Free HandBag!!

You all know how I like a deal, well here is an awesome one. There is a new online store, Handbag Planet. They launch in about 14 day. They are going to have a 24 hour give away of a bag a hour to celebrate their upcoming launch. It sounds like fun. I checked it out on Snopes and didn't find anything. No strings attached and free. Let me hear the WHOO HOO!!

They look pretty nice! I will be excited to see all of their different designs. Check them out!

http://www.handbagplanet.com

Wish Me luck!!

I am trying to potty train Carley this week. On Friday she came to me and said "potty." I thought ya right, but why not. So I took her in the bathroom, took off her diaper, and put her on the potty. Much to my surprise and excitement she went!!! I threw a party. We did the potty dance, sang the potty song, had everyone clap and cheer for her, called Daddy at work, an of course gave her a potty treat. She has gone four time since then. This morning we put the panties on and are really excited to be on the verge of no one in diapers.

NO MORE DIAPERS, NO MORE PINS, AND MOMMY IS ALL FULL OF GRINS!!

SNAKE!!!

Okay just a little one. Even though it was little it still creeped me out. Since they cut down our trees and left the logs all about, Riley has been finding all sorts of things. Mostly beetles and bugs, but the other day he found a little gopher snake. It was probably only about six inches long. Just a little thing. He called us all out to see it. Sydney was in the tub and Carley was still eating. Being the great brother he is Riley really wanted to show all his sisters. I think he was secretly hoping they would be scared of it. I ran into the house, grabbed a Tupperware, (probably the same one we had the centipede in earlier this year), and had Ryan put the snake in it so we could show the girls. I was worried that Riley would try to scare his sisters so I kept control of the container. We brought it to Carley, she wasn't too impressed. While we were showing her I shifted the container in my hands and ended up with one right under the snake. No big deal there was plastic between. Well the snake must not have liked the warmth from my hand because it uncoiled and stared trying to get out of the container. I freaked out, screamed, like one of my little girls, and threw the thing onto the table. Why the table you may ask. Good question. Well while I was screaming and freaking out I thought that if I let the snake go in my house it could be very bad. I was hoping that the table would give someone, not me, enough time to grab it before it got away. Fortunately the snake stayed in the container, probably because I almost knocked him out when I threw him across the room. After that Riley took over the showing off of the snake.

What an awesome Daddy!!

This morning Hailey asked Ryan if he would do her hair. Ryan asked her if she was sure. She said "Yes, I want you to do it." So off they went to get the comb, and the hair products. I thought it was great that he would do that for her. Really, how many dads wade into the world of girls hair? Way to be a great dad Ryan!! I could just hear the french voice in his head, "Yes, a little more over here, and scrunch it there. Magnific!! I am the master!!" If you know Ryan very well you know what I'm talking about. If you don't, well get to know him. Sorry I didn't get an after photo, but she looked great.

Gotta love it!!

Every night Riley and Hailey have to read for their homework. I have been telling Riley for a few years now, basically since he could read, that when this time came it would be his job to read to his sister. Now please understand that I am not trying to get out of one of my motherly responsibilities. I love to read to my kids and most nights end up reading to them myself. There is a mission in this madness. I was hoping that (1) this would improve Riley's reading. Riley loves to read and is already a great reader, however when you hear how the words sound and how you say thing while you are reading you improve even more. (2) That Riley and Hailey would find something that they could do together without fighting. I am excited to say that so far it has worked. I think because Riley is a great influence on his sister. He has a great desire to get his homework done each night so he can play 20 min of video games. If homework is done with no fighting this happens. If there is fighting it is a no go. Riley will find Hailey have her pick out a few books and sit down to read. Pretty soon the other girls climb up to listen too. I love that they are doing this together. It is one of those moments that makes you stop and be grateful for the beautiful little blessings they are.

Carley, Carley, Carley

The other day we were working on a chain to count down the days until we move. Each of the kids had a few strips of paper they were to color. Carley was sitting on my lap coloring, or so I thought, while I was stapling the strips together. Ryan looked up from his strip and said "Look at your daughter!!" I looked down at Carley and saw that she had gotten a black marker and thought it would be better to eat it than to color with it. Good thing it is supposedly non-toxic. As usual she thought she was pretty funny. Our chain turned out pretty cute and now I don't have to continually tell the kids how long it will be until we move.

Bargains Revealed

Okay Leslie you are officially a bargain shopper!! Your guesses were right on. The Butterflies were .50 each, and the puppets were 1.00 each. I was totally stoked about both. The kids have been having a great time having puppet shows. Hailey and Riley did the story of Queen Esther last night for FHE using the puppets. It was awesome, worth every penny I paid for them. They have created a lot of great entertainment on Sunday afternoons. The butterflies have not been put to use yet, but I know that the girls will love them when they are finished.

This is Riley and Hailey one Sunday afternoon. Riley is the one behind the towel. Sydney loves to play with them too, she just happened to be asleep when I took these pictures.

Bargain Hunting Round 2

Okay all you smart shoppers lets see who can guess the prices of these items. I was WAY excited, they were great deals. Good luck!!

#1. Cute unfinished butterfly pegs for the girls room.

#2. Adorable hand puppets.

What comes out must go in?

We thought Carley had finished her new tricks for a while, but she is always full of surprises. The other night we finished scripture reading and were getting ready for family prayers when we realized we were missing one child. Ryan started back to her room to look for her when we heard, "WHEEE!" Ryan called us all back to see. Carley had decided she wanted in her crib and started climbing. She would get up on the mattress and start bouncing. Where did this girl learn to climb??? I don't remember any of my other kids trying to climb into their cribs. She is going to keep me on my toes.

Wasn't it nice of her to reenact the whole thing for us. Carley is all about attention.

I finally figured it out...

....fall is my favorite time of the year. Yes, I have lived 29 years and I just figured this out. Last week I was feeling especially happy and cheerful. When I stopped and thought about why I realized that the weather had cooled down a little and the breeze felt fresh and cool. I love it when the weather is like that. I really hate being hot, so when fall comes along and things cool down I am in heaven. I always tell people you can always put on more clothes, but you can only take off so many. I love the soggy (as my kids call them) ,also known as foggy, mornings when it takes until 10 or 11 for the marine layer to burn off and it stays in the mid to low 70's the whole day. Okay we are talking about fall in So. Cal. There are no frozen nose hairs or scraping of windshields here. I love the excitement in the air in anticipation of the upcoming holidays. The changing leaves. I love it all! Unfortunately since it is So. Cal it has warmed up this week. I am looking forward to more of those soggy mornings!!

Carley's New Trick

I have known for a while that if Carley tried she would be able to crawl out of her crib onto the dresser. Knowing this I intended to move her mattress down to the lowest notch. Every morning when I got her out of her crib I would think, "I need to do that today", and every night when I would put her back to bed I would think, "I need to do that tomorrow."

Well on Friday my procrastination caught up with me. I was in my room doing something with the other girls when we heard these funny plopping noises in the girls room. I asked Hailey to quietly go and see what the noise was. Quietly because Carley was supposed to be sleeping. Next thing I know Hailey is screaming that I need to come quick. Thinking something was really wrong I rushed to the room. When I walked in and saw Carley all I could do was shake my head and laugh. Oh, and tell Hailey to run and get the camera. What else was there to do but document Carley's new trick. She was sitting on the dresser looking at books and dropping them on the floor. She was quite pleased with herself too. You would think I would immediately fix the problem and adjust the mattress so she could no longer climb out. If you did, thank you for giving me undeserved credit. It is still where it was. Maybe I'll get to it on Monday. Hee Hee!!

1. "Hi Mommy, Look What I can do!!"
2. "I am SO proud of myself!"



That pretty much says it all.

First Day Of School

The first day of school is finally here and the kids are so excited!! They had their clothes laid out last night and were ready to go. We woke up a little later than we had planned, (Rough night with noisy neighbors. Maybe more on that later.) so it was a little more rushed than I would have liked.

Check out Hailey's backpack. It wasn't enough to have just a plain purple bag, I had to glam it up. Riley told Hailey that she will have the cutest backpack of all the girls at school. What a good brother!

We got Hailey to school just in time to jump into the end of the line and walk into her classroom. I'm kind of glad it turned out that way. I always get a little sad with them leaving for their first school experience. (The girl behind Hailey was having a hard time, or was it her parents, so it made it impossible to get a picture of Hailey without the whole family.)

Riley had a little more time to hang out and play before his class started. Kindergarten starts 30 min. before the rest of the school does. He was really excited to find out that he had the same teacher he had last year, she moved up to third grade this year, and that one of the boys from his soccer team is in his class.

I think they are both going to have a great year and a lot of fun. Sydney and I have been having a lot of fun so far today. We read a few stories, watched a cartoon, and now she is playing with blocks and animals while I do this. Carley is down for her nap. Although it is tough for me to say good by to the older kids and let them go, I must admit this is pretty nice.