Em Turns 6!

My little girl Emalee turns six. I am so excited! She is growing up so much. (It makes me feel old) So ever since I found that evil site, Pinterest, I have been pinning ideas. I decided that I wanted her to have a Rapunzel Birthday party. She had to be talked into it since she wanted a Princess Tiana party. Luckily it didn't take too much convincing to get her to come to my side. I found so many great ideas from here and here and had so much fun doing it all.

I made the invitations and I think they turned out pretty cute and actually had to ask one of our cousins to give it back because I forgot to keep one for the scrapbook.

We had a lot of fun making the Pin the Nose of Flynn Rider Game. We borrowed a projector from Mert ( why she has one I don't know, but I'm glad). After I got done copying him to a poster board, Kiersten, Emalee and Donnovan had fun making a nose on him. Silly kids!

Here is Flynn at the Party. We had the kids draw a nose on paper and cut it out. Then we played Pin the Nose. I was fun. They had a great time, until Ryan started cheating and trying to feel where everyone elses noses were, so I then moved them off the board.

We had fun decorating. Since Grandma's house has a flat back yard we asked her if she would host it and luckily she loves me enough to have it there. We hung yellow crate paper to kind of mimic hair. We made some crafts and one of them was making lanterns out of foam paper, or a sheet of foam, I don't know which one to call it. I like the sound of sheet of foam so I'll go with that.

Anyway, We had the kids take a sheet of foam, fold it hot dog style and cut on the fold making slits it in. Then opened it up and glued it into a cylinder. Added sticky foam peices and a handle and.. voila... lanterns.( You can see them sitting on the table in the living room.)

I asked my awesome,creative, wonderful sister in law to make us her coloful cupcakes. They are pink, purple and yellow and sooo delicious!! She is amazing. We then decided to put the ice cream in little cups also. I loved the idea of having the food presented in the frying pan so we hauled out Dad's heavy duty cast iron ones, trying to not let Donnovan hit people over the head with them. I think it turned out kind cute.

We made these pascals as a craft project also. We tried to glue them, but the kids were getting impatient to play with them so we pulled out grandmas stapler and went to town. The eyes are sticky back so then the craft went much faster.

We had some fun outdoor games for the kids to play. One of them was "try to get untangled". My mom had these "lovely" chair lawn decorations. You might think that I planned the chairs to represent the chair that Flynn Rider gets tied to in the movie. Well, to be completely honest... I did. Grandma's had these chairs for about 5 years in her back yard and as soon as I thought about this party I knew I wanted to use them somehow.

 So we placed them in a retangle, cut up a yellow plastic table cloth into strips,  and made a whole bunch of crisscrosses. The kids had fun trying to go over and under it.

I have more to show you, but for some reason I have to go an feed the Donnovan. So I will post more of her birthday party later.

Beads and Lockets

I have to tell you that Emalee has the most expensive bead and locket. In October, Emalee thought it would be funny(?) to stick a triangle clear plastic bead up her nose. We ened up having to take her to the ER. Tried to go to the urgent care first, but they would not see her. They said that with that kind of thing, you have to be seen at the ER. So, we went to the ER! Our nurse was cute little Pam Giles. She was sooo good to Miss Em. When the doctor came in, he had a really hard time seeing that clear bead up her noes. He first had me cover one side of her nose and blow into her mouth, hoping that it would push it out. NO SUCH LUCK!
So he tried using tweezers and forceps to pull it out, but again, no such luck. He went out of the room and came back with a paper clip! A PAPER CLIP!! He unfolded it and tried to hook the bead but still could not do it. After about 10 minutes of trying, he decided to call in the big guns. Within 15 minutes Dr. Peter Ventura was there. He is the local ENT, and with his trusty dusty head lamp and cool magnifying thingie, he pulled that bead out within seconds!!!
We spent a total of 2 1/1 hours and $150 dollars at the ER. The insurance was billed $847! Talk about expensive bead huh!?! WAIT!!!That's not all! I have to tell you about the expensive locket.
So on Wednesday this week (jan 25th) while at work, Kiersten calls me in a complete panic. "Emalee just swallowed her locket!!" Yes, that's right... my 5 year old swallowed her locket that she got free with a book order she just got the day before.
Of course the first thing I do is laugh, then I ask if she ok. Tells you a lot about me if I laugh at my own child and then ask if she ok. Kiersten says that she won't talk and that she says it hurts to swallow. So, I call my boss tell her I had to leave early, and run home to get my daughter.
On the way home I call the doctor and the urgent care and both tell me they again won't see her. SOOOO we end up back at the ER. By the time I get her there she says her chest hurts now. By the time the doctor walks in, her belly hurts and by the time we get to x-ray she's fine. The x-ray showed that the locket had already moved down into her bowels. So from the time she swallowed to the time she got an x-ray, about an hour and a half, she was fine. Just hoping everything comes out ok.tehehe
Again, it has cost us another $150, and thats just our part. Kinda wondering how much their gonna bill the insurance for this time.
So, now that is the worlds most expensive plastic bead and free locket ever!

Christmas!!

Merry Chrismas!!!!! We had a wonderful day! We had church at 9am so we decided to wake up early. Kiersten decided she would set her alarm clock, which was probably smart since everyone likes to sleep in and usually will still be asleep at at 9am. She set her alarm clock for 6:30am.... A little too early, but it is Christmas.

Donnovan wasn't all that happy to be awake this early and actually climbed on the couch and tried to go back to sleep. It wasn't until he actually saw the what Santa brought him did he decide it was worth getting up early for. Santa brought him his own video game system!! Hopefully he'll leave Dad's and Ryan's alone now.

Emalee wanted a doll with a doll bed. Santa brought her a new doll and a bunk bed with matching blankets and pillows. She was soo excited! She was a little surprised that Santa got her and Donnovan's stockings mixed up. Silly Santa!!

Santa brought Kiersten an I touch! Talk about spoiled rotten.. or being super good this year! She was soo excited and had a hard time letting brother play with it. I don't blame her, he is totally into electronics and would steal it if Kiersten would put it down.

Ryan asked for games that the family could play together. Santa brought  him Kerby and Epic Mickey! He is excited to play with the family, which means playing with Dad while Kiersten and Emalee watch.

Donnovan got a lot of things for Christmas like a new bike from Grandma and Grandpa Mick, a lamp from Grandma and Grandpa Redmond, a talking dump truck from Mom and Dad, tools, cars, Buzz Lightyear pillow pet, barn animal magnets and or course new jammies.

Emalee got a new princess doll, a princess little kitchen, a beautiful lamp from Grandma and Grandpa Redmond, a barrett kit from Grandma and Grandpa Mick, squinkies, guess who game, and a princess flute from Felicity. She is soo excited that I haven't hid the flute yet.

Kiersten got a new case for her new I touch, a bank that counts for her, stickers, boots, a lamp and barrett from the Grandma's and Grandpa's, and mom got her some shhh bras shhh. She was a little embarassed about it. My little girl is growing up!!

Ryan got luggage for his trip to DC, some video games, pringles from dad (7 packages of them.. Dad shopped all by himself), legos, a lamp from Grandma and Grandpa Redmond and money from Grandma and Grandpa Mick. He also got a cool bag with his name on it from Aaron.

We all got these fun marshmellow guns so we could have some real fun as a family. Dad got a snow cone maker, hoodiebuddie, saw horses, Kiersten made him a hand made game and he got his snow blower fixed.

Mom got some new clothes, luggage, pictures of the kids that they took themselves, and a new kitchen!

It was a wonderful, wonderful Christmas!!!

Tattoos and Moustaches!

So we are a little silly tonight and Donnovan found some moustache tattoos that I got and he wanted to wear them. So I thought it would be funny to put them on the girls also. Dad already had his own moustache and tattoo so he didn't want anymore. Ryan was too busy playing with his video game to join in in our fun.

This is Emalee and her Villian Moustache.

This is Kiersten and her Investagator Moustache.

And here is Dad's tattoo!! It is the CTR crest on his ankle. He got this tattoo while on his mission. I know, I know... your all thinking "what?!" Yep while serving a mission he wanted to have something to remind him of his choices and his beliefs, so he got the Choose the Right crest tattooed on himself. Don't know if that was the right choice, do you?!

My Parents are Going on A Mission

My parents have decided that they needed to have a little excitement in their lives, so they have decided to go on a mission! They told us at a family meeting right after confrence that they had been secretly getting ready for the last 4 months to put their papers in. We were all excited for them! We asked where they wanted to go and Grandpa said somewhere English speaking, because they were too old to learn a new language. ( Hello thats what Rosetta Stone is for...)
Anyway, we all started to give our predictions to where they would end up. I said Alaska or Australia, thinking that I would love to come and visit them during their mission. Everyone gave different predictions from Idaho to New York. Grandpa said he would end up in Tuba City Utah ( which isn't even on Google) which is a teeny tiny little town which is probably 5 mobile homes. We all laughed and laughed.
Well, guess where they're going!?! Farmington New Mexico mission!!! Guess what's in their mission? TUBA CITY!!!!! Bwahahahahaha!!
The Lord listened to Grandma's prayers by sending them somewhere warm, and listened to Grandpa joke about going to Tuba City. Well, never will I doubt that Heavenly Father listens to us! Serves Grandpa right!
Well, they'll be gone for a year and will be living out of their motor home. Dunno about living out of a motor home for a year in the New Mexico heat.
We wish them I wonderful time and look forward to the blessings they will share with us.

Potty training... for Mom

You know, I forgot that potty training is soo hard. We are trying to potty train Donnovan, but I feel its mostly Mom who is being potty trained. Mom and Dad are the ones who are constantly reminding him to go and we're the ones trained to tell him to go potty. Man I can't wait till he's all done, cause then I won't have to do this ever again!!

Welcome!! I'm New

Welcome to our blog. I am completely new at this and I'm not sure what I am doing so..bare with me. I decided that I needed to start doing this because I am a horrible writter and with my wrist I can't do it anymore and I really need to start writting down all the fun things that happen with my family.

My family is great. I have a wonderful husband and four great kids. I met my husband Robert back in 1996. Our first day was December 7th and we were married February 28th. I know, I know way to short, but we have been married for almost 15 years so we must have done something right...right?! He works evenings at Detroit Diesel and I work days at Beehve Storage and as a substitute teacher. Maybe thats why its worked soo well.. we're never home at the same time.

Ryan is our oldest, born Jan 4th (again I know super short, but way worth it!). He is now almost 14 and is in 8th grade. He is a great kid who tells his mother that he loves her and still kisses her good night. He is a huge computer and game system junkie (gets it honestly from his father). His favorite food is pizza and steak. He is allergic to penicillin and horses.

Kiersten is our oldest girl, who was born on Aug 18th . Kiersten is 12 and in Young Womens and 7th grade. She is a little shy, until you get to know her, then she is all over the place wild. She takes after her father in that she is TINY. I mean she's 12 and weighs 54 pounds. She could pass for a 9 year old. I told her that when she gets older that she will take that as a compliment, but for now she gets mad at me when I say she's looks younger. Her favorite foods are lazanga and walnuts. She has a cool history of her teeth... remind me and I'll tell you later.

Emalee is my little girl. She was born on March 27th. She is 5 and is in Kindergarten. She goes to Mrs. Gisbson's all day kindergarten. She is loving it!! I knew she would. She is a sponge when it come to learning things. She is a spitting image of me when I was little (a feel bad for her about that) and she has my temper (feel bad for me). Emalee's favorite foods are turkey and cinnamon toast.

Donnovan is our caboose. I have met my match and his name is Donnovan. He was born on July 21st and is now a very active 3 year old. His favorite things to do are to color on walls, jump on furniture and climb into bed with Mom and Dad...every night! I guess its true what they say, the older you get the lazier you are with the parenting. He gets away with more than the other 3, but don't tell them I told you. He tells me his favorite foods are pop tarts and chicken nuggets.