Where's the love?

You know....I keep waiting for all the things that I think about putting on here to magically appear. But it doesn't seem to be happening! I guess I better get on the ball. Of course I currently feel like I am juggling a few dozen. I am learning that is not a good excuse either, since I will only collect more from here!

Summer Catch up 2

So our summer began with a family camping trip. It was every thing that camping should be. Food, fire, dirt, water, and just plain fun! Asa enjoyed time with the boys, playing star wars and cards and checkers. When it came time to sleep, he and his buddies decided that wasn't necessary. They were up until 3 or 4 in the morning chatting. Of course this was not done without the frequent reminders, "Boys, be quiet and go to sleep!!!" from all three mothers. Of course children do learn from example. The dads went night fishing that night and were out on the lake until after 4. Needless to say, everyone was very tired the next day, and quite grumpy. But it was worth the fun and the laughs - including the streak attempt from the ever entertaining Leah!

Summer Catch up

Okay, so you know it is really bad when your child points out 4 1/2 months later that he is no longer 8. So I have committed to myself to catch up on our summer doings. Starting with Asa'a birthday. Yes, he had one and is no longer 8, he is now 9!!! He is halfway through his time at home - a realization that I did not enjoy.

He was easily satisfied with legos and PS2 games - Lego Star Wars 2 and Backyard Baseball.
Here are his birthday questions....
1. What do you want to be when you grow up? A space engineer
2. Your favorite scripture story? Nephi getting the Golden Plates
3. Favorite animal? Dog
4. If you could live anywhere, where would you live? Tampa, FL w/ his Papa
5. Favorite treat? Reeses Peanut Butter Cup

Okay, so I am still very new to this blogging thing. I am trying to figure out how to set up other peoples blogs on mine so that I am alerted to when they write something new. Can anybody help me? I am sure there is just a simple thing that needs to be done, but I can't figure that out! I am getting frustrated so thought I would just start with asking for help!!!

This is where it is hard for me.....allowing myself to sit down and work on my blog. I know if I do a little bit every few days I would be able to keep up and have a decent blog going. But I have this really bad habit that I am trying to work on - I am trying to not say "I will do it tomorrow" quite so much. So, please be patient with me, but there is more to come. I need to go all the way back to Asa's birthday in June! We had a crazy busy fun summer, so now I have all kinds of fun pictures to put up and stories to tell. A few words of encouragement to myself and I will be back up and running.

My Fredo!

So my wife has finally taken the blog to heart and I think she's doing a fabulous job. But I still would like to add a post or two now and again, so when I do, I'll sign at the bottom.

Now to really get to the point of this post, as I was looking over what my wife has done, I noticed that she has not done a proper introduction of herself... so allow me the honor.

The picture above is one of my favorites of my wife KayLynn... or as I like to call her sometimes "Alfredo" or "Fredo" for short. This all came about as she was cooking dinner one night... She was making chicken in alfredo sauce. She picked up the jar of sauce and began to furiously shake it up, forgetting that she already loosend the lid. Well... we had alfredo sauce from floor to ceiling. It was awesome... especially because I was home and had free access to the camera. Ahhhh... I love my Fredo!

Trevor

Thanks Ava!

Annika was as happy as can be when we surprised her with her best friend visiting. They had moved away about a year ago, and I could not convince Annika that she was not dead. So thanks Sarah for bringing Ava back!

Bad mothering?

Have you ever had one of those days when you feel like you have been a terrible mother (or father)? And it never fails that those are the days that the children make you really feel like a bad mother. Well, I decided to attempt my first garage sale a week ago with a good friend - and I will never do one again. It was a lot of work, and I saved up so much junk and didn't even get rid of half of it. In the process though, I guess I successfully neglected my children and the dog became the nanny!!

A story from Asa's teacher....

So Asa's teacher pulled me aside the other day to share a story. She has told me before that he is very imaginative, and that sometimes it is hard to get him to join them back in the real world. Well a couple of weeks ago in class they had a mock government. He was Vice President and his good friend Crichton was the President. They were sitting at the front of the class waiting for the bills to go through the House and the Senate so that they could review them. Well I guess they were getting bored, because Mrs. Manz said all of a sudden she heard Asa whisper, "Duck, the missiles are headed right for us!" She then had to explain that the President and Vice President were rarely bored!

Madison's Birthday

Madison's birthday list was huge. At last count there were about a dozen pairs of shoes....so yes, I took my 7 year old daughter shoe shopping for her birthday! It was fun, but also very frustrating. What do we have to look forward to when she is a teenager. I think she will have a shoe fettish! After cutting the birthday list way down, wrapping up a package of mints, and shoe shopping she was as happy as can be. That's one of the things that I love about her....she is always happy!!!

Here are her birthday questions....
1. What do you want to be when you grow up? A nurse or a teacher
2. Your favorite scripture story? The birth of Jesus
3. Favorite animal? Puppies...and yes, this is coming from the child who would run from a dog down the block.
4. If you could live anywhere, where would you live? With my Maga
5. Favorite treat? Granola Bars

Annika's Birthday

So Anni turned four this year, and thinks she is sooo big. It is adorable. She wore her new Tinkerbell outfit for 3 days straight. Being a sunbeam at church this year, she got to answer the birthday questions. I loved her responses!
1 - What do you want to be when you grow up? Giraffe
2 - Favorite scripture story? Jesus's baptism
3 - Favorite animal? Puppies
4 - If you could live anywhere, where would you live? Temple
5 - Favorite treat? Candy canes
She is so sweet and lovable

Leah birthday

So, our baby turned two this year! And is very good at the role. Mommy decided to keep birthdays very simple this year, but that did not stop anyone from having fun. It is amazing what ballons and cake can do for a kid! Leah also learned the value of presents. In fact, she gets very offended when we do not allow her to open her siblings packages. She must have also forgotten about the candles, because she was very unsure, and got so close to blow them out that we all jumped to stop her and scared her. Poor thing...but I think she gets it now.

Huh?

So I am putting clothes away the other day while Leah is napping and Annika is at the computer. Out of absolutely no where, Annika announces to me...."Mom, I smell like the zoo!" I could do nothing more than laugh.

Let's see what happens

Okay, I have been threatening to start a blog for a very long time - So, here we go. As you can see, my sweet husband started two years ago, and well, we are just getting back to it. Hopefully together we can do much better. To me it is a bit overwhelming because there is so much to put on here and do with it. It is really hard for me to pick pictures, after all I do think my kids are adorable. During this process I have also learned that we are in desperate need of some new family pictures! So, as you join us on our adventure, I welcome any suggestions!

Welcome!

This is my first blog ever! This site will be dedicated to the happenings of the family of Trevor, KayLynn, Asa, Madison, Annika, and our most recent edition Leah. We are now back in Missouri. The shock of moving from California to the midwest was almost too much to bear. We watched in agony as our thermometer in the van dipped below zero a number of times as we made the long drive. Some of you know the feeling of having to fuel up your car in extreme cold temperatures...

Trevor was able to pick up a new job within a week of returning from California. He is now working for Butler Manufacturing Company out of Kansas City. What a blessing. The company is strong and the people he works with are outstanding.

KayLynn is having the time of her life being mommy. And it has been even more fun with the birth of Leah Rose, who came on February 15th. She was largest of all of our babies coming in at a whopping 8 lbs 11oz. She is absolutely beautiful and perfectly healthy. She and mommy are doing well. The other kids are doing a great job of being older siblings... and of course driving mommy crazy with how much they love to try and help out. KayLynn is taking it all in stride though. She is a champ and we would all be seriously lost without her.

Asa is enjoying his new school and class. He is in first grade at Meadowmere Elementary. He did have a rough time leaving his class and friends in Cloverdale, but he is adjusting. The hardest part for him here is the fact that he is actually at school for almost an hour and a half longer than before, it has been too cold to play outside, and it starting to get dark within an hour of getting out of school. We have really enjoyed watching his growth in academic knowledge. He loves to read his books to us.

Madison! Well, she is our little enegizer bunny... ON STEROIDS! She is just constantly bouncing off the walls. She loves to play with her little "Polly Pockets". But what she really loves is to play with her brother and sister. I would include Leah in that playtime... but well... she just lays there. But Madi sure does love to play mommy. We have to contantly tell her that she is not the mommy. We are sure she has great intentions... We are in trouble when she gets to the teen years...

Annika is our goofball! Literally! She has the ability to make us laugh at any point through out the day. She has the widest array of facial expressions I have seen on a kid of about 2 years old... and she knows how to use them well. Her vocabulary has increased too. And with her sweet little voice, she has the ability to tell you off and make you feel good about it. All the boys will be in trouble when she gets to the teen years.

All in all, our family is doing well. As I get the hang of this blog thingy I will begin to post some pictures. Hopefully I will be able to be dilligent in keeping this up to date so that all of you will be up to date on what and how we are doing.

Till then!