Snow Day!!!

We had a chance of snow the other night. Jadyn's teacher told her students to have their family members turn their pajamas inside out and it would snow. So, that's what we did...and IT WORKED!!!Funny thing is, it didn't even snow much. Just a couple of inches this time. School got cancelled anyway. They're kinda wimpy around here if you ask me. But, it's always fun to have a snow day with the kids. I made them blueberry pancakes and eggs for breakfast. Later that day, we met some of our favorite friends for lunch at CiCi's pizza. I really hate CiCi's pizza, but it's a good place to have a bunch of kids run around while the moms talk. It was fun. The kids played in the snow while I was making breakfast. We really aren't equipped for the snow since it only snows once a year here. Regan could only stand it for about 2 minutes. That's progress though. The older ones played for about 45 minutes, but then got too cold. At least they got to have a snow ball fight and have some fun in it before it melted.

It's great having to only deal with snow once a year! It's fun to play in, fun to look at while it's fresh...but such a mess!

Goodbye Pepto Princesses

I really wish I took some pictures of this room before I tackled it. When we bought this house, one of the rooms was painted in a Pepto Bismol colored pink and had decals of the Disney princess all over it. I really didn't care for the room. BUT, my Jadyn and Regan LOVED it. Now two and half years later, Jadyn finally got tired of the princess. So, I finally got to fix the room. YEAH! Here it is now..

I calmed the pink down and added some green to match the bedspreads.Put some cute vinyl lettering on the walls with some butterflies. Added some hanging thingys on the other wall. Pretty easy changes, but soooo much better! Now to tackle the Sponge Bob bathroom!

Locks of Love-ly change!

My girls kept telling me they wanted to cut their hair short. I didn't really believe them because they kept going back and forth on the idea and absolutely love their long hair. Brooke especially. She has never even wanted more than a couple of inches taken off her hair. I guess all the knots she has been getting in her hair was the deciding factor. They did it! They chopped their hair. I know they also really wanted to do it so they could donate it to locks of love. Since they know my best friend Elizabeth has lost her hair from the chemo she's getting, they have felt a bigger urge to help out. I know it really made them feel good. Here are the results.... Jadyn

Brooke..... if you look at pictures right below from before, you can see the dramatic change this was for her especially! Even Regan got into it, though her hair wasn't long enough. Thanks to my great friend Mary Berry for making these girls hair look so good. It turned out very cute!

Family Pictures

Just thought I'd share some of our family pictures for those who haven't been able to see them. We took them last November. Isn't it beautiful here in the fall? Married 14 years and still kinda like each other a lot! Isn't that the cutest little 4 year old face?

Jadyn Joy getting bigger at age 7.

Brooke Elizabeth age 8 almost 9.

Brennan Riley age 12. Handsome guy.

Together.

Our cute kids.

4 + 5 = 9

Jeff left last Friday to go to his Grandma's funeral in Utah. His sister Laurie also wanted to go, so I volunteered to watch her five children on top of my own 4. This is what I ended up looking like after the four days of having 9 children.....

Just kidding. I actually had a great time with them. The kids are really very good kids that are about my own children's ages. They all get along really well and love being together. I must say, it was interesting having 7 children doing homework every night. It astonished me to see how quickly we went through milk and fruit. And of coarse, no one wants to go to bed at night when they have their cousins there to talk with. But, thanks to Kaisey's help (she's the oldest), and a quick change of the sleeping arrangements, it went real well. We even managed to have family home evening without any problems! After they left, my house was A LOT quieter, emptier, and cleaner... but I kind of missed them. It was fun to be a mom with lots of kids.....temporarily.

And the fun continues

Our sweet Brooke turned 9 on December 27th. She wanted to have a birthday party at Incredible Pizza. I knew the place would be packed on her actual birthday since it landed on a Saturday. So instead, we had it on the 26th. She wasn't able to have all of her friends there since some of them were out of town, but she had a good time anyway. Uncle Ben and Aunt Holly were still here, so they came with us with their kids. She had a great time! The next day, on her actual birthday, we had a fun day shopping with her and eating her favorite foods. I guess when you have a birthday that close to Christmas, the fun never stops! Here's the group that was able to make it. Regan, Bailey, Hailey, Sarah, Brooke, Scott, Jadyn, Taelyn, Madison and Natalie. Since Incredible Pizza is kind of far away, we ended up having this group for almost 4 hours. Luckily, they're a great group of kids. She's blessed to have such good friends. We are blessed to have such a sweet daughter. Brooke has always been kind, sweet natured, a little sensitive and really the peace maker of our home. She is a beautiful girl inside and out. We are so blessed to be her parents.

Jeff had another week of vacation left at work. So, from Christmas day on, we've been able to have him home. We've had a fun week together. The weather finally got warmer and sunny. I was so grateful. I hate the cold. So, we tried to spend as much time together outdoors as we could. One day we went to the zoo. The next day we went hiking. Here's the girls with their walking sticks.

My boys.

Me, Brennan, Brooke and Jadyn enjoying our time in the sun! Luckily, we have a big park down the road with some amazing walking trails that go around a big lake. We got to jump over mud, walk on little bridges, cross over water on a log, and Regan got to learn how to pee in the forest. Luckily we learned from last time to bring toilet paper with us. Funny thing was, we dropped Jeff off at the airport today so he could go to his Grandma's funeral in Utah. On the way home, Regan needed to go to the bathroom. I told her she had to wait a while because we were on the freeway and not near a bathroom. She then said, "Well mom, just find me a tree!" Too funny! Overall, it was just so nice to be together as a family. No little friends. No phone calls. No interruptions. Just time together. Heaven!