While the Mom is away

I had the chance last week to go to Las Vegas with my best friend and her brand new baby girl. She was going home and her husband was not able to go, so I decided that Sunshine and I would go with her. So Alan, Little Man and Princess G stayed home.

I had a great time in Las Vegas. I just mostly hung out and relaxed. It is really what I needed. Life has been so busy. Sunshine loved being an only child for a week and having Mom all to her self. I was able to surprise my Grandma and spend some time with her. It was nice to not have to be on the go all the time. We just visited and had a good time.

I came home on Wednesday afternoon. It is nice to go away, however it is better to come home. I was so happy to see Little man and Princess G. They had so much to tell me. All about school and their after school clubs. It made my head spin a little. But I really enjoyed hearing all about it. However I found out there where some things they tried that they would never have gotten away with if mom had been home. Oh the joys. It made me laugh. Kids will try anything and everything.

You just have to enjoy the little things. I know as a child I tried the same things they try. I guess it is all a part of growing up. I am so glad we only are children once. I am not sure I could do it again.

Lots going on...

So there has been so much going on, so I am finally going to catch up.

Little Man's first day of school

Little Man is so excited to be in second grade. He is also very excited that so many of his friends from 1st grade and kindergarten are in his class. He loves feeling like a big kid. He gets to tell his sister all about their school. Where everything is and all about the teachers. It is really cute.

Princess G also had her first day off school, She is doing Kindergarten again this year. We decided that she missed too much school last year to move on. We want her to be ahead and not always trying to catch up. We are very happy to have both kids at the same school this year. Kindergartners start two days after the other kids. She was so excited for her first day.

Princess G was a little unsure of the class pet when we went to met the Teacher day. However on the first day she decided she was brave and was telling the other kids to not be scared. It was really cute.

So as soon as we dropped off the kids at school, Alan and I along with Sunshine we took off for Las Vegas, for my ten year high school. I was helping plan the whole event. We had a ton of fun. Funny story, when we where driving to Las Vegas Sunshine asked if she could sit in the front seat of the car. We explained to her that you have to be at least twelve to sit in the front seat of the car. Then we asked her how old she was, she said 13! We got a really good laugh out of that.

On Friday night everyone met at The Palms to go to a bar called the Ghost Bar. It is a bar on the 55th floor of the Hotel. It was a lot of fun. On Saturday we had a BBQ at the park. Let me tell you I forgot how hot it is in Las Vegas in August. Some how we survived. Saturday night we had a really fun Formal Dinner. When I started planning the formal dinner I found out that class of 97 from our school had 46 people at their dinner. My goal was to beat them. We had just over 80 people. It is fun to have your goals met. The class gave me a dozen beautiful pink roses and a really cute photo album for all the work I had put into planning the reunion. It was so nice that everyone appriciated the hard work I had done. We had so much fun. It was really nice to see everyone. Some people look just the same, some I did not even recognize. In the end it was a really great weekend.

8 wonderful years

Time really does fly when you are having fun, and having kids, and living life, and sometimes just trying to survive another day. Today is our 8Th wedding anniversary. Eight years ago today Alan took me to the Las Vegas, NV Temple and we became husband and wife for time and all eternity. What a wonderful day that was. However it was just one day. Now here we are Eight years later with three amazing children, and closer and happier then I ever dreamed of. Alan and I have been side by side through all the highs and lows of married life. We have made it through the first year, commonly know as the hardest year. We made it past what they call the seven year itch. We have done it all together. I am so grateful he puts up with me when I am happy, and when I am sad. Eight years may not seem like a lot to some, and really it is not. However I feel we now have a good foundation to get us through the next eight years and then through Eternity. Alan I love you with all of my heart.

Mommy moments

Sometimes it is really easy to get so caught up in the crazy everyday run around that it is easy to forget why we do what we do. My kids are really good about giving me a good look at what this is all worth. I decided that it would be fun to share a few of these moments...

In the morning we have the same thing happen every morning, Sunshine wakes up about 6:30am everyday. She then wakes up little man and they play. They get restless and want to eat breakfast. However I make them wait for Princess G to wake up. She sleeps longer and I only like to do breakfast once. And Princess G needs her sleep. Well this morning was no exception to our normal routine. However when Princess G woke up she came into my room to cuddle. (I was in bed enjoying New Moon :) After we cuddled for a few minutes I said lets tease the other kids just a little. So we covered Princess G under my covers and I called in the other kids. I asked them if we should just go ahead and eat without Princess G. They got very excited and said yes (of course) Then I asked if they loved Princess G. They got very excited and said yes. Then Sunshine came running over close to where we were hiding Princess G and said "Mommy she is my very bestest friend" That made me so happy. She still had no idea that we were hiding Princess G under the covers. It was so honest and sweet, and she said it with such excitement. I decided I would remember this through the day when they start fighting. After sunshine said this I removed the covers and the girls came face to face, then Sunshine got even more excited and they hugged. This is what makes it all worth it.

Yesterday, was another fun moment. Our back door has been sticking and very hard to open for awhile. It seems to have gotten worse the last few weeks. It is so bad that Sunshine has not been able to open the door on her own. That has made it really hard because Little man and Princess G will run out side close the door and leave Sunshine behind. She is then left at the door crying, because she wants out, or in. Then I drop what ever I am doing and get the door for her. Well I have been saying that we really need to fix the door. It is driving me crazy. You have to slam the door to close it. I hate the slamming doors. So I decided I need to do something about it. Alan thought our house had settled and the frame had shifted so that it would be difficult and expensive to fix.I decided I should just look at it to see what was going on. I opened the door to look at the hinges, it looked as if some of the screw were loose. I thought well that would be too easy. I grabed a screwdriver and tried to tight a few screws. The screws turned out to be striped. I pulled out a screw it turned out the screws are only 3/4 inch screws. I am not contractor or anything. However that seemed way to little for something you use everyday. I went and found some much longer screws and replaced just one screw. I then closed the door. Much to my surprise and excitement it closed all the way and quietly. Yeah for Mommy. I decided to replace all the striped screws in the top hing as well as a few others in the other two hinges. The kids came down and wanted to go out side. They opened the door and were very excited Mommy the door opens and closes. I said I know i fixed it. They then started running around the house yelling "Mommy fixed the door, Mommy fixed the door" It made me feel good. My little cheerleaders. The best though was when Sunshine got up from her nap, I said to her to go let the dog out. She said mommy I can't open the door. I told her I fixed it go try. She runs over and opened the door. She got so excited she said "Mommy I opened the door with one hand" Her excitement was so cute. I love how kids get excited over the little things.

Ok, one more story and I am done for now. Last week we were leaving the park and the girls were talking about a very large fly they had sen at the park. Princess G asks Mom do flys bite? I said no they are just ugly, Sunshine then pipes up and says yeah and they're ugly too. I thought I was going to die laughing. It was so honest and matter-of-fact. Kids are so sweet and fun. i am glad I can blog these events. I think of it as a great journal. I am not sure who reads our blog, but I decided it really doesn't matter I am really grateful I am able to do this.

Sunshine

The other night we had put the kids to bed and started enjoying some quite time. I was reading Twilight and I am not sure what Alan was doing? We kept hearing Sunshine. We kept taking turns telling her to go to bed. Neither one of wanting to get up. Finally we thought we had won the battle. I decided I was ready to put my book down and get some sleep. Alan and I got up to turn off lights and lock all the doors. I started up the stairs to find Sunshine sound asleep. I had to take some pictures. I thought this was too cute.

Little Man turns 7

We had a very fun filled weekend. Little man turned 7 and we had two Birthday parties. One on Saturday for his friends and one on Sunday for Family friends.

The theme Little Man picked was Army. So we did a little boot camp. It was so much fun. When we gave out the invitations we gave every boy a pair of camo shorts to wear to the party. All the boys showed up to Fort Mortensen ready for boot camp. We checked in all the boys by weighing course, them and measuing thier height. We then gave them their equipment, Helmets and dog tags. Then they did their fitness test. One we where sure that they where all in top notch shape we did a obstical followed by a water battle. It was so much fun. Little Mans favorite part was that it was all boys. Even his sisters where not there. We went out to dinner on Saturday with Little Man and the girls. We let him decided where we would eat. He picked Red Robin becasue he knew they would sing to him. It was pretty funny. He kept looking around for them to come sing to him. We had a good time.

Sunday we did it all over again. This time though it was mostly adults. Much easier on me. We had family friends over for dinner. I enjoyed visiting with our friends. And as I have done for the last 5 birthdays I made homemade pizza, Little Mans favorite for dinner. Then of course we had cake and Ice Cream again. I made two identical cakes. One for each party. However Saturdays cake was two layers and Sundays was 3 layers. Little Man got some great toys. We havn't seen him much now. He is busy playing with his Pokemon toys and his tamagotchi. He bought the Tomagotchi with his birthday money. He felt so grown up getting to pick out his own toys.

All said and done we had a great weekend. It was a lot of fun to see Little Man spend time with his friends. Let me tell you when you have 6 boys in your house at one time you realize that most of the stuff you kid does is the same thing that all little boys do. i.e. talking loud, funny noises, jokes that are not funny to adults but sure to crack up all kids. We really enjoyed our time with our kids this weekend.

No more toddlers

We have now hit a new stage in our lives as parents. All the toddler toys are gone out of our back yard :( I was on craigslist the other day (one of my favorite sites) and saw a post that someone was looking for a play house. They have two boys ages 2 1/2 and 1 and wanted a play house for them. We had a play house that we bought 2nd hand 3 years ago. Our kids have long ago lost interest. I thought what a great way to pass it on and make a little cash :) always good. I sent a message and got a very happy response. In the conversation I was asked if we had more toys they would buy those as well. When they came to pick up the play house they picked up almost all of our other toys. We are very happy to see them go to a family that will enjoy them. However as I watched them drive off it hit me, I don't have any more toddlers. It is a new stage for us. It is a bit weird. Little Man And Princess G both now ride two wheelers and we even let little man go out and ride his bike with the other boys who live on our street. Little Man turns 7 this weekend. I think all of this is hitting all at once so I am a bit sad. I am sure I will get through this. Well I hope you all are enjoying your kids what ever age or stage they may be in :)