Score!

Can you say SPRING FEVER! We have it bad. Probably has something to do with the fact that we haven't had time to even do any of the fun things winter has to offer. We didn't even go sledding once this year. Yuck. Last night as we finished up dinner, Brett and I were both antsy to do something, so he suggested a trip to the library. I know...whoo. But hey, at least it was something. :-)

When we got there we saw some big signs saying there was a book sale in the basement. I've always wanted to go and have never made it, so Brianna and I headed downstairs while Brett ran herd on the big kids. When they say book sale, they MEAN book sale! There were probably almost as many books in that basement as upstairs. And the most expensive? $.50. Woot! So, needless to say, with the rugrats running around upstairs and me lugging Brianna, I didn't look long. But right inside the door was a table labeled 'free', so yeah, had to check that out. And what did I find, you might ask?

Yay! Raise your hand if you read Judy Blume as a kid! I was pretty excited. I recently re-read the first Boxcar Children book and loved it, so I thought these would be fun to add to my library. Plus, it won't be very much longer before Kylee is into chapter books, and I think she's going to be a book hog like me, so hopefully she'll enjoy some of her mom's classics.

Aedan

I've been feeling lately like I leave Aedan out of my posts a lot. It's not done on purpose, but he's just at that in-between stage where he doesn't have much going on. Compared to Kylee's school programs, dance class and recitals, losing teeth, etc, and Brianna being a baby who changes literally every day, poor Aedan just doesn't have much that's fun just for him.

My handsome little man is almost 4 years old. He goes to "school" 4 days each week at the ELC on campus, and he loves his class. He growls at his teachers rather than saying hello. He is a sunbeam at church and LOVES not being in nursery! His favorite songs are Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, I Am a Child of God, and I Love to See the Temple. He loves his baby sister like crazy and loves to be crazy to make her giggle. No one can get the laughs out of her like he can. He still begs to bear his testimony every fast Sunday, so those in our ward had better prepare themselves for Sunday, cause we missed it last month. :-) He's definitely a Daddy's boy. So when Brett has to leave, he tells Aedan he needs him to take care of the girls for him. Now Aedan readily volunteers to "take care of the girls".

Aedan still doesn't have anything super exciting going for him right now. But he is one of the coolest kids I know and I'm SO glad I got the chance to have a boy amongst all my girls. Today I was looking for something to photograph for a challenge I'm participating in, and when I decided to use one of the kids I decided on Aedan...just so he'd get his second in the spotlight. :-) And I LOVE how this photo turned out, so I thought I'd share it.

Videos

Just some fun videos we've taken with the new camera...the kids are always begging me to let them make a "movie"; I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to get an external hard drive very soon!

This first video is Aedan singing Popcorn Popping...and I want you to pay close attention to how he says the popcorn ball would smell. :0)


This video was posted to Facebook awhile back, but it's too cute, I couldn't resist. It's like an instant ray of sunshine or an automatic smile. Great medicine for a lousy day...

Randomness

There has been absolutely nothing exciting going on for us the past few weeks. Unless you count starting school again (and driving to Pocatello 4 days/week), our car breaking down about 100 yards from the top of the hill at Targhee (not the best spot), or....well, that's about all I can come up with, but I'm exhausted. :-}

On a much more exciting note...I got a new camera! Brett convinced me to upgrade (convincing was necessary because it was way too hard to spend that much cash on what I consider a toy!) and I got it the first week of classes (of course, it couldn't have come during my break so I'd actually have time to play with it). It was a couple days before I even had the energy to play with it, but it's been a ton of fun. It's bigger, better, and it shoots video. :-) Without further ado...the final photos taken with my old camera:

Isn't she purty? :-) I still haven't had a ton of time to play, and when I do have time I don't have much energy, so there's nothing tremendous to share. But the kids love the video option, as you'll see as soon as I can get them uploaded, and I know it will only be a matter of time until I can spend more of my energy on this lovely. :-)

Now for a bit of randomness. No, most of these were not taken with my new camera, but the old. And they were mostly all in terrible lighting and with little time to spare, so since the quality was not great I decided to play around with some edits.

This is what we call Brianna's "talking on the phone" pose. Kylee named it, can you tell?

Now, while you're ignoring how hideodorous I look in this photo, I'll point out two things: Brianna's face buried in a giant cup while she's guzzling all of my water, and Kylee jumping in, never one to miss a pose. :-) Love my girls.

That's all folks! I'm working on a post of projects I made for Christmas (I know, it was a month ago already) and probably one of a winter wreath I made that was kinda fun...probably because I actually started and finished a project for once!

So Much Energy!

Ah, winter. Thank you for bringing your fresh, clean loveliness to our neighborhood. We do appreciate you taking the time to cover up all the broken down vehicles and badly worn houses. It's such a nice neighborhood in the winter.

I do love winter, but I definitely do NOT love cooped up kids! After almost 2 weeks of being out of school and stuck at home (minus several fun holiday adventures), the kids were starting to climb the walls. Today, instead of rest time, I bundled them up and kicked them out the door. :-)

 

Except for this little beauty. She and I are having some quiet time together. :-) Happy New Year!

Christmas and Stuff

Holy moly, can you believe another Christmas has come and gone? I'm not at all ready for it to be over...I really love the anticipation of Christmas. But, I am enjoying the lack of stress for a couple more weeks before classes start again. ;-)

Our weeks leading up to Christmas were crazy and exciting as ever. I finished finals and actually managed to pass all of my classes, though I have to agree with a friend on Facebook who said, "Next time I decide it's a good idea to have a baby AND go to school, somebody shoot me." Or something like that.

A couple weeks before Christmas, our Kylee lost her first tooth! She's had both bottom teeth wiggling for awhile now, and this one managed to pop out when I was flossing her teeth. Unfortunately, it was a little overzealous in its popping, and we never did see the little bugger again. :-( But I wrote a note to the Tooth Fairy, and she still stopped by Ky's pillow that night to leave $2, just in time for Kylee to take it to school for the Candy Cane Shoppe.

The last day of school for Kylee included the annual Christmas program, which includes all Kindergartners, 1st grade, and 2nd grade. I didn't know Kylee would be wearing a hat, so I put a flower in her hair that day. I guess they didn't want to mess it up, cause the dang hat was in her eyes the whole time. :-)

 

This is Kylee's friend, Dajia, in the green.

 

Another friend, Andrea.

Ky's teacher, Mrs. Millet, is the second from the left, in glasses. All the teachers sang a re-written version of Winter Wonderland, all about teaching in an Elementary School. It was pretty cute.

Poor Brianna has gotten the short end of the stick for her first Christmas. I haven't taken hardly any photos of her, or of any of our Christmas festivities this year. But I did manage to get a few the day her brother and sister put the reindeer antlers on her. :-) Brianna also had her 6-month checkup a couple days before Christmas. She weighed in at 14 lbs 14.5 ounces!

Hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Kylee's Dance Performances

We've been super busy lately (what else is new?). On top of school, work, and church callings, Kylee has had two dance performances. In November, she danced for the first time at the Festival of Trees, and it was a blast to see her up there showing her stuff! :-) She found us in the crowd and immediately started waving and (if you know her, you won't be surprised) sticking out her tongue. Yep, that's my girl. :-) The lighting was not great, so I didn't get very good pics at that one.

Kylee had another dance performance this week at the Hillcrest Performing Arts Center. When we signed her up for dance, I was really excited that she'd have so many performances. This week I wasn't so sure. But we managed to get her there almost on time, she danced her one dance, and we were out of there in an hour. :-) The photos from this performance are much better due to the stage lighting, so I wanted to share them really quick, even though I should be studying. :-)