Our 4 year old princess

Another birthday came and went. This one was a little emotional for me...well, okay they all are. But there is something about the last kid growing up that makes me sad. Why does it have to happen so fast? Of course to a kid, it takes eternity for your birthday to arrive. They spend the whole year waiting, and planning for that special day and Mom better not screw it up or life could be over as you know it! Thankfully, Brylee is still pretty easy to please. I dont even think she realized it was her birthday until I asked her straight out in the middle of the day "do you know its your birthday...today?" Then she decided to get excited. " Its my birthday!? Today? Right now?" she exclaimed. I guess after all the build up she didnt really take everyone seriously when they kept telling her 'happy birthday' all morning! Even after I made her her choice of birthday breakfast, she didnt get it. Just thought it was good practice I guess. And what was her choice of breakfast you may wonder? A heart shaped pancake with sprinkles, hot chocolate with marshmallows, and hashbrowns. Except, she didnt eat much of the hashbrowns. I think she has the biggest sweet tooth out of all our kids! Must be a December birthday thing.

 Most people might be surprised to know that Brylee is a little spark plug. She holds her own with the older siblings and isnt afraid to let them know when she is unhappy with them. She is the cutest thing when she gets mad...its really hard to take her seriously. In public, she hardly utters a peep, but at home she will rattle off an entire novel about her baby dolls and why Zack doesnt like pink and her puppy Jovi. Of course that most often occurs during one on one time with Mom when everyone else isnt talking at the same time. She is also very silly. Must be all those sweet teeth. Once she is wound up, she is hard to get to stop laughing. She also loves books. She will sit and let you read her the entire collection in the library if you are willing. And dont even think about not reading her a bedtime story...that is like the ultimate punishment! Its always good to know what to threaten the kids with, right? Well, once she figured out it was her birthday, she got in one of those wound up, silly moods...

 We actually decided to celebrate the day after when we had more time, since it was a Saturday. Earlier in the week I asked her what she wanted to do for her birthday and she said a movie with popcorn. Popcorn mandatory! Then she forgot what she decided to do by the time Saturday rolled around, so it was a surprise to all the kids, including her. It was hilarious to watch them try to get it out of her where we were going to go for her birthday, and she couldnt remember. She gave them answers everywhere from Chuck E. Cheese to Wisconsin Dells, but never once mentioned the movie theatre.
We didnt want her to go completely empty handed on her actual birthday, so she got to open a couple presents...Minnie Mouse Books from Grandma, and Pa and Aunt Mindy, a card with money from Grandma and Pa Heaton, and new PJ's with slippers to sleep comfortably in that night from us.

 She was being too silly for a good picture of her in her new PJ's, so this is the best one I captured by luck!

 The day of her birthday, we went to see Wreck it Ralph...with popcorn of course. We came home and decorated a gingerbread train (pictures later), opened presents and ate cake. She was pretty content with the simpleness of it all and so was I!

First present...The Lorax movie.

 Next and favorite...a new baby doll with Zebra outfits.

 And lastly, a huge princess coloring book complete with stickers!

 Oh, and she also got a pack of construction paper because man does the girl go through the paper around here! She was a little confused about getting paper for her birthday, but it didnt take her long to start cutting and coloring away on it!

Her cake of choice this year was chocolate oreo mint with whip cream for frosting...and of course mint chocolate chip ice-cream to go with it. Dont forget to top it with tinkerbell and some pink sparkly sprinkles! I love how easy she is! For now.

 I love how happy she looks with her cake.!

 Dont forget to lick the candles!

And now my youngest and last child is 4. I dont think I can continue to call her a baby anymore. ):

She wont be able to stop me from cuddling her though!

Octobering

Stop the insanity! It cant possibly be November already...can it? In reality this November has taken a smidge longer to get here just based on the number of political ads, debates, phone calls, junk mail, heated arguments...etc. All I can say is thank goodness today is election day! And lets hope it turns out in our favor, or Im moving to Canada! Ill let you interpret that any way you want because Im so over politics! Actually never liked it to begin with.

But lets not get too distracted. We still have to talk about the blur that flashed before our eyes, known as October. Soccer wrapped up until next year, and just in time for my parents arrived for an 11 day visit.  Even though they were lucky enough to make it to a couple of last freezing cold games, they just missed the ever going, chauffeur style, soccer mom life I had been leading. So we had plenty of time to relax and catch up. I attempted to take advantage of my Dads photography skills and have him take our family pictures for us. Unfortunately, we didnt have very many nice weather, work free days; so we got stuck with the windiest day of the week. Windblown hair is totally in right?

This picture was courtesy of Madi.

You see what Im talking about with the wind here...

And then of course, there always has to be at least one kid making a weird face...or in Brylee's case, not looking at all...ever! For that reason, Photoshop has become one of my very best friends. But you'll have to wait to see the final result, since I need it for the Christmas card, and I like you to be surprised! (: In the meantime, here are a couple of previews...untouched, obviously.

 You see what Im saying right? Photoshop....a lifesaver!

Well enough of that fun. Onto the next adventure...

the adventures of pumpkin carving!

Ta Da!

You dont need any other explanations than that right?

Next up: Halloween Costume reveal!

Isnt this exciting for you!?

First we have Zack, disguised as Captain America, and ready to defend against the forces of evil!

Brylee grew her hair out for months in preparation to play the part of Rapunzel. Oh, and its blond now too.

Twisted Madi.

Alissa is assuming the title of a "Sweetheart Bat". Isnt she cute?

And dont let Katelins smile fool you...she is Angry!

And who is this who has arrived to support his dear friend, Captain America? Why its Thorn! Yes thats right, Thorn! The wannabe Thor of today. Actually a member of The Offenders, but the Avengers and The Offenders are tight. You'll meet another one of its members later...General USA.

Oh, and lets not forget the Hot Dog. Not recommended for human consumption.

All together now!

And theres General USA now, standing next to Thorn! Dont you wish you had those two offending you? Dont worry, Captain America isnt going anywhere!

Well, hopefully my parents werent "offended" too much. I think they are relieved to be home at a quieter, less crazy place of residence.

Baptism

Well, another one of our children has reached the age of accountability. Alissa now has to take responsibility for her own choices and cant blame things on bad parenting skills. I could be totally wrong there, but either way...the decision to be baptized was all hers. Im amazed by how blessed we got to have 5 responsible, faithful, level headed children. (Well, mostly) I have no idea where that stems from! Must be Dad. Anyway, Here are a few of my favorite shots from her baptism photo shoot.

I like this one, because its just so her...when shes in her happy place, that is. Posing with a leaf...silliness!

Haha...this one makes me laugh because she really had to use the restroom at this point. I loved the background, but couldnt get a good smile under the circumstances! (:

We weren't planning on taking shots by the lake because we have so done that over...and over, but as we were driving back home I saw this sunset and couldn't resist. So we hurried and parked the car and ran to the lake before we missed it. I think its pretty perfect for not being planned.

Then the big day arrived. Grandma and Grandpa even drove in for the occasion. Shes pretty smiley and calm at this point, but she quickly got sick of pictures.

Alissa stayed true to her form when she started feeling uncomfortable by all the attention. She was so nervous and stated afterwards that "it didnt feel like the times when she watched other people get baptized (meaning it wasnt embarrassing then)...it was wetter than I thought it would be (?)....and when are people going to stop treating me different!? I just want things to go back to the way they were before I was baptized!" Not that she regretted her decision, just that she really hated all the attention and comments she kept getting. I do know where she gets that one from. Of course she inherits my flaws!

Also traumatizing to her was the fact that she had to walk through the mens restroom to get to the font, then after the baptism, the womens side was locked and there was apparently no key to open it, so she had to walk back through the mens side again to get changed. To add to her stress, we also forgot to pack a change of underwear (think I would have that down by the 3rd time!). So of course she was panicking about that while I was attempting to fan the wet ones out the best I could. She went from being okay wearing them a little damp, to deciding not to and just going commando with her tights...but that felt weird, so we changed back into the damp undies, and then cried because what if the water shows through her dress and she looks like she peed her pants!!!....meltdown...meltdown...meltdown, then more attention and an invitation to sit on the stand the next day with her Dad, which she was okay with before, but now it was freaking her out...Ahhh! I hope she is recovered from all of it by now otherwise, there could be some large psychiatric bills coming our way. She seems fine, but you never know. What was that I was mentioning about level headed children?  *Sigh*

Hopefully when she looks back on this day, she will have some good memories...or at least a good laugh! I know we will have both! We are still proud of her and love our little stress case!

Birthdays and Failures

Im going to be lazy and combine two birthdays in one. I know its wrong not to give each girl their own post, but they will get over it. Well, at least one of them will.

First up, we have Madi. It will be 1 month tomorrow that she turned teenager. I know what your thinking...have the teenage hormones hit? And the answer is yes. Yes they have. What kind of excuse would she be for a teenager if she didnt have the occasional mood swing, know it all, disagreeable moments? Dont get me wrong, she is still a good girl, but man! Anyway, onto the big day.

I was a little conflicted about the whole even birthday party only thing, since turning teen is apparently kinda a big deal, but decided to stick to my guns, mainly because I am kinda getting partied out and if I gave her a 13 party, I would end up having to do it for everyone else to be fair. Yes, its completely selfish, but Im okay with that. So we just kept it within the family. She chose to go to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner, then we came home and opened a couple presents.

A cover for her I-Pod

 Cards, gift cards and money from grandparents and Aunt Mindy.

Zack and Bylee worked hard on some cards for her as well.

 The kids got her nail polish and accessories. Brylee had to help since it had her name on it.

 And the thing shes been wanting most, an I-Home. She earned the money herself to buy an I-Pod a few months ago, and ever since then she has wanted one of these to charge it with.

 Madi's cakes always include Oreos, and this year was no exception. But this time, she added ice cream to the middle.

 Nom, Num!

  Dad made her go through a spanking machine. Never too old for that, right?

 Maybe too short though for Brylee.

 And just like that, she turned 13.

One month later, it was Alissa's turn. This time it was an even birthday, so party we must. With the business of soccer we neglected to do a lot of pre-planning for this one. She couldnt decide what she wanted to do, but eventually we narrowed it down to a spa party. She was disappointed that she couldnt do a slumber party, but seriously, there was no time for it. Unfortunately, I feel like this party was the most epic fail of any party I have done. On top of squeezing it in last minute, and in between soccer games and on top of general conference, I felt sickly all weekend. Chills, cough, nausea, back pain, headache, I wanna curl up and die sick. I knew since this was Alissa, I had to pull it together, or she would never let me live it down so like mothers do sometimes, I tried to shelve my physical well being and put on a happy face just to make it through this party. Alissa and Katelin had soccer at 9am, and Zack at 2, so we had to do it in between which meant on top of conference. That also meant, Ryan was gone with soccer all morning up until 30 minutes before the party, so I was pretty much solo on getting everything prepped. Madi did step up and help some so I was grateful for that. She pretty much did the whole cake, made mini-pizzas, and helped blow up balloons to make flowers out of for the decorations. I was so busy and sick, that I didnt take the time to even take many pictures of anything, but the decorations and food were the best part. You'll understand why after reading further.
The first thing we did was a face mask. The girls all thought this was completely disgusting and Alissa almost literally threw up when she smelled it. It was only cucumber, oatmeal and plain yogurt, so not that bad, but how bad would that have been if the birthday girl threw up first thing!? But, all the girls except one were good sports and put it on and tried to relax the best they could. The cucumbers on the eyes were too big, so they kept falling off. Needless to say, this portion of the party didnt last long.

Fail #1.

 Then we let them ease their minds with food. We had chocolate marshmallow fondue with strawberries, apples, marshmallows and pretzels, cheese and crackers, mini pizzas and punch.

 After lunch, we grossed them out again with a foot bath made with milk, lemon juice and olive oil in warm water. Most of the girls kept complaining it was too hot, so we kept having to throw ice cubes in for them. Fail #2.

Ah yes, and fresh rose petals to make it pretty or whatever.  

 As they finished up soaking their toes, I fixed their hair and Madi and Katelin were on nail duty. I was disappointed that none of the girls really picked what I thought were the fancier hair styles, plus I was feeling rushed to get through all 6 of them in time to do presents and cake. I wasnt happy with how their hair turned out, so I will call this Fail #3.

 We rushed through presents since we were getting low on time. Not many pictures here, since I was still fixing the last hair style during the openings and one girl kept standing in front of Alissa so we couldnt get good shots (you know the type). She mostly got a bunch of jewelry and purses, but she loved them all.

 Not good pictures and cramming hair fixing into present opening time equals fail #4.

We had originally decided to just go with mini cupcakes, but couldnt find mini cupcake liners, so I just went for the normal sized ones. Thought I bought this cute little 8 candle that would fit on a cupcake perfectly, but then realized I didnt buy it, so Ryan ended up buying a much bigger 8 before the party. Too big to fit on a cupcake so I decided to make her her own little cake to put it on. Alissa wanted pudding in the middle, but when I flipped the cake out of the pan, all the pudding surfaced on top making it impossible to frost. We just squeezed what we had left of frosting from the cupcakes on top to match the cupcakes and covered the lack of frosting on the side by putting the cupcakes all around it. Guess it kinda turned out like a flower or something.

 Like I said, Madi ended up making the cake and frosting most of it, so I hate to call it a fail for her sake, but, after all that...really? You get the idea.

 This fail got past Alissa all right, but one of her friends stated she didnt like the pudding, and I would have to agree. I wont get into what happened there, but its just another fail.

Lastly, I had bought this pink table cloth as a backdrop to kinda do final individual spa pictures of the girls, but we ran out of time so I just did a group one at the end. In their gift bags they had a necklace, ring, bracelet, scarf and hair flower bow, that would have looked cute for their pictures but alas...Fail #?

Since it was so last minute, she only had 5 girls show up, one of which left early, so this is the complete group. Good things she has plenty of sisters to fill in. Of course I didnt think to let them in the picture...fail, fail, fail! 

After a few, thats right- failed attempts at a good group shot, Emma finally had to wrap her arm around Sarah because she kept raising her arm in front of the camera and making weird frown faces. She must have got sick of standing there. She looks like shes loving on her, but its really her trying not to strangle her!

So heres how the final shot turned out.

Scary to think what these poor girls went home to tell their parents about our failed party. Think this picture is good enough to send them and make them think they had a good time?
This morning as I woke up on the actual day of her birth, I realized it is her golden birthday...8 on the 8th. Totally coulda ran with that. Oh well, too late now. Im a loser.