Is it okay to have a favorite kid?!!!

I know that things will probably change, but for now, Kamren is my favorite and I am not afraid to say it!  Not only does this child pretty much take care of her self, but she also takes care of her little brother!  Most mornings when I get back from running or get out of bed, I will find her and Daxton sitting at their little table in the kitchen eating cereal that she had poured for both of them!

But this weekend, had justified her favorite child role!

THIS is how I found her at 7:20 Saturday morning!  Dressed, fed, hair done, even a matching bow in her hair!  And you can tell she already brushed her teeth by the left over toothpaste on her mouth!:)  I just love this girl!
And chores?!!!!  In one day alone, she vacuumed the kitchen tile and emptied the dishwasher for extra Daddy Dollars all without complaint!!

16!!

Kaylee had her sweet 16 birthday party the day after school started!  And though it was a little out of my comfort zone, OK!  A lot!, it was fun to watch all the teenagers think they are so old and know everything!  She had a great turn out and a great time!  I am so proud of this little lady!  She is growing up to be a great kid!  Maybe she might have an attitude, but so did I, and I turned out fine!!

Kenzie had the most fun out of any of the little kids!  She danced her heart out the whole night!  Maybe I need to find her a hip hop class

Kamren's REAL First Day

If that is what you want to call it?!!  We went from 30 minutes the first day, to 1 hour and 40 minutes the second day!  Wow!  She had a great time, though!

How wierd is it that I can run errands with only ONE kid?!  I never thought I would get to this point!

There she goes!  Leaving me and growing up just like all the rest of them!!!

First Day of School Yeah?!!!!!

I think I was happy about the first day of school this year!  I DID get a little teary eyed, especially as I watch Kenzie waiting for Kamren to help her cross the crosswalk and teaching her "the ropes" of getting to school safely!  She is such a good  big sister!  I still haven't figured out the whole "let Kamren ride to school with the big kids thing" or not!  For now, one of us is just following her to school as she rides with them.  It at least calms my anxiety a little!  And maybe I am also checking on the other girls too, to make sure they all make it there safely!  I am a worry wart!  Leave me alone!

I am so excited to see these three grow!  It is so fun to watch their relationship grow and the fun they have together!

Kenzie is in 3rd grade and has Mrs. Mertin and her Best Friend, too!  These girls are really going to be heart broken when their streak of being in the same class ends!  Right now they are 4 for 4!

Kamren is in Kindergarten with Mrs. Bowman, who is still out because of some unexpected surgery.  So for now she is lucky enough to have Mrs. Holdiway and Mrs. S!

Karlin is in 2nd Grade with Mrs. Monk!  I think she really likes her class so far.  She says she sits at the best table that always gets rewards because they are so quiet!

Kamren's first day consisted of a scavenger hunt for 30 minutes!  I thought she would be more upset about that, but she was fine with it!  We went home, had lunch and then played Old Maid while Daxton took a nap.  Spending one on one time is so fun!

Blowing Bubbles

I don't know why I always love when my kids figure out how to blow bubbles, but I always love to watch them try to master this!  It must be something about their little fingers wrapped around the wand and watching them try and get the right amount of breath!  How sad that this is my last one to watch learn this!  What am I saying?!!!  There's always grand kids in 20 years or so!  

He would throw his arms up in the air and yell "YEAH"  everytime he would actually blow one!

Karlin turns 7.....

......only 3 weeks ago!  I really need to get a grip on keeping up!!!

Karlin's day:

Lunch with Daddy @ 25 Main

Cupcakes

Birthday Party @ Sand Hallow Aquatic Center

Swimming with friends

Cake

Presents

I can't believe my little shadow is 7!  She is my child that is with me at all times, usually with her hand rubbing my belly!  This is something that she has done since BEFORE I even knew that I was pregnant with Kamren.  I really wonder at this point, how long this obsession is going to last.  It is really annoying, but it is also comforting!  I really can't explain how I feel about her and her crazy obsession!  She is such a snuggle bug that I know I will miss her once she quits doing this so much and tries to grow up.  She is my child that has a personality most like mine.  So I really have a hard time not seeing her point of view, even if what she is doing is not right and demanding.  She is a great helper and a great little Mommy.  I can pretty much depend on her to do anything for Daxton or her other sisters that I need her to do.  She will be an awesome little mommy someday.

I really struggled with ALL of her birthday requests this year.  Having her birthday party at Sand Hallow I thought was ridiculous because it is so far to drive, especially for the families coming from Hurricane!  But thanks to her dad, she had her party there,  and loved it!  She also asked for the Bitty Baby American Girl Twins, which in my opinion is also ridiculous! But in never was too into baby dolls as a kid!  I tried to persuade her by telling her that was the ONLY thing she would get for her birthday, but she quickly chimed in that her friends and her grandma would be getting her presents so she would be fine with that!!  Well, apparently she won on that one too, because the day AFTER her birthday(Oooops!) , they showed up on our doorstep and she was thrilled!

Her dad looked like the hero, though!  Since her present had not arrived yet, I felt guilty and bought her a balloon, a Peek a Boo barbie, and a Littlest pet shop and some random candy that I would never normally buy and put it in a little tote bag.  When Tony arrived at 25 main, I handed it to him to give to her.  The rest of the day all she kept saying was that she couldn't believe her dad had got her those things!  How did he even know she liked Peek A Boo's and Pet shops?  I guess it is okay to take one for the team every once in a while! ;)

She had a great day and I am so glad that we are about done with birthdays for the year because I am pooped!!!

We love you, Karlin!

Daddy Dollars

I came across an article in Family Fun magazine that I thought had a really good idea! I thought I would be able to add a link to the article, but it is not letting me. So I will just have to give you the gist of it!

Basically you make dollars for you kids and can put their dads face on them from this site. I then went to the copy store and copied them onto green copy paper, the whole thing cost me less than $3!

So the article says that you put 3 Daddy Dollars on the counter each morning and tell your kids that the dollars will disappear at 7:30 each morning, but if they have all of the morning jobs done before that, then the dollars are theirs! I am hoping this will get rid of the morning ritual we have at our house of me telling them thing by thing the stuff they need to do next!!!

When they have collected enough Daddy Dollars they can then use the money to buy things from the Mommy Mart!!! The author said they have a chart taped in their cupboard telling the things their dollars are good for. Some ideas were: extra TV time, having a friend over for a play date, ice cream, or anything else that might motivate your kids. She also has each kid be able to earn extra Daddy Dollars for doing chores above and beyond their normal morning chores, and also has a thing for reading that if they read a book or a chapter, depending on age, they could also earn dollars.

I am excited to try this! We are starting tomorrow, and I really hope that my morning nagging is on its way out the window!!!

Kamren turned 5.....a month ago!!!!

In my defense, I can not download more than a couple of pictures at a time when Tony brings home is work lap top, and he hasn't done that in a while.

I can't believe my baby girl is 5! How did this happen! She is so grown up, and seems to grow up more every day! This whole last week she has done her chore list, got her self dressed, and come to my side of the bed with a pony tail holder in her hand, asking me to finish her pony tail before I am even out of bed! But, on to her birthday!

We had a surprise birthday party for her at Chuck E Cheese, on our way up to Ogden to go camping, the day before her birthday, and she had NO IDEA!! It was so fun! We totally tricked her!

This is her when she figured out what was going on!

She was not going anywhere near Chuck E Cheese without me holding her! I think it is soooo fun that she was afraid of him!

This is the present she has been asking us for all year, and thanks to her Grandma Teri and Aunt Stacy she finally got it!

She had an absolute blast there, I just wish it was a little cheaper! Apparently they don't take trade or Dixie Direct! ;) Having to pay for Birthday parties is ridiculous! I am not a fan!

5 things I love about my 5 year old!

*She is very self entertaining! I don't really need to worry about where she is or what she is doing most of the time, she is always playing or entertaining herself.

*She loves to learn! I am so impressed with how smart she is! But what mom doesn't think their kid is smart! She memorizes like no other kid I know! She is my first kid that is always wanting to know how to do something or what something means or says. I love it, maybe because she is my first child that actually lets me teach her a thing or two!

* She is OUR child through and through! Sometimes a good thing, sometimes a bad! She definitely puts her foot in her mouth a lot-just like her Mama!!! I don't know how many times I have had to apologize for things she says to people! Sometimes to kids, sometimes adults. I am working on teaching her to be a little kinder, but it is hard to tell somebody they can't say something to somebody when it is just how they feel!! We ARE working on it though!

*She is very independent! I love her independence, especially compared to how clingy Karlin is! She will snuggle, but doesn't need to be snuggled all the time.

*She is my little buddy! I am really going to miss her this year, when she goes to school! She and I have had a lot of fun the last couple of years together having some time alone. She has been a great little shopping buddy! Now I am just left with Daxton! Yikes! He isn't going to be a very fun shopping buddy! ;(

Happy Birthday, Kam Kam! We love you so much and are so glad that Heavenly Father trusted us with your amazing little spirit!

No More Binkies!

I actually get to say that for the LAST time! Wow! I am so happy about that!

Daxton is finally over his binkie, thanks to losing it one to many times and mommy finally putting her foot down about looking in every bag, under beds, under couches, ....... you get the point!! I am so happy that we don't have to look for them anymore.

He has done extremely well the last few days, only asking for it at bed time and nap time. And now he isn't asking for it at all. I believe he is over it! He is talking so much clearer, probably because there isn't a plug slurring his speech!

YA for us!

We have had 1 bed time and 1 nap time without a binkie!!!! Can I really get my hopes up?!!! I am not quite sure yet, and I don't want to jinx myself, but let's hope this continues!!! Hopefully he won't find one around the house!!

Wish me luck that I can stick this out!