The Bug Party!

SUCCESS! 9 Boys and 1 Girl at the 5th Birthday Party could possibly be a disaster, but luck was on my side yesterday because the party went SO WELL! No messes, no fights, and No caios! Riley had a blast with all of his friends which was the goal! We made our own bugs and pinned them to styrophome {like they do with real bugs}, Drawing & examining bugs and the real ant farm {like Sid the Science Kid}
played the Cotton Ball Game {Getting as many cotton balls into a pie tin with a spatula-a tradition at birthday parties growing up}
Blowing Bubbles and Jumping on the tramp outside
eating chocolate bug cake and icecream
opening & playing with presents!
Sounds like a fun party to me!!

Happy Birthday Riley!

Riley had a wonderful birthday! It started out with pancakes and opening presents! He got a new big boy bike which Regan is in charge of teaching him how to ride without training wheels! He LOVES "Jack and Annie Chapter Books" {aka-Magic Tree House Books} so he got a bunch of those and Lego Batman Game for the Computer {No we have not succumb to a gaming machine yet}
Sunny & Ellie matched the Bug Party festivities with their Green dresses as well!
Do you like his BUG CAKE?

From Mother to Daughter

This puffy white and red dress once was mine. That's right, it has lasted this long and now looks gorgeous on my little girl! I was actually looking in my dad's office basement for my sisters twinner dresses for Sunny and Ellie to wear, and instead I found this treasure that once belonged to me! Doesn't she look cute in it?

johnny jump up

Who is johnny and why do my kids think it is a swing instead of a bouncing devise? I have to really watch Ellie in the Johhny Jump up because Riley LOVES to swing her from side to side and for a little baby, that is kind of scary!!!

Determination

Riley got into a project last week and he showed some major determination to finish it. I had a piece of long cardboard from the bookshelf we got at ikea, and his little mind told him to draw hundreds of ALIENS! That's right, Aliens. I had no idea he even had a fascination with aliens until he would not stop drawing them on this cardboard. He told me that all of them were different, none of them were the same! He probably worked on this project for 8 hours and that is no joke! Aunt Ashley and Uncle Brett came over that night and contributed to the art work! Riley even got tape and taped it to his wall! That's my determined little boy!

Happy 5th Birthday Riley!!!

Today Riley is 5 years old? I cannot even believe it because it honestly seems like I just had my first baby, a scary c-section and only 1 baby just the other day! Oh how time flies when you are having fun! Riley is such a great boy! He is a nice big brother to his 2 sisters, he is a big helper to his mom, he is such a smart boy, and always knows how to make his mom feel good by his nice comments. He says the funniest things and he is always ready to have a good time!

He loves video games, pokemon, movies, starwars, sid the science kid, drawing aliens, Arthur, computer games, bugs, being outside, cars and guys, parks, the Mayan {his favorite restaurant}, and blow pops {his choice to share with his preschool class today}.

Happy Birthday to my big boy! Have a great day today big guy!

{He opened up his presents from mom and dad this morning: he got a new bike, a bunch of Magic Tree House Books and Lego Batman Computer Game!}

The Cutest Girl EVER!

Sorry, I have to admit this to everyone! I have the Cutest little Girl EVER! Her smile can easily make a bad day into a good day. Her smiles just melts me and I find myself staring and kissing her throughout the day {for 4 months now}. Heavenly Father must have known that I needed a sweet little girl that is so well behaved, so smiley and giggly, and so cute because of some stuggles I have had with my little Sunny girl! It might be the Terrible Two's, it might be that I struggled with her from the day she was born with Colic, it might be that she is just trying to defend herself from her big brother all of the time, it might be that she is so angry at me for trying potty traingin! Who knows! All I know is that I pray for patience with her more than I pray about anything else! In the time being, My little Ellie girl will continue to smile at me and make my day a little brighter!

{do you like her cute onsies? My friend Jenn gave them to her.}
They say
*Nobody puts Baby in the Corner
*Cutie Patootie
*Be Mine

My Organizing Quest...

I absolutly LOVE to have things organized and to feel like there is a place for everything in my house. Well, lately, I have felt like things are all over the floor, books are all over the house, and that our house needed a little makeover!
SO, I have made it my mission to get this house organized, and this is what I did
*Got a bookshelf at IKEA {for $50!} to put our many many books in
{this was inspired by my Aunt Linda's house-she has more books than anyone I know!}
*Organized the hundreds of children's books we have
{mostly from when I taught 1st grade}
*Moved pictures around
*Put Ellie's new crib in the girls room {no more baby basinet for her!}
*Put a toy organizer in Riley's closet with a bin for every type of toy
*Put all of Riley's favorite Chapter books together by category
{Junie B. Jones, Magic Tree House series, Arthur Books, and Little Readers}
*Put all of Sunny and Ellie's Toys in an organizer in the closet
Anyway, I know it won't stay like this forever, but for now I feel a little more on top of it and a bit more organized!

{SORRY-I still don't know how to turn my pictures the other way-I try to do it on picasa and then export it, but it always stays sideways!}

The Hamster Story!

So, for any of you who really know me, you know that I am deathly afraid of anything that looks like a MOUSE! Well, it doesn't really help that Regan got the kids a hamster for Christmas! Everything has been alright with Yoshi the Hamster since Christmas Day, but on Tuesday night, that all changed!

We came home Tuesday night from a cousin Birthday Party and had hopes of putting the kids right to bed since Riley had Preschool the next morning! Well, all of a sudden, Riley screams, "Yoshi is not in his cage!!" Okay, besides hearing about a family car crash, that is probably the next horrifying thing I could hear! I freak out and tell everyone that they are not going to bed unless they find Yoshi! So my poor kids and husband are on their hands and knees for 2 hours trying to find this Christmas Hamster! After 2 hours of destroying our home and nothing to show for it, Regan said that we needed to go to bed! Well, I was not going to sleep a bit knowing that a creepy hamster could possibly climb up into my bed and nibble on my face, so I told him that was not a possibility. Did I mention that I was totally freaking out and crying? Riley and Sunny started to cry too because I was making them scared of Yoshi!

Anyway, I said a prayer, and then had Riley and Sunny say their individual prayers and we all asked to find Yoshi! You are going to laugh, but my prayer was totally answered that night! I always feed Baby Ellie her bottle and then burp her in my bed, but I decided to stand up and burp her by my bed that night. As I was doing this, all of a sudden, I see this tiny little mouse like face come out under the book shelf in the hallway! I started to scream, Regan immediatly raises over to where the scream is, catches Yoshi and puts him safely back in his cage!

You may say to yourself, why are you so wierd Andrea? Well, I think I get this major fear from my mom! She is probably even worse off then I am when it comes to Mice! Do you think she would ever allow a hamster in the house? NO WAY! She won't even see the movie Ratatoulle or Tale of Desperoux because they have mice in them! So now you can see why I am so afraid and why I was crying, freaking out and standing on my bed that night!

You may also ask yourself, why the pictures of the clean rooms? After everything was taken out of drawers, and our whole house was a disaster zone, I decided that it was a perfect time to clean our house completly! So ALL DAY yesterday, I cleaned and organized all of the rooms, closests and cupboards! I still need to do a few more things today, but it sure feels good to have a very clean and organized home! I only took a picture of the violin room and the pantry to remember how clean it once was...but just know that the rest of the house is just as clean and I love it!
Does anyone have a cleaning schedule that they love and actually abide by?

Happy Valentines Day!

Regan left a dozen roses and a nice card entitled: To the Perfect Wife!
I'm not saying thats true, but it did say it on the card!!! That was a pleasant thing to see right when I came downstairs after Regan had left for his trip to Moab! {Regan-you definently scored major points!} Anyway, Ellie's onsie says Be Mine! She is the cutest Valentine EVER! Do you like Sunny and Ellie's twinner Jammies? They were on sale at childrens place and I simply could not resist!! Hope you had a Happy Valentines Day!
25 Things I love:
1. Regan
2. Riley-Sunny-Ellie-The 3 cutest kids EVER!
3. My Family
4. Regan's Family
5. My lovely Home
6. Temples all around us!
7. Regan's Job-he is such a hard worker!
8. The Violin-I am still teaching 14 violin students!
9. Warm Weather {I just got my passport in hopes of going somewhere warmer!}
10. Friends
11. Sushi {Thanks to Regan!}
12. Salad!
13. Playing Basketball
14. Reading Chapter Books to Riley and Sunny {Magic Tree House & Junie B. Jones}
15. Going to the Cabin
16. Having fun with my family
17. Vacations!
18. Holidays
19. Hobby Lobby
20. Scrapbooking
21. Reading a good book
22. The Gospel
23. Did I mention my Cute, Beautiful Children?
24. Did I also Mention my hot husband?
25. My life!

Our Fun Weekend

We had such a fun weekend! It could have been really sad because Regan was gone to Moab from Friday until Sunday, but I decided to take all 3 kids to my parents cabin! We had a fun time just hanging out and getting snowed in! {so much snow!} On Monday, all of us headed up to Soldier Hollow and went Tubing! They have a pulley that pulls everyones tubes up, and then you can go down in groups down the groomed trails! It was so much fun and Riley and Sunny even loved it!

We went to eat lunch at Chicks Cafe in Midway afterwards! We had an awesome weekend and I am glad that Regan was home in time for all of the fun festivities! My family is the best-we do the funnest things together!

There was so much snow at the cabin that the snow was up against the windows, so my dad had to shovel the snow away from the windows-Riley wanted to help Grampy!

Regan's 30th Birthday!

Well folks, I pulled it off! I kept a huge secret from Regan for a LONG time! I planned this surprise birthday party for his 30th and it turned out awesome {except for a few snags: like the gourmet donuts I ordered not be delivered!!} Anyway, I rented out Classic Skating in Sandy and had our friends and family surprise him! We played rollerhockey, the shocking game and had a great time! I had a blind fold on him, and then I told him that I was taking him to a new icecream place that makes soy ice cream {since he is supposedly lactose intolerant!} Instead, everyone shouted surprise at the good old roller rink instead!

Thanks to everyone for helping me out on his book and on the surprise birthday party! I have to mention my 2 wonderful friends that helped me out SO much! Camille and Amanda were so helpful in my scheme..they brought everything, decorated the place, went to find fresh donuts at 10pm when my gourmet donuts never showed up and I truly am so grateful for them! I am one lucky girl to be surrounded by awesome friends!