Happy Birthday Baby Girl!!!

I'll never forget the day she was born. 2 weeks over due, 8 hours of petocin....and the booger wouldn't have a darn thing to do with coming into the world. Options presented to us were:
1-Have a C-Section

2-Finish the remaining 4 hours of petocin dosing, if she doesn't come, come back on Sunday (3 days later) and try again.

You chose.



My response:

Option 3-Pick a new plan...cuz I ain't having a C-Section and I ain't leaving without a baby!!

Roughly a decade later....she presents her tiny 6lb. 12oz. little body to us and I couldn't have cried harder.


Matt and I made fools of ourselves trying to be perfect parents. Including the following:


-Rushing a sleeping child to the ER because "she was sleeping too long and would not wake up!!" I kidd you not. We really did. From that point forward.....she never slept again. Until now...and she's still the worst in the world to wake up.


-Buckling her carseat in "backwards/upside down/in the wrong seatbelt" only to be driving back from SLC to Orem and Matt say to me...."hey, check on her". I look in the back seat and her carrier is literally laying on its side. Do you think she woke up?


Okay....this was not the "retarded parents post"...let's talk about her.

-She's amazing. Kind of bossy....but amazing.

-She's selfless. Except to her brother and sister...I'm pretty sure that's allowed. No teacher loves a child more than they do Maddie. She'd give you the shirt off her back.

-She's funny. And when she laughs, she laughs so hard she cries. I love it.

-She can sing. God bless America!!! She got the good talents!!! She really does have a set of pipes, and i'm excited to get her into vocal lessons. Sure wish her Gramma Vicki lived closer...what's the use of having a Gramma who's a vocal coach when you can't take lessons from her? What are the odds???

-She is SUCH a girl....and my mother dared say to me tonight, "What? She's exactly like you were!! Only you were worse!" And then Dad agreed!! Oy Vey!!

-She's my oldest baby. I love her more than life!!! And she's 10. I'm gonna throw up.




Being sung to in the office at school. She was the only one in the entire school with a birthday on the 29th. That's the most amazing thing in the world to me. When you grow up in a family as large as mine, we shared EVERYTHING. I love it that no matter what, you might have to share clothes, a room, a bathroom, a car and possibly a toothbrush (put that in there to see if you actually read this crap!) but never a birthday. It's all yours!!! I made that perfectly clear to the Dr. that delivered T. One day earlier, or one day later...so be it....just NOT the same day as anyone else!!!



Being a girl....The 1st day of 4th grade

Her chorus performance at Christmas in 3rd Grade.

At her 10th Birthday party....caught in a web!!

One of my favorite pics of her. This is one of those times she was laughing her little head off. Her smile is contagious!!

Happy Birthday

Madeline Ashley!!

Scariest day of the year.....

....today I have a 7 year old, and 8 year old, and a 9 year old.

How funny is that?

But tomorrow I will have a 7, 8, and 10 year old.............

How scarry is that?????? I have a 10 year old.

Happy Birthday, Tanner and Madeline!!!

It's birthday season again!! We call it birthday season because all of our birthday's fall within 60 days of each other....and on top of that, all the babies are within 4 weeks of those 60 days...

so for us, it's a season.

This year, Tanner and Maddie's birthdays (the 27th and 29th) fall during the week, so we celebrated them together with a HUGE family party. Mom of the year(that's me!) went all out this year and got a GINORMOUS jumpy thing, and I must admit, they had a blast. The $$ was never better spent. Here are some pics of their awesome day!!

T Man's Cake!!

Kuddo's to Auntie Kelly!!

Madder's Cake!

Kuddo's again to Auntie Kelly!!

Super Giant Obstacle Course Jumpy Thing

Other end of the jumpy thing!

I won!! Just because he landed on top of me does not mean I was cheating!!

Eric and all the "Rents"

Ed, Eric, Dad, back of Janet, back of Mom.

Tanner totally beating Eric in the race.....

Eric and I got Tanner a new Nerf gun....fully auto, belt fed, fires 3 shots per second.

Having said that, you now know that we didn't get anything for T. We got it for all the "Big Boys"

to play with. Here is a pic of Tanner, Uncle John and Eric starting to put it together.

Uncle Levi, Uncle Wayne and Eric....again, putting the 7 yr. old's toy together.

Such kids. :)

Final product!!!

Riah, T, Maddie and Uncle Levi

in the jumper!

Maddie stuck in the web!

Me and my baby.....who isn't such a baby any more.....

We had tons of fun....and missed The Burns and Aunt Nicki.

Next year...you guys come home for Halloween, ok?

Halloween, Awesome Aunt Kelly and T-Shirt Dresses...

Happy Halloween!!!

So the kids and I spent a good portion of this week determining what they wanted to be for Halloween. I give props to Mom and Dad, because at $25 a pop, purchasing a costume from Wally World or Targhey just wasn't in the cards. How did they ever outfit all 8 of us??? Anyway, Sariah and Madeline found $4 sets of ears, bow ties and tails. One black, one red. The Devil and a Kitty we shall be!! After milling over a zillion different way to make their costume....or Mom to make it, she left town, and I was forced to figure it out on my own. Kelly to the rescue!!! We talked, and who'd of thunk that our old school T-shirt dresses would be a hit 20 years later for my little girls? Kel said....I can do that...and make it cute too!! I said, if I buy the materials, can you whip it out? Oh, and can you baby-sit too? (The aforementioned Mom being out of town....) She bought it!!! Let's face it, I'll helping her determine if she needs more kids or not!! So here is a pic of The Devil, Ironman, and The Little Black Kitty. Oh, and while we'd like you to believe she sewed Ironman as well.....that just wouldn't be honest. Being the only boy has its perks. $25 costume wins!!

Things I'm not ready for....

Christmas....
My Computer test tomorrow.....
The running around that this week is going to bring......

AND LITTLE BOYS AIMLESSLY WALKING IN FRONT OF MY HOUSE WAITING FOR MY DAUGHTERS TO COME OUT AND PLAY!!!!
....to be fair....Sariah called Maddie out today to tell her "there are two really cute boys out here", to which Maddie had to promptly inspect. No harm, no foul. Then I start to notice 2 said boys walk in front of the house. 10 minutes later, 2 said boys walk the other way in front on the house. (oh, and they giggle just like girls do! Had the windows open and was doing homework in the dining room so I could watch the kids outside!) A few moments later, 2 said boys have grabbed 3rd boy, and are headed BACK down the street. (What is down there???) 15 minutes later, 3 boys come back. Poor guys. Maddie is not much of an out-doorsie girl, and spent more of her time inside. Riah happened to head to the back yard with T. 1 hour later, all kids are inside, I'm closing up shop, and you'll never believe what I saw. 1 boy, showered, clothes changed, (looking to impress...you can tell!) TAKING HIS BABY BROTHER ON A WALK IN HIS WAGON, and as he passes the house, looks back into our house and says loud enough for me to hear inside "Dang". OMG!!! Poor little boy in the wagon got his ride cut short. I am not ready for little boys that don't belong to me!!

Sarah got 100% Sarah got 100%

On her first math quiz!!! Now.....to ace the test on Tuesday, hummmmmm.

That's it.
Bye.