Liability?

Probably. But what a fun day they had!! Kalyana's kindergarten class got to go on a sledding field trip this morning. Her teacher asked me to come along and take pictures of the class and here are a few of my favorite ones. (It was definitely easier to shoot in the shadows but since that was something I couldn't control...)


I think the moral of this story is, if you want air, twists, speed, and crazy sledding, get a yellow circle sled.

Tyce in nursery

My handsome little man all decked out for church. (Oh and look at those teeth. He's still only got those 6. Four front on top, 2 front on bottom.) For the record I usually put him in dressier pants but they were dirty and it's sometimes easier to get away with putting boys in other things for church. Thank heavens because I have a hard enough time makign sure my girls have all they need (shoes, tights, dresses, hairjunk).

Tyce turned 18 months today which means he's officially allowed to attend Nursery during church. This is great for Tarl and I as we've been having to take him with us to our primary class and he often gets bored and disruptive (in his very sweet, still amazingly well behavior for a an 18 month old kinda way).

At the beginning of January however we thought we'd go in and ask if he could start 2 weeks earlier. His name was on the list of who was in the class though so we sent him in with Makayla and didnt ask questions.

Makayla LOVES having him in Nursery with her and things it's great to be his big helper. (The last few months have been hard for her because the other four of us have been in Primary and she felt awfully left out.)

Time Saver

Feeling overwhelmed with checking all your favorite blogs or keeping up with 'returning the kind gesture' with those that check yours? The newest (semi new) from blogger is VERY helpful in saving you time.

The idea is that you add your favorite blogs (or any that you'd like to keep track of) to your follow list. When your friends update their blog blogger adds it to the list. Instead of having to click on 30+ blogs to see if any of them have changed, you can quick as a glance see that out of 30 people that I follow, only 2 have updated. Read below to find out how.

Using the picture above here is how you do it.
Item #1 On your blogger dashboard is a list of blogs you have. Directly below that is something that looks like this, a Reading List. Item #2 shows a list of all the blogs you are following. Item #3 shows you who has updated their blog and how long ago. Item #4 is where you can go to add blogs to follow (click on 'add' and enter their url.) The alternative to to this is to add a click on someones 'follow this blog' link. This will automatically add their blog to your list.

**If a blog is private Google reader or even 'following' (if you try to type it in maunally like I said in the beginning of 4) can't get permission to read the pages. The good news is though (and way around this is) that if the blogger author adds a 'follow me' link to their page you can then get updates just like any others.

18 Mo / 3 Yr Checkups

It's nice having the kids on the same time frame at the dr's. I'd say 90% of the time I've been able to combine my kids appointments and it's wonderful to get them both seen in one visit!

I got this book before Kalyana was born and have been able to get more for the other kids. I LOVE IT!! It tracks each of the kids from the time I had my first prenatal visit with them up to age 12 or something. It keeps a developmental record, growth chart, and lots more and I have a place to keep their immunization records. I also started tracing their hand and foot at each dr visit (it's a little activity to do while you're sitting in that small room waiting for the doctor) and the kids LOVE going through their books and looking at their handprints.

Today was Makayla's 3 yr and Tyce's 18 mo well visit check. Makayla couldn't wait to see Tyce get his shots (because I told her she didn't need any). When the nurse came in to take their blood pressure, and stats she got super shy and didnt even want to sit on the table (which is generally her favorite place to play). Tyce had a great time and as you can see they quickly found their own entertainment. He literally did this for 1/2 an hour! (We saw the nurse, then waited a few minutes to see the dr, then waited a bit again for their shots.)

To compare the kids at Tyce's current age:
The doctor told me today that at Tyce's 12mo he was in the .2%, at 15 mo he was in the .65% and now at 18 mo he is in the .85%--so he's still not even in the 1% but he's gaining a smidge each time and moving up the curve. I know my inlaws continue to think my babes a chunk but he's 18 mo and still not quite 20 lbs, so there. :)

To compare the girls at Makayala's current age:
Makayla wasn't too happy because the dr suggested that she get a flue shot (after I told her she wouldn't need any immunizations). She did so great though. Sat up on the table, gave me a big hug and just scrunched her face. She was a trooper!!!

Makayla's Family Birthday Party

Later today we had Makayla's family party. Makayla's great grandparents came (my moms parents), and her grandparents (my mom and dad) and her aunts family Heidi, Anthony, Austin and Ruth. (While I was taking a quick sit down break Makayla apparently really wanted to play with the leftover sprinkles...good thing it was her birthday because mommy just quietly cleaned them up.)

She requested hamburgers and hotdogs for her birthday dinner and Grandma Linda made a Mickey Mouse cake and let the kids decorate it. Aunt Heather even sent a big birthday package for Makayla. The kids were so hyped on sugar and energy. I think Makayla had a great birthday!

For Aunt Heather

Makayla's Marvelous Birthday

Kalyana, Tyce, Makayla, Haley
Jaxon, Austin

Makayla's 3rd Birthday

Today is Makayla's birthday and she got to have her first friend birthday party. She wanted to have a Mickey party so we played pin the tail on Mickey (compliments of Tarl's awesome art) and then let the kids color it. We also had a disney musical feet game (like a cake walk--I printed off images for them to walk on and then drew one out of the hat to see who won that round). The kids also had a great time getting to decorate their own cupcakes with frosting and sprinkles.

Makayla LOVED having friends come over and sing to her and play with her. Although if you notice she's hunkering over her presents because she didnt want anyone to play with her brand new stuff.

MLK Jr Party

My sister-in-law Katressa wanted to throw a get together for the holiday so she invited us over to my sister-in-law Shaelyn's house to play with everyone. Katressa set up a bunch of fun games for the kids and they were so excited to get to see everyone and play with their cousins.

The kids got traced, and then they got to color themselves so they could play 'put the candy bar in the mouth' game. They also got to make shapes out of bread dough and later taste their creations. Katressa's hubby Ben made a treasure hunt for the kids around the house. We all had a great time playing and it was really fun to get to see family. Even though they're 'close' (1.5 hrs) we sill don't make it over there near enough.

Sing it girl!

I got together with some friends this evening for a Mamma Mia/Karaoke party. Rachael let us come over to her place and we watched Mamma Mia with her projector. Then we broke out the karaoke machine and belted out some of our favorite tunes. We haven't had a big group gathering in almost two months and it was awesome to be back together. I've missed my girls OH so much.

These Is My Words

Several months ago my friend Rachel (who has really great taste in books and reads alot!! --Compared to my 106 last year she hit over 130 I believe) read this book called "These is My Words" by Nancy E. Turner and suggested it to my book club.

(It's a fictional book based on her great grandmothers life as she travels with her family by wagon to find a home in Arizona in the 1890's. It's written in a diary format as she starts out as a young women and spans for 15 or so years.)



A while later we found out that my local library was hosting a Family Literacy Symposium with none other than Nancy Turner as the guest speaker. A few of us were able t make it and I had such a great time. I've never been to a symposium before and it was neat to get to hear good speakers and hear about great books. Nancy Turner was a cute, funny speaker and afterwards we got to get our books signed and visit with her for a few minutes. It was a great afternoon!

Superman Popcorn

Adam & Brie and little McKay came over for a movie night tonight. Tyce and McKay are SO cute to watch together. Tyce kept trying to feed him goldfish and they'd just follow each other around and jabber. Adorable!

Brie made some SUPER yummy kettle corn (I think it's by far the best I've tasted) and I found a fun recipe for a salsa that Tarl has been craving (bean and corn salsa). We had yummy treats and watched a movie called something Outsourced America via netflix through our xbox. I love that thing!

Then we played Scene It 2 (which is a new level of fun because it interacts with our avatars). Way funny and Brie smoked us all and did the happy dance of the winner. It was a great date night with great company.

CSI:Laundry

The victims & crime scene:

The culprit:

I actually thought it was a blue pen at first and couldn't figure out how that made it into the kids batch but when I got to the empty dryer this was left over. How does that even happen. The crayon completely disintegrates but the paper made it all the way through the wash???

The sentence:
I started checking online, I just couldn't bear to throw away all those clothes. I found a solution that looked pretty powerful, plus I had all the ingredients on hand.

2 scoops/or cups Tide
1 Cup Borax
1 C Shout stain remover
2 scoops OxyClean
1 C Vinegar
Mix in hot water and let water agitate for 1 minute and then add clothes. Let clothes soak for two hours and then wash. (I did an additional wash afterwards since the first formula was so concentrated.)

The verdict:
As you can clearly see it didn't take it all out but I'd say it's at least 80% better. Some clothes, oddly enough, a white shirt came completely out, while others still have medium to faint blue smudges.

All in all, I'm not throwing any of the clothes away (the worst was a pair of pj shorts and since they're not worn in public I dont care much).