Climbing

Tannen climbed into the dishwasher for the first time today.

My Little Girly Girl

Kylie and her new pink bag. She completely loves that bag.


Pretty daisy earring


She is just cute!!

So the last week or so Kylie has gotten interested in my earrings and starting showing an interest in getting her ears pierced. I started thinking about it. When I was growing up I wasn't allowed to get my ears pierced until I was 12. Not sure why, the only reason I can maybe think of is that my mom didn't want to keep them clean and didn't think I would be responsible enough for them until I was 12. Or maybe it was just a good rule with five girls in the house. By that time I was dying to get them pierced.

But as I got to thinking I thought I wouldn't use the same rule for Kylie. I think I would limit my daughter on the size of the earring for a while but can't see why she couldn't wear dainty little studs in her ears. Doesn't seem like it is that big of a deal. Plus the more I got to thinking I don't mind helping her clean them and helping her pick out her earrings and get them in her ears. She is my only girl and I love spending time with her doing girly things.

So I told her I didn't mind if she wanted to get them pierced. On Tuesday I told her we could go and look and if she wanted to pierce them I was fine with it. We got Landon from school and headed on over. She watched a girl get her ears pierced but ended up chickening out. Earlier I told her it pinches and then pinched her arm.

Well Wednesday she thought about it all day long and then that night she said she wanted to pierce them. I told her that it was too late but that I would take her tomorrow. So she happily agreed. Every once in a while she would ask how it would feel and hold out her arm, so I would pinch it for her. No reason not to know what you are getting yourself into. We talked about it Thursday morning, and I was pretty worried that she would get one done but not the other. As I was brushing her hair and she would say ouch and put her hands up. I told her that was also like getting her ears pierced. It hurts for a second, but as soon as you stop it doesn't hurt anymore.

Later on Thursday I needed to go grocery shopping so I got her and Tannen ready. She asked if we were going to get her ears pierced and I said sure. So we did. She picked out cute little rainbow daisy ones. She was confident and excited to sit in the chair. The lady did her first ear and Kylie got nervous on the second and scrunched up her shoulders, but held still. She was almost in tears but with the help of a sucker and lots of praise on how well she did and how beautiful they were she was fine. We cleaned them and walked out of the mall. She had her own pink bag with the cleaner in it and was so excited and just dancing with joy. She has had so much fun cleaning them and talking about it since. She has been practicing with my earrings taking them in and out of my ears. I am glad we just went for it and did it. I was so proud of her too. She hates getting hurt, but is a tough little cookie.

So far she has done really well with cleaning them and turning them. It is really fun for her to get everything and sit on the couch with me. But now I have been dealing with Landon and why he can't get his ears pierced. It didn't help that Kylie saw a guy get his ears pierced right before her, and that Landon has seen boys with earrings. I told him my boys weren't allowed to and that when he is 18 he can make his own decision. Marcus told him it was girly. I think he just saw all the attention that Kylie was getting and just wanted some.

As a side note later that evening because I didn't finish my grocery shopping I took the whole family shopping at Maceys at 6:30. We got all the groceries with all the kids with no problems. But when we went out to the car it wouldn't start. I got someone to help but then we couldn't find our jumper cables. They didn't have any either so they offered to run to Walmart and buy some since they needed some anyways. They came back with some and our car still didn't start. We tried someone else's car and jumper cables and it still didn't work. They offered to take Marcus home and get our truck. So they did. I hung out in the store and bought the kids brownies. Marcus was back and we towed the car home. I drove the truck with Tannen and Marcus steered the car with Landon and Kylie. It was pretty crazy. We didn't get home until 9:30 that night. I gotta say those men were so helpful. I told them they earned the good samaritan award. Marcus was able to take out the starter and replace it on Friday. We have replaced that started before and save receipts so it didn't cost us anything. Does get me thinking about replacing cars though.

Couldn't Resist

This shot in particular made Marcus laugh. He called it a little puppy dog. He also noticed that all our kids have little ears that poke out. Marcus' lay pretty flat on his head, but I guess mine poke out, so that is where all three of the kids get it from.



Bath time is so much fun!! I popped Tannen in the tub last night in preparation for him to go to sleep. "They" say that babies sleep better if you give them a bath and they are able to relax and play in the water. Hey it seems to work for Tannen. He slept 8 hours straight last night. We have been working really hard the last month on teaching Tannen to go to sleep on his own, and not need mommy to eat or hold him through the night. The progress seemed slow and heartbreaking at first. I pretty much rub his back and give him music but won't pick him up, and then he just cries himself to sleep. But last week we had two nights were he slept all through the night which was about ten hours straight. He is always a delight in the tub and I figured I better get pictures of him. I love bath time pictures.

He has also be getting around really fast crawling now. He can pull up to standing and get just about anything. His favorites are the garbage, kitchen drawers with all of my washcloths and towels, books, movies - though he only likes about ten out and then he leaves it alone, but once I clean those up he hurries and gets some more movies out. He loves the toilet paper in the bathroom - we now just have to leave it shut, and of course electric cords. He loves to pull up on my pant legs when I am standing or the chair when I am sitting and yell at me to pick him up.

I wouldn't be surprised if he starts walking here in the next couple of months. He is getting great with his balance. He can stand on his own for only a few seconds, and then hurries and sits down. He is a complete joy, he is ticklish, and I am completely in love with his giggle. He can clap his hands, and most of the time can do it on cue when you say "yay". Tannen doesn't like baby food much anymore. He is fine if we feed him table food, and delighted if he can feed himself and make a great mess. My little baby is growing right up and I gotta say I love it. I love seeing him learn new things and am excited for the next thing that he will learn to do and get into.

Inspiration from my Kids

Marcus and I have decided to give the kids each a dollar every two weeks for their allowance - whenever Marcus gets paid. Landon's Grandma Simons paid him for babysitting a few months ago and was thrilled to pay tithing on it. So every Sunday he wants to pay tithing. I figured it would be a great way to show kids how to pay your tithing and also savings. Anyways I gave them a dollar and showed them how to break it into change and pay 10%. Then I told them it was a good idea to save half of the money. So we saved 50 cents in a cup.

Then I pulled out the tithing sheet for them to fill out and send to the bishop. Landon got to looking at all the other things that you can donate to and really wanted to. So he gave money to temple construction and Kylie of course needed to get on board so she paid into the Book of Mormon fund and also Temple construction. I have to say I have never donated money into another fund but Tithing and Fast offerings. So today I turned over a new leaf and donated into the Ward missionary fund. After looking at them give so much of there money to the church I felt very humbled. Kylie only had ten cents after she was done. I love my kids so much and am grateful for the lesson they taught be today. Truly the widow's mite is worth more than the rich man's gold.

Big Eyes

Kylie is notorious for not staying in her seat while she is eating. She is such a little wiggle worm and can't hold still. She is constantly getting up and bugging everyone else, or just standing by the table. Last night for dinner I finished my food way before her - of course. I grabbed Tannen to change a diaper. As I was walking down the hall I turned around and told Kylie to go sit down and eat her dinner. Kylie came back in and told Marcus "I was trying to sneak up on Mommy but she turned around and told me to eat dinner with her big eyes." I thought it was hilarious.

Tumbling Class

Landon's back straddle roll


Kylie's back straddle roll


Landon's bridge - I caught the picture at the wrong time


Kylie's bridge - she really improved on this one from the first time she tried.



Balancing Act - Star, besk, table top, slope

We put the kids in a eight week community tumbling class together. They went every Tuesday night for 45 minutes. And love every minute of it. They haven't done a sport or activity like this before and were thrilled about it. They would love to come home and practice and show off the moves they learned.

The Monday before the last performance, where the parents were invited to see all the moves they learn I had the kids practice what they had learned. When they got to the cartwheel Marcus was so mad because they were even worse after the class. So he spent about 15 minutes reteaching them how to do cartwheels. For some reason it really cracked me up. Marcus wondered why he paid someone to teach them cartwheels and they got even worse. But that aside they learned lots of tumbling moves, and I am interested in putting them in the next class come January.

The class was for 5-8 year old but she let me stick Kylie in because she was able to keep up with the bigger kids, and she will be 5 at the end of the year. But in the pictures she does seem a lot littler then the other kids. We had a great time this Tuesday watching the kids, I hope you enjoy the pictures and the videos (even if they are a little dark).

Landon's Cartwheel

Landon had a great time tumbling as well. He did a great job on his cartwheels. He was extremely competitive in the class, but loved it just as much as Kylie did.

Kylie's Cartwheel

Kylie in her tumbling class. It was the last day and the parents were invited to see everything they learned. It was so fun to watch. I have lots of video of the kids, but I really love this one because you get to see how bouncy and excited Kylie was. Plus I love her little bow at the end. She would do that after everything she did. Really cute.

Lion, Witches, and Jedi OH MY

Landon and his spider cookies - what spider actually has two eyes may I ask


Kylie and her spider cookies

We have had a wonderful Halloween this year. I tried to have fun things during the week. We had a great time. On Wednesday we made spider cookies. The kids had a great time. We also let them make them on Saturday too.

Friday Landon had a school parade and the parents were allowed to wait in the gym and take pictures. Landon was so excited this year to be a Jedi. Rochelle on Monday drove all the way to Downey to meet me there and let me borrow her Jedi robe. Landon was so delighted he wore it everyday until Halloween.


Landon's teacher Mrs. Ballom


Landon in the parade. I wasn't sure if they would let him have his light saber but was pleasantly surprised when he came out with it.

On Thursday we carved pumpkins. We bought three little ones and let them decorate them with markers and then three big ones and carved them. The kids got to pick out what they wanted from a book we have and Marcus free handed them on the pumpkins.


Fun family event


Kylie working in hers. She ended up not liking getting dirty, so I gutted her pumpkin.


Landon had no problem getting all dirty


Landon and his spider


Kylie and her bat. She also colored the outside with markers - hey whatever makes her happy.


All three on the porch lit. My flash is a little bright so they don't really glow - but it was really dark outside.

On Saturday we had a great day. We cleaned up the house so we could play that night. We got Papa Murphy's pumpkin pizza - it was just easier and fun. Then we got the kids all dressed and they went out around 5 that night. It must not be the popular time to go because no one else was out. But the whole family got to go because we weren't worried about missing our trick or treaters. We went to a few townhouses and the kids did pretty good. I didn't want as much as last year at trunk or treat because I ended up throwing out candy after the kids were on sugar highs all day long. Then we came home and cooked our pizza. The kids watched a movie and had a great time having other kids trick or treat at our door. It was the most kids we had since having our old house. I loved it.


Tannen our little Lion - getting his treat.


Isn't he just so cute


Kylie my little witch - she wanted to be something scary this year. Not a princess


Loved the warts and all.


My very serious Obi-Wan Kenobi


Oh wait he cracked a smile


All three of my little monsters


I dressed up as a witch again this year. What can I say - it's fun. Aren't we cute?

Marcus and I stayed up late and watched Transformers Revenge of the Fallen. It was good and I had a great time hanging out with him.