7th Heaven

THE BUDGET!

2012-01-25T06:05:00.000-08:00

I used to run away and not respond when Brett would say we need to go over the budget. Yup, I really would..like a little kid. Embarrassing as it is to admit. I hated talking about the budget. All because I felt like it was impossible..not easy, hard to keep. I felt like all the pressure was on ME. I was the one going to the grocery store, I was the one at the stores so it must be all my fault it we don't stay on budget..RIGHT? Well one day I decided to grow up and stop pouting and actually listen to Brett's ideas and take the time to understand why a budget is so important and EASY to follow.....IF you take the time!

WRITE it down. That's all it takes..for me at least. If I write down what I spent at the grocery store or any store. I am aware of what I am spending and know where I am at. I have my own little black book and I put my receipt in it to help me remember the exact total.

GOAL! We have a goal...it's a worth while goal. It's a worth it to write it all down goal. It's what helps me to not forget. I like having a goal! I just wish I wasn't such a baby before! I guess it's good we get to learn from our mistakes so that we can really appreciate something when we learn from it!

SO this is my question: How do you grocery shop? That is my major trap. I am a terrible grocery shopper. I plan to go and then the next day I will be back for something I forgot..which will then mean I buy more stuff because oh yeah, I need that or that looks good for maybe later in the week and I end up spending way more than I meant to.
Last week I went to Costco and bough 7 gallons of milk..yup 7...as one person commented while I was loading my car..you should've just bought a cow, it's cheaper. The thing is I thought it would get us through this week too but nope I just went downstairs and saw we only have 1 more gallon left down there..that will NOT be enough until sunday for sure. I also buy 2 loaves of bread at a time but that is so not enough which I guess means I need to buy 4. WoW, It's amazing how much food we go through. I know that there are smart people out there that have good ideas..so I was hoping you wouldn't mind sharing with me. So teach me, fill me in on your tricks and tips!!! Thank you so much!

Chicago adventures with Grandma and Grandpa Fox!

2012-01-24T13:05:00.001-08:00

After we had opened presents and hung out for a while we thought it would be fun to go downtown and check out the American Girl doll store. Unfortunately, Brett had worked most of the day and so it was up to me to get it organized and since I had been downtown a total of 2 times before that...I wasn't the best to for the job. BUT, we finally caught the train after standing at the train station way longer than we needed to than we finally made it to the American girl doll store an hour of walking later...yes we took the bus back to the train station and left our stroller on the bus...oops! Still it was so fun to do it together and I LOVE going to the city. So much excitement and beautiful things to see.

The next day Brett's parents and I and the kids decided to go downtown again but this time we drove. We went to the Science Center. It is the largest science museum in the Western Hemisphere and the lines proved that to be true. NOTE: Buy tickets on line and NEVER buy them at the museum. The line was awful just awful. Inside though was tons of interesting and fun things to look at and do. Jacob was very excited about the HUGE tractor.

There was a fun hands on area that we once again had to wait in line for to go into...THANK YOU Grandpa for waiting in line for that one. Giselle and most of the kids loved the water. Pick up a ball and put it in a tube and it shoots it to another area of the room. Tons of fun! Yes Giselle did get wet..so did Jacob of course!!

Jillian and Jacob really liked playing with the tractors and being farmers!

Jolie helping a very happy Giselle..she actually had the freedom to run around and play.

Fuzzy picture..but Dad really was happy to be there..I PROMISE!!!!

Sadly after this day I couldn't get our camera to work. It was giving my problems while we were there..as you can see how fuzzy this one is. Turns out our lens is not doing so well. So I don't have any more pictures but the kids and I had a GREAT time with grandma and grandpa. They got to go swimming, eat breakfast at the hotel every morning..which I loved too. Go to the movies, play dolls with Grandma and just have fun. Poor Brett, he was SWAMPED with work...December is his busiest time of the year. So he didn't get to do most of the fun stuff but he was able to see his mom and dad a little bit and we are so thankful they were able to come up and spend some time with us and see where we live now! Can't wait till we get to see everyone again!

Over the river and through the woods....Grandma comes to our house!

2012-01-19T04:56:00.001-08:00

The day after Christmas Grandma Fox, Grandpa Fox and Aunt Laura drove to Illinois to see us. Here are a few highlights of opening presents. They were the most excited though just to have them here!

Initial pillows from Justice. All girls have their pillows on their bed where I am always telling them they are not for sleeping on but for decoration!

Giselle had a ton of fun ripping open presents. She is a pro now that's for sure!

A HUGE hit. American Girl dolls! They love them and do such a good job taking care of them!

Genevieve received a complete set of the Harry Potter series. She was a little excited, can you tell? She is diligently re reading the whole series.

Jacob loved seeing Aunt Laura, she is one of his best buddies!

Jacob received this super cool man suit from Grandma and Grandpa. He LOVES it. We have caught him putting it on many times. He feels so grown up and big...just like daddy. We love it too!

Giselle is the most happy when Grandpa or Grandma is holding her. She just loves the hugs and kisses! We took an adventure later that night. I will blog about that tomorrow!

Christmas Day!

2012-01-18T11:32:00.000-08:00

The glorious Christmas morning FINALLY arrived..according to the kids! They were really good about waking up and coming in our room than doing family prayer. We came down and opened presents. A few highlights this year was Jacob getting a bike..best present ever. Genna getting a paper jamz guitar. Jolie getting an ipod shuffle. Jillian getting lalaloopsy and Giselle getting an elmo doll from daddy. We are very blessed to live in a home that provides so much for our family. We are especially blessed to have Brett who works so hard and provides so much. After opening presents we were blessed to go to church. It was only an hour since it was Christmas day. We are told it was very spiritual but we wouldn't know since we wrestled and sweated the entire hour trying to keep Jacob and Giselle from ruining the spirit for the rest of the ward but of course we are still glad we were there! :)

We had Christmas dinner just us this year. I still wanted it to be nice. So we ate in the dining room (which doesn't have a table so we put two folding tables together) Added some candles for fun and the kids helped set the table.

Brett carving the turkey..as you can see Giselle was not at our dinner this year. She was sleeping..it was just fine with us. She will be there next year i'm sure!

I love cooking big dinners and decorating the table. I also love having leftovers so I was glad to make a little more than was needed. I hope all of you were able to feel our saviors love and know that you are a child of God. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Christmas Eve!

2012-01-13T04:52:00.000-08:00

We have a tradition of reading a story about the true meaning of Christmas. The kids love it because they get to hold something and be a part of it.

Soooo excited for Christmas to come. Don't they look so cute in their matching jammies!

This Christmas Eve was the first year since Brett and I have been married that we spent it just us. It was a little weird but so nice. We had a fab dinner Christmas Eve at Steak and Shake...haha the kids LOVED it and we loved that they got to eat for free. They asked if we could do this every year. We'll see. We came back and did a story cookie and Milk for Santa and had a relaxing night...well they did...Brett and I had LOTS of work to do that night.

Giselle is TWO!

2012-01-12T10:26:00.000-08:00

Giselle takes blowing out candles with intense preparation. She is sizing up the candle..making sure to get the exact angle she needs to blow it out.

Not sure if she can handle the pressure!

Coach Parker is right by her side for a little pep talk. She starts with a soft blow.

She gets the job done...but hey WHERE'S the cupcake?

SCORE!!!!!!!!!!

Dec. 22nd
Giselle has the blessing of having a birthday RIGHT before Christmas. Luckily she could care less if there isn't a big fuss or even many presents. She just likes the singing and the cupcakes. She also likes to do whatever Jacob is doing..trains, cars, jumping off the couch. She LOVES her blanket and wont sleep with out it..or her cup or her book..sometimes two books. She is so funny all her "stuff" she has to have. She LOVES her big sisters and squeals with excitement when they come home. She loves to read books and draw pictures. She also loves music. Her favorite song is twinkle twinkle little star but she is known to jam to Kesha too! If could pick one thing to have with her it would be any one's Iphone or Ipod. She loves to use the screen and get to angry birds....ALL BY HERSELF. She is fiercely independent. She is 2 going on 12!

Luckily she is not a picky eater. She will eat anything we are eating. She prefers to sit in someones lap which is beyond frustrating but at least she has stopped eating off our plates and now brings her own plate to sit with you and eat. She likes to watch TV in the van but no so much at home. She is a smiling happy sweet kiss giving girl and we love her SO much!

Happy Happy Birthday Giselle!!!!!!!

Jackson Family Christmas Party!

2012-01-11T06:43:00.001-08:00

Jason and Matt

Some of the family during the gift exchange!

Cousins, cousins and more cousins!

Bradyn was not super excited with his gift..hahaha!

LOGAN

Grandma Jackson with her children: Julie Sue, Jim and Tim in the back!

1st generation cousins. Amber, Matt,Jason, Lisa, Kristi and Hallie!

This was the first year in many years that I was able to go to a Jackson family Christmas. I LOVED seeing my aunts and uncles and Grandma and Cousins. So crazy how everyone is growing up and changing. There were A LOT of cousins not there because of missions or marriage or moved. We missed each of you so much. We started with dinner and then did a gift exchange. The rules were you had to get something at the dollar store. We had so much fun seeing what "interesting" things people brought. A few things were stolen, a few things bribed and or begged to be taken not too many tears..hahaha. Best gift of the night..an Obama book to my Grandma..she loved it...NOT! I promise it was not me! We ended with a little singing time. It was so great to play catch up and spend some time with my family the only thing missing was BRETT! Brett had to work during this trip. December is the busiest month of the year. Not just because Christmas is so busy but because everyone wants to close their deals before the 31st. So Brett is swamped the whole month...bad month for that huh? We missed him sooo much but I was grateful for the time with my mom's side of the family!

Henry Ford Museum!

2012-01-10T04:52:00.000-08:00

I grew up living really close the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village. We ALWAYS went there for school field trips and I ALWAYS got rock candy when it was time to leave ALWAYS. Now that we all have a billion kids my mom and sister have a membership there. They take us whenever we come into town. I LOVE IT! I know we went a ton as a kid but I definitely did not appreciate all the history that is there. Some of it is really amazing. Brett has even made a few comments of Hey why isn't this in the Smithsonian? I mean the weinermobile is a part of history. Hahaha I don't blame him, but hey a perk for us that don't live so close to D.C. So for this visit we went to the Henry Ford museum, this is the one you go to when it's cold outside. They were having a big display of The Wizard of OZ. It was all in one area and it was a lot of fun. Here are a few pictures of our time that day!

Jacob is riding the witch's bike. The harder he pedals the faster the white cone spins and you can see the mean lady turn into the witch.

There was a fun rope climbing wall too!

Giselle just ran and ran and ran...ALL over the place. She LOVED it!

Jolie, Genna and Jillian outside dorothy's house!

Giselle riding the cow, she loved the farm area. Sorting all the crops.

Now we are into a different area of the museum and this is an old sleigh horses would pull. Doesn't that look fun?

The BEST area according to Jacob. TRAINS!!! a really big one too. Pulling all the levers.

Engineer Jacob!

Nex to the big trains was model trains. Another LOVE of Jacob and Giselle. He loves to watch them..and would stay and watch them for hours if he could. He has really great sisters that like to see him happy.

Giselle really liked watching the choo choo's too!

Mommy with 2 cuties!

Then next to the model trains was a play area of trains...now we are talking. This is where we spent the rest of the time.

Audrey got to be with us...her brothers were in school still so it was just her with the big girls and Jacob of course!

Genevieve and one of her creations. A really nice perk of having a membership is that you can go for an hour or two or even three and not feel bad for leaving. If we lived there we would so have a membership. Thanks Grandma and Kristi for taking us!

The Christmas festivities BEGIN!!!

2012-01-09T12:42:00.001-08:00

Granpa, Uncle Les, and Grandma helping the troops make home made pizzas.

Jacob and Audrey were in the zone! Pizza zone!

Logan and his daddy ( Uncle Les). is that a smile Les?

Jillian and Wesley..both 6 yrs. old both super cute!

Jolie, Bradyn and Logan putting some finishing touches on their own personal pizza!

Enjoying their gourmet creations!

A big perk of living in Chicago is being only 4 hours from my family in Michigan. The kids and I packed up the van and took off. It was so easy of a drive. No stops and only 2 movies to get to Grandma's house..how great is that. With 11 grand kids under the age of 11 means you have to be pretty creative. My mom thought the kids would like to make their own pizzas one night. She divided dough up and floured the table. The kids LOVED it. A lot of pounding on the table and for once we didn't mind. The kids used pizza sauce, cheese and then some had pepperoni, some pineapple, some ham some all. They each got their own mini can of soda..or POP as the Michiganders say! It was so fun and they loved eating their creations!

They have been busy little elves!

2011-12-16T16:17:00.000-08:00

Jacob making an ornament all by himself. He did such a good job. He put all that green ribbon in there all by himself. No other colors..Green is it. In Jacob's world there are no other colors.

We also dipped spoons in chocolate and then decorated them. Put them with a hot cocoa packet and it's a yummy treat. The kids had a lot of fun getting messy with food.

Jacob had a hard time with the concept of just dipping the spoon in chocolate. He thought for sure the spoon had to be filled with chocolate and as much candy as possible!

Giselle wanted to get in the action. She had a fun time dipping the spoons...but once the chocolate started flying around the room. She was done...or I should say, I was done!!

Jolie was the HEAD Elf. She was great at helping all the little kids with the spoons and ornaments.

2ND in command Elf Genevieve displaying her ornament she spent much time on. Isn't beautiful?

The finished products. The kids did a great job and I had a lot of fun watching them and helping them. Yummy treats are a lot of fun with a good group of elves!

giveaway!!

2011-12-16T11:50:00.000-08:00

This amazing person is doing an amazing giveaway. A NIKON D90. I would LOVE to have this camera! Wish me luck!!!
Her blog is http://www.ohsoposhphotography.com/blog/?p=5458

Jacob's Preschool Christmas Show!

2011-12-14T13:56:00.001-08:00

Giselle waiting for big brother Jakey to come out!

Jacob was very excited for Mommy and Daddy and Giselle to come to his Christmas show.

He spotted us and couldn't hold back the excitement. Jingle bells and all. Look at that cute boy!

He talked all about playing the Kazoooo!!! Of course it's green, that is his favorite color. He played Jingle Bells so nicely on it!

Now it's time for him to sit with his class and watch another class perform. Can you believe it? He is sitting still!

Next year Jakey will be up there the whole time like the 4's class he is watching right now!

He did a quick check to make sure Mom and Dad are still there. Yup, they are! Phew!!!

Jacob looking so handsome in front of the Christmas tree at his school.

Daddy and Giselle got a turn with the star of the show. We loved having daddy there.

Mommy couldn't miss out on a chance to take a picture with my big boy. We love you Jacob you did a great job!

nothing like 20 degree day to take a picture!

2011-12-10T17:17:00.000-08:00

OK, so it's been on my to do list for months now...FAMILY PICTURE!! It's been following me and haunting me. This past couple months have been so crazy and hectic that it just didn't get done. Then all of a sudden it's the middle of December and uh oh we need to take a pic NOW! So we gather all the white t shirts and clean jeans we can find. Who has time to coordinate multiple colors with multiple children..not me! We found a brave soul to snap a few pictures. It was FREEZING!!! The poor kids were dying. We only got a few pictures because it was just way too cold. This one we did not use in the Christmas card but it made me laugh. Giselle not looking, Brett's eyes closed. Jillian grimacing...just a typical family photo! Hope everyone else got there Christmas photo done..because you don't want to be later than me..than you will be REALLY late! :)

Christkindlmarket!

2011-12-07T07:34:00.000-08:00

This past Saturday Brett and I and the kids decided to go on an adventure. We loaded everyone up and headed to the train station. Or where daddy works. Since Jacob thinks Daddy's job is on the train. ( Coolest job ever, according to Jacob). We thought we were taking the 1:55 train but it turned out there was only a 2:55 train so we decided to explore the cute town Hinsdale since we had time to kill. They had a whole village set up with free activities for the kids. This was a house for children to drop their letter in the mail for Santa!

Another little house had Santa in a chair waiting for children to come. There was no wait and the kids were excited to say Hello! They also got a mini candy cane. SCORE!

A really pretty fountain was decorated right in the middle of the village. I felt like we were in one of those small towns you see in movies. I loved it!

Daddy with his super cute crazy kiddos! I love this picture of Brett because it's what he loves. Being with his family!

Next we went to a big white tent that inside was heated and we were able to decorate Gingerbread people. They had candy eyes and sprinkles for everyone. The kids loved it and we loved that it was free!

The last thing we did was take a sleigh ride pulled by horses. Genna in the front asked a million questions to the driver. Luckily he was very nice and answered them all. He told her to come back next Saturday because they will be there again. Once again FREE!!! Woo hoo. My kind of fun time! Giselle is holding her gingerbread cookie..she never did take a bite.

We finally got on the train and it was SUPER packed. The train of course was delayed just our luck. It was delayed because of heavy passenger loading. BUMMER!! So no pictures on the train going down...toooo crowded.

This is the BIG tree in the middle of the German Christmas Market!

We had a lot of fun looking at all the booths and trying many new and different things. Chocolate covered grapes. Caramel pecans. Potato pancakes and Bratwurst. We also got a German fire house village and a Polish Christmas tree ornament.

The market was jam packed with people. We had Giselle in the stroller the whole time and ended up putting Jacob in the stroller too. As you can see he didn't enjoy the stroller. He was crying to get out the WHOLE time and did escape a few times. Brett and I would have loved to stay longer and look at more stuff but it was just too hard with Jacob and Giselle. We decided to head back to the train. We were trying to catch the 5:42 train and we only had a few minutes. I of course was wearing slip on shoes and couldn't run. I decided to take them off and just run in socks. We got to the train station at 5:44...we just missed the train. SOOO bummed. We finally made the 6:40 train and was able to get on pretty early so we could all sit together this time.

On the train we enjoyed some Hot Chocolate that I had made at home before leaving...still hott too! We also brought a bunch of cookies. I wanted to sign Jacob up for a polar express but they were all booked. Many people laughed at me when I called to see if any spots were open. They said they fill up in August. I told them we didn't move here until October. They said, sorry. Call early next year. THANKS! So we did our own polar express. Just as much fun and a whole lot cheaper. Going to Chicago was really neat. We are so lucky to be able to just hop a train and go. Kids are free too...BONUS!!! I want to go to the zoo next because they have a light show there. Maybe this Saturday..we'll see!!!

Cookie Elves!

2011-12-05T14:00:00.000-08:00

Holiday baking is one of my favorite parts of the holidays. All the yummy food and sweet smells. Makes the hustle and bustle of the shopping not seem so bad if you have a melt in your mouth cookie waiting for you at home. This year making cookies is double the fun with ALL kinds of helpers. Some are taste testers. Some are quality and quantity control and some are good cheerleaders. All are very important roles. Thank goodness I have so many elves to help this year. I LOVE it!!!

I don't want to be the mean scary psycho mom!

2011-12-02T10:33:00.000-08:00

I don't get it. Really, I don't. How is it that EVERY place we move. We have some kind of crazy neighbor. I know kids are kids and they just want to have fun..but seriously people just because I have 5 kids doesn't mean I want your kids ALL day too! I always thought that Iwould be the fun mom. The one that all the kids liked and all wanted to talk to. I know silly, but I really thought that's what I wanted. Boy was I wrong. I just want my kids to have nice friends that have good manners. That don't ring the doorbell 500 times and then sit on your doorstep when you tell them " they will come out and play when they are done with lunch." So they sit on your doorstep and SCREAM..waking Giselle up from her nap of 15 minutes and causing more gray hair to grow on my head. Why don't parents tell their kids..hey maybe they need a few minutes as they JUST got home and probably have to see what their mom needs. Or hey here's a simple one to teach your kids...when they come over to someone's house...PLEASE I beg you don't let them walk in and say...I'm hungry, can I have a snack? Really, you live across the street, you've been here 3 sec. AHHHHHHHH!!!

How do I set limits without being the bad guy? I'm not remotely perfect...sooo far from it but I do think I have pretty great kids. I'm not bias or anything. They have had their not so good moments... a certain child who will remain nameless..since they sometimes read my blog. I made my kids take the day off from the neighbor kids yesterday because I needed a day off..I haven't been feeling well and having 2 extra kids just didn't sound like fun to me..plus they are always coughing and telling me.." I'm sick".

OK, I am just sounding like an awful person now. Hopefully you don't think i'm a terrible person now but I just had to vent.

Thanksgiving!!!!

2011-11-30T11:03:00.001-08:00

I love this picture of these boys! Under the table happy as can be. SO true to form. The 3 amigos had so much fun together. It's amazing how quickly they grow and become friends!

We love taking pictures of our babies with the turkey. I know this isn't Giselle's first thanksgiving but the turkey weighed 22lbs which is how much Giselle weighs so I thought it would be too funny to put it right up in front of her...hahaha you can barely see that monkey!

Daddy and Giselle are just so sweet to each other. She LOVES when daddy comes home!

Aunt Laura and Aunt Jennifer are wonderful Aunts. Giselle got lots of love and cuddles and any treat she wanted! Just how she likes it!!!

The big feast this year was ONE big table. Jolie was quite upset that ALL the little kids got to eat at the big table...she thought it should be just her. Someday Jolie, someday! All the food was delicious and Mom Fox pulled out all the stops. Thank you for cooking such a bountiful dinner.

After dinner the little guys were super excited for the train to be set up. We have to supervise because too many little hands like to help conduct! Choo Choo!

One night we decided to Fondue. It was so much fun. I was a little nervous that the little kids would just make a big mess. They did great though. They loved tasting all the fruit in the chocolate and having there own stick. I think the adults had just as much fun as the kids but didn't get (too) much chocolate on their face!

Doesn't that look yummy. Who doesn't love Fondue..NO ONE!!!

We love Christmas Jammies. So cute and fun to match. The girls had striped pants and the boys had snowman pants. Nolan was the only one that was not excited for the pj's..that's just because he is in denial of winter. He wants shorts and t-shirts.. we feel your pain buddy!

Lucy and Giselle are quite the cute tag team. They are soo cute to watch and play with. They will be even cuter to watch grow up.

Jillian say's " Give me that turkey leg..it's MINE!!!"

The BIG move!

2011-11-07T10:16:00.001-08:00

Jacob standing inside our BIG BROWN tub. ALL the kids can lie down in it at the same time. Too funny, huh?

Our bedroom with the lovely orangish something color carpet. We are renting so we really don't care about that stuff right now.

The family room has the main tv in it now. The kids love it but I have to say they are watching way more tv than they used to. I'm going to have to get better about that. The blinds on the left lead to a big blue deck in our backyard and on the right there is a door to a big mud room.

we just arrived after driving for 2 days and one night of Giselle not sleeping ONE minute..hence the glasses and dazed look on my face. The kids did great on the driving part and were very anxious/excited to see our new house in ILLINOIS!!

A close up of our new house.

another view!

I started decorating for Halloween right away. We love Halloween and it helped me to feel more like home! This is the entry way when you first walk in.

We decided to put the toy room on the main level this time since we don't have a dining room table and the basement has granite floors so BRRRR. Cold. This view is of the Living room on the left and toy room on right.

**********Sorry the pictures are out of order***********

So yes the rumors are true. We moved from Virginia to Illinois. Brett took a job with a firm in Downtown Chicago. We live in a really cute town called Willowbrook. We live minutes from a train stop and Brett can take an express train and be downtown in 22 minutes. Way better than his old commute in Virginia. Life so far here has been good. Change is always hard but we are all trying really hard to enjoy this experience and rely on each other as a family. We have already had a few fun experiences and I will post about those soon too.

Couldn't let this one pass by!

2011-09-14T16:14:00.001-07:00

Sometimes you just need to go for a ride. Isn't great that Giselle and Jacob are so close they can just hang out like this. Jakey was so happy to give her a ride and she just held on..they are still out there right now. I love little moments like this!

SORRY!

2011-09-14T12:30:00.001-07:00

I have SO much to blog about it's not even funny. I have no idea when I will have the time.
keep an eye out you never know...it might be at 3 in the morning! HAHAHA!!

Pink is in the Air!

2011-07-18T11:01:00.000-07:00

This is just a small sampling of ALL the pink that happened this past sunday! A sweet teenager sent out an email on facebook asking everyone to wear pink to church this sunday. I knew Jamie wouldn't be there since she had her first round of Chemo this past thursday but her husband kids would be. So the replys of yes kept coming and coming. It was soo much fun to see all the pink and all the pink hair! :) Our ward has always been a great ward but now it is an amazing ward. For so many people have come together to show this family how much love we all have and want to give. It really is a humbling experience for me and my friends. You always say to yourself if anything were to happen to you would someone be there to help. There is NO doubt in my mind. There will ALWAYS be someone their to help. If you want to see more pink go to Jamie's blog here.

Can you believe it, even Brett wore a pink tie! He's so cute. LOVE YOU!!!

Pink Party!

2011-07-11T08:07:00.000-07:00

My friend Jamie...the one on the bottom right..with pink and red hair, was just diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer! She is a mom of 3 small children and has a loving devoted husband. They are ready to fight and beat this but it will take an army to help them. I am hosting a PINK PARTY at my house tommrow night. We are dying a strand or tip or stripe..whatever you want in your hair. I have pink roses and pink drinks..it'll be PINKALICIOUS!!!! Feel free to come tommorow night to my house around 8pm. If you live to far away you can do your own pink color or feather and PLEASE send me a pic. I want to have as many people as possible to show her how amazing she is and how we are ALL rooting for her!
feel free to follow her blog HERE

another statistic!

2011-07-06T10:29:00.001-07:00

They say 8800 people get injured every year doing fireworks. This year we are one of those people. We were doing the normal light your own sparklers and little fountain fireworks. Genevieve had picked smoke bombs because the night before at a neighbors she loved it. The kids love the color smoke and pretended to be wizards and jump through the smoke when Jacob suddenly started screaming and grabbed his eye. Brett and I jumped up and ran inside to wash out his eye. You know how hard it is to wash out a 3yr. old's eye..very! He let us put a cold washcloth on his eye. We called the pediatrician who told us two other kids have done the same thing that day too. We went to urgent care and they gave him some antibiotic drops and told us to see the eye dr. on tuesday. Tuesday we went to the eye dr and they were worried and sent us to the Pediatric eye doctor. The doctor there said he looks ok keep doing the drops and check back in two weeks. Needless to say NO MORE jumping through smoke. Poor little guy. He keeps telling us his eye feels better because he does NOT want us to look at it, touch it most of all put drops in it!

New Jolie adventures!

2011-07-04T08:08:00.000-07:00

Jolie tried something totally new this year. Softball. She loved being on the team!

The race at the end of the game was always the best part...gatorade too! She did a great job and learned so much. Can't wait for more family softball games to come!

Jolie also took piano lessons for the first time starting in January. Her teacher was Kathi Hanson and she loved every week. She practiced every day and couldn't wait to pass off a song.

Here she is doing a duet with her teacher. She is a mom of 5 also and was in our ward at church but our ward split and she goes to a different ward now but we get to see her because of piano.

Jolie's little hands play so well and so graceful. We can't wait to hear how next year goes. Way to go Jolie!!

Chipotle Lime chicken and steak with Chipotle honey sauce

2011-07-04T07:33:00.001-07:00

My friend is a really great cook and I love everything she makes so when she posted a new recipe I couldn't wait to try it. I was a little nervous because I am not a big spicy eater but Brett is and I knew he would be excited. I went to her blog here.

It took me a while to find the chipotle peppers. the one I found is a small blue can. I used it for the chipotle honey sauce which the recipe is this

The honey sauce on the corn is AMAZING! Brett really liked it and it wasn't too spicy at all. Even my dad would like it. I didn't make it like Nachos like she did. I made lime cilantro rice and cooked the peppers like she did than made the steak and chicken. piled it all on top of each other. I do have some leftovers so I think i'm going to do the nachos today.

Thank You Lanna love new fun recipes!!!!!!!!!

Digital Baby!

2011-06-23T16:57:00.001-07:00

TOYS...who needs toys when you have a...............

IPOD

Giselle LOVES my ipod. She loves listening to music and being able to change the screen with her finger. She loves the colors and the sounds and it is no big deal to her...how crazy is that?

This crazy little small screen can entertain her forever...Jolie knows more features on my ipod than i do. She can take video and pictures and I have NO idea how to...hahaha.

She already knows to move her finger on the screen...angry birds makes her angry! Wonder what other crazy technology will be part of her normal everyday life?????

Lunch!

2011-06-21T16:31:00.000-07:00

Jillian had a great year of Kindergarten but sometimes she just wanted to be home. She and Jolie had the most missed school days ...both are my home girls! :)
She would tell me ALL the time that she missed me during school. I always reminded her that I picked her up right at the end and that I would see her sooner than she knew it.
I do know that I had a hard time in school too when I was her age and sometimes I just wanted my mom to come see me. So a few times I went in to school and had lunch with her or went into her classroom. I know it helped but in the end all she wanted was this............
LUNCH AT HOME WITH MOM!!!!!!!!!

Every day crazy!!!

2011-06-11T05:06:00.001-07:00

Yup this is how it is in our house...ALL the time. Giselle on the floor right after she scattered a bag of cereal...EVERYWHERE! jacob on a stool he pushed over to the sink, filling some random bowl with water. It can be a pain to clean up but really it's just a little mess and look how happy they are!

Last night Jolie and Genevieve were at a sleepover so Jillian and Jacob had there own sleepover. We thought they looked so cute all cuddled together! Jacob looks like he's winning in the bed there though!

Friday was crazy hair day! Genna and Jillian were so excited to do something fun and when I told them I had pink hair stuff they were beyond excited. Genna has a waterbottle in her ponytail making it stand up like that. Jillian has 4 pony tails in her hair. They got so many compliments. Jolie decided not to partake in this school tradition. She wanted NOTHING to do with it. When I said bye to her at school she didn't even look at me...I can't believe I'm already un cool to her. Well she is going into 5th grade....WOW!

Jolie and Genevieve absolutely LOVE Giselle. They are so great at helping her and protecting her and following her at the park. It's amazing how great it is to have a toddler with big sisters to help out.

Jacob wants to ride a big 2 wheeler SOOO bad. Jillian told him she would help teach him. He hopped on the biggest bike he could find. It had training wheels on it luckily. Jillian pushed the bike all over the driveway for at least a half hour. Isn't Jacob so lucky to have such a great big sister!

Sweet Cuddles!

2011-05-20T04:26:00.000-07:00

Jolie has what every big sister dreams of. A little sister that ADORES her. Giselle thinks Jolie is the best. She reaches out her arms for her. She gives her kisses. She brings books and toys to her. Why does Giselle think so much of Jolie. Because Jolie plays with her. She turns on music and dances with her. She spins her and kisses her. Every time Giselle brings her a book, Jolie reads it. Jolie shares her beloved stuffed pink bear with her...sometimes Giselle just takes it but Jolie doesn't mind..usually! :) Most of all they just love each other.. aren't sisters the best.
I think I am one lucky mom to have such sweet loving children!

Youtube!

2011-05-19T11:58:00.000-07:00

One of Jacob's favorite things of ALL time is to go on youtube and watch videos of trains. It is amazing how many people have videotaped a train. Jacob is very thankful to all those people out there that stand and tape a slow moving train for 10 minutes or a fast moving train for two minutes. He's mastered the mouse and can watch the same clip over and over or pick a new one.

Today though I set it up for him and then went up stairs to work on laundry. I can hear the sounds of the trains and the click of the mouse and then realized that I hadn't heard anything for a little while. I waited a few minutes then went down stairs to find him out cold. Those trains were just too exciting. My big boy is still my little man for at least a little longer. I picked him up and just layed with him for a few minutes. Choo Choo dreams my sweet boy!

Baby Mozart!

2011-05-17T14:22:00.000-07:00

Giselle LOVES to play the piano. I hear the tink tink of keys all the time and it isn't Jolie. I find Giselle sitting at the big piano happy as can be.

I should have zoomed in on the keys because they are covered in many many finger smudges. If you want to know what it is..I have no idea. Messy hands is just how it is in our house!

She loves music. She carries around my ipod...although she only wants Kesha playing on that..I think she mostly likes the picture of Kesha on the front. She bops and spins whenever the stereo is on. She is so fun to watch. Who knows maybe this is a sign that she will be the next great pianist!!!!!

Shaking hands!!

2011-04-18T16:07:00.001-07:00

I'm sorry these photos aren't very good. It was the best I could do. This weekend Brett and I and his parents went into D.C. for the BYU management society dinner. It's always fun to get dressed up and go out. It's even better when you get to see, touch and hear an apostle of the lord!! The event was running late so we thought we might not get to meet him. Then him and his wife come walking in. He is so nice and shaked hundreds of hands and smiled the whole time. He can shake and walk fast though. I tried after I shaked his hand to get a good picture, but those feet are fast. He was on the move and constantly moving his head so no good picture. but still an amazing experience. His talk was amazing and fun to listen to. I feel so blessed to have gone and that I was with Brett the whole time!

Thank You President Uchtdorf for a wonderful talk and for helping me to feel closer to our Heavenly Father!

Happy 3rd Birthday Jacob!!!

2011-03-30T10:42:00.000-07:00

My little man is growing up so fast. He is 3 years old today. He usually can show me three with his hand but for some reason it just wasn't happening today!

We just got done with a baseball class for Jacob before we took these pictures. He is doing great in the class and only runs out to me maybe 2 or 3 times..hahaha one of these times he'll stay in the whole time.

He was SO excited to sit on top of the hydrant. He was holding on tight..he will tell you that if you ask him. Grandma Sue and Grandpa Dan gave him a big fire truck and he got to open that first thing this morning..so it's been a fireman kinda day!

He loves his light up car shoes that Grandma Fox got him, it's nice because we can see him running down the street in the dark!

Jacob loves trucks, trains, cars, buses, airplanes, anything with wheels. He loves to read stories and sing songs...but not really mommy sing, he stops me ALL the time. He can count to 20 and he knows all his shapes and colors. He can sing his ABC's. He knows how to use the potty but isn't quite interested in wearing big boy underwear..it's going to happen buddy! He loves spaghetti and Lucky Charms. His favorite color is green. He will sit in a chair and let me give him a haircut with clippers. His favorite movie is polar express and Cars. He also loves when Jillian helps him watch any type of train on the computer...thank you YOUTUBE for letting every random person post 45 seconds of a train!

He weighs 27lbs and oops. not sure how tell he is. Add at least 3 inches for his spiked hair. He LOVES nursery and is doing so much better sitting in Sacrament meeting at church. He really is a loving boy. After family prayer he always says...HUGS and has to hug everyone. He prays at night for his friends and all family. If someone is hurt he will give them a hug. He loves his family so much but his sisters are the most important person. Jacob we love you SO much!! Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!

A milestone

2011-02-27T04:19:00.001-08:00

THE FIRST PIGTAIL!!!!!!
Ok, so it only lasted for a few minutes and I had to wet her hair to make them AND there was only enough hair in the back to even attempt some sort of ponytail...BUT they are there and they are adorable.

Jacob's school!

2011-01-31T14:02:00.001-08:00

When Jolie and Genevieve were little I used to do TONS of projects with them. We had story time and quiet play time. We art and music and tons of walks. Then we moved up here to the real world. Brett worked full time and I helped in the preschool a few days a week. So Jillian had all of those things done for her at the pre school. So I kinda fell out of the routine. Jacob says bye to his big sisters everyday and wishes so bad he could go to school. So today Jacob and I started Jacob's school. We started simple with getting an old shirt of daddy's and got some paint out. He was sooo happy.

Giselle of course did not want to miss any of the fun so she got a spot right in front.

Mostly she liked snack time. Jacob is concentrating so hard.

We started with the letter A. and the number 3. He is turning 3 in March so I figured that would be a good one to start with. He sings his ABC's all the time but I haven't really focused on individual letters. He kept telling me my A was a house...was it him or me..I think my art skills need some work :)

He loved his school and I loved his patience and willingness to learn. If only he would stop growing so fast.

Here she comes...MISS AMERICA!!

2011-01-26T06:46:00.000-08:00

I seriously have the funnest friends. I mean really, who doesn't love getting dressed up in silly party attire and go to a Miss America party. I DO!!! It was a blast. My friend invited TONS of people. All 50 states were represented and a former Miss America...yes there really was OVER 50 people there. She was awesome and had a running list of all the states so no one was the same state.
I was lucky to get Michigan. Now we had a choice of either dressing up in evening gown, swimsuit or state representation. Since swimsuit was out, and who has an evening gown, and I wasn't about to wear a tire..I decided for sure Madonna represented Detroit. So I went old school and did the 80's Madonna.

I had so much fun getting this outfit together..probably too much fun. I borrowed my friends crimper...surprisingly only took me about 45 minutes to crimp my whole head. Then found the rest of the stuff at Claire's and hot topic. Metallic tights..who would've thought? :)

Once we got there she made sashes for all of us to wear...our state was written on it. Alex is Miss North Dakota..Brett tried to get her to do a Paul Bunyan theme but she wasn't up for it hahahaWhen you enter the house, you walk the red carpet and she had fun signs with lights..so fun.

My awesome friend Cathy was Miss New Jersey and runner up to best hair. She did that herself and no nothing is holding up..just good ole hairspray and teasing. I was too late for all the voting but she had ballots for Best hair, best dress, miss congeniality, best state rep, best swimsuit.

We brought either an appetizer or a dessert. There was so much yumminess. Miss Vermont brought a bunch of the tiny Ben and Jerry ice creams..oh cool is that. We watched the Miss America contest and you weren't allowed to eat until the state you were representing was eliminated. I was out right away. Each level they took a picture of the top 15 and 10 to the winner. It was a great idea and a great party...Can't wait for next year!!!!!!

It's the little moments!

2011-01-09T04:39:00.000-08:00

I love those times when you look over and "catch" your child just being sweet. Jacob was having a hard day...for one reason or another. He really wanted some attention and Brett and I both had a lot going on. Jillian noticed and asked if she could read him a story. She got out a truck book and started reading to him. He sat so quietly and she read to him many times.

All of our children have fallen asleep while eating or playing at some point. Giselle hadn't done it yet and I thought maybe this time it wont happen. NOPE, she was eating lunch and just couldn't handle it any longer. She was soo cute trying so hard to keep her eyes open. The girls thought it was SO funny.

Genevieve likes to try new things all the time. She really wanted to take a picture with the camera. So I thought ok, go ahead give it a try. I thought she did a good job. She stood on the coffee table because she said I was too tall for her to be on the ground.

It's these little moments that I need to better about writing down and saving. For I know I wont remember all the details just the feelings of how blessed I am.

Christmas Eve!

2011-01-08T20:16:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve is such a magical time. Not only for the child but for the parents as well. The shopping is usually all done..wrapping not so much but the time with the family is just beginning. We had a wonderful day together Brett and I and the kids. Sometimes just being together is just what you need. That night we went over to Grandma and Grandpa Fox's for dinner and fun with family. After dinner we sat down and heard a story that Grandma Fox tells the children every year. It's so nice that they are getting older and can sit and really enjoy it. Jacob was enjoying the story as long as he had a car with him.

Giselle enjoyed the story mostly from Grandpa's lap...hey there he is!

After the story Aunt Nichole and Uncle Erik rounded all the grandkids up and put on the Nativity. So cute to see them all dressed up. Jacob was a shepard and he carried my Grandpa Jacksons cane that he made for Brett years ago. Jacob felt very important carrying that stick. Genna was an angel and had the only speaking part. She tried very hard to memorize it and did a wonderful job. Jillian played 3 wise men and bore gifts. Jolie was Mary, the mother of our Lord. Jolie is a very loving and caring thoughtful daughter of our Heavenly Father so it was a great fit.

Afterwards everyone opened up Christmas jammies. Don't they all look SO cute. Cousins James and Johnathon have them too, but they came a few days later.

Giselle loved watching the train go around the tree. We have one at our house too, but Jacob takes over that train.

Santa Claus came and suprised the kids with a visit. Giselle did NOT appreciate the sacrifice of him coming and wearing that hot suit. Hopefully next year she will like it better.

We then went home and put cookies out for Santa. Along with a letter and Milk. Giselle was sampling the cookies. They were sooo excited to go to bed. They were so good too.

Giselle is tasting a cookie to make sure Santa will like it...Brett tucked her pants into her shirt. She didn't care that she looked silly! :)

All done and ready for bed. How I wish they would stay this little and sweet. I know that time keeps marching on and that soon they wont be as excited. For now I am going to keep all these wonderful memories and cherish them for I know it goes way too fast!

Giselle Turns the big O N E!!!!

2010-12-29T06:26:00.000-08:00

Giselle turned one on Dec. 22nd. This year FLEW by. I can not believe she is already 1. She is such a fun, loving, easy going...unless she wants something to eat then she screams. Wonderful daughter. She is definitely my go to anyone girl. She took her first steps at 10 1/2 months but really started walking about a month later. Now she is already trying to run. She has Jacob leading the way. We had a small birthday cake on her birthday but we didn't have our camera so we didn't get any pictures. A few days later when all of Brett's siblings were in town we went over to his parents house and did a breakfast birthday!

We did monkey bread, which was perfect for our little monkey girl. She loves music and everyone singing to her makes her very happy. She had no interest in blowing out the candle but hey that's what siblings are for, right? Look at that smile, so happy!

Waiting for some of that monkey bread. She has no issues with food...EXCEPT she isn't very patient for it. She screams LOUD if you don't give her a bite right away. For some reason she thinks that's the only way to get noticed. Luckily though she will eat anything you give her.

Mommy with her baby girl who is growing up way too fast. She looks too little to be one but acts more like she is 2. She loves being with her sisters and brother. She loves books and music. She has a favorite blanket and will put her head down on it everytime you give it to her. She LOVES my phone and daddys phone and really any phone for that matter.

Giselle has Daddy wrapped around her little finger. She gives great kisses and is even starting to give hugs. She says Dadada. she says mama too but dada way more. Giselle thank you for coming to our family and making it even more fun in our house. We love you so much and feel very blessed and humbled to be your mom and dad!

NYC at Christmas time!

2010-12-29T06:08:00.001-08:00

I was lucky enough to go to New York City for the 1st time ever at Christmas time AND with my 3 oldest daughters. We got up super early and headed to D.C. to take a train to New York. The girls were so excited and loved every minute of the train ride...Jillian asked the conductor to punch her ticket like Tom Hanks on Polar Express...she laughed and punched a bunch of holes but it didn't say anything. I bundled the girls up like little eskimos, thank goodness since it was pretty windy in certain spots. This picture was taken inside Radio City Music Hall. We saw the Rockettes. The show was incredible. The only thing was Jillian had walked A LOT by that part and we had been up since 4:30 in the morning so once we sat down in our comfy warm chairs and the lights went out...she went out. Slept through almost the whole thing.

Here we all are in front of Radio City Music Hall...you can see we are pretty bundled up. I was going to bring my big fancy camera but Nichole offered to take pictures with her smaller camera. Thank goodness because I had a back pack already full and at the end I had to carry Jillian. Thank you Nichole!

Nichole and I in front of the Giant Christmas Tree in Rockefeller Plaza. This is where I watched the amazing Salvation Army ringers...they know how to work it. WOW! They all have microphones and music and really get into it. I really wanted to go ice skating but the line was HUGE and the price was wayyy too pricey! Oh well...sometime not a week before Christmas.

Grandma Fox treated the girls to their very own American girl Doll. This store is huge and has everything an american girl doll could hope for. The girls LOVE their dolls and take them everywhere with them. Thank You Grandma!

I'm sure most of you know I am a little bit of a chocolate lover...so of course the Hershey store is a must stop. The girls loved it too....So many choices! mmmmm!

One of the first places we stopped at was Macy's. The largest one in the world i'm sure. We went to the 8th floor to mail a letter to Santa. I've never seen such a busy store before. The windows outside are absolutely amazing. They change every year and this year it was the story of a little girl named Virginia..how perfect for my girls huh?

We had such an amazing time and loved every minute of it. We got Pizza from John's and a vendor Hot Dog. Hot chocolate by the NBC building. Saw the Empire State building lit up. Stood in the middle of Times Square and heard more honking that was neccessary. Saw a man holding a sign saying he needed money to buy weed...at least he was honest right? What an experience. I am so glad my 3 daughters were there with me. Next time, I can't wait to go with Brett!!!

THANKSgiving!

2010-11-28T09:03:00.001-08:00

Giselle had her first thanksgiving feast and boy can that girl feast. She loved EVERYTHING!

All the sweet kiddos. We had our friend Lori and her 4 fun and great kids join us. My parents came down from Michigan too!

More super cute kids!!

Jacob loved the Vernors grandma brought from Michigan..he couldn't bear the thought of the spilled soda going to waste!

Brett carving his first turkey!! He did a great job. We are so blessed to have so many blessings and privledges in this life. First of all the blessing to choose what where we worship. Without this one freedom all others would fall to the side. With this freedom I was able to marry my true love for all time and eternity and with that union has now come 5 beautiful children. I can't wait to see the amazing blessings that are yet to come..until then I will forever be grateful and THANKFUL for all the ones I have now!

Every time we have a baby that has their first thanksgiving we take a picture of the turkey in front of the baby...hahahaha the turkey was SO big it covered her up..or maybe she is so little!

Now you can see her! chewing on her favorite carrot!

Cafe Fox!

2010-11-12T13:24:00.000-08:00

People ask me all the time..How do you do it? I respond with I have some really great friends. It's true I do. I am so blessed to have some great friends in my life. I ask them for help and they are there..armed sometimes with food, sometimes with sponges to clean and sometimes to play with kids. I felt like a thank you note just wasn't going to cut it. I sent an evite and thank goodness they could all come.
We started the meal with Artichoke dip. Then had broccoli and white cheddar cheese soup!
Spinach, apple,craisin, walnut and feta salad with an apple vinaigrette!
Super yummy bread *from wegmans* with make your own sandwich
sunken chocolate cake with ice cream and berries drizzled with hot fudge.
I love my china but I rarely get it out. Too many little hands, but I felt this was a good time as any. Real napkins can make such a difference..and fresh flowers pulls it all together.

I really feel like these ladies brighten my day every time I am with them, so I picked out cute little candles for each of them..thank goodness they all got the kind they liked!

After all of that, they stayed and helped me clean up..not to mention Alex came in the morning and helped me get it all together. How lucky am I...not lucky. Just blessed. Love you Ladies!

A week of Halloween!

2010-11-03T11:01:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a fun but crazy busy week. Monday we carved our pumpkins and ms. Giselle decided to stand up and join in on the fun. I got to go to the concert Muse on Wednesday..AWESOME!! so fun. On friday I went on a field trip with Jillian to Cox Farms..super fun but very cold. after the field trip I went back to the school and co hosted a halloween party for Jolie's class. They are such cute kids. Then friday night I went to a witches brew party. 30 + women dressed up as witches..mean super fun! Saturday was fox family halloween carnival and then the ward trunk or treat. Sunday was soup and more soup. and then trick or treating. We had a great time and thank goodness for no school on monday or tuesday because we were all worn out!

Soccer Genna!

2010-11-03T10:31:00.000-07:00

Genevieve is in her third season of soccer. She loves it. We have loved going and cheering for her. It is so fun to watch her talent grow. She was just asked to be on an All-Star team. The tournament is in a couple of weeks and then she will be done until the spring. Way to go Genna!

9 months

2010-10-17T18:35:00.001-07:00

Giselle had her 9 month check up this past week...I know she'll be 10 months next week!
She is 16lbs. 5 oz. 27 1/2 inches long
She crawls everywhere. Stands and cruises with furniture and can hang tough with her brother.
She LOVES to eat. This picture she had just finished eating brocolli and cheese soup, ravioli, blueberry yogurt and orange jello...all in one sitting.
She sleeps threw the night...bless you child for that one.
The only hiccup recently is she HATES the bath tub. She had one horrible experience in the tub..really she just rolled in the bath, which I was right there and right away scooped her up, but it looks like she is scarred for life. It is the saddest little thing now when she has to take a bath. She shakes so hard and screams and will not sit down in the water. The other day I had Jillian get in with her and try to make her happy. It helped a little bit, at least she stopped screaming. No sitting but she did put her hand down in the water. So hopefully I can keep working with her and get her to like the bath again.
I was telling Brett today that I think she is the wards baby..she is passed around to everyone and is so happy about it. Thankfully everyone in my ward is happy about it too. She really is a sweet, happy go with the flow baby. Now if she can just stop growing!

Super Saturday...super crazy!

2010-10-17T07:05:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was my ward's super Saturday. I was SO excited for this. We haven't had one in quite a while and they had tons of super cute stuff to make. I got up early to make a batch of broccoli and cheese soup..which took way longer than necessary since I do NOT have a food processor...**hint hint Brett**. :) Brett had to go to a funeral for a coworkers spouse so he was gone. I load up all the kiddos into the car and nothing. The car wont start. The battery is dead. EEERRRR! Of course, because Brett isn't home..isn't that always when stuff goes wrong. The van is in the garage so I knew it would be very tricky to get a car in there to jump it. I run over to one of my neighbors leaving all the kids in the car. I ask if he has one of those portable car jump things...another ** gift idea for me** but nope. He says he doesn't even have jumper cables...I DOOO. I say. So he comes over and we realize I need to empty everything out of the garage that is on the other side so we can get a car in...so we empty everything out and then he brings this zippy little car in..which the girls all think is the coolest car ever..it looks like bumblebee from Transformers which makes me laugh because they've never seen Transformers. Anyways after much careful maneuvering of the car and climbing out of the car we finally get it. YAY!!!!!!!!!!! I get in the car and now it is after 11am. Yikes. I rush to the church and get started right away. That lovely banner took me forever. I only had time to make the one project, but I'm OK with it. I love it and at least I got to go right. The kids had fun in the nursery and when I picked up the crock pot it was empty...always a good sign it was good. The crazy part that was only ONE part of our Saturday. I will post later about that nights festivities. Side note Genna scored 2 goals in her soccer game that day. Way to go Genna!

Apples and Pumpkins!!

2010-10-11T10:32:00.000-07:00

We went to our favorite orchard to go pick apples and get our pumpkins. It was a very warm day much like it has been all summer and fall. Since it has been SO warm for so long it really took a toll on the orchard. SO they didn't have any to pick just already picked ones. It worked out just fine though and I got to really take my time picking good ones and helping the girls learn how to find a good one.

Genna was concerned of some brown spots on her apple. I suggested she look for a new one.

I love this picture. Aren't my boys so handsome. Jacob wants to be just like daddy. I say good choice.

As soon as we got there Jacob grabbed an apple and took a bite, he was in heaven.

Giselle, she wants to be like the big kids so bad. She just had to get her hands on those pumpkins!

The field behind us is where I go strawberry picking..I love fresh food!

I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family. We had a great time and love this family tradition!

Genevieve's baptism dress

2010-09-27T15:34:00.000-07:00

The Joelie!!!

2010-09-02T16:04:00.000-07:00

This is Aunt Jennifer. She has had long hair for as long as I've known her....forever! Last week Jolie chopped off her hair. She had wanted short hair for quite a while. When I asked her what she wanted to do with it she said she wanted to cut her hair like her cousin Joelie. This is Brett's cousin Tamara's daughter. So Jolie's 2nd cousin. Jolie LOVES her new haircut. A great friend who happens to be an even better hairstylist came over and did the "do". Aunt Jennifer saw her haircut and really liked it. With 3 children 3 and under a short hair do sounded pretty good. Not to mention a really cute style. So she did it....she took the oppurtunity and CUT IT OFF!

I am so proud of her. It looks stunning. I mean really, did we ever doubt it wouldn't look good.

Her hair always looks good. She makes even a ponytail look stylish. I have to say her hair looks even better. I was amazed at how much thicker it looks.

Her hair looks a little darker in the picture than in person...but look at all of that hair.

So here it is..." The Joelie"! Cute huh!

Let's grab something to eat!

2010-08-22T08:00:00.000-07:00

The question let's grab something to eat is always a sentence that is followed with....drive thru or do we do it? Do we brave the impossible? Take all 5 kids into a restaraunt and SIT DOWN!!!
This past week had been very busy and very little daddy time. Saturday came and he had to go up to our church to help someone for a little while so we all went up and played in the gym while he helped. Then we headed home...we had a TON of cleaning to do. When we left it was lunch time so we thought we should get something to eat...we saw two places right away. Ledo's pizza or Glory Days...we chose Glory Days. We got there pretty soon after it opened so it was crowded at all. We got a big table since we are a big family.

This is how our meal went.

Jakey: trying to climb over the top of the bench onto the table behind us...the entire time.
the girls: we know what we want and are going to play games on the menu.
Giselle: Screams....finally get her out...trys to grab EVERYONE's drink.
Jolie: I have to go to the bathroom.
Jacob: undoing everyones silverware and dumping them on the ground...and climbing over the bench again.
Brett: I'll take Jakey for a walk while we wait for our food.
Lisa: Holding giselle giving her a taste of lemon...not bad she says but really just wants the strawberry lemonade.
Jillian: I have to go to the bathroom.
Lisa: Seriously, Jolie just went..why didn't you go then.
Jillian: I didn't have to go then.
Lisa: Great..ok go.
Our food comes-
Jacob shares with all three girls.
Brett and I start to eat as fast as we can..we know we have limited time.
Giselle: GIVE ME FOOD NOW!!! she starts with blueberries out of my salad and quickly moves to Jillian's fries.
Jacob: Grabs food off of my salad. he has mac and cheese right in front of him but of course wants my food.
Jolie: I have to go to the bathroom again....
Lisa: AHHH.
Brett: finishes food in record time..and takes jakey again for a walk.
Lisa: attempts to eat food but Giselle is just way too fussy.
Brett and Lisa: look at each other and say...let's go.
Lisa: takes jakey and giselle to car and straps them in and waits for the rest.
The rest come back and we go home...
Gee...why don't we do that more often.
I'd tell you the food was good..but I honestly can't remember!!

Strippling Warriors!

2010-08-17T06:23:00.001-07:00

Jolie and Genna were in charge of FHE ( Family Home Evening). The lesson was on The 2,000 Strippling Warriors. They did a great job. We all got into character by becoming warriors. We read scriptures and answered questions and at the end we went outside and dug up or weapons of peace. The girls buried plastic knifes in the mulch. Everyone had so much fun and were loving the dress up part. Even mommy and daddy dressed up!! Good Job girls!!!!

Tomatoes and Cookies!

2010-08-17T05:39:00.001-07:00

Giselle was tasting all the freshly picked tomatoes for me the other day!

She approves all these yummy juicy red tomatoes...even the little ones!!!! That bowl was picked that afternoon...we shared with our neighbors.

"Best cookies ever" Said by neighborhood children!!

These babies are SOO good. I was mucho impressed. I got the recipe from a friend and now I will pass on to you!

3/4 cup butter

3/4 cup shortening

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 cup packed brown sugar

3 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 box (3.4 oz) instant vanilla pudding ( this is the magical ingredient)

4 cups sifted flour

3 cups chocolate chips

Cream together butter, shortening and sugars. Add eggs and Vanilla.Beat well. Combine Salt, soda, pudding mix and flour. Add to the creamed mixture and fold in chocolate chips.

Bake 8-12 minutes at 350 degrees until lightly browned.

Great Grandma Fox comes in town!

2010-08-17T05:18:00.000-07:00

Don't you just love excuses to get all dressed up and look pretty? Here are two very pretty cousins...Jolie Fox and Lucy Fox. Jolie just loves holding babies!

Each family took turns taking pictures with Great Grandma Fox...our colors we chose were white, khaki and blue. Cousin Colton was hanging with some his cousins and this shot was captured...I love it!These handsome young men are Jennifer and Taylors boys. Colton and Nolan. We are lucky enough to live only a half hour away from them.

Giselle LOVED chewing on Great grandma's hand. She did that forever it made us all laugh so hard. She was even entertaining herself with sounds she would make on great grandma's hand!

A little closer up....mmm..You sure are sweet Great Grandma. We loved visiting with Brett's grandma and sure wish she lived closer to us. A few highlights were: Taking pictures, eating Grandma's FAMOUS peach dessert, playing rock band with Grandma, finding out Grandma loves twilight just as much as me...yes she is Team Jacob too! :) Most of all getting a hug from her. We LOVE YOU!

When you are baby #5...you take a nap where ever you can!

2010-08-04T09:27:00.000-07:00

Poor little girl always wants to be where the action is....this time it is the messy computer room. Genevieve and Jillian were on the computer playing a game and she crawled under there and within minutes fell asleep. Lucky for me she let me move her to her crib with no fuss!

Let's Jam!!!

2010-08-04T09:19:00.001-07:00

Monday morning I loaded all the kiddos up and went to our favorite orchard- Hartland in Markham Virginia! My friend Cathy and her two kiddos came as well. I didn't know it until we got there but they also had red rasberries...BONUS!!! The peaches were freestone...double bonus. Jolie wasn't super excited to pick and Cathy's son Peyton wasn't either...Jacob and Giselle fell asleep on the drive up so we left the two big kids with a movie a DS and two babies..and we picked and picked and picked. It was great. Jacob got a good nap and Giselle woke up for the last 30 minutes. She sampled quite a few rasberries...she wasn't totally sure of it. Cathy and I canned 14 jars of peaches that night..until 12:30 actually. Two of the jars broke.. in each batch. The middle jar both times but from two different boxes of jars. I think it was just too close to the heat with that kind of weight.

The next day we started much earlier and canned and canned and canned some more. We ended up with 64 total jars of peaches and jams. The kids were amazing threw it all. Really we neglected them and yet they were fine. We threw food at them every once in a while and got new games down but seriously that was all. Thanks Cathy for being such a great canning buddy!

Look who's riding a two wheeler!!

2010-07-30T15:06:00.000-07:00

ALL BY HERSELF........GOOD JOB JILLIAN!!!!!!!

Fox Farmers!

2010-07-30T14:43:00.001-07:00

Don't you just want to take a bite out of this? I LOVE LOVE LOVE home grown vegetables!

We don't exactly have a big backyard so our garden is pretty small. We love tomatoes and this year our crops are great. We planted one full size tomato plant and two cherry tomato plants. That container was picked today...all of those. This is the 4th time I've picked since being back from Michigan. I've been home 1 week!! We also planted green beans but those aren't fairing quite as well. Genna has assured me that they taste great..but there are just not that many to pick. Next year I think I want to plant zucchini....hello Bread!

I can't wait for Brett to make his amazing homemade salsa!!!

slum dog Lisa!

2010-07-30T12:08:00.000-07:00

Jillian has a special place for Giselle in her heart...they are great friends!

Giselle really likes Elmo!!!

My camera is finally fixed....YAY!!!!! Brett took it in to get it checked and it was more than the place could handle. So they referred him to a place in D.C. He dropped it off and they called us a little while to come pick it up..but they have weird hours. So I said I would go get it. Brett was nervous because it isn't in the best part of D.C. hahaha I'm from Detroit..bring it!!

I guess i've been out of Detroit a little long because...this place was in a shady part of town for sure. I got it just fine and nothing exciting happened to me..besides me driving in that crazy traffic...don't mess with a mom and her minivan!

new calling= new blessings!

2010-07-27T06:57:00.000-07:00

Brett and I recently had another " Did that just really happen" moment!
While in Michigan Brett got a phone call for him and I to meet with a leader of our church. I was out of town so he called back and asked if they needed us to wait until I got back. They said no come on in. I knew when he was meeting so when I got a phone call on that day a little after the time he was meeting I answered by saying " So what's your new calling?" I got " I'm here with the Stake President..on speaker phone" ...OH, Hello President Hilton! oops!! Then he asked if Brett would be willing to serve as a counselor in the Bishopric? I wasn't TOO surprised by the call. Brett is an amazing leader with a very compassionate heart. I knew that one of the counselors was moving also. What I didn't know was that they were splitting our ward and changing the whole bishopric...so what I thought was maybe a year or a little bit more of a calling was now a whole lot longer. We still of course accepted the calling willingly and excitedly.
Pres. Hilton was very understanding of our family still being young and the demands of this calling. He suggested Brett give the children and I a blessing when we got back. So for family home evening last night Brett gave all of us a very special blessing. The spirit was very strong even with some high energy toddler and cranky baby. Afterwards we took cookies over to some of our neighbors just to say thank you for being such great neighbors...our neighborhood has had quite a bit of a turnaround the past few years and it's been so nice to have neighbors for more than just a few months.
I know that this calling will be challenging at times...especially sacrament meeting. I am also excited to focus on the teachings of our children. What a great opportunity to teach our children about the priesthood and how it helps our family. To my ward: Thank you for your generosity and love to our family...I am truly grateful for all the help!

You know that friend? The one you can always call..no matter what!!!

2010-07-27T06:26:00.001-07:00

Kristi, Melissa, Amanda, Senta and Me!

All of these wonderful ladies are one of those kind of friends. I went to Michigan this month with the kids. Every time I go back I have good intentions of seeing as many friends as I can...BUT as always life with 5 kids can make the days FLY by. I am SO glad I got to spend some time with a few of my favorite people. Amanda ( the one in brown in the middle) also came in for a few days and lucky for me it was the same time I was there. The rest of my beautiful friends live in Michigan but coordinating schedules is always fun to do. Luckily, Champps has half off burgers on Mondays...woo hoo good excuse to go out. I love that we haven't been together in years and yet we laughed and talked the whole time like no time has past. Love you ladies and here's to hoping we can do that more often!!

I miss my camera!

2010-07-25T08:27:00.001-07:00

It's broke!!!

Giselle is 6 months old today!

2010-06-22T13:33:00.001-07:00

This is exactly what Giselle does all day....laughs! She is such a happy baby! It doesn't take much for her to laugh... especially having so many fun siblings to play with!

A few things about Giselle:

She is on the move- she rolls ALL over the place..I put her down in one spot and in 2 seconds she is all the way across the room.

She wants people food...NOW! Her whole body reacts when we eat..she wants we have sooo bad, but for now it's rice cereal, sweet potatos, carrots, applesauce, pears and green beans to name a few...oh and a few popsicles here and there!

Any obnoxious sound makes Giselle smile or stop crying...don't believe me just ask Jillian to yell "boo ya boo ya boo ya" for 2 minutes and you'll see!

She took a bath in the sink the other day and LOVED it...this morning I found Jacob sitting in the sink with the water on...he loved it too!!

She laughs from the inside...it's hard to explain but it sounds like she is laughing inside and not actually out loud.

I don't see or hold her for almost the whole 3 hours of church! She is loved by everyone!! Maybe because she goes to everyone!

She sleeps anywhere and with all kinds of noise...I wonder if she would sleep as well if it were actually quiet...guess we'll never know!

She doesn't have any teeth yet, but will gnaw on your finger like a chew toy!

Those are a few fun things about Giselle or ellie as we call her a lot. We love her to pieces and keep believe how fast the time has flown by.

Who wants to join my team?

2010-06-16T05:09:00.000-07:00

This week I decided to get up every morning with Jakey and go outside. He has been waking up at 6am or slightly earlier for a while now. I was in a comatose state for a while and would just moan and waste the morning away. NO MORE! I planned on running.
Monday: Jakey doesn't wake up until 7:15....WHAT, figures...can't go, Brett is already gone.
Tuesday: 5:55..ding ding..let's go. He was SO excited when I said wanna go for a walk. Strapped him into the jogger and off we went..I went to the back of my neighborhood because there are train tracks visible and he loves it. Lucky for us a train came within minutes and we tried to run next to it..but of course it was too fast and we only stayed with it for a minute. It was so nice to be out in the morning and not melt from the heat. Time went a lot faster than I thought and got back to the house only a few minutes before 7.
Wednesday: 6am on the dot. I bust out the rollerblades my mother in law got me last year..which are way nicer than the old ones when I was a kid...very cool how stuff keeps getting better.
Took me a minute to get my footing right but thankfully I didn't fall! I totally forgot how tiring rollerblading is. WOW, my legs got tired fast.
I was going down a small hill at one point and tried to slow down...phew that's when I almost wiped out. Luckily I had the stroller to hold on to because I know I would've otherwise.

My question is....have you ever been to a roller derby? Who wants to tryout for one with me...BUT what name should I use????

Super quick trip to Kirtland in a thunderstorm!

2010-06-01T18:03:00.000-07:00

Brett and I went to Michigan for my nephew Bradyn's baptism. It was a little scary trying to prepare to take 5 little kids on a 9 hour drive. Not to mention leaving at about 4:30 at night. Luckily we have the best kids in the whole wide world...hahaha I'm not biased or anything. They did wonderful on the way up..and luckily Brett didn't fall asleep at the wheel. Our camera for some reason keeps saying an error message so we didn't get ANY pictures of Bradyn...Boo Hiss!!
We did enjoy a Sonic drink though...just in case you were wondering we had strawberry limeade and Cherry Limeade!!! We left about 9am Monday morning and decided..hey let's make life interesting and take these 5 wonderful children to Kirtland, OH. It was suprisingly not far out the way at all. We got out and the camera still wasn't working...SO BUMMED!! We go into the beautiful new visitor center. I haven't been since I was a teenager and man has it changed. Brett had never been before.
Jacob was INSANE...bouncing off the walls like a maniac. I chased after him and yes I did some running..and had Brett watch the video with the other 4 kiddos. Then we had the sweetest sister missionaries ever. We had our own private tour...what no one wanted to come with us and our 5 little kids??? :) It was great, no one was annoyed by our kids asking 5 thousand questions. I loved hearing about everything all over again...although it feels a lot like the first time, since I appreciate it all SO much more.

We are standing in front of the Whitney store we used Brett's phone to take a couple of pics. You can't tell, but it actually was starting to downpour at this point. We went through the store and got out to go to the Whitney home and the thunder started booming. The girls jumped and screamed every time...but a silver lining. Jacob was scared so he didn't run. Brett held him from then on. AHHH, peace!!

We would have loved to have seen more but the storm was rocking and rolling...just like the Rock and Roll hall of fame only minutes away! Plus we had already spent two hours and needed to get back on the road. So we drove by the Kirtland temple and the cemetary and can't wait to go back again....in a few years!

* by the way..Jacob was a total angel the whole drive home...the best one actually!!***

When you have 4 sisters sometimes.....

2010-05-27T17:01:00.000-07:00

You get toenails painted...BRIGHT RED~
and you proudly show them off!

Even if you're knees are bruised and blisters on feet...at least you have pretty toes!!!!!!!!

What do you give a baby when it's 95 degrees outside?

2010-05-27T16:37:00.000-07:00

A mighty mini popsicle of course!!!!!!!!!!!!

Running a 5K is like having your first baby!

2010-05-23T07:16:00.001-07:00

I ran my first ever 5K yesterday. The day before the race I had butterflies the whole day. I was super excited but super nervous. What if I can't do it...or fall or come in last. Then I would think to myself- I can do this, I know I haven't trained very much ....OK at all. Still it will be great.

Before the race starts I had a great friend there to keep me pumped..and help settle the nerves. I watched tons of people stretch and hear others talk of the dozens of races they've done. * just like when you have a baby...you hear EVERY ONE'S birth story*

I have my number I'm ready to go. I take off with the pack. I pace myself and think just remember to breathe. I run the 1st mile without stopping once...but then decide I have to walk for just a minute...they have cones every 100 yards. I decide to only walk from one cone to the next...I didn't come here to walk a 5K after all. Sometime between mile 1 and mile 2 I am by myself. I realize, bummer I don't have my ipod with me...but then again I think I have maybe 2 songs on it..yeah I really need to put some songs on there. OK so I am by myself and it is very rare to have no one asking me for something. By this time I am really starting to feel it...I have a side cramp but their is NO way I'm giving up. There was another kid running somewhat by me..I say kid because he had to be maybe 18. Him and I were constantly passing each other...when we got up to the water spot...I don't know what to call it except they hand you cups of water and you are allowed to drink it running and throw it on the ground. I kept thinking my girls would've been mortified at all the littering :) Anyways I turn to him and said come on lets run hard. So we did. That was the extent of our conversation. I go down a trail and cross a bridge, I am breathing heavy but still not stopping. I come around a corner and go up a hill where a group of people are cheering runners on...it was so nice to hear them cheer you can do it 491 you're doing great. Even if it was a stranger it still feels good. The concept of time is totally gone..I'm thinking I really hope I am under an hour. Then I get to the last bend before coming up to the school where we begin and a cop yells out " you're almost there and you're under 40...I'm like..what no way! Sure enough I get up to the finish and get a time of 37:02. I was so excited...but immediately sat on the curb. I was bummed I didn't have my cute family there to cheer me on when crossing the finish line..but with 5 kids Saturdays are always super busy.

Now that I have run one..I am ready for another one...this time I will do a lot more to prepare.

* just like I say every time we have a baby!*

Sometimes it's good to be a FREAK!

2010-05-10T07:53:00.000-07:00

The past couple of weeks I have been in a funk. Not a big one. Just a slightly overwhelmed and pretty crabby at times one. Most of this is due to lack of sleep I am sure. I had told my self a few days ago that I was over this and talked with Brett and had a good cry...really it was a good cry. I instantly felt better. Than I get to school one day with the kiddos and meet up with some of the greatest friends out there. Where I find out the kids Evil Principal was talking about me again!!!! Errr, that's a whole other post. Anyways, my shoulders slumped down and I dropped my head and said...I'm sick of being a freak! Everywhere I go with all 5 kiddos, I get. WOW, you're hands must be full...are they ALL yours? Don't you know how this happens? Are you done...NOW? and many more incredibly rude and personal questions. I usually have a pretty good attitude and just roll with it...but lately it's been getting to me. Luckily my friends instantly grabbed me and hugged me and told me I'm not a freak...then we all laughed.

-Mother's Day started on Friday for me. I went to a Mother's tea with Jillian. Giselle came too but Jakey went to my friends house....THANK YOU KATIE! * she has 5 kids too and of the group she has 2 sets of twins...so I really shouldn't be complaining*

The preschool did a great job with a yummy breakfast and cute flowers and even cuter songs. They also did a how well do you know your mommy paper...Always good for laughs. Jillian said I
was 53 yrs. old and 66 lbs...and my favorite drink is coffee....OK, nice since I don't EVER drink coffee and in my faith we don't drink coffee...so that one was the biggest laugh..for me!

Saturday is always a busy day but my wonderful husband let me slip in a pedicure with friends so now I have pretty toes! We then had 2 soccer games and then headed over to Brett's parents house for a BBQ. After that we went to a friends for cake for her daughters bday and then after that we put the kiddos to bed and Brett's dad came over and watched them while Brett and I picked out a firepit...YAY, we love it. We also did some grocery shopping....aren't we exciting!

Sunday- I stayed in my bedroom until 11am....SWEET!! The family brought me a wonderful breakfast with flowers and cards and tons of kisses...just what I needed.

We headed to church and Jakey did not fall alseep on the way..bummer, but the kiddos in primary sang to the mom's. Who cares if our oldest 2 daughters were fighting on the stand..I choose to ignore it and just listen! Giselle was swooped away by other wonderful mommys who needed some baby love.

After church we headed home where Brett grilled TONS of food. He made chicken and steaks and hot dogs...potato salad, watermelon, strawberries, chips and lots of drinks. Then a yummy cake and to top it off smore's off the new fire pit. We were lucky enough to have another super mom here with her 2 kiddos, since her husband had to work Brett didn't want her to have to cook.

The night ended watching Friday Night Lights.

Why did I write this all down? Well, this is like a journal for me and you know what...If this is what a freak does, than I think sometime's it good to be a freak.

There is a GREAT quote from the wife of the former President of our church:

This is how I feel about my job:

" I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed,and with long perfectly, manicured fingernails. I want to drive up in a station that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbors children. I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someones garden. I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheek and the tears of a friend on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know I was really here, and that I really lived." Marjorie Pay Hinkley

Mommy sit!

2010-05-04T14:37:00.000-07:00

Lately when we leave the house or come home, Jacob sits on the bottom step and says " Mommy" and pats the step. He wants me to sit next to him and he points out all the stuff he sees. It is the sweetest little moment and I have to do it every time he asks me, even if we are in a hurry, because I feel these moments are too precious to miss out on!

Jolie's 9th Bday Party!

2010-05-04T14:18:00.001-07:00

Jolie's party this year wasn't a themed party...the first one. It was all tween though. Pink and green and tons of fun. We got these fun lanterns and hung them from the tree outside. and had streamers on the island.

As friends began to arrive the energy also came in. I put Giselle in the high chair to protect her as much as possible. ALL the girls LOVED Giselle and I am pretty sure they all got a turn holding her.

We started out eating pizza, chips and fruit salad, with Pink Lemonade. Those girls can eat!

We started our first game which was Musical dress up...since I didn't have enough chairs we used a blanket. We used Selena Gomez music and when it stopped they had to sit on the blanket whoever didn't get a spot had to run over to the dress up bucket and grab something to put on as we all loudly counted to 10. Some conviently didn't get a spot on the blanket every time...Genna had a sad moment here and there...it's always hard when it's NOT your party.

All the girls dressed and ready for their fashion walk. I made them walk around the block all dressed up and then do a runway walk in the house.

Jolie luckily loved her cake. The wonderful Costco had one with roses so it worked out well. She told me later that her wish came true...that everyone would have fun at the party!

I didn't get any pictures of this but we played "I've never" with m&m's. That was a fun get to know you game, since we had both church and school friends there. After that we made flip flops. I got 4th of July colors and started cutting ribbon. The girls were very creative. Some wrapped it around the straps..some tied lots of ribbons some did just a few. Sooo cute. The whole time we were doing this Jolie had her CD player playing Selena Gomez and the girls were so cute. They sang along to every song...i mean it every word!

Some of the finished flip flops. By this time it was dark out..we did the party from 6-9pm. I had lots of fun with these girls and it gave me a fun peek at watching Jolie with her friends. Brett was cute, he was down there a lot but I have to say these girls are mighty loud, so he would sneak upstairs with Giselle just to give them both a moment of peace.

We love you Jolie and love watching you grow up!!!!!!!!

finger sucker!!

2010-04-23T11:18:00.001-07:00

With all of my kiddos I have thought at one time or another that they are going to be a finger sucker. This one is the only one that actually does it on a consistant basis. She fell asleep the other day in the bouncer like this and I really don't think she meant to flip us all off...but the proof is in the picture!
Still, doesn't she have the sweetest face?

Domestic Diva's!!!

2010-04-23T10:35:00.001-07:00

Sometimes all you need is some good food and some good friends!

I thought this picture was too funny. We had the camera on a timer and it was hard to get it just right...and somehow we got just our legs...but hey not bad huh!

These aprons are SO adorable. I LOVE LOVE them. Jamie...the red head on the left, her mother in law made them for all of us...in fact one friend wasn't there. She went to Boston for the weekend...not fair!! Anyways, I just think a cute apron makes cooking food that much more fun. I had this super yummy avocado dip the other night and LOVED it. I had to make it...so a play date with food is always a good time. Thanks ladies for taste testing for me. Here's the recipe...which by the way another friend gave to me....THANK YOU DANA!!!!!!

Avocado Dip

2 Haas Avocados, diced

1 medium tomato, finely diced

1/2 small onion finely diced

1/2 cup coarsley chopped cilantro

3 T. Fresh lime juice

1/4 teaspon crushed Red Pepper Flakes

1 t. kosher salt

In a medium bowl toss the tomato with the onion,cilantro, lime juice, red pepper flakes, and salt. Let sit for 5 minutes. Add the Avocado and gently mash with a fork....serve immediately.

Next time I will double it..because it was gone way too fast!

Rainbow cake

2010-04-08T13:28:00.001-07:00

The blog idearoom.blogspot had a really fun cake called the rainbow cake. The girls all fell in love with it. I thought hey that sounds like fun. So over easter weekend we got together with Brett's family to celebrate all the birthdays that happened in March and April for a grand total of 5 people. There was a whole lot of Happy Birthday singing going on.

I decided to use yellow cake mix insted of white because that is what I had. It turned out ok, but next time I will go and get the white cake mix so the colors will be more vibrant. This was 5 layers...it was HUGE!!! I cut out little pics of the kids bdays we celebrated rather than try to write all their names..plus I have terrible handwriting. Then we put the amount of candles in front of each picture!

The top has skittles all around it...can you taste the rainbow?

Umm...so a little lopsided obviously...haha it was fun trying to keep it even. A little trick of frosting the cake...put the cake in the freezer for like 20 minutes than frost...it is so much easier that way.

White House Egg Roll!!!!!!!!!

2010-04-07T07:02:00.001-07:00

A friend at our church sent an email out saying that the White House egg roll is doing a lottery this year and that if you want to go you have until this weekend to enter. I thought " I 'll try, but no way we'll get picked"....a few days later I got an email saying congratulations you were picked....NO WAY!!!! I was in Group B 9:45-11:45. We had 4 children tickets and 2 adult tickets. I immediately emailed them back and asked if Giselle counted as a ticket, since she is 3 months old. They said yes every child regardless of age HAS to have a ticket. Bummer!!!! So we thought a lot about it but decided it would be best to keep Jacob home. Luckily we live by family so Brett's mom watched him for us. We decided to do the Metro since we knew parking would be impossible, especially since the Cherry Blossom festival was also going on.
The girls were super excited to ride the Metro, and we found out age 4 and under is free...sweet! Jillian and Giselle were free. The novelty wore off pretty quickly and all we heard for the next 8 stops were....is this our stop..no we will tell you when it's our stop.

Finally we made it to the White House. We had to wait in a long line to show our ticket. Then wait in another LONG line to go through secret service...the most thorough check of my diaper bag ever. 30,000 people came that day to the egg roll!

When we finally made it to the grounds there was so much to choose from. I wanted to go see Reese Witherspoon read a story but thought they we should do the egg roll first and get that over with. We took our time walking over there looking at all the various characters there, like Spongebob and Super Why amongst many many more. We stopped for a quick sec and took a pic in front of the white house, which we weren't supposed to do...oops! Then got in the line for the egg roll. We got up to the front which didn't take long at all and a lady asked if I wanted to keep my girls together, of course I do so I said yes. She said ok one sec and then had us follow her over. She put the girls on the line and we went to the other side where the parents stand. We were standing there for a while when a volunteer next to me says...hmm something big must be happening if we are just sitting here waiting. I turned to her and said have the Obama's been out yet? She said nope and it's getting late, he still needs to go to the National's to throw out the first pitch. I was like oh my gosh I think he's coming to our group. There was another lady running around kinda like she was important, so I stopped her and asked if the President was coming out to our group. She looked at me and gave me this look like yes but said I don't know very much like Yes he is but i'm not telling you he is. OK now i'm like no way this is crazy..... We waited and waited and waited. I couldn't believe how patient all the kids were. We probably sat there for at least 30 minutes.....but it was worth it!

Brett and I got our camera ready- and sure enough they come right down to our group. It was the craziest thing. Brett leaned in to shake his hand. President Obama was walking around talking to all the kids completely relaxed.

President Obama blew the whistle and they took off...it was pretty close between Jolie and Genna but in the end Genna triumphed! She was super excited for winning, which by the way they didn't get anything for winning, but we didn't care. It's been super fun to watch the girls on all the local news stations and a few national stations as well.

We told Genevieve to go up to him and shake his hand. He was very nice and she was very excited...it's not every day you get to meet the President of the United States.

Jolie went up next and shook his hand. We printed off this picture and Jolie took it to school. Her teacher thought this was really neat and kept it in the classroom. I am so glad they are old enough to really remember this.

Jillian on the other hand didn't understand the importance of meeting him and wouldn't shake his hand, she was way more interested in twirling on the grass!!

I couldn't believe it when he walked up to us and started talking to me and Brett. He asked who this cute baby was? We talked for a minute about the kids.

Brett asked if he could take a picture with him. He said sure...then Brett told him this is for his facebook page..the president laughed.

Michelle Obama was super nice and asked me about all the kiddos. I told her I had one more that wasn't here. She asked if we had all girls and I told her no we have one boy...she goes oh my we will pray for him. I laughed and said he'll need it. She actually stayed for a few minutes chatting with me...it was all so crazy that I can't even remember what we really talked about.

Malia was so nice to the girls she shook their hands and told them that she really liked their dresses! This is who the girls really wanted to meet...beside there dog, which we didn't meet the dog.

Afterwards we walked over to the play with your food station and got a bag of fruit and fruit smoothies...by now we are really hot and it's been a long day. We stopped to take a pic and a nice volunteer offered to take our picture. Right afterwards a lady walked up to me and told me she saw me talking with Michelle Obama and thinks that my girls look really pretty. I thanked her and thought oh yeah I guess people would've been watching us.....Crazy!!!

The very last thing we did was watch the cast of Glee sing....They are SO good. I loved it. I felt bad for those in sweaters and jackets because it was HOT out. This is Mr. Shuster and Puck singing over the rainbow. I really need to get their CD's, because they rock!!

I know how incredibly blessed we were to be picked to go and then to be in the right spot at the right time to meet the President. Something our family will remember for the rest of our lives!!

Happy Birthday Jacob!!!

2010-03-31T06:01:00.001-07:00

I love this little boy more than words can express. He has been such a gift to our family. Even though he is in a world of girls he still finds the boy in any toy. He especially LOVES trucks, cars, trains, balls and climbing....and most of all running. We loves his HUGE smile and his sweet hugs. He can't wait for his sisters to get home from school, and he talks so sweetly to his baby sister. Now that he is in a big boy bed, I get to get some sweet cuddles with him at night.

This picture is of his expensive birthday cake that I never buy....now I know why I don't ever buy these....Jakey pulled the box down and bam...split in half and just not edible anymore...Bummer!!!

He loved everyone singing to him, but the candle part was a little scary. He knew to try and blow it out but was scared at the same time. After two blows he gave up and buried into my arms. Don't worry the candle managed to be blown out.

Happy Birthday My big 2 year old boy!!!!

BEWARE: Diet BUSTERS!!!

2010-03-25T11:34:00.001-07:00

This is the real face Jillian did..I didn't have to tell her to do it!! That's how delish these are. Beware they are fat bombs...but if you're going to go off the wagon...what a way to go!
Here is the recipe

Double Chocolate Brownie Mini Chip Cookies

1/2 cup softened butter

1 Cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 Cup sour cream

3/4 cup prepared brownie batter of choice

2 Cups flour

1 cup cocoa powder, I used Hershey's

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

12 oz. bag mini chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a stand or electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and well combined. Add egg, sour cream and brownie batter until well combined.

2. Place flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Slowly add to wet ingredients along with mini chips until just combined. Using a spoon, spoon dough onto a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until cooked through. Let cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes then transfer to cooling rack.

* I used light sour cream and it was great. I also did small scoops of dough, it's very rich and 9 minutes worked great.

Good luck and don't forget a glass of milk!

a 2 by 4!!!

2010-03-25T11:28:00.000-07:00

I am so lucky to have SO many talented, smart and creative friends. I made all three of these projects at my friends house...she has an incredible blog- the link is on the left it says Julies craft blog.

The blocks are one project that is one side for St. Patty's day and the other side is Valentines Day. I loved it because I don't have to many decorations for either holiday. I also got to do my first mod podge...I have always wanted to mod podge, mostly because I like to say mod podge but now I actually know how to do it!!

The birthday block isn't totally done, I need to get a clip for the end that I will glue on and then can attach a year to it like an 8 or 33..whichever age they are and the top I will put little wire things to put pictures of the child or gift cards or balloons what ever floats my boat that day.

Just remember if I can do it....you can too!!!!

Freeze Please!

2010-03-13T06:58:00.000-08:00

How do you keep them just like this? I would love for this moment to always happen. Jacob was just sitting next to her swing playing cars, when he looked up and started talking to Giselle. She started cooing and smiling. I have a feeling they were great friends before they came to earth. I just pray they always stay friends and want to be there for each other!

Another great give-away!!!

2010-03-12T13:20:00.000-08:00

See this super cute Birthday banner! My sister in law made one and I love it. Well her friend that helped her make it just started a blog and is doing a giveaway. Head on over and look at all the super cute stuff she can do and enter to win one of her patterns!!!
Good LUCK!!!!
www.etsy.com/shop/jennmathews
go here to enter: www.somebrightideas.blogspot.com

plows here are crazy bad!!

2010-03-11T09:15:00.001-08:00

The big snowstorm of 2010 left more than just mounds of snow, it left dirt pushed ALL over the place. The plows are not used to tons of snow here. So when the storm hit, it wasn't unusual to see a construction truck or bobcat pushing snow around. The problem with that is, they don't know what they are doing. Snow would be piled on a road and then bam the lane would end...not very safe. The road behind our house where we park our cars was plowed numerous times, what we didn't know was when they did plow they also pulled up dirt, grass and even driveway chunks. Poor Brett he planted new grass in the fall at the end of our driveway and pretty much all of it is ruined. and this picture is of the back and side of our house they completely ruined that section of grass, I mean look at all that dirt. Sigh, sorry that's my little rant!

Giselle's Blessing!

2010-03-08T10:41:00.001-08:00

Giselle's blessing was this weekend. My parents,brother and Sister and Melissa and Grandma Jackson all came from Michigan. All of Brett's siblings came as well. Since church is at 1pm and a lot people had a lot of driving or a plane to catch we decided to do a brunch before church. I found some really cute spring decorations from Target and Michael's craft store. Brunch is a tricky menu to plan, but I think in the end it worked out really well. I was so happy to actually take pictures this time. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful blessing!
Four generations. My sweet Grandmother and My mother with me and Sweet Baby Giselle.

My mom and Dad with Giselle!

I love this picture, my dad and Brett's dad with Giselle, so sweet how they go to goo with a tiny little girl!

Great Grandma Jackson and Giselle!

Brett's parents with Giselle!

Jacob loves his baby sister Giselle, lucky for him she loves him too. Here's to many more sweet moments!

Brett and I with Giselle right before church.

The drink station: Orange Juice, Milk and Banana Slush.

The Food: Cinnamon rolls, scones,orange jello, finger sandwiches,deviled eggs, spinach salad and fruit kabobs...the fruit kabobs were stuck inside a head of lettuce..super easy and so pretty!

The big table: 4 long tables together with votives and cute boxes filled with Easter grass and m&ms. I forgot to get a picture of the cupcakes...but I got the greatest cupcake carrier from Costco. It holds 36. SO great for school and soccer and anything else.

Washington D.C.

2010-03-08T10:29:00.001-08:00

This is my mom in front of the Julia Child exhibit...this is her kitchen. It is a traveling exhibit so I am so glad we happen to be there while it was there.

Brett with his brother Erik and Sister Jennifer at the American History museum, I love Jakey's smile...so cheeserific.

Jillian LOVED being on Granpa's shoulders, especially since he made it like a ride...how's your shoulders today Dad?

Genevieve, Me and my Dad in front of the American Flag exhibit. The flag is HUGE!

Melissa, Kristi and my Mom on a bench inside the American History museum it was next a sign for Chicago...don't you love how they are all in green...very supportive of St. Patty's Day!

My wonderful big brother Jason who came down without his sweet wife,she had to work. Jason is on a bus that I think is from the 60's...he was just sitting next to 5 little kids..and still smiling!

Poor Jacob was freezing at the Washington Monument. It warmed up a lot later but at that point it was still very cold. Melissa had brought a bag of cheetos and Jacob took em and wouldn't give em back...luckily Melissa is super nice and didn't mind. I tried to get tickets to go inside the monument but they were sold out..they don't cost money but you should try to reserve the tickets 30 days in advance...now I know!

Jolie with her Grandma Sue...do they look related or what?

A group shot in front of the Monument..the tree in the background was fun too!

Jakey's camping!

2010-02-12T09:29:00.000-08:00

Going to bed has never been a problem for Jacob. He is a maniac during the day and full of fun energy but nighttime is crash time. SO when he figured out climbing out of the crib is super easy and fun we knew we had a problem. We decided to turn the crib around so the higher end is out and the lower end is against the wall. then we pushed the crib into the corner so now he has 3 sides he can't get out of. That worked for a while until he figured out he can still climb out on the one open side...which by the way his mattress is all the way to the bottom. So then We put together his toddler bed thinking maybe it's time for that...he will be two March 30Th. he of course got in and out bed 500 times in 2 minutes. So then I locked his door, yup I locked it, and I don't feel bad until he figured out he can unlock it....ERRR. so then I put up a gate and he just climbed over that like it was NOTHING!!! So finally we looked online for the crib tent...but it would take forever for it to come in. So Brett came up with our own version of the tent...it cracks me up but you know what....IT WORKS!!!!!!!!!

Valentine Project!

2010-02-12T09:00:00.000-08:00

A big Thank You to my sister in law Nichole for the super cute idea. She did it first and I loved it so I copied her. I made the wreath and two topiary balls out of felt and the kiddos helped. It was super easy and I think super cute. I also painted the frame above the fireplace. What do you guys think? I was thinking of going maybe 2 or 3 shades lighter than than and painting the whole room that color...??? The blog Nichole got the idea from is: www.theidearoom.blogspot.com

What's the deal with the shovel?

2010-02-09T16:59:00.001-08:00

It's funny how something as simple as a shovel can become so valuable. Living in Virginia is usually so great in the winter time. It snows one day and is 60 degrees the next. There has been winters I don't even need a winter coat. This winter has been a whole different story. We have had storm after storm. The last storm dumped almost 30 inches of snow. The next one coming tonight is going to add another 10-20 inches on top of the 30 inches...since it hasn't had a chance to melt away yet...and now they are talking about another storm possibly coming this weekend. Needless to say a shovel is VERY important right now. So when ours broke during this past storm we were not to happy. We called all the stores and of course they were sold out everywhere. Finally after 3 days of calling, I got the response" we ordered a few hundred and it should be here any minute but we already have a 100 people in line." Of course Brett had also just left to go to work. So I piled all 5 kiddos into the van and zoomed off. I got out and was telling the kids to hurry. I had Giselle and Jake in the stroller and was pretty much carrying Jillian since it was icy and snowy all around. I made the big girls run and we made it. We got a shovel, with only 6 left after us. I also noticed they had Ice melt so I grabbed that 40 lb bag and stood in line. PHEW! Well worth the craziness and now we are patiently waiting for this new snowfall to end. OH, and the kids have been out of school since Thursday....YES, I am done with SNOW!!!!!

The Adventures of Jakey Jake!

2010-02-09T15:20:00.000-08:00

This is what happens when you keep an almost 2yr. old trapped inside a house for days on end. They make anything fun. A tub of flour...perfect it's inside snow. Good thing he's so stinkin cute!!!!!

GIVEAWAY!!!!!!!

2010-02-03T10:43:00.000-08:00

My friend Julie has this amazing blog. She is can do anything with nothing. She is amazing at taking a piece that looks like it is broke or unusable and turns into something beautiful. Anyways she is having a giveaway. It closes TONIGHT at midnight. So I strongly suggest going there and checking it out.
http://not-to-shabby.blogspot.com

who wants to play?

2010-02-01T14:39:00.001-08:00

This is our playroom in the basement. I should've done a before and after picture...but technically it's still not done, this is phase 1. The playroom is wonderful BUT so many times I hated even looking at that side of the basement. TOYS TOYS TOYS......DUMPED!!!!!!!!
Luckily IKEA has a wonderful selection of book shelves. we chose this one. I LOVE IT! the bins I found at Target on clearance...which is why I only have a few, because I cleared them out. Now I need to go to more Targets to get more. These bins are glorious. They are small and easy to get in and out...and find that one special toy you are looking for. AHHHH, life is good, for 5 minutes at least! I almost forget to mention that my AMAZING friend Alex put that monster of a shelf together all by her little self. Also, my other AMAZING friend Kelly was so sweet and helped me shovel out the toy room, we left with 4 black garbage bags of broken or too many peices lost bags of toys. oh yeah baby!!!

Big sister Jolie!

2010-01-25T10:57:00.001-08:00

This is my oldest daughter Jolie. She LOVES being a big sister. She's been a big sister for a long time now, but with this newest baby she is REALLY able to help me out. I am so blessed to have a daughter that likes to help me. She will not let Giselle cry, there's no reason in Jolie's mind that is good enough to let her cry. She will hold her, put her Binky in, sing to her or softly stroke her face. Jolie has a gift with others. She is in tune to others around her. She will notice if your sad and try to make you feel better. She is always happy to take someone to the bathroom or hold there hand when crossing the street. All of her cousins LOVE LOVE LOVE Jolie. I really believe it isn't just because she is the oldest. I know it's because she is special. I love you Jolie and thank you for being such a great big sister, cousin, granddaughter and most of all MY DAUGHTER!

My little baker!

2010-01-20T08:52:00.001-08:00

This little man is so much fun. If I turn on my mixer, he will RUN from anywhere in the house to it. He LOVES to help me cook, well mostly to help me bake. why do I love him helping?

1. He loves it and is SO happy.

2. I get to spend time with him and not just chasing him.

3. I know Giselle is safe since he is with me the whole time.

4. I feel like I am preparing him to help his wife out, that's right the excuse of "I don't know how to cook" wont work with his future wife, I have proof!

5. It's always an adventure...right after this picutre he accidently dropped a measuring cup in the bowl while it was on and flour and dough went EVERYWHERE....fun fun fun!!!!

6.Because I LOVE MY BIG BOY!!!!!!!!!

Giselle is 4 weeks old!

2010-01-20T08:09:00.001-08:00

I can't believe Giselle is already 4 weeks old. Time is just flying by. I finally feel like life is beginning to go back to normal. My house hasn't fully recovered yet from having a baby and christmas all in the same week, BUT it's almost there. The other kiddos can't imagine life with out there baby sister.

Giselle is laying on a blanket my friend made her, I LOVE IT!! She isn't happy, but still so cute.

She has pants on now, and feels a little less shy of having her picture taken.

Giselle has a lot of fans around her. She does pretty well with everyone, I know she is screaming here, but really she does like her brother. She just doesn't really like how he steals her binky EVERY time he sees it. or how he constantly puts cars and trains in her swing with her or at her head. Or how he has tried to feed her a sucker, mini marshmallows, gold fish, sippy cups and popsicles. He's so generous now, let's see what happens in a few months.

But, I really do love the kid, he's a good big brother!!!

One of theee greatest inventions ever!

2010-01-05T18:54:00.001-08:00

Giselle Lisa Fox

2010-01-05T15:55:00.000-08:00

Brett and I are very excited to introduce Giselle Lisa Fox. She arrived Dec.22nd 2009 at 1pm. Weighing in at 5lbs 110z. 18 3/4 inches long. She is such a little doll baby. It was a pretty uneventful birth....which is what I prayed for. I got the epidural....YAY!!! Although I still felt the crazy intense rip your eyes out contractions...but felt nothing when pushing her out...so you know, it was all worth it. They broke my water around 12:15 or 12:20 and within a half hour I was like ok, i'm done get the nurse and yup she was ready to come. She came out screaming her little lungs out. She was completely alert and calm...once she calmed down, which didn't take long at all. My mom and Brett's mom got to come in and hold her just a little while after she was born. The kids were not allowed to come into the hospital rooms, so they couldn't see the baby until we came home. Brett, brought them up to the window though so they could get a little peak of her, but it was very cold outside and it was hard to see, but still worth a try. Brett brought her tiny little hat home from the hospital one night and he said the girls went crazy over it, smelling it and holding it...soo cute.

Well she is two weeks old now and such a sweetie pie. She lets all of her siblings hold her, no fuss at all. She is content in the swing or her bed...she doesn't get to spend to much time on the floor...way makes me nervous. Big jake loves her so much. He ALWAYS wants to hold her...baby baby! I put her in his arms and then after a minute try to take her back and he grabs her back from me....like uh excuse me, that's my baby...it's really sweet, but he of course has no idea he's squeezing her insides out. So, welcome Baby Giselle!!!! We love you!

The first snow!

2009-12-10T11:20:00.000-08:00

I didn't take very many pictures. I was inside and didn't think about it until they were just about done. Our friends the Youngs are always so much fun to come over and play in the snow with us. The men took the kiddo's out and they loved it. They made a snowman with angry eyebrows...hmm wonder who's idea that was?? Then a bunch of sledding. The girls liked it, but Jakey not so much. He went down with his buddy Liam and well he screamed the whole time. BUT at least he tried it, regardless of the fact he had no idea what he was getting himself into. HAHAHA!! Then we all came in for some yummy hot chocolate. Of course the snow is already gone but at least we have a few pictures of the memory...i'm sure more snow will come!!!

Cheap Crafts!!

2009-11-15T04:30:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, Jolie was bored out of her brain so we decided to have her call a friend from church and come over. I realized I had nothing fun planned. So I grabbed Genna and Jillian and headed to Michael's Crafts...I took them so Jolie could have some alone time with her friend and not have her little sisters trying for the spotlight the whole time. When we got there, all the Halloween stuff was 70-80% off. Awesome deals....I am hoping to go back on Monday for a few more fall garland! Then I kept going down the aisle and got to the little craft bins. I got tons of do it yourslef little ornaments...wood ones to paint or color. Foam ones to glue and glitter. Beads for the super cute little wreath ornaments that I still love on the tree. Stick puppets. All of them were 60 cents a piece....how awesome is that. I stocked up, hoping to keep some for a bored buster day. The girls devoured everything and had so much fun...TWO glorious hours of fun. I love finding great buys like that....don't you?

More Haircuts!

2009-11-15T04:20:00.001-08:00

I love when the kids get a haircut. Their hair always looks so healthy and nice, if only for that afternoon. Jillian's hair is very fine so when it starts to get longer it looks scraggly. She has really sweet curls when it's longer but her hair is so uneven and fine I had to get it cut. She LOVED being in the chair and getting her hair done. The smile never left her face. Once we got home, the tears started, as much as she likes the experience she doesn't always like the "after" part. She kept crying saying she didn't like her hair and that she looked like a boy. It took lots of mommy and daddy saying how beautiful and how much we LOVE her hair for her to start smiling again. The next day at school her teacher loved her hair and that made her happy, she only asks about once a day now if we "still" like her hair.

Genevieve has the thickest most wonderful hair. Which is funny because she was shiny bald as a baby, for a long time. A lot like I was, I have a lot of hair but not thick like Genna's is. So the last time we got her hair cut we cut the bangs, but I didn't like how they did it, kinda a side thing like Jillian's but not as cute. It was annoying and hard to keep looking nice, so very quickly I started pinning back. This time I told them across the forhead all the way. I LOVE IT! Her eyes pop so much, she wants to grow her hair really really long, We'll see!

A few silly pictures!

2009-11-06T13:55:00.000-08:00

Jacob got his 2nd haircut...this time with the clippers.

He did such a good job, he first sat in daddy's lap while Brett got a haircut. Then it was his turn. He sat so still, it wasn't until the end when hair got in his eyes nose and mouth...that he wasn't a fan of. But doesn't he look like a big boy now!

The girls being silly....I think we were about to go on a walk.

The other day I was putting stuff away and realized it was way too quiet. Jacob may be the only one home in the morning, but boy can he make him self heard. So when I realized I hadn't heard him, I knew something was up. I started in the usual places. The top of the computer, the bathroom, the kitchen table...all the obvious places. Then I go down to the basement and this is how I found him...not asleep but watching T.V. upside down...i had to run upstairs to get my camera because I thought this was just too funny!

Halloween

2009-11-06T13:15:00.001-08:00

Halloween is such a fun holiday in our home. It isn't just one day. It's at least a month...sometimes a little more. I started decorating in September. Yup, I was a little excited. The fall colors, the fall air, and of course the fall smell. Apples anyone. Which, I STILL have apples from picking in late August...how crazy is that. So the top picture is Brett and I dressed for a halloween party. I was the preggo cheerleader and he was the all star. You can't see it well but he put a syringe in the black arm band...and I am 7 months preggo there!

Our house all decorated!!

Jillian's class went on a field trip to a pumpkin patch, and I was lucky enough to go ( with out Jacob). We had so much fun. We did slides and roasted marshmallows. Feed goats and rode on a tractor.

Jillian and Mommy going down a slide, i promise it was not fast!

Sweet Jillian picked out the best pumpkin.

All dressed and ready to go to the ward party!

Genevieve dressed as the Sugar Plum Fairy!

Jolie as the sweet and loving Snow White!

The beautiful girls, ready to go!

Jacob is our football player, and he just loved getting that candy!

Jillian with her good friend Emma on Halloween!

Halloween was a great night. My parents came down from Michigan and Brett's family came over. Our friends the Young's joined us as well. We feasted on Stew and Mummy hot dogs with Apples smiles and Rootbeer. Followed by some great trick or treating. Thanks everyone for a wonderful night!!!!!!

A quick update!

2009-08-19T08:49:00.001-07:00

We are still in Michigan but I haven't posted anything and of course tons of stuff have happened. Brett and I took an amazing anniversary trip...i will post about that once i get back home. Genevieve's bday is next week so my friend had bday napkins at her house...Genna can't wait to turn 7....only one more year until she's baptized!!!!!!!!

The day before we left for Michigan I took Jolie to the eye Dr...turns out she has VERY bad eyes...so bad they made her glasses right there because they couldn't bare the thought of her going out of town and not seeing. When we get back she will pick up her other pair, which has bifocals in it...they say she will grow out of that...because her eyes are so bad it makes it hard for her to read with her glasses. It is so fun to see her seeing the world all over again...makes me think when i got glasses for the first time...except hers are soooo much cuter!!!

My family decided to go camping for ONE night up next to Holland MI....we packed a ton of gear and headed out to Jellystone park. The place was really nice and even had two pools. While at the pool Jillian had to go to the bathroom....she was walking in and tripped on the entrance...WAK...blood. The more i looked at it. the more i realized she needed to go to the ER...At the ER she sat in my lap so sweetly...once the dr. saw her he said yup she needs stitches...they put this numbing gel on it and within a half hour she was ready to be stitched. They put a warm blanket on her and let me lay down on the bed and hold her...she was SO brave...she didn't cry at all. She was nervous and wanted to put her hand up there but she let me hold her. Now she proudly shows any and all her stitches. Her aunt Crystal who is a pediatric nurse is taking her stitches out today. So now it'll just be a cool scar.

Big Jake is a growing boy! He loves trucks, cars, balls and dirt! He is such a happy climbing boy. He needs a haircut but i'm waiting until we get home so daddy can be there..plus I am hoping *hint hint* aunt Jennifer will do the honors.....isn't he so blonde.

Well here's a little update and once we get back we leave for great wolf lodge with all of brett's family even his grandma so hopefully i'll have more pics!

The 4th of July!

2009-07-07T05:30:00.001-07:00

Happy 4th of July everyone! We had a very fun and busy weekend. We started off by going to Brett's parents condo in Colonial Beach, VA. The weather was beautiful and the kids had a blast. I was actually dreading taking Jacob to the beach because i thought he would be so hard. He was so good. He sat in the sand and just loved scooping up the shells and rocks and just being there right with us. He was NOT a super big fan of the water itself but it was still so much fun. Once we got home we rushed to pack a cooler and grab blankets and load up the car to head over to Great Meadow in The Plains, VA with our friends the Youngs! We had sooo much fun. There was tons of stuff going on, from a helicopter parade to rockets being shot off to giant slides and face painting. The best part was at the end, laying on the blankets with my family all around me and watching the fireworks. I couldn't help but think this is how it's always supposed to be!

Jolie and Emma Young!

The Beautiful Jolie!

Super awesome Alex doing a cart wheel while my girls watched in awe!

Brett getting some love from the Young kiddos!

Jolie hooping it up!

Eric helping the little guys! Jacob and Liam!

Doing giant bubbles with Bingo the Clown.

Me trying to Hula Hoop, and dressed very casually i might say!

Jillian and Emma going down the giant slide........SO much Fun!

Brett pulling the little guys to all the fun!

Jillian and Emma catching some ZZZ's and some Rays!

Super strong Jacob, haha he loves to push stuff!