The Bell Family

Last Post for Today........the Kitchen Project!

2010-08-25T14:02:00.002-06:00

So for the last few months, we have been working on our kitchen! YAY! I have wanted white cabinets forever and so one day when we were talking about the house, I brought it up and we decided to go for it and do some other things a long with it! First of all our oven kinda was falling a part a little. So Jeff found a GREAT deal on a double oven. So, we bought that along with a glass stovetop. We had to get a big cabinet to put ovens in and another cabinet to go where the oven used to be. We also did crown molding on the cabinets that looks awesome! We then decided to redo all the countertops with travertine - I LOVE IT! Then, we ripped up the floor and put down a really pretty wood laminate down that we got an amazing deal on! It looks sooo much better in our kitchen and feels better too! We still have some finishing touches to do, but we'll get there soon!

Here is the new double ovens in the new cabinet in the corner of our kitchen. It fits there perfectly!

Pained white cabinets! We also turned the island, it seems to give us more space - which is GREAT! We need all the space we can get!

Our new cabinet with the glass cooktop - and Kate taking everything out of the drawer! She's good at doing this!

This picture didn't turn out - of well! But you can see the travertine, and also the raised bar on the island! It is perfect now with how high our stools are.

Another view of our double ovens! Oh, and in these pictures, you can see the new floor! I don't have any before pictures, but just picture really ugly lenolium on the floor and brown cabinets with cheap countertops! :) It's MUCH BETTER now, trust me.

Have you ever noticed how hard it is to get projects done with kids around????

3 More Weeks and Counting......

2010-08-25T13:46:00.004-06:00

What do you get when you have a three year old boy doing a flip off the side of the tramp?
A BROKEN LEG!!!!!!!! I just still cannot believe it! When he fell, he slammed his leg on the bar of the tramp and fractured it right under his kneecap. Poor kid! Leave it to the "twins" to have all the injuries - Kam had the first stitches last October, and now Jace with the first broken bone!
This happened two weeks ago, and he had a splint on it for the first 4 days. When the splint was on, he kept telling me to "take this big sock off"!!! When I told him that we couldnt, he said "Well then will you put a sock on my other leg?" It was pretty funny. Another thing he keeps saying is "Mom, can I get down and walk on the floor?" When I tell him he can't, he says "Im just kiddin Mom." He has to tell everyone what happened wherever we go! One more thing he did, was one day Jeff and I were talking, trying to decide what to do for dinner, and all of the sudden, Jace who was laying on the bed, yelled at the top of his lungs "I'M THE ONLY ONE WITH A BROKEN LEG"! We both burst out laughing! So now the hard cast has been on for a week and a half, and we have 3 MORE WEEKS to go! One day at a time....................

He choose a black cast because he wanted a "Sherriff" cast. He associates his colors with the cars from the movie "Cars". So Sherriff means black! Hopefully the next three weeks flies by, because this is one demanding kid! Good thing he is so cute!

Summertime!

2010-08-25T13:20:00.003-06:00

Summertime was SHORT! We are on A track so the kids started school the the end of July. Hopefully the kids still had a fun one. Here are just a few pictures....

This is one of the kids favorite things to do! They love sitting outside with their feet in our little fountain. Even though they just put their "feet" in they always come in soakin wet! :)

This is a picture of Jace who found a red stamp pad while we were making birthday cards to send to my grandma, and he rubbed it all up and down his arm! That was sooo much fun cleaning that off!

We did get a chance to go camping for about 3 days. It was a lot of fun! Jace got to go fishing for the first time ever!

Kate was such a good girl! She had a blast on the four wheeler and even fell asleep on one of our rides!

Over the summer, my mom took us on little fieldtrips once a week. I love that she cares so much about spending time with her grandkids! She is the best grandma and the kids love her soo much! We went to Thanksgiving Pointe, Salt Lake around Temple Square, a movie, Wheeler Farm, Gateway, and a bunch of other places! We had a great time wherever we went - except for the tantrums that would surface every now and then! :)

Another cute picture of the kids! No, I did NOT have another baby! That cute little thing is my new neice! Her name is Emrie Lynn Sellers and she is the cutest little thing - I love her sooo much! She was born in March and Micalyne is the cutest little mom!

Kamree's Pre-School Graduation

2010-08-25T12:54:00.003-06:00

Kamree graduated from preschool the end of May........yes, I know its the end of August......and yes, I know she has now started Kindergarten, but, better late than never, RIGHT?
She was so cute in her little new dress! She sat through the graduation, but did not sing any of the songs. On the last song, she did do a few very unenthusiastic actions to the song. Then when it was over, she ran up to me and said "Mom, I sang ALL the songs!" Okay?????
Anyway, she is the cutest little girl ever (along with Kaylee and Kate, that is :))
One funny thing about Kamree's time in Preschool: There was a little girl named Ruthie in her class, but Kam called her "Roof-ee". Well Kam didn't care that much for Roofee because I think ? they got in to a fight over a toy or something like that. She would come home and say "Oh I hate that Roofee!!! So I would hear all the time how Kam didn't like this girl, but she would try to be nice to her. So at the graduation, she was sitting at the front of the room, and then when Roofee came in, she looked and pointed at me with a serious look on her face, and then pointed right at Roofee who was coming through the doorway. She wanted me to see her I guess! It was sooo funny! I burst out laughing and then had to tell my brother who was sitting next to me and saw the whole thing! It was pretty funny!

Kamree with Grandma and Grandpa Bell

Kamree with Grandma and Grandpa McCann

Kamree with her BEST friend Zac

Our little PreSchool Graduate! We love You Kam!

I guess I kinda dropped the ball!

2010-02-22T14:05:00.002-07:00

Well..........it's been a loooonnnnngggggg time! The last part of 2009 was kind of hectic and hard, but here we are -------- we made it through standing strong!!! :) From September through the end of December, Jeff had to work out of town in Las Vegas! Uggghhhh! In a way, it was a good opportunity because the money in Vegas is better than here, but we sure did miss him at home! And while we were extremely grateful for the work, we would rather be home all together!

To help make things not so bad, we went to stay with him the first part of October. We stayed for 10 days and it was so nice and fun to be together for that length of time. It was nice too, because we were able to make a fun trip out of it for the kids as well as ourselves (even though Jeff still had to work). My sweet sister Krishelle made the road trip with me and the kids so I wouldn't have to drive alone! She stayed for 3 days and then flew back. It helped sooo much to have her there and we had a lot of fun laughing and having headaches from the kids together! :) It took us forever it seemed to get there because of the numerous potty breaks and food breaks we had to make for the kiddos, but seriously was sooo fun! When we got to the hotel/casino that Jeff was staying at, the kids were really excited to see him and to be there - me too!:) It was hillarious because as we unloaded the car, Jeff, Krishelle, and I all had our arms full of bags, pillows, blankets, etc..... even the kids helped and had there arms full. So what was funny was all the people in the casino, that we had to walk through, were looking at us like we were crazy because of how ridicuous we looked and I'm SURE this was running through all there minds "oh my gosh! those people have 4 kids!!!!!" Well then we get to the escelators and WOW - how embarrassing! There we were standing at the top with everything stacked in our arms, and now we have to get all this stuff down - and the 4 kids! I think Jace and Kamree started crying because they were scared and by the time we made the attempt to get on the stupid thing with the kids, I think we just about killed ourselves! We looked soooooo stupid! I would probably laugh if I was on the other side watching - it was THAT ridiculous!

Anyway, after that tramatic experience, we got settled in. It was perfect because the hotel room was already paid for! What a great opportunity to have this cheap trip!:) We got there on a Thursday night, so the next day we just relaxed and had a good time going to see Hoover Dam, and on the way there took a tour at a chocolate factory. Later, we walked the strip and ended with the water show at The Bellagio - which the kids absolutely loved! It was a nice day! And man did we get more and more looks from everyone onthe strip! Seriously? Has nobody there seen a family of 6 before??? The famous line of our trip was "You guys sure have your hands full! hehehe." Ya, that got OLD! And as always we had tons of people ask if Jace and Kamree were twins - most of the time the answer was "YES".

The next day (Saturday) we were so excited! We had planned to surprise the kids by getting up super early, load them in the car, and make the 3 hour drive to Disneyland! The kids had no idea! So, they slept most of the way there which was nice, and then as was got up to the gates, Kaylee and Jace were sooo happy! And then there was our funny Kamree! She was sitting in the back seat and had been singing for at least the last hour of our drive. She was in her own little world - staring out the window as she sang! I had to look at her, call her name for her attention and say "Kam! Look! Where are we?" She stopped singing, looked up, and in a non-impressed voice said"Disney-land!" We could not stop laughing! Once we got parked and into the park, her excitement finally kicked in! Such a funny girl!!! What a fun day!

The rest of the time there we spent relaxing, swimming, shopping and just having a great time! When it was time to go, my amazing mom flew into Las Vegas just to ride home with me - again, so that I wouldn't have to travel by myself with the 4 kiddos! Again, we had a really fun time coming home! We stopped in St. George to grab some quick dinner and it was sooo funny, cause when we got back on the road, we ended up going through all the little towns like Hurricane and Laverkin (?) We got on a road that we though would lead us to back to the freeway, but instead had the opportunity to explore these towns in the pitch dark! At one point, in Laverkin, it was sooo dark , no lights anywhere and we were surrounded by hills. Kaylee was in the back seat and all the sudded says " Mom and Grandma, I'm scared! And I think I just saw someone running by the car with a dark face and waving their hands!!!!" We had to try not to laugh! It was sooo funny! I had to laugh when my mom looked at me after and said quietly " Well we're scared too!" And we both started laughing! Finally we found the freeway, and again that roadtrip took longer than it needed to be! At one point, Jace had dumped his Sprite with ice down into his seat, and about 10 minutes after that had happened, he said "Grandma, my bumb is really cold and its burning!" We had to find a gas station, dump his seat out, take off his pants, and put blankets all around him! Toooo funny! It was such a fun trip, and I'm so glad we were able to go!

In Novemeber, I was able to go back myself and stay for about 4 days with Jeff! We had so much fun! These times are so fun to be able to regroup and just have a break! Jeff came home the week of Christmas and has been home since then -minus one short 4 day out of town trip. We are feeling like things are back to normal and are so grateful for that! This year and future years are going to better as far as the "out of town stuff" goes! He should be able to be here and stay busy! :) Things are deffinately better being able to be together as a family! I am so grateful my husband and all he does for our family! He is such a hard worker and I love him so much. I am also so grateful for my kiddos! They are the most adorable kids ever! :)

24th of July Weekend!

2009-07-26T15:52:00.007-06:00

For the weekend, we decided to go camping with some friends and boating with Jeff's parents. It was a lot of fun! This was the first time the kids had really been camping! They absolutely loved it! I think they loved it mostly because they were allowed to get dirty and not get in trouble for it! They also thought it was so cool that we all slept in a tent - which we borrowed from Jeff's parents - we have no camping equipment! Anyway this was the only picture of camping that I got. We just spaced it! Our friends had a four wheeler so the kids got to ride on it. We all had a great time! Then we met Jeff's parents at Deer Creek for boating. The 3 older kids had been on the boat before, but this time they didn't cry because they were nervous - they loved this as well! Even the baby was SOOOO good the whole time! She is such a good and happy baby!
Here is Kate just having a good time! She just goes with the flow! I am SOOO lucky to have such a good baby - especially with having 3 other kids!

Is this not the cutest picture fo Kate and Jace? I can't stand it! They are such cute little buddies!

Kamree and Jace are cute little buddies too! I love that their life vests are the same! Whenever the boat got going fast, they would grab hands and laugh their heads off! They take such good care of eachother!

I was so impressed that the 3 older kids all took a ride in the tube! Kaylee even went by herself one of the times. Kamree and Jace didn't last too long, but they atleast tried it! The tube went pretty slow when they were in it and they did awesome!

Jeff got in the tube with Kaylee, and she let Jeff's dad go a little bit faster. As they were going the tube hit a couple big waves and the tube tipped. Luckily Jeff saw it coming and got Kaylee up above water right away. I thought she'd be upset and screaming, but by the time she got back in the tube, she was laughing her head off. And she went again!

Poor Kate! She HATED the infant life jacket that she had to wear - you could just tell by the look on her face! It was pretty funny!

Jace riding on the boat by Jeff. He was scared that if he touched the water, the fish would bite his toes!

Our little model, Kaylee. I can't believe how big she is getting!

Kamree is soooooo cute! She has the cutest smile! She did ride in the tube with Jeff and I, but decided she was done as soon as a bunch of water splashed up in her face! She was screaming at the top of her lungs when that happened! We all had such a great weekend! Wish it could've lasted a little bit longer!

Random Stuff!

2009-07-26T15:21:00.004-06:00

We were all able to go to the Oquirrh Temple open house about 2 weeks ago. It was soooo beautiful and the kids just loved it! They were all so good the whole time - even "the twins" who sometime have a hard time being quiet! :) It was nice to be all together in the temple and realize how blessed we are and that we can all be together forever!

Here is Kaylee with 2 teeth missing! She has been beside herself, because "everyone in her kindergarten class had already lost teeth - except for her!!!!!!!!" So to say that she was excited when she lost 2 teeth in July is an understatement! So cute! I love how little kids look when they lose teeth!

Sorry Jace for the underwear picture, but this was so dang cute! Kate was playing on the rug and was crawling around and finally layed down and fell right to sleep. Jace eventually ran in and layed right up next to her and fell to sleep as well. Kate is half naked because she had spit up on her shirt right before her nap and I just hadn't put a new shirt on yet. Jace is just about naked because I am still trying to get him 100% potty trained and it helps not to dress him so he remembers he is wearing underwear - it works sometimes!

I thought this was a cute bath picture! I love it when their little enough to bathe in the kitchen sink. So cute! I always used to do this with Kaylee and Kamree as well!

I could not stop laughing when Jace came in drinking the syrup! The thing that is the funniest about this, is that I think my sister and I did this when we were little - so it must be something that was passed down! GROSS!

And here is the last freaky picture! About 2 weeks ago, Jace came running into the living room where I was just SCREAMING! Then he was so upset that he held his breath and was turning purple and looked like he was going to pass out! He always does this when he gets really upset. Jeff used to do that when he was a little - so that must be passed down too! Anyway I grabbed him trying to figure out was going on. I then looked down and blood was pouring out of the bottom of him foot. I cupped my hand by his foot to hold the blood - my hand was full within about 15 seconds. I yelled for the girls to bring me a towell - Kamree brought me a roll of toilet paper. Too funny! Then they finally brought me wipes, so I used those and I think I used half of them! This picture was what bled on the floor in addition to what I was holding in my hand. I thought for sure when I finally got his foot to stop bleeding, I would see a huge cut, but it was a puncture wound that wasn't even that big - it was just deep. Anyway, I bandaged it up and told him to show me what in the world he stepped on. He had climbed in the play pen that was set up against the wall in my bedroom and when he was climbing out he came down on the heater vent that was out and turned upside down. We had taken the vent out to try to get more cool air in the house and didn't worry about anyone getting hurt on it because it was out of the way. Anyway, it scared me pretty good!

Shower Project!

2009-07-26T14:43:00.006-06:00

So Jeff and I have been wanting to tile our shower for the longest time now! But there seems to never be any time to do it! We have had the tile sitting in a closet for about a year and a half now just waiting to be used. It was tile that Jeff got for free from a job that he had worked on and there was a ton of extra tile that the contractor was just going to get rid of - so Jeff took it off their hands which I was so happy about because that saved us a bunch of money right there! We were going to have someone come and do the job for us, but then we decided we shouldn't spend the $ on it at this point and Jeff ended up having a couple days off so we planned to just do it and get it down ASAP! Jeff and I tore all the original plastic out of the shower and off the tub - are you all impressed? Here are 3 pictures after the demo work .

Here are some pictures of the results............... I love it! It turned out very nice! It took about a week and a half. The last few days of the project was just letting the grout and grout sealer dry.

I love the design of the floor! I'm such a dork - Jeff's brother came to help one night, and when I came home from work, he told me that he spent hours piecing together the design around the drain. I believed him at first and then realized it was one big piece that Jeff had bought. They both of course laughed at me!

So nice to have a project checked off the never ending list!!! :)

Kaylee's 6th Birthday

2009-07-26T14:08:00.003-06:00

Well...........I cannot believe we have a 6 year old! Time goes by way too fast - even though it doesn't seem like it does some days - like today! :) Kaylee's birthday was actually May 18th so I obviously am posting these a bit late! Anyway, she is the cutest 6 year old who will be starting the 1st grade this week! She is SOOOO excited - mostly because she gets to be a "lunch kid" now, which means she gets to eat lunch at school - VERY EXCITING!
Here is a picture of Kamree, Kaylee, and their cousin Eri. For Kaylee's birthday We invited 4 of her little friends over. We had pizza and of course cake and ice cream! My sister, Krishelle, came over to help me with the party (thank you Krishelle!!!) We gave the girls manicures and pedicures - they loved it!!! Then the girls slept over, but they didn't really sleep much!

Kaylee - 6 years old!!! For her birthday she got: Stickers, pencils, cute paper, beads to make jewlrey, a polly pocket doll with clothes and a car, a fuzzy pillow and a Hannah Montana tracer, and from Jeff and I, she got a doll that crawls and talks that she picked out. Her grandma also took her shopping when they went to St. George and she got a bunch of cute clothes.

A Break in Seattle With My Hubby!!!

2009-04-28T23:10:00.007-06:00

So once again, Jeff is in Seattle on a LOOOONNNNGGGG out of town trip! So to help break it up a little, and to give me a break at home, we used one of the free flights Jeff has earned and flew me to Seattle to spend time together - on a little trip!

This was the first time I had been to Seattle. These first two pictures were on the ferry to go into downtown Seattle. It was a little cold that day, but beautiful! It was pretty cool!

We walked around town and found a store that sold kilts. WOW! The guy in the store was way too excited about it all! Jeff begged and begged if he could get one, I almost gave in, but the price was over $200.00. I told him that if he works hard and saves up, then maybe one day he could own one! Ha ha ha! Really, I think the guy in the store was probably mad because we were making fun of them!
We also did an underground tour in Seattle which was really cool. It tells and shows so much about the history of the town. We're so good.......we like to get our education in!

We walked through Pikes Place and it was a MESS, but really cool and I liked it! The picture above is so disgusting! We brought it home and hope to invite a lot of people over for dinner to share it with! J/K But pretty interesting what's swimmin' in the water..........

Here is an octopus. It was laying in a mound, and then when they realized I was looking at it weird, they came out and held it up for me. Once again........pretty interesting what's down swimmin' under the water!

I caught a picture of us here while Jeff was on a work phone call........it never ends! :) It's alright, it was just a short one! SMILE!!!!! :)

The flowers that were for sale there were gorgeous!!!! Jeff wanted to buy some for me........cause I couldn't get over how pretty they were! I couldn't decide which ones to get, so Jeff bought all of these for me........ha ha ha! Actually, I decided not to get any, cause I was worried about getting them home on the plane! Oh well!

More flowers! The colors were AMAZING! They were all so perfect! I would do anything to have these kind of flowers in my yard!

Oh yeah, can I just say that Seattle has a lot of CRAZY interesting moody people?!?!?!?! They were everywhere! Jeff and I have a theory.........people are so moody because of the gloomy weather that is there most of the time! I'm sure that's not a breakthrough.........that has probably already been studied and proven for Seattle! :) Some of those people need to lighten up! :)

And here is My Husband! Don't worry, the face is specifically for the picture! We went to a place called The Crab Pot, and they put bibs on people.........so of cours I whipped out the camera for the occasion! He is sooooo special!!! :) Ha ha ha!

This is Jeff's favorite thing about Seattle...........the crab legs! He loves them to death! I tried some, and I have to admit that they were pretty good - and I typically don't like this kind of stuff - I got the chicken strips.........he he he! But I did eat from Jeff's plate as well..........oink oink!

We went for a drive to the Olympic mountains - to see a rainforest and the beach. It was a 3 hour drive and we came across this beautiful property! We are thinking about moving here...........the riverfront is actually a little stream...............not the ocean or anything like that! Jeff and I though it was pretty funny!

Good luck with the sell!!!!!! It's in the middle of nowhere, it is probably most deffinately haunted, and there is so much JUNK everywhere (it is like a cousin to Slab City for those of you who are familiar with that), and all the neighbore (which are miles away) have property that looks worse or the same as this! I was having so much anxiety seeing all of the junk people had by their houses - run down rusty cars, piles of metal, garbage, anything you can think of! Jeff was laughing at me, I finally just stopped looking so I wouldn't pass out! No offense to the people who live there, but WOW!

Here is a lookout point from a little hike Jeff and I did! It was so beautiful looking out to the sea.

SO SO SO BEAUTIFUL! It makes you remember that there are so many wonderful things we have in this world! We are so lucky to have gorgeous places like this to visit and forget about things for a while!

On our hike, we met a guy from Denmark - and he took this picture for us! Nice guy! When strangers take a picture for you, isn't it a relief when they just take the picture and give the camera right back? I am waiting for the day when a stranger takes a picture for us, and then runs of with the camera! I'm sure it's happened many times! Jeff would say that this is being paranoid............... :/.

This was still looking out into the sea.................and I'm pretty sure that this is the Lockness Monster! Jeff didn't believe me - I told him to keep watching the news and he would see!

So pretty! I could just look out on this for hours and hours and hours. Well, or until it got dark and I got scared!

This is a tree in the rainforest we drove through! The trunk of this tree is HUGE! I think it said that the base of it is 12 1/2 feet in diameter and is over 270 feet high and is between 500 and 550 years old! AMAZING!

Jeff and I climbed the tree, but we only made it to about 200 feet. That last 70 feet was a little too much......for Jeff! He he he!

After the rainforest, we we drove down to the beach. Not your typical tropical looking beach........but so pretty! Not a very good picture, but I promise, it was pretty!

Oh, here's that tree again! You know, the big one - that we climbed. Not that I could get the full heighth in, but it went forever!

Here is us just walking up and down the beach! See what I am talking about with the gloominess? All the same, it is still pretty!

My cute husband on the beach! We had such a great time together! As much as we LOVE our kids, it is also nice to be alone and re-group!

Here was a cluster of oysters attched to a rock! Pretty cool! So cool, that Jeff took one in as a "pet!" His name is Tony. I'm afraid he was only with us for a few days. Jeff threw it out on the road after awhile! I think he was frustrated with the lack of communication from Tony.

Here we are before we left the beach! We had an awesome time together. We always laugh and enjoy being with each other sooo much! I guess that one thing that makes it harder when Jeff is out of town! But once again, we are grateful for a job and that he does have the option to work out of town! Being a part soooo much will not last forever! We will get through it and everything will be JUST fine! I'm so glad I was able to go spend time with Jeff! We will have good memories from this liitle trip!:)

Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point

2009-04-28T22:44:00.003-06:00

This past week, my mom was nice enough to "entertain" me for the day and get me out of the house with the kids. We went to Thanksgiving Point with Kam, Jace, and Kate. Kaylee was at school and doesn't know we went - she would KILL me if she knew we went without her! She does not like to miss a party! She is soooo funny! Anyway, the flowers were beautiful and I was able to get some cute pictures of "the twins!"

This picture is sooo cute......except for the woman's head in between them ??????? Nice! I'll have to work on that and see if I can get rid of her! The kids were so good - I think it was because they finally were able to be outside in nice weather!

And here is Kate, who was the PERFECT baby as always! She is the biggest sweetheart! We have lucked out majorly with all of our babies being really good, but considering the chaos that Kate has to deal with, she is the most mellow! We just LOVE her! She is always so happy!

Ha ha ha! Do you like how we went to the "tulip festival" and I didn't really take any pictures of the flowers???? The flowers were pretty, but my kids are gorgeous! (I can say that cause I'm the mother!) ha ha ha

Easter!

2009-04-13T19:48:00.009-06:00

We had a great Easter! The kids were all excited as always - even Jace, who I don't think knew quite was going on! They had an Easter egg hunt at my parents house on Thursday, and then had another one Sunday at Jeff's parent's house. They got a TON of candy! From the Easter Bunny, Kaylee got a Hannah Montana puzzle and some nail stickers and of course CANDY, Kamree got sidewalk chalk and finger paints (which I'll regret later, I'm sure!) and of course CANDY, Jace got a cute magnetic tractor book and a bubble set and of course CANDY, and Kate got some binkis and some bows and of course NO CANDY!

Here are some pictures of the kids at Easter dinner and their egg hunt at Grandma and Grandpa Bell's house on Sunday. I had to work, but they had a blast!
~~~~~Cousins~~~~~

~~~~~Kaylee and Kate~~~~~ ~~~~~Eri and Dehlila~~~~~

Kamree, Ben, Gage, Ari, Jace, Kate, Kaylee, Eri, and Dehlila

~~~~~Kaylee and Kate~~~~~

~~~~~COUSINS~~~~~

~~~~~ Oldest and Youngest~~~~~

Easter is always fun ~ except for the gallons of candy that is just laying around the house ~ that is very tempting! I am always glad when the last piece of candy is gone!!! Jeff is gone out of town again for a while, but we were glad he didn't have to leave until after Easter!

Back to Blonde!

2009-04-01T17:48:00.004-06:00

So today my cute cousin, Katie, was sweet enough to come up to our house to do my hair! We hadn't planned on cutting Kaylee's hair, but she has been begging me for months to cut it - so I gave in and I love it! She looks darling! I can't get her away from the mirror!

I wanted something totally different! I needed a change bad!!! So I went back to blonde and cut my hair short! I love it! It feels so much better! Thanks so much Katie! Love ya!!!

I've kept you all in suspence for too long...........

2009-03-09T17:01:00.019-06:00

We had parent teacher conference a few weeks ago and we are SO proud of Kaylee - even if she has to put her head down every other day! :) J/K She is such a good girl! I know you can't see the picture of her progress report very well, but she is doing such a great job in everything and is reading above average. It is funny though - when she is reading and she comes across the word "as" she says "ass". Too funny! We just love having her in our family! She is such a good big sister. She talks about Kate all the time to her class so they all know that I had a baby. So when I go pick her up from school, at least once a week, one of the little kids in her class comes up to me and says "Congratulations". I was really confused at first as to why they were telling me this and then I realized that even 4 months after having Kate, thats what they were talking about! They are soooo cute! And I think it's cute that Kaylee talks about her sisters and brother to her friends!

Jeff and I were laughing so hard! Kaylee is ALWAYS asking us if she can play a game or watch a cartoon on Jeff's Itouch. So here is a picture of her with the Itouch. She layed down by the baby and called the other 2 kids over so they all could look at it together! I think they are watching a

Spongebob cartoon. They deffinately take after their dad!

Here is what I found one morning after the kids had woken up. They came in our room about 6:00 A.M. I don't know if they went back to sleep or not because I turned a cartoon on for them and I went back to sleep! But when I woke up, Jace had a bowl of chocolate chips! First of all, not a breakfast food! And second of all, the are told about 18 times a day : "WE DO NOT TAKE FOOD OUT OF THE KITCHEN"!!!! Maybe one of these days it will stick! Right now they have selective hearing

YUMMY! Kamree looks mad in the background! I think she was jealous!

Notice that he made sure to use his Lightning McQueen bowel. He will not eat a meal unless it is in that specific bowel.

We blessed Kate in February and it turned out really nice. She looked beautiful and was such a good and happy baby that day! We had everyone over to the house afterwards for lunch and it was really fun to have everyone over. I'm horrible though! I forgot to take pictures until the very end! And at that point most people had already left! I swear I'm losing brain cells!

Uncle Eli and Kate

Mom and Kate

Dad and Kate

Aunt Krishelle

and

Krishelle Kate!!! :)

This is Jace the morning of the blessing. I woke up really early to make sure that everything was ready for the blessing. I was getting out food and other things to set out on the tables. Jace woke up and came in with me. I was running back and forth and Jace came down the hallway with a sugar cookie he had stolen off the counter. What a good 6:00 A.M. breakfast! The sad thing was that at that point, I didn't really care!!!!

(MOTHER OF THE YEAR AGAIN!!!) :)

The "twins" are so cute - and when they get along, it is even better. Here are some pictures of them playing together. This was one week when Jeff was out of town and Jace thought that he needed to clear off the driveway - not with a shovel (because it was too heavy), but with a broom. I thought it was so cute. He likes to feel like he is helping me, especially when Jeff is out of town. When Jeff left this particular time, after he went out the door, Jace came and grabbed my face with his two little hands, looked me straight in the eye and in the most serious voice said "He'll be back, okay mama?" I thought is was hilarious and so sweet that he was worried about how I felt! Even though he is only 2, I can tell that he knows that he is "the man of the house when Jeff is not home! So cute!!!

I don't think he is even wearing shoes in this picture - just socks. Who is his mother?!?!?!?

Looks like that driveway REALLY needed to be cleared off!!!

This is what I found one day a couple weeks ago when I came into the kitchen. Kamree had decided to make some food for lunch.......or something! She had emptied a bag of powdered sugar and mixed some popcorn seeds into it. I'm soooooooooo glad I got in there when I did, otherwise it looks like there would have been : peanut butter, honey, vegetable oil, and formula mixed into it! What a mess! That girl's mind is always thinking of things to do - that she shouldn't be doing! :)

NAUGHTY!

NAUGHTY!!

NAUGHTY!!!

I LOVE my husband!!!!!

2009-01-25T23:45:00.008-07:00

So lately Jeff has had to go out of town quite a bit for work! It has been really hard on all of us - Jeff included, but we have to have a paycheck - no way around that unfortunately! I have been a CRAZY person lately (just ask my family) and just really having kind of a rough time. My hormones are still out of control (that's kind of an understatement) and with Jeff gone, I have really been in the "pits of despair"! So, this past week, Jeff went to California, and I got a call from him on Thursday which brought the news that he would have to stay a whole extra week. He was supposed to come home Saturday, but now I'm hearing the unexpected news that it would be a lot longer! The "water works" started immediately! Poor Jeff didn't know exactly what to do! I asked him if he could at least fly home for the weekend. He told me he didn't think his company would pay for his flight, so we would have to pay for it ourselves - so that option was out! So, I decided to be a big girl (ha ha) and just deal with it!!! Then Jeff tells me that, his friend (that he works with and that was in California with him) was flying home on Saturday morning and that he would be stopping by the house to get some tools that he needed for school that next week. So Saturday morning the doorbell rings a little before 10:00. I go to answer it, and there is Cory standing at the door. So I talk with him for a little bit, go downstairs to get the tools, came back up, talked a little bit more about how I wished Jeff was home, and how its hard on both Jeff and I when he is out of town. So then Cory leaves and I go back into my bedroom where I see Kaylee, Jace, and Kate (Kamree was at my mom's), all on my bed under the blankets quiet as can be. Kaylee and Jace had big grins on their faces. I looked at them and said "Oh, look at my 3 beautiful babies! But we are missing one!" Then just as I was saying that I saw out of the corner of my eye some man coming out of my bathroom! I hurried and looked over, and what do you know.......................it was JEFF! I screamed and started crying! I was soooooo excited! He totally surprised me and I had absolutely no idea! He snuck in through the garage while I was talking to Cory at the front door. His company did pay for his flight after all (thank you soooo much RSA) and he kept it all a secret to surprise me. He gave me these beautiful flowers!
He then told me to pack some things for the kids, and to pack some thing for myself as well. He had made arrangements for the kids. Kaylee and Jace stayed with his parents, and Kamree and Kate stayed with my parents. Thank You Parents - and Krishelle, Eli, Andy and Micalyne! We love and appreciate you all!!!! I kept asking him what we were doing and he wouldn't tell me! So we went and dropped the kids off and got on our way.

We then headed downtown! On the way, Jeff pulled into the parking lot at Fashion Place mall. I got really excited for about a second, thinking he was taking me shopping! He quickly started laughing, and said "We're not going shopping. I just wanted to see what you would do!" It was pretty funny! We kept going and pulled up in front of the Monaco Hotel! It was beautiful! He had reserved a room for us. The lobby and rooms and just the whole entire place was so pretty! The rooms were nice and big. We left our stuff in the room and then went around town for a bit. Then at 5:00 we went to the Grand America Hotel. Jeff had scheduled a couples massage for us at the spa inside the hotel. We got there and first went swimming in the pool and then got our massages afterwards. This was the first professional massage I've ever had. I am completely in love with massages! That was like heaven! We will be going again!!!! We then went to the Gateway and had dinner at California Pizza Kitchen. We ended up there because Jeff didn't want Mexican, and I didn't want Crab, and we both said we were NOT eating at Applebee's because we ALWAYS eat there. Everything else we had ruled out as well, so we ended up at the pizza place. It was yummy!

Let me explain this horrible excuse for a robe down below! Jeff and his friend, Cory were talking about how the Monaco had really nice robes that you could use while you stayed at the hotel. Cory said he wanted to steal the robe when he was there. Jeff and I looked in the closet when we got there, and we saw 2 of these little beauty's hanging up! We could not stop laughing! We came to the conclusion that the hotel switched from regular white robes to animal print because too many people were stealing them so they figured if they made them ugly, their problems would be solved! Anyway, if anyone is interested.............you can order this winner online and it could be yours for the low amount of $120.00 plus shipping and handling!!!! Ha Ha Ha!

Well, we got to sleep in this morning, then we checked out and went to breakfast/lunch. Then we spent a little more time together and then went to get the kids! Then we came home for a while before we loaded up and took Jeff to the airport. It really meant SOOOOO much that Jeff went to all that trouble for me! I know its a pain to travel back and forth so much (especially for just 2 days) but it is just what I needed! I love him so much and am so grateful for everything he does for me! He truly makes me feel like I am loved and that I am the most important person to him! I love and appreciate him! Thank you so much Jeff! You are amazing! :)

This Weeks Excitement!

2009-01-17T15:04:00.004-07:00

Well, first of all, Jace is acting a little interested in being potty trained! YAY!!! He will only sit on his potty if he has one of his trucks or cars in his hand. This was taken at the beginning of the week and he actually went!!!! It was so cute - he was really proud of himself - and so was his mother!!! :) Lets hope this keeps up!

Then, Kate got her fingernails painted. It is very easy to do this as long as she is in a very deep sleep. If shes not......forget it! It always looks so cute!

This is our sweet little Kate smiling! She is such a happy baby (thank goodness!) and has the cutest smile. :)

And last but not least................ Here are the two "hell on wheels" twins. Jeff got something delivered this morning from UPS for work and Jace and Kamree took the box. It is so true that kids are happy just with a simple brown cardboard box - forget about the toys you spend a fortune on! Anyway, they took the box and when I left the room, they were simply putting their cars and barbies in it - harmless! Then when I came back, they had taken the box into the hallway by their rooms (hiding from Jeff and I, I'm sure). I looked over at the silverware drawer in the kitchen that was wide open. Then I turned the corner to find them, and what do you know, they both had knives and spoons and were trying to carve holes in the box! Kamree even dressed up for the occasion while Jace decided to take his pajamas off. If you look close, Kamree is wearing a princess dress up. Anyway, I about had a heart attack! Before I took the knives away, I just had to get a picture of them. They have a bad history with knives. Last summer, they took some knives and poked holes in 3 of my new kitchen chairs - the seats on the chairs are upholstered - so they were using it like pin cushions! Just for the record they did this while I tried to sneak 5 minutes and take a shower. When I got in, they were quietly watching a show. Don't worry, nobody needs to call child protective services on us. We don't let our kids play with knives, matches maybe, but not knives! They just are our little trouble makers. What can I say?

We DON"T say POOPY!

2009-01-12T19:19:00.004-07:00

Who knew our little boy had such talent! His favorite word to say is "poopy" or "poopy head". He always gets in trouble for saying it, but he could care less! He truly is all boy in his terrible 2's. Anyway, he made up this little song the other day. I always say to him : "Jace, we don't say poopy!" So that is what the song is all about! Also, when you call him Jace, he says: "No! I'm J.J!" Its pretty funny! :)

A Real Daddy!

2009-01-12T18:09:00.004-07:00

So yesterday was Sunday and our church has changed to 11 - 2. This is my favorite church time! It still is quite the ordeal for Jeff and I to not only get ourselves ready, but to get 4 kids dressed, hair done, shoes on (and hope they stay on), coats on, a bag of things to hopefully make the kids be good in Sacrament, and a diaper bag with diapers, wipes, formula, burp rag, blanket etc. I always tell people it takes us 4 hours to get ready! Okay, so that's an exaggeration, but it still does take us probably at least 2 hours on Sunday. You know how Jeff is, he just takes his time with his hair!!! Ha Ha! Anyway, I got up and made waffles for everyone for breakfast. It was kind of sad because my kids had looks of total amazement on their faces as I was making them. I realized it was because we always buy the Eggo waffles that you pop into the toaster. We were out of those yesterday morning and they of course wanted nothing else other than waffles. I explained to them that it is in fact possible to make waffles ourselves and then had to convince them that they would probably taste better than the ones we can buy - especially if I made them! :) They did like the waffles - and I decided I better start taking the time every once in a while to make things instead of just buying them!!! Well we got off to church and by the time we got there we were about 5 minutes late - BIG MISTAKE!! There was literally nowhere to sit. I hate being late! So we had to sit out in the foyer with our 4 kids. We were exhausted by the time Sacrament ended. Our kids were turning lights on and off, touching the baby, trying to lay all over the baby, fighting, driving their cars on the walls, and leaning against pictures. Finally, I told Kaylee to grab Kamree and Jace by the hand and take them on a walk all the way down the hall and back. It actually worked! After they did this about 10 times, Kaylee said she wasn't doing it anymore because it was really boring! So then I threw in a little twist - I told her to count how many steps it takes to get down to the other end. You should have seen the excitement on her face - really. She immediately did what I told her. FYI: It takes 6040 (?) steps from one end of the hall to the other! (I know all of you were wondering). Anyway, we were both shocked when we took the kids to their classes and........wait for it..........NOBODY CRIED!!!!! It was amazing! After church we hurried home and then I hurried out the door to do some long overdue visiting teaching. Then I hurried home for our home teachers. The picture at the beginning of this post is what I saw when I came in the door - how cute, I just love it!!! Our kids really do love their dad. He is truly a fun and loving dad. After our home teachers, we then hurried to finish getting Jeff ready to go out of town again. Then we all drove him to the airport. he was going to drive, but its always nice to really see him off and to have a nice conversation on the way there. the kids always like going to the airport as well. Jace kept saying the whole way : "Dad, I wanna go wit you on the airplay." He especially misses Jeff when he has to go out of town. Poor kid, he gets left with all the girls! When he gets older he can call and talk to uncle Eli who went through the same thing and he turned out great! :) We all hate when Jeff has to go out of town, but at the same time we are grateful for a good job and for his willingness to work hard for our family. We know it is hard on him as well. Theres not much more excitement here. Just the same old stuff. Kaylee is off track and I think is more than ready to go back! Jeff and I will be having our 7 year anniversary on February 5th. I sure hope Jeff is planning something fun........hint hint...........J/K.

Christmas!!!

2008-12-28T20:10:00.016-07:00

Jace and Kate
Jace is usually found right next to Kate. He kisses her head about every five minutes.

Kate in her Christmas PJ's. My family thought she looked like a jail bird.

Jace got a pirate dress up from Santa. I was feeling bad because the girls are always putting dresses on him when they play dress up. I figured that if the girls make him play dress up, then he should atleast have something boyish.

Kaylee got a Sleeping Beauty dress up. She loved it! Sleeping Beauty is her favorite princess.

Kamree requested a Tinker Bell dress and the Tinker Bell movie. She was so excited when she got both. She reminds me so much of a little Tinker Bell with her cute blonde hair. What a cutie!

Jace also got a Big Wheel. Kaylee, Kamree and Jace have been fighting over it ever since. He does not like anyone to touch it. He also got bubble bath. The bottle is in the shape of a car with wheels. He has been carrying that around with him and driving all over. After I told him it was bubble bath, he started calling it his bubble car.

Kaylee with her Miley Cyrus barbie doll. We couldn't go without that!

Kamree looking at her Tinker Bell movie - she loves it!! This will be the new movie we have to watch 9 million times.

Kids opening presents.

Mom passing out presents.

Well, I never thought we would get everything done this month.......oh wait, we didn't! We didn't get the Christmas lights put up, we didn't make it to go see the lights, we didn't do a Christmas card, and I'm sure there are a few other things we didn't get to. We are finding out that we don't really have any extra time with four kids. We didn't have extra time with three kids, but now we REALLY don't have any time!! Oh well, I guess that stuff really isn't important and the only thing that matters is that we we're together and remebered what Christmas really is about. Once we get adjusted to what we need to, the other stuff will come along:).

We did have a great Christmas. The kids slept until about 9:00 A.M. which was soooo nice since "Santa Clause and Mrs. Clause" were up until about 4:00 A.M. wrapping presents and watching a movie.........not very smart, but we were excited for Christmas and couldn't sleep!!! We were a little worried when we did all get up. There was a huge snow storm, a lot of snow already that had fallen, and the power had just gone out! We tried to feed the kids something before we went downstairs, but they really weren't that interested. The power thankfully did come back on at about 10:00 A.M. so that wasn't too bad at all - the house didn't have too big of a chance to get freezing cold......just a little cold. The kids were all excited to see what Santa Clause had brought them. It was fun to see the looks on their faces as they opened their presents.

Just really quick......here are a few funny things the kids have said.

I told Kaylee how lucky she was to have gotten so many fun things for Christmas from everyone and she said : " I know! It just makes me have a tingally feeling inside!"

Kamree put her new Tinker Bell dress on and was walking around the house with Jace holding his hand. She looked at him and said : " So do I look pretty?" Jace said: " Yep!" And then Kamree said : " So do you want to get married?" Jace said: "Yep!" Then Kamree said: " Okay - lets go put you in a dress!" Poor Jace.

I was teasing Jace and acted like I grabbed his nose and was holding it in my hand. He almost started crying and said : " Mom, can I have my nose back?" I touched his nose and he said : " Thanks Mom!"

Jeff gave me a laptop for Christmas. What a sweet husband! Sometimes all I do is mention that it would be nice or fun to have something and the next thing I know, it shows up. He is always doing nice things for me like this! I am very thankful to have him.

Another "fun" thing we got to do a few days a go, was buy a new dishwasher! YUCK! A while back the handle on the dishwasher door broke. We could still get it open and closed even though it was a little bit tricky and you had to be careful so it wouldn't snap your fingers off. Finally the other day another part fell off and the door would not close all the way. So it was off to get a new dishwasher. These things are just so fun to have to do! I can think of a million other things that I would rather spend our money on, but oh well!

hello

2008-12-14T18:45:00.001-07:00

2008-12-04T14:40:00.005-07:00

Happy Birthday Kamree!!!

Today is Kamree's 4th birthday! I can't believe it!!! She is so fun to have in our family! She usually always has a smile on her face and is always having fun! She loves to play dress up any time she can and puts dress on top of dress on top of dress!!!

She loves her sisters and brother and they love her so much! She is a very stubborn and I think that she runs the show about half of the time!

She is good at making faces and entertains everyone by doing so.

She is really sweet to her little brother (most of the time). She loves to read to him and she loves to play house with him. She always calls him "Jeff" and pretends like he is her husband and they carry around dolls and take care of them. It is so cute and funny!

She loves ponys and barbies! She loves whatever Kaylee loves and tries to do everything that she does. She likes to impress Kaylee. She always looks in the mirror after I do her hair and tells me she looks handsome and fancy! She loves to sing and make up songs! She is always making some kind of noise 24/7. She loves it when people tell her they are proud of her! One funny word she says is "crapa" which means "grandpa". She has the cutest blonde hair and the cutest smile.

We all love her so so so much and are so happy she is part of our family!!!!

Happy Birthday Kamree!!!!!

2008-12-04T14:18:00.004-07:00

Krishelle Kate Bell

YAY! Shes here! We named her after Aunt Krishelle and she will go by Kate. She was born November 17th at 5:23 P.M. She weighed in at

8 lbs 1 oz and was 18 1/2 inches long. She is the sweetest thing!

We got to the hospital that morning to be induced at 7:30 A.M., but she was stuborn and still took all day before she decided she was ready. Her sisters and brother just love her so so so much - probably a little too much! The labor and delivery went great and we are so happy she is a healthy and happy baby! We ran into a few problems after delivery and the recovery has been a little stressful and tough, but we're making it through thanks to all the people that are willing to help! We are so blessed to have such wonderful family members!

Things at our house are a little wild - hopefully I'll start figuring things out pretty soon - I'm open to any advice I can get!

Jace is so proud of his new little sister. He calls her "JJ's baby Kate" and he says this about 1000 times a day! We think that Kate looks a lot like Kamree and so now Kamree thinks that this is HER baby. She tells us that Kate is Kamree's baby and that our baby is still at the "hopital". Kaylee loves to hold the baby and has tried to prove to me a couple times that she can walk with the baby - scary!

2008-12-04T13:41:00.010-07:00

Catching Up!!! Halloween!

Kaylee - Hannah Montana!

Kamree the kitty cat!

Jace the cowboy!

Kaylee "Hannah Montana" at school!

So, its been a while since I've caught up on things on my blog, so I thought I would go back and post some things! Going back to Halloween (I know - how pathetic!) Kaylee was Hannah Montana (or as Kamree says : "Hometana") Kamree was a kitty and Jace was a cowboy.
They all had a really fun time! Kamree still thinks that she is a kitty and whenever you ask her to do something like put her shoes on or something, she says "Mom, kittys don't wear shoes!" She is pretty funny! Kaylee looked so cute at school in the parade! We did have a fight about her costume though. She did not want to wear a white shirt uderneath the Hannah Montana shirt. I told her if she didn't, then everyone would see right down her shirt. She said in the most dramatic voice ever "Hannah Montana does not wear long sleeve white shirts - ever!!!!" (The teenage years are going to be SO fun! Jace was pretty good other than the fact that it took 30 minutes to get his simple costume on him. He was trying to get away from me the whole time! He has got "The terrible 2's" written all over his face!!! He is so funny though! I unfortunately had to work on Halloween, so Jeff took the kids over to the neighborhood trunk or treat and they had a good time. Then they went to both sets of grandparents houses and then came to visit me at my work! They all had a great time!

One More Baby........

2008-11-16T23:04:00.002-07:00

So tomorrow is November 17th and also the day we will be having our 4th and final baby. We are all very excited......and a little nervous! Her name will be Krishelle Kate Bell. We are naming her after aunt Krishelle, but she will go by Kate. We are all praying that our new little baby girl won't join forces with Jace and Kamree and become "the third wild one", or as their grandpa McCann named them, "Hell on Wheels". Kaylee is very excited to have a new baby and wants to help with everything that has to do with taking care of her. She is going to be such a great helper. Kamree informed me just today that her new baby Kate will be sleeping on her bed. I told her that was fine with me - as long as she was the one that took care of her so I could sleep. I don't know if Jace knows exactly what is going on. He thinks he has a baby in his tummy though and smiles and laughs when I ask him if he wants to be a big brother.

Anyways, if you think our house is loud and chaotic now, just come and visit us when we bring the baby home! But it is all worth it even though there are stressful days!!!

I've been tagged!

2008-09-27T10:39:00.002-06:00

3 Joys

My family!

Diet Pepsi!

When my kids are good in public!

3 Fears

That I will leave the iron on when I leave the house.

That my 5 year old will tell her teacher that she in not the boss - the principal is!

The Disney movie "FANTASIA".

3 Goals

Finish the basement!

To become a morning person (if thats possible).

To be a better mom.

3 Current Obsessions

The Office (because it just started up again YAY!)

My family members! (That sounded scary, but I just like to know where everyone is and what they are doing AT ALL TIMES ha ha ha - watch your back!)

Clean baseboards! Have you ever noticed how dirty baseboards get? Mine are driving me crazy! I think I have a little OCD about it all. No matter what I do, they will NEVER be clean all the way! I am ready to rip them out and replace them!

3 Random or Surprising Facts About Me

I have a medical degree - at least thats what Kaylee thinks (she tells everyone that her mom is a doctor because I work in an Urgent Care).

When I was a little girl, I always wanted to grow up and have 10 kids and 2 big black dogs......WHAT? I was a weird little girl.........and now I'm a weird big girl.

Sometimes if nothing else is on tv, I secretly will see what is on the Lifetime Movie channel. Eli is totally going to disown me for that one. But if you are ever bored, it is really funny to just read all of the titles of the movies that they play on that channel. It is more like a hobby than actually watching the shows! And the "acting" is really good.............

If you see us at the store, RUN as fast as you can the other direction!!!

2008-09-22T13:14:00.001-06:00

So this past week, I was kind of having a bad day so I decided that I would go shopping to make myself feel better. I knew I needed to buy Jace some new pants and then also I wanted to buy some baby stuff. So we started off by going to Old Navy. I don't know why, but my kids DO NOT like to ride in the cart at the store. My siblings and I tried to ride in the cart until we were like 10 years old it seems. Anyway, we got to Old Navy and the first 5 minutes was me trying and fighting to put Kamree and Jace in the cart. I got them in finally, but they were both screaming. I started to head to the back of the store and I felt like everyone was staring at me, so I gave in and took Kamree out of the cart. I made her promise that she would stay right with me and that she would be good if I let her stay out of the cart. Of course she promised and we all know that Kamree never keeps a promise. Anyway I thought of well! We started in the little boy section for some stuff for Jace. While I was looking at a few things, Kaylee and Kamree started to wander . They were still close to me, so I just let them look around. Kaylee then asked me what size Jace needed. I told her 2T. Kaylee then started getting every shirt and every pair of pants that was labeled 2T and piling it into the cart. So, what do you think Kamree started doing? Only she just started grabbing whatever was in front of her face - let me just tell you, she picked out some really cute things! So just as fast as they were putting stuff in, I was taking it out trying to find where it went. While doing this, I was telling them over and over to stop! As we all know they have selective hearing, so they kept doing what they were. Finally I told them that I was going to put them in the cart and that "the witch" would come if they did not stop it. For those of you who have not heard yet, Kamree keeps telling me about a witch (I think it is the evil queen from the movie "Enchanted" that she keeps referring to) that she is scared of. She thinks this witch lives in the garage, in the entrance to the attic up on the ceiling. So, it kind of sounds mean, but if you need Kamree to be good or listen, you just tell her that the witch will be mad and she usually will behave. It is nothing that completely terrifies her, it just helps sometimes when she is on one. Anyway, they finally stopped and just when they did that, I heard a loud smack and Jace start screaming. I looked over and he had climbed out of the back of the cart (while I was trying to put back every item of clothing from the whole store) and fell on the hard ground on his face! Oh my gosh!!!! What a scene! I ran the other way and pretended I didn't know whose kids they were. Just kidding. I ran over to Jace and picked him up. I looked for blood, missing teeth, and made sure his eyes were normal. His nose and forehead were bright red where he had hit. I kind of snuck back to the corner with the kids and our cart and held him there until he setteled down. Finally he was okay and I decided it was okay to make an appearance back into the middle of the store. I hurried and grabbed a few more things and we got the heck out of there. I'm sure people were just impressed with my mothering skills - first I'm yelling at my kids to not touch the clothes, then I tell them "the witch" was going to get them, and then when my kid about has a concussion, I hide him in the corner of the store so nobody can see what is going on. I see "Mother of the Year" in my future! Well, I don't know what I was thinking next, but I took the kids to Target because I wanted to still look for baby stuff. Once again, we had the fight with the cart. They always want those stupid huge carts with the place in front that they can sit in. I want to kill whoever invented those carts. They are so ugly and I cannot push them because they are soooooo awkward, but my kids always look for them - and if they ever find one, I always tell them they are broken (once again, nice mother). Anyway, we got back to the baby section and picked up a few things. The shoe section is close by and Kamree wandered over to pick out some shoes. Meanwhile, Kaylee started up again with putting EVERYTHING in the cart! So once again I am putting things back while she is not looking, because she gets mad if I don't like what she picks. Jace is in the cart trying to get out and screaming at me because he is mad, so I gave him a piece of gum out of my purse. That worked for a few minutes. Then I look over at Kamree who is sitting on the floor trying on some really "cute" Dora shoes. She then says "Mom, I've got to go potty." So I said , "Alright, put your shoes on and lets go." She threw the "cute" Dora shoes in the cart, sat down to put her shoes on, and gave me "the look". I immediately knew what this meant. So I said "Kamree! Did you just pee?" "No!" She said. I was mortified and then thought okay, maybe she didn't....its okay. Then I look over at Jace, still in the cart, who had gotten into my purse for some more gum and had about 6 pieces in his mouth - whatever, I thought. Then I look back at Kamree to see what the deal was. She stood up and what do you know..........there was a puddle on the floor and her pants were soaked and she had a huge grin on her face! Great! I didn't have time to drive home either because, I was meeting Jeff's mom to take the girls for a little while. So not only did I buy baby stuff, I had to buy Kamree some new underwear and new pants. So, if you ever need some excitement, frustration, exercise, or you just feel like you don't have enough embarrassment in your life, you can schedule an appointment to go to any public place with us at no charge. Or you can just watch from a distance for a good laugh - just call for a schedule of where we will be and when. You better do it fast though, because I am banning myself from going anywhere when the baby comes - I don't know if it will even be safe taking and picking up Kaylee from school! j/k

Happy Birthday Jace!

2008-09-16T20:44:00.003-06:00

So yesterday was Jace's 2nd birthday! I can't believe it! I feel bad because we didn't really do anything because we are waiting for our dad to come home to have a birthday party. Because it was his birthday I thought I would post some pictures of him over the past year just to see how cute he is and how much we love having him in our family! He has been so fun! Yesterday his grandma and grandpa McCann (Muggy) called to sing him happy birthday and he told her he wanted a car (surprise, surprise) and a book - it was funny! Everytime I would tell him happy birthday he would get mad at me and say NO!!!! I asked him if he was turning 2. And he said NO! So I asked him if he wanted to be a big boy, and he said NO! So I asked him if he wanted to be a baby, and he said NO! So I said "What do you want to be then?" And he said "Wanna be J.J.!" It was pretty funny. Then Kamree decided to sing happy birthday to him. He did not apprectiate that and went up to her and pinched her. I guess he is not one that will like having birthdays. Or maybe he is just waiting for his dad to be home as well. We are definately ready for Jeff to be home! And I'm sure our families are ready for that too. They have been so awesome with helping me with the kids and has been MUCH appreciated during all of this STRESS! Our kids just love all their grandparents and aunts and uncles. I think sometimes they would go to live with them if they were allowed too!

Some things about Jace at age 2:

Favorite thing: Cars

Favorite TV show: Spongebob Squarepants

Favorite stuffed animals: Tigger and Georgie

Favorite candy: "nm'n'ms (M&M's)

Best friends: His sisters

Favorite drink: Apple Juice

Favorite food: Nuggetts and MAc and Cheese. Grapes!!!

Loves to be around BOYS! Especially after being in a houseful of girls all day long! Loves his grandparents and aunts and uncles! Loves to play with balls and anything "boyish". Loves to be noisey, naughty, and making messes!

He loves taking naps - he is the best nap taker! He loves to get up in the middle of the night every once and a while to play. He will come in and throw his cars up on the bed usually hitting me in the head and telling me to play and to put on Spongebob. (This has really happened several times!)

Loves to tell me he is scared in the whiniest voice ever and then smile and laugh his head off! He loves to fight and tease Kamree - even though he knows he will get in trouble. Loves to climb, run, ride his little car, and just be outside.

He loves to tell you "NO!" But always remembers to say Thank You. He is a sweet little boy and we are so thankful to have him! His parents and his sisters just adore him!

We love you Jace! Happy Birthday!

Pictures of the kids!!!!

2008-09-02T20:36:00.009-06:00

"The Twins"
Wow, they are actually getting a long at the moment!

Kamree just loves her picture taken! She always tells me that if I take her picture, she'll look fancy in it.

Kamree, my sweetheart! Kamree is my little buddy! I told her today that she is almost going to turn 4 and she gave me a disgusted look and said "I don't want to be 4! I want to be 6!!!!" So I told her okay! She also takes care of everybody. The neighbor girl next door got her clothes soaking wet in our little fountain out front, and Kamree grabbed her hand and brought her right up to me and said "Mom, can she wear some of my clothes? Shes all wet!" She is the sweetest thing!

Jace is 100% boy, but every once in a while he wants to be included with the girls and put make up on! He also loves to climb into the dryer everytime I move loads over. He always keeps me laughing! He is soooooo obsessed with cars lately. He has atleast one in his hand at all times. When we put him to bed at night, he has to have his blanet, his two stuffed animals - Tigger and Georgie, his car blanket, and a car in each hand.

The picture below is all the stuff Kaylee had on her bed that I found when I went to wash her sheets......WOW! Talk about a little packrat!

These are pictures of Kaylee's first day of Kindergarten!

Isn't she sooooo cute?

P.S. She had to put her head down again today..........twice. But, "she didn't have to go home like Linnlonnie. Linnlonnie pinched another girl and they had to call her mom to come get her!" I guess that means we're a step ahead. I hope we can get through these school years!

Starting School!

2008-08-30T10:33:00.002-06:00

Well, as you all probably know, Kaylee started school this past month. She is still trying to decide if she likes it! The first week of school, all I heard every day was how mean her teacher was. When I asked why, the answer I got was this: "Mom, all she does is tell us what to do! She looks at us and just says - 'Go over there! Come over here! No don't do that! You need to be quiet! Put your hand down' " The funniest too, was about the third day of school when she came home completely disgusted and said: " Mom, all we do is learn! We hardly get to play at all! How many days do I have to go to school? Because I'm only going sometimes - not every day!" When the first week of school was behind us, she was feeling better about things because she had made a discovery. She was so pleased with herself that she had figured out this little bit of information, that she came right up to me and said: "Mom, guess what? My teacher thinks that she is in charge!" And I said, "Well Kaylee, she is in charge of your class. When she tells your class that you all need to be doing certain things, you need to listen to her because she is your teacher and there is only one of her and a lot of you guys, so you need to be polite and do what she says." Kaylee says: " No Mom! She is not in charge! The principal is!!!!! I sure hope that she does not raise her hand one day and try to put the teacher "in her place!" With each day we put behind us, she seems to adjust more and more. She said that she has made about 65 friends, but don't ask her their names, because she couldn't tell you! She even has made some "friends that are boys!" The only 2 people that she remembers is Sebastion and Lynlonnie. This is because "Sebastion has to put his head down on his desk almost every day!" And "Lynlonnie is spanish, and her and another spanish girl just talk to each other all day and NOBODY knows what they are saying!!!!"

So this all brings us to this past week of school! She finally is excited to go to school and she says that she LOVES it.........until last Tuesday! I went to pick her up after school and she got into to car and sighed really loud. Here is our following conversation:

Me: What the problem?

Kaylee: Well, okay Mom - I had to put my head down on the desk, but I don't know why because I was really really good!

Me: Well something must have happened. I don't think your teacher would have had you do that if nothing happened.

Kaylee: She is just mean mom! She just looked at me and said "Kaylee, go put your head down!"

Me: Kaylee, your not going to get in trouble if you tell me.

Kaylee: Alright, I know what happened.

(I was trying so hard not to laugh)

Kaylee: Teacher took us all to the bathroom and told us that when we were done, to go stand in the hallway and wait for everyone else. Every time teacher takes us, the girls have a race with the boys to see who can finish the fastest and be out in the hall first. When I was done, I hurried out to the hallway and ALL of the boys were already out there! So all I said was "Holly Moolly!" But I didn't even say it loud - I said it really quiet. Teacher looked at me and told me to go put my head down. And I was like....okay. ( In a really snotty voice)

Me: Okay, so she had you do that because you were talking?

Kaylee: Well yes Mom. One of the school rules is that you DO NOT talk in the hallway! But I totally forgot! And I just hated putting my head down. You would hate it too Mom!!!

I told Kaylee not to worry and that she wasn't in trouble because I knew that she didn't do anything to break the rules on purpose and that maybe because she hated putting her head down so much, this would help her remember the rules.

So after this occurance, she has had mixed feelings about school. The rest of the week when I would pick her up, she immediately get in the car and tell me that she DID NOT have to put her head down that day. She did tell me that on her next birthday, when she blows out her candles on her cake, she was going to make a wish that she will have a pretty and a nice teacher that doesn't make ANY rules! She told me that she knew that as long as she didn't tell anybody her wish, it would for sure come true! - Oh, if it were only that easy!

So this year might be a long, funny, entertaining, and DRAMATIC year! I guess we'll get through it with a lot of laughs.

California Pictures!

2008-07-08T11:48:00.041-06:00

Disneyland Pictures!

2008-07-08T11:27:00.003-06:00

Well before i put up our trip pictures, I have to say what we are having. We found out that we are having a .....................GIRL! I think Jeff is in shock and denial! He is convinced that the lady who did the ultrasound did not get a good enough look! It is actually pretty obvious! We are really both excited to add another baby girl to our family! I told Jeff that at least he has one boy who is 100% boy!

One more thing that Kaylee filled me in on the other day! We were in the car and all 3 kids were fighting and bugging each other. I told them if they didn't stop, they would have to go to bed when when we got home - my usual threat - that never works. A few minutes later, Kaylee looked at me and very seriously said: "Mom, sometimes it is hard to be brothers and sisters!"

I should be kicked out of the blog club

2008-07-02T20:30:00.004-06:00

So I am just about the worst blogger ever! Sorry - I will try to be better - if anyone cares! Ha! Ha! Well, not much has been going on lately. I think I'll just go ahead and put the rest of our Disneyland pictures on (even though we have been back for a month and a half!). But, I'll do it anyway because they are so cute! I am excited for tomorrow - we have our ultrasound and will find out if we will be adding a girl or a boy to our chaos! I am really excited! I think we are having a girl, Jeff says BOY, Kaylee says boy, Kamree says geeirl (thats how she pronounces it), and Jace says that he does not want a boy or a girl! Everytime I ask him he gets an angry look on his face and says NO! Kaylee and Kamree seem pretty excited. We are trying to get our basement finished because if we do have a girl, then we will move Kaylee down into her own room because there is no way we can fit 3 girls in the same room upstairs. So, about every other day Kaylee will ask me: "Mom, is Dad about done with that basement? Because I really want my own room right now!". She is so funny because she can clearly see that the basement has tools and wood and dust and everything else from one end to the other, but yet she still asks me hoping that what she is seeing is really not there! I have been worried the whole time too, thinking that my poor little girl is going to be so so scared downstairs and she is going to feel so lonely downstairs - NOPE! Oh well, I'm glad she is excited! She starts Kindergarten Aug 5th and can not wait!

I did Kamree's hair this morning and I pulled it all back into a ponytail and told her to go look in the mirror. My kids always have to look in the mirror after I get them ready to make sure that the job I did is acceptable or not - if its not I have to redo it! Kamree looked in the mirror and kind of smiled. She then looked at me and I asked her if she liked it. She said " Yeah, but how about we put my bangs down." She kind of gave me that look like: Nice try, but not the best job you could have done! I then asked her " Why do you want your bangs down?" She said "Because it will make me look like a princess!" I got a comb and put some of her bangs down, she looked again, grabbed the comb and in a sensitive voice (so she wouldn't hurt my feelings) said, "Hmmm, let me just do it." She then barely touched her hair, looked again, smiled and said " Okay, thats better!" She is so funny! She and Jace were playing together the other day and ran in my room and sat on our chair. I looked at them and asked if they were buddies. Kamree looked at me and said "J J is a buddy, and I am a geeirl!"

Jace at the moment is driving me crazy! I love him to death, but he is driving me crazy! His job is to follow right behind Kamree and bug the heck out of her! Yesterday he bit her on the back, pinched her on the arm, and then took one of his big cars and whacked her across the face! Today he went up behind her, wrapped his arms around her, and pulled her back like he was trying to wrestle her. Poor Kamree! But then, 5 minutes after he does something, they are best friends again! I love my little boy so much! He is wild, rough, and sweet all at the same time! One thing he is really really good at is saying "thank you". He never forgets! His other favorite thing to do lately is to chase me around the house with his dinosaurs trying to scare me!

Well, I better go. Jeff and I are doing well. We are just staying busy and tired, but it is all worth it!

Disneyland!!!!!

2008-05-25T20:02:00.007-06:00

Well we have been home from Disneyland for a week now, so i guess it is time to write about it and to post some pictures from the trip. The trip was so fun and I want to thank all my family for all their help with Kaylee and "the twins"! There were a few moments that I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown with a few of the tantrums (that Jeff had of course....ha ha) and my family was there to help at just the right moments!

Before I start about the trip, I have to write something funny that Kamree said this morning as I was getting everything together for my sharing time. I had some masking tape on the table, and she came over to "help" me and she started playing with the tape. She pulled some off, wadded it up, and then studdied over it for several minutes. She then held it up and said, "Mom, this is the holy spirit!" and then smacked it down on the table as hard as she could. It was so funny that I burst out laughing and said, "well, it isn't, but I'm glad you've been listening in church." She always has the funniest lines! I think she is going to be the comedian in our family - she always keeps us laughing!

Okay, so the first picture is of the girls as we were waiting in line for the Finding Nemo ride. This was our first day (out of three) at Disneyland. This was their favorite ride even though Kaylee was nervous the whole time because you get in a submarine-like boat and go under water. Jace was speechless and amazed - he loved it! I think this was the only time the whole trip that they were silent. The picture below to the right is also while we were in line for this ride. It is so funny because we were all standing there and I looked over and Kaylee had climed up onto this rock all by herself and just started posing - waiting for me to look. I didn't even have my camera or anything like that that would make her think it was "picture time". She did this several times more throughout the trip.

The picture below was of Jace picking and eating flowers when everyone went on the Madehorn aka "the mountain with the scary monster thats gonna get me!" That was what Kamree called it after they got off. Needless to say Kamree did not like the ride at all! Kaylee didn't care for it either and asked if we had to do that again. Kamree was the one that would say atleast every 5 minutes "I don't like that mountain!! Nueli (Eli) took me on that mountain and I don't like it." She blames Eli because he was the one that sat with her on that ride. And as Eli knows, Kamree holds grudges for a very long time! She is still mad at Eli from a month ago when he babysat, and he put the girls to bed and turned off their lamp - which I usually leave on as a nightlight. The first thing she said to me the next morning was "Nueli turned off the light!!!!!!!" And she was not happy!

Bath Time!!!

2008-05-22T20:23:00.003-06:00

So remember those embarrassing bath pictures that you have when you were a kid that resurface at just the wrong moments? Well, I'm just making sure that my kids will have one too!!! One reason why I like this picture so much

is that they are actually all smiling at the same time - and they are normal smiles!

bell-eiveitornot

2008-04-11T20:53:00.002-06:00

So we are starting a blog - not because our lives are interesting, but mostly so we can keep everyone posted on how the kids are doing and the funny things they do.

Kaylee is almost 5 years old and will start kindergarten this fall. She is a very good helper and is just about past the tantrums (YEA!). Kamree is 3 1/2 and goes to preschool and is our most STUBORN child! Jace (J.J.) is 1 1/2 and is very busy doing everything that Kamree does. Our 4th baby is due in November of this year - so needless to say - it is going to be busy and very very noisy around here - so enter our house with caution!!!!