HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

I have been busy the last two days! Making preparations for my kids Valentines, their class Valentines, Scott's Valentines and then my neighbor kids class Valentines. (Robert decided to surprise Kristen for her birthday which was yesterday and took her on a little trip, so we are watching the kids). Even though is seemed crazy busy it was so fun and well worth the work. I love Valentines. Even though Scott and I have never made a big deal out of the holiday (probably because we would forget to make reservation any where, drive around all night and end up at fast food, or we never had money) it is so fun to make it special for the kids!
Our morning started with Berry smoothies, heart shaped pancakes and eggs. Yes, that is a very YUMMY berry smoothy mustache, only Scotty can get them that big! Yes, I got up showered myself got 4 kids fed and ready for school all before 8:30 in the morning. It is a miracle ! If anyone knows me and how I hate to get up in the mornings. I must do real well under pressure, or getting up at 6:45 was the key. Wow, I have not gotten up that early in a long time. I do not look forward to the Jr. High and Highschool days.
Here they all are waiting for their ride to school. Aren't they cute!Haley looked adorable today all decked out in her Valentine ribbons! She loves to get all made up!
Maddy showing me her monkeys socks she got. (sorry the camera is so fuzzy, Scotty got a hold of it after breakfast. You can only imagine what I had to clean off the lense, once I realized!) The following are the treats I have been working hard on. I am really proud of them!~

Chocolate suckers I made for Haley's and Scottys school classes!
Cookies on a stick that I made for my neighbor Jeremy's class. These were made out of a cake box mix and they seriously took 20 minutes to make, roll out, and cook. And they taste really good! Thanks for the recipe Kristen.
Chocolate covered strawberries for my SWEET miamaids! I made these for all 10 of them and the ladies I visit teach. I think I may have eaten as many as I gave away. These are seriously one of my favorite things. I would have started making them years earlier if I would have realized how easy they were. These days I am for good and easy!
The finished product!

Despite what I said above, Scott was so sweet this year and sent me flowers. It was fun to get a knock on the door in the middle of the day and have roses on my porch. The three roses is symbolic of something special between us! Don't you all wish you knew what it was, but I am not telling!! Aren't they lovely!
Scott also sent a rose to Haley at school. She was thrilled when she came home. She said they called her to the office for it. I think it made her feel really special. What a great husband I have!! I love you Scott!

Haley Learns to Ride Her Bike

We love to go on bike rides as a family. In the past we have loaded one child on the back of my bike and Scott hooks up the bike trailer and puts the other two in that. As Haley and Scotty have gotten older we have gone on a couple bike rides with them riding their own bikes with training wheels. Well, if you all can remember how inhibiting training wheels can be. They do not go very fast and get tired quickly, so our rides are short. Scotty has been able to ride his bike for a few months now. He learned very quickly because he does not like to be left behind. When all the neighbor kids are out on their bikes he would ride Flinstone style with his feet until one day he just took off. The minute the garage door goes up he is out the door on his bike before we can even say anything to him. Anyway, Haley is not motivated the same way. She would watch as everyone rode bikes or find something else to do. Today, the weather was so nice that we wanted to play outside all day. So, we told Haley that if she would learn to ride her bike today she could choose any family activity to do. Needless to say it worked. And we are off to Peter Piper Pizza. (if you look closely to the picture below, you will notice there is a slight curve to her front tire thanks to her father, we have had the worst luck with running over our kids bikes, anyway our reasoning for not getting her a new tire is that if she can learn to ride this bike she can ride any bike!)
We would have gone to the Piper's today except Scotty woke up with pink eye in both eyes. It must have come from the park we went to yesterday. That poor kid is always sick with something. Kristen and I decided he is a walking germ. But a dang cute germ. We had a great day riding bikes, playing football in the street with the neighbor kids, trimming our trees and bushes, and mowing our lawn. I think it was almost 70 degress today. These are the days I am grateful to live in Las Vegas!

MADELINE'S Birthday!

Yesterday was Maddy's birthday. I can hardly believe that she is 2!!! Boy, time flies by so fast. It was kind of a bitter sweet day for us with her birthday and President Hinckley's funeral. As we watched his funeral that morning I thought how I wish Maddy would have been able to know him and love him as the rest of us have. Since we knew his funeral was the morning of her birthday we planned her party for the evening. But throughout the day Haley and Scotty helped me decorate the cake and put it on the table along with all of her presents. But, apparently Maddy was not going to wait until the evening to celebrate her birthday! Scott called for me from the bedroom to go out and look at her. And this is how I found her..... sitting on the table working on opening her 2nd present. Yes, she is only in her diaper and definetly not dolled up to mommy standard for her party. Here is a quick video of me catching her. Note how defensive she gets when her brother comes in to tell her not open her presents. Well, about 10 minutes prior to this I found her up on the table putting more ponies on her cake and digging her fingers in the cake saying "I want cake! I want cake!" Good thing she is my third child and I have finally learned my lesson and do not spend hours (literally hours and sometimes days) on my children's birthday cakes. Otherwise the day would have been ruined! We put My little Ponies on her cake, because she is obsessed with horses and ponies.











We ordered pizza for the party because it is Maddy's second favorite food. There are many days, including mornings that I have been putting her in her seat to eat and she says "I want a hanguber and fries." I think we have eaten at IN N OUT one too many times. We invited our next door neighbors over for the party. When Maddy was a baby they would hold her all the time and people at church thought that she was their baby, because she was so dark! She literally could have passed for their baby with her round head and dark brown eyes. KiKi (Maddy's nickname for Kristen) loves Maddy like her own. She made me promise that I would let her take Maddy if anything ever happened to Scott and I. I guess the other two are up for grabs if anyone wants to be put in our will. Maddy got many great things for her birthday. Her favorites are her two "Ponies" and her bubble machine. One of the ponies she got neighs and walks with a little remote control. When the kids turned it on for her it walked right into her belly and she didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She was surprised and scared. So, it took her a while to warm up too it. She kept saying "pony get me dress, pony get my dress!" She has since forgiven the pony and is very possessive of it. Thank you to everyone that called and sent her presents . She truly loved them all. Thanks for making her day special! We LOVE YOU MISSY MOO!
Here is a list of Maddy's Favorites this last year:
1. gu gu's (otherwise known as popsicles)
2. soda pop (no this is not a drink, but a lolly pop)
3. lipgick (if I have lipstick on she has to have lipstick on)
4. hangabur and fries
5. Boopah (Grandpa, whenever we call grandparents, Maddy only wants to talk to Boopah)
6. Daddy (Maddy is my first child to be a true Daddy's girl. Mommy is only good if Daddy is trying to brush her teeth!)
7. gooeys (otherwise known as stickers) she loves to put them all over her body, especially her face, this is something she inherited from her father.
8. PIGGY- Piggy has been Maddy security blanket since her first Christmas. She slept with piggy and drug her through everything. They were inseparable until Belle came along.
9. Shoes- she may be tough but she is a true girl. She loves shoes. There was a few months where she would cry until you put her shoes on, they were on all the time!
Thank you Angela and Jenny for reminding me of some more precious Maddy moments!
If any of you think of something I have not added please make a comment so I can record all her treasured moments of the past year!