Great Kids!

Sometimes you have moments that make you realize how great your kids really are, and that they even listen to you. I'm sure all moms (or parents) wonder if their kids even listen & then realize one day that they really did. Last week was an awesome week & I just wanted to share a little of our week with you. (This isn't a picture from last week, but I thought it was cute).

Anyway. We have a friend that lives on our street & is over almost every day with her son. She is not a member of our church, but gets to hear about our church all the time from the kids & I. My kids are being great missionaires to her & her son. On Monday, when they were leaving I heard Bryce telling her that "At our church we have a Prophet of God. And he teaches us to have Family Home Evening, so we have Family Home Evening every Monday Night". He then went on to tell her what we were doing that night for FHE. He didn't know I was around but he was sharing a little of his testimony of FHE. Bryan & I are so proud of him. He is always inviting them to church (they haven't come yet, but Bryce hasn't given up). He has also taken other friends, on our street to church with us. It is so awesome so see my kids sharing their testimonies & being good missionaries to others.

On Thur. when we were coming home from the store the kids saw alot of workers at a house (that is being built right behind us) working. It was pretty hot that day & they decided that they wanted to take water bottles to all the workers. There were over 20 guys at this house. So they each took 3 bottles at a time until each guy had some water. These guys were so grateful for the water & it was so sweet to watch my kids being of service to others. I was so touched by their thoughtfulness at 8, 6, 5, & 3. I am so thankful that they care about others enough to share their testimonies & be of service to others.

The next day Bryce decided that we needed to go over & clean up (& recycle) where the guys just drop their trash. In scouts Bryce learned about recycling, so he is always going to the lots where houses are being built to clean up after the messy workers.

This week as I sat in Sacrament meeting I just felt so blessed for the wonderful children that I have. Bryce, for his sweet spirit. He always makes sure that we read our scriptures & is always sharing his testimony with others. Brayden, for the way he keeps us laughing. He is always being funny & making us laugh. He also has a way of making you feel better when you are upset or hurt. He loves to get the girls going at times, but when they need comfort or love, he is always there. Savanah, for her helpful heart. She really loves to help lately & loves being a big girl. She at times will sneak up to her room & clean it before you even ask her & helps her little sister with her bed. Sierra, for her loving & funny spirit. She loves to make people laugh & her giggle is contagious. She also is a great comforter to those in need.

I just feel really blessed to have 4 wonderful children that end up teaching me at times!

I got Tagged

Well, it happened to me also. Cindy tagged me! My letter is M. Hopefully I can come up with 10 things.
1. Mother of 4 crazy children that I love!
2. Man is my life busy right now with 4 kids, homeschooling & trying to start our new office in Texas.
3. Mountains - I love being in Texas but miss the beautiful mountains of TN!
4. Memories - I love all the memories that Bryan & I are making with our children. One of the best things about homeschooling is that their is so much time to make wonderful memories!
5. Music - I love to listen to music when I have a minute without the chatter of children.
6. Money - Uncle Sam is about to take all my money next week on Tax day. I definately would rather keep MY money than give it to him!
7. Monk Seal - One of my favorite things about Hawaii was seeing all the monk seals lying on the beach snoozing. It was AWESOME!
8. Mormons - I am so thankful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Wasn't conference awesome! We are so blessed to be members.
9. My Family! I know that is cheating a little bit, but I LOVE being by MY Family in Texas. We love that we are able to be by Grandma & Grandpa & Uncle Adam and see them all the time. We also get to spend alot of time with Howard, Cheree, Kaycee & the boys. And then we get to see my family in Gilmer alot also. Living in TN & never getting to see Grandparents very often was hard on the kids & I. SOOOO, we love being by family.
10. I saved the best for last - My Man! I LOVE my man & I am soooo thankful for the awesome husband that I am blessed to be married too.

Well, there it is. I don't know who to tag. So unfortunately I am going to let it end with me.

Feb. was a busy month!

Man am I behind in blogging. My problem isn't that I don't have anything to blog about it is, I don't have the time to blog. Trying to get Bryan moved home , homeschooling & 3 birthdays in 1 1/2 weeks has kept us extremely busy. February was a really busy month. So if you have time & my computer will let me I will update you on our month. Yes, I realize it is already halfway into March, so like I said I am so behind.

February was a great month for us. Bryan moved home, YEAH!

And our sweet Bryce was baptised. It was such a special day. We had lots of family & friends here to share in this special day. Bryce looked so handsome in his suit. He was so excited when he woke up & couldn't wait until 3 o'clock for his baptism. Bryan & I were so excited that our first child was being baptised. We looked forward to this day ever since he was born. I am so proud of him & the example he is setting for his little brother & little sisters.

He also looked so handsome in his white suit. (but unfortunately I have misplaced my cd with all the pictures from his baptism & birthday party & I had some really cute ones. I will have to keep looking & post them later!) He was really excited about his baptism that he forgot to be nervous about the water. He shared his special day with a friend from his primary class. So, we shared the program with them. Grandpa (Faren) gave the talk about Baptism & his Grami (Pam) gave the opening prayer. Kaycee & Cheree helped us out with the music & Savanah & Brayden sang "When Jesus Christ was baptised". We had such a wonderful day with our family & are so thankful for all those that came to share this day with us. Bryce said it was the best day of his life & loves being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints!

Since our Princess Savanah was born right after Bryce we had her party the same weekend as Bryce's baptism. So those that came in got 2 in 1. Savanah loves Ariel (since they both have red hair) & wanted to have a Princess Ariel Party. We had bought a Little Mermaid costume on clearance after Halloween & she wanted to wear it. She looked so beautiful in her costume. Since she was wearing a costume I thought it would be fun for all her friends to dress up also.




We invited all her friends to wear their princess dresses also. When they came to the door we had bubbles blowing & had the hall & living room with streamer making an underwater world. Bryce drew most of our decorations. Since he loves to draw he drew lots of fish & shells. It looked awesome. We played princess games & painted the girls nails. The girls had lots of fun & Savanah had a blast. Fun was had by all. Needless to say Mommy was pretty tired after 2 days of partying!

February also brought us an ice storm. Good ole' Texas Ice storms. NO, we really don't ever get snow, we get BLACK ice. The fun stuff that causes lots of accidents & isn't really fun to play in. Just plain cold. Well, the kids had fun going out and picking the ice off the chairs & grill.

We also did alot of fishing in February. For those of you not familiar with Texas winter, yes this was in the SAME month as the ice storm. In Texas 1 day it is freezing cold, the next & I do mean the next day it is hot & sunny. I can't complain though because we spent alot of time out doors this winter.

We also took Daddy to the zoo. We had a blast at the Dallas Zoo. We loved looking at all the animals. The also had a great time at the childrens park inside the zoo. They had this fun egg right beside a large birds nest. The slide looked like a tree stump. They had rabbits, chickens, goats, cows & horses to pet. We had a great day.

The zoo now has a bird area where you can go in with popsicle sticks that have bird seed on them & feed the birds. As soon as we went in a bird landed on my head. Before that one left I ended up with 1 on my backpack also. The kids thought that was so funny. I have to say I was really nervous about ending up with a present on my head from it especially since he spent about 5 min. on my head. I am thankful for all the fun outing Bryan & I have been able to take the kids on. We really enjoy being outdoors with our kids & taking them to fun places to explore.

At the end of the month we got to go to Bryce's pinewood derby. Since turning 8 Bryce LOVES going to scouts. He is having alot of fun & especially loved building his car with grandpa & painting it with his daddy. Bryce lost the first race, won 2 races & then tied the last one, but he felt like a winner and that is what counts. I was worried about him being upset about not winning the ribbon, but he was just happy that he won 2 & tied 1, so he felt like a winner. Doesn't he look handsome in his scout uniform? (It was another cold day in TX that day!)

I am thankful for the wonderful February that we had as a family. Bryan took the month off (after being gone for more than 6 months from us, besides an occassional visit) and we loved every minute of it. We feel blessed to have him in our lives.

March has been awesome so far too! Hopefully I will have time to write about it in the next day or 2.

Life is Good!!!

Can I say that Life is Good! I am so happy right now & loving life. Bryan is finally home & we are loving every minute of it. He has been home for 2 weeks and the kids and I love having him hear with us every minute. He asked me if I was tired of him yet, but I am definately not. 6 months is a long time to be without your husband (well besides our occasional weekend). Last night he told me he wasn't ready to start working again, he was just loving being home with us!
The kids love it and won't know what to do when he does start working again. On saturday Bryce told me he had the "bestest, happiest family ever!" That was like music to my ears. It definately makes the hard times worth it to know that your children are happy & love their life. He also, in the same conversation told me that this is why he loves to homeschool because we are always together. He is such a sweetie!
So, life is really good at our house right now, just having Bryan here with us and spending quality time together as a family!
(Sorry no pictures, just wanted to say how happy I am right now!)

Family Pictures

Picture day with our family can be quite interesting. It is very hard to get all five of my kids (yes, i mean 5 & I am not counting Deuce) to cooperate. For those of you that know my goof ball husband he is just as hard or harder to get a picture of, because he loves to act like a goof ball in the pictures. DRIVES ME CRAZY! On Brayden's birthday I wanted to get a family picture of us with Deuce all in our Texas Longhorn shirts. My friend was taking the pictures & could hardly keep her composure because of Bryan. I usually don't like to show people these goofy pictures, but I just wanted to show you guys what I live with all the time. Got to love him!

Why would anyone want to look so goofy is beyond me, but that is my crazy husband for you! Oh, and we didn't know this was going on til after the pictures when my friend just started laughing!

A little better, just 1 crazy eye instead of 2.

Finally, a halfway decent picture! I think I am going to start framing the pictures with him looking goofy, in our house, instead of searching for a good one of him. (Just kidding). He does this all the time. Just ask his parents or siblings.

Birthday Boy!

Brayden celebrated his 6th birthday this weekend. He wanted to have a Texas Longhorn Football birthday. We went all out with decorations and between mom & I we had lots of Longhorn & football decorations. He decided he wanted a cookie cake and since this weekend was super bowl we were lucky we were able to find a Football cookie cake. His birthday was on Thursday, so we gave him a Longhorn shirt & hat so he would have it to wear to his party! He had so much fun! Isn't he cute!

The weather ended up being beautiful. On Jan. 31, 2009 it was 70 degrees outside. Since Brayden was born we have never had a warm day for his birthday. It was a perfect day for a football party so we played football themed games outside. Here is Brayden throwing his Longhorn football! He's getting ready for a perfect throw.

We tossed the football through a hoop & everyone had alot of fun! I was surprised at how many of the kids had really good aim & several of them had pretty good throwing arms on them. Here is Savanah throwing the ball. If you look close you can see it heading toward the hoop.

I found this really large ball that looked like a helmet with the Longhorn logo on it. We tried to keep the ball going, but the wind didn't really want to cooperate on this game. They had fun anyway with the extra large ball.

We then played hot ball. They had to pass the ball (like a hot pot.) & when the music ended the person holding the ball was out. We had 17 kids who played the game & the little blonde girl named Abi (who likes Brayden) won!

When then finished up the games with pin the Horn on the Longhorn. (My best friend Cristina gave me this idea & our artist Bryan drew it for us). They had alot of fun. Brayden & Abi tied the game.

Brayden & all his friends had alot of fun at his party! I couldn't believe how much fun we had with 17 kids around. Being outside probably helped, but they really enjoyed all the games. We ended the party with presents, a cookie cake & fruit & veggies. Brayden said his birthday was better than Christmas! I am so happy that he enjoyed his special day. Here is a picture of all his friends that were at his party. We have really been blessed since we moved to Frisco. We have made alot of great friends in our homeschool group, at church, and in our neighborhood. We also get to be by family (& close to some of their cousins) & close to our best friends that we met when we first moved to Irving TX almost 8 years ago. Brayden was so excited he had so many friends to invite to his party! (Sierra & their cousin Brandon are missing from the picture)

I can't believe how time flies. I still remember the day that my beautiful redheaded boy was born. It seems like just yesterday. All my life I loved Redheads & always wanted a little redheaded boy. When he was born & the nurse announced that he had red hair I was so excited. Just thinking of the day he was born brings tears to my eyes. I am so blessed to have Brayden in my life. He is such a Sunshine! He is so happy and loves to make people laugh.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRAYDEN! I love you!

Kid's crafts

Here is a bigger picture of the kids crafts & our school room! I'll take more pictures of our school & post them later.