Spencer tried to bounce her in it. I've tried to find a nice bouncer in the stores but I've never found one I've liked. I love this one though, it looks kind of funny but I think it's great. I'm glad Grandma kept it around because my kids have loved it.

The other day I put Hadley in the bath and she absolutely loved it. Every now and again she would turn her head and then she would quickly turn her head back because she had gotten a little bit of water in her mouth, it was so funny.

Spencer fell asleep on me the other night and was getting really sweaty. He's been needing a hair cut for a while but I haven't got round to that either. Anyway I was playing with his hair and this was the end result, I thought it looked pretty funny. Oh yeah, once again he had drawn all over himself, he keeps telling me he's a super hero after he does it, I have no idea where he gets that from. His hair did remind me of Syndro (I think that's his name) from Incredibles though.

I had Hadley in the bouncer the other morning and I just went in the kitchen to do something for a minute and this is what I came back to. Obviously I hadn't buckled her in properly, whoops!!!Hadley loves to stand up so I got the walker out the other day. She's used it a few times, she can kind of get the toys, she's starting to get better at that all the time. Even though she hasn't used it too much someone else has really enjoyed using it. Good old Spencer thinks it's so cool to get in it and roll himself around all over the place, I just hope he doesn't decide to give Hadley a ride one day and push her down the stairs, that wouldn't be very funny!

Well I'm all caught up for now, until I get behind again!

Toys Anyone?

The other day we got some of the baby toys out for Hadley. I put a few by her and was on the computer for just a minute. I turned around a minute later and this is what I saw! Spencer had decided that Hadley just didn't have quite enough toys so covered her in all of them!!!
Oh yeah, do you like the nice yellow marker on Spencer's face? He had it all over his hands too. He came in to show me and was so proud of himself, he told me he was a super hero.

Latest pro pictures

These are the latest pictures we had taken of the kids. We went for Hadley's 3 month pictures and Maddie's 7 year old pics. They turned out good, I would have liked to have had some of Hadley smiling but they were in a rush so they zoomed through the whole thing. I always try and get one of the kids altogether, this was the best picture. Sydney is so funny, she's always the one that has some kind of goofy face, I love it! Madison is getting so big and so beautiful. She has wanted to get her hair cut short for a while but I wasn't sure. We did a mid length which I liked but this time she was determined to get it shorter. We called my friend Jessica ($8 a cut girls, what a great deal and she's really good) the night before to see if she had time and she was so nice and said come right over, THANK YOU! Anyway Maddie got the hair cut she wanted and it looked so cute, she looks so big now. She wasn't actually 7 for the pictures, they were taken last week, she'll be 7 tomorrow though, how crazy is that!

I really do love my kids, they're all getting so big, it's madness! Hadley is rolling over all the time now, Spencer is just a total boy who tries my patience almost 50 times a day, hahaha, Sydney is just Sydney, she makes me laugh all the time, she's the greatest! Madison is such a girl, she has her little crush which she gets so embarrassed about but it's so cute. I truly am so blessed to have such great kids. People may look at me and think I'm pretty laid back which most of the time I am, but I do get mad at my kids sometimes and I wish I didn't. They are so precious and I don't want them to ever think I don't love them or aren't here for them whenever they need me because they mean the world to me. It's crazy to think it's been 7 years since we had Madison and I can't believe she'll be getting baptised next year, man I'm getting old!

Anyway I just love my family, I'm so lucky and so blessed!

Spencer, you're so cute but...

...I wish you wouldn't scratch my dining room table to pieces,
or draw pen or crayon all over my couches,
or say stupid, shut up, I hate you when you get mad,
or poke holes in your mattress,
or kick the door when your sisters lock you out of their room,
or pee all over the floor when I'm trying to potty train you,
or love McDonald's so much and maybe then I'd lose some baby weight,
or think it's a game to put water all over the place, (with the help of Sydney),
or try and feed Hadley fishy crackers so she almost chokes,
or get the scissors and cut Hadley's blanket,
or pull all of Hadley's clothes off the shelves onto the floor,
or splash water all over the floor when you're in the bath,
or smash fishy crackers all over the table or the floor,
or run away when we're in the store,
or dump every tub of toys out we have,
or get the games out and throw the pieces all over the place,
or throw toys or whatever you can find at people when you're mad,
or have me wrapped around your finger so I don't tell you off enough.
Little man, you're just too cute for your own good. It doesn't help that you're my only boy and that you look like Uncle Peter. I really do love you so very much and I know you're only 2 so I shouldn't expect you to be an angel. YOU'RE JUST TOO CUTE!!!

Hadley's blessing

Yesterday Steve blessed Hadley, it was so lovely. I probably should have taken notes while he was blessing her, I was thinking about it before but then I always forget. His blessing was so lovely though and when he held Hadley up afterwards she looked beautiful, big but beautiful. We have never left it this long to bless our babies, they've always been a month or younger so seeing her up there with some nice chub was different. Also what was different was my family not being there. This was the first time they missed one of my babies blessings so it was sad not having them there. We found a really lovely dress which I was happy about. We took some cute pictures of her afterwards which she was smiling at her Daddy for. She is getting so big, I can't believe she's going to be 3 months in 3 days, it's crazy.

She kept playing with the ribbon and the skirt part of her dress. I had covered her with burp clothes before the blessing because I was afraid she would urp everywhere.

It's amazing how when you get pregnant you can't wait to have your baby here with you. It always feels like you're pregnant forever but as soon as you have that little one here the time just goes by so fast. I truly feel so blessed to have Hadley here with us. What a great blessing I have been given to be able to have children. I'm not always the most patient Mom but I really do love my children and I feel so blessed to be their mother.

I also asked Trudy to take a picture of our family. I can't believe how big my kids are getting. Maddie will be 7 in 2 weeks, that's just MADNESS! It's funny to look at a picture of my family because it's still so crazy to think I have 4 children, but as they say. Time flies when you're having fun and we have lots of that in our house.

Oh the joy!?

Yesterday was a wonderful day? Well maybe not that great really but there sure was lots of things going on. We got the caner from the church so I was helping some of the sisters with that and doing my own. I also went to help in Maddie's class which is always fun. The fun really began after that.

I had just got home from getting some clamps from Trudy's house, I got out of the car and started hearing this hissing sound. I went to where it was coming from and it was my back tire, there was a lovely rock wedged in the tire, GREAT!? I called Steve to see what I should do, he asked if it was flat and I said no. He asked if it was going down fast and I said no, well it didn't seem to be. I really have no idea about cars can you tell! He said I could probably make it to Fred and Wayne's so I quickly loaded the kids back up and off we went.

We got about half way when I started hearing a noise that didn't sound too good so I pulled over. I got out to check the damage and the tire was TOTALLY flat. At that point I wasn't sure what to do. I thought, do I stay in the car and hope someone notices my hazard lights and stops to help. I decided maybe I could start to change to the tire myself so I got out and got to work.

I got as far as putting the jack, I don't know if that's what it's called, remember I did say I have no idea about cars! Anyway I started to get the car lifted up when a truck pulled up and two guys got out and took over. I was sooo thankful they stopped to help, I'm sure I could have done it on my own but it would have taken a LONG time and probably wouldn't have been that great. I was just thankful they stopped, they said if they hadn't seen the stroller they wouldn't have stopped. So, I guess if you ever break down, get your stroller out and some one nice will stop and help you.

Once they were almost finished another truck pulled over, this time it was my father in law. He helped finish everything up and followed me over to Fred and Wayne's. Once we got there we found out the flat tire was not fixable so we had to get a new tire. Then they said it would be best to get 2 new tires so I thought great, way more money than I wanted to spend. at first they told me $215 and I about died so I asked if they had anything cheaper and they said yes, $180! I didn't know tires were that expensive!!!

Well we got it fixed and I spent lots of money on something that could have just been patched up and only maybe cost about $20. Don't you love how wonderful things like that happen, it's just so joyful!? I guess the nice thing that came out of this is that it's nice to know there out good people out there who are always so willing to help. I felt bad because the one guy was so filthy and by the end of it, his nice cream coat was covered in dirt, SORRY! What a wonderful example to my children though who by the way were all in the car which made it even more fun! What a great opportunity to teach them about service, so even though it was not something I wanted to happen, it at least showed my kids how good people really are. Thank you to those 2 men for being so kind and for my father in law who helped me to and also saw how crazy I am, I think he already knew that though, hahaha!

Maddie's show and tell

Maddie's tooth has been loose for a while but these past few days she has been wiggling is more so it got even more loose. Today while I was getting some cans from the cannery Steve had Maddie twist it around more and it got even more loose. It was pretty much half out so when we got home we tried to help get it out. She kept saying that she wanted to pull it out so we were telling her to twist it more. She started to freak out which was weird because when I pulled out her last tooth she didn't cry at all, well not until we said it looked weird because the skin was kind of hanging where the tooth had been. Anyway she finally decided she would let me pull it out but Steve wanted to this time. He wouldn't ever do it before so I told Maddie Daddy could do it but she didn't want him to. In the end she let him and it took all of 1 second and it was out. After all the drama she's now excited because she gets to take it to school tomorrow for show and tell. Then tomorrow she'll put it under her pillow for the tooth fairy!

Sleeping cuties!

The other day we were on the computer and I thought Steve had put Hadley in bed but when I turned around I saw her laying in Spencer's bed. She looked so cute so I had to take a picture.
Then last night after we had watched a movie for FHE we were all upstairs getting ready for bed. I was folding the last little bit of laundry in our room and thought all the kids were with Steve. I went out to the living room and didn't see Spencer so I wondered where he was. Steve said he thought he was with me and said the last time he saw Spencer he had been hiding under the laundry basket. So I went to look and this is what I found, my little Spencer asleep under the basket, how cute!

Our new webcam

We got a new webcam yesterday so we could use skype with my family. We haven't done that yet but Steve and the kids sure have had a lot of fun just using the webcam to take pictures and movies. Here are some of the lovely shots they took this morning.

Here is a great movie clip of my handsome husband for you all to enjoy aswell!

My new niece

My sister Ruth had her baby yesterday, a little girl named Hazel. She weighed 8lbs 90zs so about the same size as Hadley. Now my parents have 9 granddaughters and 2 grandsons. Poor Spencer and Ethan will be surrounded by girls. They may not mind that too much when they're older though, especially when they bring their friends around.

Anyway I just thought I would post a picture on here of Hazel for those of you that know Ruth. She's really cute, I think she looks like Ethan so will probably look like Ruth.

HALLOWEEN, wha ha ha ha ha!!!

Well today was a little nuts at first. I was feeling VERY tired this morning and really not in the mood to do anything but as the afternoon went on I felt a little better. Yesterday we had tried to go to Boo at the Zoo but when we drove by it was absolutely packed, way more than normal so we decided against that. The kids were sad but Maddie threw a HUGE fit so I wasn't impressed. I took pictures of them before we went there, Maddie looked pretty good I thought.

Anyway today once we got going we went out to get some bread and then went to Toys R Us for their little Halloween thing they do. The kids loved it and it was nice because Geoffrey the giraffe was there. I had wanted to take the kids to Shelley but I really didn't have the energy, maybe next year.

All Steve's family came to our house in the evening. We used to always go to Steve's parents old house but now we're more central so everyone comes here which is fun. Steve, Trish and Brad (Steve's Dad) took the kids trick or treating while we were waiting for everyone else to come. Then once they got back we ate all our goodies. We had chili, soup, rolls, pumpkin cookies, sugar cookies and doughnuts, YUMMY!

It was a great night, it's always nice to be with family. Hadley wasn't too impressed about being in her costume as you can tell by the picture but she looked so cute! I'll have to get a picture of her in it when she's happier. It was a great deal, only $5 so I couldn't resist even though she only wore it twice. The kids all had a great time and loved being with their cousins. Halloween is so much fun, I can't believe it's over now though and that tomorrow it'll be November, CRAZY!

My crazy family!

Before bed time tonight the kids were going a little bit nuts! Spencer got some orange vampire teeth at the ward party yesterday so he was wearing them and Syd found her witches nose so they were both running around trying to scare each other. Syd kept putting her nose on upside down which actually looked really funny. She even put it on Steve which was lovely of course. Poor Hadley, she doesn't know what she's got herself into, she just slept the whole time. I'm sure when she gets older she'll join in the madness which will make it even more crazy!!! I really do love my little family, they're all pretty nuts but as they say, "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree."