Graden Graduates!

He is my heart and soul.

Ears are for Piercing

When I knew I was having girls I thought.......

"They will be darling babies with cute pierced ears!!!"

{Note to my single YW......that's a discussion you may want to have with Mr. Wonderful prior to having a baby girl....He may have other plans.  He may have a theory that they need to 1.  Be old enough to ask.  2.  Be old enough to take care of them themselves..... you catch my drift.  Hence the theories of MY Mr. Wonderful}

So I carefully pick my battles, and that one was not worth it.  I patiently waited EIGHT years.  After their birthday I started planting seeds about getting them done.  

HOOK....

LINE.....

SINKER!!!!!!!

We went to Claire's on Eagle Rd and had it done.  They did an amazing job.  And I will forgive who ever posted on FB that I should just have it done at Walmart.  I do have some standards people!  ;)

Natalie and I sat earlier in the day and watched YouTube videos of little girls getting it done.  

{Note to self.....may not have been a great idea in hind sight}

Taylor had gotten herself completely worked up over the whole thing.  She was crying before we got there.  

So as you can guess when the gal asked who was going first Taylor instinctively threw Natalie under the ear piercing bus.  

The pictures will tell the following events!  

They have been awesome about cleaning them everyday.  This was how they chose to spend their $20 in birthday money.  Daddy and I treated them to several pairs of earrings (Thank you 10 for $10 sale...), and an OWL earring holder.  In honor of their Mum. 

That is all she wrote......

Memorial Weekend 2012

Camping 101 with the Blues:

1.  Borrow everything from ward members :)

We need to start collecting camping gear now that we can all go more.  

2.  Pack more crap than you'll ever need!  

You never know when you are going to need an "extra" watermelon and such and so on.

3.  Bring a space heater to potentially burn your "Occupy Boise" tent down.

Now, this did not actually happen.  Thankfully.  It was a HUGE lifesaver as Burke and Taylor couldn't figure out how to sleep IN their sleeping bags! 

4.  Go with friends that have a trailer.

They will hopefully take pity on your trembling, frozen 2 year old and let him come in and watch a movie.  

5.  Head into town.

Here you will amuse the locals by dawning antique Nellie Olson hats in musty shops.  

6.  Pepsi.

Bring enough to have one at all times.  You'll need a stiff drink as the neighbor children make BON FIRES.  

7.  Bring clippers.

You know.  So when your baby gets too close to the fire and scorches his hair you can rid the smell from your tent.  Trust me....it stinks.  

8.  Have your twins dress the same. (If you have them...)

This makes for fun camp games as the other campers try to figure out who is who.

9.  Head count.

Don't forget that you came up with X amount of children.  At one point I forgot we even brought Graden.  

AND....

10.  Have enough fun that you'll want to go next year.

But not enough that you do it too soon.  

Professional 2nd Graders!

Well it's done. 1st grade is in the history books and we have moved on to conquering the 2nd grade. The girls are beyond thrilled! Here is a little gift they gave to their teacher today!

The girls made a crucial mistake this morning. They made their own lunches! And now I know they can............Bbuuhahhahahahahaaaaaa!

I sent them off on their bikes happy as can be! They will do awesome! We are very proud of them!

Botanical, Zoo and the #31!

The month of May is so busy! But it's almost over and so far we have made it! Both Graden and the girls had field trips and I was able to go to both! Thankfully! The boys and I went to the Zoo. A week later than planned because of rain, but we had a great time on a chilly day! I think it is so funny when I am with my boys and people think it is great that I have 2 boys. Then when I tell them I also have 2 girls.....the face is priceless! Sometimes you would think I said I had 20! lol!

I love this picture of Burke because he is trying to pick this poor penguin up off the ground! He is so small that he is able to lift more than his own weight. He is awesome at balancing too. He is crazy strong! {Or so he thinks??}





Here are some pictures of the girls and I at the Idaho Botanical Gardens! I had not been in years. It was green, and lush, and beautiful!


Oh, and I turned 31! BOOYA! My big day fell on a Sunday and mine was filled with church and meetings! Go figure! When I came home from my YW's meeting the front of the house had this BEAUTIFUL sign Jason had made! I knew I was in for a treat!
Say hello to the Hill Billy Birthday Party! I think he used every decoration in our party box! All the kids past birthday parties were represented! It was AWESOME!
Candace sent me this a.d.o.r.a.b.l.e necklace from ETSY. Sorry the picture is side ways. It's a charm necklace. A tree, an OWL...and the oval says ALLI. So cute huh? I love it! And I wear it everyday!

I also finished the book THE HELP! It's a must read if you have not! It will be released in the theaters August 11th! Better read it so you are hip to the know!

Oh my......

I am worried about the next 10 years.....if this is what they look like now!!! We signed the girls up for a little week long dance clinic at Centennial. They would learn a little routine and perform during half time of a boys basketball game. They were super jacked. And nervous. They practiced last Tuesday-Friday from 4:15-6. I have no idea how parents go from here to there driving their kids around. I was BEAT! They were a little spent too. But we got all homework done of Monday so that helped!
Unfortunately Jason was out of town at a tournament.....story of my life. My mom and I took the girls for their big debut! I did their hair, and because daddy was out of town.....I did their makeup too. Just a little blush, and glitter. ;)
They are growing up so fast. The performance was maybe 2-3 minutes long. They were SPECTACULAR! Here are some pics of my stunning little liberties!

On a sad note.....Jason missed the dance by minutes. The bus pulled into the lot as we were leaving!!! TERRIBLE!!! He was truly sad!! He loves his girls. Although, I think they scare him more than anything!!!

My friend Cherie hosted a craft night at her house the same night as the performance. So I missed most of it!!! :( I had a chance to chat for a while. We made these cute felt heart wreaths. I had not cut my felt yet, and was not looking forward to it. I knew it would be a LOT of cutting! Luckily my friend Jacki cut too many and gave me her leftovers. I had not decided on what color to do, but since there were pink, red and white cut for me....those sounded great!!! The girls helped me fold all the circles! We had fun on Sunday after church pinning them all in! Yes, I am in my pj's after church. DUH!

And this is Burke....not being helpful.

I still love you Polly Pocket. :)

When there was 2....

Before we were chasing 4 kids, we had 2. I've never had "just one". Or our "first". It's always been a different ball game for us. It's a funny thought. Scary actually. I am no superstar by any means. I struggle with my own day to day tasks. And to be honest, I really just wanted to be pregnant. I had not even given much thought to the "outcome" of being pregnant. (Cough, cough) And yet, in my own selfishness, the Lord sent two of his sweetest spirits to our home. TWO? You're joking right? That's what I said to the ultra sound nurse. Her reply? "Oh honey, we don't joke about things like that."

Why so sentimental you ask? Our computer crashed. Not crashed, DIED. As in the Motherboard fried. That is what my kids could say about me at the end of the day! ;) he he he!
We happened to have a very old hard drive that we have not used in 4 years or so. Well, like looking for a $20 bill in an old coat pocket, I started looking through old files. But what I found was priceless.

Old pictures of my 2. Of Nattie and Scooter. We don't even call her that any more. We did because she "scooted" first. Hence, Scooter. I sat and cried as I scrolled through the pictures of my girls. Most of the both of them. Happy, dirty faces, silly smiles and sucking thumbs. I really started missing these little girls. Once I had Graden they became "The Sissies" as we call them. They lost some of that "first born" glory.

I just wanted to share with you my girls. When it was just the 2 of them. To this day they are still best friends. They still drive each other crazy. They still suck their thumbs. They still hang onto the same, now grungy babies. They are still His sweetest spirits.

You see why now?