Thanks Granny McBride!

Connor was so excited to get a card in the mail! It was from Granny McBride! It was so cute. She put 3 $1 bills in it for his 3rd birthday. You would have thought it was a million bucks with how excited he was. He was carrying around the money and then he went and got his Lightning McQueen Wallet and we put the money in there for a day when he needs or wants money. And yes! I have cut his hair since these photos!


Thank you Granny and Bapa McBride! We are so excited to see you!

Connor's Birthday Party!

I have sat down 3 times now to make a scrapbook page of this day so you didn't have to look at 30 photos. But something keeps happening and I have had many requests to see the photos. So here they are. That was the invitation above. We had a Thomas themed party. Yes we had a train cake (not party because we weren't allowed to have a party at 2 because they would never remember it, says daddy) last year but he was very adamant that he wanted a Thomas birthday cake! So who am I to tell a 3 year old what he "really" wants? So Thomas party it was! We invited all of the 18 Sr. Nursery kids. Luckily only 9 could come.

Yes folks, that is the best photo you get with 11 3 year olds! I had all of these grand plans for the party but I quickly realized that plans must change when my son was the only one that truly grasped the concept of Red Light Green Light.

There were some fun things we did do to decorate for the party. First, I had Mike draw train tracks up our driveway


Then I found these cute sippy cups for each of the kids:
I sent Mike to the grocery store for balloons. We about died at the $1 a balloon price. But the real kicker was the $9 they charge for the Mylar Thomas balloon. Oh and 2 balloons had popped before the party even started!

And of course I had lots of fun decorating the cake (But I really missed my cake making buddy Maren this year!):

If you look really close, you can see where Connor was found "driving" Thomas on the tracks. I had hid the cake on the top shelf of the refrigerator. He pushed a chair over and started driving Thomas on the tracks while mom and dad were busy setting up for the party. At least I knew he really thought it was cool!

But by far the best decoration of all was a last minute suggestion by my husband. He pulled out his model train that we usually only use for Christmas and set it up on the table.
When the kids arrived, I had different stations set up. I had two Thomas tents with Thomas books in them for the kids to read. We had another station where we set up our wooden Thomas track set that we have. The third station was a Thomas computer and Thomas telephone set. But for the most part, the kids just sat around the table staring at Mike's cool train.

Once all of the kids arrived, we tried to pull them away from the train to go outside and play games. Connor just wanted to sit and "watch the train." Finally we talked them all into going outside. That is when I tried to teach them red light, green light. Connor grasped it pretty well. He would say "Guys! She said RED light. That means STOP!" But I quickly realized that we needed a new game. So we attempted Percy, Percy Thomas (played like Duck, Duck, Goose). That game failed before it even really started. No body grasped the concept of running after Connor and I. So then I pulled out the two Thomas tents and did a race. We stuck 4 kids in each tent and had them race. They just kept running right past the finish line. Let's face it! They really didn't care who "won" or "lost". They just enjoyed running and screaming with each other. I was going to do a coal brigade (tinfoil balls from one bucket to the next.) and a few other games but instead, we let them run in the back yard. We had present time and cake time and then I pulled out a few Thomas books and read to some of the kids while the others ran around again.

Connor had a great time and loved having his "friends" come and play. But we deeply missed his good friends from Vegas!

He was so stinkin' cute handing out the "Track Sacks" that I made. (Inside was a CD of "Connor's Favorite Tracks" (52 songs many from a CD called Wee Sing Fingerplays), a whistle (Sorry Mom's), Thomas Stickers, Playdough (with the stickers removed and a new Thomas sticker stuck on the container), Sidewalk Chalk to make their own tracks at home, and a few other things that I can't remember.


After everyone left, we got to break open the toys and play!

Yea! He got the Pizza set that I wanted to get him!
He has played with it a lot but the true lover of the pizza set is:
She will decorate pieces and them come bring one slice to me and then take one slice to daddy in his office and then one slice to Connor wherever he is playing. Thankfully Connor is usually nice enough to share with her.

It is times like this that I am so glad I had them 13 months apart:
I think he had a really good time. Luckily he hasn't continued asking me when his birthday party is going to be again. He seems to grasp that that is a special event that doesn't happen over and over again. But, he does ask me MANY times a day "if we can get daddy's train out to watch it some more."

Happy Birthday My Sweet Little Monkey!

Oh my sweet little monkey! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! We had a great day with you today. But before I went to sleep, I just wanted to take a minute to write and tell you what a joy you are in our lives. 3 years ago today you made all my dreams come true. What an amazing day that was. It was amazing how much I loved you even from those first minutes together. It is even more amazing how much more I can love you each day! Thanks for all the entertainment and thank you for your sweet spirit. I love you so much and I am so glad Heavenly Father sent you to my home to live.
Love,
Mom
A few minutes old:



















2 weeks old:















Just Before Your First Birthday


Your First Birthday:














On your Second Birthday















Today, My Big 3 Year Old!

Zetta's Big Day

Zetta had a pretty big day today. While we were out running errands, she reached up and grabbed her pull toy and pulled it down all by herself.

This baby doesn't get a whole lot of floor time. She spends most of her day in her swing, her high chair or her bassinet. The main reason for this is because Mama is a bit worried about Connor and Tara giving her a few too many loves. They just love her to pieces and sometimes squeeze her a bit too hard. Anyway, I decided today that I need to give her more floor time to work on her neck strength and to start working with her to get her to roll over. I put her on the floor and within a few minutes she rolled from her tummy to her back. She did that twice and the second time, she continued right on over back to her tummy! Way to go Zetta!!

Which Princess Are You?

You Are Belle!

Intelligent and kind. Your beauty goes much further than your apperance. Also, you make judgements of people based on their personality and not their looks. Attaining all the knowledge that you can is one of your major goals in life, but you are also a person who can make things happen.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

The Church is True!

Mike has decided that the church is true after all! They have taken him out of Nursery and put him in with the 11-12 year olds. He is really enjoying this calling. He says it is a really good, smart group of kids.

SYTYCD...What the heck?!

Tivo watchers...Do not read until you have finished Thursday nights episode...








Marquis got ROBBED!!! The judges sit there and say do the best you can blah blah and he does some incredible solo dancing and they boot him off because he did 2 "tricks." Had they kicked him off before the solo dance, I would have been ok. But he ROCKED his solo. Seriously, he got ROBBED!

Big Girl

My baby is getting WAY to big! Here she is holding and eating her own biter biscuit:
Here she is holding her own bottle: (this was her first juice bottle. You can also see that her hair is thinning a bit.)
Here she is interacting with daddy. Giving daddy kisses. Mike had a tough time bonding with the girls the first 3 months of their lives. I think Connor was first so everything was so new with him. And then when Tara came along, Connor was at a very fun stage in life and the baby was just so "boring." A few months ago when we went to pick Mike up at the airport, he said "Hi Tara! Hi Connor! And you are boring." So sad! But really, it is just because the other two were so excited to see him and Zetta didn't even look at him. So the moral to my story is that you can tell how old the kids are by the amount of time Mike spends with them.
Here she is chillin' watching TV with the big kids: (Wow! What a chunk!)
Here she is wearing my little sister Tiffany's (now 22 years old) dress:

Yummy Food!

So when Tara was a baby, she was not at all interested in baby food. I had to mush stuff up to give to her. Now that Zetta is eating it and making it look so yummy, Tara has decided to take up eating baby food. She always asks for some when I am feeding Zetta. So one day I gave her some of Zetta's green beans thinking she would spit it out and quit bugging me. Well that backfired and she ate the whole container! I have figured that there could be worse things then my 2 year old wanting to eat purred baby food. I decided that if she will eat it, it is worth the 45 cents to get those veggies in her.

Addiction

So My sister gave me a fun recipe to make with my kids. It is a yummy sweet chex mix. I am WAY addicted now! I can't seem to put the stuff down! My kids loved making it since it was all about shaking a brown bag.
(Notice Tara's Apron that I made for her last week while visiting my crafty sister-in-law Ashley. She made a cute one for her husband.)

So here is the recipe. But I am warning you now, it is very hard to not eat LOTS of it!

Char's Chex Mix
1 box Chex cereal
1 can nuts (I used salted almonds)
1 cup butter
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup Karo Syrup (I used light)
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 bag M&M's (I used peanut. Next time I think I will do PB)
Large brown paper bag

Pour the cereal and nuts in the brown bag. On the stove mix sugar, karo and butter and bring to boil. Boil for 2 minutes stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add soda and stir really well. Pour into brown bag. (I know it seams like you will loose it all on the sides of the bag. But it is like magic!) Sake the bag. Microwave for 5 minutes on high. Every minute , take the bag out and shake it. Add the M&M's and shake. Spread on wax paper. Eat!

I have a recipe kind of like this one in the family cookbook that I designed. It is on page 412 for those of you that have a Bodell Bistro Cookbook. It has coconut for those of you that like coconut. But it isn't as fun for the kids. My kids loved shaking the bag for this one and pushing the microwave buttons.

Happy Birthday Connor!

Looks like the puzzles will have to wait until Tara's birthday. I found this on craig's list for $40. Best $40 spent!

Fun Trip

All in all, it was a really fun trip!
Seriously, she doesn't look anything like me:
We went to a bluegrass concert of sorts. There is a horse barn where the locals get together once a month and play music. It was fun. The kids had a great time dancing and singing Farmer in the Dell.
Afterward, we went to check out the stables. They are serious about their horses here! The lady was VERY hesitant about letting the kids in to see the horses. Later we found out it was because there were a few in there that were training for the Olympics.
Zetta found a mirror:
Tara was a bit top heavy in Leland' s bike helmet.
They live on a very steep hill. Connor biffed it walking down once. It also made for an exhausting bike ride. But they had incredible views!
Connor donning the pink princess bike helmet. MAN! We really need to move back closer to his boy cousins!
Thanks C&A for a great trip!

Library Time

We went to the library for reading time. My kids were more interested in the puzzles:
They had a darling little kitchen to play with. Yes that is Tara in the green and blue plaid apron and Connor in the pink floral apron.
Want some?
Yummy pizza. This pizza set was so stinkin' cute. This company also makes the really cute puzzles. Check out Melissa & Doug's cute stuff. They are also sold in most toy stores now. I really want to get the kids some of these for their birthdays or Christmas.

I love
the Pizza Party
the Vehicle Chunky Puzzle
the Farm Chunky Puzzle
Mike will be mad that I put this photo in here of Connor cooking in a kitchen in his pink floral apron
The reading lady could tell that some of the kids (ours in particular) just wanted to play. So she moved reading time elsewhere.
Zetta, once again, was a trooper and quite the charmer

Chuck's Campus

Chuck's campus is beautiful! I think it was even more impressive to me because the campus was DEAD! They don't do summer school so it was like we had the whole place to ourselves. The kids had a great time running around, listening to the echo (yes Chuck there is an echo if you stand in the right spot) and listening to the bell tower. Ok, so Tara wasn't such a fan of the bell tower when at exactly 6:00pm we were standing RIGHT underneath it. It gave her a bit of a fright. Connor thought it was cool and asked for more!
There is also a military school right next door. They had a fun cannon for the kids to climb on. It was a bit hot for Tara's little bare legs.
Connor didn't want to leave the big gun.