Fabulous Friday!

This summer, we've been having ourselves "Fabulous Fridays" where we do something (me and the kids) a little extra special.  I make sure they have my full attention and a lot of fun!  The last couple of Fridays have been spent at the Draper pool.  Today, it was at home.  I tried thinking of other places we could go, but I just didn't have it in me today.  I was struggling for energy.  So we stayed home, but that didn't mean it wasn't FABULOUS!!!  It started with a bike ride around the block.  The first time I've done that with all three kids riding.  The last time we went around our own block I pushed a stroller, so that should tell you... it's been awhile.  So that was new and FUN for them.  Then after, the bikes needed a "car wash" which meant squirting water so Jett was game!!!  The girls started out on board, but they quickly moved onto other things.  My boy loves the hose and any chance he can turn it on or squirt a water gun, he's on it.  So here he is going to town.  Isn't he cute?

I'm getting there...

I have finally finished making her shirt, I have made a headband to go with it and now I know how I'm going to do her hair.   My only last decision is where to take the darn pictures.  Am I sounding a little crazy?  Okay, I know I am, but when I'm the photographer, I can take my time and plan it out perfectly, right?  I remember stressing just about as much when I would take my kids into Kiddie Kandids (I cringe as I say their name).  So, for now cause this one is for a project I'm doing and because I think this cute little face of hers, is her to a tee... I'll share one.  P.S.  Thanks again Miss A !!


I also love this one of her...

Trying something new...

Brooke's third birthday was a few weeks ago and I haven't gotten around to taking her birthday pictures just yet.  I've been trying to come up with something fun, cute, different and age appropriate for her.  I haven't had any amazing ideas come my way.  To be completely honest, I am so sad about her hair, I could cry.  She was not blessed in that department, that's for sure.  To those of you who think, that is terrible to say, trust me you'd understand if you saw her hair up close and you had friends like I do with three year olds that have INCREDIBLE hair (I won't mention names, you know who you are and I'm envious).  In any case, I cringe when it comes time to do her hair.  There just isn't ANYTHING I can do.  So my mission has been to come up with a way to make her hair look as cute as she is.  Awhile back, a client of mine had four girls and their hair was in perfect ringlets.  WOW, I thought, she must have spent HOURS curling their hair for pictures.  She mentioned to me that it was incredibly simple and there was a keyosk in the Fashion Place mall that sold these curling irons.  So, remembering that, I decided to check it out.  I came home with one, if that tells you anything.  I thought she looked so cute with curls.  Something I thought I'd NEVER seen in her hair last for more than two seconds.  Today, I gave it a try... how would it look?

  I asked her so kindly, "Can I please take a picture of your curls?"  I'm sure you could guess her response from this picture!  And trust me this is all I got.  What do you think?

I Heart Faces photo contest ~Yellow~

I'll get to the rest of the YELLOW birthday pictures later, but for now... I had to enter this into this weeks contest (www.iheartfaces.com).  I mean, really?  Can I pass up an opportunity like this when Brooke's favorite, favorite color in the whole world is yellow?  So here's one from her yellow birthday day...

What was I thinking?

Friday morning, I was sitting on my couch, feeling a migraine coming on.  I'm sure it was a result of the several sleepless nights this week.  The phone rang, it was Suzanne.  She wanted to tell me that if we were going to take pictures of our kids at this new location, we had to do it tonight.  They were tearing the place down!  NO!!!  Ughh...!!!  You wouldn't believe it, but I waited out the symptoms of the migraine and went to work, ironing the girls dresses and doing their hair.  In the meantime Jett laid limp, sound asleep on the couch worked from a night of throwing up.  I couldn't believe I was doing this.  I didn't have an ounce of energy and really I was going to drag Jett off the couch, throw him in the car while I took pictures of the girls?  YEP!  Well, it turns out that Jett woke up after a good snooze wondering what was going on.  I explained that I wanted to take pictures of the girls so he was going to have to ride along in the car and just watch a movie.  "WHAT?  I want you to take pictures of me too!"  Okay, so after a second of looking at his sweet, extra pink cheeks and darling nap face, I said sure.  I grabbed the closest outfit to us out of the pile on the couch, threw some goo in his hair and off we went.  The weather was dark and dreary.  There wasn't a whole lot of light.  It looked as if it were going to rain on us any second.  What was I thinking, seriously!  Was I crazy?  Probably, but like Suzanne said, this was our only chance!  I got a few pictures, I even pushed for a few more at the end cause the kids were in such great moods.  It ended with another migraine.  I had to sit and wait in the car for several minutes until my sight came back so I could drive home.  You'd never guess Jett had been sick all night and you'd never guess that Brooke was about to have a night of throwing up herself.  I think come Saturday morning, I was on the brink of death.  After being up all night Thursday, two migraines Friday afternoon and then being up all night Friday night with Brooke, someone could have shot me and I doubt I would have felt it.  But who cares right?  Cause I got darling pictures of my kids sweet faces!
 

TEE-riffic!

Last night was Jett's first T-ball game.  He was adorable and smiled the whole way through.  I think it's safe to say he was on cloud nine.  For one, dad surprised us and got off work to come to the game and two he loves his new mitt.  He's been so anxious to actually use it in a game.  Seriously, nothing but smiles.  We cracked up at some of the other kids (I'm guessing first child children) who were so upset when they didn't get to the ball first or they didn't catch it like their dad told them to.  Jett just played, smiling the entire time!!!!

Little Pep talk before warm-ups begin...
 


Warming up (look at that smile).
 

Waiting to bat...


 It's your turn buddy!


Swing, batter-batter, swing...
 

Throw the kid out at first!
 

You're up again... (keep that tongue in your mouth!)
 

That's right, JUMP onto first base!
 

Now run to second (and smile while you do it).
 

Such concentration (but isn't he sweet?)
 

See, look at that adorable face!
 

Okay, back out in the field.  You've got him, throw him out!!!


But don't let that sweetness fool you, because when it comes to kisses during the game, he's sure to just wipe them off!
 

338 = $33.80

Call me crazy, but I've been waiting for this day for a long time.  We have been saving Box Tops around here for years (thank you Betty Crocker brownie mixes and Gogurt), knowing the day would come when we could turn them into our daughters school.  Well, that day has arrived, it's a competition. The contest is that one person from each grade will win a prize and then the class with the most will win a party.  I think we have a pretty good chance.  We better after spending two hours cutting the darn things out on the dotted line so we can glue them to a piece of paper.  In any case, win or lose we turned in 338 and the school will get $33.80 which is a great thing.

Pressing forward...

I know, I know... it's sad.  I haven't been great at blogging lately.  I have so many posts to post, but not likely that I'll backtrack, so pressing forward I will! 

So Easter is in two days right?  Well, Jett seems to have really grasped the concept of Resurrection.  Yesterday after watching a karate class (the one he'll start taking next week) he said to me, "If I die at karate, I'll just be resurrected and come back to life so, it's okay if I take karate mom."

Now onto my preparations for Easter.  One, is that a friend of mine brought over her girls Easter dresses and asked if I'd make some bows to match.  I'm always up for making things.  Even though I have a million other things to do... I figure I can do it.  So here they are.  I hope she likes them.

So task one complete.  Now onto task two and three.  Two is sew my girls' dresses and three is make something for them to wear in their hair.

Here is the before:

And be sure to check back to see the after (my girls in their dresses).

My Super Star!

Last week Sky was "Super Star of the Week" at school.  I found out only a couple days before, so like a crazy lady, I went to work looking for pictures to put on her poster that best described my Super Star!  I had Sky write down her favorite things while I searched my computer.  I found them, uploaded to the Costco photo center and then went and picked them up an hour later.  The next day we picked up some poster board and Sky and I went to work, cutting and pasting.  It was a fun little project and there is no doubt that she is a Super Star.

I had a hard time keeping her from playing with it.  She was so proud of her poster.  She did several practice runs of "presenting her poster" with us as her audience.  It was fun!

Happy New Year!

It's going to be a great year!  I just know it.  As some of you know, I love acronyms and here's something I've never shared, but I also love simple numbers (I know, call me weird).  Meaning: I like the numbers 1, 5, and 10 and multiples of 10.  I don't know why.  Maybe they are easier numbers for me to remember?  Maybe it's the only thing simple in my life?  Maybe it's because I was born on the 30th of the month.  Okay, so really, I don't know.  It's just how I am I guess.  Funny thing, I didn't get to pick my first daughter's birthday, but lucky for me she was born on the 15th.  The next child was born on the 1st and the third child on the 20th.  Doing good so far.  So long story short, it's 2010 and I KNOW just the fact that the number makes me happy, that this one is going to be fabulous!

It started pretty great bringing in the new year with friends and family.  Suzanne, you are awesome and thank you for having us over.  My family had a blast!  It's funny how now it's not just you and I that have become as close as family, but now our families are blending and becoming great friends.  It's perfect!

What mom wants for Christmas...

Neils has shared the story that when he was a little boy that anytime he'd ask his dad what he wanted for Christmas, his birthday, etc. his answer was always, "obedient children."  As a child I can imagine that was probably a sad, not so exciting answer to hear from a dad.  As a mother, I think it's funny.  Yesterday, I was sitting in my chair talking on the phone with my friend Suzanne.  Sky came over and asked me, "Mom, what do you want for Christmas?"  Without a thought, my answer was... "Obedient children."  Sky rolled her eyes and walked off without another word.  A few minutes later, I was handed this piece of paper...

Later that day, and even better I was in doing laundry.  I came out and none of the kids were downstairs.  I called for them, Sky, Jett, Brooke... what are you doing?  I didn't hear anything.  I went upstairs to find all three of them had worked to make my bed and Sky had taped this picture up on my bedroom wall.  I think I've got exactly what I want for Christmas this year, "Obedient children!" 
At least for the moment! :)

All I want for Christmas...

This year, like every year, we went to The Festival of Trees with the Smart side of the family.  I look forward to this day like no other.  There is something magical about this place.  It gets me into Christmas like nothing else (okay well, maybe my snowberry Scentsy does quite a bit).  I love that the money goes to help Primary Children's Hospital.  I love the lights, the trees, the Kids Korner, seeing Santa and taking a family picture with him, the cinnamon rolls, the scones, and most of all, that it's a family tradition!  I have always made sure I had shirts for my kids to wear in Christmas colors and that my girls had bright, big bows to wear.  This year, at the last second, I decided to make my girls their shirts.  I decided at 11:00pm on Friday night.  I stayed up til 2:30am sewing them together and Saturday morning I put the elastic in them.  I was so excited and for me it was worth staying up late and getting little sleep to make them.
So, I took lots of pictures, but this one is my favorite.  It's my three kids extremely happy to see Santa, sit on his lap and tell him what they want for Christmas.  In years past, there has always been one of the kids deathly afraid of him, but not this year.  That's all they could talk about all week was what they were going to tell Santa.
Sky: wants a Hello Kitty gumball machine
Jett: wants a PRETEND PSP cause he's not old enough to have a REAL one, so just get him a PRETEND one.
Brooke: just nods yes if you ask her if she wants something.  A baby doll?  She nods.  But when I asked her what she asked Santa for, she said, "candy."  :)
It's going to be a fun Christmas.  I love being Santa.
Click HERE to see the gallery of pictures from The Festival of Trees.

YEAH!!! I did it this year!!!

No wonder I didn't do this last year, it was an entire process.  First I had to buy outfits, then I had to figure out when and where we'd do our family pictures, then I had to design my card, order it and now it's time to mail them.  I'm pretty excited.  Can you tell?  I don't know if I have everyone's current address.  If you have moved recently, will you please email me your current address so I can be sure to send you one.  Here's a sneak peak without revealing them completely!!!  Gosh, I'm sick.  I'm a little too excited about this.  Maybe, it's because like sewing dresses with a pattern a week ago, I've never done this, I've never "designed" a card.  In the past I did the standard order from Costco!  So this is new and super fun! 

My little Sky and her sincere prayer...

My little Sky tends to worry about things, WAY before and WAY more than she ever should.  Today in her blessing on lunch she asked that she be able to sleep on Christmas night so Santa will come.  This reminds me of the Christmas that I laid in my top bunk bed wide awake trying desperately to go to sleep.  I knocked on the wall (my parents say every five minutes) asking them if Santa had come yet.  Although I'm always saying Sky IS her dad, I think she has a little bit of me in her too. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

From the "Smart" side of the family to all of you!

It was a nice surprise that Andrew, Kimberly and Logan were able to make the drive up from AZ.  It was good to have my entire family together again.  We ate some amazing food, played a fun family game, and stuffed ourselves again with some amazing dessert!  It was perfect!

He's 40!

It was perfect!  Neils and I went down to Las Vegas to celebrate his 40th birthday.  We went down with our friends (Ryan and Suzanne) last Friday and arrived at our hotel The Mandalay Bay.  I had never stayed there before and thanks to facebook, an old gymnastics team mate's brother (I know I'm making this hard to follow) hooked us up with a fantastic room at the top!  This was our view!  Not bad for taking this through the glass and sitting it on a table in our room.  We ate at incredibly yummy restaurants (Border's Grill and Strip Steak), shopped at the outlets, went to the Cirque du Soleil show "O", got some Krispy Kreme doughnuts (a kind they don't sell here), and went on the roller coaster Speed.  The only thing that wasn't perfect is that it didn't last long enough.  The weekend went by way too fast!  Before Neils and I were married (when I was madly in love with him and wanted to do anything to impress him) asked him to meet me in Vegas (cause he still lived in California) for his 30th birthday.  It was fun to relive some of those memories and talk about our life now.  We had a good time catching up with each other.  With kids, it's sometimes hard to even finish sharing the events of the day with each other.  It was a great weekend