Bouncing Birthday Fun

For my brothers' birthday party, they rented a bouncing place. It was so much fun, especially to have just family there. It took Audrey a while to warm up, but eventually she was brave enough to bounce, and she even went down the slide by herself!




Kimee went down a few times with Dad, but then she was on her own going down the slide very which way. It was so much fun! Even mom with Maddilyn went down the big slide just one time. Scarey!

Birthday Brothers

Happy Birthday to my brothers Pete and Mark! We had a super fun celebration for their 40th and 30th birthday.

visit to Farm Country

When my brother Mark was in town, we took a trip to Thanksgiving Point. The kids always love going to farm country, especially to ride the ponies. I wish I had gotten more pictures of everyone, but I guess it's hard enough to keep track of the kids, never mind taking pictures. This was Audrey's first time riding a pony. She was scared at first, but ended up loving it. The last few times we have come, she was too scared to get on. On her second turn, Kimee got to ride the big white horse. She really liked that!

Happy Birthday Dave!

Dave's birthday was a week ago, on St. Patrick's Day. We had a fun day. Dave had a nice lunch out with work (at Olive Garden), and the girls and I went to Carl's Jr. for lunch with our friends the Foxes. We haven't been there in a long time, if ever with Kimee, and she loved it! Audrey was too scared to play on the big playplace, but she still had fun.

For dinner, we had a traditional St. Partick's Day meal of corned beef and cabbage. Yum! Kimee has really gotten into eating foods from different countries. Of course, we made a yummy cake and put up some decorations. It was a simple birthday, but the girls got really into it and Dave liked it too.

We did go out on a birthday date the Friday before, which was really nice. We ate a delicious meal at Macaroni Grill and saw the movie Taken. It's amazing how refreshing it can be to have a break from the kids even for just a few hours. On Sunday, we had a combined birthday dinner with the Smiths for both Davids. I made yummy lasagna and Carol made awesome cheesecake (we did have other food too, but those are the most important). So basically, Dave got to celebrate his birthday several times over a 10 day period. How fun is that! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAVID! We love you!!!!

another Lost Tooth

Kimee lost another tooth on Saturday, March 7. This time she was really brave and actually let mom pull it out for her. It had been loose for quite a while, so we new it would be coming out soon. Earlier in the day it had started hurting and by bed time is was extremely loose. I told Kimee I didn't want her to go to bed until it was out, because it would probably come out while she was sleeping and she would either swallow it or it would get lost. She did not want anyone to pull it out, but finally she said yes. I don't think it was even connected anymore, because when I pulled it out, it didn't even hurt. Kimee was so brave. After swallowing her first tooth, it was exciting to have a cute tooth to give the tooth fairy!

Kimee's Pretend Birthday

Since her birthday is in July, Kimee got to have a pretend birthday at school on March 6th. It was really fun and she enjoyed having the spotlight on her. She got to bring a bag full of her favorite things and tell the class all about what she likes to do. Some of the things she brought: build-a-bear Samantha, pink pony, toy camera, swimsuit, a necklace, Barbie hairdo head, crayons, and one of her favorite books.

She brought one of her favorite books called School is Fun. It is one of those books you can order and put your child's name, friends' names, and in this case, the name of her school in it and they personalize the story before printing it. Kimee got it for Christmas and has read it many times, so she can read it quite fluently and with expression. Her teacher asked her if she wanted to read the book to the class, thinking it was a simple book with a few words on each page (it is probably a second grade level a book). Kimee read it really well and kept all of the kids attention. Her teacher was amazed! I have heard her read this way, but was amazed at her confidence. She acted just like a teacher does when reading a book. It was so cute.

Later, she passed out cupcakes. After school, I took her picture. This was the better of the two I took. She really didn't want her picture taken. She loved reading all of the birthday cards the kids in her class made for her. Happy Pretend Birthday, Kimee!

three special experiences with faith and family

Last weekend we got to enjoy three special experiences with our faith and family.

1. We attended the Draper Temple Open House last Friday (Feb. 27). It was really beautiful and a wonderful experience for our little family. The kids did really well and in the end all the walking was as hard on me as it was on them. Kimee could really feel the Spirit in the temple and asked more than once if we were going to see Jesus there. More than the cookies afterwards, the kids liked riding on the bus. Audrey cried when we got off the bus and got into our car. She cried for quite a while about the bus, but she was really tired. We were just grateful that she waited until we were on our way home to let it all out.

2. On Saturday (Feb. 28), we attended the baptism of our niece and cousin, Abby. We were glad to be there and be a part of her special day. It is only a couple years until Kimberly turns 8 and she is getting excited.

3. Last Saturday night we had a big family party. My brother and his oldest daughter, who we don't see very often, flew in from Boston for the baptism and to spend time with the family. We had a super fun Mario Kart tournament and of course yummy food. The best was hanging out as a family and letting the cousins play together.

a funny...

We were talking about watching the Sound of Music again tonight and Dave started singing a song from it.
Kimee said, "Dad, you can't sing that song. That's a girl song and you're a boy."
So Dave said something like, "Yeah, I'm a boy and you're a girl and mommy's a girl and Audrey's a girl.
Audrey replies emphatically, "No, I not girl, I a horse!"

(Refer to a previous post on my girls' love for horses if you don't get this.)

I'm so pretty, Oh so pretty!

Audrey got into Mommy's makeup (again). She did a pretty good job of putting mascara on her eyelashes, but then started putting it on as lipstick as well. Yuck!

A few days later, she got into Kimee's makeup bag and put lip gloss all over her lips, and hands. Apparently, she thinks lip gloss can function as nail polish. Slimy! Actually, she gets into Kimee's lip gloss on a regular basis, but I usually find her while she is still applying it to her lips. Funny thing is, Kimee rarely uses it.

The next day she got into the nail polish in the bathroom and put it all over her nails, fingers, and tummy (for some reason she wasn't wearing a shirt at the time). I don't know what this means for the future, but right now Audrey is loving makeup! It is so much fun!