Happy St. Patty's Day!

We had a fun St. Patricks Day on Monday.  The kids all wore their new shirts that day.  Nick came home from work a little early and I was able to run a few errands for the Fiesta Grand Event that night.  I spent most of the evening at the grand event helping pass out free nachos, but the best part of the night was when Nick and the kids came.  They were able to buy some books and enjoy some nachos while they were there.  Other than the normal wearing green, we normally don't do anything too fancy, but we did get a little visit from a little friend who left some green footprints on the toilet seat downstairs.  The kids thought that was pretty funny!

Miss Livy turns THREE!!!

Alivia turned three years old today!  We had fun singing  happy birthday to her when she woke up and walked out of her room.  It was a fun filled day (see future post) but mostly I want to tell you a few things about this cutie.  First of all, she is ALL girl!  She loves princesses, dresses, dolls, tiaras, dancing, and singing.  She loves to sing the popular "Let it go" from Frozen, at the top of her lungs.  Even though you can't understand what she says all the time, she tries so hard to sing all the words and you can tell she knows many songs by heart.  Including, Happy Birthday, Twinkle Twinkle, Let it Go, Gethsemane (the song Kaylee sang in church Sunday), I am a Child of God, and many more.  She loves puzzles and is always pulling out two or three puzzles a day.  Sometimes I have to help her and sometimes she can do them all by herself.  She loves to watch tv.....who doesn't?  Her favorite shows change often, but lately it has been Barbie, Daniel Tiger, Teen Beach Movie, Barney, and most other shows on Netflix.  She also loves Dora, Blues Clues and Fresh Beat Band when we remember about amazon.  She loves to be outside and ride her bike and I wouldn't be surprised if she is off her training wheels by the end of this summer.  She is such a loving little girl and mostly has a smile on her face.  She will wave to strangers in the store, tell people thank you, and is not shy to say hi or bye to people.  She LOVES nursery, like LOVES it.  And it helps that the leaders in nursery love her.  She will come home and smell like their perfume because she loves to cuddle and hug them.  They always tell me how smart she is and how she is always so animated when she sings and does the songs.  It is always fun to hear how much they love her.  One of her favorite things to do is say prayer.  She insists every night that she say the blessing on the food, even if someone has already done it.  So many times we have two prayers.  Then she says one before bed and it is so cute to hear her say them.  Her speech is still hard to understand, but she is slowly getting more words that she can say more clear.  Even though she might not talk the best, she understands everything we say to her and is so smart.  She is easy to put to bed and loves sleeping in her own twin big girl bed and room.  She can be easily upset though if she doesn't get her way and has learned to pout.  She will stomp away, put her head down, fold her arms and start to cry.  It just makes me laugh when she does it because it is so funny to watch.  She loves books and many times I will find her in her room looking at books.  She especially loves it when Carson will read her books and when Kaylee will go through a book and talk about the pictures with her.  It is so sweet to see the older kids help her out and be kind to her.  I wish Preston was as nice to her, but those two still haven't figure out how to get along.  They are constantly making each other scream.  But I guess that is what happens when they are only 18 months a part and still both so young!  

We sure love our Livy Lou and we can't wait to see how she learns and grows throughout the next year.  Here are the pictures I took of her last week.  She was such a character.  Towards the end, I think she was tired of me saying "Livy, look at mommy", because she kept telling me to be quiet....so notice the last picture of her shushing me!  So funny!  Love ya Livy!!!

Livy's Birthday Party!

After our fun morning on Sunday, we all got ready for church and ready for a fun day of celebrating Livy's 3rd birthday.  Gma Karen came up early with Austyn, Savanah, and Sam McCall.  Gma & Gpa Brower were also there early and they all came to church with us.  Kaylee sang in Sacrament meeting, so it was nice to have them all there to watch her.  She sang the song "Gethsemane" and did an AMAZING job.  For being only 6, she did a superb job and I couldn't have been more proud of her.  She wasn't nervous and sang the words all right and didn't mess up once!  The spirit that was in the chapel was amazing and it was so sweet to hear all the compliments that she received.  Singing time was a lot of fun and my parents came in and watched during Sr. Primary.  The kids sang great, especially since I asked them to so my parents would think I was super awesome at my calling.  It worked like a charm!  After church we got home and got ready for the Party!  Karen made the cutest princess cake for Alivia.  She had asked for a princess cake, and I knew I wouldn't be able to make one nearly as cute as Karen could.  I was so glad that she was able to do it and it turned out just adorable and Alivia loved it!

 We spent the afternoon dancing, playing, and eating.  I had made taco soup for dinner and then we all enjoyed the cake with some ice cream.  Uncle Chris and Matt's family was also able to join us for the party.

 Then it was time to open presents.  Alivia got some fun books from Gma Karen, some chocolate and money from Gma & Gpa Brower (which she use to buy some books from the book fair today).  We gave her a cute owl sleeping bag, a leap frog laptop, and her own little camping chair.  She loved it all!

We had such a great day spending time with family and getting to celebrate Alivia's birthday.  We love her and we can't wait til she turns three tomorrow!!!

An Early St. Patrick's Treasure Hunt

Since St. Patrick's day was going to be on Monday this year, we figured we would have more time and it would be easier to a little treasure hunt on Sunday.  But before we did that, Alivia opened one present that had a baby backpack and two new shirts.  I thought it would be fun for her to have a new shirt to wear that day.  Also, she had picked out her clothes for the day, which she does often and they didn't match at all.  It was kinda cute!  

Once we got the kids bathed, I gave them their first clue.  They were so excited to do a treasure hunt and didn't expect to get to do one on Sunday.   Carson read the clues and the girls would help find the next clue.  They went from the fridge, to the bookcase in Livy's room, a window, a door, then outside to a rock, then to a tree, and finally found a bag of goodies in the backyard by a bush.

 The bag had a shirt for each of the kids to wear on St. Patrick's Day and a bag of animal cookies.

The kids loved it and it was a fun little way to celebrate another fun day!

Another week gone by...

This week just flew by and I think it was because it was so busy, which I guess is now normal when you have four kids.  Monday we got up and going early and since I had everyone dressed and ready to go and it was warm but overcast weather, I decided last minute to do a little photo shoot with Preston and Livy.  I needed to take Livy's three year old pictures and Preston's 18 month old pictures, so I knew it was now or never, and I was SO glad I seized that moment to do them.  The weather and lighting were perfect and the kids were in a great mood.  They turned out fun!  I can't wait to share them!  (I will post Livy's Tuesday on her bday and Preston's next week!).  After pictures, we made a costco run (which is always a lot of work with kids), we got home and got Kaylee off to school, and while I finished some stuff around the house and put Preston down for a nap, Livy spent most of the afternoon putting puzzles together.  She LOVES puzzles and if they are big and easy enough she can do them all by herself with little or no help.  She may not talk a lot, but she is a really smart girl!  We did piano lessons and spent most of the night doing homework and reading, which is what our FHE ended up being.  

 Tuesday morning, after Carson left for school, I took the kids to the church with me while I helped decorate for the Ward RS Birthday Social that we were having that night.  I was in charge of decorations, but since I had an awesome committee and did a lot of delegating, it came together pretty easily and was not as stressful as I thought it might be.  I was very pleased with how it turned out and that night was a lot of fun!  They served chicken salad croissants and played hollywood squares.  It was so funny.

Wednesday was another busy day.  Nick came home from work early so I could go to a PTA Region training meeting in Farmington.  I am going to be the treasurer next year and so they did some training for that.  Afterwards, I met up with our PTA President, Kim, and we both went to Sams club in SLC to pick up some tortilla chips for the nachos we will be serving for the grand event this next week with our Book Fair.  (If I can just make it through this next week, then I will be SOOOOO happy!).  After school it was normal piano lessons and a pretty easy night, which was good since my day was pretty busy.  We had a popcorn night.  Nick makes some pretty yummy buttery homemade popcorn that we all love!  The kids love watching and helping him make it.  You can't see Carson in the picture, but he was there reading on the couch so he could finish his reading and have popcorn with us.

 Thursday, I watched my friend and neigbor Deb's boys for a few hours that morning.  She is in Paris (So jealous, btw) and her husband had to work a half a day.  It was fun for the kids and gave them some entertainment for the few hours they were there.  But it was definitely a little bit more work than what I am used to!

 That afternoon after both kids got a nap (which was heaven after such a kid filled morning), we enjoyed the sun out on the bikes and wiggle cars while we waited for dad to come home from work.  Once he got home, I went to another ear doctor appointment.  I have been dealing with an ear infection for over a month now, and the last culture they did showed I had a Staff Infection in my ear.  So when I went in on Thursday and I told him my ear was still draining, he put me on an oral antibiotic and ear drops.  I have to take a pill 4 times a day, which is a lot harder than it sounds!  But I am hoping this will clear it up.  So far it seems to be working.  But while I was at my appointment, Nick took the kids to choir and then I picked them up when I was done with my appointment.  Nick spent the evening helping someone in our ward work on their car, so we had pancakes and eggs for dinner and saved a few for dad when he got home.

 We also enjoyed some oreos for dessert that night.  Preston LOVED them!!  No surprise really, since he is my child!

Friday, I spent a couple hours in the morning setting up for the book fair.  Luckily my good friend Rachel Messina, who I first met at college since she and I were both the percussionists at CEU, watched the babies while I was at the school.  It made it much easier and faster to get things done.  Our theme this year for the book fair is Fiesta.  I am hoping it does just as well as it did last fall!

 Friday after school was spent running errands, taking girls to dance, and having hamburgers for dinner.  We grilled them outside since the weather was so nice.  It was yummy.  Saturday, Nick worked a half a day and then came home and we had a great Saturday playing around the house and getting things done to get ready for Sunday.  I did some grocery shopping while Nick got another layer of mud on the new closet we are building downstairs in the family room.  That afternoon, Nick pulled out his stilts and taught Carson how to walk in them.  He caught on pretty fast and an hour later he went from walking with him, to walking around holding the fence, to walking around on his own.  He really wants to dress up like a clown with Nick this Halloween.  I think it will work!

Nick also set up the trampoline Saturday afternoon and the kids have loved it!  We had french toast for dinner and enjoyed a movie night watching Robin Hood Men in Tights on Netflix.  The kids thought it was hilarious!  I really don't mind busy weeks since it usually is fun things we get to do.  I do love when we get to Sunday's though.  I get up almost every day by 6:00 or 6:30 in order to work out and get myself ready before everyone else gets up, so on Sundays I love sleeping in and not having to get up to work out since I always take Sundays off.  I also love Sundays when we get to be with family, so hopefully I will get to post about our amazing Sunday we had today, before next week!