The kids were excited for the first day of school.  We took them to the Gateway last Saturday (on our way home from Bear Lake) and let them pick out an outfit for the first day of school.  Yes, they wore sweatshirts.  No, it wasn’t too warm.  It’s cold and windy in the morning where we live.  I did something I’ve never done before during this particular shopping trip.  I put price out of my mind and let the kids pick what they wanted.  The boys were content with $5 shirts and $8 sweatshirts.  YAY!  Janette took one look at the clothes at Old Navy and said she didn’t like them.  So, we went across the street to “Justice”.  They should call the store “Rip Off”.  But, she is my oldest and I was only buying her a shirt (I had already purchased jeans for her prior to this trip) so I let her pick whatever she wanted.  Let’s just say that her flimsy little sweater cost more than any piece of clothing I’ve bought since I’ve been married.  But, she was soo happy and that’s what counts.

We also went to get her some new jewelry to go with her new outfit. I think I’m going to enjoy this having-a-shopping-partner thing.

Jason is starting first grade and is excited to go full time.  He wants to do the school lunch thing but we decided that with three in school this year it would just be too expensive.  We’ll have to see though.  With all the little hands around her, their lunches might disappear too soon.

Kimber wanted to get in the photo action.  So here’s a cute one of her.  Isn’t she a doll.  Also, the first day the kids were at school it was like BAM! Kimber is a talker.  She is really shining now that there aren’t a billion kids around to talk for her.

Logan always loves going to school.  He always has.  It helps that almost every single boy in the neighborhood is in his class.  Hopefully that won’t be too much of a distraction.

How old does Jason look in this photo?  Holy cow time flies.  Oh, and he decided that he wants to go by Remy now (it’s his middle name).  He actually asked me the other day how much it cost to legally change your name.  He wanted to change it to Sonic.  He’s wanted to be called Sonic for a couple of years now.  Funny kid.  When I told him he could go by Remy he was happy with that.  We’ll see if he will stick with it.  He’s got to get a little better at correcting people if he really wants to go by it.  It will take some time.

So, it will just be Lex, Kimber and I this year. I think we’re going to have some fun. I’m going to be able to do some things with them that I got to do when I just had Janette and Logan. I went to the mall today with kids! It was the first time in ages! I’m looking forward to many more great adventures this year with them before Lex has to go off and join the rest of the crew next year.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZMPxhfi30E

She had a lot of fun at Discovery too.    She thought that this mouse hole was pretty cool. 

If only real mice were this cute.

She especially loved doing news reports.  She was very good.  I think we may have a newscaster on our hands, or at least a public speaker.  She has really good diction when she wants to.

She was also excited to ride on this fake horse.  I need to look into getting her riding lessons.

The next day was Easter.  They all had lots of fun getting their baskets and at the multiple events the grandparents threw for them.  It’s so nice to live so close to family.

Then it was time for her birthday.  She turned the big 1-0.  I can’t believe it!  It seriously can’t be a decade since I became a mom.  Wow.  My camera battery died right before her party so all I have are iphone photos.

We came home and opened presents and then Jared had to go to Priesthood session.  Since we were gone all day I didn’t have a chance to a cake.  We ended up making some cookies and putting some candles in them to blow out.  I let the kids eat as many cookies as they wanted which they loved.  Usually when we make cookies they get a couple one day and a couple the next.  I’m pretty sure each of them ended up with about 6.  (They’re mini cookies)

The next day was Easter.  Logan with his Easter basket.

Logan had his first Pack Meeting this month as well.  It was a Pine wood derby.  He did pretty well, getting first in one heat and 2nd in most others.  He came in 4th overall we suspect.  The set up of the track was pretty cool.  The computer  calculated the times of all the cars in all 6 lanes.  The worst time was thrown out and then the average of the rest were taken to create the winners.  They even had a printer there to print out each kids times and stats.  I was impressed.  This track is a Brother in our wards and he is not messing around!

This was Logan about 2 weeks ago.

This is Logan Today.

He lost his front tooth this week.  Finally!  It’s been hanging in there Forever.  He is so handsome in his new suit and so excited to get baptised.  It was a very cool day and was full of emotion for me.  Logan was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church today.  We had lots of family come to support him in this decision and we feel so blessed to have so much support so close.  Logan really appreciated the love that he has been shown.

We were the last ward to do baptisms and so the water was cold.  You could tell on his face afterward that it was pretty cold.  He told Jared that he was kinda looking around at all of the people watching him and then all of the sudden he was being dunked.  It caught him by surprise.

He was baptized and confirmed by his father.  I am so grateful that I have the priesthood in my home and that I am married to a man that respects his priesthood and is worthy to exercise it and perform these ordinances on my children.  I love you Jared.

Of late I have been waking up around 7:30 a.m. and been in a mad rush to prepare not only myself, but also my kids for the day. It feels like I jump out of bed straight into my office chair where I stare at the screen wondering what I’m going to do.

So it is now time to fix this problem and become an early riser again. One of my favorite blogs to read is called Zen Habits by Leo Babauta. I don’t subscribe to everything he writes but have found a number of really good information about organizing life. He wrote a couple of blog posts on waking up early back in 2007 that I believe will help in this endeavor. Taking points from these posts I plan to do the following and report on how it helps or how it has run me into the ground.

Out of the 9 items Zen Habits mentions I think the following will work well for me:

1. Go to bed earlier. Right now I function 100% by going to bed around 1 – 2 a.m. and get up at 7 – 7:30 a.m. My goal is to have at least 2 hours to myself in the morning which  will put me going to bed at midnight. This should be doable.
2. Don’t make drastic changes. I find this to be true with everything you do so I’ll try to adjust by 30 mins a week for a month.
3. Put your alarm clock far from your bed. Since my alarm is my iPhone I can set it to  not ask for snooze. Hopefully this will force me to deal with the infernal beeping in the morning.
4. Get out of the bedroom as soon as you shut off the alarm. This has to be done quickly to avoid the wrath of Kathryn
5. Allow yourself to sleep in once in awhile. This use to be impossible for me but as I said it has become a bad habit that I need to kick.
6. Enjoy the break of dawn. I love the break of dawn. Now that I’m getting my lawn in I hope to spend some personal time on the back patio with my iPad planning the day.

I’ll let you know how this goes.

With the help of my very talented SIL Kim, I was able to get the cake done in time for the party.  If it wasn’t for her I’d still be rolling out the fondant for the bottom layer.

I used a couple of different fondants.  The bottom layer of white was MMF (Marshmallow Fondant), the two top layers were actually rolled buttercream.  All of the colored fondant was also MMF.

The MMF was definitely easier to work with.  It held together well which allowed it to be rolled thinly and still be able to cover well.  The rolled buttercream tasted better but was difficult to work with and was kinda slimy.  But it made the cake sooo moist.  I really don’t like cake at all, but I had two pieces that night and leftovers the next day, which NEVER happens.  Go ahead, ask my husband.

The moist cake may have to do with a couple of other things I did with the cake mix.  I added a banana cream pudding mix in with the cake mix (it was the only non-chocolate pudding I had on hand) and I substituted milk for all of the water.

I was able to borrow the cake pans from a neighbor and she had lots of cool tips for me as well.

It was fun to do.  Kinda like play dough for adults.  And my kids loved it.  They even at the fondant.  Kimber actually got into the cake before we served it, just so she could eat the fondant.  LOL!  I’m not sure that I’ll ever do anything this big again but it was fun to do once.

I mean, who wouldn’t want this little face to last so much longer?

She is so full of laughter, which just makes me laugh.  And she is so dramatic.  When she cries, she always does this hand over the mouth to muffle her screams.  It’s good because then I don’t have to.    But seriously, I don’t know where she learned it but it’s been one of those things she done almost from the womb.  How cute is that?

Since we’ve had a few days of warmer weather, I’ve allowed her to go outside and play for a little while.  She loves riding this big wheel.  I think we got this for Logan when he was 2.  Best investment in a toy EVER.

She has also figured out the ways of the playground.  She loves the slide and will go down it without any help.  She also loves the swing.  The higher the better.  I love that she is such a thrill seeker, but it’s also a little scary as well.  She has no fear.

She is our little princess.  She loves shoes and almost always has to have a pair on.  She won’t take a nap unless she has shoes on.  She freaks out if we get in the car and she doesn’t have shoes on.  (I wish the rest of my kids were as mindful)  She is also very particular sometimes which cracks me up.

She loves getting her hair done.  I sit her up on my counter and comb and condition and scrunch, all the while she is brushing her teeth.  She loves this little ritual and I really hope that doesn’t change too soon because I love it too.

For her birthday dinner we had spaghetti.  She obviously had a good time.  She is pretty good about eating what’s put in front of her, but does have her moments of stubborness.  Like, she doesn’t like waiting for food to cool.  If we tell her it’s hot, that’s it, she’s done.  She won’t even try it.

She has started talking a LOT more in just the last month.  She’s very bossy.  LOL!  She loves to say STOP!  Mine! and No, no, no, no, bababa dada lada Oh Oh Oh.  For example, whenever we’re in the car, Lex will spell words and ask me what they are.  He’ll see words on the side of a truck or billboard or whatever.  So he’ll spell it out.  And immediately Kimber will correct him. “No, no, no, no, bababa dada lada Oh Oh Oh”  Apparently she knows the correct way to spell EVERYTHING, and it always consists of at least 3 O’s.  She’s so adorable.

Kimber getting her traditional amount of dollars per year old, from my parents.

Kimber loves to play on my iPhone.  She will sometimes come into our room in the morning, climb in bed, snuggle under the covers and then demand the iPhone.  So, I got her a laptop of her very own that she can play on.  She was very excited to turn 2 and has been practicing doing her two fingers for a month now.

She loves animals.  One of her first words was “Shadow” the name of our cat.  Even though the devil has a claim to that cat’s soul, Kimber still loves it.  She even loves stuffed animals.  I knew that a Zui Zui pet would be perfect for her and I was right.  She thought it was the coolest thing ever.  Fortunately, my mom knew what I was getting and got her some accessories so we could have lots of fun.  That is, if we could ever keep the darn thing in it’s enclosure.  Everyone wants to hold the hamster instead of letting it do it’s thing.

I got Kimber this Princess castle because it was on major clearance.  I love a good deal.  She loves it and I love that the other kids love it as well because they will play with Kimber and keep her occupied and out of trouble.  (I didn’t get any pictures, but imagine fruity pebbles EVERYWHERE!  A brand new whole bottle of clear vanilla poured out on the carpet.  I could go one but then I’d have to go ground myself for not watching her.)

It took her awhile but she finally got both of the candles out all by herself.  She was so cute.  We all cheered when she finished and she looked at us like we were crazy.

Kimber looking to overcome these flames.

My parents brought over some books that my mom found in the basement.  Oh boy were my kids excited!

I was pleased that they were all so excited about having new books to read.  They are all pretty good readers for their age and they run out of books so fast so this was good for them.

Janette’s been reading pretty much non-stop since then. 

Isn’t that cute?

It was probably the easiest Valentines I’ve ever done.  The hardest part was finding lollipops.  Even these dumdums were hard to find.  They were a big hit though.  The kids’ friends loved them.  Lex enjoyed giving his to his cousins and Kimber had fun giving hers to her Grandmas.

For Valentines day Jared made me breakfast.  It was from Pioneer Woman’s cookbook.  I think Jared loves that book as much as I do.

It made me gag though.  Sorry honey, I’m just not a rawish egg type of person.

But then he made up for it by making this totally yummy cheesecake dish from the Magic Bullet recipe book.  NumNum.

I made a version of Outback’s Alice Springs Chicken for dinner.  It was super yummy but we all felt like we were going to have a heart attack afterward. I forgot to take any pictures of it.

We then went up to my parents to celebrate and so we could all trade Valentines.  My mom puts so much effort into her gifts for the kids.

They all love it!

This year she made headband/earwarmers for the girls.  They were so cute.

Logan’s theme was “Love Bug”.  We were going to do a paper mache spider but being the wholly unprepared mother that I am didn’t realize that paper mache is at least a three day project.  They were lucky that we got the boxes done on time as it was.  We got home around 9:30 that night (more on that to come).  Logan enjoyed putting all the bugs on his box.

Jason also knew exactly what he wanted for his box.  His theme was “Nursery rhymes”.  He did Humpty Dumpty. I had envisioned an awesome paper mache egg whose head cracked open for those to put valentines in but ran into the same problem as above.  This turned out cute though.

It was also Jason’s 100th day at school.  They were asked to come to school with 100 things on their shirt.  We went with heart stickers since we had that on hand.

We’ve been having some technical problems, but I think we’re good to go now, so expect some catching up.