Early to rise

I love this picture! Years ago when we lived in Colorado Springs, I was in the kitchen cleaning up after lunch and heard Amelia and Eli giggling and playing together nicely! Oh what a good big sister to dance and play for her baby brother and keep him happy for two minutes while I finish up.
I walked in on her "coloring in" Eli's face with a marker! (of course it wasn't a washable one so this lasted a couple of days!) Soooo! hard not to laugh hysterically while I reprimand her and ran to grab my camera!

WE LOVE YOU MOM!

I woke up early and couldn't fall back to sleep. The clock read 5am. I had the choice of laying there bitter about losing an hour and a half of sleep or getting up and being productive. I laid there for a few more minutes before starting my day early. It will be nice to shower before lunch today I thought. I heard Abe cry, ready to start his day as well. "Oh perfect timing", I thought, "I'm dressed and ready to go". Finally a day that I'll finish feeling that I've done everything I needed to do. We all went to the kitchen and I started to get breakfast and school lunches ready. I'm so on the ball today! I was so proud of myself for making pancakes and eggs for the kids on a school day.

I glanced out of the corner of my eye at the clock on the microwave. WHAT is THAT! It said it was 5:09am! Ok, that can't be so! I woke the kids up and was feeding them already. Could it just be a mistake from last week when I changed all the clocks for daylight savings time? I ran to my cell phone to check .... sure enough that one said it was 5:09am! The kids said, "Oh by the way Mom, Abe was playing with the clock yesterday". Thanks guys! That could have been helpful oh, I don't know like ... about 8 hours ago! So much for being "awesome Mom" today!

Well, I guess the kids still thought I was. Pancakes and cartoons on a Tuesday morning before school!

Elijah's 6th Birthday Olympics Party

I think I must have more fun planning my kids birthday parties than they do at them. They'd probably be happy just running around with nothing planned. How can I resist though! We handed out medals and trophy bags full of candy. We had team headbands and competed in relay races, discus throw (frisbee style) and high jump ... on the trampoline!

Happy Birthday Eli!

Of course there is the cake and we even tried cake pops this year. Great tasting and fun...easy to clean up too, but so glad I got the traditional cake as well, since the kids felt something was missing until they got the "official" slice style.

Quick picture of the team flags we made and fun sports water bottles as take home gifts. Four boys all huddled together in awe of a Transformer Bumblebee toy. One of my friends even came up with a little game to open the presents that I just loved. The kid giving the toy had to disguise their voice and the birthday boy had to guess who it was correctly or he couldn't open the gift! The kids loved it. So many giggles!

We Love you Eli!

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Take-time-together.html?soid=1103684771650&aid=GH6i0FPSxyo

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Take-time-together.html?soid=1103684771650&aid=GH6i0FPSxyo

Amelia took this picture. Isn't she a wonderful photographer!

Fred and I were in town for his 20th reunion, so we dropped in to see who was there....not very many people! Oh well, at least we looked good! The evening wasn't lost since we had a romantic fire on the beach!

Our family visiting Grandma Arthur. We lived just down the street for many years and went to church together in the same ward. It was such a treat to come back and visit. Can't wait until the next opportunity to visit!

SeaWorld

I couldn't believe the Shamu show! We learned so much and had were amazed! Thanks SeaWorld for giving the military families free admission!

Time to snuggle a turtle!

This was the "petting zoo" area with starfish and sea cucumbers and sea urchins.

Disneyland

This is Eli and Dad flying on the Dumbo ride. Fred is already teaching kids how fun it is to fly! Wish they had something like that for accountants!











After a long day at Disney here is the crew, still smiling!














I think the adults had more fun this day than the kids! I love the parent switch out passes! We got to go on as many rides as the kids!













We even saw a parade!