Well, I swear you're being a smart tush

On Christmas Eve, I asked the kids to grab some wet wash rags to clean up their mess after making cookies. Genna quickly returned with her rag, crowing about having just scared Elijah. (it seems this is something she attempts often, but rarely with success) Isaac then asked if he could scare Genna, and I told the children that no one was to scare anyone because Micaiah was sound asleep. Moments later (literally, moments), Bella suddenly screams at the top of her lungs. Upon questioning, she confesses that she was trying to scare someone. Beyond frustrated, I responded "Didn't I just say not to scare people? I swear I JUST said that!" Bella then retorted with "well, I swear I JUST forgot!" Oh, this girl is gonna be fun!!!

mmm-K

We decided to move all the wrapped presents out to the tree last night, so we wouldn't have to do it all on Christmas Eve like we normally do. (we have a lot of other things to finish tonight!) Bella was so thrilled at the sight of all the gifts she said "I can't wait to open my presents. I'm so excited, my legs are shaking and my nose is like a cherry!!!" So, I guess she feels like Santa Clause or???

morbidly faithful?

Last night Bella wanted Elijah to play with our Fisher Price Little People Nativity set with her, but Elijah wanted to color instead. Bella continued to ask, and Elijah continued to say no. Finally, in a last hail mary attempt, she grabbed the angel and said in her sweetest angel voice "if you don't play with me, I'm going to have to kill you, and then you'll have to play with me in Heaven." Let's just say it all together now: what the heck?!?

A boy and his trucks

It looks like Micaiah has already discovered his love of cars and trucks, and is ready to play with the big boys!

Pictures, finally!

This was actually finished a bit ago, but at the time I didn't have a camera to take pictures! Ok, so this is my first attempt at a quilt and there are a million mistakes, but here it is anyhow:



I used 6 different fabrics, sewed 9 patch blocks, which were then cut into 4's, corner turned in, nad sewed back together.



The back is a gold fabric the girls picked out, that has a light shimmer.

My favorite part about the quilt is the fact that it gets used! Micaiah plays on it, Genna wraps up in it to read, and as you can see, Nahshon naps with it.

a bunch of smirkers

Oh, I think I'm gonna have a house full of wise-crackers

D'lightful!

This year we decided to take the kids to Garden D'lights in Bellevue. I must say, this place was beautiful! Even though it was a bit cold (24 degrees the night we went!), it was so fun. Aside from the outside lights, they also had a building open were you could go get some coffee, get warm, and had a beautiful lighted "fish tank" display. They put so much detail into the light displays, it's hard to believe the admission is FREE! We all had a great time, and I would absolutely list this as a holiday must-do for anyone .

Mister Blue Eyes

He's his own antidote

People say laughter is the best medicine, and if that's true, thank goodness we have a true Isaac! He can be stubborn beyond belief at times, but as a boy whose name means laughter, he lives up to his name almost everyday!

While driving to Garden D'Lights in Bellevue, Jeremy took a wrong turn and had to turn around, which prompted the following from Isaac:

Hey dad, knock knock

who's there?

white

white who?

You need to go the white way dad!

Gotta love that little smarty pants! (especially since he still turns his R's to W's)

words from Bell-dizzle

After a fantastic evening at Garden D'lights, Snowflake lane, and driving around looking at Christmas lights, Bella announced as we walked in the house:



"What a night! We was trippin' fo shizzle"



I'm not even sure what to say about that

Why I don't 1-click

I like shopping on Amazon, particularly for movies, music, and books as I can almost always find the best prices with Amazon. One of the features Amazon offers is 1-click ordering. With this feature Amazon will save your credit card and shipping information, and rather than do the whole check out process, you can purchase your items in just one click of a button. Knowing there are always little curious hands around, I never turn on this feature, and recently was reminded of why that is such a good idea for me. One of the things I especially love about Amazon is that you can place things in your cart and watch the price. Every time you visit your cart, Amazon will tell you if your items have increased or decreased in price and by how much. Just the other day I signed into my cart to check prices on a couple things I have been watching, and suddenly see I have well over $300 worth of merchandise in my cart. I begin to sort through it and find TONS of Angelina Ballerina books and products. Yikes! Now, I am a fan of Angelina Ballerina, but I don't think we have any need for $300 worth of Angelina stuff! I have no idea which child did it (and honestly, it could have been any one of them as I can absolutely picture my boys thinking they are shopping for their sisters), but I know for sure I'm going to stick with my no 1-click policy.

Happy Birthday Elijah!

Well, I'm only about a month and a half behind in posting these! Elijah had a wonderful time turning 7, and here are some pictures from his special day:

He wanted a jungle animal theme, notice the balloons that say Elijah. He thought those were fantastic!

yummy cinnamon rolls and oranges for breakfast, his request

Nahshon getting into the party mood

What's this?......

a clock! He wanted a clock sooooo bad!

playing stick the tail on the donkey

Nahshon was not happy with his tail placement (#5)

at Rainforest Cafe, he loved it!



Nahshon was amazed by the animals.......



but freaked when the Rainforest Cafe mascot (a man in a giant frog costume) came around. Jeremy had to do this every time or Nahsh would scream




Genna taking it all in, in amazement






THE VOLCANO!!!!


This dessert is listed as "enough for two to share" Uh, more like enough for 12 to share!

new tools from Daddy. (these have come in quite handy!) He actually got more than is even pictured here; if you break it, he's ready to fix it!

The Terrainiac! This car is so awesome, he LOVES it!

A new bike from his brothers and sisters, he's a very blessed young man

Happy Birthday my wonderful Elijah!

Round 2!

Genna, adoring her Felicity doll, decided to purchase a friend for her. Earlier this week Sonali arrived, just in time for Thanksgiving. Once again she saved up allowance money and birthday money, and is very pleased with her new addition. Sonali is a limited edition that will be gone at the end of the year, and she is a beautiful doll. I don't have any pictures to post yet because I'm still waiting to get a new camera. (Jeremy?) Genna is very hopeful that for Christmas Santa will bring her Chrissa, who is Sonali's limited edition best friend doll. I guess we'll have to wait for Christmas to find out what Santa leaves for her......

The boy knows what he wants

On Thanksgiving, I told Isaac it was time to get ready to go. The poor thing is very allergic to my mom's house (animals), and was coughing/wheezing/crying. In between breaths and sobs though, he managed to say "can we take the food?" Hahaha! Spoken like a true man.

Very cute, two thumbs up!

I pre-ordered Santa Buddies from Amazon as an after dinner, Thanksgiving surprise for the kids. Since my kids are fans of the Air Bud movies, and recently became fans of Space Buddies, I figured they would like this too. I'm happy to report I hit it right on the nose! Santa Buddies is too cute, and the kids thought it was pretty funny as well. The message of the movie is simple: it is better to give than receive, and we should focus on the less fortunate rather than ourselves. You follow Puppy Paws (the child of Santa Paws, Santa's K9 best friend) and the buddies through their puppy antics as they save Christmas and bring joy to the cold hearted dog catcher. It is certainly a wonderful, family friendly addition to any Christmas movie library.

Figures!

Well, now that I have some sewing projects complete and ready to show off, as well as Genna's wonderful project she's working on for Micaiah, my camera breaks! I think one of my little ones dropped it, and it appears to be unfixable. Soooo, JEREMY, if you are reading this, I would be extremely appreciative of a replacement. We can't go through the holidays with no camera, now can we? ♥

Just a regular day out with dad

I'm glad Jeremy shares my philosophy on choosing our battles and letting the kids pick their clothes as long as they are weather and situation appropriate, otherwise I'd never get the chance to snap photos like this! Jeremy and Bella were heading out to the mall to just spend some time together and do a little Christmas shopping, so Bella decided to dress up for her special outing. They had a great time, and Jeremy even took Miss Sugarbuns to the Godiva store where they shared some truffles and she got her own Godiva rewards card. Certainly a memorable evening for them both!

Bella's turn!

This was actually a few weeks ago, but after Genna purchased Felicity back in August, Bella got motivated to buy her own American Girl doll.

delivery day and so excited

She's so proud of her pick!

♥ little girls and their dolls ♥

Happy Halloween!

For the past 3 Halloween's we've been very lucky with the weather. This year however, made up for the last 3 rain-less trick-or-treat nights!

Pictured here we have Hannah Montana, Aloha Bella, Noah (who should have brought his ark for all the rain), Noah's tiger cub, and IZ the scary dinosaur!

please take note of Genna's trick-or-treat bag, she sewed it herself!

Monkey man Nahshon refused to be in the group picture. (after refusing to put ANY clothes on, then refusing his costume, then refusing his shoes, then refusing his candy bucket, etc....)

Elijah's costume kept falling off because the bottom was SOAKING wet and the weight of the water drenched material kept pulling it down!

Trick or...... mail? Some people opted to leave their mailboxes open and stuffed with goodies for the kids instead of making them come to the door

After being sufficiently dumped on, it was time to head back to grandma and papa's for ice cream in their PJ's and a candy hunt down in the kid's rec room

Miss Sugarbutt is very happy with what she found downstairs

Hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween this year!