It's all about ME!

I NEVER EVER thought I would have the nerve to put just a close up picture of my chubby face on here but I had to show you all... I finally tried something I have wanted to do for years!
I should have had Kristen do my makeup too before I took this shot but whatever. What do you think?

Poor Little Guy

One of these days he's really going to regret all the modeling he did for his sisters. But as of now... he LOVES when they dress him up and call him a princess.

Seriously, this poor little boy has no chance.

Tahoe - Finally!

When I was growing up my family spent about a week each winter with the same group of people either in Tahoe or in Bend, Oregon. I have lots of memories on the slopes with all of them and they are precious to me. Some of those memories we stayed at a place called Edgelake in Tahoe. It's a timeshare my moms cousin owned. Well, before he passed away, about 10 years ago, he made it known that he wanted to be sure one of my moms kids got to have it and keep using it. Somehow Kyle and I got to be the lucky ones. Although we have been making payments for a while and only looking at it as another bill - we finally completed ALL the paperwork to transfer it into our names and get to start enjoying it.

Last weekend we took the kids up to hang out for the day and check out the new place that hopefully we will build many memories enjoying. It was fun for me because my only memories there were in the winter and I had no idea what a great place it was! This year we got lucky to find some availability the week before Christmas but next year I hope to use our time during the summer... it is so pretty! I'm so excited about it and wish I would have realized how great this place is a long time ago!

This is a bad picture but the place even had a playground... it was so cute and I can't believe I hadn't even realized what a gem this HUGE GIFT is until now.

A Pink & Purple Princess Tea Party

I cannot believe my baby girl just turned 4! I'm a bit overwhelmed with emotion to how quickly it has gone by and how quickly I know it will continue to go. Yesterday I looked through a bunch of her baby pictures and I felt like I was so busy through her toddler years that I have almost forgotten how stinking cute she has always been. She has always had a princess personality in both the good and bad ways. I regret to have always focused a bit too much on the negatives. So today I am just so grateful to have had a real royal baby born, at home, into my family. I'm grateful for her sweetness, her attachment to me, her eyes that still catch me off guard when mine meet them and everything good she brings to our family. I am in love with her and so blessed by the privelage of being her mom!

So at her request, almost a year ago, A Pink & Purple Princess Tea Party was the decided event for her big day! (actually first it was just a tea party , then the color was added later, then the word princess and then mommy decided the name was too long and she had to stick to what it was). This was her first ever party and she has been dreaming about it since she turned 3. I have to admit I too was excited and have been grabing little items for it since all the frilly stuff went on sale after Easter. The party was perfect and I will let the pictures tell the story...

first a BIG THANK YOU to my Glorious Friend Glory for ALL her help in making Adison's first party perfect!!!! Well, maybe I helped her - either way we make a great team!

I have had this little table outside for a long time waiting to be repainted and since it was due for a painting anyway - we just painted it to match. I'm sure i will regret that soon. But Adison loves it - so maybe not.

Everything was all ready and these girls were SO EXCITED to get started!

Adia and her best friends Sydney and Danielle were all decked out and ready to host the party.

They did an AWESOME JOB. And were such good sports about it all - even when I asked them to teach the girls how to dance like a princess. Danielle was quick to tell Adia to leave that part to her... too funny!

Our first guest arrived and was quick to find the party hats

This little princess was best dressed for sure!

Once all the guests arrived and got their fingers and toes painted (by Adia and crew)

we sat down for a nice little tea party lunch. Adison was in heaven!
BEAUTIFUL Brooke (Tammy's middle child)

that was followed by a the pinata

Then we made princess wands and went outside to give them a whirl!

we sang Happy Birthday
And there were some presents... later she said that was her favorite part

(of course)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRINCESS ADISON - WE LOVE YOU!!!!!

Mr. & Mrs. Carter

Kyle's little brother Ty got married to such a sweet and beautiful girl recently. My family felt super lucky to have known about her since the very begining and to see our hopes for them come true on their special day. Ty seems like he will be such an awesome hubby and Christi will be the sweetest and cutest wife for sure! They are a true match made in heaven and we are so happy for them! (oh and if either of you read this please know that i had a wedding gift for you on time but I left it home... I will send it to you this week)

Here is the gorgreous couple on the windy wedding day!

And here is Kyle's crazy, amazing, HUGE, really good looking family!

And although it was all about Ty and Christi - we did get to spend time with lots of family due to the big event. Most importantly we got to meet our newest nephew...

Roman Carter Holyoak.

He is so cute! And his mom seems very aware of how lucky she is to be his mom! Congrats again Jill! Thanks for giving me niece/nephew #30!

Big Boy - Big Job!

How is it possible I am potty training a baby for the

5th and FINAL time???

I am excited to be done with diapers soon and totally sad that it's getting official that my babies aren't babies anymore. But that is what I am doing so here are some pics. So far we are doing okay on the pee thing - not so great on the poops! Although getting sprayed with the hose is not fun so hopefully that will turn around soon.

It all started with the ring of the door bell. Somehow we all already knew it was for Kaden and we all followed him to the door.

Where he found a present just for him.

It was a Zebra, wearing a pull up, asking Kaden to please help him learn to go potty in the toilet like a big boy so he can wear big boy underwear. (Cute side note: Adison still sleeps with her Potty Piggy that she succesfully potty trained when she was 2) Of course we had to check his pull up right away and the darn Zebra already went poop and pee which cracked Kaden up!

So Kaden taught him how to go in the toilet (with all his siblings help) over the next few hours and soon they were both wearing underwear and going together... I wish I had a picture of the potty chart that both the Zebra and Kaden earned stickers for.

If you are wondering how a Zebra goes potty in the toilet the trick is having a syringe with yellow water and some pepper on hand.

Well, that was 2 days ago and we are still going potty every 20-30 minutes around here. Kaden isn't doing as well as Adison but he is doing good enough and for that I am so glad! He doesn't have accidents but he rarely says he has to go... he just goes when I take him. Here is the Big Boy taking care of business.

Oh and as I am typing this Kaden just came out of his room wearing his brothers boxers telling me he is a princess... not sure why he thinks this or what he is talking about but I had to grab the camera again. (gotta love the rush editing to cover his manhood huh?)


Did I mention I can't wait until the weekend when daddy is here to help me! Oh and being a 5th kid has some major perks... you have never seen such a large cheering crowd for every drop of pee this little boy has... SO CUTE!!!!

Back To School and LOVING IT!

So after much preperation, stress and big decisions we have finally started school. We are 3 days down and all is going quite well. Last year having Adia in school was perfect for a season but we missed her so much around here and it feels so good having her back in the midst of our daily routines. I love having them all home (most of the time). There are a lot of new things for us to conquer this school year and I feel very confident going into it. Especially since I have such an awesome hubby who is so supportive and has even taken over the WHOLE morning routine for me so I can get ready in peace and have a little down time before I jump into my days. He has gotten the kids up, got them ready, fed them and I am LOVING it! I start school feeling so refreshed vs. the old feeling of being frazzled before I even started the school day. I think this might be the best gift he has ever given me!

Well, here are a few pictures of our first few days. Official first day of school pictures come the first day of co-op.

Here are my beautiful girls working on cursive writing together. Adia has kind of taught herself so I am having her start over to make sure she forms her letters nicely and properly. Avery is catching on quick and they are working really well together (so far at least).

Kenyon is so excited to finally be in Kindergarten and he is doing so good! I thought it would be hard to keep him focused but he loves the routine of it all and actually on his breaks he complains "why do the big girls get more school than me"... oh if that was always the problem! This picture is him with his work log. For those of you a bit curious as to how we do it around here each kid has a binder with their weekly work logs in it. We check each subject off as we complete them and save our work in the designated area of our binder. Kenyon feels so BIG TIME and loves doing his own checks.

Today for his break time he asked if he could make an Iron Man costume and this is what he came up with. The sound effects were awesome and he even asked to go to the neighbors house to show his friend. I let him and of course Adia was so emberassed that her friends might see him and know what a dork her brother is.

Adia has made a moby wrap out of one of my scarves to keep a pet on her while she reads or writes. This picture has such a huge smile on her due to the fact that her "baby" leaked on her while I was snapping shots. The picture she is holding is her version of a Picasso piece of art.
The kids have all enjoyed studying about the life of Pablo Picasso this week.

Avery is so dilegent and takes her time as she works.

BTW - how did I get 3 left handed kiddos (Avery, Kenyon and Adison)???

My Picasso wanna be's. It was so cute when I poured the paint today and Avery asked "are we painting something from his blue period or the cube one"?

Adison is always thrilled when she gets to join us!

This was day one during our bedtime routine. Each kid got to show dad the binder covers they made and tell him a bit about our day. They were all really positive which made all my effort worth it for sure!

Adia's books haven't all come in so she enjoyed a very easy history read the first day of school.

And here are the girls during reading time. They read for 30 minutes from a book about the time period we are studying in hisotry and then later in the day the get to read from a chapter book of their choice. I love that they enjoy that time and that I hear them sharing info with each other while they read. Although technically they aren't supposed to be talking.

Well, thats it for now... hope you enjoyed a small peek into my world! I also hope the joy I feel being their teacher last me the whole year through! It will for sure have it's harder seasons and I just hope moments like the ones I shared will get me through it!