No kids are beghter than mine!!!

I've learned after 10+ years of Bart being away at Sundance to be pretty chill about my birthday! 

This year in particular I was really happy keeping it low key.  I kept forgetting it was my Birthday but my kids did not.

During Breakfast Emily got mad at Jane over something and Jane said "We can't fight today we need to be nice it's mommy's birthday"


Around 10:30 my sister Ally called and she and William sang Happy Birthday to me over the phone.  Jane and Aaron were in the back seat giggling thinking it was so funny.    Aaron totally made my day when later that evening as we were driving home on the freeway.  Out of nowhere he busts out singing Happy Birthday to mommy and sang that line the rest of the way home to me.

A little bit before dinner Jane and Emily announced that they wanted me to open presents.  Jane presented me with a half wrapped (she ran out of wrapping paper) box. I opened it to find a bunch of cut out crayon portraits of me, a few pictures of dot paint flowers that she did at school, and a paper full of Leaves and other treasures she went and found outside.  I told her this was going to be my happy box and whenever I wanted to be happy I would open it up and look at the things inside.

Emily then gave me this note along with a bottle of lotion that Bart and the kids had bought for me.  She told me that she spent her entire "free time" writing it.  I was in love.  Especially how she spelled Better (beghter) told me I was pritter than a rose and the part "You the B-day girl".  

I'll tell you what I'm one lucky mom to have such thoughtful kids!!

The list

Aaron is by far my most expensive kid.   How can that be?  He's not enrolled in anything and he's even out of diapers.  Well my tactile Aaron who my mom says "He thinks with his hands"  has caused me a lot of grief and money in just the last 72 hours.  I'm decided to start a list of things Aaron breaks so that in the future when he can get a  job he can pay me back.  

1.  I left a package of LED lights on the counter for a second while I put away some cleaning supplies, Aaron got into the box and broke 2 of them= $12.00
2.  Aaron decided to give my phone a shower= If it can be fixed $150.  If not $500.00
3.  The girls were busily folding laundry and Aaron noticed me putting the stools up onto the bar.  He knows that's a sign that I'm about to vacuum. He says "me vacuum".  He plugs the central vaccuum into the wall, turns it on walks over to the girls and sucks up one of Bart's socks.  It's jammed in there pretty good.  Hopefully Bart has a genius idea to get it out otherwise we take it to the vaccuum store= $50-60 to get it unclogged.
4.  Aaron was  "helping" me make smoothies.  His favorite job was to turn on the blender.  He turns it on before I have it in tight and it somehow it warps to the blade= replacement part $14- $44

This weekend has been particularly bad!!!!!

 Some other memorable mishaps from the past year. .

5.  somehow while Emily was showering he unrolled an entire roll of toliet paper down the drain and clogged it= roto rooter man $70.00
6. I'm pretty sure he threw away the spare key to the pilot= replacement key $92.00
7.  Immediately after refilling my labeller.  I carelessly put it down and got busy doing something else.  I came back into the laundry room to discover it completely dissembled with the new tape refill completely unraveled= $10.00
8.  Bosch mixer parts disappeared= replacements $25

I'm thinking of putting a sticky note on him that says "Yes mom I am so sweet, endearing and wonderful but please remember to keep me in sight at all times or your bank account will suffer" 

Aaron should have come out with a tag around his ankle saying "Warning... prone to destroy... May require some eyes in the back of your head" 

Just looking at these pictures melts my heart.  I'm so in love with this sweet boy!!!

The Woes of online shopping

 I did most of my Christmas shopping online this year.    We kept the UPS driver busy but it was so less stressful than fighting the crowds.    I'd do it again in a heartbeat but I've learned a valuable lesson about knock off toys.

Jane loves to play with barbies so Emily decided she wanted to give Jane the frozen characters including Olaf for Christmas.  We got on amazon and started shopping.  Just when I was about to purchase the dolls separately I noticed this great 2 for 1 deal with Anna and Elsa together.    We quickly snatched it up, wrapped it and waited for the big reveal.

Jane was ecstatic when she opened the present.   After the jumping and celebration was over she looked closer at the dolls and said "This doesn't really look like Elsa and she doesn't have a cape"  I mumbled something about sure it does and we moved on the the next present.

Last Tuesday Jane came down in tears.  "Look what Aaron did mom".  This wasn't the first time Aaron had popped a leg or head off a Barbie but it was the first time the parts could not be put back together due to it being cheaply glued together.  

 Jane was so distraught and I knew it was more my fault for buying such cheap toys knowing Aaron the Destroyer lives here.   Once Jane was safely on the bus off to school I told Aaron he needed to go buy Jane another Anna and Elsa.   At the store I was amazed that he was totally focused on getting Jane an Elsa and Anna and didn't care or ask for toys for himself.  We found the "Disney" Brand ones on the shelf quickly paid for them and was back in the car in a flash.  All the way home Aaron held the 2 boxes and looked at them saying "Jane--Anna"  "Jane--- Elsa".    It was priceless when Jane ran through the door after school.  Aaron in full speed ran to meet her at the door saying "Jane, Jane, Elsa, Elsa".  He took her hand and led her to the table where they were sitting so proud to replace them.    Jane picked up the boxes and said "Oh they are so pretty and they even have shoes". 
 

 On a side note can you tell which one came from a knock off China toy store and looks a little Asian? 

A New Pair of Eyes!!

6 year old JANE

Jane is so proud that her birthday is the day after Christmas.  She even told me to wrap her present in Christmas paper.  The night before her birthday she asked me "what time was I  born" so I told her her birth story and said "Around 10AM".  The next morning she continued to ask me what time it was to see if she had officially turned 6 yet.   She got so giddy when I told her it was after 10 and she was now 6.   The next day we invited cousins to come play with us at Trafalga and then join us for pizza and cake at our house.  Bart decided only the best for Jane so he ordered 5 Papa John's pizza's to go.  Jane also wanted a simple chocolate cake this year with the rainbow sprinkles on top that her Primary teacher gave her a while back that went with a lesson. 

 

I love every ounce of my feisty stubborn Jane.  (Although I often wish I wasn't the one that had to deal with her tempers.)   I have no doubt she'll become a very successful adult.  Ally told me the other day "Jane should be a doctor.  She's a go getter, really smart, stubborn and has quite the temper".    My favorite parts of 6 year old Jane is that she hasn't outgrown that extreme excitement about the little things and shows it so readily.    I hope she always does.   I also love that she still needs a lot of  tender affection and isn't against crawling up into my lap when she needs to be rocked to help her calm down.  

 

Good gifts

All season long I kept asking Jane what she wanted for Christmas.  I'd get responses like "I don't know" or my favorite "All I need is my family".  As much as I liked that one I knew she wouldn't feel the same on Christmas morning.  I finally took matters in my own hands and told Santa what I thought she might like.  Well a couple days before Christmas Jane told Santa she wanted the Lolaloopsy baking oven.  It's similar to an easy bake oven.  She all the sudden was set on this present and could not be diverted.   Santa called me in a panic saying the elves didn't have time to make one and get it on the sleigh before Christmas.  I hoped that Jane would not be disappointed with Christmas around the corner knowing that even Amazon prime couldn't get it to Santa that soon.  Just 2 days before Christmas I had a distinct thought to check online again although my previous attempts were futile.    I discovered that the Wal-mart close to my house had one left so I quickly called Santa and he sent an Elf right away to get it.     This became a lesson of a Child's faith to me.  Jane was so certain that Santa would deliver.  I was bracing for the lesson in life of disappointment but I'll never forget her face on Christmas that seemed to say with Confidence "Of course Santa would deliver why wouldn't he!"  The scripture Matthew 7:11 came to mind at that moment.  It says "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask".  Sometimes in life it's easy to think that our Heavenly Father sent us here to Earth to be tested and grow by life's disappointments.  I like this scripture because I think it shows that Heavenly Father really wants to give us our righteous desires.  Sometimes we just need to be like Jane who with full confidence asked Santa for her Lolaloopsy baking oven and then showed such faith that he would deliver.  

It's the Holiday season

Christmas time this year was crazy busy!  I felt like I was always on the go with no time to blog.  So here's a recap.

We started it all off with a trip to the Draper Park's annual tree lighting ceremony where the kids met Santa (see previous post), took a hay ride and saw the "Tree of Life"!!!

 

We also took part in the Draper's candy cane hunt.  I don't think we'll do that again.  I hate mobs of people.  My phone also died after this picture. 

Emily performed in her Orchestra Christmas program.

 My mom put together a neat 12 days of Christmas for the kids.  The 1st day was making my Grandma Morrell's sugar cookies in remembrance of the most giving lady we know.  Other days including Christmas stories, books, treats and little presents.  My kids looked forward to opening another sack each day! 

 My cute kids on the Sunday before Christmas

 Jane got into stealing my phone and taking pictures of our Christmas decorations.  Here's one of them.

 

Christmas eve day my kids and I spent the day with Raquel at her house while Bart was at work.  Then we met up at his parents house and went to the traditional sing along at their stake center, came back for some homemade pizza and then watched the kids open the yearly Pajama extravaganza.  After all the kids changed into their new p.j.'s reality of having  9 kids under the age of 9 became apparent.  Here's a picture of a bunch of grown up's trying so hard to make a nice magical moment.  Instead Emily started crying past the point of settling down because she couldn't be seen in "Sofia the First" P.J.'s since princesses are for little girls and she is not one of them. She flat out refused to be in the picture.   The little ones wanted their mom's.  Andrew wanted a baby to hold and picked Aaron.  Aaron didn't want anything to do with being held like a baby and of course obedient Max keeps smiling while Benny poses like spiderman.  In time this picture will bring back such fond memories of all the little's at Christmas time. 

Christmas morning was so magical for me.  We woke up around 7:30 to the glistening morning light of the first fresh fallen snow of the season.  My kids are at the perfect age for a joyous Christmas morning. My favorite was when they pulled the blanket off the Santa presents and got just what they expected!  

 

Emily's favorite present was the much anticipated calico critter house

Here's Jane getting Aaron excited for his new train table.  More to come about Jane's favorite present.  

 

Aaron's favorite present was this toy tool kit and tool box.  He's been measuring, hammering, and screwing all sorts of things around the house since.  

 

 The day after Christmas Bart got to work at home which meant as soon as he was finished he took the kids sledding on a hill next to the school. 

For New Years Eve we decided to spend the night along with Sarah's family at Brooke's house.  I got too caught up in the moment to take pictures of all of us playing minute to win it games but believe me it was hilarious to see grown men and kids try to move a cookie from their forehead to their mouths without using their hands.  The kids also really enjoyed building pyramids and taking them down.  Aaron was right in the action loving it each time the pyramid collapsed.  Here's a picture of the huge pyramid the girls build the next morning with all the cups.   

 The last couple days of the holidays were spent relaxing in Teasdale.  The day before we arrived Teasdale received 13 inches of new snow.  It was perfect timing to allow Bart to pull the kids on a sled in the field behind the four wheeler.    They also spent some time just playing in the snow.

To end all the family fun we attended Baby Bergun's baby blessing!!  It was a special day.  If ever there was an angel sent to Earth it would be this precious one.  She has the sweetest spirit that can be easily felt. 

Now if only the holidays could stay a little longer!!!