Fillmore Fun!

The Joy of Motherhood

2012-01-25T09:44:00.000-08:00

Have I ever mentioned how much I enjoy my children? I am seriously so blessed. These last couple of weeks of pregnancy have been a doozer, as I have struggled through pulled muscles, sinus infection, and my fifth case of stomach flu in the last four months. Sometimes I wonder if kids are worth all the trouble, but then I have tender mommy moments like last Monday after a rough morning of stomach flu/ sinus infection when I emerged from my cave of death (bedroom) to find Ashlyn reading to Charlotte and Ian, Tanner has gotten the little kids some snacks and drinks, and they all informed me that they had cleaned the basement without even being asked. My kids are so thoughtful, kind, and helpful, that it really does make me look forward to meeting number 5 even if he is making me miserable right now!

Here are some of my favorite pics from the last couple of weeks...

Charlotte giving herself a pedicure. She was using the foot buffer and had the toe nail clippers and happily sat there working on her feet for at least 2 minutes!

Ashlyn reading to Charlotte and Ian, a common occurance at our home

Ashlyn invited to participate in a dance class with a friend, all dressed up and bursting at the seams ready to go!

Who doesn't wear sunglasses in the bathtub?

Finally snow!!! This is the first year that Charlotte has been able to bundle up and play in the snow with the kids. She thought it was absolutely great and didn't want to come in! Notice the adorable monkey snow hat that she got from Grandma Julie for Christmas.

A girl on a mission, Ashlyn has been dreaming of snowmen all winter and FINALLY we got some snow, you can bet that she busted it outside as soon as possible.

Tanner takes his snow sculpting seriously and got out the biggest shovel he could find to maximize his snow piling potential.

Ian

The finished snowman... notice the yellow snow, it is a contribution from the neighbor's dog who was intimidated by his smiley new neigbor and pees on the snowman every chance he gets.

Ian discovered some chopsticks in our silverware drawer the other day and decided that they would make some great drumsticks. He is such a creative and happy child, rarely do I ever have to entertain this boy.

We also just got done with parent/teacher conferences and listened to both Tanner and Ashlyn's teachers radiate with nothing but praise for our well behaved intelligent children.

Maybe I can do five kids afterall? Ready or not, 27 more days and counting...

We're So Glad When Daddy Comes Home!

2012-01-04T09:42:00.000-08:00

Did I tell you that Zac had the whole WEEK off between Christmas and New Years? Our daddy has been working so hard lately that we absolutely loved having him home all week... at least I did because he did things like this...

Oh, how I wish I had a before picture. Just look at that beautiful toy and game organization. He also cleaned out and organized the storage room...

Put together a room and big girl bed for Charlotte. I won't lie and say she loves it. In fact, she cries and screams for 10-15 minutes everytime we put her down to bed or for a nap, but she STAYS in her bed! Yay! It is so funny how each kid takes moving into a bed differently. I just hope she continues to stay in bed and eventually decides that it isn't scary to sleep in a bed without slats.

Now that the girl is out of the crib, it is time to move the mattress back up and get this thing ready for baby. Dad had all of the kids helping him all week.

Ian doesn't mind helping if the chore involves tools.

Ashlyn is cleaning off coats of dried milk that have accumulated over the past couple of years.

And Charlotte thought that it looked like a fun project and was happy to join in.

Even though it was in an effort to give away her safe comfy bed to the new baby :)

Ta Da! Bring on the boy!

CHRISTMAS!!!

2012-01-04T09:22:00.000-08:00

With only one, yes one day off before Christmas Eve, we had to slam in some last minute Christmas fun before the holiday came and went.

We just had to make our annual gingerbread houses (primarily because I still had Valentine, Easter and Halloween candy to get rid of!) Don't be fooled by the look on Tanner's face, he was having a wonderful time.

This year we were lucky enough to have my sister, Annie's kids come and share our tradition with us. We had a great time decorating with Garrett and Shay and loved seeing their very creative ideas.

Ashlyn just eats this stuff up... literally... we have a hard time getting a picture of her houses because she is always in such a hurry to eat them!

Ian's Masterpiece

Tanner's creation

Ashlyn's piece d' resistance

We also wanted to get some sledding in, but the snow just isn't cooperating this year. That didn't stop Ashlyn from giving it a go... and with a dog this year it just made the prospect of sledding that much more exciting. Ashlyn thought she would teach Maggie how to mush.

Maggie gave it a good effort, but couldn't quite make a go of it.

Thank Heaven for twin brothers!

These are some last minute Christmas projects that we finished up. This is a sign for Zac's dad so that he can have a place to keep all of the kid's school pictures. The sign says "Grandkids Make Life Grand" and there are clothes pins along the bottom for each grandkid, plus a few extras for anyone ambitious. Zac made the signboard, isn't he amazing... and I did the crafty parts.

THIS was the present that we couldn't wait to give daddy. The kids and I made a road map on the back of a tee shirt so that when daddy wears it we can give him a back massage by driving cars on his back. I drew some of our favorite places such as daddy's work, our house, the cabin, the lake, daddy's job site, etc. and the kids colored the pictures. Zac loves it! (okay, I do too, I have probably worn it more than he has!)

We celebrated Christmas Eve with a lunch and party at Grandma and Grandpa Martineaus. We got to put on another nativity for the Martineau side and this time Charlotte decided that when she saw the comfy manger, she would be baby Jesus. She loved it in that thing!

With the sunlight streaming in and the amount of kids, it was hard to get very many good pictures. But Ian made an awesome Joseph again, Ashlyn picked her favorite part of an angel, and Tanner was a wiseman. We love doing this with our cousins.

We ended our night with a pizza and doughnut party at our own house. We played games and set out doughnuts and carrots for Santa and his reindeer. Then we (unwisely) let these three monkeys bunk in together for the night. We gave them a phone and told them to call us when they woke up in the morning, so that we could come and get them to see their Christmas morning surprises. Well, the phone calls came in all night. At 1:30 a.m. Ashlyn called to say that she thought she heard Santa. At 4 a.m. Tanner called to see if it was morning yet. At 4:15, 4:30, and 5:00 a.m. the kids called to say they couldn't sleep and to see if it was morning yet. Zac and I finally gave up and we opened presents at 5:30 a.m. Next year, there will be no phone... only an alarm clock and instructions to stay in bed until 10 a.m.!

Santa brought Tanner an erector set to build an awesome crane that he worked on with his dad for two solid days!

Ashlyn got a Fijit as she had asked Santa for a robot. The Fijit does lots of neat tricks and she loves it. But she says the best present that she got was a stuffed Webkinz turtle.

Unfortunately, Charlotte thought the Fijit was pretty cool too and wouldn't let Ashlyn play with it very much, but would run and hide with it.

Ian with some of the fun things out of his stocking.

The crane is finally done and it only took a Bachelor's of Construction Management to put it together! I think the look on Zac's face tells the story of the complication of this machine.

We are sooooo tired! And yet church starts at 1:00 p.m. In the midst of the craziness Charlotte decided I wasn't getting her church shoes fast enough for her and so she tried to get them herself resulting in a big bloody nose on the way out the door to church!

Ian's awesome race car track from Santa

Charlotte loves her new babies and was holding this one up and making her say "Cheese!" for the camera.

Taking the babies for a ride in the new stroller.

We truly had a wonderful holiday filled with peace and the Spirit of the Lord. We were blessed with lots of amazing and thoughtful gifts from friends and family and we hope you all had a Christmas filled with the same love and contentment. We look forward to many exciting adventures in 2012 and wish you all a happy holiday season!

Christmas Festivities

2011-12-19T11:19:00.000-08:00

Christmas is sneaking up on us and with a combination of no snow and the kids not getting out of school until the 23rd, we have had a hard time really believing that Christmas is only 6 days away. Here are some of the things we have been doing to try to catch the Christmas spirit...

Neighbor/ Teacher gifts! Last year I made these for Ashlyn and Tanner's school teachers and they turned out so cute, I decided to do them for all of my neighbors this year. The tag says, "May your holiday season be filled with Peace, Love, and Soap." I got the inspiration off of The Idea Room, you can go HERE to see the directions.

The soap bottles had the families monograms...

And a bottle of hand sanitizer had a cute "hands" saying.

Zac kept saying over and over, "You are giving our neighbors soap? Really?" But I was thrilled with the prospect of a practical gift that they could use all year long rather than something that would be consumed or tossed within 30 minutes of delivery. The only downside to this gift was because it is so personalized, there is no stockpiling of "generic" gifts that you can hurry and give to that wonderful friend (who wasn't on your list) who is standing at your door with a surprise gift.

For family home evening Ian chose for us to make and decorate gingerbread men. Charlotte thought this was wonderful and loved every minute of it!

Ian got very detailed with his gingerbread boys and it was hard for him to eat them when the time came.

Tanner with his creation.

And Ashlyn ALWAYS enjoys "snafting" (snack crafting), so it was a fun night for all. This recipe had butterscotch pudding instead of molasses and the cookies tasted delicious!

After the cookie decorating we headed over to the Museum of Idaho to check out the display of gingerbread houses and nativities (free admission during Christmas if you are interested).

Charlotte has been dying to play outside and is always begging for her coat and shoes so she could head out. One night, she found a sled in the garage and took it to Zac. So Zac started to bundle up in his snow stuff so he could take her for a sled ride. I said, "You don't have to do that, she doesn't even know what a sled is for."

And he said, "You wanna bet!" She definately knew what a sled was for and had a giggle fest as her daddy pulled her around and around the one patch of snow on our porch!

Last night Zac's mom invited us out for a festive Christmas dinner and the kids were able to put on the annual nativity. Charlotte was the star of the show and loved the attention!

Ian made the most adorable Joseph I have ever seen and cousin Meg was Mary.

Ashlyn was type cast as an angel.

And Tanner was likewise type-cast as a wiseman!

At the end, Grandma surprised all of the grandkids with coordinating Gap fleece jackets and at least for now, the kids think it is pretty dang awesome matching with their siblings and cousins.

Thanks Grandma for a wonderful party and for adding to our Christmas cheer!

Now bring on the main event!

Counting Countdowns to Christmas

2011-12-08T16:49:00.000-08:00

You might say that we are getting pretty excited for Christmas around here. In fact, counting down to Christmas has become a full time job at our house...

We have the traditional chain approach which Tanner made himself about the beginning of November because he just couldn't wait to get started on the countdown!

We have our "Christ-Centered" Christmas countdown that I blogged about last year. Each day, the kids get to open a door where they find a little candy and a slip of paper telling us what our gift to Christ will be for the day. (It is not as cute this year because I bought candy that was too big to fit with the doors shut :( but the thought is still good!)

We also have this countdown stocking given that was a gift, in which we have to move a star every day to the appropriate day. If I was a dang awesome mom, I could put small advent items in there every day, but I figured with all the other rigamarole, moving a star is just fine.

Next up, we have this darling magnet board that my crafty neighbor made us last year. There is a little magnet that you put on the day.

We made these babies at a cousin craft party. Every day we cut off a piece of Santa's beard until at Christmas he has no beard left!

On the contrary, this Santa's beard gets bigger every day that we count down to Christmas. Ian made this beauty at preschool.

In addtion, we have a darling little Disney book advent in which there are 24 Disney character Christmas stories. We read one each night and then hang them on a little tree.

So as you can see counting down to Christmas keeps me busy most days as I cut here, glue there, move this, and open that. But it is all worth it so that I can tell you all proudly that there are only 17 days left until Christmas.... wait a minute, that is only like 2 weeks!!!

AAACCCKKK!

Santa's Workshop

2011-12-08T14:17:00.000-08:00

Why is it that Christmastime (aka, the busiest time of the year) is the one time of year that I decide to work on "projects". I mean, you would think it would be enough if I could just figure out what to get everyone for Christmas without all the extra stress of baking, crafting, and homemade gifts. But I am, who I am, and here we are with a little more than two weeks left and me smack in the middle of a million projects.

The first Thursday of December was our Relief Society workshop (which I am in charge of) and we decided to have a hot chocolate bar in addition to our wonderful speakers. I never do feel that Martha Stewart feeling inside of me, so I was actually quite tickled when it turned out so cute!

Here is the table set up and ready to go

In case you are wondering what is involved in a hot chocolate bar, ours included toasted coconut marshmallows, mini marshmallows, pirroette cookies, candycanes, teddy bear cookies...

Look at my cute jars! I am so crafty!

I also took caramel swirl marshmallows, dipped them in melted chocolate and then in crushed graham crackers. They went fast! There are also Oreo cookies, or as my kids call them (milk cookies). If I had been more awesome, I would have dipped them in white chocolate and made snowman faces or something clever.

These are dipped stirring spoons. I loved how they turned out. I took some plastic spoons dipped them in melted chocolate and sprinkled crushed candy canes on some, decorated some with mini marshmallows to make little snowmen, and also dipped some in peanut butter chips and sprinkled with chocolate. Ashlyn about cried when I took them to my meeting, but I promised her we would make some more if they were all gone, and they were, and we did!

At the end of the table I put some "to-go" bags with some extra packets of hot chocolate for the sisters to take to those who couldn't be there.

All in all the speakers at the workshop were wonderful and I am now in love with hot chocolate bars!

As for my other million projects... you will just have to wait and see because some of them might be for you!

Some of my Greatest Blessings Call Me Mother (and Wife)

2011-11-22T12:27:00.000-08:00

Our new Christmas church duds! The boys were especially excited to have white shirts and ties just like the scouts and missionaries and Charlotte immediately wanted me to help her put on her 'Rella (Cinderella) dress and shoes.

I am so thankful for a husband who is such an amazing daddy. I love how after he watched Toy Story with the kids, he got out his marker and wrote his name on the bottom of each of their feet. I love how he lays awake at night worrying about whether or not he gave a child enough recognition over an accomplishment and then half the time runs down the stairs to wake up the said child to tell them how proud he is of them and how much he loves them. I love that when he has a Saturday to do whatever he wants, he chooses to be with us making teepees and building projects with the kids. There isn’t a day that goes by where he doesn’t do something to help me and our family. He is very good at expressing his love to all of us and it is definitely reciprocated. When he pulls into the garage after work, there is a kid stampede to the garage to see who can get to daddy first. If I would have known what an amazing father Zac was going to be, I would have married him after our first date!

I am so thankful for Ashlyn and her sweet little spirit. Ashlyn is our cuddly child. She loves to snuggle in with us and read books or watch a movie. It is so fun to watch her exploding in her academic accomplishments. She is becoming such a good little reader and has already read over 80 books this school year alone! I love how dedicated and persistent she is. Last year she struggled with her hand writing and this year she has worked so hard to improve that she is constantly receiving top marks on all of her handwriting pages. She will also take longer than anyone else completing an art project because she is determined to make it her best. She is very good at art and has even taken second place in a poster contest at school! I love how tender hearted she is with animals. She will spend hours out petting her dog and loves animals of all makes and models… even snakes! Ashlyn is such a good friend and so much fun to be with, I am so glad that I get to be a part of an eternal friendship with her.

I am thankful for Tanner and his helpful personality. Tanner is my secret elf. There isn’t a day that goes by where he hasn’t done something for me without being asked whether it is bringing in the garbage can, cleaning up toys from a room, or getting his little sister a drink. I love how much Tanner loves his siblings and is so eager to take care of Charlotte. He loves to get her up in the morning, get her a drink of milk and then will play with her for hours. I also love how inventive Tanner is. He can’t bear to see a piece of garbage thrown away because he knows it can be turned into something useful or cool. He is never bored because he has so much imagination. He provides so many fun activities for his siblings and friends that everyone loves to be around Tanner. Tanner is also so bright and has such good manners that it is always a pure joy to go into parent/ teacher conferences and hear how much his teachers adore him. I am so honored to be this boy’s mother.

I am thankful for Ian and what a good buddy he is to me. I seriously look forward to waking this kid up each morning. There are many mornings when he is just sitting up in bed cheerfully reading a book to himself and he always very happily greets me. He has sworn a vow to his daddy that he will watch over me and help me throughout the day and boy does he ever. If we go anywhere he always helps me cross the street safely, gets doors for me, and carries heavy loads. At home, he is by my side all day asking me what chores he can do for me. I also feel so blessed to be the constant recipient of spiritual uplifting from this child. There isn’t a day that goes by when he isn’t contemplating Jesus, Heavenly Father, his guardian angels, and looking forward to his mission. I am also thankful that I get to take turns teaching him at preschool. I get to witness firsthand how bright and talented he is. He is also so charismatic and can make friends everywhere he goes. I feel so honored to be a mother to this bubbly intelligent son.

I am also thankful for my little Charlotte and the spirit and spunk that she brings into our home. I love how she can talk so well and so sweetly. We attended a baby signing class at the library where the instructor was trying to get the children to sign please and thank you, but every time she would say the words, Char would just call out, “Please” and “Thank You” showing the instructor that signs were a waste of time for her, she could communicate just fine thank you. She also tells us “sorry” and “Hello Mommy!” and my favorite “Wow! Cool mom!” I love how she adores teasing us and cracks herself up. At night, Zac and I can sit with our ears to her door for hours just listening to her sing and talk to herself. She also loves to help around the house and anytime I unload the dishwasher she is right by my side handing me the silver ware and the cups. I love how she is so social and loving and will give anyone hugs and loves. She especially knows the right times to give me hugs and loves. I love her so much and am so glad that she is part of our family.

These are a couple of my favorite people from the last few weeks...

Someone needs to teach this girl where underwear really goes!

Sampling the dogfood that dad left out with a spoon

Ashlyn and Ian meeting Little Critter at the local library

This is Charlotte for the 5 seconds when she got brave enough to approach Little Critter before screaming in terror!

Ian made himself a nice cozy bed in the linen closet

Sigh... I love my family!

The Temple through the Lens of Children

2011-11-15T20:18:00.000-08:00

I mentioned in my previous post that in September we were able to travel to SLC and then to Logan for the sealing of Zac's dad and his wife. As we had the kids with us, I decided to wait out on the temple grounds with them while Zac attended the sealing. To keep them busy for an hour, I gave them free rein of the camera and told them to find me some inspirational photos. Tanner, Ashlyn, and Ian rotated turns with the camera and these are the photos that they came up with...

The Logan, Utah Temple by Tanner

A Rose at the Temple by Ashlyn

Chevy Truck at the temple by Ian

Water Features

More beautiful Flora

Tanner learned that if he layed down on the ground he could get some interesting shots.

It was a popular weekend for weddings and we watched about 4-5 different couples of newly weds emerge from the temple. Ashlyn was bound and determined to get a picture of a bride, while being stealthy. This is what she came up with. I am just glad to know that my little girl who hates anything to do with princesses, dress up, and dolls actually has aspirations to be a beautiful bride someday!

American Flag

My 7-year old son is obsessed with maps and took a picture of his map of temple square, just in case he misplaced it, then he could still navigate us around the city.

Charlotte liked laying down on the grass too. We may have been a little dirty and grass stained by the time our family came out of the temple :)

The Fillmores-- Zac's dad Jim, brother Tyler, sister Megan, the hot stud himself, and Jim's wife Cresta.

We are so happy for Jim and Cresta and were glad that we could be a part of their special day.

If you would like to order any of the above prints, just send a check for $100 made out to Fillmore Photography and I'll be sure you get a 4x6 of your choice!

Family Circus

2011-11-15T19:25:00.000-08:00

This was all so two months ago, so don't be jealous of the SLC weather. I have just been too lazy to blog and finally had a night to catch up!

So in September, Zac's dad was able to be sealed to his wife and invited us to attend the sealing in the Logan temple. We decided to make a trip of it and we booked a hotel room at the Raddison in Salt Lake and also hooked ourselves up with some tickets to Barnum and Bailey's Biggest Show on Earth (or in other words, the circus). Here are some of the highlights from our trip...

They have been doing a lot of work to remodel an outdoor shopping center across the street from temple square. We hadn't been to Salt Lake for a couple of years and were amazed at all of the construction that has taken place. This is Ashlyn by a water fountain in the shopping district.

More amazing fountains

Okay, so I guess I really like water features as that ended up being 2/3 of my vacation pictures. I just thought they were so cool. It was all I could do from taking off my shoes and running through them!

I can't for the life of me space these pictures apart, so I will just say how awesome it is to walk around temple square. The kids were awestruck when we told them they could go up and touch the temple door. The second picture is Ian posing at the top of the stairs. He thinks he is such hot stuff lately, every time anyone pulls out a camera, he is ready with his best model pose!

Also, at the Visitor's Center there on temple square, they had an absolutely AMAZING diorama of the temple furnished exactly as the real temple is with miniature furniture and all. You could see every room and how it is decorated. It was incredible and kept Zac enthralled for a very long time. When we finally did pull him away from the Visitor's center, he took us for an amazing dinner at the Lion House. Ian could not get over the fact that we were eating in the prophet's house! (If you didn't know the Lion House was the house the Brigham Young lived in when he settled in SLC).

Next we hopped on the Trax... the boys had been begging to ride the train, or as Ian called it the TerRolly (a combination of train and trolley) and we rode down the street to the Energy Solutions Center to get ready for the circus.

The kids stoked and ready to watch some elephants. As the house wasn't packed, a kind usher let us move down closer to the action, so we ended up being able to see pretty well.

Charlotte wasn't so keen on all of the excitement and kept plugging her ears when it got too noisy, she kept Zac and I busy the whole time wrestling her trying to keep her from jumping off the balcony. Finally by intermission she had fallen asleep... and so had Ian... and the twins were sick of the circus and wanted to go back to the hotel to swim, so we did.

We tried to take several pictures of the actual circus throughout the night, but as we were up so high, and it was dark, it was hard to focus on anything. But we did love to see the elephants, the zebras, stilt walkers, tight rope walkers, jugglers, acrobats, and anything else you can possibly imagine that is associated with a circus.

And even though the circus was great, it absolutely paled in comparison to the acrobatics and humorus clowns that kept us up half the night in the hotel room!

When I Grow Up

2011-11-15T18:27:00.000-08:00

We love red ribbon week at our school, not only is it a great way to remind the kids to "Reach for the Stars and not for Drugs" but it is also a week to dress like a hero, your desired career, and to just flat out be silly. These are pictures from my favorite dress up day, "When I grow up, I want to be a..."

Pet Shop Owner

And when Tanner came up the stairs I didn't think that he had dressed up at first. He was wearing just a nice button down shirt and some nice pants. I said, "Tanner, aren't you going to dress up for career day?" to which he replied, "I did, I'm dad!" Just to make it official, Zac stuck a cell phone in his pocket, some pens, a construction manager tag, and a hard hat.

I can't wait to see all the wonderful things these kiddos will achieve when they grow up!

On a side note Ashlyn's won second place for the second grade in the art poster contest. The theme was "Reach for the Stars, not for Drugs" and she drew a wonderful picture of herself playing the piano. I am so proud of my talented kids!

Can You Hear the Trumpet?

2011-11-02T08:21:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday in church, the speaker was going on and on and the children were restless. In a moment of desperation, I handed Ian a piece of grid paper and a pen and asked him to draw me a picture of the temple. This is what he came up with...

Keep in mind this budding genius is only 4-years old. As I talked with him about his drawing and listened to him tell me about the windows, the door, the steeple, and the statue of Moroni, I pointed to the 3 lines drawn eminating from the horn and asked him what those lines were. Ian replied, "That's the sound the trumpet is making!"

Wow! My 4-year old son can hear the sound of Moroni blowing his horn, bidding everyone come and gather at the temple. Do I hear the call? And if I could hear it, would I work harder to get to the temple more often?

Leave it to my 4-year old to constantly prick my heart with these philosophical and spiritual drawings and insights. I feel so honored to be raising these noble spirit children of God. I always thought that my purpose as a mother is to teach these children about their spiritual heritage and to help them on their path back to their Heavenly Father, but what I am often finding is that they are here to teach me the same things. What an intelligent Father in Heaven we have that sends us into families so that we can love and teach each other.

Fillmore Spooky

2011-10-27T21:07:00.000-07:00

I have always loved Halloween. What's not to love? Dress-up, spookiness, tricks, treats, treats, and more treats! And the best part is my kids are getting old enough to truly appreciate the holiday and get into the holiday spirit!

All month long, Tanner has been spending his spare time making Halloween decorations to hang all around the house. This is only a fraction of the decorations he has made. And, the best part is since we are not technically selling or showing the house right now, I can leave them up and not even worry that we have kid decoration overload! I love his creativity.

We have also been attending some pretty posh Halloween parties and coming home with crafts like these adorable spiders.

Ashlyn decided that for her Family Home Evening activity she wanted us all to make one of these spooky spider webs and after making six of them, they made a very impressive little family of spiders.

And thank Heaven for my new found hobby called Pinterest... it is an unlimited source for Halloween snacks, activities, and crafts like these adorable skeletons. Look closely and you will see that the bones spell out "Ian" in cursive!

And "Tanner"

And "Ashlyn"

Call me mean, but the "Charlotte" skeleton was just a little too long and elaborate to make its debut, and she didn't really seem to care, she was having such a fun time sabotaging everyone else's craft projects.

And of course, pumpkin carving is a huge tradition in this household. Our daddy can scoop out pumpkin guts in less than one minute... we timed him, which makes pumpkin carving lots of fun! This year the kids designed AND carved their own pumpkins! It was awesome. This is Tanner's jack-o-lantern. I find it fascinating that he always gives his jack-o-lanterns ears.

Ashlyn's happy jack-o-lantern

Ian drew the face and Zac helped him cut it out, which was quite a feat! Ian insisted on drawing some hair and other facial features to make the jack-o-lantern complete.

Since Tanner finished his so quickly, he offered to carve Charlotte's for her, complete with ears. I liked the hats that the kids added to the jack-o-lanterns this year. They are so creative.

And now... drum roll please.... the following jack-o-lanterns are up for your consideration in the annual Zac vs. Lori pumpkin carving contest. The rules are: The jack-o-lantern has to come out of your own head and cannot be copied from anything seen or heard of before. And absolutely no patterns!... no small feat!

Lori's creation... I had to use Zac's drill to pre-drill some holes and then threaded a large needle to create this exquisite string art masterpiece complete with Artic Circle flashlight spiders (which by the way create quite an ambiance when flashing at night on the doorstep). Can I get a woot, woot?

And Zac's creative contribution... more of a pumpkin "sculpture" if you will, rather than a jack-o-lantern. He created a rendition of the Grand Tetons and a little Lego man fishing on a pumpkin boat. The lake was complete with Swedish fish and small plastic animals and trees dotted the landscape. Zac would like you to note, since you can't see it the realistically frustrated look on the Lego fisherman's face.

The night we carved the pumpkins, we took them to a ward pumpkin carving contest. To judge the entries, each jack-o-lantern had a bowl placed in front of it. Each person in the ward was given three pieces of candy and were told to put it in the bowl of the jack-o-lantern they liked best. Needless to say, we cleaned up on candy! So much that it wouldn't even all fit in a large bowl and not just the cheap candy either... actual brand name candy bars! Now... one of us (Zac or me) actually was declared the "winner" of the ward contest, but I'm not going to tell you who... I want to hear your votes!

Now onto the costumes. This year we have an adorable black cat. Ashlyn was so in love with her costume that she has been prancing around the house for weeks in it.

Next up, we have a very tricky Tanner who it appears is being abducted by an alien. His costume was complicated to make, hard to wear, and more money than I would have spent on a store bought costume. But he loves it, so it is worth it (read... never, ever will I put that much time, energy, and money to make such a cumbersome costume again!)

And our little Ian Spider Man, who has been working on shooting webs out of his fingers for weeks. This boy is very into super heroes and is LOVING having his own Spider Man costume. He has been a riot of laughs in this thing.

And our little Bug-a-Boo, Charlotte is a lady bug this year, which is so fitting because we are always calling her our little "bug". She is so adorable in this costume, I just want to pinch her little cheeks!

And we just had to include a picture of our awesome cousin Garrett who made a very impressive viking in this striking costume made by his mother. We had a lot of fun this year scoping out our cousins' costumes at Grandma Julie's annual Halloween party.

Cousin party, ward party and trunk or treat, class parties and parade, PTO carnival, Halloween recital, and Fillmore cousin spook house all down... just trick-or-treating left to go...

What a great holiday!

Being Crafty

2011-10-21T14:00:00.000-07:00

Our home hit it's 2 1/2 year mark of being "For Sale", with nothing even close to a sale, in fact, we hadn't even been showing the house much at all lately, the contract was up with the realtor, and with holiday seasons and a baby on the horizon, we decided it was time for a break.

What does that have to do with being crafty? Well, I now feel like I can spread a project out from here to there and work on it all day rather than dusting the chandeliers in case the house shows.

Here are some of the projects I have been working on lately!

We have had this carseat since the twins were born. I don't mind the fabric so much, but that creepy little bear sticker at the top has always rubbed me wrong...

Not to mention after going through 4 kids this thing was irreparably stained up and getting worn out. We needed a re-do.

Ta Da! The finished product! I honestly can't believe that I figured this out! It involved picking apart every piece of the old carseat cover and then cutting out new pieces and putting it all back together.

It even got a new canopy makeover. In the past, I would have never gone for something so blue, just in case we have more kids and the next one is a girl, but I am sick of "generic", I wanted this little guy to have something boy-ish!

Next up, while Zac was out of town in Louisianna, Texas, Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah one week, I got bored. So I took the kids to DI with me to see what I could make. I bought this glass goblet and glass bowl and glued them together to make a fruit bowl... or harvest bowl for a fall decoration. It cost me $1.50 to make (plus glue and all the stuff I put in it).

I also bought this pot for $2.00 and painted it coppery/ red and put some sticks in it to fill a big vacant space in my kitchen.

Nasty pillow that we got for a wedding present

Ta Da! Total cost: Free, I had all of these scraps in my fabric box.

And finally I was sick of Ashlyn and Charlotte's hair bows getting lost and dirty in this mess of a drawer.

Whenever we wanted a bow, we would find them gunked up with toothpaste or find them not at all, ewwww!

The solution: I took a picture frame that I already had but was not using. Used some scrap fabric to cover a piece of scrap plywood Zac had lying around in the garage and bought this ribbon for $2.00, then tacked it just so onto the plywood.

And now we have a handy bow holder hanging in our bathroom. Now we can see exactly what we have and everything stays toothpaste free!

Now, I should probably go clean my house again... but it sure isn't as much fun :(

Spoiler Alert!

2011-10-12T13:29:00.000-07:00

I appreciated several comments that mentioned not finding out the sex of our baby, but if you know my personality at all, you know there is no way that could happen! I am somewhat of an organization werido... by "somewhat" I mean you could come to my house at any given time and it will probably be a mess, but on the other hand, I will have my meals planned out for the whole month, a month worth of preschool lessons ready to go, my church calling caught up 3 months in advance, and now that I know the gender of #5, I will probably go wash some newborn clothes tomorrow and get out the nursery bedding :) That said, if you don't want to know the sex of our fifth child, then quit reading right here!

We are having a little BOY! And we couldn't be more excited. We seem to be good at going boy/girl, boy/girl around here, so we definately know what to do with the little guy. Both Zac and I have felt like this baby was a boy all along and I even had several dreams about him, so we are very excited to get to meet this little man... just one more reason why I like to know the gender in advance, I feel like I can bond with this baby a little more before he is born. So now that I know, I guess I better hurry along and go pack my hospital bag and embroider the little guys name on his blessing outfit, February 21 is coming fast!

Tanner's Football Season in Review

2011-10-11T14:44:00.000-07:00

We just wrapped our third season of flag football with Tanner. As usual, we started in 90+ degree weather, dumping water on our heads to keep cooled off, and ended in a snowed out game!

Tanner is such a hustler (not with the ladies, but on the football field :) He absolutely loves getting to the man with the ball to pull his flag and he is pretty fast! His coaches put him on the defensive line and he is a very good rusher.

We were lucky to be placed on a team with about five other boys from our ward. The coach is also in our ward and this is his third year coaching these boys. He is a great coach and is getting to know each boy along with their strengths and weaknesses. By the time these boys are in highschool they will be a well oiled machine!

Running even when heading to the sidelines to get a drink. This boy is serious about the sport.

The Jets

The next time you see me, I'll be holding your quarterback's flag!

Intense huddles

We are going to miss football this year, but don't you worry, next year we will be back in DOUBLE force when Ian is eligible to play! (No way can my babies be growing up this fast!)

Another Masterpiece in the Works

2011-10-04T07:19:00.000-07:00

For those who don't know, Zac and I are expecting our 5th child. Gasp! Yes, five is a lot of kids. And no, I can't control number four yet. I love it when people in my ward at church find out, they get a panicked expression on their face and say, "How OLD will Charlotte be when the baby comes!?!" The answer, 23-months... I guess they are just concerned because they see both Zac and I get bested in a wrestling match every week by an 18-month old.

All of us are thrilled. Zac and I have always known that we wanted a big family and we have been so fortunate and blessed so far with the ones we have, we thought we would test fate one more time.

I will be 20 weeks pregnant as of Saturday, which means the big ultrasound is scheduled for next Wednesday. I just really can't get a feel on whether this one is a boy or girl. It is so fun having two of each and we will be just thrilled with either gender. So, just out of curiousity, I am posting a poll on my blog for the next week (left hand side of the page near the top). What do you think boy or girl?

R.I.P. Pinky

2011-09-29T12:45:00.000-07:00

Ode to Pinky

You were pink.

You were our fish.

It sure did stink

In your little dish.

You made it to two-years old.

We forgot to feed you and didn't often change your water.

You suffered through heat and cold

And an evil rambuntious toddler.

Now that you have died,

We realize just how much we enjoyed you.

Ashlyn cried and cried,

And Tanner wondered when we can get a fish that's new.

Good-bye Pinky, you truly were one of the best pets we have had and Charlotte says she is sorry for the hand she played in your death.

Shiner

2011-09-29T11:31:00.000-07:00

This one was taken today 9-29-11 notice the nice greenish hue coming in at the top. We are getting more and more colors every day!

Wednesday 9-28-11

On Monday, I was in the middle of teaching Mommy School when the phone rang. I don't normally answer when we are in the middle of preschool, but I saw on caller ID that it was from the school. When I answered it, I heard those dreaded words that no mom likes to hear, "Your daughter was playing on the monkey bars and..." I would fill in that dot, dot, dot, with the details but I don't know exactly what happened, other than Ashlyn came into the office with a monster-sized spongy bump on her head. The school wanted me to come down to verify that it wasn't a concussion and to give my consent for her to stay at school the rest of the day. Why do kids have to be so breakable! It turned out that she was okay and the school secretaries couldn't believe how she didn't even cry. It has been an interesting rest of the week watching as her bump drains down into a nice bruise in her eye lid. We keep teasing her about staying out of mom's makeup.

There's nothing like seeing your children hurting to realize how much you love them and how much you would do for them so that they never had to experience pain. I am so thankful for such brave, tough kids, and eternally thankful that the biggest "Ouchies" that we encounter with our kids are the minor bumps and bruises on the playground. I know so many other brave and tough families that go through so much more and they have my total love and admiration.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

2011-09-21T08:59:00.000-07:00

How does my garden grow?

Not at all... apparently, you need to WEED gardens, and WATER them, and COVER them when it freezes... things that Zac has told me over and over and tries to remind me when I say I want to plant a garden every year.

But, apparently, suflowers (the only inedible thing I planted), don't care about WATER, WEEDING, and COVERING, and they grew in abundance!

At least I planted them on the end of the garden, so from the road, it looks like I am quite the gardener.

Even though we can't eat them, they are so worth it for the peek-a-boo sessions and the colorful joy they bring when I look out the window!

Crazy Baby Hair Contest

2011-09-21T08:50:00.000-07:00

Disney is sponsoring a "Crazy Baby Hair Contest", I am wondering if we have a shot.

Meet Charlotte, an 18-month old with hair so blonde that it is white. Not only is her hair white, but it is fuzzy, like the consistency of a cotton ball that got caught on velcro and pulled off.

.Do you have any idea how many times that I have called the hospital to ask if they mixed up my baby at birth... Is there a brown haired- brown-eyed child out there somewhere that is being raised by white/blonde-haired blue-eyed parents?

Even if Disney doesn't think her hair is Crazy Award Winning, she will always be my crazy beautiful baby! On a separate note, how do I get her to stop eating the dog's food? Seriously, any suggestions would be appreciated!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

2011-09-21T08:39:00.000-07:00

Back to school time, oh how I love thee...

It's not that I haven't enjoyed having my children home all summer, I have. We have had a very fun-packed and adventurous Summer... but come August, we hit the Summer doldrums. Kids that were best friends all summer long are suddenly calling each other "stupid dorks" and are laying around on the couches lamenting how there is nothing to do. That's how you know when it is back to school time.

Tanner and Ashlyn started 2nd grade this year. Can you believe it 2nd grade! That magical age when all of your friends are turning eight and getting baptised (except, Tanner and Ashlyn have to wait clear until August next year... but it is coming and my favorite quote from Zac is, "You know one minute they are getting baptised and the next thing you know they will be graduating from highschool (tear, sniffle)." Of course, he said the same thing about them starting nursery, and tee-ball, and preschool, and Kindergarten.)

All set to go, Ashlyn has Mrs. S this year, who we have been told has been teaching for 30 something years and is the best teacher in the world. One of her best friends/ step-cousins is in her class this year, which just makes everything that much more fun! Ashlyn has really started the year on a great note, where she struggled with handwriting last year, she gets perfect scores on all of her handwriting pages this year and she has become a reading fiend! I am so proud of Ashlyn and how hard she is working.

Tanner got Mrs. R, who we have also learned has taught for many years, but is new to 2nd grade. The amount of boys in his class (and Ashlyn's) outnumbers the girls 2 to 1! We know many of the boys in Tanner's class and hope his teacher is up to the challenge. Tanner was thrilled to find out that his best friend Ty would be in his class this year. Tanner is also having a terrific start to his year. His teacher has already expressed how she enjoys Tanner's sweet and helpful nature and he is also reading so well.

Ian started "Mommy School" the week after the twins started school. A group of seven moms from our ward got together to form a preschool. We each take a turn teaching for a month and the kids meet on Mondays and Wednesdays. We are learning about colors, shapes, numbers, letters of the alphabet and so much more. I get to be the lucky mom to teach first and on our first day we learned about the letter A and had a theme on alligators. There are 6 boys in our class and just 1 poor girl. What is the deal with all the boys with the surplus of boys in this area?

And Charlotte believes that she is very much a part of "Mommy School". She follows the kids from activity to activity insisting that she do exactly what the big kids are doing, which resulted in big black marker-y handprints on the wall, which fortunately came off... but I am having to come up with more clever ways to appease her into believing she is doing what we are doing without making such huge messes!

We all love school and learning and are enjoying the many fun activities and projects that are taking place in our home and at school.

Horsing Around with Our Cousins

2011-09-07T14:03:00.000-07:00

We have the most adorable cousins that live about 45 miles away from us. These girls have grown up riding horses from about the moment they could sit up and now they enter oodles of rodeos and fairs racking up hundreds of blue ribbons, belt buckles, and trophies! These amazing cousins invited us over for a horse ride a few weeks ago and we had an absolute ball riding, playing, and socializing! Thanks Fillmores!

Cousin Mardee and Tanner

Cousins Meg and Frank

And Macey with Ashlyn

My Weird Photo Collection

2011-09-07T13:56:00.000-07:00

I told Zac the other day that if I ever took the initiative to publish calendars commercially, my photography could support two kinds of calendars... ghost houses (my weird obsessive hobby), and sleeping children. There is just something so magical about sleeping children... it is the one time of day that they look so innocent and sweet and are causing no mayhem that you remember at that minute just how much you love them. Here are two of my favorite sleeping children:

Don't you love it when babies sleep with their bums up in the air!

At least it wasn't his scriptures that he fell asleep on... this is actually a book about John Deere tractors, he must have been REALLY tired!

Tanner's Latest Crackups

2011-09-07T13:48:00.000-07:00

Lately Tanner has come up with some pretty good ones that gave me a good chuckle...

Scenario: Me curling my hair before Tanner's football game.
Tanner: "Mom, what ARE you doing?"
Me: "What does it look like I'm doing!... ahem... I mean curling my hair darling boy."
Tanner: "But, you usually only do your hair if you are going to something REALLY special."

Oh so sad, but probably true... but at least I came back with this great comeback,
Me: "But Tanner, your football game IS something really special."

Scenario #2: Me unloading a months worth of groceries.
Me: "Ahhh, there has to be an easier way to deal with groceries!!!"
Tanner: "There is, why don't you just invent a 'Grocery-inator'!"

I think he has been watching too much Phineas and Ferb, but if he can invent me a Grocery-inator, then it will be time well spent!

The Great Butterfly Massacre

2011-08-18T15:50:00.000-07:00

For Ashlyn's birthday a month ago, she received a butterfly kit. The kit came with a cute little butterfly habitat and a coupon to mail away for five small caterpillars that would eventually...

turn themselves into chrysalids... and...

hatch into painted lady butterflys!

Ashlyn very lovingly cared for her caterpillars and butterflies, watching them grow and change every day, feeding them, and making sure they stayed out of the stinker's way so that she didn't shake and scare them in their habitat... Well, the last butterfly hatched two days ago and Ashlyn decided it was time to let them out into the real world... experience freedom, and fresh air, and real nectar! We gathered all the siblings together and thought that the stinker would also enjoy watching the butterflies fly away into the great blue horizon...

However, the butterflies didn't quite know what to do when they got out and they climbed up on Tanner's shirt, and chilled out on the porch steps...BAD MOVE BUTTERFLIES!!! Everything from there happened in a blur... Charlotte was all over them, like me on chocolate. She grabbed those butterflies in her pudgy little fists and ripped their wings off, then threw them on the ground and stomped on them.

Poor Ashlyn... I didn't even know what to say to comfort her?

Here is a video of the terrible massacre... if you have a weak stomach for butterfly torture, don't play it!

Craft Happens

2011-08-18T15:30:00.000-07:00

June was CRRRAAAZZZYYYY... if you don't believe me go back to my June posts... July was full of camping and family reunions and August is well... time for school to start. It is amazing, you can just tell when it is school time again. The kids are suddenly so boooorrrrreeeeddd and can't seem to find anything to do but punch each other and ask when the neighbors will be home.

So, we have had to get creative around here. Here are some of our latest projects.

Sidewalk paints, even our favorite neighbor pal got into the action!

The recipe I found for this said to combine corn starch, water and food coloring, but never gave an amount. If I can remember correctly, we did 1 tbsp. of corn starch for each color, then 2 tbsp. water, and 5 drops of food coloring. We had a ball just making the paints before they even made it to decorate the sidewalk.

Even the stinker thought this was great and was entertained for minutes!

Our finished masterpiece... and yes, it did wash off nicely!

Next up... SLIME!

This stuff was super fun to play with and has kept quite nicely in a ziplock bag.

Here is the recipe, which I got from Our Best Bites, who have an awesome step by step picture tutorial on this if you want it, just click on the link.

Homemade Slime aka GAK

1 teaspoon borax powder
1 1/2 C water, divided
4 oz (1/2 C) Elmer’s glue, clear or white
food coloring

Add borax powder to 1 cup of water and stir to dissolve. Set aside. Pour glue into a medium mixing bowl and add 1/2 C water. Add a few drops of food coloring until desired color is reached and then stir to mix glue solution until smooth. Pour the borax mixture into the glue mixture and watch the solids start to form. Stir for a few moments and then use your hands to gather the mass. The mixture will be very soft and wet. Keep kneading until it firms up and feels dry. Discard excess liquid in bowl. The more you knead and play with the slime the firmer it will become. Store in a ziplock bag or air tight container and the slime will keep indefinitely.

Our adorable Hooters! Don't ask me for directions, we just kind of "winged" it, get it we "winged" it... oh I am so funny.

This craft actually took up the better part of a day! A whole day!!! We decided that the half wall on our stair landing would make a great ocean. We each made as many sea creatures that we could think of and arranged them in this life-sized playform. Oh such fun, until Charlotte ripped everything down...

Ian's colorful fish and sea turtle. He is such an artist and spends large amounts of time always completing his crafts making them immaculate. He also cuts very well. I am so proud of all that he is accomplishing!

Tanner's pod of whales. Tanner is so into wildlife and especially ocean life and loves to learn all that he can... he just soaks it all in like a "sponge"... oh there I go again, I am so "punny" today!

And Ashlyn's boy crabs with their "girlfriend" crabs with pink bows in their hair. It was so fun to see each of my children's personalities coming through as we worked on this craft together!

This is our puffy finger painting activity. This came about when we saw a picture of a puffy paint snowman, but decided we could not make snowmen in the summer time... so we added a little color and voila...

Our puffy paint masterpieces!

If you want to make your own puffy finger paints, add equal amounts shaving cream and elmer's glue, and a couple of drops of food coloring and then stir until frothy.

Pioneer Day

2011-08-18T14:44:00.000-07:00

We love our pioneer ancestors, and not just for the amazing things that they did to trek across the United States so that they could freely practice their religion here in the West. We also love them because they invented "Pioneer Day"! Which is a huge deal here in Idaho (thought it was an even bigger deal when we lived in Utah and the whole state would shut down and there would be fireworks and huge parades)... but we are just as happy with our Idaho celebrations!

Our stake has this wonderful annual Pioneer Day celebration that involves a catered dinner from Gandolofos? where they pack these amazing sack lunches with fantastic sandwhiches, chips, cookies, and all the pop you can drink... then there is kaereoke, pie eating contests, chicken chases, and mutton busting AND

A huge pool filled with about 20-30 large trout that they release into the water and let the kids grab and keep!

My kids have never actually caught one, but they sure give it their all.

There are also pony rides...

And a dunking booth, that my sweet little fish Ashlyn was determined that she was going to sit in this year. After she went in, I thought she would be half drowned and scared, but she got up there again and did it 5 more times! Yikes, my kids are growing up so fast!

Bundle of Fun

2011-08-04T13:46:00.000-07:00

Oh goodness me, they say it takes a while to forget how difficult newborns are before you want to have another... newborns difficult, bah! At least newborns stay where you put them! Every day I collapse into an exhausted heap on the couch and tell Zac, Charlotte is the busiest kid we have ever had... to which he reminds me to go read my own blog posts about Ian when he was this age... and let's just say we are lucky I didn't start blogging until the twins were almost four! All said, at the end of the day, I peek at my precious sleeping angel and suddenly the day's naughtiness becomes more funny than exhausting.

Whenever we buy worms to fish with, the kids always think that the worms were bought as a personal pet. This can of worms kept Charlotte busy for over an hour as she carefully took them out and set them free and then picked them back up and started all over again.

Why is it so fun for toddlers to fit themselves into the tightest spaces possible. This girl loves to climb into my corner cabinet and sit and play with all my cans. Notice that she only has ONE shoe... this summer she has lost a sandle at the movie theatre, another at Toys 'R us, another in the vast expanse of our yard, and has been thwarted on many lost shoe attempts as I catch her throwing them in public places.

Reading and kissing magazines, notice her piggy tails, I am loving that her hair is finally long enough for piggies!

And this is my favorite, and it goes with a story... months ago darling Charli developed an ear infection in both ears. I knew that her ears were hurting because she started covering them as in the above picture. When she covered her ears, she discovered that it muffled sound. Flash forward to months later and healed ears, now whenever mom says, "No!" as in "No Charlotte! Don't throw your food on the floor!" then she plugs her ears thusly so that she doesn't have to hear mom! Why doesn't that work for me when I don't want to hear what the kids have to tell me?

What will this child be like as a teenager, I just hope she survives so that we can find out!

Pictures from the Thunderbolt

2011-08-04T13:11:00.000-07:00

Zac has a really cool phone called a Thunderbolt. He likes it a lot and says that he can take better pictures on it than I can with my digital camera. The only problem is, that I can only get those pictures from him about once a year when he finally gets around to e-mailing them to me. And as you can see, they are much smaller than the pictures I usually post, but hey you have to admire that Thunderbolt quality.

The next three pictures, seem to be recurring in my blog quite frequently. We love to visit Zac's grandma's cabin in Island Park, and one of our favorite things to do there is set out our minnow traps on the docks and catch minnows and craw dads.

Ashlyn at the docks

Ian running haphazardously without a life jacket on the docks

And pulling in the days haul

This is where Charlotte rides when we go to the docks, or else she would jump in the water. I am serious, she has done it before.

This is our intelligent dog, Maggie, and the mess she gets herself into every day when she is tethered for the night. She wraps herself around chairs, ladders, slides, and if you cant tell, there is a golf club tied securely to her legs that she somehow managed to mangle in with everything else.... dogs... who knew they were so much work!

And this is me at the beginning of summer posing next to the falls by the temple. The river was in flood stage at the time and we couldn't believe the amount of water coming down over the falls.

I am walking on water to get to the temple... or the sidewalk was flooded and it made for a cool picture!

Thanks for the nifty pictures Thunderbolt, I look forward to hearing from you again next year!

We'll Sleep Anywhere, but in Our Beds!

2011-08-04T13:00:00.000-07:00

We seem to have created a tradition at our house that when it is summer, anything goes when it comes to bedtime... and by bedtime, I mean that time in which the kids finally fall asleep wherever they land, such as...

The trampoline. After two failed attempts to sleep out on the trampoline under the stars (once a moth got Ashlyn, and another time, there may or may not have been a cloud that looked like it might have lightening in it), Zac finally set up the pup tent on the trampoline and the kids made it through the night outside.

Their nice daddy set them up with popcorn bags, drinks, books and oodles of pillows and blankets, but had to decline their invitation to sleep out in the tent with them, because he had to take care of Charlotte and mommy in the house.

Whenever I go to check on the twins after they have gone to bed, I still find myself surprised at their sleeping habits. This is Tanner, asleep in a sleeping bag in the hallway.

And again, to my surprise, he was wearing his swimming suit, in preparation for a swimming party the next day. Oh, we are so going to hate sleeping in our own beds when school starts again!

Twin Birthday Extravaganza

2011-07-25T14:46:00.000-07:00

My beautiful, wonderful Ashlyn and Tanner turned 7 recently, which is always a huge reason to celebrate, namely because I have kept them alive for 7 whole years which is way more than I can say about any plant or animal that has ever been under my care!

This year Tanner has been on a quest to catch a fish, and is obsessed with all things fishing, which is why he decided on a fish cake this year.

We found a cake that he liked online and I did my best to replicate it. What do you think?

Miss Ashlyn thinks that she wants to own a pet store when she grows up, she loves all animals, especially pink and purple ones.

It is Ashlyn's dream to someday own a cat, I told her if she can find a pink and purple one, then she can have it!

Blowing out the candles at the cabin.

A big stack of presents for two big kids.

Ashlyn's presents included: a sewing machine, a hula hoop, a bubble gum making kit, some littlest petshops, and a butterfly habitat which came with actual caterpillars in the mail that we are told will actually turn into butterflies!

Some of Tanners presents: A remote control motor boat to play with at the lake and in our pool, a bug podz contraption that you can make mazes for bugs with, a water gun, a mad science kit, and...

A BB Gun!!!! Is my boy really old enough for his own gun? He was sure excited!

Trying out some mad science.

10 Things you should know about Ashlyn:

1. Her favorite food in the world is Ramen Noodles and she will eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, if we let her.

2. She is an absolute fish. She can be found in her swimming suit about 24 hours of the day and prefers being in water to being on land.

3. This girl loves to read and has been keeping a very impressive list of the books that she has read during the summer in hopes to win a reading contest when she returns to school.

4. Ashlyn started piano lessons this year and is doing very well at them!

5. Ashlyn absolutely adores animals and STILL plays puppies (stuffed animals) every day with her brothers. She has been doing this since she was probably 18 months old. She hopes to own a pet store some day.

6. Her favorite TV shows are Phineas and Ferb and any Land Before Time movie.

7. She loves being with family and especially loves to play with her best friend (besides her siblings of course), cousin Meg.

8. Ashlyn is an art enthusiast and will spend meticulous amounts of time completing a craft project. Summer craft time at the library was one of her favorite things to do this summer.

9. She loves playing with the boys in the neighborhood and keeps up just fine doing whatever the boys are doing, especialy hunting for bugs or other gross creepy crawlies!

10. Ashlyn loves to help her mom, especially in the kitchen cooking.

We love you Ashlyn Sweetheart and can't wait to see the amazing things you will accomplish this year!

10 Things you should Know About Tanner:

1. This boy can EAT. He is probably one of the skinniest kids in his class, but I have witnessed this kid pound down four hamburgers in one sitting. He averages between 5-10 pancakes at a breakfast sitting, and one sandwich just ain't gonna cut it anymore for lunch!

2. Tanner loves to camp. Last year he got a tent for his birthday and that tent has been put to good use. He uses his tent almost every night to host campouts with his brother and sister. He is always begging us to go camping and fishing.

3. Tanner is a dare devil always trying to pop wheelies and do all sorts of flips and acrobatics on the trampoline and we are very fortunate that this kid hasn't broken a bone (yet?)

4. This kid loves to learn. Every time we go to the library, he heads to the Non-Fiction section and stocks up on any books he can find to learn about ocean animals, animals, dinosaurs, anything with wheels, boats, and etc. He is very knowledgeable on a wide range of topics.

5. Tanner loves to build and construct things. He loves legos and Lincoln Logs and anything that he can use his imagination to build. He is currently working on a model with his dad and can't wait for dad to get home every day to work with him.

6. Tanner is a world class bug catcher. If someone needs a butterfly caught, Tanner is your man and he can often be found in the fields around our house trying to catch elusive breeds of butterfly.

7. Tanner started piano lessons this year and is doing awesome at them.

8. This kid is very athletic and even though he had to face the intimidating pitching machine this year, he got some great hits. He can't wait for football season to start and is also excited to start basketball this year.

9. Tanner is extremely helpful. He can't stand it if he knows that he has a task that needs to be accomplished. First thing in the morning he asks us what his chores are for the day so that he can get them done, then he makes sure that his brother and sisters get their chores done so that everyone can play.

10. Tanner looks forward to being a missionary and likes his hair very neatly trimmed. He won't let us so much as put a spike in his hair, without him running to the bathroom to comb it down. He is always dressed in a shirt and tie first thing on Sunday morning and he has a very sweet testimony.

We love you very much Tanner and appreciate all you do to keep our home running!

God Bless America

2011-07-08T10:22:00.000-07:00

God

Bless

America

We had such a wonderful Fourth of July spent as a family. After an adventurous week of camping, we ALL, yes ALL of us even the baby slept in until 9:30 am, making it impossible for us to catch any parades! So we spent the day together as a family swimming in our pool, eating pizza in the park, and catching Rio at the movie theatre, where we happened to be only one of three families in the whole theater.

We ended the night with some brownies and ice cream and a bag of fireworks. Zac and I have been studying our forefathers a lot lately and have been feeling very patriotic. Zac asked the kids if they knew why we celebrated the Fourth of July, to which this conversation took place:

Ashlyn: "I know, I know, it's not just about fireworks."

Tanner: "It's probably about Jesus, most holidays are about Jesus."

Ian: "I know why we celebrate it! It's because it is a special holiday, that's why!"

Charlotte: "Whhhhhaaaaaaaa!!!!!!"

Hopefully, we got them straightened out! What a wonderful holiday. We are so thankful to live in America!

Family Camping

2011-07-08T10:08:00.000-07:00

We love camping! But even more than that, we love being with family, so when my mom and dad suggested a Martineau family camping trip over the 4th of July weekend, we were so there!

My parents selected a spot right near Henry's Lake, which is just down the road from Island Park and Mack's Inn. The spot they picked was absolutely perfect, so many big beautiful trees offering shade, big flat spots perfect for tents and camping trailers, and a large meadow perfect for playing games.

We had some wonderful badmitton/ volleyball games take place, with only a few injuries which is good for a family this competitive!

But our favorite part was playing in the creek that ran nearby. The kids had nets and were in Heaven trying to catch minnows.

It was such a warm day that the creek felt so relaxing.

The big girls had a ball wearing their life jackets like diapers and floating down the creek.

And Kellie got a much needed shampooing. (Sorry Kell, this picture was just so cute, if you hate me, I can remove it, but I think you look darling!)

Unfortunately, I didn't get any good pictures of Tanner in, as he was constantly off on adventures with his boy cousins, and Charlotte wouldn't hold still for a picture. I would have loved to have gotten some better pictures of the campsite as well, but I get so busy living life sometimes, that I forget to chronicle it with pictures! We had a great time visiting with family, eating good food, and enjoyed a wonderful fireworks show at Mack's Inn. What a great way to spend a holiday!

Where Did June Go: Part IV Randomness

2011-06-25T15:56:00.000-07:00

This post brings me to the end of my series of "Where did June Go?" As you can see we have had a lot of fun this month and are definately getting a bang for our buck on our Summer Vacation!

When Ashlyn was in charge of FHE, she decided that she wanted to try a recipe out of her "My Littlest Petshop" coloring book. This was a recipe for Peppermint Cheesecake. She helped me make it and as a finishing touch, she decided to put a heart shaped cookie cutter in the center as a decoration. She was so proud of the finished product that she wanted this photo to commemorate it before we ate it!

We have also come up with some clever snacks. These are clamshells that we made with some Vanilla Wafers, some pink frosting and some leftover Easter sixlets. They were a hit, as are the many S'mores we have cooked up in the microwave.

Tanner in his scout shirt digging up some mushrooms at the cabin, I can say that I will probably not be using these to cook up any summer fun.

Ian getting in his Zoolander mode, as we prepared to take family pictures at the cabin. This boy has become quite the model, he has all sorts of patented poses and facial expressions that we are lucky enough to witness when he pulls them out for portrait sessions.

We discovered that Charlotte likes the Splash Park, but especially likes the Caurosel at the Splash Park, I am so mad that I forgot to take a picture of her on the Caurosel, she bawled when the ride was over.

Getting wet

Getting dry

Family movies

With lots of popcorn!

And lots of laying around and gazing at the clouds.

We have also been...

-Read, read, reading in the summer reading time program at the library

-Craft, craft, crafting

-Having slumber parties with siblings

-Playing outdoors with neighborhood friends

-Riding bikes

-Practicing the piano for piano lessons

-And celebrating birthdays and holidays

What a busy and great summer, we hope it never ends!

Where Did June Go: Part III Fun with Cousins

2011-06-25T15:07:00.000-07:00

How blessed are we to live so close to 15/18 of our cousins? Very blessed. We do lots of fun things together in the summer, such as...

Eating lunch together at the local elementary school. The government has this awesome program for parents who are too lazy to feed their children lunch, you just find a participating elementary school and they will feed your kids for you! We have made great use of the program, because we are in fact lazy moms!

Fun at the zoo! Alyza and Charlotte checking out the goats. Notice how cute Alyza's hair is, her mother always has it done so cute! To be fair, I also did make Charlotte's hair cute, but usually within 5 minutes she pulls everything out and gives herself a noogie.

These cute little cousins really did "hatch" about the same time, they are only four days apart. too bad, those Bingham cousins live two hours away, we would love to get these girls together more often.

Ian with the goats

Everyone needs a tall daddy, they are great for lifting you up high so that you can see!

Good brothers

Fun on the zoo toys

Every mother needs a picture of their children on the tiger statue at the Idaho Falls zoo, maybe I will start making this my annual Christmas card... which reminds me, Mom...

Me, Annie, and Kellie thought you might want to use this for your Christmas card this year. Feel free to copy/ paste.

Ashlyn and cousin Meg in matching outfits hanging out at the cabin during our annual Fillmore/Powell retreat

And Ian and cousin Brock having fun at the Splash Park

We love you cousins and can't wait for our coming Martineau retreat!

Where Did June Go: Part II Swimming Lessons

2011-06-25T14:40:00.000-07:00

Ever since, our house has been for sale (ahem, almost 3 years), I have always signed my kids up for swimming lessons at Heise Hot Springs in early June just in case the house sells and then we will have swimming lessons done and out of the way. We like Heise because even though it is cold and rainy outside, it is always warm in the hot pools!

I was so proud of Ian this year. He was so scared last year that he would cry and cry. Not so this year! He jumped right in and was thrilled to be learning new swimming skills. When lessons finished up, he told me, "But they can't be over, I still can't swim yet!" Hopefully, we will get there some day.

This is the best picture of Tanner and Ashlyn that I got. Every day this mom would bring her video camera and nice photographer grade camera and stand blocking the view of the swimming pool taking video and pictures of her kids. Seriously, lady, who is going to watch those videos? Anyways, when I finally got around her to snap this one shot, she walked in front of me. But if you could see Tanner and Ashlyn you might see them doing back floats, diving under the wanter to retrieve a ring, or jumping off the deep end and sitting at the bottom of the pool. These are all things that they have perfected this year.

Here is the pre-lesson pose with Charlotte, oh how I wish she were old enough for lessons. On the last day, Char and I paid to stay and swim with the kids and it was very fun. She is a water baby!

Stretching out... you don't want a cramp!

Where Did June Go: Part I Baseball

2011-06-25T14:03:00.000-07:00

The next several blog posts are all a part of a series I like to call "The Month of June and Where it Went"... We will start our tour of the month of June with "Baseball!" Baseball has been an all consuming sport this year as Ian was old enough to sign up for Tee Ball and Ashlyn and Tanner were old enough for pitching machine this year which meant that they were in a different league than Ian.... which also meant that we have had baseball games every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday night as long as it wasn't too rainy to play. That's not to say that we didn't play some games in a "light" rain.

Look at my little slugger at his first game. Isn't he adorable. He was so excited to be one of the big kids this year.

This boy is a natural, look at that throwing arm, and as you could see in the previous post he is also an excellent fielder. When other kids are picking dandelions, this boy is ready to snag the ball.

And boy can he hit. You should see this boy smack one off the tee. He has had a wonderful time playing this year and he will be sad when it is over.

This girl got a huge shock this year when she stepped up to the plate and saw that giant pitching machine hurling a ball towards her bat. I have to say that it was a pretty intimidating leap from tee ball to pitching machine, and even though Ashlyn hasn't had a hit this season (other than a few fouls), she has been a tropper, sticking out the season and working hard when she is out field.

This boy lives for any kind of sports (even if he has to wear a purple shirt... shhhhh don't tell him, he's color blind and he thinks he is on the blue team!) and has even gotten some good hits off of that scary pitching machine this year. He has really enjoyed the season and made some great friends in the process.

The good old purple dragons!

P.S. this is me standing behind the paid photographer snapping my own photo because I didn't want to fork out the $6 each to buy the professional photo!

Charli

2011-06-25T13:32:00.000-07:00

It seems like just yesterday, Ian was into everything and I didn't know how we could both possibly survive to see him reach adulthood. Okay, that really was just yesterday... but today we are doing battle with Charlotte. This little girl is quite possibly going to kill me with exhaustion because she is into EVERYTHING and goes EVERYWHERE! I seriously dream at night that I am constantly having to rescue this child from danger. Here are a few of the highlights...

Yeah, she looks sweet and innocent here holding a broom, but what you don't see is the mess she is on her way to clean up that SHE made!

Let me explain this picture to you. This is me taking a picture of my darling four year old boy down and ready to field a ball. However, in the five seconds it took me to snap the photo, Charlotte is already on the run and headed to the middle of the baseball field. She has discovered that of all the places at the park to be playing, the middle of the field during a baseball game is the best place. Pretty much any place with an edge of danger to it suits her well... mom's lap definately doesn't qualify. Stranger's laps, yes please! During Tanner and Ashlyn's baseball game last week, she walked right up to a middle aged man and plopped right down on his lap, and that is where she stayed for most of the game, everytime mom tried to get her she would come undone, much to the embarrassment of aforementioned mother.

A tennis court, what a great place for a baby to play, it's like a giant playpen, what possible trouble could she find here...

... how about the only puddle on the whole court!

Even so we still love her, even when she is growling, pinching, pulling hair, and biting us!

Feel Free to Be Jealous

2011-06-15T13:22:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned earlier, Zac and I celebrated our 10th anniversary recently. As this is such a banner year, I wanted to do something besides our traditional pan of brownies and a movie on the couch... don't get me wrong, I love that... but this year demanded something special. A couple of years ago, a couple that owns the Black Swan Inn in Pocatello opened the Destination's Inn in Idaho Falls. They have theme rooms based on different countries around the world. So, Zac and I settled on the Morocco Room and booked it. I figured we would go out to dinner, maybe catch a movie and then head to our room and call it the best anniversary ever. However, I underestimated my uber-super romantic husband. This is how it really went down...

Friday morning, Zac snuggled up and did not appear in any hurry to go to work, which is pretty uncharacteristic for him. I started to panic thinking he would be late for work when he finally let on that he had taken the whole day off to be with me! When I went into the kitchen, I found this gorgeous bouquet and a wonderful note that my dear husband had written to me. He had also arranged with his mom to take work off so that she could watch our kids early (thanks Kris!)

After dropping the kiddos off (first time I have ever left Char overnight)... Zac took me golfing next to the Rexburg airport. We love golfing together and usually make it our birthday tradition, but missed out this year due to rain. The whole time he pointed out the airplanes taking off and landing, which was pretty cool.

When we got home, we ditched our golf clubs, packed our bags and headed for the truck. On my seat in the truck was a large Styrofoam model airplane and some jewelry. hmmm... I thought, what could this airplane be for?

Well, it turns out that the airplane was a clue to our next destination. Zac had arranged with his cousin, Kyle, who happens to have his pilot's license to take us on a romantic flight. Now, the really cool part about all of this is that when Zac and I got married, I had never been on a plane before. We decided not to fly anywhere for our honeymoon as we were still both in school and money was tight, so instead Zac had chartered a little Cessna to fly us over the Tetons. Unfortunately, it snowed on our honeymoon (yes, snow in June!), and we had to reschedule our flight. But we did take it and it was amazing. So this flight with Kyle was a throwback to our honeymoon. Fortunately, it didn't snow and the weather was great for flying.

Zac arranged with Kyle to fly us by the temple where we got married. You can see it there in the top center of this picture. He also flew us over Shelley, where we are trying to move, he flew us over Blackfoot, where he works, and then we made a scenic loop through Palisades and over our current home before returning to the airport. Thanks Kyle for being an amazing tour guide and willing pilot!

After the flight we had an amazing dinner at our favorite restaurant, Applebees... which me may have also picked because I had just enough left on a gift card from my Welch's fruit snack win to pay for our meal.

And finally, we got to check into the Morocco Room at the Destination's Inn. Here is my best friend lounging in the sitting area.

A view from the entry. You can see a bucket with a bottle of sparkling cider chilling in the background. The hotel also left us two monster slices of cheesecake in the fridge.

The beautiful bed on a raised platform. When you lay on the bed you can use a remote to lower a projector screen and you can watch movies or TV on an awesome projector with surround sound.

The champagne-bubbler "Chromatherapy" tub. I was so excited to use the Chromatherapy feature, until I read the instruction manual and found out that "Chromatherapy" means that the tub has a light in it. It was still really fun to use such a cool big bubbler tub.

There was also a big walk-in shower with a sauna feature. We had fun pushing all the buttons.

And the sitting area where we put up our feet and ate our cheesecake by the fire.

I couldn't ask for a more romantic and memorable anniversary, nor could I dream of a more romantic, thoughtful, and wonderful husband. I love you so much Zac and I can't wait for our next 10 years together!

More Cabin Pictures and Mush about Zac

2011-06-09T10:45:00.000-07:00

My sister Lyndsay was one of the many distinguished guests that was able to come to the cabin over Ian's birthday weekend, and I should also mention that she and Ian share the same birthday. Ian loves to have his birthday buddy. She calls him George and he calls her Man with the Yellow Hat. The have a special relationship. Lyndsay has recently taken up photography and she is getting quite a knack for it. These are some of the pictures that she took of our cabin stay.

Ashlyn crafting

As far as Ashlyn is concerned, Heaven is sitting at a table surrounded by craft supplies. Thanks Aunt Lyndsay for bringing us a craft to do!

Charlotte, strapped safely in her high chair anticipating some gourmet cabin cuisine. Check out that bed head, I love it. This is how she usually looks due to the fact that 10 seconds after I have put any ponytail, clip, or bow in her hair, she pulls it out.

Charlotte's favorite place to be? Anywhere with an element of danger, like the middle of a road...

Don't you love this stage? Char is just starting to learn to give kisses. Disgusting, yet precious at the same time.

It was so quiet in Island Park this weekend, we actually got some good weather and took a spin on a paddle boat. It looks like we all have mad expressions on our face, but we really were having fun.

Tanner was determined to catch a fish. One of his most favoritest things to do at the cabin is set minnow and crawdad traps and then check them every five minutes give or take.

We had a great time at the cabin and always come back refreshed and energized. Thanks Grandma for your generosity in letting us crash at the cabin. We love you!

Now.... on to the mushy part about Zac.

It was recently the big guys birthday and I DID take a picture of his birthday brownies with 32 candles in them. And I DID have the most adorable picture of the birthday boy enjoying his new anti-gravity patio chair, but for some stupid reason, my camera corrupted those files?!? So instead of visually seeing my sweet Baboo, you get to just hear about him. Did I also mention it is our TEN YEAR ANNIVERSARY today? So bear with me, I am in a mushy mood.

I love Zac because...

He treats me like a queen. Not a day goes by without him telling me how much he loves he, appreciates me, and thinks that I am beautiful.

He is super smart. No matter where he is in life, at work, fulfilling a church calling, camping in the forest, he always finds a way to make things better, easier, and more efficient. He blows me away with his vast knowledge of everything. I quit making trivial bets with him long ago!

He is a great dad. He absolutely adores his children and choses to spend every spare minute with us entertaining us, playing with us, and teaching us. He would have 20 kids if I was willing, and he would be a great dad to all of them.

He is crazy funny. He cracks me up everyday making me laugh and smile.

He is inventive and artistic. I love to see all of the amazing creations that come out of his brain.

He is understanding and patient. I can't ever fight with this guy because he is far too calm and level headed. He is my rock.

I love you Zachy Boy! Happy Anniversary and Birthday!

Ian Fillmore 4-Year Old Wonder

2011-06-09T10:14:00.000-07:00

We recently celebrated Ian Roberts 4th birthday. We have a tradition that when it is your bithday, you get to choose a family activity, ie. bowling, swimming, movie, family fun center, etc. This year, Ian chose to go to the cabin (Zac's Grandma Gerry's cabin in Island Park) to celebrate his birthday and we were fortunate to have a majority of his cousins there with us to celebrate at one time or another.

A couple of months ago, our family discovered Netflix. Having never had cable or satellite, my kids have had their worlds opened to a variety of new and very exciting TV shows. Ian wonders how he possibly lived life before without Diego. If I let him, he would watch Diego 24 hours a day. So for his birthday, we got him an explorer vest and some exploring gear just like Diego. Now when he watches Diego, he runs to get his vest and his gear. And he loves to explore outside!

Ian was pretty stoked to be 4 and finally old enough to play on a Tee Ball team, so in honor of this momentous occasion, he chose a baseball mitt birthday cake. This is one of the rare cakes that I have made for my boys that doesn't have anything with wheels on it!

Ian opening a special present from his Daddy. Zac gave him his very own golf clubs, because they love to golf together in the backyard and Zac even mowed a golf course on the vacant lot next to us equipped with flags, pins, and all.

Tanner and Ashlyn are finally getting old enough to select birthday presents for their brother. Ashlyn gave him a turtle Pillow Pet and Tanner gave him a race car. Ian thought everything was great and had a wonderful birthday.

Ten Things You Should Know About Ian:

1. As I mentioned before, Diego is his favorite show in the world. When he watches it, he avidly participates with Diego and would love to be an animal rescuer in real life.

2. He is hilarious. I can't tell you how many people approach me to tell me the funny things this kid says and does. One of my favorites from yesterday was when he told Ashlyn that he was old enough to be a dad now. She got upset and told him we was not either even close to being a dad, to which he replied, "Yes I am, look at all the hair on my legs!"

3. Ian is very coordinated and good at sports. It has been amazing watching him play baseball. He is one of the few on his team that is always crouched and ready to field a ball and can smack that ball off the tee. He can even hit the balls that I pitch to him. And now that he is four, he informs me that he can run faster than me, and can jump super high.

4. He is his dad's buddy! He meets Zac at the door as soon as Zac gets home from work and can't wait to ask his daddy to throw him on the bed. He is Zac's shadow on the weekends and tells me often that how he loves his daddy more than me!

5. His favorite food is hot dogs on a hot dog bun.

6. This boy is extremely musical. He constantly has to have music playing in his room and he memorizes songs easily and is often singing to himself.

7. He can ride his bike without training wheels.

8. He is very smart. He knows his letters and numbers to 20, and is constantly sounding out and spelling words.

9. Ian loves playing with his best buddies, Ashlyn and Tanner, and follows them everywhere. Even though he is younger and smaller, there is nothing that they can do that he can't and he is so much fun that even when they are playing with their older friends, he has earned their respect and right to play with them. Everyone likes having Ian around. During the summer, he sleeps with Ashlyn and Tanner in Ashlyn's bed. He rarely fights with his brothers and sisters.

10. He has such a strong little testimony and is often telling Zac and I about his prayers to Jesus. He is so curious about Jesus, Heavenly Father, Heaven, and resurrection and asks us questions all of the time seeking all of the knowledge that he can gain. He cracks us up when he talks about his "ghost body" (spirit). He also really cracked me up when we went to the cemetary around Memorial Day and He saw a hole in the ground that someone had made to work on some sprinkler pipes. Ian looked at it and said, "Well, it looks like that person came alive again already!"

Oh What do You Do in the Summer Time?

2011-06-02T15:28:00.000-07:00

Tanner and Ashlyn officially started their Summer break on May 20 and boy did they go out of first grade with a bang. The whole first grade had an alphabet countdown to the last day of school. For the last 26 days of school, every day the first graders had a different celebration for the letter of the day. Some of our favorite were I for Ice Cream day, J for Jump a Jillion ways day, P for pancakes and pajammas day, and so much more. The kids also got to go on a walking tour of Rigby for a field trip where they visited a grocery store, bank, post office, mortuary, and candy store. They loved it. They also both got to star in clas plays.

Ashlyn was the Farmer's Wife in a production of the Golden Goose. She had three lines to memorize and she had them down easy.

This is Ashlyn with her teacher Mrs. Scoresby. This was Mrs. Scoresby's last year teaching in Idaho, as she is moving to teach in Utah next year. We were lucky to have her. She was a great teacher for Ashlyn.

This is Tanner starring as Ducky Lucky in a production of Chicken Little. He also memorized his lines and did very well. I am kicking myself for forgetting to get a picture of him with his teacher Mrs. Jorgensen. She absolutely loved Tanner. Every time I went in to the classroom, she would tell me how much she enjoyed my boy. It seemed like every Friday, he was coming home with prizes from the prize box for being student of the week. He is really going to miss Mrs. Jorgensen.

Both kids had awesome report cards and have come so far in their reading and math this year. We are so proud of them both!

Now that we are done with school these are a few things we have been up to so far...

Playing cowboys with the neighbor children. Even Maggie the dog got into the action on this one.

And riding bikes everywhere!

Ashlyn, Ty, and Ethan, with Ian, Maggie, and Tanner seated. This is our neighborhood gang. These buddies are inseparable and playoutside all day long as long as the weather permits (and even sometimes when it doesn't). My kids think living in a neighborhood is pretty great.

Charlotte has discovered that she is the right size to ride Ian's Power Wheels 4-Wheeler and she LOVES it. She wants to be outside every waking moment of the day.

And recently, the kids got into the contesting mode with me and we all created entries for the Jelly Belly Jelly Bean cupcake challenge. You can find the link for the contest on my cooking blog: Chew and Chew. The kids designed, created, and took pictures of their creations. I am so proud!

Ashlyn's Sun Flower

Ian's cupcake which I am told is "A Kind of People"... look at that good use of Jelly Bellys.

Tanner's Octopus, each mini cupcake is a part of a tentacle. The Jelly Belly's are the suckers. His octopus is eating a sweedish fish. You can see his technical drawings underneath. He really put a lot of thought and creativity into this one.

And here is my entry, I thought it was clever, but if you actually look at the contest site, there are lots of VERY clever cupcakes, so wish us luck, we will need it! The grand prize is $10,000, wouldn't that be nice!

So, that is our Summer so far, but now that June has hit, we have baseball/tee-ball games every night M-Th, swimming lessons for two weeks, piano lessons starting up, and library summer reading. We will need more luck to get us through June than we will in winning the jelly bean contest!

Ian's Preschool Graduation

2011-06-02T14:26:00.000-07:00

For Ian's preschool this year, some mom's from the neighborhood got together and we each took a turn teaching preschool for a month. I absolutely love this arrangement for so many reasons. Some of them being, that Ian had a great preschool experience for free, I had fun putting together my own preschool lessons for the months of November and December, and I have formed such a bond of friendship with the other preschool moms.

To celebrate graduation, we took a field trip to the local fire station, where a wonderful fire fighter gave us some good safety tips, and let us tour the fire trucks.

Ian came prepared with his firefighter hat from his Halloween costume. He was in Heaven being in there with all of the fire trucks and equiptment.

Climbing through a fire truck.

Trying out a real firefighter's helmet.

Ian holding his preschool diploma (wrapped around a bottle of bubbles) posing with preschool friends Lincoln and Anna.

Adventures in Motherhood-- The Library

2011-06-02T13:42:00.000-07:00

Years ago, our family became eternally caught in a sinister monkey trap, also known as, "The Library", here's a little story about how it all happened...

One day a innocent, young, and vivacious mother, decides that she would like a book from the library. Being the kind, sweet, and patient mother that she is, she brings the kids. When she got to the library, the kids quickly discover that the library has "Discovery Kits", these are magical, mysterious bags with labels like "Sea Creatures", "Dragons", "Dinosaurs", and etc. These "Discovery Kits", are in appealing large green bags that are zip-tied shut so you can't see exactly what you are getting until you get home and cut open the tie.

Upon getting home and cutting open the bag, we find (approx.) 10 books, puzzles, dvds, playsets with animal figurines, puppets, card games etc. Fun right? But the kit also comes this warning, "Do NOT lose one toy, book, game card, puzzle piece, or dryer lint from the bottom of the bag... if you do, the PENALTY WILL BE $175,000,000 DOLLARS!!! .... so quick as a wink, I gather all of the pieces that have been scattered from one end of the house to the other and put the mystery discovery kit out of the reach of the kids, but not until I have counted every game card, book, puzzle piece, and wad of dryer lint.... phew... but as I am checking the list again, I realize that the discovery kit is due in one week and if it is late the PENALTY WILL BE $175,000,000 DOLLARS!!! And since it practically took me a week to round up the pieces of the mysterious discovery kit, I realize that it is already time to start mentally prepping myself to get back to the library. I wake up at 6 AM (due to a singing dancing frog that has entered my room... but then that is another post)... and begin getting ready to go to the libary.

A rule at our house has always been that you can check out one book per year you are old with a cap at 5. It worked great when the twins were two and we had no other kids, but now that equates to 15 books for the kids and 30 books for myself. We search the house high and low, we have rounded up 44 books but can't find that darn Sea Snakes book... where could it be? It is now 10 AM and I am starting to panic, because the library is 20 minutes away, and if we don't get in the van in the next 15 minutes, then we are going to start cutting into Charlotte's nap time which is not pretty when you are at the library. Sunddenly, I have this weird memory of Zac reading me a book about Sea Snakes at 11 PM last night when I was 95% asleep (true story), so I know the Sea Snakes book has to be somewhere near Zac's side of the bed... BINGO, there it is behind the night stand! Now we can go. I get all the kids in the van, and then back out again to change a stinky diaper. We are back in again, when suddenly I realize, I can't find the library card. Out of the van again, we tear apart the living room, my bedroom, the kitchen, no luck... I call the library to ask how much a replacement card will cost.... $2. So it is worth not losing anymore time to pay my $2 and get in the van so that we don't miss nap time, and we don't bring back the $175,000,000 kit overdue. We head back out to the van, passing the fridge on the way, where I notice the libary card stuck with a magnet. Phew... just saved myself $2.

We get to the library and find that it is sign up day for the Summer reading time program, which means that the parking lot is filled to capacity and we have to park across the street and hike into the library with 4 kids, 45 books, one discovery kit. I personally get to carry 44 books (because the kids shredded their plastic grocery bags in the van), a wiggling toddler, and 3 coats, because the kids don't want to wear their coats, but need them in case it rains on the way back out.

When we get in, the kids want to sign up for the Summer Reading program, which means that they each get a candy bracelet (which they cannot eat in the library, yeah right) and some passports, where they are supposed to track their reading. Along with these library passports, we are currently already tracking reading for a school wide reading contest, and a second grade reading program. Now every time we read, we have to write down the title of the book on an ice cream cone, color a piece of wood on a random worksheet, and fill in the summer time passport.

The kids then fan out. Tanner heads to the Non-Fiction section, where he will find the longest books he can find with very technical and (uninteresting to me) words and paragraphs about cars, aircraft, trains, and anything else with wheels... and now that he is reading, if I read these books to him, he knows that I am skipping pages and making up words.

Ian also wants to learn about summfin' cause Tanner is (which means he wants a NF book), so we have to look up something on the card catalogue on the computer. But he insists on doing the computer work himself, so it is a very slow process of him typing in the letters, of words that he has made up because he doesn't really know what he wants to learn about.

While Ian is looking summfin' up on the computer, Charlotte is running down the aisles throwing books right and left. The librarians are glaring at me... but I feel like if they really didn't want toddlers taking books off the shelves, they would build a toddler holding cage.

Ashlyn has quickly picked her 5 books and heads for the computers, and since there are 5 computers and 50 kids at the library today, you can imagine the fun that is taking place over at the computer station.

Time to check out... and guess what, the library has this really fun self check-out machine and each of my kids is elbowing eachother and fighting over who will get to check out their books first... but we make it and we are almost out the door when...

OH WAIT... we forgot to get ANOTHER DISCOVERY KIT!!!

Sigh... does anyone want to come help me round up 200 magnets, 15 books, 2 dvds, and 1000 puzzle pieces, before next Thursday?

Great Ideas

2011-05-26T16:29:00.000-07:00

I recently sold another piece to Disney's Family Fun magazine for their "My Great Idea" segment. If you don't subscribe to Disney's Family Fun, you are totally missing out... you can get a subscription on e-bay for generally under five dollars, so there is really no excuse... Anywho, the piece will come out in the June/July issue and I will score a whoppin' $100 for some family fun of my own.

Here are a few other good ideas we have had lately for some Fillmore family fun...

We painted rocks to look like the fruits and vegetables growing in our garden to use as row markers.

We wrapped some presents for our dear daddy, who has a birthday coming up. I learned this trick from my crafty mother-in-law. If you have some scraps after the wrapping is finished, you can cut them into thin strips and curl them with scissors just like you would curl a ribbon.

Then you can tape or staple a grouping of them together and use them for a free, cute bow. Her bows are totally cuter and have lots more ribbon curls, but I was being too lazy to cut up more scraps... but you get the idea!

This fun craft came from my sister Lyndsay, she did this with the kids when we all stayed at the cabin together recently. First, you use crayons to fill a sheet of white cardstock with colorful shapes and designs. You can be totally random, but make sure you use lots of colors everywhere. Next you use black craft paint (toll paint, acrylic paint, whatever you want to call it), to cover the whole sheet of paper. Let it dry completely, then using a nail, screw, or whatever other random hardwear you have laying around (a fork?), scratch a design in the picture. Aren't these cute! The kids had a ball with them!

And finallly, this is what will be in the June/July issue of Family Fun. It is a cup saving clothes line for camping. You just string up some rope and bring some clothes pins. Everyone writes their name on a clothes pin, then for the duration of the camping trip, when you are done with your cup, you can hang it on the line. It saves cups and keeps litter off the ground. This idea came from my cousin Kathy's husband Scott's family and he taught it to us at a family reunion.

What great ideas have you had lately?

The Best Day of the Year

2011-05-13T15:14:00.000-07:00

Call me selfish, but Mother's Day tends to be my most favorite holiday of the year! It is the one day of the year when I get to sleep in, have breakfast cooked for me, and the house neat and tidy. And when you have amazing kids like me, it makes Mother's Day even better.

Here is Ian lounging in the Anti-gravity chair that he and his brother and sisters helped dad pick out. Dad says that the idea for the chair came from the kids and they had to go to at least three different stores before they found a chair that had all the necessary amenities.

Ashlyn grew me some fresh basil and brought home a recipe for spaghetti sauce with fresh basil, which we just had to try and we had it for dinner that night! It was delicious!

Tanner made me a Mother's Day game at school and brought it to me in bed where we played it probably five times! It was fun and the best part is how excited he was to give it to me! In addition to the presents the kids made at school, I got hundreds of notes, pictures, and dandelion bouquets. I even got some pretty tricky scavenger hunts set up to help me find my prizes!

And this stinker took at least one day off from causing any major catastrophes and her dad took diaper duty for the day which was awesome.

And here is the Man making my favorite breakfast. I couldn't be a mother without this guy, nor would I be nearly as good a mother without his awesome example as a father. I love you Zac! Thanks for the wonderful Mother's Day... your turn is next!

Cheap Happiness

2011-05-04T12:55:00.000-07:00

About a month ago, I signed up to be on a blog e-mailing list. The site is Freebies 2 Deals and everyday they have free samples that you can sign up for and other amazing deals. I have been signing up daily for deals and as most deals take 4-6 weeks to get to your door, I am just now starting to get them in my mailbox.

This is what was in my mailbox today: A free sample of a Shout Color Catcher (do you think it will get the orange crayon out of our white underwear?), A free bottle of any Suave Professionals product, A free bag of Kraft Mozzarella Cheese, and though it didn't come today, you can also see a free box of Philadelphia cooking creme that was in my fridge (I would have also added my 3 free Jell-O Pudding Temptations, but I already ate them all, they were yummy!)

And this is just a start! I have many more free samples and coupons on their way in the mail. It makes me happy to check the mail everyday, rather than dreading the bills that will be in there!

And finally, I just wanted to show you that Charlotte is still alive, with NO NEW bumps or bruises and is safely buckled into her high chair.... while I am down here... blogging... ummmm excuse me for a moment, while I go check on the baby!

(disclaimer, I did not actually leave the baby upstairs alone in her high chair, I only put that in for humor's sake... just sayin')

A Blog About the Blog

2011-05-04T12:23:00.000-07:00

Two years in the making and it is finally here, THE BLOG BOOK! When I started this blog, I did so with the motiviation that I would eventually someday print the thing and use it as a family photo joural. The goal was to replace the constant photo albumn projects that I have laying all around my house.

And I did it, and it is here, and I love it!

I will admit that formatting everything how I wanted it in print form was a little trickier and took a little longer than I had hoped, but the effort was well worth it.

One of the best things about this whole project was that I ended up buying a $40 credit for only $20 through Groupon to Blurb.com, which is where I printed the book. In all the book cost me $43 and that included shipping. It is hard bound with pictures on the front and back and glossy pages. The book contains 450+ pictures. Printing them all out and buying the supplies to create an album would have cost me much more than the $43 I invested for this awesome book. As you can tell, I am tickled about how everything turned out and hopefully my kids will enjoy this photo journal for years to come!

Bad Easter Eggs and Tricky Easter Hunts

2011-04-28T09:56:00.000-07:00

NOTE: If you even think about turning me into Children's Health and Welfare, then stop reading right now! I already know that I am the worst mother in the world. The only reason I am even posting this is to warn you to ALWAYS buckle your baby into the high chair!

Poor Charlotte! You would think that being my fourth child, I would have learned certain lessons by now... but no, it seems this child is so eager to climb and run and jump, that I never realize until too late that I should move the crib matress down, or buckle her into her high chair. She was eating dinner last night, doing great, licking her tray... I turn my back to put something into the sink, and BLAMO! Look at the size of that egg on her head, have you ever seen one that bad! Yes, I freaked out. We finally calmed her down, kept an eye on her pupils (making sure she didn't have a concussion), and kept her awake for the next 2+ hours so that we could watch her.

By this morning, it was down to this... You know someday, someone will ask her, "Were you dropped on your head as a child, or what?" and she will sadly have to say, "Yes, several times!" I swear to you, I am going out to buy a helmet and some football pads for her today!

On a totally unrelated note, we had to show our house the other day. When we came home, Ashlyn said, "Why did you put cups on top of the cupboards?" Hmmm... well Ian was in charge of unloading the dishwasher, it turns out that he wanted to make a fun "hunt" for me, after all of the fun Easter hunts that he has been to. Don't ask me how he got the cups up there. I think that I am finally starting to find all of my silverware, cups, plates, pots and pans. You would think that I would learn to never take my eyes off my kids for even a second. That is why I will now be taking them all into the bathroom with me, if you'll just excuse me for a moment....

Easter Weekend

2011-04-28T09:25:00.000-07:00

I decided to try something different for Easter this year. In the past, Easter would officially start Saturday morning with an Easter egg hunt, then we would leave our baskets out and then the Easter bunny would come Saturday night. Sunday morning would be chaos as the kids woke up and looked for Easter baskets and jelly beans and then were told to hold everything and get breakfast, get ready for church, and out the door. Or even harder, if it was fast Sunday... try telling a group of small children not to eat touch any candy until our fast is broken later in the day. THEN while we were at church, our focus would be on how soon we could get home to play with our toys and eat our candy.

This year, I really wanted to teach the kids the meaning of Easter. We decided to break our Easter into two celebrations, a celebration of the coming of Spring, and a celebration for Jesus Christ, the atonement, and the resurrection. Our Easter spring celebration started Friday. The kids were on Spring Break, so Zac took half a day off of work and took us to see "Hop" and took us "bowlin' ball" (Ian's term for Bowling). Then we went home, got our Easter baskets out, made some cookies together, and watched a Veggie Tales Easter movie before going to bed. Tanner and Ashlyn slept together and could not fall asleep in anticipation of the Easter bunny. When the Easter bunny came, he hid every jelly bean and hundreds of other little candies in every concievable hiding place at our house.

You can see jelly beans and candy in every nook and cranny on the couches, tables, door knobs, door hinges, blinds, light switches, and many more perfect hiding places.

Here is Ian finding a stash on the lamp!

And Tanner, cleaning off the light switches...

And Ashlyn with a big stash in between the stair rails!

Next the Bunny hid a single Easter egg that held a clue that kicked off a scavenger hunt to find the Easter baskets, which just so happened to be in the bathtub!

After a couple of lazy hours in our pajammas enjoying our treats and toys, we headed to an Easter egg hunt at a local park. And for that one miraculous morning the weather was actually good! A first in Easter egg hunt history! Then we spent the rest of our day playing at the park and enjoying our new Spring toys... which wrapped up our Spring celebration.

Saturday night, I read from the Children's Bible stories about the last week of Christ's life. We had a family meeting and discussed ways we could each make our Easter Sunday more meaningful. We decided as a family to:

-turn off the TV all day

-listen to good music

-think about Christ during the sacrament

-say a special personal prayer of gratitude towards Christ

and -watch the Lamb of God video as a family

In the morning for breakfast, we made Resurrection Rolls, it was a recipe given to me by my mother-in-law and so perfect to teach the children about the resurrection. (If you want the recipe, check out http://www.chewandchew.blogspot.com/.)

This is Charlotte on Easter morning checking out her Easter basket from the previous day.

The dress she is wearing is a dress that my niece Courtney wore to our wedding!

Enjoying some candy.

Ashlyn in her Sunday best showing off her Easter basket.

We seriously had the best and most special Easter ever! I will definately be celebrating Easter this way again next year.

Killing Easter Eggs...er, I mean Dying Easter Eggs

2011-04-20T15:11:00.000-07:00

If only all Easter eggs could have Ashlyn for a friend. A loving little girl, who gently and carefully styles and dyes each egg just so...

And though the boys are a little bit rougher with their eggs, an egg would still find itself lucky to be dyed by Tanner and Ian. Their creativity and enthusiasm could make even the most boring egg red with excitement.

An egg would find itself lucky to be in the hands of any child, except Charlotte.

First, she is testing the dye with her hand to make sure that the dye is really going to stain that egg...

Then she has to taste the dye water a couple of times to make sure she isn't wasting something good on an egg (the vinegar in the water convinces her that it isn't something she wants to drink.) Next, she uses her hand to submerge the egg.

And finally, she rips the egg apart with her bare hands and notices that there is a fun little yellow ball in the middle. Of course, she has to taste it, because that is what she is all about. She decides, however, that she doesn't like the yolk and she spits it everywhere. I think she will stick to the plastic ones filled with jelly beans from now on and that is just fine with the rest of the eggs.

No News is Good News

2011-04-20T14:11:00.000-07:00

I officially quit my job with the Jefferson Star today. It seemed like such a good deal when I started. Originally, when I saw the advertisement for a corespondent, I sent my resume in that night and by 8 am the next morning, I had the job. It seemed like it was Heaven sent just for me. A writing job that would look good on a resume, I could do it from home, and I could make a little extra money (little money, being a key word there). I had read the local scenes columns and usually they go something like this:

(these are actual news items from the Garfield Local Scenes column by Norma Rounds)

"Lova Sievers went to Rock Springs, Wyo., last week."

"Garfield First Ward youth Tuesday night spend the evening tying three quilts."

"A birthday party was given for Preston Hawkins ninth birthday Monday."

"Sandy Johnson is recovering from knee replacement surgery."

"Blayne and Carolyn Rounds, of Preston, Ned and Jolene Hill, of Wyoming, and Luke Rounds, of Logan, have been visiting Roy and Norma Rounds." (notice that the author of the column IS Norma Rounds)

What usually happens, is the local scenes corespondent goes to church with a notepad and writes down whatever happened to anyone in the ward that week and they they go home type it up and blamo... that's the week's column. But I just couldn't do that! I could not post all of the week's gossip from my neighbors and ward members. I was sure that no one would speak to me again.

To compensate, I contacted as many different groups and religions all over Rigby and asked for their announcements and upcoming activities. For the past two months, I have filled a page every week with very diverse information, representing many groups. I was told by the Lutherans that I am "Manna from Heaven" and the Presbyterians invited us to their kid's activities to come and take pictures and hang out. However, to gather everything it would take me 6+ hours a week. The pay is as follows: $0.60/ per inch of newsprint and $3.00 per picture (one picture per week), unless it was a photo that I didn't take then it paid $1.00/ photo. I was averaging $3/hour or less and spending way too much time sticking Ian in front of the TV for no real benefit to our family, other than a line on my resume for the possibility that "some day" I will need a resume. Plus, I feel like the editor of my column just did not feel like I was getting the personal stories which is apparently what they like, and every Monday morning I would get a call telling me everything wrong with my article for the week. I was taking it way to personally and starting to feel miserable. So I quit. It was a hard decision. I always consider myself someone who is tough-skinned and someone who sticks things out to the end. I like to think that in any tough situation, a lesson can be learned. So my moral of the story through all of this is: It is okay to be a quitter, especially if it is for the greater good of the family.

Here is what a typical article from me looked like. It came out every Wednesday. My last article will go out a week from today. (Sorry it is cut off, my scanner isn't very big)

So much for my Lois Lane fantasy...at least I'm still married to Super Man!

Bink-a-holic!

2011-04-13T10:15:00.000-07:00

I think we have a problem. Charlotte had the hardest of all my kids learning to sleep through the night. We got so used to plugging her cry-hole with a binky that now we can't seem to take them away. She is so infatuated with binky's that she hides a supply of them and rotates them throughout the day. Every time I see her, she has a new binky in her mouth. The other day I realized we might have an addiction problem on our hands when she came to me with two binky's in her mouth! Does anyone have the number for Bink-a-holic's Anonymous?

Girlie Mirror Re-Do

2011-04-13T09:54:00.000-07:00

Recently, Ashlyn acquired a cute vanity from her Aunt Megan to put into her room, but she needed a mirror to go over it. We had old goldie for awhile, but didn't have a place for it to go after I got my new temple picture for Christmas, so it was time to give old goldie a re-do.

Here is Old Goldie before we touched her up. I love it when blogger flips my pictures for me. It is awesome that it knows better than I what I want to do with my pictures!

This is my design team, Ian and Ashlyn. We needed something to do while Tanner and Dad were skiing.

First thing, we cleaned Old Goldie and covered her up with some newspaper so we wouldn't paint the mirror. We sprayed her with a primer coat of white spray paint and then gave her a couple of coats with a pearlie sheen. I was tempted to stop there... but we were too excited to try making some crepe paper roses that we have been seeing on lots of craft blogs. The total cost in crepe paper, tape, and paint was $10.

The finished product. A perfect addition to Ashlyn's "garden-themed" room.

Looks super cute with her new vanity. Thanks Megan!

Kindergarten-- Take me Away!

2011-04-13T09:34:00.000-07:00

I love playing with Ian, but it certainly is hard to get anything done in a day when I have a four-year-old (almost) shadow following me around everywhere. I can't even go to the bathroom without him knocking... "What are you doing in there? How long are you going to be? What are you going to do next? Then what are you going to do after that? When is lunch? Are you going to play with me after lunch?" If I am not playing with this boy all day long, then he parks it in front of the TV. If I shut off the TV, then he lays on his bed and kicks his feet against the wall for an hour until I can't take it anymore and have to come up with an activity for us to do together. At least when the twins were this age, they had each other for a constant playmate, but now they are at school all day and Charlotte is too little to play with. What do I do?! I love playing with the boy, but sometimes I have to do household chores or something by myself to keep my sanity. How do you teach a child to play by himself? Any suggestions are completely welcome!

Our attempt to entertain ourselves...

Happy Faces

Sad Faces

Mad Faces (note Charlotte pulling my hair)

Surprised

And of course... silly.

You know I'm still gonna cry when this kid really does step on the bus for Kindergarten. I love this boy!

Picture Casserole

2011-04-06T13:43:00.000-07:00

I had a slug of pictures on my camera that were onsies and twosies and didn't want to take the time to make a post for each picture, so here you get them all mixed together in one giant random picture casserole!

First up is a picture of the prop that Tanner used in a recent primary talk. I was proud of our ingenuity. We took a picture of Tanner and cut it out, then made him hold on to the iron rod (a piece of string). We pulled him along the straight and narrow path as we talked about the things that he can do to Follow God's Plan. The best part is that he did his whole talk by himself without me whispering it to him. I am so proud of this boy. He is growing up so fast.

Next up is our annual trip to Green Canyon with the Powells/Fillmores. Every year Zac's mom rents out the entire swimming pool at Green Canyon for just her immediate family. We have such a fun time eating and then swimming with our cousins that we look forward to it every year!

Ashlyn playing with her cousin Meg.

Sorry for the fog, my camera kept steaming up. This is my dare devil, Tanner, who decided that even though the diving board was removed, that wasn't going to stop him from doing running front flips off the side of the pool. I am AMAZED that this child hasn't broken anything yet.

Charli loved swimming and it was hard to get her out of the pool. Look how curly her hair gets when it is wet!

She FINALLY has enough hair for a little ponytail!

Yeah, she thinks she is pretty hot stuff!

This is a picture of the kids with the "After Green Canyon" stomach flu. They all had a much needed rest during conference, which meant that mom actually got to listen to some of the talks!

Ian, Tanner, and Maggie posing in the dog house that dad made for Maggie. Our dad is so amazing. He can do anything!

The Queen of Fools

2011-04-06T11:46:00.000-07:00

Ah, April Fools, one of best days of the year. You might all think that I am perverse for getting such joy for inflicting others with trickery, but I like to think my family still loves me?

This year the twins are finally getting old enough to start understanding the art of a good trick. On April Fools Eve, I went down to tuck them in only to find Tanner in pink monkey pajammas lounging in Ashlyn's pink princess bed, and Ashlyn in blue firetruck jammies kickin' it in Fort Fillmore (Tanner's bed).

To get them back, we waited until they went to sleep and then we used yarn to make spider webs over their doorways and the hallway.

BUT I always save my best tricks for Zac. Ever since we have been married (almost 10 years), I have had a little plastic lizard that I have transfered to every bottle of shampoo that he has ever owned. He complained about it once, but I told him that if there is ever a time in his life that there isn't a lizard in his shampoo, it means I am either dead, or I have lost my sense of humor, both of which would be devastating. He has never complained since.

So this year, the night before the big day, I dumped the water out of his spray bottle, and the hairspray out of his hairspray bottle and replaced them with vinegar and pickle juice. He got up, put on his best work shirt, was all ready to go, ran into the bathroom to spray down his hair and then started yelling!!! I ran to the safety of the outdoors until he left for work.

To get me back, he dipped my toothbrush in soap... so lame.

Later that morning, Ashlyn, Tanner, and I filled water balloons and put them in Zac's shoes.

But Ian got the last laugh when he made us "Hot Dogs and Hamburgers" for dinner. The hambergers were York Peppermint Patties sandwiched between Nilla Wafers and attached with red icing (ketchup).

What a fun day!

Charlotte's Birthday Party in Pictures

2011-03-23T13:03:00.000-07:00

A ladybug cake for our little bug!

A joint party with cousin Alyza, who is only 4 days older than Charlotte!

The birthday girls eagerly awaiting their cupcakes.

Alyza's adorable butterfly cake and cupcakes

What was I thinking using red frosting?!?

Babies and cupcakes

The after-cupcake bath (cousin Paige joined in!)

All 15 Martineau Cousins... Wow! We are growing exponentially, you wouldn't believe the noise we can make when we are all in the same room! It is so fun living this close to all of our cousins.

The ladybug cupcakes that Ashlyn, Tanner, and Ian helped decorate. The ladybugs are red M&M's with black frosting dabbed on them and the leaves are Airhead taffies.

Ten Things We Love About Charlotte

2011-03-23T09:14:00.000-07:00

Dress up with cousin Paige

Chillin' with cousin Dax

Sorry this is so blurry, but Charlotte likes to sneak in Ian's room at night when he is asleep and she jumps up and down on him and bounces on his head and he never even wakes up. Here she is cuddled in drinking a bottle with him.

She loves to stand at the door and watch the kids and the dog. She is so good at standing, but still a chicken when it comes to walking.

This girl is obsessed with the laundry and always has to be in it, on top of it, and unloading it onto the floor.

And her favorite article of clothing is UNDERWEAR, plug your eyes if this is going to gross you out, but she likes to get the kids underwear when they are in the tub, then she throws it in the water, fishes it out, and then sucks the water out of it. The kids think it is so hilarious! Don't worry, I don't let it get gross.

10 THINGS ABOUT CHAR:

1. She LOVES to bite our toes, and will bite the couches/ chairs/ anything when she is mad at us.

2. She is addicted to binkis and hides them from mom and then goes and gets them when she needs a quick binki fix.

3. She is a peek-a-boo enthusiast and will keep herself entertained for a long time with a blanket, even if no one is watching her.

4. She is an expert at unloading drawers and cupboards and has a knack for knowing which ones she should NOT be in.

5. She can unroll a toilet paper roll in 30 seconds flat and then shreds it and spreads it all over the house.

6. She has the cutest little curls and the biggest blue eyes you have ever seen.

7. She is extremely social and loves to tell everyone she sees, "Hi!" especially babies her own age.

8. She loves her brothers and sister and squeals with delight when they come home from school.

9. She growls and pretends she is a monster and giggles when we scream, then she screams too to mimic us.

10. She is the absolute sunshine of our lives. I think the favorite point of all of our days is when we get to see and play with Charlotte. We don't know what we would do without her!

Love you Charli! Happy 1st Birthday!

Ian-isms

2011-03-23T08:40:00.000-07:00

Here are some of my favorite Ian-isms of the past few weeks.

He calls the Nintendo, the "Pretend-O", which actually makes more sense, and I don't know why but he calls Mario, "Earl", which is just funny to me, don't know why.

He has been wearing his dad's "Hear Plugs" (ear plugs) all over.

We have been struggling to keep him dry at night. After changing his sheets in the middle of the night one night, I said, "Buddy, I just don't know what to do to keep you dry, do you know what to do?", to which he replied, "Yeah, I just got to keep tryin'." Then this morning when he was dry, I said, "How did you do it!" to which he replied, "My brain just tells me what to do!"

I love this guy. I can't even remember 1/10th of the funny things he says that keeps me laughing all day.

St. Patrick's Day Mayhem

2011-03-23T08:35:00.000-07:00

A couple of years back, Family Fun magazine came out with leprechaun traps. As you will recall from last year, we made the traps and rather than getting stuck, those sneaky leprechauns found a way around our traps and stole our gold. That experience was so traumatic for Tanner that he has plotted for a whole year about how to change his trap to make it leprechaun proof this year. About a month before St. Patrick's day he began developing and testing traps until I had about 10 traps sitting around the house just begging for any leprechaun to come close.

In this design, he had propped up a box with a stick and placed a coin under the stick. When the leprechaun lifted the stick to get the coin, the whole box fell on top of him. Unfortunately, the leprechaun had a bomb with him this year. Tanner was SO MAD. It was hilarious! And of course, the leprechaun took the coin.

Ian helped me make this "leprechaun bank" the idea was for the leprechaun to climb the ladder to get the coin on top. We had put slits on top so that when the leprechaun stepped on the lid, he would fall through.

Unfortunately, Ian forgot to stick a coin on top, which didn't sit well with the leprechaun!

Ashlyn was asked to bring her leprechaun trap to school. I didn't get a before picture. Hers was a little like Ian's with a ladder going up to the top, but instead of money (she didn't want her money to get stolen again like last year), she left a four leaf clover. She cut a hole in the lid and covered it with tissue paper, so that when the leprechaun stepped on top to get the four leaf clover, he would fall through. Unfortunately, her trap also yielded no leprechaun. Maybe next year!

We're Adding to Our Family

2011-03-16T07:19:00.000-07:00

We kept telling the kids that someday we would get a dog when our house sold and we were in a new house with a well established lawn... but the first week of May marks our 2-year anniversary of having our house for sale. We aren't getting out of here anytime soon and I am sick of putting life on hold... so on a whim, I got a dog!

We found her on ksl.com. She came from a ranch family just out of Rigby. She comes from an amazing line of parents. She is short haired and an AMAZING little puppy. I am enjoying her so much!

Her name is Maggie and she is the sweetest little dog you have ever seen. Now when Zac calls me on his way home from work, he has to ask me how my dog is doing and reminds me that I have another human baby to take care of.

Tanner is very excited to teach her to do back flips and had moved this table out to the back patio as part of his back flip training program. This boy needed a dog.

The Part of Winter We Will Miss

2011-03-16T07:04:00.000-07:00

When Zac wrote his autobiography in highschool, he dreamed of the day that he would be married and sitting on his back porch gazing at the stars while sipping hot chocolate with his wife AND THEN he met me, and while I am all about back porch star gazing, I just never enjoyed hot chocolate, which really is odd, because I am usually all over anything chocolate.

But where I lack in my hot chocolate drinking skills, my children have MORE than made up for it. Somehow, in the past few years it has become a tradition at our house that if the kids play outside in the snow, then I will make them a steaming cup of hot chocolate when they come inside.

Santa even brought us all matching family hot chocolate mugs this year.

If these kids play outside and I am not quick enough with the hot chocolate when they come in, then I am in serious trouble.

Hot chocolate is always better with fancy marshmallows. Thsi year we had cocoa vanilla swirl mallows and gingerbread man mallows, which did in fact taste like gingerbread.

Ian likes to stack his gingerbread men on top of their "stools" and then karate kicks them off.

This is actually one part of winter that I will miss, even if I am only vicariously enjoying the hot chocolate through my children.

Sprinter Time Fun

2011-03-09T08:03:00.000-08:00

Spring and Winter are locked in a death battle here where we live and we are stuck in that nasty in between season, "Sprinter". Sprinter is the worst! It is not snowy enough to go out and enjoy playing in the snow, but it is also not warm enough to enjoy playing outside in the Springtime weather, so we are stuck inside.

To fight off cabin fever, these are some of the fun things we did this week!

Using our glasses, Ian and I made a rainbow xylophone, which kept him busy for the better part of the morning, and when the music making got old, color mixing took over!

Tanner was in charge of FHE this week and he chose brownies for his treat. This 6-year old boy made the brownies start to finish completely by HIMSELF! He even pre-heated the oven, read the directions on the box, cracked the eggs, measured the oil and the water, and mixed everything together in a mixing bowl with a whisk. He sprayed the pan with cooking spray, put everything in and even put the pan in the oven by himself. He timed the brownies and took them out of the oven when they were done. I did not even check to make sure his measurements were right, I wanted to see if he could do it. And HE DID! They were fabulous brownies. It about made me cry to think how old my kids are getting, but also super excited, now if I want brownies, I can just send the kids into the kitchen. The best part is, he even CLEANED up after himself. What a good boy! He is going to make an excellent husband some day.

Did you notice the chocolate on his face, I think he sampled the batter.

Daddy brought us home some extra plan paper he had from work and told us we could use it for whatever we wanted, so when Daddy was at mutual this week, we took that plan paper and made ourselves a board game. Each of us drew a path from the "Start" cloud to the pot of gold that marked the "End". Then we made rainbow shortcuts between our paths.

We put 20 star spaces on various parts of the path, then the kids and I made action cards for the star spaces. The kids wrote funny things you had to do if you landed on the star space, and mom made consequence cards that made us go back to start, or trade spaces with another player. The kids cards were so funny, they involved acting like a robot dog, smacking your game piece, sticking your tongue out, and even one that just said, "Look at Mom".

Here is Ashlyn's crab game piece reaching the end. Tanner made himself a lizard game piece, I was a lady bug, and Ian made a car. We laughed hard and had a really great night together... so beats TV!

This Just In!

2011-03-02T09:10:00.000-08:00

I am excited to announce that I just accepted a job with the Jefferson Star newspaper here in Rigby! It is the perfect job for me. I have a weekly column, that my sisters lovingly refer to as the gossip column, where I will be covering the events that take place in Rigby. I get to work from home, and as it should only take me a couple of hours of my week, I can still be a fabulous mother. My first deadline is this coming Friday and then my first article will come out on Wednesday the 9th, and then every Wednesday from there on out. So, if any of you have any hot gossip coming out of Rigby, let me know and I'll get right on it!

Science Fair Palooza

2011-02-23T10:00:00.000-08:00

Oh, Science Fair, two words that can make any mother run screaming from a room. Why do they have to make it sound so appealing to kids. Especially, my kids who are so motivated by winning something (anything). And when you are in first grade, chances are you are going to need a lot of parental guidance to complete your project, and when you are a twin, times that parental guidance by 2. But we did it and the kids loved it AND Ashlyn won first place for the whole first grade at her school and Tanner won third place.

THEN we got to take it to the district level.

Ashlyn won second place and Tanner got a participant ribbon. I was more proud about how Tanner acted when he didn't win a medal than I was of any science fair project in the whole room. He did not cry, whine, complain, or make anything but congratulatory comments to Ashlyn and I know how important winning is to him. I love my kiddos!

Here is Tanner with his project, I know he is blinking, but he wasn't feeling good that night and this is about the best picture I could get with him and his project.

His project was called "Speedy Sleds" and we tested four different materials (cardboard, plastic, metal, and wood) to see which made the fastest sled. We even e-mailed an olympic medalist in the luge and he e-mailed Tanner back with his predictions about which sled would be the fastest.

Of course, Ashlyn chose a project about fish. She is in love with goldfish. She didn't care if she won or lost, but was just happy to have new pet goldfish!

Her project was called, "Dirty Jobs: Fish Tank Cleaner". We bought four fish bowls (tupperwares) and put a goldfish in each. Then we tried 3 different products from the pet store to see which would keep a fish bowl cleanest as compared to the one fish that we didn't put anything in.

The results? Nothing. Nothing keeps a fish tank clean for very long and after two weeks, our house reaked with stinky dirty fish tanks AND 3 of the 4 fish died and had to be replaced (shhhh, don't tell the judges).

So, though I didn't learn how to keep a fish tank clean, per se, I did learn effective methods for killing goldfish, and after the experiment was over, I moved them all into the same bowl, which coincidentally killed every last one of them within the week.

Good job Tanner and Ashlyn, I am so proud of you!

Ain't No Mountain High Enough

2011-02-23T09:36:00.000-08:00

It seems that I have a climber on my hands. She may not be able to walk yet, but there ain't no mountain high enough to keep her from getting what she wants!

Even if what she wants is just to cuddle up in the laundry, but then who wouldn't want to curl up and sleep on a pile of laundry just out of the dryer?

What Do You Do In the Wintertime?

2011-02-23T08:27:00.000-08:00

Oh, what do you do in the Wintertime,

When all of the clouds are grey?

And the snow's piled high as an elephant's eye,

And you are longing for the month of May.

When brother and sister are away at school

Working hard at their task.

That is the best time to get with mom,

To make some really cool masks!

And then we put them on when Tanner and Ashlyn got home from school and attacked them. The End.

My Insanely Romantic Valentine's Day

2011-02-16T15:57:00.000-08:00

Poor Zac, he has had to work out of town a lot lately, on top of that, he was called into the Stake Young Men's presidency, which has kept him almost busier than his job, and then on top of that he had to take care of a family with stomach flu and then got the dreaded disease himself... but instead of feeling sorry for him like I should, I had been feeling sorry for myself for being stuck in the house with four little ~~monsters~~ angels with no break, so I told Zac that for Valentine's this year he had to do something so insanely romantic it would make my jaw drop. AND HE DID!

He came home from work loaded with the makings for brownies and ice cream sundays... my favorite! Then he snuck into our camp trailer, got the heat going, set up some roses and candles and bought me a favorite game from childhood, "Sorry!" and we played and ate brownies and had a wonderful night together. Don't I have the best husby?

Here are some of our other Valentine's Day Highlights:

Valentine's Hair Can you tell that this half bun is in the shape of a heart? I made it up myself and was thrilled with the results! Now if I could just find a way to make Ashlyn hold still all day so that when she comes home from school she doesn't look like her hair went through a hurricane!

We started our day off with some pink food coloring in the pancake batter and some heart shaped pancakes.

Grandma Kris was so awesome to send us some Valentine's prizes and candy and even a sucker for Miss Charlotte, who LOVED it!

Want a taste?

At lunchtime, Ian, Charlotte, and I picked up some of Zac's favorite boneless honey BBQ chicken appetizers from Applebee's and some pops and Valentine's cookies from Wal-Mart and surprised him at his work! See, I can be insanely romantic too!

Then for dinner, we had a Mystery Dinner! I got this idea off a blogsite that I follow. The food and utensils were all in code. The kids had to order three things at a time and then had five minutes for each course to enjoy their three items. You can see Ian is eating spaghetti with his hands because he hadn't ordered a fork or spoon yet, and Zac looks sad because he was really thirsty, but didn't order his drink until the end! The dinner was a riot. You can see the menu and directions at this LINK.

Even Charlotte had some mystery dinner. Mysterious objects are still appearing in her diapers!

The kids had a great Valentine party at school. I gave them a choice this year to make their own Valentine's or buy some at the store. They all enthusiastically voted to make them! It is probably cheaper and way less time consuming to just buy them, but we had a lot of fun making them together. I feel bad that I forgot to take pictures. Tanner made some paper airplane making "kits", that said, "Valentine, you are just 'plane' awesome" And Ashlyn make some elephants with heart ears and a heart face that said, "Don't forget to have a wonderful Valentine's Day!"

What a wonderful holiday!

Stool Remodel

2011-02-16T15:21:00.000-08:00

Lately, I have had the winter blahs. And Zac was out of town last week all week and I needed a project to work on. Looking around my house, everything is so black and white... I needed some COLOR!

Zac and I have had these awesome bar stools ever since we moved into our home in Farmington. They were second hand and though they are functinoally awesome, after four kids and six years, they were lookin' a little rough.

I had some close-up shots of the legs and you can see the paint, food, and crud that have been engrained into them, but my computer is REFUSING to cooperate today, so I am going to have to take what I can get. But anywho, you can tell that they are beat up, old, and kind of boring.

I love this vase. I love the green-ness of it and the antiquated crackled look. It set the "green" theme for my kitchen and I wanted the bar stools to match.

I got some a vinyl decall for each stool from my sister Rachael (thanks!) and applied it to each stool before I painted and here is the end result, though I still need to lacquer and shine this baby up!

Here are the steps I took in case you are interested:

1) Clean the stools thoroughly.

2) I applied several coats of paint stripper, rather than sanding down the stools (I am lazy!)

3) After drying the stools, I applied my vinyl decals firmly to the top of each stool. If I would have been smarter, I would have measured and marked the exact center. Some of the decalls are a little off from each other, but I love the imperfection of it all anyways.

4) I spray painted a base (or primer) coat of black. It didn't exatly adhere everywhere, BUT, I didn't want it completely black anyways, because I wanted some of the wood grain to come through when I beat up the stool.

6) I painted a coat of Asparagus green, but let some of the black bleed through.

7) After the paint was very dry, I sanded random pieces of the stool, sanding down to the wood.

8) I got a heavy chain and beat the trash out of the stools.

9) When everything is very dry, I removed the vinyl decals.

10) Lacquer everything!

Maybe, I just have cabin fever and I am so ready for Spring to come, but I LOVE my green stools and the color they add to my kitchen and my life!

The Curse of the Super Bowl

2011-02-09T08:33:00.000-08:00

The kids decked out in Steeler's garb. Tanner has been a Steeler two years in a row in flag football, so we couldn't help but cheer for them. Char is that moving blur at the bottom. This is how most of my pictures look like of her lately!

I was SO looking forward to the Super Bowl this year. You see, Zac was recently called to serve in the Stake Young Men's presidency, which has left us fatherless a lot lately on Sundays. And this year on Super Bowl Sunday it was going to require him being away at a fireside, so I thought at least we can go over and hang with the family and I won't have to cook dinner and the kids will be entertained. But there was no escaping the Super Bowl curse...

You see every year since we moved to Idaho and actually lived close enough to family and friends that throw Super Bowl parties, we have always had someone too sick and contagious to go. It has happened at least 3-4 years in a row! I thought we could dodge it this year, but then stomach flu hit and not just any stomach flu, but a stomach flu so menacing that it strikes hard for 24 hours until you think you will die, then it goes away (or so you think) and returns a day or two later and lasts for up to two more days! Maybe it is a sign that we shouldn't be watching sports on Sunday?

When my sister-in-law Nichole called me Sunday morning for a recipe for some Super Bowl snacks, I couldn't help but whine to her about my predicament. Then we went about our day lounging in our pajammas and feeling sorry for ourselves. At 4 o'clock that evening the door bell rang and Nichole's girls were standing on my door step with goodies, snacks, crafts, coloring pages, and puzzles. I could not believe how incredibly thoughtful and generous the Fillmore's had been to us. It totally made the rest of our night. The kids were entertained the whole night with their goody package. And it made me feel so happy after a bad week of yuckiness. Someday when I grow up I want to be just like my awesome sister-in-law! In my book she was this year's Super Bowl MVP.

Do You Like My Hat?

2011-02-09T08:17:00.000-08:00

Yes, I love that party hat! (Go, Dog, Go!, in case you don't have kids.)

Poor Ashlyn kept wearing her dad's Elmer Fudd snow hats to school, so when I got a craft bug in me, I decided to try my hand at crocheting a snow hat. I bought the cute fuzzy purple yarn that I have always wanted to buy, but never knew what to do with, and Voila! It's a hat. She loved it so much she showed it at show-and-tell on Monday... which is the ultimate compliment for a mother.