Vday Parties and Date!

Both of the kids had parties during school on Friday and I was able to help with Kaylee's class.  Since Carson had such a handful going to school I took the balloons and dropped them off at noon when I went to help in Kaylee's class.  It was fun to see what they were doing in his class and drop of the balloons for Ms. Carlson.  Then I headed to Kaylee's class and helped with the fishing game.  They also made a cute hand print picture, ate a cookie, read a story and passed out valentines.  It was really fun!

 I even got to fish against Kaylee once everyone had a turn in her group.  She beat me, just barely!

 I brought Kaylee home with me and we went and picked up the babies who were at Deb's house (that was awesome of her to watch the kids and make it super easy on me!).  Then we went back and picked up the boys and got Kaylee to dance that afternoon.  We had a few minutes of down time and so Preston and I were playing and I asked Carson to take a picture of us.   Then I took pictures of them playing with Carson's new ball.

 Once Nick got home from work, he picked up Ryan from the airport and we got ready to go out.  Once Chris got there we headed to Granny Annie's in Bountiful for some dinner.  We ended up both ordering breakfast!  It was nice since it wasn't busy and we LOVE their scones!  We were going to try and go see a movie, but there was nothing playing that we wanted to see, so at the last minute we got tickets to see a show at the Off Broadway Theatre called Sort of the Rings.  It was pretty funny and very entertaining.  We used to go there quite often before having kids, especially to their laughing stock show.  But they aren't until 10 PM on the weekends, and we just don't stay up that late now days!  It was a great evening and it was fun to do something a little different than just dinner and shopping or dinner and a movie.

I am so thankful for Nick and the effort he made to make it such a great day.  He had also surprised me with some m&m's, riesens, a music cd, and bike LED light.  I also got an exercise mat for my treadmill AND a gift card for Victoria's Secret (I really wanted a new bra!).  He really did a great job spoiling me!  Love him!!!!

Valentine's Day

We woke up to several fun surprises Friday morning.  Dad had left us some heart shaped donuts and chocolate covered strawberries.  YUM!!!  It was such a fun surprise, especially since he had made the strawberries himself.  I guess while I was gone on Thursday for an hour taking the kids to choir he managed to make them and clean up the mess all before we got home!  I LOVE chocolate strawberries, so these were such a treat!  The kids were excited for those and for their little gifts that they got from Nick and I.  They each got a heart mug (they love chocolate milk in the mornings) and the girls got heart socks and the boys got a ball. 

 We also had ordered these fun balloon bouquets for Carson and Kaylee's teacher.  We got them from a friend of ours that is a clown and is so amazing at making balloon animals and such.  The kids were excited to give their teachers the balloons.  

We got Carson off to school with his valentine treats (Airhead candies) and his box.  He was excited to show everyone how it turned out.

Then we got everyone else ready.  I was excited to put the girls in their new matching chevron skirts I had found for such a good deal online.  They looked super cute and ready for the day!  

 The kids enjoyed a fun day at school (see next post) and eating all the treats we had.  We got to see Uncle Ryan for a bit after he flew in from CA that evening.  We were also lucky enough to have Uncle Chris come up from Orem and babysit for us so Nick and I could go out that night (again, see next post).  We picked up a heart shaped pizza from Papa Murphy's that night and the kids had a blast playing with Chris and his friend Track who was with him.  It was such a great day!

Getting ready for Valentine's Day!

We had a super fun and busy week getting all ready for the big day!  Valentine's day was on Friday, but we spent the whole week working on valentines, making cupcakes, and working on boxes.  Wednesday, we had the Nelson's over and we decorated cupcakes after dinner.  They were yummy!  Even the kids got to try their hand at piping on the icing.  They did great!

We found a picture of a combine tractor on Pintrest that Carson wanted to make for his box this year.  So Dad and Carson spent several nights working on the box.  I was impressed how it turned out!

Preston and Livy love to jump and play on my bed and the other night I found them downstairs in Carson's bed.  It is so fun to see Preston old enough now to really play with the other kids.  It makes it a bit easier to keep him happy and entertained.

 He also loves his big sis Kaylee.  They were watching TV one morning and I found him snuggling with her on the couch. He won't even snuggle with me!  It was cute.  Kaylee brought home a picture she drew at school.  It was a picture of Grandma Karen making a cake.  It said "Here is my grama.  She can make a cake."

 Haha....one more pic.  This has nothing to do with getting ready for valentine's but it was funny.  I could hear Preston fussing and walked out of my room to find himself basically handcuffed to the coat rack.  He had stuck his hands in the hooks and couldn't figure out how to get them out.  So before I helped him I grabbed my phone and took a picture.  He just sat and looked at me like "Really mom?  Aren't you going to help me out of this?".  It made us all chuckle!

You'll never guess what.....more pictures!

I know I always post a lot of pictures with my posts, but that is because that is how I remember things.  I like downloading pictures from my phone to help me remember what we have done lately.  Especially since they are pictures I take during just normal times and in between big events that I use my big camera for.  So here is a recap of pictures from my phone.  I had to take Kaylee in for a follow up appointment to check her tubes and her hearing.  It was a LONG appointment.  We spent quite a bit of time in the waiting area just to get called back.  Then when we finally did get called back, Preston had a dirty diaper.  So I quickly changed him in the room and finished up when the doctor walked in.  Sorry!  He quickly checked Kaylee's ears and then told us to wait for the audiologist to come get her for her hearing test.  So we waited and waited and waited.  In the mean time, Preston was getting into everything and Alivia was pouting.  I took a picture of it because it was all I could do to just try and make it funny so I wouldn't cry.  Let's just say by the time I was done with the appointment, I was exhausted.  Kaylee was a little late for school since the appointment took longer than I thought and it was early out, meaning school started about an hour earlier than normal that day.      

I took this picture of Carson one day as he was just about to leave for school.  I love his new glasses and I think he is used to them now.  It has been an easier transition than I thought, which is great!

 A picture I took of the kids playing with the left over fondant from Kaylee's bday cake.

 Last week I took this picture of Preston playing in the baby furniture when the kids were gone Ice fishing.   He thought he was pretty funny!

We had skookies last Sunday evening for a dessert using our new skookie pans we got at Christmas.  This ones are just the right size!  The kids had brownies in theirs while we had cookies in ours.  I think we decided the cookies are better than the brownies.  Good to know for future use.

 We got a letter that Carson didn't pass some of the tones of the hearing test they did at school.  So I took him to the Districts diagnostics center on Wednesday to make sure it wasn't anything serious to worry about.  He did much better this time and probably had a little bit of negative pressure on the original testing day.  There was still a little hearing loss in his right ear, but nothing that would effect his learning or ability to hear at school.  Most of the issues are from all the scar tissue from all the tubes and issues he had when he was little.  That appointment was also stressful since I had the babies with me then too.  Again, it is just exhausting when I have them with me at places like that.  But they did think it was interesting watching Carson in the booth.

 Thursday was my brother, Matt's 30th Birthday, so I found this picture of him when he was probably 16 or so and posted it on FB.  I hope he got a good laugh out of it, I did!

Friday was a busy morning getting things done and cleaning bathrooms, so I put all three kids in the tub and took this picture.  Preston loves bath time, but we don't let him stay in very longs since he is quite the splasher and makes a mess of the bathroom every time!  It is ridiculous!  But he is happy!

 The past few days the kids have also come up with a new way of playing.  They take out all the blankets in the downstairs closet and play in it.  They each have their own shelf.  They seriously spent hours Friday and Saturday playing in it.  They have also discovered playing chef using pans in the kitchen.  I let them put them in the oven (not turned on of course) and they had a riot.  They set the timer and pretended to make all sorts of things.  Sometimes I wonder why we even bother buying them toys when they learn to play with such ordinary things around the house.

 These are the muddy buddies we made Friday!  Yum!

 And even yummier, my dinner from Smokin' Bones BBQ on Saturday.  Melt in your mouth BBQ pork and the cornbread is like eating cake!

So there you have it.  Even more pictures to show you and to help remind me just what we have been up to!