Early Easter and Birthday presents

Grandma and Grandpa Anderson are going out of town so they came over and gave the kids their Easter presents. They will also be missing McKennas birthday so they brought her present early.

She was so excited! They gave her Only Heart doll for her barbie house.

Baseball practice

Here we are again at baseball practice. Sage loves it and is really improving. It was really warm today, it felt good to be outside for so long today.

The girls and I had fun taking lots of pictures. Sage and Mckenna are great at taking pictures. I think Sage took this one of the girls.

Birthday..

Well its that time of year again. 15 March as I have always called it. I had such a good birthday and I want to thank everyone who made it so special for me. Nate got me something I have wanted for soooo long. I'm like a little kid I swear....a bike. I was so excited. I love it. I have always wanted one so I can go on bike rides with the kids. Sage and I cant wait to go ride on the Jordan Parkway. I want to get one of those bike trailers for Aspen so she can come. I cant even wait.

Nate took me on a date Friday night and to breakfast on my birthday. Then we went to Disney on ice for mine and Mckennas birthday. It was part of her present a little early. It was so fun. We surprised her and brought her friend Milan. She was so excited. Then had to work for a while. But when I got home Nate had my bike in the TV room with cards from each of the kids. Sage drew me the neatest picture. I was so overwhelmed. And he wrote me the longest card, it was so sweet and amazing. He is so good at expressing his feelings.
Sunday was fun, Nate's parents came over and brought me my present and wrote me such a touching card. Then we went to my grandmas and she made me a cake. My mom and all my cousins that I am close to came and the Phillis's (my twin aunts that I adore). It was so much fun, we laughed for hours and watched funny u-tube clips. When Nate and I drove home we talked about how blessed I am be so close to my aunts, grandma, mom and cousins. I couldn't believe all the phone calls and cards I received. I have never felt so loved. It was good for me to see who I am so important to. I am so blessed. I was so touched today at what Kandice especially has done for me. She made me an amazing card and sent me a gift card to support my Mac addiction. And most of all published for the world to see what she thinks of me. I am so blessed to have such amazing people in my life. I don't deserve any of it and just count my many blessings for what I have!

Crazy day

Today was a crazy day for me. It started off with taking the kids to watch as the Groves home was torn down. They are getting a Utah home make over. Then it was off to Aspen's dance lesson. While she was there I ran to party city to get Mckenna's B-day decorations and to petsmart to get a new dog collar. Back to get Aspen, straight to the office to turn in paper work for my first listing. Then straight to Brady's house. I helped him clean an organize his house so it is ready to sell. Then to red box to return videos, to the library to return books. Next to walmart to get Sage cleats and groceries. Home to put groceries away and have Mckenna get in dance cloths, and have Sage get in baseball cloths. Took Kenna to dance and then straight to the baseball field to drop off Sage. Went to all a dollar for Easter stuff for our neighbors Easter eagles project. Went to pick up Mckenna from dance straight to the field to get Sage. Next to the neighbor's to drop off goodies. Finally home at seven thirty and still had to do piano practice and homework and dinner and plan my lesson to teach preschool in the morning. FEWWW! And some people have wondered what I do all the time. Well there it is. Keep in mind somewhere in there we did all eat a million times.

Patterns..

Mckenna has two different style dresses she can wear for her uniform. She has a navy blue dress and a plaid one. Each morning I get her ready I ask "what color today?" She gets frustrated and says "mom its a pattern you know, red dress, blue dress, red dress". This morning I got her ready and went straight for the blue one, no need to mess up the pattern. She informed me that "the pattern is not working, I always wear a different color that all the other girls, they must be on a different pattern." OK I said and she wanted to wear the red one again in hopes to be in sync with the others. She came home very mad at me. I asked her what was wrong and she said "your supposed to know, all the other moms do, you should know what pattern they are all on, everyone wore blue today." Wow I though the whole uniform thing made my life easy because there is only two choices of cloths to wear, but apparently there is a moms club and they all get together to come up with a pattern for what there kids will where. I must have been absent that day.

Baseball...

Who knew Taylorsville baseball is so intense. Its this phenomenon I never knew existed. When I showed up for practice I was blown away. Sage has practice Monday-Friday from five to seven each night!?!?! So if any of you need me or are wondering what I do in the evenings the answer is this....BASEBALL practice. It will be good for Sage and he loves it. I might just kill over driving him back and forth and sitting there for two hours every night. Its like I go on a mini trip each night, its actually very comical. I pack my bags of treats for the girls, there books, Mckennas homework, an umbrella, my camera, blanket to sit on, a drink for each of my kids, and extra clothing (come on people its Utah, its warm when we leave and then 5 minute later we are all frozen). His coach is amazing I must say. He is very good at teaching them, and is so passionate about the game. I am so excited to go see Sage play in all the games. I bought Nate, his parents, and I matching Astro shirts so we will match Sages jersey. It will be fun! I just wished I wasn't absent the day people learned baseball in T-ville is bigger than the Jazz and U of U games.

Old peoples day

The kids and I started old peoples day today. It was great. We started the day off by going to church. Right after, we decided to go see grandpa Ted. It was so fun to surprise him and see the look on his face. He was so sweet and so excited to see us. The girls showed him a dance and then went to play house in his shower. Sage wanted to braid my hair so he sat by me the whole time. I was not against the idea ( hes a good back tickler too). It was fun to listen to his advice and his stories. He walked us out to the parking lot and it was sad to leave him. You can tell how much an hour visit means to someone who lives all alone. Then we went to grandma Myrlenes house. We see her alot on Sundays but today was different. We went before the rest of the family gets there and it was so fun. She made me a plate of food and we ate together and talked. The kids played outside and let us visit. It was nice to be able to talk for a few hours and hear all her funny stories. Shes such a great grandma. The kids loved going to the basement at her request to pick a toy to take home.

It was such a great day. It made me think alot of getting old. I hope I am as wise and as loved as they are. I also hope someone will visit me here and there as well. The kids and I talked about how much fun it was along with how important the day was and we are now having old peoples day (as the kids named it) on Sundays. Our goal is to see our grandparents and bring some happiness to them.
It was a good learning weekend for me. I took Sage on a date last night. Just him and I. It was so amazing how much I learn about him when its just us. He has so many wonderful ideas and so much to share. He loves deep conversations like me. It made me realize how important it is to spend alone time with each one of the kids. They need it and I need it. We went and saw the Spiderwick movie. He was so scared through the whole thing. It reminded me how Innocent he still is.
I also have thought alot about how I can improve. I want to be less bossy and try to always be a better example to my family. I need to be more sweet, patient, and appreciative of what I have. I want to develop more talents and become more educated. I think I am going to sign up for a community class of some sort. I hope I can learn to take advantage of all that life offers and live it to the fullest. Today I have that feeling of there is not enough time to accomplish all I want to do and learn.

Round here...

It seems alot has been going on around here. Here are some updates...

Sage passed of his piano books and is now on a new level. Its amazing how much he loves it. He tells me all the time how grateful he is that I let him take lessons. Hes so sweet. I went to parent teacher conferences on Wednesday. His teachers are the best. They told me if they had to pick out on child who had done the best in school this year, it would be him. Mrs Corbett told me she thinks he has an amazing gift with writing. He is very creative. I was so proud of him. He is so sweet and helps me with the girls so much more than I deserve. I'm trying to get him to read and brush his teeth more. Those are our goals for the next week.

McKenna has really made me proud this week. She also had great things said about her at parent teacher conference. Her Iowa testing says she is above the level of most kindergartners. She is doing really well with reading and math for her level. She still really struggles with penmanship but that will come. Her teachers said she is one of the sweetest kids in class, and she is so sweet to all the kids. And she is very teachable and is always staying on task. Her birthday is coming in two week and I am actually really sad about it. She will be six. She is growing up way to fast. She loved being three. She cries to be three again. I don't know what it is but that was a great year for her. I miss it too. She loved her cloths, how I would do her hair, shadow (lab that died), our old house, and her dunt dunt dress (her petticoat that was her uniform), and her butterfly swimsuit. She is so funny. With out fail every night at dinner she has us all laughing.

Aspen is still doing some funny ocd stuff. She stopped clicking her tongue (thank heavens). But everything is still "huh, huh" after every sentence. Her new obsession is my Real Estate magnet on my car. I like it on her door, but she likes it on mine. Its really funny I will move it just to see what she does when we go to the car. She is so funny, she will yell "Uggg MOM" and run and grab it and move it. Aspen is very smart. Much more so that I think three year olds should be. She is so strong and is a wonderful debater. She has a way of getting Sage and Kenna to do whatever she desires. She is my chatter box and I love listening to all the wonderful things her three year old self says. Like "mom dad would be sad if you didn't have eyes huh huh?" and "that would be so sad if you had no hair huh huh?" Oh I love her.

Nate and I have been working on my business and it has shown good results. Its pretty exciting. We are also excited to get a new puppy for the kids and our dog. She is a Yorkie and is 5 weeks old. So obviously we wont get her for a while. Sage wants to name her Rosie. He comes home from school telling me that's all he can think about. They are so excited. She is so cute. The plan is to breed our puppies and have chorkies and sell them. We will see how it goes.

All in all a pretty good week!

The little things...and maybe some ocd

I decided I should write some the cute little things my kids have said lately so I wont forget them. . .

The other day Mckenna asked if our puppy (Chi Yorkie mix) is from Mexico. I said yes just to hear her reaction. She said "oh good then he knows Spanish, ho la puppy ho la. He understands me better when I speak Spanish huh? I am going to watch Dora more so I can learn Spanish." She's so cute. She has been speaking Spanish to him all week. We thought the novelty of our dog would wear off but it defiantly has not.

I told Aspen she used to be in my tummy and she said "what did you do mom, eat me?"
Then it sparked her interest for pregnant people. Everywhere we go she asks anyone even with the smallest belly if they are pregnant. She asked this really over weight man if he had a baby in his tummy! So embarrassing!
Aspen is also on a two month kick of bribbing. Every conversation (and I mean every conversation) we have with her ends with "I will give you a prize from my school", or "I wont give you a prize from my school. If we do something nice for her or she is happy or trying to bribe us she will say "I love you so much mommy and I'm going to give you a prize from my school." When it is bedtime or we take something for her or her brother and sister won't do what she wants she threatens us with "ok then I am not giving you a prize from my school." It all started with the one and only time she came home with candy and she shared it with all of us. Now it is her playing card. Its hilarious. Mckenna and Sage are sick to death of hearing it and roll their eyes at me and we laugh every time.
We are getting a little worried she is seriously ocd. She started clicking her tounge. Along with how she for two years has said huh at the end of everything she says. So you will hear it all day through out the house. If she talks to you you will hear something like this..."Mommy (click) can I have (click) a juice box (click click) I will give you a prize from (click) my school (click) if you give me one. (click) huh mommy huh!" Nate and I look at each other all day and just say wow, someone is a little intense. Thats why we love her to peices, she is a hoot.

Our week....

It has been a pretty good week for me and the kids. Sage learned that we tell him things for a reason. In the picture of him above you can see his face. We told him not to sled where he was but of course he did and he messed up his face. It was sad but a good teaching moment. Nate had to work alot but today is the start of his week off! I can't wait. I'm full of fantastic ideas for us. I think we are going to try and go up to the cabin again with some friends. Should be a good time. Monday the kids didn't have school because of the holiday so we went to Jungle Jims with our friends. It was really fun. On Tuesday Aspen had a preschool field trip at Classic Skating. Turned out good for me because that night my high school friends had our first girls night out there. So when I went back I was still stamped and didn't have to pay again. Bonus! Aspen and McKenna did a lot better at skating than I expected. I skated a little bit to make sure I remembered how so I wouldn't look too dumb later that night.

It was really fun with my friends. Both Emily's were there and Jenny. We had a really fun time. It was nice to spend time with people who I practically grew up with. Em had a list of each months activities. She had awesome ideas. I just need to remember my camera next time.

Things I accomplished this week

* Went to Real Estate couching

* Made a good dinner every night

* Got all my errands done

* Only yelled once all week at the kids (and I still kept it constructive and wasn't to mean)

* Spent a lot of time playing with the kids

* Shopped at the "Store" and only spent $28 dollars and got a set of pans, rescue pet fo Mckenna (those alone are normally $26) a really cute purse, a caboodle for Aspen (remember those Laurie), a mirror for Aspy, and a cd case for my p90x. Best store ever! Everything is new from Walmart and Target. When they don't sell it they send it to the Store.

* Went to Costco and spent under a hundred! (Hey for all you who shop there you know that's hard to do!

*Worked out

*I am multi talented so of course many many more things (ha ha)

All in all it was a really good week.

Aspen got busted!

McKenna and Sage came running down yesterday to tell me Aspen was being really naughty. I ran upstairs to see what the deal was. Yeah it was great. Aspen loves my make up but she has never gotten into it with out asking. But there is always a first right? She got into my eye cream that I splurged on. I spent forty dollars on the dumb stuff. Serves me right, of course that's what she would choose to ruin. It was almost full and she emptied the whole thing on her hands. She informed me it was not her fault and it was an accident. Really? Well it has a pump on it and only a little comes out each time. So I asked her "Aspen did you accidentally pump it a hundred times to empty the whole thing?" She said "Yeah mom yeah!" Right I should have known!