love is in the air~

We love heart-day at our little house! How 'bout you???

It's such a fun holiday to look forward to during the winter months, especially for us since it's tradition to head south for a warm visit with my parents! The kids have been so excited for all their class parties this year.. I think they're looking forward to tomorrow just as much as the actual heart day itself! The boys are having a valentine box contest! They each wanted to get a pinata for the kids to drop their valentines in, Chandler chose a long dragon and Marcus chose a spike-back dinosaur! 

What makes tomorrow so special...

• dress-down day @ school! (no uniforms!!!)
• class parties, exchanging of valentines to teachers, friends & secret crushes!
• beginning of a long holiday weekend! (no school Friday OR Monday! Yay...)
• road trip to visit G-ma & G-pa!!!

Last night we pulled out all the stamps, stickers, paper, scissors, markers, etc... and the kids went to town makin' their handmade valentines! 

 

  

I love to lay out a bunch of supplies and see the kids having fun while letting their imaginations guide their creative flow!

Look what my special little valentine made for me...

{he says that the two people on the little heart are Tanner & Mom}

Oh! How I love the crooked heart he cut out, it couldn't be more perfect!

 

pretzel sticks 

+ 

chocolate 

+ 

valentine polka-dots

= 

A sweet gift 

for the ones 

you love 

& 

appreciate!

dip, drizzle, sprinkle...

wrap with cellophane & pink curly ribbon..

repeat! 

Then...

send to teachers.

mail to long distance friends-n-family.

deliver to close-by neighbors.

and don't forget to

ring the doorbell and run!

for that's the best part...

Babysitter was available to watch the kids tonight...

so off we went.. on another great Valentine date!

Lucky!!!

I know...

I bet you can guess what we did...

Yep!

dinner and a movie.

Did I like it you ask???

NO

I LOVED IT!

I love movies set in this time period.

the music.

the love story.

the dresses.

the jewelry.

the list goes on...

Last Friday we went to dinner and watched the movie "Dear John." There were a few things I would've done differently in the movie had I been producing it, the end to name one... but since that wasn't the case, I'd say I liked it overall, and I'd be lyin' if I said Channing Tatum didn't have anything to do with that!

My LittLe TaG AloNg-- AND --"One-Little-Word"

This little guy is my tag-along! He's growing up though and our tag-along days are numbered. Next year he's off to Kindergarten five short days a week, instead of three and the next year he's officially a big boy, off to 1st grade five whole days a week! It makes me wanna cry just thinkin' about it... 

I must treasure these numbered days we have together, make the best of 'em! This, and the growing up of the rest of my little kidlets ever so quickly brings me to my "one little word" that represents the way I want to live my life this new year, the year twenty-ten.. and that word is:

-treas⋅ure-

-verb (used with an object)

1. to retain carefully or keep in store, as in the mind.

2. to regard or treat as precious; cherish.

  Treasure is what I'll strive to do each day this year.. there's always something to treasure, even on the worst of days. Blessings that could never be replaced by any material thing, the blessings of children laughing and gift of being a mother.. a faithful & hardworking husband to grow old with.. good parents to cherish and learn from.. strong health.. a feeling of happiness & safety in your home.. respect and love for one another.. service.. friendships young & old.. a testimony of the gospel and the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. 

 If you stop and look around, there's always something to treat as precious & cherish; to retain carefully or keep in store, as in the mind.-

What's your 

"one little word" 

of  inspiration 

for 2010? 

{stay tuned for some the dang funniest New Years Eve photos you've ever laid eyes on...} 

Life has been busy... I've been wanting to decorate for Fall -n- Halloween and just haven't been able to find the time. Very unlike me- usually I'm gettin' the house all festive sometime between the first and second weeks in September. I really hoped to do it this last weekend, but no... never got around to it. *Note to self: I must stop everything, and decorate for Halloween!!! 

What's been going on:

• school + 5 kids + homework every night = much multi-tasking, tight shoulders & late dinners
• Kynlee's sedated hearing test - verdict: her hearing is really good, Yay!!!
• soccer games, violin, acting & hip-hop classes
• dentist appointments
• Enrichment meetings & activities
• lots of back -n- forth visits to the dr. + samples of pee = bladder infection for Kynlee and yucky medicine
• BYU Triple Crown Elementary Race {pictures coming soon}
• scouts
• thrift store trips & sleepovers with Mom, Saturday yardsales and projects galore {you can click over to "All Things Gritty" for a peek}
• girls night out with Kallie and Cher
• trying out yummy new Fall recipes from Cher
• laundry, and feeling like all I ever do is clean the kitchen - mess it up making a meal - and clean it up to do it all again... 

What's NOT happening:

• decorating for Fall -n- Halloween, oh I already mentioned that huh... 

Tanner asked if I would take his picture like this on our way out of a thrift store, how do ya say no to that? I couldn't resist!~

Good Times with Cousins!!!

Kenzie & Beau got to fly out to Utah all by themselves for a month long visit! My kids have been sooooo excited for them to come.. we really wish that we lived closer, but the great thing is... that it doesn't matter how much time goes by between seeing each other, they all just fit right back in where they left off from their last visit (sometimes a whole year before). No awkwardness what-so-ever, no forming of "special groups or clicks" with the attitude that "Oh I'm 3, 8, 12.. 20 years older than you so therefore I couldn't possibly hang out with you, that just puts me in a whole different league." or whatever the immature attitude attached to it might be,  I H.A.T.E. that, you can't have good, peaceful feelings when crap like that exists. Some people you just mesh with, they accept you and it doesn't matter what your age... you just love to be around each other and can't wait to see each other again, and when you do it's all about that.. it's what real, true relationships possess and I'm so thankful that my kids have that special bond with Kenzi -n- Beau and my brother's kids also, who are all considerably older than mine. It's a gift, and one that can't be a fake put-on... only sincere~ It comes from the heart!

The day after they got here we took our little overnight road trip to see the Manti Pageant which was fun! Then they went home with my parents for the rest of the weekend. Sunday my parents brought them down to our house to sleepover for a few days. We went to the pool all day Monday and Beau got fried.. along with my legs. OUCH! Hence, Tuesday we stayed inside most of the day playing games, watching movies, etc... Tuesday night my Mom came down to sleepover with them and Wednesday we had a big day out! We hit two thrift stores and found treasures galore - went to lunch - and to see the new Ice Age movie! Now they are with their Dad's side of the family and my kids can hardly wait until it's their turn to come back and visit with us again before they go home. We have some more fun things planned.. the biggest that they are looking forward to, is Lagoon Day!!!! 

havin' a hard time gettin' my summer groove on...

I guess the fact that ALL of June up 'til just this week has been feeling more like Fall (grey skies.. rain, rain & more rain... and even chilly) may be a little to blame... I can't believe that we're already a month into Summer and we haven't done any REAL summer type activities yet. I've officially decided that "summer time" goes by way too fast.~ Up 'til now.. my kids have been wanting to be inside getting cozy, reading books, playing games... they even asked for hot cocoa a few times. What??? I don't ever remember doing that in June! Anyhoo.. it has still been fun, I'm just ready to take the kids swimming and feel the warmth of the sun. 

Summer has become kind of a double edged sword for me though. I love it, crave the break from school and have hopes to go and do fun things with my kids, but McKynlee puts a big damper on a lot of it. She is so unpredictable and often cries more than not or screams/complains... It's more of a painful chore to take her with us and try to have a good time, so I often find myself choosing to stay home and become even more frustrated that I can't freely go and do the things I would like to. The whole situation really tests my patience and takes it toll on a daily basis. She can be so fun and silly when she wants to... you just never know when that's going to be. Another thing that would make taking her and doing things so much easier, is if her communication was better and she could converse with us about what we are doing and why we are doing it. Last year was the first year that I ventured out and started taking her to the pool along with the other four kids all at once. I felt like Tanner was old enough as well as the others where they could help me keep an eye on him and I could be with McKynlee the whole time.. and she was pretty good while there since she liked playing in the water. Now that the weather is finally warming up, we need to start making good use of the punch card I bought back in May by getting everyone to the pool and I'm h.o.p.i.n.g that McKynlee will do as well with it as she did last year, if not better. 

Happy Summer to all... I hope you're having a good one!

Annual Christmas Slumber Party at Grandma & Grandpa's House

Last year, we started a new tradition in our family! I love traditions... We decided that it would be fun for the kids to look forward to having an "Annual Christmas Slumber Party" on the day they get out of school for Christmas break. Both years now there has been a huge snow storm and have wondered if we'd be able to make it up there, but we got 'em all packed up with their Christmas jammies, drove nice & slow and eventually we made it safe and sound. 

Grandma's house has gleamed with Holiday Cheer all through the years! In recent years, she's taken on a theme of snowmen some short-n-plump & some tall-n-thin... here's a few snapshots of her oh-so gritty decor that decks the halls of her & Grandpa's home at this time of year! The kids laughter and shouts of glee expresses their love for the warm-cozy feeling they have while spending time at Grandma & Grandpa's house.~

I think that Santa Clause on the couch is as old as I am.. and the couch too, actually the couch is older than me. LOL Grandma made that Santa Clause at a R.S. activity many, many years ago. It's fun to see my little ones loving and doing the same things with some of the decorations that I enjoyed when I was their age. :o)

SLEEPING GIANT a.k.a. GOONA GETCHA'

Once upon a time, there was a playful Dad who would provide his little ones & all their friends with oodles of suspense and wild shrieks of laughter by pretending that he had fallen into a deep, deep sleep never to wake again... the kids would quietly tip-toe towards him and try to wake him by blowing in his ear, pulling on his nose, poking his arm or tickling his feet all the while they were anxiously anticipating his sudden awakening and most ferocious chase... Once he'd catch them, he'd tickle them silly!!!

The little ones back then named this game "GOONA GETCHA'." Now...this fun game still exists, only the Dad is the Grandpa, the little ones are his Grandkids... and the infamous game has a new name: "SLEEPING GIANT!"

First Annual: Make Your Own Lego Movie

One of our neighbors thought it would be fun for the boys in our culdesac to take a week or two and work on making their own Lego movie and then gather everyone together for an outdoor movie premier night where everyone would debut their new Lego film. The kids had a lot of fun preparing and getting ready for it. Last night was the premier, I wasn't here because of bunco night; but another one of my neighbors was so kind to send me some of the photos she took. 

Cozy storytime.. Chilly snow...

Where in the world is Spring??? I keep trying to give myself positive self talk and say it's just around the corner... and then we get these freezing gusts of wind and it starts to snow- I'm so confused. Oh well, one good thing is.. I finally took down the christmas lights off of all my front yard trees and so now when the darn flowers DO bloom, I won't rip them all off trying to get the lights off the trees. hee hee hee

Anyhoo- It was freezing today and the kids came home from school with this most silly and hilarious book from the library, so all five of us snuggled up on the couch with a big thick blanket over us and read the entire story. It had us all giggling. I had never seen these books before and now we are so excited to seek out some more for summer reading. The illustrations were quite entertaining too.