House Guests!

(Note: this was typed in June- again just waiting on pictures)

I have been getting several comments from my house guests about not posting since April! Soooo....

My sister and her husband are here and my really great friend from So Cal. (more with them later)

Kristen and Rylie came up for the weekend. They are here to celebrate Rylie's 5th birthday by going to The Lion King! They arrived Thursday night, after Mackenzee was asleep. It was so cute when Mackenzee came down the next morning and saw Rylie she screamed and they ran to each other and gave each other a BIG hug. The funny thing is we had just seen Rylie the week before. It was reayy funny. Mackenzee showed off her house then it was off to play. They each have American Girl dolls (which Rylie brought along) so they have been playing with them a ton. Thursday afternoon we headed to the show. Mackenzee and Rylie along with their 3 American Girl dolls were dressed the same. The looks we got while walking from the parking garage were funny. Everyone just looked at the "5" girls and smiled or pointed at how cute they were.




Everyone loved the show (this is my 3rd time to see it and it was still just as good). During intermission we took the girls out to stretch their legs. While walking down our row all the ladys from the Red Hat Society were commenting on how cute the girls were. They even told Mackenzee and Rylie they were so impressed that their girls (the dolls) were so quiet during the show. And then were telling Kristen and I how they had American dolls too.

Mackenzee kept saying little Simba was her favorite. Rylie said something to Mackenzee about marrying him and Mackenzee turned bring red. And later that night Rylie was telling everyone else about how Mackenzee liked Simba and she was red again. We found out later she liked his curls! Wow Mac and I are in for a long road with her.


After the show we walked across the street to the capital building. I tried to explain that the Govenor and all the state officials worked there but it was a little confusing so I setted with "You know how the Preident of the United States works at the White House? Well the President of California works at the State Capital building." It at least stopped the questions but when they are studying government in school I hope it does not come back to bite me. :)



Next stop was tradition. Kristen and I always go to Cheesecake Factory when we go to a show. Mackenzee is very aware of this. When I told her they were coming for Lion King Mackenzee's comment was "We have to go to Cheesecake Factory too becuase that is what you do, right Mommy?" Like I am ever going to turn down the Cheesecake Factory! We had dessert only and then it was home for homemade pizza. We told the girls they had to eat dinner even though they already had dessert, they did pretty good.


Friday we just hung out and let the girls play. In the afternoon we went swimming at my neighbors pool. Mackenzee was doing great swimming and Rylie is a little fish, seriously! They have a waterfall you can jump off of into the pool and Rylie loved that. Mackenzee has jumped off it before but was being really scared so Kristen, who had not brought a suit, told Mackenzee if she jumped off she would jump in with all her clothes on. Well a half hour later Mackenzee said she would do it. Then twenty minutes later she finally did with Kristen holding her (and after I was coming over to just throw her in). My camera died because it took her sooo long! Luckily we had my sisters video camera rolling. (Another note we got Mackenzee swimming with out the floaties the next week. I am not a fan of them but after last summer at the water park she wont take them off!)


Then Friday night we went to the community theater to see Mulan. It was an all children cast (ages 6-13), and was pretty good. The girls and dolls loved it. The little girl who played the grandma nailed the part and was so funny. The Huns came in through the audience as did the soldiers at one point. I think it kind of freaked out Mackenzee and Parker. Kristen was serenaded by a 10yr old, quite funny.




Saturday Kristen and I did a little shopping before they had to fly home. She went with me to get curtains for my living room. And some shorts at H&M. It was great being able to chat without kids. I seriously had so much fun with her and I know Mackenzee had a blast with Rylie. They are such great friends and we are so lucky they were able to come up and spend some time with us (and celebrate Rylie's bday)!

I just realized no pict of Kristen and I, oh well next time...

School is out!

(Note: this post has been written since the week school was out- just waiting for pictures)

I can not believe we have been out of school for 2 months! Mackenzee will be a 1st grader, wow time flies!

We will miss her teacher, Mrs. Pendleton, very much. She was great with Mackenzee and helped her to learn so much. Mackenzee was very sad when she realized she would not have her as a teacher next year in 1st grade.

The last week of school was so fun. They had Monday, Memorial Day, and Friday, teacher work day, off. They celebrated the summer birthdays by having a party for all of them. I was able to help in the classroom for an entire day, that was a blast. While the kids were making a special "thank you" for their parents (and I had to not pay attention to that part), I worked with them on some end of the year fun. I had them close their eyes and draw a picture. Then we all laughed at how silly they pictures look. I explained to them a little about abstract art. It was so fun to see how excited they were to tell and show Mrs. Pendleton about abstract art!

The last day of school they did a little program of several songs they had learned throughout the year. After each child gave their parent a flower to thank them for their help. Very cute and of course the kids gave the teachers a thank you too.

Before the last day of school:


Singing to parents:















Mackenzee and Mrs. Pendleton

Where does the time go?

I still have not figured out how to use my new computer to download pictures. I can get them on there but dont know where they go after they are there. Trust me for a computer person this is sooo frustrating!!! Once the kids are back in school I will sit down and set it all up. My blog list has become so long it is crazy!!! Lets just say I officially hate VISTA. Okay done complaining. :)

Although some days I cant wait for school to start I have enjoyed having the kids home. Where did the summer go? I cannont believe M will be in 1st grade, all day school! And P will be in preschool. E and I will get to hang out together. Wow I have not had only 1 at home since M and that was 3.5 years ago, what to do?

Funny Conversation with P

P: "Can I watch a movie?"
Mac: "Let's see what Mommy has planned for today."
P: "NOOOO I know what Mommy has planned, its cleaning!"

This is while my sister was in town and they both started laughing.

A boy can never have too many swords, right?

Funny Conversation with E

Me: "Is daddy a boy or girl?"
E: "Boy!"
Me: "Is mommy a boy or girl?"
E: "Favorite!"
Me: "Is Parker a boy or girl?"
E: "Mean!"

By this time I was laughing to hard. Man is she cute!

Parker turns 3!

***I am posting a lot so if you have not been here for a while please scroll down there are 3 more new entries***

Parker turned 3 on Jan 4th. I can not believe how fast time flies. It is a tradition in our family to have doughnuts on your birthday. Since his birthday was on Sunday Mac went out Saturday night and got them. It was a great surprise to Parker (and Mackenzee).



We also made mini- cupcakes for his nursery class at church. He missed the cut off for Primary by 4 days!!! It is probably a good thing though because I dont think he is ready. He was really excited to celebrate with his class and the cupcakes (unfrosted) were a hit!

For his dinner he wanted pizza. So on Monday night we went out for pizza. Parker was so excited. He is in love with Buzz Lightyear (3 pairs of pjs and 3 t-shirts not to mention a blanket and several more Buzz things) so he wanted a Buzz party. It was not his year for a BIG party because 1) we didnt know two many people his age and 2) he had a party last year for his 2nd Bday. Thursday we had our great friends (and Parker's best buddy) come over for cake and ice cream. Even though it was not a huge party I wanted to find a Buzz balloon for him. No luck and it was too late to order it online. So we settled with a Buzz cake. I think it turned out quite well.





Then it was time for presents.
He loved the eyepatch that Marco had picked out especially for him and the green car. It is so sweet Marco pays attention to detail of Parker's favorite color.

All the kids and Parkers gifts. Mac and I got him a tool set so he can "help" daddy with fixing up the house. It has come in handy more then once.
We are truly blessed to have Parker in our family. Although some times he drives us crazy he is the sweetest boy I know. He is so protective and caring twords his sisters it is really sweet. He is also very creative and athletic. Parker is so much fun to be around. His bright blue eyes and smile can light up the room and pull at your heart.

Gymnastics Holiday Show

If you have not checked back recently I am posting again (got our new computer) so be sure to scroll down so you dont miss anything.

Parker and Mackenzee had their Holiday show in December. Here are a few pictures from it. As a side note Parker quit gymnastics and informed me last week he wants to start again on Monday. We will see how it goes. He does not like change and the teacher was gone for a few weeks so he stopped going out there even though he loved doing it.

Mackenzee and her old teacher (she has since moved up):

Posing on the big beam:

"Sledding" down the hill:
Parker and his bestest Dude or Buddy (depending on when you ask him) Marco


Going down the hill

Swinging on the rings with his teacher:
Jumping on the Trampoline:

Climbing out of the pit:
Here is Frosty. He come out at the end of each show and the kids can get their pictures with him. Mackenzee waited in line until it was her turn and then freaked out. Parker would not even wait in line. I asked him to take a picture with his teacher and he thought it was going to have to be with Frosty and would not do it. Oh well in their defense he is kind of crazy looking.

Where to start...

If you have not checked back recently I am posting again (got our new computer) so be sure to scroll down so you dont miss anything.

I guess I will start with Christmas break since that is where I left off. My sister and brother both got up early and for once my kids slept in. I swear when you want them to sleep in they NEVER do. After chatting for a while (and watching a Christmas movie on ABC family.com) with my sister and brother my kids finally got up. The rule is no presents until you are in you Christmas PJs. We had to force Parker into his but he did it (now he wears them every night for the past 4 months and I have to get them washed and dried before the night so he can wear them again).

Here is a picture of the tree before everyone came down:
Daren, Eliza and Courtney's Santa gifts:

Parker and Mackenzee's Santa gifts:

Mac and Aimee's Santa gifts:
Mackenzee's gift from Santa was a HUGE surprise. She had wanted an American Girl Doll since we went to NYC in August and went to the American Girl Restaurant. She wanted it to look like her. Let's just say it was a little bit of Christmas magic. She was so excited. She had asked Santa to bring it to her at our church Christmas party and Santa had said he was working on it. Mackenzee told us Christmas morning she knew he would bring it.

Here is Parkers opening one of gifts, swords:
Eliza opening her baby doll (that she sleeps with every night):

Mackenzee opening her Fancy Nancy stuff:


Daren thought he would be funny and wrap Courtney's gift in several layers, add heavy books and weights to her gift. Here she is
There were several more layers I didn't include. And after al of that it was a DVD!


After the opening of gifts we took the picture with all of our stuff.

Eliza:

Parker:

Mackenzee:

Daren:

Courtney:
It was so nice to have family here. I think that is one of the best gifts I could have had. Another amazing gift we got as a family is the family history of my great grandpa (my mom's mom's father). It was really fun to go through and read about his history. Thanks Aunt Jane for doing this!

The rest of the day we kind of bummed around, watched movies and played games. After the kids went to bed we played CLUE with Court and Daren. It was so much fun and we stayed up so late the next few nights playing. It was a great day!

And I am back...

It has been a long 4 months without a computer. Our new one arrived today and we (Mac and I) are so excited. No more borrowing Mac's laptop, yeah!

This will be short but I will post more this next week.

We are all doing great. I will now be able to send out Christmas cards (computer crashed before I could print out the labels and get letter done) only 4.5 months late, sorry. So much for finishing them early!

Here are a few pictures of the last little bit (I know the families are asking to see what my kids look like now):

Parker at the zoo waiting for the train

Eliza with her hair done in the bath


Us in San Fransisco

Mackenzee at this great place we went to for Spring Break


Can you guess Parker's favorite color? At the train museum.

Easter Sunday cheesing it up