all I want for Christmas...

So, we were going through all the adds on black friday, letting the boys cut out pictures of their top holiday items, when all of a sudden, Chase lights up and says,
"I want the Princess Deluxe Talking Kitchen!!!"

After a closer examination, he pauses for a minute and says,
"but not the dress, because that's lame, huh?"

ya, the DRESS is lame!

can you feel it?

Chase gave his first talk in Primary today!
He worked hard on in it
(well, as hard as you can work when your mom writes it the morning of...)
and could do most of it by himself.

here is his talk...
I can feel the Saviors love when I am
-saying my prayers
-reading the scriptures
-taking the sacrament
I can feel the Saviors love when I keep the commandments

I can feel the Saviors love everytime I look at him :)

where did June, July and August go??

lets see if I can remember how to do this...
so, I have obviously missed posting some things...

like, Reagan and Wesley's bday's, last day of school, first day of school, summer vacation, 4th of July, camping, etc...
not sure if I will ever catch up on that stuff, but last Saturday Carin and I did a kid swap (highly recommend it) and we got to have sweet Sophie. After non-stop running for 8 hours, I asked them if they wanted to go to the park (with the promise to actually let them play on the playground AFTER a few pictures)...




don't worry, they were handsomely rewarded!

my baby turned 4...

I can't believe Chase is already 4!!!

His birthday was a busy day!
We started the day off at Wheeler Farm for his preschool field trip!

He loved that he got to go on a picnic for his birthday!
He loved being with his friends!

In fact, he loved all of it, EXCEPT the smell...

When we got home, we watched his favorite movie and then it was on to t-ball...


after t-ball we came home for some cake ("pink with sparkles") and ice cream with a few of his favorite girlfriends (no boys allowed :)

How lucky I am to have this kid!!

play ball...

Wesley has started soccer!
No need to bribe him with princesses - he is SO excited, that he tells his friends that they need to go home so he can go to his game/practice! If the weather can stay as nice as it was for his first game, it will be a great season!!



go "green whales"?!?

His #1 fan - sweet Mariana!

butter up...

Well, Chase had his first t-ball game this weekend. He was really excited about t-ball until his first practice. Because it was a busy day, I had Bill take him to practice while I ran the other boys around to their activities - it didn't work! Chase cried much of the time and wouldn't participate the rest of the time. It took the rest of the week for me to lovingly encourage him (read as BRIBE!) to want to play on Saturday - and let me just say...that kid will do about anything for a polly pocket...

pictures from vacation, stories from home...

Sometimes I really like my boys.
Yesterday when they arrived home from school, one at a time (not together as instructed), they came into my room to tell me about their day. Before long all four of them were in there fighting to tell me something about what they did at school (and believe me, they were digging deep to try to find something to say).

Getting somewhat irritated, Cameron says to Wesley,
"At your current state of behavior, you will never get married. (pause) But you will change, (another thoughtful pause) when you hit puberty."
To which Wesley quickly responds, "I'm never getting married!" then glancing at me he adds, "until you die mom. But when I am 19 I can go on a mission and then I can finally watch pg-13!"

The same same sweet and saucy Wesley told me this morning that it was ok if I didn't get his room clean today, he would help me when he got home. I have been telling him since Tuesday that I would clean his room while he was at school since Chase and his cousin destroyed it!!
Wesley's cuteness and Chase yelling from the scary room, where he was playing this morning, "mom, is it the red ants or the black ants that are mean?" is the reason I have moved it to the top of my list today - or at least around the top somewhere! maybe after lunch...

so this is love...

I think it is safe to say, that besides the dumbo ride, Chases favorite part of Disneyland was filling up his autograph book. He enjoyed saying hi to Mickey and such, but it wasn't until we got to Ariel's Grotto that he was in heaven!!

His eyes started lighting up as we descended down the spiral stair case to see his favorite mermaid, Ariel. I have often said that Chase has every girl from 8 to 18 wrapped around his finger - but that number is now going to have to be boosted up a bit to include all of the Disney Princesses!!

Apparently, while Chase and Ariel were deep in conversation, he trusted her enough to tell her that Cinderella was his biggest Princess crush. After we were seated to eat, Ariel quickly went and whispered in Cinderella's ear about this charming Prince. Cinderella ran, as fast as glass slippers will allow, to meet Chase and lets just say, from that moment on, he was twitterpated...

I think a "whatever" might have escaped Carin and her girls lips when we were leaving and Ariel shouted, "bye Chase!!"!

and, I'm back...

We just got back from a great, much needed, vacation to sunny California!!
I have so many pictures to go through and funny stories that I want to remember and share, coupled with limited time, SO I am going to take baby steps!!
This, because I am a mean mom who laughs at my kids,
is one of my favorite picture story combos...
While at Disneyland, Wesley was dying to get his face painted.
He was so excited when he finally got his chance.

He felt pretty macho with his fire dragon and new ability to scare little girls.
But then, about 30 minutes later, he got in trouble for not behaving appropriately in line (picture scaring little girls) and was banned from the ride. His obnoxious machoness quickly turned into tears, which in turn, ruined his (very expensive) manliness...

next time, I am going to make him get a butterfly like Chase!!

nothing scary about that!
Sorry about going private - had really weird blogger experiences lately!!

sunshine in my soul...

We were able to get away last weekend to visit the {much needed} sunshine!!
(and maybe to see some family and to be part of Sara's baby blessing)
It was a quick trip - I hardly remembered to take out my camera -
but I did get a few pictures...
the beginning...

the middle...

the end...

do you like my hat...

My cute friend Nikki (knowing of Chase's love for all things pink) made him this adorable hat...

which of course he LOVES...

almost as much as he LOVES his hot pink leather chair...

and his cute shoes from Aunt Annie...

and his other favorite shirt (this is still his most fav)...

I might have taken too many pictures...

Nikki also makes those cute headband things with the flowers on them - check out her website - http://www.nikkihaslam.com/ - SO CUTE!

Thanks Nikki - you are awesome!!
last one - promise...

he's slippery...

Apparently, on Sunday Chase created some bubbles while in the bath.
He used 4 BRAND NEW bottles of shampoo to make sure he had enough!
No one (Bill) mentioned this to me on Sunday nor did anything to clean out the tub.
It wasn't until Monday, when I was starting up a bath for Chase and wondering why bubbles were forming, I noticed the empty bottles...

There might be enough residue left to get a bubble bath the next couple of times - he won't however, get his hair washed (which I think was his plan all along!)

why does Santa have to be a boy?

my idea of a nice educational Christmas present...

Santa thinks 2000 more small legos pieces would be nice...

a little energy out - my idea...

santa...

more small toys to step on, that would be Santa...

on a crazy whim, believe it or not, it was MY idea to get a new pet...

Meet "pinky"
if he ever starts requiring food, I will feed him our other pet, the hermit crab!

Merry Christmas!!