Happy 8th Birthday Alexis

So the princess of the castle has turned 8. What a milestone! We are so lucky to have her in our family. I thought little girls always needed big brothers, but she is such a great big sister and I am glad she is my first.

Eight things that describe Alexis:

1. She can never have enough sparkle (in her hair, on her nails, on her face, and on her clothes - too bad the poor thing has to wear a uniform to school)

2. Always wants to be doing something "Fun"

3. She's a great big sister

4. Loves all things crafty

5. She is learning to play the piano (she is playing I Am A Child of God for her baptism)

6. Loves to sing and dance (when no one is watching)

7. Thinks everything should be pink and purple (with sparkles of course!)

8. Is a wonderful friend, student and daughter!

Happy Easter

What a great weekend we had. Saturday we went to my parents ward for their annual Easter Egg hunt and games. For the first time in forever probably it was pouring rain most of the day so they had it indoors at the church. Then we went back to Grandma & Grandpa's house and decorated Easter eggs. Then we went to see the movie Hotel for Dogs (cute movie). Sunday was a fun morning eating the little sugar the Easter Bunny left us and then church and Grandma & Grandpa's house for dinner with all the cousins (well, those that live in AZ anyway.) It was a perfect day and everyone had a great time and the food was super yummy! Nice that I only remembered to get a few pictures on Sunday. Way to many crazy kids to get them to hold still. Oh well, maybe next time.

Spring Break - St. Patrick's Day

So I am a little off and a little behind. (What's new!) For Spring Break me, Alexis and Slade, and my mom and aunt, went up to Seattle to see my favorite sister (and my only one, but who cares she is my favorite!) We had so much fun being together and while I talk to my sister 10 times a day it is nice to have her around for as long as I can.

While we were at her house the leprechauns came to visit. (I will admit I am a blog addict and found lots of cute ideas out in blog land!) The kids thought is was so cool. And while the naughty leprechauns leave golden chocolate all over the place, it's not so nice when the babies have fun breaking into all of it. Oh well, we quickly tried to find it all before any more chocolate ended up on their clothes. Notice how much Slade enjoyed it! We obviously didn't catch the chocolate addict fast enough. Especially when he is such a good climber and leaving him alone for 2 minutes had him rushing onto the counter top for his breakfast of more chocolate.

Slade and Peyton also had a blast together. Now we know what having twins are like. They became so comfortable with eachother we would find them hiding under the table eating their cereal together and lathering eachother up with Aquaphor and playing in any bottles or chemicals they could find. At least Peyton's love of stripping down and playing dress up in any clothing she finds lying around didn't rub off on him. (We just had a hard time getting him dressed at all even though we were always freezing!)

We were supposed to only do craft projects and go to the gym, but Seattle is a fun place and between going downtown and up to Snoqualmie Falls and running back and forth between my niece's preschool and dance we weren't too productive. Especially since I had 2, then 3, real estate deals going haywire while I was there so had to spend too much time sending out emails, contracts and living on my cell phone. I also didn't even do a very good job organizing her pantry this time, but hopefully I can go back and visit again soon! I now need a vacation from the vacation where I had to work the whole time.

We also introduced the little girls to Sephora. BAD MISTAKE! Well, maybe not....they had so much fun playing in the sparkles and I am not sure there was anything they missed trying on. And when we found another one downtown a few days after the first stop they couldn't wait to go back. Oops!

Happy 6th Birthday Collin

My sweet boy has turned 6. What a fun and happy kid (most of the time.) Some things we love about Collin.

1. He LOVES his sister and brothers.

2. He loves to play soccer and baseball and is actually getting pretty good. (A big change from the first year he did both when he could care less.)

3. He wanted to be like the big girls (Alexis and her friends) and play the piano. He's doing a great job!
4. He LOVES to play his DS and Wii.

5. He has the best laugh. He giggles and LOVES to pretend to hate your tickles so you will give him more.

6. He LOVES primary and participating. He is the first one to raise his hand even if he doesn't know the answer. This is from the child we had to sit in nursery with for 6 months because he would scream bloody murder if we even looked at the door.

7. Loves to ride bikes and play outside with friends.

8. Was determined to do the monkey bars like Alexis so tried and tried until he could do it. Now he is such a pro he has permanent blisters.

9. His favorite color is RED (and sometimes all the colors he says just not pink or purple or anything with sparkles!)

10. His favorite foors are pizza and spaghetti. He loves his dad's breakfast sandwiches and most anything sweet! Although he is my best eater by far. Most everything I make he compliments me and says it is the best thing ever! (I must have one fan around at all times I suppose!)

11. He LOVES to play with Legos, Transformers, Bionicles and now Bakugan. There is something about boys and their ability to learn these things and actually be really good at them. (I am still trying to figure out some of his video games.)

We are so lucky to have Collin in our family. He is such a smart and wonderful boy and makes our life exciting with his love of everything! He certainly keeps us on our toes.

Smoothie Anyone?

My kids LOVE smoothies. Paul and I started adding veggies to ours and little by little I started adding them to the kids. Well, one day I got caught and Alexis was mortified by what she saw me put in hers until I told her I had been doing it for months. Now she begs for them every morning. And I can't really complain when she gets a few servings of vegetables in it. Not to mention Slade being such a picky eater gets mad when he doesn't get his share.

Recipe for one blender full of yummy SLUDGE:

1 Yogurt (any flavor)

1/2 Banana

1C Frozen fruit (blueberries/strawberries/etc.)

1C Milk (for the girls who need their calcium)

2C Water

1/2C Red cabbage

1 Piece Kale

4 Baby carrots

2 Handfuls Spinach

4 Ice cubes

1-2 Scoops protien powder

1 Scoop milled flax seed

(If you're scared you can add a few extra strawberries or other fruit to sweeten it up, but really you don't need much fruit to disguise the taste of all the vegetables. Be creative and even start by adding some extra fruit and only using a little spinach or carrots until you get brave enough to add some more!)

Brotherly Love

Boys can either be such a joy or such a pain. Playing so well together ang giggling the entire time or fighting like crazy over who touched who and who and what toy first. (Well for me at least). I was getting dinner ready and let Collin play his DS for awhile and at first I heard Logan climbing over top of him and bugging him as usual when all of a sudden I turned around and found this. Apparently Collin had wedged himself in the corner to try and avoid him and Logan must have climbed in behind him to have a look. They must have sat this way for a good 15-20 minutes without saying a word.

Happy Valentine's Day

I LOVE Valentine's Day! Not that anything special ever happens, but it's just one of the happiest days of the year. Having kids in school is extra exciting. I got the idea for Collin's Valentines box off of my friend Ally's blog where she used her Diet Coke 12-pack box so of course I had to scour the neighborhood for one and found some wrapping paper that would work (a little girly and actually old Christmas paper, but he was fine with it). He even decorated the sides and loved what we came up with.

Alexis got to make her cute bucket at school and even got to have a pink chocolate fountain for her party. I wish I could have been there because she had a blast and there were so many "fancy" things they got to do.

Then on Saturday, Valentine's Day, I made heart shaped cinnamon rolls. I made them extra gooey and added lots of yummy cream cheese icing. Then they went to a primary party where they had more sugar and we even had heart shaped pizza for dinner! What a "LOVE"ly day!