Yeah, It's Been a While

Hey, remember how I have a blog? Remember how I used to update it fairly regularly? Yeah, me too. So I'm back, but I'm not going to promise the [blogging] world. Things are busy and facebook tends to be fast, but kind of more a time suck when you add it all together. I don't know, I'm torn and apparently in a stream of consciousnesses kind of mood....moving on.

Thought you all might enjoy an update of what's been going on. One child is off to school and the other three are still asleep, so I'm going to listen to vicious wind outside and ruminate and reminisce.

So we've been up to a lot of things. I'll start in December...

Jingle Bell Run/Walk for Arthritis....We had so much fun at this event! I am continually impressed with all the wonderful work that the Arthritis Foundation does in this community and the events that they put on are amazing! Siobhan was the youth honoree for the event and she did a great job! She gave a speech that was very articulate and moving. Video will come soon-it's on Carson's phone. We had a misshap of illness though. Right after the kid's run, she had a spell of violent throwing up! So sad on her special day! But she was a trooper. We had a great time that day-vomiting aside!

Festival of Trees....Audrey and I both performed in the Festival of Trees with our Irish Dance school. We had a blast! As a result of her adorable performance, Audrey was even picked to dance on a kid's DVD which should be out in the next few months.

Christmas happened and so did my birthday-the Christmas post at least will be at another time when I can post all the pics and videos. Christmas really should be it's own post anyway, not thrown into the mix of a run of the mill update post, don't you think?

Jr. Jazz....Siobhan played basketball this winter. She had a great time and no problems with the JIA! She was the only girl on her team, but totally held her own! She was also the tallest. Favorite memory of the season, after a girl on the other team stole the ball from her, she came over to me on the verge of tears because someone 'just took the ball' away. I told her to steal it right back. She did!

Preschool for Mr. Will....Mr. Will started speech therapy back in November. He has been very delayed in the his speech and vocabulary and after a lot of testing we found out that he has concentration/attention issues and memory problems as well. So we started having a speech therapist come into our house twice a month to work with him. Now that he's three, he ages into the school districts preschool program. He goes to a 'special needs' preschool two mornings a week and he loves it! He gets to ride the bus which is the high light of his day! Oh, and he's improving so much with his speech! It seems like everyday he has new words that he can say. We are so happy! I plan another post about this very soon!

Standing Man...So Ethan can stand against anything and it's so cute! He's starting to cruise too which is so fun to watch! He still won't crawl on his knees though. The other day I put him down on the floor of the living room to play and went into the kitchen. About two minutes later, i couldn't hear him. Yeah, he was upstairs. So I put him back in the living room with more toys and turned my back. Two minutes later, he was upstairs again! Fast little guy!

Carson's Amazing!....Carson has been working out a lot over the last year and has lost 40 pounds! His BMI is down to 16.9!!!! I'm so proud of him! He's been working hard! He's also kept busy with his responsibilities in the Elder's Quorum presidency.

Vegas...We took a short trip to Las Vegas on New Years Day and stayed overnight at the Excalibur. The girls loved being able to stay in the Castle! It was nice to get away and do something fun as a family! Carson's mom met us there and stayed with the kids so we could go out. It was a very quick trip but lots of fun!!!

I'm doing some fun work with the Arthritis Foundation which is keeping me busy. I'm helping to organize the upcoming walk in May and Siobhan is helping also. We are planning on attending the Foundation's gala in a few weeks where Siobhan will present an honoree with the platter that she made. We're super excited for that! Siobhan and I were also chosen to attend to Arthritis Foundation's Advocacy Summit in Washington DC in mid April and we are really looking forward to that! Well, I'm looking forward to that, Siobhan doesn't know. We're surprising her at school on Weds at their weekly assembly!

Soccer....Siobhan just had her first soccer game on Saturday and scored 2 goals! But then she got wicked hurt and couldn't play the rest of the game. It's all good though. She's excited to keep playing!

St. Patrick's Day....Me and Audrey both marched in the St. Patrick's Day Parade down town and performed in the Siamsa. It was so fun! We also had a super fun party the night before with all the kids friends! It was so much fun!!!

So there you have it, a comprehensive update of what's going on in our family. I hope you enjoyed the read and lack of pictures. I have a reason for that. I got a new phone for my birthday and the camera on my phone is better than our digital camera so I use the phone for all of my picture taking needs. I just don't know how to get them from the phone to the computer. I know there are ways like emailing them to myself and then copying and pasting them into my picture library. But that's a lot of steps and I'm kind of lazy. I need to find an easier way. Love ya'll!

Monkeys and Elephants and Dinosaurs, Oh My!

A few weeks back (well, like a month ago) we went to the zoo! We don't venture out for things like that very often because Carson and I are seriously out numbered by the amount of kids we have. But we went with Grandma and Grandpa so that helped a lot-a few extra hands.

We've been looking forward to going to the zoo for a long time because Carson's company installed a bunch of air compressors for a dinosaur exhibit. The air compressors made the dinos move and some of them even sprayed water. Since we have a little boy in our family who adores anything of the dinosaur persuasion, it was bound to be a big hit!






We also saw elephants, and I didn't know this, which are apparently Audrey's favorite animal. We spent a lot of time there listening to the one of the zoo people (docent?) talk all about the elephants they had there which were a grandma, a mommy and a baby girl. So fun!

This is a big elephant outside the habitat. It does a little bit of moving and water spraying which Carson's company also did.

We also saw the monkeys which is always fun! There was this one baby monkey (I can't remember what kind-black with big, white, long tails-sort of look like a skunk) who kept bouncing all around the habitat and he had fun jumping up to the window and making faces at the girls. So cute!!!

We had a great time at the zoo!

First Day Of School

Siobhan had first day of kindergarten on Monday. She was so excited!!!! She goes to a charter school called American Preparatory Academy where she gets to go to all day kindergarten and wear a uniform. She thinks the uniform is super cool! We're not sure if she's more excited about taking her lunch to school, having three recesses or writing in cursive! But she's loving every minute of it all the same!

Here's Siobhan right before leaving.
Kindergarten-2011
And yes, we're that family who makes our kid bring a gift to the teacher on the first day. I just think that teachers are some of the most unappreciated people in the world, so we wanted to make Mrs. Neidig feel special. She (Mrs. Neidig) is from England and has the cutest accent. We're told that sometimes her students end up having slight accents at the end of the year which is fun!

With Carson just before leaving.
Siobhan's school is a little bit of a drive and she has to be there early. Fortunately, it's not too far from Carson's work. So he goes tot he gym in the morning (which is just down the street) comes home to pick her up, and takes her to school. It works out perfectly and they get some fun daddy/daughter time!

Me and Siobhan right before heading off with Daddy.



Audrey started pre-school on Tuesday and she loves it!!!!! We were planning on homeschooling her for pre-school but then decided at the last minute that it wasn't going to be right for her. Luckily, I found a great school just up the street and around the corner that had some spots open. She loves being in Miss. Lynette's class and she gets to have recess too!

Audrey just a few days before school started. I'm not sure why, but this pictures reminds me of a mean school teacher.

Audrey on her first day just before leaving. She's wearing her bee necklace. She also gave the teacher a gift-not to worry, the teacher gifts were nothing crazy, just some yummy smelling hand sanitizer.

Me and Audrey just before we left. Love this little girl so much!!!!

Back To School Feast

On Sunday we started the tradition of having a back to school feast (yes, I totally stole the idea from Nie Nie-I make no apologies). We let Siobhan pick the food because she's starting kindergarten this year and that's a really big deal. Next year when Audrey starts Kindergarten, we'll let her choose. We chose a theme for the school year of what our family is going to focus on and we decorated accordingly. Our theme is this year is.....

To go along with the theme, at least once a month, one of our family home evenings will focus on President Hinckley's 'Bs'. If we live by those, it will help us 'Be the Best [We] Can Bee'.

Oh yeah, on the menu was:
Carbonarra (Siobhan's personal favorite-the girl could eat her weight in it)
Rolls
Lemonaide
Potato Skins for an appetizer

I had fun decorating the table. The centerpiece was a bunch of sticks that have bumble bees on them and I wrote out all the Bs on tags and hung them off the branches. Then I put framed pictures of the girls growing up-it happens so fast!

I made both of the girls a crown in the black, yellow, white color scheme which they loved!

Mr. Will was sad that he didn't a crown, but he enjoyed wearing my Jazz hat.

Later, the girls modeled their first day outfits. No real fashion show this year. Siobhan's going to be wearing a uniform everyday, so there's not much to see. She didn't even end up wearing that jumper. She wore a navy one instead.

Right before bed, Carson gave each of the girl beautiful, inspiring blessings for the new school year. Then it was time for a visit from the 'Back To School Fairy' (another idea I stole). She brought each of the girls a necklace that has a bumble bee charm and a heart so they can remember to 'Be The Best You Can Bee'. Unfortunately, the Back to School Fairy has never made jewelry before and both necklaces have broken a few times. I'm working on a way to attach the jump rings so they don't fall off anymore.

Coming up....First Day of School Posts

Iamges From The Fourth

Mr. Will, Kate, Audrey, Siobhan, Caroline, and Lindsay...all the cousins (who were present) waiting for the parade in Grandma's neighborhood.

Carson and Mr. Will

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge? Nope, just William and Kate

Audrey loved the parade! She and Siobhan received lots of compliments on their dresses from the parade participants.

Royal Wedding

I've been wanting to post about this for a while and I just haven't gotten around to it.

The girls and I were so excited for the Royal Wedding. We kept talking about Prince William and Princess Kate (even though she's not really a princess until he's next in line). And since it's practically a law in England for ladies to wear hats to a wedding, we decided that we needed have fancy, fabulous hats as well. The girls thought their hats were so fun and they were very specific about their color choices-purple for Siobhan, green for Audrey. (perfect timing by the way, right after Easter, we were able to get Easter bonnets at the dollar store and decorate them up with supplies from the dollar store). I had DVR'd the wedding so the girls and I could watch the wedding in the evening. We had a tea party (orange kool-aid) and pizza. It was a great time!!!!

These fabulous hats from the royal wedding...A-MA-ZING!!!

Audrey wanted Green for her hat. You can't tell, but there is a butterfly coming right out of the top of the hat!

Siobhan wanted Purple. We had lots of fun with hers!!! Thank you dollar store.

Ethan had a great time!

Mr. Will was obsessed with the hats!

My best snooty British face!!

First image found here.

Second image found here.

Why My Kids Rock!-Mother's Day Pt. 1

A post about the people in my life who make this day a reason to celebrate.....

Siobhan

*Siobhan is silly little five year old who loves to play outside and scares the crap out of me on a daily basis with her tree climbing.
*She frequently wants to bring worms inside to keep as pets.
*The other morning, she said, 'I'm glad you're awake!' It was the best way to start the day. I even wrote it down so I wouldn't forget that she said it to me.
*I think Siobhan has found her calling in the culinary arts. She loves to help Carson cook. She loves to bake with me. Maybe we'll send her to cooking school.
*Siobhan pretty much sell you on any product that she see's a commercial for. The other day she came to me and said, 'Mommy, there's a bed that eliminates back pain. It's call the Sleep Number bed. You should get that.' She's done that with Swiffer, Cedar Pro Steamer, and Packit. She might watch too much TV. Or she has her mommy's memory.
*She wants to be a big girl so bad! I'm content to keep her little!
*Siobhan got a pair of black skinny jeans with embroidery on the back pockets....very grown up! This is how she styled herself.


Audrey

*Audrey has a beautiful smile but whenever you pull out a camera, she instantly goes into serious mode. I think it's a trait she got from my mom.
*Always the jumper, we decided to put her into Irish Step Dancing and wouldn't you know, she's really good at it!
*Audrey is such a girly girl so, true to form, I get a bouquet of flowers almost every day from back yard. They're usually dandelions.
*Would prefer to wear dresses which is great since she owns a million dresses and skirts but not so good for the millions of jeans she has.
*She's the method actor of the family. Pretty much all day every day she is in character and, in her mind, you are too. Right now, she's Repunzel from Tangled. Siobhan is Flynn, Ethan is Pascal, Will is Maximus (sometimes Will and Siobhan are flipped) and Carson and I are King and Queen. When she decides to be Buzz, Carson and I are Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head. The thing about it is that we always have to refer to her appropriately and if you don't respond in kind, there are problems. The other night, she said the blessing at dinner and referred to everyone in her prayer by their Tangled characters. It was hilarious!

(In her fabulous hat while watching the royal wedding....another post to come)

Mr. Will

*I may have posted this before, but he loves toilet brushes, toilet plungers and brooms. Either he's trying to tell me to clean more or he's destined for a career in the janitorial services.
*He has the most piercing blue eyes!
*He decided that he wants to be potty trained. He pulled me over to the toilet and pointed and said please. I put him on there and he just went. I wasn't planning on potty training him for a few more months, but I guess we're doing it a little sooner. The boy can't really talk, but he sure can pee on the potty.
*The 'compliment' that I get from pretty much everyone is 'Will is so cute....he has soooo much energy.' I don't really know what to do with that.
*He's at that stage where he likes to put on everyone's shoes. Case in point, look at the pic below.
*There's a hilarious story about him going down for his nap, a problem with his diaper and boy parts and the word 'stuck'. Carson won't let me put it on the blog, so use your imagination.



Ethan

*Ummm, best.baby.ever!
*Ethan has been sleeping through the night since he was six weeks old. He seriously is such an angel!
*Sir Ethan is such a smiley guy!!!
*I don't have much to write about him because he's so young. But I'm so excited to get to know this little guy!

Sleeping Babies

I think that there is nothing more peaceful than a sleeping baby! Case in point.....

*Sir Ethan, sleeping soundly which he does so well....are you totally in love with his face???? How could you not be?*

That is not the case, however, when it comes to toddlers and young children......

*Mr. Will...we always find him in funny positions in his bed. But he's always in his bed and never in his closet or on his floor. Such a good boy!*

*Audrey is usually always on top of her covers which she insists on having on top of her when we tuck her in. Her and her brother definitely inherited their mommy's sleeping habits which include but are not limited to sprawling, flip-flopping, kicking and taking up as much space as possible with a tiny body....seriously, ask Carson how many times I've come close to kicking or pushing him out of bed while I'm asleep.*

Well, Siobhan may be a little more peaceful than the other two.....

*She may not look all that comfortable but at least she's not sucking her thumb!*

Spring is in the Air

*Yep, I totally copied this idea that Dana did with her kids over at Made. Just FYI, none of this was my own aside from the creativity that was had in decorating the butterflies...that was all us!*

We were supposed to have a friend come over to play today so I wanted to come up with an art project for the three girls to work on together. So this was the plan...decorating butterflies and hanging them up for all to see. Unfortunately, plans fell through and Emma couldn't come over (we sure missed her but I already have another idea of what to do when she does come over to add in with the butterflies) so me and the girls did the art project and we had so much fun!!!

Siobhan was very proud of her butterflies....this is a mommy butterfly carrying her baby butterfly.

The mess....it always happens when you craft with kids! But this is nothing compared to what we've had before!

Audrey hard at work. She would get so excited about them going up on the wall that she would just color a little bit and then make me hang it up!

The top of the stairs....

Bottom of the first flight of stairs...

The top of the second flight of stairs...

The bottom of the second flight of stairs....


We hung them up in the stairway going down to the basement and Audrey was so excited that Spring was 'coming up in our house.' We had a blast and I think they look so fun and beautiful!