Look What Jayden Can Do!

For months Jayden has been able to ride a two wheeled scooter really well. His balance has been awesome. David finally took off the training wheels on his bike this past Saturday. Jayden was not excited at first. I had to actually put him on his bike because he wouldn't get near it. But it only took a few minutes before he realized how much fun it really was.

He feels like such a BIG boy!!!

My Poor Little Buddy

This morning I took Jayden in to get some dental work done. He was so awesome. I was so impressed. He was an angel and so very brave. I brought him home for some breakfast with a numb lip. He had a Spiderman Popsicle, for being so brave, and a cold smoothy. I didn't want him to bite his lip. I had to get my girls ready for swimming lessons, so I laid him in front of a movie while I lathered the girls up with lotion.

As he was watching the movie, he was apparently gnawing on his bottom lip like it was a piece of meat. I just about died when I saw his bloody lip. It didn't even cross my mind that he would just CHEW on it. I was worried about him biting it while he ate, not while he just sat to watch a movie. His lip swelled up like a balloon. In these pictures the swelling is down quite a bit, but its gotta hurt.

Jayden LOVES to make jello jigglers. So we did this to occupy his time.

His lip is actually doing way better than I antisipated. He isn't even acting like it hurts, yippee for the mommy.

I'm 34 Years Old:)

This birthday was very simple. David was sick all weekend so it was up to my kids to throw the party:) I had bought a new package of 88 candles at the Dollar store and they had the great idea of putting 34 candles on the cake. My cake looks like it is on fire, hahaha. I'd like to say that I still have enough lung power to blow out 34 candles.

The girls melted chocolate chips and used them to write on top of my cake. Alison put up streamers and they we all very satisfied with my PARTY. I love little kids.

Humanitarian Aid

At church we were in charge of sewing 100 baby blankets. I decided to be daring and try to sew 5. Some of you may laugh, but I don't consider myself a seamstress by any means. I'm lucky to know how to work a machine a little and to sew straight lines.

I dusted off my machine that I hadn't used in over a year and a half and was successful at finishing 5 baby blankets. I was happy to know that I could do it. Now I think I will work with Alison and teach her how to make a blanket. If she wants to learn more, she's going to have to ask a neighbor:)

My Sweet Emma

Sometimes when my kids bug me to look something up on the internet I grumble. Not that I don't want to do it.....they just usually bug me when I'm in the middle of doing something.....like making dinner. This time Emma found an "awesome" rock....according to her. She wanted me to look up American Indian symbols. I managed to do so and this was her story that she came up with about a great hunt. The top portion of the rock is the story. Then the bottom portion is a picture of the "Great hunt." Use the directory below to figure out the story. I love the creativity my girls have. I will really miss these little things someday.

Something Yummy That I Have Learned

Recently I have learned that sweet potatoes can be barbecued. Just cut them into strips, put them in a bowl, pour olive oil and sea salt over them and then put them on the grill. I actually like to put garlic salt on mine. Keep them on the BBQ for about 5 mins, then flip to the other side and do the same. Cook until soft. They are healthier than fries and yummy. We love barbecuing vegetables like asparagus, squash, onion, and bell peppers. I love the barbecue!!

Grandpa's Benches

I was one lucky girl growing up with both sets of grandparents nearby. I was one of 26 grandchildren on my father's side and 1 of 5 grandchildren on my mother's side. My mom's parents, Grandma and Grandpa Garrard, spoiled us and we loved it....of course. It was easy to spoil us because there were only 5 kids:) They spent quality time with each one of us and had us over for every single holiday, birthday, celebration, or whatever. Every meal we ate at their house was around a huge wood table in their enclosed patio. My grandpa had built benches to go around the table to accommodate all 9 of us. Well a couple of months ago I inherited the benches and table. I was so excited to have this wonderful memory in my home. The benches needed some TLC so I got to work sanding and painting them. I loved thinking about my grandparents while I worked on them. I know they would be so happy to see me holding on to them if they were still alive.

The moment I opened up the primer all of my girls wanted to help. I tried to tell them that I only had one brush. They ran inside and found little paint brushes and begged and begged to help. I finally gave in and told them they could cover the cracks and hard-to-get places.

I tried not to hyperventilate each time their brushes got too close to someones clothes or body. I couldn't believe I was letting them paint with PERMANENT paint. I did tell them that once I started with the top coat, I'd be doing that on my own. They seemed satisfied and I was relieved.

Looking much better after one coat of primer. Two more coats of my top coat and I'll be done.

FINISHED!!!! It is always so exciting when a project is finished. I'm so happy to remember my Grandma and Grandpa each day we sit around the table as a family. Now I want to refinish the top of the table. Once again I have no idea how to do it, but I'm sure I will figure it out:) Especially since I have brothers that seem to know things like this, or at least they pretend. Thanks guys for your advice on the benches.

Girls Night Out ...GNO

David and Jayden went to father and sons and therefore we had our official, once a year, girls night out. This year we joined my bestest friend, Mary, and her daughter Ellie. We started the evening eating at Inn-n-out...yummy...then we stopped off at Joanne's craft store. The girls all picked out a craft. We went to Mary's house to continue our fun.

Emma chose to make a frame.

Alison chose the letters of her nickname "Ali" to paint and decorate.

Sadie loved painting and decorating her big letter "S."

Mary has a HUGE dirt backyard...we are all hoping for a pool to be there someday:) The girls dug a hole and Mary built an awesome fire. Our girls were very jealous of the boys camping so we thought we would at least have a fire of our own:)

Our girls had a great time dancing around the flames:)

Then we of course had to roast marshmellows....yummy!

We had a great evening. One to remember!

Last Day of School

Today I sent Sadie off to Kindergarten, Emma off to 3rd grade, and Alison off to 5th grade for the last time. Here they are with all of their goodies for their teachers.

Having little girls can be so much fun. I love to watch them create things for others. I wish I would have taken a picture of the inside of Alison's card because it was so cute.

Emma made her teacher some earrings from her rock driller kit that she has. She also gets to play games in class today, so she took the game Sorry.

It's not going to be long before I am going to miss seeing my three little girls walking down the street to catch the bus. Time goes by so fast. Next year is Alison's last year in Elementry school. It's also hard for me to believe that she will be in Young Womens this up coming March. Why do I still think I'm 20 years old?

Jayden's Swimming Lessons

Here's my little guy on his first day of swimming lessons. He has no idea what he's going to be expected to do. His sisters are still in school, so I thought I would give him a little jump start on the lessons before they begin theirs.

It didn't take him long to decide that he didn't like his lessons. He was scared to death and kept yelling at his teacher, who by the way was awesome with all of the kids. Jayden would scream and then submit to what he was supposed to do. It was both sad and funny to watch.

Here he is in complete misery. He isn't screaming or crying in this picture but he is quaking in both fear and cold. He is also doing that thing where you hick-up every so often from screaming too much. Poor guy. The next few days his teacher had to pry him off my neck as I ran the other way. He didn't scream as much, but he wasn't happy.

He was quickly cheered up with a fugdesicle when we got home. While I was out of the room, it somehow broke apart and melted all over the table. I gave him a spoon and he didn't seem to mind:) This fudgesicle became a reward after each lesson. Yummy!!

After the first week of lessons we took the kids to this pool on Saturday to cool off. Jayden decided that he could go under the water by himself. He spent an hour dunking his head under in excitement. He was so proud of himself. His teacher was one of the lifeguards that day and saw that he could do it. On Monday when he returned to his lessons he had a new confidence. Here he is hi-fiving his teacher after he had gone under the water.

Here he is FLYING like an airplane...he is having way more fun.

Here he is FLOATING like an airplane.

He received his letter of accomplishment. We are going to keep him in the same class this next session, but he made great progress!!!