Birthday Heaven

Billy turned 3 in January. He and I went out on a little date, so dad could set up his birthday present. I asked Billy what he wanted for his birthday and he told me Sprite and ice cream. 

I was expecting a toy, but all right I can do those things.

So I took him to Wendy's. He got a chocolate frosty and a Sprite.

Let me tell you....HE was in heaven. He didn't even touch the chicken nuggets. He went from the sprite to the frosty, to the sprite to the frosty.

Those are his two favorite things in the world!

Eat your heart out Monkey!

Shopping with Billy

I LOVE shopping with Billy! When I get to the check out counter and load all my groceries onto the conveyer belt, I always find little surprises that I know I didn't put in the basket.

Some of these things consist of:

Jelly Belly's

Gum

Candy Bars

Hangers

Silly Putty

Toys

Birthday Cards

It all depends on where I go throughout the store, but I will always get a little feeling of joy when I am emptying my basket, wondering what treasures I might find.

My New Maid

Soooo.....I decided to hire a maid!

I mean, it's really hard keeping the house clean with 4 kids... there's a mess every time I turn around.

I mainly hired him because he's so good lookin' and I love looking at his muscles flex when he vacuums the 

rug!

Ode to Sophie

S-O-P-H-I-A

S: SWEET IN EVERY WAY

O: ON TOP OF EVERYTHING

P: POOPY IS HER FAVORITE WORD

H: HUNGRY, HUNGRY, HUNGRY

I: IRRESISTIBLE

A: ALWAYS MOVING, ALWAYS GOING

Sacrament Moment

We were late to church today as usual, but today, we were late enough to miss the sacrament.

When we sat down, all the kids wanted some of the fruit snacks that Sydney brought to share with everyone. She told them all that they couldn't have any until after the bread and water.

I thought it was so cute, because that is what I tell them when I bring a snack.

I leaned over and told her it was okay because we were late and we had missed the sacrament.

She proceeded to tell me that it's very bad for us to miss the sacrament.

I got all choked up because she was understanding the importance of taking the sacrament, but then she said, "because now we don't get a drink of water!"

I just started laughing.

Ok, back to the drawing board for mom!

LOST

Finally, the season premier of LOST is on tonight. For all of you LosT lovers, you know what I am talking about. You know the show that goes nowhere and you don't know what it's about, but it keeps you hooked year after year. 

I was trying to narrow my tv shows down to 2 a week, but I just couldn't do it. So I am left with:

24

LOST

The Office

American Idol

The Bachelor (which I have to watch cuz it's a continuation from the Bachelorette last year, and I mean the guy really does deserve to find love!)

All Aboard The Billy Express

Billy's Mommy made this cake for him!

Happy 3rd Birthday Morning Monkey

Billy loves trains!

This is what he got for his birthday, which his parents are now starting to 

regret as they find pieces

all over the floor.

The Fish's and the Read's

Billy turned 3 and he had a Thomas birthday gathering. I can't believe my little boy is already 3. He'll be going to preschool soon and won't want to cuddle anymore. Here are a few pictures from his birthday.  I made this awesome cake for him. All the kids loved it. It took me about 5 hours to make and them 3 minutes to destroy and eat. Sophia even got to it before we sang Happy Birthday. She felt it was her duty to taste before I served it to everyone to make sure it was ok to eat. Sweet Sophia.

I also need to note on this blog that Sierra has betrayed her mother by befriending a cockroach!

I walked into her room last night and she was talking to a cockroach and describing her life to it and explaining how to do things. For 30 min. she talked to the gross thing and wouldn't let me get rid of it. When it moved she chased it all over the room and told it not to leave. 

The roaches are getting smarter in their war craft. They are making friends with my children so I won't be able to kill them. I have to admit it's quite smart!

But in the end mommy's one true alliance, the dad, grabbed it and flushed it and Sierra freaked out and cried like it was the end of life as she knows it. But that was easily ratified by looking at pictures of puppy's on google and talking about one day having a dog! 

Our little, quaint Christmas

We returned home from Orlando on the 23rd, which gave me the 24th to get everything ready for Christmas day. Our main gift was Disney World, and we knew the kids would be getting gifts from friends and grandparents, so we decided to buy them each one thing. We hadn't even gotten a Christmas tree yet.

Rewinding a day, the day before we left Orlando, J and I wanted to do something to help the kids feel the Christmas spirit of giving, since we were only playing the whole week before it was Christmas, and believe me there was so much to see and do, we didn't have time to stop for 5 minutes, as soon as we got home we were in bed and asleep.

So the last day we were there we told the kids we would take them to Target and they got to pick out one toy that they wanted, and then we would take it to a child who wasn't getting anything for Christmas. At first I thought it might be hard for them to do and was kind of mean because they are too little to understand, but when we got to the store, I was more hopeful that they could understand the purpose.

Sierra had the hardest time. I knew what she really wanted, so I knew her weakness. I didn't know what toy the other kids were as passionate about as Sierra is about an iDog. Plus there is previous history about one she had and traded at school, a lesson of choice and accountability she learned the hard way.

She got excited about the iDog at Target thinking she would keep it, but then realized she couldn't give it away so she told us all she had to do was pick out something she didn't really want and it would be easy to give away. Then we had to explain if she didn't really want it, then why would another 6 year old girl want it. We wanted her to give another child something that she really wanted for Christmas. We made her get the iDog and Billy picked out a Buzz Lightyear (which he is really into these days) and he was excited about sharing his toy with another little boy. He kept telling me he wanted to share. Sydney was the same way.

Sierra cried and whined and played with the toy all the way to the shelter. But at the last 5 minutes, I think she finally got it and her whole attitude changed and she realized it was something she could be happy and excited about and feel that spirit of. I was so proud of all 4 of my kids who walked in with new toys and laid them by the Christmas tree, to then walk away from them so another child would be blessed with them.

Sydney was a little sad when we left because she thought we were going to the children's homes and she wanted to meet and play with them.

While in Target I followed behind with a separate basket and grabbed each of the toys that they picked out for the shelter. A trick I learned from my mom:)

So come Christmas morning they all though they had given away the one thing they really wanted so they weren't expecting to receive it. Sierra was so excited to learn that she was blessed with something she wanted because she had sacrificed something she had wanted to give a blessing to someone else.

We picked up a Christmas tree on the way home from Orlando and did all our touch up shopping on the 24th and had a simple, fun Christmas. Minus the snow:)

Sierra's News

Sierra has lost her 4 front teeth. She needs dentures! And the Tooth Fairy is going broke.

She has also finally learned to ride her bike without training wheels. She was tired of being the only kid on the street who had training wheels. We had worked with her for a while so she could ride alone, but something just wasn't right. Before we left for Florida she decided it was time. I found her in the garage taking the training wheels off with a wrench because she was tired of waiting for dad to do it. I didn't think she would accomplish this task. Before I knew it she had them off and was in the street trying to ride. I let her go a couple of times, but she couldn't quite get it. It looked like her seat was a little too high, so I lowered her seat and she took off riding alone. I couldn't believe it! It was amazing.

Our Disney World Chrismtas

I am really behind in updating our life events.

So much has happened in the last month. Since we now live only 6 hours from Orlando and we get a military discount, we decided to take advantage of a trip to Disney World. We heard it was amazing at Christmas with all the decorations and lights.

So we drove our 5th wheel down there and camped for 7 days. It was an amazing trip.

J and I learned a few lessons:

1. With kids this young, we will never have a vacation, even when we are on a vacation. It was a lot of hard work.

2. We really do have a great little family. As much work as it was, the kids were actually well behaved and enjoyed each other so much.

3. When driving on several buses over 30 minutes, don't ever forget the tickets!

4. Christmas is definitely so commercialized. We heard one person talk about the birth of Jesus.

5. Ariel, The Little Mermaid, is really not worth waiting 2 hours in line to see, I don't care how real the kids think she is!

There were lots of falls, bumps, tired legs, happy faces, laughing giggles, and rocking out in our trailer on our trip. Even Sophie enjoyed it more than we thought she would.

There are too many pictures to post on here, so I will have to send them in an email.