The Coolest Birthday Cake Ever!

Samuel's fascination with Star Wars began at an early age. He's just 6 weeks old in this picture. When I was showing him the scrapbook yesterday he was very impressed that he was holding a gun when he was just a baby.

Apparently there are several other boys in Samuel's Kindergarten class that have the same fascination with Star Wars because Samuel always comes home and tells me new Star Wars facts that he learned from other boys. We had a Star Wars party last year, but this year Samuel wanted a Legos Star Wars party. Building with Legos is a daily activity at our home. I told Samuel we weren't going to have a friend party this year and he kept telling me, "But mom, I have friends". Instead he invited one his friends from school over to play for a few hours.

Drum Roll Please .........

And here according to Samuel is The Coolest Birthday Cake Ever!

A Legos Clone Trooper.

I must say it did turn out pretty amazing!

It was a messy affair and we cheated a little. We decided sculpting a cake into this shape would be too tricky so we made 2 batches of Rice Krispies and Chuck molded the Rice Krispie mass into a clone trooper. And the fondant turned out perfect and was pretty easy to work with. In fact I think I'll be making many more fondant creations in the future. The marshmallow recipe I used wasn't too hard and it even tasted good.

Thanks Honey for again helping me with my crazy ideas - well this one was Samuel's crazy idea!

Happy Birthday My Sweet Boy

Happy 6th Birthday Samuel!

I've been thinking about what to write for Samuel's birthday for awhile now. And the one thought that keeps coming to my mind is what a wonderful year this has been for Samuel.

He is an absolute delight and I think this must be the perfect age. He is excited about everything, he loves to try new things, he loves school and loves to learn, he is helpful, he works hard, he keeps us entertained with his constant stream of talking, he keeps us on our toes with his endless questions, he amazes me. He is valiant and just a great kid. I'm lucky to be his mom!

I was looking through old pictures today because I always talk to the kids about the day they were born on their birthday. It's fun to get out the scrapbook and show them pictures of when they were a baby.

Of course I got a little teary eyed, not because Samuel is getting older, but because I look back through those pictures and the two of us always look like this - big smiles having so much fun together. The day this little guy was born was one of the best days of my life and the second I held him in my arms my life changed. Everything about me changed. He will always be my witness that the Lord blesses us with miracles. I LOVE you little buddy and you still make me smile!

He's always had those gorgeous blue eyes, long lashes and cute smile (except now he is into the cool look - which according to him isn't smiling! There's a few more pictures on my photo blog)

Wish Me Luck!

I made the mistake of showing Samuel the cake I was going to make for his birthday. He instantly decided he didn't want that cake and proceeded to pick out what looked like the most difficult cake on the page I was looking at.

So I'm attempting to build a stand-up Lego's Clone Trooper using homemade marshmallow fondant. I've never made fondant or for that matter ever worked with fondant before. This could certainly be a disaster!

This stuff was really sticky and took me FOREVER to get it to the right consistency. It's chilling in the fridge tonight and I'm praying it turns out okay.

Wish Me Luck!!

Beautiful Weeds

I LOVE this time of year when the desert weeds start to blossom.

Yes, I really love the weeds!

Apparently not everyone in our family feels the same way!

This picture cracks me up because Jenna is such our little redhead. Her hair probably won't stay this color, but it sure does match her temperament - she's feisty! Or maybe it's just being the youngest and needing to make sure your voice is heard. Either way, she's a screamer and a fighter!

You Did What!

So you know what really stinks?

When your husband comes home from golfing and tells you he broke someones window with a wild hit.

And what stinks even more, when the homeowner comes out to track him down so he can pay for that wild hit. I mean call me crazy, but isn't that a chance you take if you build your home on a golf course?

My first question of him when he told me this story: "How big was the window?" I wanted to know how much this golf trip was going to cost us!

Yeah, it was a pretty pricey golf trip.

Happy St. Patricks Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We actually celebrated St. Patrick's Day last Saturday morning because the kids and I along with my sister and her kids went to my parents house for Spring Break that morning. We just got back today and I am exhausted! Can I just say that if these people were not my family and I didn't love them there is no way I would get together with them! This may sound harsh, but seriously every time we spend time together it creates a health hazard! More details may follow on another post.

This is the cute sham"rock" Samuel made.

Around our home, we like to celebrate the upcoming holidays for weeks in advance. And one of my favorite ways to celebrate is by making some sort of goodie. We had lots of fun with the green colored chocolate this year especially Isaac who was fascinated that chocolate could come in this crazy color.

(and for those of you wondering, these are NOT food storage brownies, but actual made from scratch very yummy brownies - on certain occasions my cooking acutally turns out!)

Last year was our first attempt at making a Leprechaun trap and Samuel has talked about making another trap for a solid year. This kid has an amazing memory. I found this idea on the Family Fun website and modified it a little so all three kids could work on it. The idea is that the Leprechaun will want to take the golden nuggets and when he pulls the nugget from the last pot the trap disguised as a cloud above the rainbow will fall on him. Sounds simple enough unless you have a little guy who is a stickler for details and making sure things work properly.

I was going to take a short cut and just glue the trap to the rainbow. Samuel was standing by supervising, telling me there was no way it would catch the Leprechaun. He kept detailing all the problems with my design. And he was right, if there really was a Leprechaun there was no way our trap would work. The details of making a trap that would actually work were a little more than I wanted to experiment with so we had our Daddy help with the design one evening. And yes, he came up with something that would actually work and satisfied all of Samuel's questions. The kids were really excited when we laid our trap out on the table.

When they woke up the next morning this is what they found. The trap had fallen and two little shoes were sticking out. Sort of reminds me of the Wizard of Oz. They were excited the trap had worked, but disappointed when there was no Leprechaun inside. Those Leprechaun's are hard to catch!

It's no wonder the kids love St. Patrick's Day so much. Who wouldn't love to eat chocolate and Lucky Charm marshmallows for breakfast. And notice how dark it is outside - yes, these kids get up way before the crack of dawn!

The Leprechaun couldn't leave sweet Jenna out of the mix. The kids were delighted that her milk had been turned green.

Chuck had a little talk with the Leprechaun about the wisdom in dying the whole gallon of milk green. We usually have milk leaking out of bottles and sippy cups and he couldn't believe a Leprechaun that is very anal about the carpet hadn't thought about green dye in the milk. Yeah, the Leprechaun should have thought about that detail!

And The Winner Is...

Chuck and I went to a banquet for the local ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) last night and it was a lot of fun! For the entertainment they played several games from Minute to Win It. There's nothing quite as funny as watching a room full of engineers taking part in these silly challenges. Chuck and I came away with $70 and this great prize.

Chuck constructed a tower out of plastic cups and won us this fun popcorn maker. I'm pretty sure I was more excited than even the kids. We make popcorn every Friday night for our family movie night so this will just add an extra layer of fun. The kids and I had to try it out after lunch today. I love popcorn and obviously so does Bella because tonight as she was saying her prayer she thanked Heavenly Father for our new popcorn maker.

I'm glad we had such a fun evening last night because tonight we're a little bummed out. We have been planning for months a little overnight stay in Vegas for just the two of us for tomorrow evening. It's been years since we had a night without the kids so we were super excited, but you would have thought we were trying to plan a month long exotic trip instead of one night to Vegas with all the complications surrounding this weekend. It's really become quite comical, but I'll spare the details, just suffice it to say we aren't going and no we can't get our money refunded on the hotel. So instead of packing for our trip, I'm doing a lot of blogging to ease my disappointment!

Working Hard

My motto around here lately has been Working Hard is Good.

And Samuel has been taking that to heart.

I started teaching him piano about 2 months ago and he is doing amazing. I am going to do a longer post about this another night. But I'm seriously considering teaching piano to a couple of students starting in August. If you know anyone that may be interested let me know!

Samuel also had his Karate promotion and received his white belt with a purple stripe. He LOVES Karate!

Love the expression he has on his face if you look in the mirror. Such a tough look!

And in January he learned to ride his bike without training wheels. Someone told us a great trick to use and we did it. Samuel literally learned to ride his bike in less than a couple of hours. The trick is to remove the pedals and then let the kids practicing balancing as they coast down a little incline putting their feet down as needed. I can't believe how well this worked!

Chuck decided this was so successful he removed Bella's pedals. Bella is quite a bit more wild than Samuel and the first time I saw her flying down the hill without the pedals and unable to break I was sure it was a recipe for disaster. And she did take a major crash at the bottom of our street, but in true Bella form she jumped right back up without a tear and tried it again. She hasn't quite mastered it yet, but she's working on it.

Light Bulb Moment

I was so proud of Bella this week I had to call Chuck, Grandma Jerri Lynn and Aunt Trina right away to share the great news!

Bella and I have been going to speech class once a week for a year and a half. She has made such huge improvements from when we started. Her teacher encouraged me to be consistent in our practice at our first meeting. Well, if there's one thing I'm pretty good at it's being consistent especially if it's important!

We practice our sounds every day and this week my Bella girl had one of those light bulb moments where things just click. The J sound is her last big hurdle and her teacher introduced the sound this week and had her practice at class. Can I just say that I am fascinated by speech pathology. I am just amazed at all the coordination that has to take place in the mouth for sounds to be made correctly. Maybe in my next life I'll be a speech teacher! Later that day we were sitting at the table and Bella out of the blue started making the J sound correctly then she said, "Hey, Jenna starts with the J sound." I was so excited I about couldn't stand it! Before then Bella would replace the J sound with an S so instead of saying Jenna she would say Senna. But the light bulb clicked and she called her sister Jenna for the first time! And now she is starting to say all the other J words correctly.

Until I had kids I didn't realize the love I would have for teaching. I absolutely love learning with my kids. There's nothing like seeing those light bulbs go off as they catch onto a new principle. It just makes me smile! And it makes me have to call all the family and share the great news!

On a side note I had to take this picture of Bella before church because of her reaction when I put that giant pink bow in her hair. She looked in the mirror and exclaimed, "I LOVE it!".

Concrete Legs & Cute Shoes

I just love to watch babies learning how to walk. Their legs are spread apart like giant tree trunks and as they try and pick each leg it seems so heavy to move, almost like it's been dipped in concrete. Too cute!

I think little baby shoes are adorable, but I refuse to buy them.

When I was pregnant with Samuel and reading all the material so I would be prepared to be a "good" mom I read somewhere it's better to let babies learn to walk without shoes. So of course I didn't have him wear shoes until he learned how to walk because that's what the "experts" suggested. Fast forward a kid or two and my mind set changed. I could care less what the "experts" think it's just impossible to keep track of shoes for the kids who really need to wear them. Who needs the burden of trying to keep track of another pair of shoes not to mention trying to get and keep the shoes on a baby!

But now that Jenna has been walking for awhile I did break down and get her these super adorable soft soled shoes.

And like my other kids when I finally started putting shoes on them she really didn't care for them.

I must say those are some super cute shoes on those adorable concrete legs!

This is what happens when Jenna decides that it's okay to wake up at 4:40 a.m.! By 7:00 a.m. you're ready for a nap. Now if only mommy could take a nap with you!

Jenna has been our hardest baby because she just doesn't sleep very well and she likes to wake up super early. I guess she fits in well around here with all the other early risers.

End of an Era

Saturday evening was my last night nursing my sweet baby Jenna. It was bittersweet. I held her a little longer and cherished those last precious moments. Tonight after I fed her a bottle and laid her down I cried. My friend shared a thought that one of her friends had shared with her – she said she takes comfort in hoping that some of these moments and experiences are not final, we will get the chance to experience them again in the eternities. It is a beautiful thought!

One of my favorite parts of each day is retreating to my rocking chair in the early evening to nurse my baby to sleep. I shut the door and let the peaceful calm wash over me as I bring my precious baby close and feed her. There are usually noisy happenings just outside the door as Chuck plays with the other kids. But here, there is a quiet beautiful closeness as just the baby and I share the end of the day together. I rub her head, hold her little hands and look deeply into her blue eyes. In these quiet moments, I marvel at the miracle of this sweet baby in my arms and I wonder what the coming years will hold for her. I LOVE this experience, this time together.

These moments of motherhood will always be precious to me. When I think back to these years, I know some of my fondest memories will be holding and nursing every one of my babies in the rocking chair. I feel blessed that countless hours of my time have been spent in this quiet closeness. I can't think of anything I would have rather been doing!

Many parts of motherhood are hard and nursing for me as been no exception. With every one of my babies I have cried tears of pain and frustration. The beginning has never been easy for me. Samuel was my hardest. I think back to those weeks trying to heal from a c-section, twice having mastitis only to be followed by another horrible infection leading to an abscess that I had to have cut, drained and packed returning again and again to the doctor for almost two weeks and I’m amazed I continued to nurse him and then all the other kids. I will always be grateful to a wonderful group of women in my Vegas ward. They offered encouragement and support when I needed it most. With their encouragement, I stuck with it even though it was extremely hard and I’m so thankful I did.

Tonight I don’t feel it, but I know in the coming days a part of me will be excited. Since I became pregnant with Samuel in June 2004 I have literally been pregnant or nursing without any breaks. Yes, that’s over 6 ½ straight years of either growing a little one or nourishing a little one and with two of my pregnancies doing both at the same time. (Now to be totally accurate, there was a 2 week break when I was not pregnant or nursing in between Isaac and Jenna, but really what’s 2 weeks compared to over 6 years!) So I’m entering new territory here, but I know the motherhood journey will continue to be filled with joy – just different types of joy!


Jenna has so many cute dresses I decided I need to snap a picture each Sunday before church. And just to confirm in case you were wondering, No Jenna still doesn't have ANY teeth. That's right, she's 13 months old and no teeth. (Makes the nursing a little easier!)

Differences

Grandma Luann let Isaac borrow this robot cat last time we were there for a visit. We discovered upon getting the toy home that Jenna is petrified of the cat when it starts walking around with its bright yellow eyes flashing, tail wagging up and down and making strange robotic cat noises. And this little toy magnifies the difference between the boys and girls in my home.

The first time Isaac turned this cat on and it began walking towards Jenna she started squawking, then screaming and when it reached her she was in sheer panic swatting it with flying legs and arms. I told the kids they needed to turn the cat off and get it away from Jenna. Then I walked away to take care of something else.

A few minutes later I hear Jenna squawking and both boys laughing. Yep, Samuel had cornered Jenna with the cat thinking it was hilarious to watch her reaction. Then I hear Bella come storming into the room and to Jenna's rescue. She started yelling at Samuel to take the cat to his room and when he didn't comply she was like a momma bear charging after him and the cat. She chased him up to his room and told him not to get the cat near Jenna again.

As I watched this scene play out I was fascinated by their natures. It's so interesting for me to watch the difference between my boys and the girls. Always constant entertainment around here! I love Bella's nurturing spirit. She will be an amazing mom one day.